|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2018‒07‒23
33 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Annarosa Pesole (European Commission - JRC); Maria Cesira Urzi Brancati (European Commission - JRC); Enrique Fernandez Macias (European Commission - JRC); Federico Biagi (European Commission - JRC); Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The recent surge of digital labour platforms has led to new forms of work organisation and tasks distribution across the workforce. This has raised several questions about the functioning and the benefits deriving from the reorganisation of work that those platforms entail and the associated risks. The European Commission assessed online platforms in a May 2016 communication, focusing on both their innovation opportunities and regulatory challenges. In June 2016 the Commission also adopted its European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy, which clarified the concept and provided some guidance on the employment status of platform workers and the EU definition of worker. The European Pillar of Social Rights aims to address some of the policy challenges associated to new forms of employment, including platform work. As accompanying initiatives, the Commission presented in December 2017 a proposal for a new Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, and in March 2018 a proposal for a Council Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. A crucial issue in designing the policy response to the emergence of digital labour platforms is the lack of reliable evidence. In 2017, the JRC conducted the COLLEEM pilot survey, an initial attempt to provide quantitative evidence on platform work, responding to calls by the European Council and the European Parliament. The survey provides a basis for an initial estimation of platform work in 14 Member States. |
| Keywords: | platform work, digital labour platform, collaborative economy, gig economy, digital economy |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc112157&r=eur |
| By: | Gabriele Pellegrino; Mariacristina Piva; Marco Vivarelli |
| Abstract: | In this work, we test the employment impact of distinct types of innovative investments using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2002-2013. Our GMM-SYS estimates generate various results, which are partially in contrast with the extant literature. Indeed, estimations carried out on the entire sample do not provide statistically significant evidence of the expected labor-friendly nature of innovation. More in detail, neither R&D nor investment in innovative machineries and equipment (the so-called embodied technological change, ETC) turn out to have any significant employment effect. However, the job-creation impact of R&D expenditures becomes highly significant when the focus is limited to the high-tech firms. On the other hand - and interestingly - ETC exhibits its labor-saving nature when SMEs are singled out. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; R&D; Embodied Technological Change; Employment; GMM-SYS |
| Date: | 2018–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2018/15&r=eur |
| By: | Piton, Céline (National Bank of Belgium); Rycx, Francois (Free University of Brussels) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides robust estimates of the impact of both product and labour market regulations on unemployment using data for 24 European countries over the period 1998-2013. Controlling for country-fixed effects, endogeneity and a large set of covariates, results show that product market deregulation overall reduces the unemployment rate. This finding is robust across all specifications and in line with theoretical predictions. However, not all types of reforms have the same effect: deregulation of state controls and in particular involvement in business operations tends to push up the unemployment rate. Labour market deregulation, proxied by the employment protection legislation index, is detrimental to unemployment in the short run while a positive impact (i.e. a reduction of the unemployment rate) occurs only in the long run. Analysis by sub-indicators shows that reducing protection against collective dismissals helps in reducing the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate equation is also estimated for different categories of workers. While men and women are equally affected by product and labour market deregulations, workers distinguished by age and by educational attainment are affected differently. In terms of employment protection, young workers are almost twice as strongly affected as older workers. Regarding product market deregulation, highly-educated individuals are less impacted than low- and middle-educated workers. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, structural reform, product market, labour market, regulation, employment protection |
| JEL: | E24 E60 J48 J64 L51 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11582&r=eur |
| By: | Guerino Ardizzi (Bank of Italy); Michele Savini Zangrandi (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Interchange fees (IF) are fees that a cardholder’s bank (issuer) receives from the merchant’s bank (acquirer) when a card payment is executed. Interchange fees are an important part of the fees charged to merchants by acquirers. Because of their level and fragmentation, interchange fees can restrict competition and have thus been regulated in the EU. The Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) came into effect for all EU member states in 2015 and sets maximum limits on interchange fees. By using a panel of Italian banks we assess the impact of introducing the IF regulation on the fees that acquiring banks charge to merchants (merchant fees), and on the merchants’ acceptance of card-based payments. We find that, in line with the regulatory intent, the ceiling imposed on interchange fees has led to a sizeable drop in merchant fees and to an increase in the acceptance of card payments, measured as transactions per terminal. |
