|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2018‒06‒18
thirty-two papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | MENON, Seetha; SALVATORI, Andrea; ZWYSEN, Wouter |
| Abstract: | This paper studies changes in computer use and job quality in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015. We document that while the proportion of workers using computers has increased from 40% to more than 60% over twenty years, there remain significant differences between countries even within the same occupations. Several countries have seen a significant increase in computer use even in low-skilled occupations generally assumed to be less affected by technology. Overall, the great increase in computer use between 1995 and 2015 has coincided with a period of modest deterioration of job quality in the EU-15 as whole, as discretion declined for most occupational and educational groups while intensity increased slightly for most of them. Our OLS results that exploit variation within country-occupation cells point to a sizeable positive effect of computer use on discretion, but to small or no effect on intensity at work. Our instrumental variable estimates point to an even more benign effect of computer use on job quality. Hence, the results suggest that the (moderate) deterioration in the quality of work observed in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2015 has occurred despite the spread of computers, rather than because of them. |
| Keywords: | job polarisation; job quality; tasks; discretion; intensity |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:mwp2018/02&r=eur |
| By: | Giuseppe Berlingieri (OECD); Sara Calligaris (OECD); Chiara Criscuolo (OECD) |
| Abstract: | The literature has established two robust stylised facts: (i) the existence of a firm size-wage premium; and (ii) a positive relationship between firm size and productivity. However, the existing evidence is mainly based on manufacturing data only. With manufacturing nowadays accounting for a small share of the economy, whether productivity, size, and wages are closely linked, and how tight this link is across sectors, is still an open question. Using a unique micro-aggregated dataset covering the whole economy in 17 countries over 1994-2012, this paper compares these relationships across sectors. While the size-wage and size-productivity premia are significantly weaker in market services compared to manufacturing, the link between wages and productivity is stronger. The combination of these results suggests that, in a service economy the “size-wage premium” becomes more a “productivity-wage premium”. These results have first-order policy implications for both workers and firms. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Size-Premium, Wages |
| JEL: | D2 E2 J3 |
| Date: | 2018–06–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2018/13-en&r=eur |
| By: | Konon, Alexander (DIW Berlin); Fritsch, Michael (University of Jena); Kritikos, Alexander S. (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether start-up rates in different industries systematically change with business cycle variables. Using a unique data set at the industry level, we mostly find correlations that are consistent with counter-cyclical influences of the business cycle on entries in both innovative and non-innovative industries. Entries into the large-scale industries, including the innovative part of manufacturing, are only influenced by changes in the cyclical component of unemployment, while entries into small-scale industries, like knowledge intensive services, are mostly influenced by changes in the cyclical component of GDP. Thus, our analysis suggests that favorable conditions in terms of high GDP might not be germane for start-ups. Given that both innovative and non-innovative businesses react counter-cyclically in 'regular' recessions, business formation may have a stabilizing effect on the economy. |
| Keywords: | new business formation, entrepreneurship, business cycle, manufacturing, services, innovative industries |
| JEL: | E32 L16 L26 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11501&r=eur |
| By: | Lorenti, Angelo; Dudel, Christian; Myrskylä, Mikko |
| Abstract: | Under the pressure of population aging the Italian pension system has undergone reforms to increase labor force participation and retirement age, and, thus, the length of working life. However, how the duration of working life has developed in recent years is not well understood. This paper is the first to analyze trends in working life expectancy in Italy. We use data from a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 880,000 individuals from 2003 to 2013 and estimate working life expectancy by gender, occupational category, and region of residence using a Markov chain approach. We document large and increasing heterogeneity in the length of working life. From 2003–2004 to 2012–2013, working life expectancy for men declined from 35.2 to 27.2 years and for women from 34.7 to 23.7 years, increasing the gender gap to 3.5 years. Both young and old were hit, as roughly half of the decline was attributable to ages below 40, half above 40. Working life expectancy declined for all occupational groups, but those in manual occupations lost most, 8.5 years (men) and 10.5 years (women). The North–South economic gradient widened such that men living in the North were expected to work 8 years longer than women living in the South. The fraction of working life of total life expectancy at age 15 declined to record lows at 40% for men and 34% for women in 2012–2013. Policies aiming at increasing total population working life expectancy need to take into consideration the socio-demographic disparities highlighted by our results. |
| Keywords: | Working life expectancy; Great recession; Italy; Financial crisis; Working life table; Multistate life table |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2018–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88302&r=eur |
| By: | Fackler, Daniel; Fuchs, Michaela; Hölscher, Lisa; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether startups offer job opportunities to workers potentially facing labor market problems. It compares the hiring patterns of startups and incumbents in the period 2003 to 2014 using administrative linked employer-employee data for Germany that allow to take the complete employment biographies of newly hired workers into account. The results indicate that young plants are more likely than incumbents to hire older and foreign applicants as well as workers who have instable employment biographies, come from unemployment or outside the labor force, or were affected by a plant closure. However, an analysis of entry wages reveals that disadvantageous worker characteristics come along with higher wage penalties in startups than in incumbents. Therefore, even if startups provide employment opportunities for certain groups of disadvantaged workers, the quality of these jobs in terms of initial remuneration seems to be low. |
| Keywords: | startups,young firms,employment,wages,linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J31 J63 L26 M51 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:092018&r=eur |
| By: | Brachert, Matthias |
| Abstract: | We use the locational pattern of clubs in four major professional football leagues in Europe to test the causal effect of changes in premier league membership on regional employment and output growth at the NUTS 3 level. We rely on the relegation mode of the classical round-robin tournament in the European model of sport to develop a regression-discontinuity design. The results indicate small and significant negative short-term effects on regional employment and output in the sports-related economic sector when clubs are relegated from the premier division of the respective football league. In addition, we find small negative effects on overall regional employment growth. However, total regional gross value added remains unaffected, indicating that in the main it is the less productive jobs that disappear in the short-term. |
| Keywords: | professional football,relegation,regional growth,regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J40 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:102018&r=eur |
| By: | Munford, L.;; Rice, N.;; Roberts, J.;; Jacob, N.; |
| Abstract: | Commuting is an extremely important modern phenomenon characterised by the spatial interaction of housing and labour markets. The average commuter in the UK spends nearly an hour a day travelling to and from employment. Standard economic theory postulates that commuting is a choice behaviour undertaken when compensated through either lower rents or greater amenities in the housing market or through greater wages in the labour market. By exploiting exogenous shocks to commuting time, this paper investigates the impact on wellbeing of increased commuting. Ceteris paribus, exogenous increases in commuting time are expected to lower wellbeing. We find this holds for women but not men. This phenomenon can be explained, in part, by the different labour markets in which women operate. Where local labour markets are thin, women report significantly lower wellbeing when faced with an increased commute. This does not hold for tight local labour markets. Further our findings reveal that it is full-time working women in the managerial and professional tier of the occupational hierarchy who are most affected. |
| Keywords: | commuting; exogenous shocks; well-being; panel data econometrics; |
| JEL: | C1 I1 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:18/14&r=eur |
| By: | Rolf Aaberge (Statistics Norway); Anthony B. Atkinson; Sebastian Königs |
| Abstract: | Public debates about the rise in top income shares often focus on the growing dispersion in earnings, and the soaring pay for top executives and financial-sector employees. But can the change in the marginal distribution of earnings on its own explain the rise in top income shares? Are top executives replacing capital owners in the group of top-income earners, or are we rather witnessing a fusion of top capital and top earnings? This paper proposes an extension of the copula framework and uses it for exploring the changing composition of top incomes. It illustrates that changes in top income shares can easily be decomposed into respective changes in the marginal distributions of labour and capital income and the changing association between the two types of income. An application using tax record data from Norway shows that the association between top labour and capital incomes grew stronger between 1995 and 2005 in the top half of the wage and capital income distribution, though it declined for the top 1 per cent of capital income receivers. A gender decomposition demonstrates that the association of wage and capital incomes at the top is particularly striking for men, while women are largely under-represented in the top halves of the two marginal distributions. |
| Keywords: | Top incomes; wages; capital incomes; copula |
| JEL: | D31 H24 J30 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:876&r=eur |
| By: | Thomas Cornelissen (University of York); Christian Dustmann (University College London, CReAM); Anna Raute (Queen Mary University); Uta Schönberg (University College London, CReAM) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the heterogeneous treatment effects of a universal child care (preschool) program in Germany by exploiting the exogenous variation in attendance caused by a reform that led to a large staggered expansion across municipalities. Drawing on novel administrative data from the full population of compulsory school entry examinations, we find that children with lower (observed and unobserved) gains are more likely to select into child care than children with higher gains. This pattern of reverse selection on gains is driven by unobserved family background characteristics: children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to attend child care than children from advantaged backgrounds but have larger treatment effects because of their worse outcome when not enrolled in child care. |