| Keywords: | interchange fee, payment card, acquiring, point of sale, banking panel data |
| JEL: | E41 G14 G21 G38 L14 L42 L51 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_434_18&r=eur |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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); Carine Milcent (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we address two issues: i) how hospital employment changes with local unemployment, according to the type of hospital ownership, and ii) whether this relationship changed after the implementation of a pro-competitive reform that made hospitals more similar. A 2006-2010 French panel of 1,695 hospitals over five waves allows us to consider within-hospital employment changes. We first find that higher local unemployment is associated with greater employment in State-owned hospitals, but not for any other hospital ownership type: French local authorities then seem to respond to depressed local labour markets by increasing employment in State-owned hospitals. After the full implementation of the pro-competitive reform hospital funding became based only on activity and no longer on some historical budget. Theoretically, the new reimbursement system should break the relationship between public-hospital employment and local unemployment. Our results reveal that the reform worked as expected in less-deprived areas: reducing employment and eliminating the correlation between local unemployment and State-owned hospital employment. However, in higher-unemployment areas, public-hospital employment remains 2 counter-cyclical. Poor local labour-market health then seems to trump financial incentives in determining employment in public hospitals. |
| Keywords: | France,Unemployment,Public Employment,Competition,Management,Hospitals |
| Date: | 2018–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01649493&r=eur |
| By: | Tobias Schultheiss (University of Zurich); Curdin Pfister (University of Zurich); Uschi Backes-Gellner (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | An extensive literature examines the effects of tertiary education expansion on wages of workers with and without tertiary degree. However, the question how tertiary education expansion affects the tasks of these workers remains unexplored. We examine whether such an expansion crowds out sophisticated tasks such as R&D in jobs of workers without tertiary degree or elevates the content of their tasks via a rising tide effect. In particular, we analyze the effects of the establishment of Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS), a large tertiary education expansion in Switzerland, on R&D tasks of workers with apprenticeship training. Job ads provide us with information about the demand for R&D tasks. To estimate causal effects, we exploit the quasi-natural variation in time and location of the establishment of UAS campuses and perform difference-in-differences estimations. We find that firms demand more R&D tasks of workers with apprenticeship training after a tertiary education expansion. Our results therefore show that instead of crowding out, tertiary education expansion lifts the tasks of workers with apprenticeship training via a rising tide effect. |
| Keywords: | higher education expansion, labor demand, job advertisements, crowding out |
| JEL: | I23 J23 M51 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0154&r=eur |
| By: | Cornelißen, Thomas; Dustmann, Christian; Raute, Anna; Schönberg, Uta |
| 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:757&r=eur |
| By: | Gibbons, Stephen; Sánchez-Vidal, Maria; Silva, Olmo |
| Abstract: | Housing subsidies for low income households are a central pillar of many welfare systems, but an expensive one. This paper investigates the consequences of an unusual policy aimed at reducing the burden of these subsidies by rationing tenants’ use of space. Specifically, we study a policy introduced by the UK Government in 2013 which substantially cut housing benefits for tenants deemed to have a ‘spare’ bedroom – based on specific criteria related to household composition. Our study is the first to evaluate the impacts of the policy on its target group considering a range of outcomes. To do so, we use a difference-in-difference methodology that compares the observed behaviour of the treated households relative to a control group determined from the details of the policy rules. We find that – as expected – the treated group experienced losses to housing benefit and overall income. Although the policy was not successful in encouraging residential moves, it did incentivise people who moved to downsize – suggesting some success in terms of one of the policy goals, namely reducing ‘underoccupancy’ in the long run. We find no statistically significant effects on households’ food consumption, savings or employment outcomes, despite the associated income reductions. Finally, we find some evidence of a reduction in self-reported satisfaction though this effect is not precisely estimated. |
| Keywords: | social housing; social rents; bedroom tax; housing benefits |
| JEL: | H2 H55 R21 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88688&r=eur |
| By: | Eyal Bar-Haim; Louis Chauvel; Anne Hartung |
| Abstract: | In many countries, the skilled labor market has lagged behind educational expansion. As a result of increased competition, younger cohorts of the highly educated face decreasing returns to education or overeducation. Surprisingly, decreasing occupational outcomes do not coincide empirically with the economic returns among those with tertiary education. Regarding the process of changes in economic returns to education based on cohort transformations, we expect that the expansion of tertiary education affects specific cohorts, which find themselves facing more labor market competition. As a result, the economic returns to education should decrease over cohorts even though they remain stable and even increase during the same period. To study this process, we model economic returns with a new Age-Period-Cohort-Trended-Lag (APCTLAG) method, which allows comparing the gap in economic returns between tertiary and less than tertiary education over cohorts. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), we analyze trends over three decades in 12 countries. Our results confirm that educational returns for tertiary education have declined over time, even though the gap between the educated and the less educated has remained similar in most of the countries. For younger cohorts, tertiary education has become more necessary to survive in the competitive labor market, but the actual economic returns to it have decreased - making tertiary education less sufficient than before. |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:734&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:wpaper:halshs-01808198&r=eur |
| By: | Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); Myrskylä, Mikko (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research); Tynelius, Per (Karolinska Institutet) |
| Abstract: | Mental disorders have a large impact on invalidity and mortality. Poor mental health is associated with low education, which is also associated with poor health and higher mortality. The association between mental health and mortality may, therefore, be partly explained by the increased incidence of mental problems of the low educated. An important issue is that mental health problems, education attainment and mortality may all depend on the same observed and unobserved individual factors. We account for both the selective incidence of mental health problems and selective educational attainment by using a correlated multistate model for the mental health (hospitalization) process (both admittance an discharge) and mortality with a re-weighting technique (inverse propensity weighting) based on the probability to attain higher education. We use Swedish Military Conscription Data (1951-1960), linked to the administrative Swedish death and National Hospital Discharge registers. We estimate the effect of mental hospitalization and education on the morality rate and how the effect of mental hospitalization is moderated by education. Our empirical results indicate a strong effect of both mental hospitalization and education on mortality. Mental hospitalization affects mortality due to external causes of death in particular. Only for the low educated improving education moderates the impact of mental hospitalization on mortality. We also found that ignoring confounding would overestimate the impact of mental hospitalization on mortality. Accounting for confounding in mental hospitalization seems to be more important than accounting for selective educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | mental health, education, mortality, timing-of-events, inverse propensity weighting |
| JEL: | C41 I14 I24 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11591&r=eur |
| By: | Andrea Bassanini (OECD - OECD - OECD); Eve Caroli (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); François Fontaine (PSE - Paris School of Economics); Antoine Rebérioux (LADYSS - Laboratoire dynamiques sociales et recomposition des espaces - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of local social pressure on the choice of employment contracts made by firms. Using linked employer-employee data, we show that secondary establishments located closer to headquarters have higher shares of fixed-term contracts in hiring than those located further away whenever firms' headquarters are located in selfish communities. In contrast, when firms' headquarters belong to unselfish communities, the impact of distance to headquarters on the share of fixed-term contracts turns out to be positive. We show that these findings can only be explained by local social pressure. When the local community at the firm's headquarters is selfish, i.e. cares about dismissals only when they take place at short distance, CEOs are under pressure to avoid dismissing workers close to headquarters. By adding to the adjustment costs associated with open-ended contracts, this creates an incentive for them to rely more on fixed-term contracts, in an attempt to escape social pressure when hiring workers close to headquarters. |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01724188&r=eur |
| By: | Hippolyte D'Albis (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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); Carole Bonnet (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Xavier Chojnicki (LEM - Lille - Economie et Management - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille); Najat El Mekkaouide Freitas (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); Angela Greulich (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Jérôme Hubert (LEM - Lille - Economie et Management - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille); Julien Navaux (University of Ottawa [Ottawa]) |
| Abstract: | This article provides a comprehensive overview of how the funding of consumption at different ages is shared between the State, the individual and the family. By applying the National Transfer Accounts method for France, we developed a unique database to analyze how the funding of consumption is secured at each age, how its structure has changed over time, and how the consumption is financed in France compared to that of a set of other developed countries. We find that the elderly in France finance themselves increasingly by their own means, even though public funding of this age group remains significant in France in comparison to other countries. Conversely, the young rely more and more on the State to finance their consumption. Within our sample, France is the country where the young benefited most from public transfers. |