| Keywords: | Universal child care, child development, marginal treatment effects |
| JEL: | J13 J15 I28 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1808&r=eur |
| By: | Gregory Verdugo (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques); Sorana Toma (CREST-ENSAI) |
| Abstract: | Recent decades have seen a rapid increase in the share of non-European immigrants in public housing in Europe, which has led to concern regarding the rise of “ghettos” in large cities. Using French census data over three decades, we examine how this increase in public housing participation has affected segregation. While segregation levels have increased moderately on average, the number of immigrant enclaves has grown. The growth of enclaves is being driven by the large increase in non-European immigrants in the census tracts where the largest housing projects are located, both in the housing projects and the surrounding non-public dwellings. As a result, contemporary differences in segregation levels across metropolitan areas are being shaped by the concentration of public housing within cities, in particular the share of non-European immigrants in large housing projects constructed before the 1980s. Nevertheless, the overall effect of public housing on segregation has been ambiguous. While large projects have increased segregation, the inflows of non-European immigrants into small projects have brought many immigrants into census tracts where they have previously been rare and, thus, diminished segregation levels. |
| Keywords: | Housing; Europe; France; Immigration |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/31cfdhnp1f8asp29hjnqv33slt&r=eur |
| By: | Magda, Iga (Warsaw School of Economics); Keister, Roma (Institute for Structural Research (IBS)) |
| Abstract: | The aim of our paper is to analyse the relationship between working time flexibility and parental time devoted to children. Using data from a large panel survey of Polish households carried out in 2013 and 2014 (Determinants of Educational Decisions Household Panel Survey, UDE) we investigate whether and how various dimensions of working time flexibility affect the amount of time parents spend with their children reading, playing or teaching them new things. We account for employment status of parents, their socio-economic status and social and cultural norms they share. Our results show that employment status of parents and their working time arrangements are not statistically significant for the amount of parental 'quality time' devoted to children. We show that these are parental human and cultural capital and their values that are primary factors determining the amount of parental time investments. |
| Keywords: | working time flexibility, parental time investments, child care, 'quality time with children' |
| JEL: | J13 J22 J81 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11507&r=eur |
| By: | Montresor, Sandro; Quatraro, Francesco (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the move of regions towards sustainable growth through their specialisation in new green technologies. In particular, we analyse the role that smart specialisation strategies (S3) can have in this respect by addressing two research questions. First of all, we investigate whether the environmental diversification of regional technologies is, according to the S3 logic, driven by their “relatedness” to existing knowledge of green and non-green nature. Second, we analyse the role of the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) that S3 policies recommend regions to prioritise, not only in fostering the adoption of environmental technologies, but also in affecting its dependence on the pre-existing knowledge-base. Combining regional patent and economic data for a 34-year panel (1980-2013) of 180 European regions, we find that the relatedness to the existing technological-base of the region actually makes the acquisition of a new green-tech specialisation more probable. This holds true with respect to both the green and non-green extant knowledge, pointing to a regional diversification that also benefits from the “hybridisation” of non-environmental technologies. The latter however requires a higher degree of relatedness than a “pure” green branching process. Regional KETs also help the transition towards sustainable technologies. What is more, they negatively moderate the green impact of the relatedness to pre-existing technologies, of both green and non-green nature, and thus attenuate the boundaries the latter could pose to regions in their environmental specialisation. These results confirm that S3 policies can actually boost the intertwining of a smart and sustainable kind of growth, and that the KETs inclusion within S3 can amplify the virtuous interaction between these two objectives. |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201804&r=eur |
| By: | Lisa Laun; Mårten Palme |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the background to the increase in labor force participation of older workers in Sweden since 2000. In the first part, we study how the characteristics of the elderly have changed with respect to health, education level and work environment, as well as the impact of joint decision-making within the household. In the second part, we study the importance of institutional changes, including a major reform of the old-age pension system, introduction of tax credits for older workers, changes of the mandatory retirement age and stricter eligibility criteria in the disability insurance program. We find that the rise in labor force participation has coincided with improvements in health and educational attainment across birth cohorts as well as increased screening stringency in the disability insurance program. |
| JEL: | J26 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24593&r=eur |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi (University of Reading); Alita Nandi (University of Essex); Mark Bryan (University of Sheffield); Sara Connolly (University of East Anglia); Cigdem Gedikli (University of Hertfordshire) |
| Abstract: | Many studies have shown that there is a general tendency for men’s subjective wellbeing to be more badly affected by unemployment when compared to women, although the extent varies across countries. The existing literature notes the gender differences and offers possible explanations, but does not formally compare competing hypotheses. We analyse whether gender differences in life satisfaction associated with the experience of unemployment can be attributed to degrees of specialisation in the labour market, differences in the types of work undertaken by men and women, differences in personality traits, work identity or gender norms. We find that it is not all, but some, women who suffer less than men when experiencing a transition into unemployment. The experience of unemployment for women is differentiated by pay, work identity and, most powerfully, gender attitudes. |
| Keywords: | gender attitudes, life satisfaction, unemployment, wellbeing |
| JEL: | I31 J16 J64 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2018007&r=eur |
| By: | Alexander M. Danzer; Carsten Feuerbaum; Marc Piopiunik; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | Does a high regional concentration of immigrants of the same ethnicity affect immigrant children’s acquisition of host-country language skills and educational attainment? We exploit the exogenous placement of guest workers from five ethnicities across German regions during the 1960s and 1970s in a model with region and ethnicity fixed effects. Our results indicate that exposure to a higher own-ethnic concentration impairs immigrant children’s host-country language proficiency and increases school dropout. A key mediating factor for this effect is parents’ lower speaking proficiency in the host-country language, whereas inter-ethnic contacts with natives and economic conditions do not play a role. |
| Keywords: | immigrant children, ethnic concentration, language, education, guest workers |
| JEL: | J15 I20 R23 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:180_danzerfeuerbaumpiopiunikwoessmann&r=eur |
| By: | Pawel Adrjan |
| Abstract: | Young ï¬ rms are an engine of job creation, but little is known about the quality of the jobs that they offer. I use a matched employer-employee dataset to study how starting wages and lifecycle earnings of employees differ between young and mature ï¬ rms. I ï¬ nd that young ï¬ rms pay a small premium to new hires, but subsequent wage growth is better at mature ï¬ rms, both within continuing job matches and when individuals change jobs. These results are conï¬ rmed by several approaches to addressing sorting and selection of employees into ï¬ rms of different ages. There is substantial heterogeneity of outcomes: the few young ï¬ rms that survive and become highly productive pay higher wages to employees from the outset than less successful young ï¬ rms. Overall, highly-paid and stable jobs at young ï¬ rms are rare. Policies that aim to stimulate job growth by encouraging the formation of new ï¬ rms should therefore pay close attention to the types of ï¬ rms that form as a result. |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J31 L26 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:852&r=eur |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Doorley, Karina (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); Van Kerm, Philippe (LISER (CEPS/INSTEAD)) |
| Abstract: | Women are disproportionately in low paid work compared to men so, in the absence of rationing effects on their employment, they should benefit the most from minimum wage policies. This study examines the change in the gender wage gap around the introduction of minimum wages in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Using survey data for the two countries, we develop a decomposition of the change in the gender differences in wage distributions around the date of introduction of minimum wages. We separate out 'price' effects attributed to minimum wages from 'employment composition' effects. A significant reduction of the gender gap at low wages is observed after the introduction of the minimum wage in Ireland while there is hardly any change in the UK. Counterfactual simulations show that the difference between countries may be attributed to gender differences in non-compliance with the minimum wage legislation in the UK. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, minimum wage, distribution regression |
| JEL: | C14 I2 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11502&r=eur |
| By: | Damiano Pregaldini (University of Zurich); Uschi Backes-Gellner (University of Zurich); Gerald Eisenkopf (University of Vechta) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how gender composition of classes impacts achievement of students who self-selected into different specialization tracks (STEM vs. Languages) according to their educational preferences. Based on administrative records from one of the largest high schools in the canton of Zurich (Switzerland), we are able to identify the causal effect of the gender composition of classes on student achievement by exploiting random assignment of students to classes. Compared to the previous literature, which mainly focused on average effects across all students, we find highly heterogeneous effects across students who self-selected into different specialization tracks. While the effect of a higher proportion of girls in the classroom is positive for girls and boys with an educational preference for languages, the effect is negative for girls in the STEM track. Our findings have important implications for the optimal organization of classes in schools and for the explanation of career trajectories after school. For instance, concentrating girls in few classes has a positive effect only on girls who favor languages over STEM. |
| Keywords: | classroom gender composition, heterogenous effects, sutdents' selection |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0152&r=eur |