| Keywords: | Generational Economy,National Transfer Accounts,Inter- Generational Equity,Private and Public Consumption |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01799724&r=eur |
| By: | Brice Fabre (PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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) |
| Abstract: | This paper brings new evidence on the impact of income inequality on public decisions. Using a new panel database on French municipalities' accounts, and on households' income distribution at the local level, I estimate the impact of income distribution on municipal policy. This paper is the first to investigate this issue by simultaneously using a high number of comparable observations and identifying deciles of the income distribution which matter. After controlling for municipal fixed effects and for the dynamics of municipal incumbents' decisions, I find no impact of income inequality on operating spending, but a strong positive impact on municipal infrastructures. Evidence suggests that an increase in income inequality by 1% leads on average to an increase in the value of municipal infrastructures between 0.06% and 0.18%. Importantly, I find that this result is driven by variations in bottom and top deciles. There is clear evidence that additive public facilities associated to more inequality are due to higher tax rates. When poorest individuals get poorer, or when richest ones get richer, municipal incumbents decide to increase the amount of infrastructures by increasing local taxation. These results suggest that what matter in public decisions are the extreme parts of voters' income distribution, and that lower bottom incomes and higher top ones both lead to a higher size of government. |
| Keywords: | Income Inequality,Public Goods,Taxation,Local Governments |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01721825&r=eur |
| By: | Aleksandr Proshin; Alexandre Cazenave-Lacroutz; Zeynep Or (IRDES - Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé - Institut de la Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé); Lise Rochaix (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, Hospinomics - PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Studying quasi-experimental data from French hospitals from 2010 to 2013, we test the effects of a considerable diagnosis related group (DRG) refinement that occurred in 2012. As a result, the reform had a direct impact on hospital-level financial incentives but did not immediately concern individual providers. Using a difference-in-differences approach, controlling for multiple patient, hospital and regional characteristics and allowing for hospital and year effects, we show that introducing new severity levels and clinical factors into the reimbursement algorithm had no significant effect on the probability of a scheduled C-section being performed. The results are robust to multiple formulations of financial incentives, to restricting the sample to bigger (>15%) DRG tariff incentive changes and to analyzing policy effects for individual years following the reform. Our results suggest that the DRG refinement did not lead to a transmission of hospital-level stimuli to midwifes and obstetricians. Our paper is the first study that focuses on the consequences of DRG refinement in obstetrics and develops an approach suitable for measuring monetary incentives in this setting. |
| Keywords: | C-section,DRG,midwifes,obstetricians,refinement,tariffs,vaginal labor |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01812107&r=eur |
| By: | Alex Bryson (University College London, National Institute of Social and Economic Research and Institute for the Study of Labor); Lucy Stokes (National Institute of Social and Economic Research); David Wilkinson (University College London, National Institute of Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Using nationally representative linked employer-employee data for Britain in 2004 and 2011 we find school staff are more satisfied and more contented with their jobs than "like" employees in other workplaces. The differentials are largely accounted for by the occupations school employees undertake and perceptions of job quality. School employees are also more committed to their organization than non-school employees, a difference that remains large and statistically significant having conditioned on job quality, human resource management practices (HRM), managerial style and other features of employees' working environment. Using panel data for workplaces and their employees observed in 2004 and 2011 we find increases in organizational commitment are linked to improvements in workplace performance in schools, but not in other workplaces. |
| Keywords: | schools; teachers; job satisfaction; job contentment; organizational commitment; school performance; human resource management; managerial style |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1803&r=eur |
| By: | John Forth (National Institute of Social and Economic Research); Alex Bryson (University College London, National Institute of Social and Economic Research and Institute for the Study of Labor) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of management practices on firm performance among SMEs in Britain over the period 2011-2014, using a unique dataset which links survey data on management practices with firm performance data from the UK's official business register. We find that SMEs are less likely to use formal management practices than larger firms, but that such practices have demonstrable benefits for those who use them, helping firms to grow and increasing their productivity. The returns are most apparent for those SMEs that invest in human resource management practices, such as training and performance-related pay, and those that set formal performance targets. |