| By: | Brännlund, Runar (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics); Vesterberg, Mattias (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore subsistence levels and price elasticities for residential electricity demand in Sweden. Using a Stone-Geary functional form and unique Swedish data on residential electricity usage, we estimate demand Equations for peak and off-peak demand. We find that the subsistence levels are larger during peak than off-peak, and that there is a substantial variation in these subsistence levels across months. As a result, price responsiveness varies across hours and seasons. This has important policy implications, not the least with respect to effects of real time pricing, as it suggests that there are limits to households’ price responsiveness. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic price; Structural modeling; Stone Geary; Real time pricing |
| JEL: | D10 D12 Q41 |
| Date: | 2018–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2018_005&r=eur |
| By: | Brändle, Tobias (Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)); Goerke, Laszlo (IAAEU, University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | A large number of articles have analysed 'the one constant' in the economic effects of trade unions, namely that collective bargaining reduces employment growth by two to four percentage points per year. Evidence is, however, mostly related to Anglo-Saxon countries. We investigate whether a different institutional setting might lead to a different outcome, making the constant a variable entity. Using linked-employer-employee data for Germany, we find a negative correlation between being covered by a sector-wide bargaining agreement or firm-level contract and employment growth of about one percentage point per annum. However, the correlation between employment growth and collective bargaining is not robust to the use of panel methods. We conclude that the results of the literature using cross-section data might be driven by selection. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, employment growth, job flows, trade unions |
| JEL: | J23 J52 J53 J63 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11518&r=eur |
| By: | Hande Inanc |
| Abstract: | The negative impact of unemployment on individuals and its spillover to spouses is widely documented. However, we have a gap in our knowledge when it comes to the similar consequences of temporary employment. |
| Keywords: | temporary work, unemployment, subjective well-being, gender, couple dynamics |
| JEL: | J |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:3ba9073c78034d0f864a7527e15bf465&r=eur |
| By: | Andreas Kuhn (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training); Stefan C. Wolter (University of Bern, Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education, CESifo & IZA) |
| Abstract: | We test the hypothesis that adolescents' occupational aspirations are more gender-stereo-typical if they live in regions where the norm towards gender equality is weaker. For our empirical analysis, we combine rich survey data describing a sample of 1,434 Swiss adolescents in 8th grade with communal voting results dealing with gender equality and policy. We use the voting results to measure spatial variation in the local norm towards (more) gender equality. We find that adolescents living in localities with a stronger norm towards gender equality are significantly and substantively less likely to aspire for a gender-stereotypical occupation. This correlation may reflect different underlying mechanisms, however, and a more detailed analysis in fact reveals that the association between gender norms and occupational aspirations mainly reflects the intergenerational transmission of occupations from parents to their children. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, occupational segregation, gender gap, gender norms, preferences, socialization, intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0151&r=eur |
| By: | Marius Huguet (UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2, GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Xavier Joutard (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Isabelle Ray-Coquard (Centre Léon Bérard [Lyon]); Lionel Perrier (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Léon Bérard [Lyon]) |
| Abstract: | Studies of the hospital volume-outcome relationship have highlighted that a greater volume activity improves patient outcomes. While this finding has been known for years in health services research, most studies to date have failed to delve into what underlies this relationship. This study aimed to shed light on the basis of the hospital volume effect by comparing treatment modalities for epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients. Hospital volume activity was instrumented by the distance from patients' homes to their hospital, the population density, and the median net income of patient municipalities. We found that higher volume hospitals appear to more often make the right decisions in regard to how to treat patients, which contributes to the positive impact of hospital volume activities on patient outcomes. Based on our parameter estimates, we found that the rate of complete tumor resection would increase by 10% with centralized care, and by 6% if treatment decisions were coordinated by high volume centers compared to the ongoing organization of care. In both scenarios, the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy would increase by 10%. As volume alone is an imperfect correlate of quality, policy makers need to know what volume is a proxy for in order to devise volume-based policies. |
| Keywords: | Volume outcome relationship,France,Epithelial Ovarian Cancer,Instrumental variable,Organization of care,Care pathway,Learning effect,Centralization of care |
| Date: | 2018–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01801598&r=eur |
| By: | Erwan Gautier, Hervé Le Bihan |
| Abstract: | Relying on a menu-cost model augmented with a time-dependent (Calvo) component, we investigate the structural sources of cross-sectoral heterogeneity in patterns of price setting. We use a large micro dataset of French consumer prices to estimate the model at the product level for 227 products. The Calvo component is found to be large in most sectors. Heterogeneity in structural parameters is also substantial. The combination of these two features leads to much larger real effects of monetary policy. The effect of monetary shock on output is more than 4 times larger than the one derived from a standard single-sector menu-cost model estimated using average moments. |
| Keywords: | Price rigidity, menu cost, (S,s) models, adjustment cost, heterogeneity |
| JEL: | E31 D43 L11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:682&r=eur |
| By: | Nikolaus Thumm (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Vincenzo Butticè (School of Management, Politecnico di Milano); Federico Caviggioli (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino); Chiara Franzoni (School of Management, Politecnico di Milano); Giuseppe, Scellato (Department of Management and Production Engineering, Politecnico di Torino) |
| Abstract: | Counterfeiting activities target companies in various sectors, including digital technology companies, defined as companies that produce and/or commercialize at least one physical product that incorporates a digital technology, excluding the merchandising related to the company brands. Counterfeiting is a fraudulent activity that potentially damages the economic and innovation performance of companies and can pose major threats to global competition and economic growth. However, the actual impact of counterfeiting on the performance of companies has not been tested empirically, due to methodological problems, including the lack of data on counterfeiting at the firm-level. Furthermore, prior theoretical studies have speculated that counterfeiting could have in part a beneficial effect on the performance of companies, due to indirect advertising, calling for empirical investigations to shed light on the issue. The goal of the present study is to provide empirical evidence on the impact of counterfeiting on both the economic and innovative performance of digital technology companies at the firm-level and on the global scale. To this aim, a new database was created combining data on counterfeiting activities during 2011-2013 (OECD-EUIPO, 2016) with financial information and patent data from 2009 to 2015. The result is a firm-level database that enables unprecedented analyses on the impact of counterfeiting on performance of digital technology companies. About 9% of the seizures of counterfeits that were illegally traded across borders during 2011 2013 involved goods commercialized by digital technology companies, equivalent to about the 9.1% of the total value of seizures. Collectively, about 11% of companies affected by illegal international trade of counterfeits are digital technology companies. The majority of these (58%) are big corporations with Operating Revenues greater than USD 1 bn. These account for 77% of the number of total seizures, and 84% of the value of seizures related to the digital technology companies. SMEs, defined as those with Operating Revenues up to USD 50 million, represent 21% of digital technology companies targeted and account for 5% of total seizures and 6% of the total value of seizures. The industries mostly targeted are electronics (both consumers’ electronics and electronics for industrial use), automotive and digital media. The digital technology products commercialized in frauds of IPRs include computer hardware and electronic components, batteries, sensors, autoparts, optical instruments, videogames, and recording of movies and motion picture. About 34% of digital technology companies affected by international trade of counterfeits are located in the EU28 or EFTA, 41% are located in North America, 23% are located in Asia. Within the EU28, UK, Germany, France and Italy are the countries hosting the largest number of targeted digital technology companies. Within the EU28, Germany and UK, followed by Belgium and Ireland, are the most-common country of destination of seized counterfeits. The overwhelming majority of seized goods related to digital technology companies is imported from Asia. 51% of these are imported from China, 41% comes from Hong Kong, China, 3% from Singapore. Other economies of provenance account each for less than 1% of the seizures. The vast majority (93%) of seizures affecting digital technology companies are due to violations of trademarks, and only a minority are due to violations of design models (4%), and copyrights (2%). Less than 1% of the seizures are due to violations of patents. However, seizures enacted in defence of patents are those that have the highest mean value. The analysis of infringed companies with respect to a control samples of non-infringed companies indicates that counterfeiting targets specifically highly profitable companies, with high propensity to innovate. Indeed, digital technology companies are more likely to become target of counterfeiting when they have larger Operating Revenues, and when they perform at a higher level in terms of profitability (return on total assets), prior to the window of observation. Target companies also have on average larger patent portfolios, prior to the observation of counterfeiting activities. Digital technology companies located in EU28 are on average less likely than companies located outside of EU28 to be the target of counterfeiting activities. Results from impact analyses indicate lower growth rates of operating profits for digital technology companies targeted by counterfeiting with respect to control samples of firms not affected by counterfeiting. In particular the econometric models provide evidence of a negative impact of counterfeiting on both EBITDA (Earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortisation) and EBIT (Earnings before interest taxes). This result is robust across different estimation methods, model specifications and time windows. The data reveals only a weak negative impact on operating revenues, with limited statistical confidence. Conversely, there is no significant evidence that counterfeiting affected the investment in Fixed Assets of targeted firms with respect to the control sample. The results about the negative impact of counterfeiting activities on operating profits are in line with reports of greater costs incurred by these companies to enact anti-counterfeiting strategies, reported in prior descriptive literature. These practices include the broadening of product ranges, with fewer scale-economies and the enactment of anti-infringement procedures, such as ‘conspicuous packaging’, more screening and origin certifications, development of licensing downstream retailers and direct self-enforcement aimed at limiting the circulation of counterfeits. Results do not provide support for the existence of indirect positive spillover effects, as hypothesised by the theoretical literature, according to which infringed companies might benefit from an advertising effect due to the greater diffusion of brands from the counterfeiting activities. Indeed, at least for what concerns digital technology companies, there is no evidence of any positive effect of infringement on sales of original products. The digital technology companies that were affected by counterfeiting on average increased their patent portfolios during the observation period, but less than the digital technology companies that were not affected by counterfeiting. However, the result is not robust to the inclusion of control variables and to the adoption of alternative measures of innovation performance (Intangible Assets). It certainly merits further research, once more data on counterfeiting become available. Overall, the results indicate that counterfeiting activities harm the economic performance of targeted digital technology companies, by eroding their operating profits. The effect on innovative performance is negative, but still inconclusive due to insufficient dataset, and cannot exclude that counterfeiting may harm the propensity to innovate of digital technology companies. The analysis rules-out the existence of any positive spillover from counterfeiting. |
| Keywords: | Counterfeiting, trade, trade seizures, digital technologies, economic performance, innovative performance, patents, trademarks |
| JEL: | F1 K42 L63 O25 O31 O32 O34 O39 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:decwpa:2018-03&r=eur |
| By: | Fabrice Etilé (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics, ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique); Sebastien Lecocq (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique); Christine Boizot-Szantai (ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) |
| Abstract: | The behavioural impact and acceptability of soft-drink taxes depend crucially on their incidence on consumer prices and welfare across socio-economic groups and markets. We use KantarWorldpanel homescan data to analyse the incidence of the 2012 French soda tax on Exact Price Indices (EPI) measuring consumer welfare from the availability and consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) and Non-Calorically Sweetened Beverages (NCSB) at a local geographical level. The soda tax has had significant, similar but small impacts on the EPI of SSB and NCSB (+4%), corresponding to an aggregate pass-through of about 40%. Tax incidence was slightly higher for low-income and high-consuming households. Retailers set higher pass-throughs in low-income, less-competitive and smaller markets. They did not change their product assortments. The lack of horizontal competition in low-income markets had a sizeable effect on tax regressivity. Finally, the negative income gradient in tax incidence was offset by a positive gradient in expected health benefits. |
| Keywords: | Market structure,Tax incidence,Soft drink,Exact price index,Regressivity |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01808198&r=eur |
| By: | Maria Zumbuehl; Thomas Dohmen; Gerard Pfann |
| Abstract: | We empirically investigate the link between parental involvement and shaping of the economic preferences and attitudes of their children. We exploit information on the risk and trust attitudes of parents and their children, as well as rich information about parental efforts in the upbringing of their children from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study. Our results show that parents who are more involved in the upbringing of their children are more similar to them with respect to risk and trust attitudes and thus transmit their own attitudes more strongly. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational transmission, Parental involvement, Preference formation, Risk preference, Trust attitude, Personality, SOEP |
| JEL: | D10 D90 J13 J62 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_022_2018&r=eur |
| By: | Juan A. Mañez (Department of Applied Economics II (Economic Structure) and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Spain); Rafael Moner Colonques (Department of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Spain); Juan A. Sanchis (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); Jose J. Sempere-Monerris (Department of Economic Analysis and ERI-CES, University of Valencia, Spain and CORE, UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the links between firms R&D investment decisions, and firms decisions on how much to sell at home and abroad in a heterogeneous-firm international oligopoly. The model provides analytical results that yield four testable hypotheses, which are empirically checked with data from the Spanish Survey on Business Strategies (ESEE) for the period 1992-2013. Our results confirm that exporters invest in R&D four times more than non-exporters in relative terms (Hypothesis H1). Our estimates confirm that past R&D intensity has a positive and significantly different effect on domestic and export outputs by exporters and that the effect on the rate of growth of exports is larger (H2). Econometric evidence suggests a positive and significant effect of appropriability on domestic sales, while a positive but non-significant effect on exports; thus partially confirming hypothesis H3. Finally, R&D efficiency measured as the propensity to obtain a patent or utility model is found to have a positive and significant effect on the rate of growth of exports, which confirms H4. |
| Keywords: | International oligopoly, R&D, exports, knowledge spillovers. |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1807&r=eur |
| By: | Juan Carluccio; Alejandro Cuñat; Harald Fadinger; Christian Fons-Rosen |
| Abstract: | Using French manufacturing firm-level data for the years 1996 -2007, we uncover a novel set of stylized facts about offshoring behavior: (i) Low-productivity firms ("non-importers") obtain most of their inputs domestically. (ii) Medium-productivity firms offshore skill-intensive inputs to skill-abundant countries and are more labor intensive in their domestic production than non-importers. (iii) Higher-productivity firms additionally offshore labor-intensive inputs to labor-abundant countries and are more skill intensive than non-importers. We develop a model in which heterogeneous firms, subject to fixed costs, can offshore intermediate inputs of different skill intensities to countries with different skill abundance. This leads to endogenous within-industry variation in domestic skill intensities. We provide econometric evidence supporting the factor-proportions channel through which reductions in offshoring costs to labor-abundant countries have signicantly increased firm-level skill intensities of French manufacturers. |
| Keywords: | offshoring, heterogeneous firms, firm-level factor intensities, skill upgrading, Heckscher-Ohlin |
| JEL: | F11 F12 F14 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_018_2018&r=eur |
| By: | Dolores Añón Higón (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); Juan A. Mañez (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); María E. Rochina-Barrachina (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); Amparo Sanchis (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).); Juan A. Sanchis (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Avda. dels Tarongers s/n, 46022 Valencia (Spain).) |
| Abstract: | In this article we characterize Total Factor Productivity (TFP) frontier firms at the industry level within the European Union during the period 2003-2014, and explore the determinants of the firms’ distance to the frontier. We find that larger, more capital-intensive, and more labour skilled firms are closer to the productivity frontier. In contrast, older firms are further away from the frontier. In addition, we obtain that a number of countries' economic and institutional factors, such as tertiary education, trade openness, R&D stock, easiness in getting credit and governance quality, affect positively the catching up of laggards towards the productivity frontier. We also examine the moderating effect of the Great Recession as well as the effect of productivity improvements at the frontier. |
| Keywords: | TFP, frontier firms, laggard firms, Great Recession, European Union countries |
| JEL: | F43 O47 O52 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1806&r=eur |
| By: | Vlachos, Jonas (Department of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | In Sweden, a trust-based system of school performance evaluation meets a market-oriented school system with liberal entry conditions for voucher-funded private providers. National standardized tests are graded at the local school and what ultimately matters to students are teacher-set grades. This paper finds that privately run free schools systematically set higher grades than public schools when controlling for their achievement on national tests. The differences between municipal and free schools are larger when more reliable tests are used to account for achievement. Differences in grading standards between providers are substantial and most of the performance advantage in teacher-set grades that free schools enjoy can be attributed to more generous grading. The results also indicate that different private providers do not necessarily respond symmetrically when faced with similar market conditions and act under the same regulatory regime. |
| Keywords: | Private provision of public services; School performance evaluation; School vouchers |
| JEL: | H44 I28 L51 |
| Date: | 2018–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1217&r=eur |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Teixeira, Paulino (University of Coimbra) |
| Abstract: | A shortfall in employee voice attendant upon union decline has long been forewarned. Data from the third European Company Survey is used to establish perceived shortfalls in employee involvement based on the responses of employee representatives in establishments where formal workplace employee representation is practiced. Among the main findings is that the desire for greater involvement in decision making is smaller where representation is via a works council-type apparatus rather than through the agency of a union body. Similar, albeit more pronounced marginal effects are associated with information provision, most notably where employee representatives are (a) 'satisfactorily' informed on a variety of establishment issues or (b) are asked to give their opinions/involved in joint decisions in the event of some major human resource decision. The latter results are robust to subsets of the data based on variations in trust between the parties and the perceived quality of the industrial relations climate, where there is an overwhelming desire for more participation in those circumstances in which management is adjudged uncooperative and untrustworthy. On net, it remains the case that a shortfall in employee participation is observed across all types of establishments in the sample and, by extension, it would appear to those without any workplace representation at all. |
| Keywords: | formal workplace employee representation, works councils, union agencies, information/consultation/participation deficits, union density, country heterogeneity, industrial relations quality |
| JEL: | J53 J58 J83 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11506&r=eur |