| Keywords: | SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; employment growth; high-growth firms; productivity; workplace closure; management practices; HRM; recession |
| JEL: | L25 L26 M12 M52 M53 |
| Date: | 2018–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1804&r=eur |
| By: | Nilsen, Øivind A. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Raknerud, Arvid (Statistics Norway); Iancu, Diana-Cristina (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | We analyse all the major sources of direct and indirect R&D subsidies in Norway in the period 2002-2013 and compare their effects on individual firms’ performance. Firms that received support are matched with a control group of firms that did not receive support using a combination of stratification and propensity score matching. Changes in performance indicators before and after support in the treatment group are compared With contemporaneous changes in the control group. We find that the average effects of R&D support among those who obtained grants and/or subsidies are positive and significant in terms of performance indicators related to economic growth: value added, sales revenue and number of employees. The estimated effects are larger for start-up firms than incumbent firms when the effects are measured as relative effects (in percentage points), but smaller when these effects are translated into level effects. Finally, we do not find positive effects on return to total assets or productivity for firms who received support compared with the control group. |
| Keywords: | Public policy; Firm performance; Treatment effects; Stratification; Propensity score matching; Productivity |
| JEL: | C33 C52 D24 O38 |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2018_013&r=eur |
| By: | A. Arrighetti; F. Landini; E. Bartoloni |
| Abstract: | An extensive literature documents large and persistent within-industry heterogeneity of firm performance. While some authors explain such evidence in terms of factor misallocation, we provide an alternative framework that is based on the interaction among exogenous and endogenous factors. Exogenous factors, both supply and demand-related, define the opportunity set that is available to firms. Endogenous factors reflect instead firm-specific interpretations of such set, which combined with the available resources and capabilities determine firm’s strategic responses that can be markedly heterogeneous. Whenever the diversity of firm conducts is associated with relatively small profit differentials, firm heterogeneity can persist. Evidence based on the evolution of labour productivity and profit dispersion in the Italian manufacturing sector between the 1990s and early 2000s provides support for our interpretative framework. |
| Keywords: | Firm heterogeneity; productivity; profit; misallocation; capabilities; Italy |
| JEL: | D24 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:par:dipeco:2018-ep02&r=eur |
| By: | Bart Golsteyn (Maastricht University and SOFI); Stefa Hirsch (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Intergenerational mobility is often studied using survey data. In such settings, selective unit or item non-response may bias estimates. Linking Dutch survey data to administrative income data allows us to examine whether selective responses bias the estimated relationship between parental income and children’s mathematics and language test scores in grades 6 and 9. We find that the estimates of these relationships are biased downward due to parental unit non-response, while they are biased upwards due to item non-response. In the analyses of both unit and item non-response, the point estimates for language and mathematics test scores point in the same direction but only one of the two relationships is significant. These findings suggest that estimates of intergenerational mobility based on survey data need to be interpreted with caution because they may be biased by selective non-response. The direction of such bias is difficult to predict a priori. Bias due to unit and item non-response may work in opposing directions and may differ across outcomes. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, unit non-response, item non-response |
| JEL: | I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-040&r=eur |
| By: | Lugilde, Alba |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to study empirically the existence of precautionary saving in Spain using the micro data provided by the Spanish Survey of Household Finances. Using the panel component of these data I construct a measure of income risk, and use it to test for the strength of precautionary saving. I find that an increase of 1% in the standard deviation of income reduces household consumption by 5-7% depending on the specified model. |
| Keywords: | income risk; precautionary saving; panel data |
| JEL: | D12 D14 D91 |
| Date: | 2018–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87110&r=eur |
| By: | Girsberger, Esther Mirjam; Rinawi, Miriam; Krapf, Matthias (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | How skills acquired in vocational education and training (VET) affect wages and employment is not clear. We develop and estimate a search and matching model for workers with a VET degree. Workers differ in interpersonal, cognitive and manual skills, while firms require and value different combinations of these skills. Assuming that match productivity exhibits worker-job complementarity, we estimate how interpersonal, cognitive and manual skills map into job offers, unemployment and wages. We find that firms value cognitive skills on average almost twice as much as interpersonal and manual skills, and they prize complementarity in cognitive and interpersonal skills. The average return to VET skills in hourly wages is 9%, similar to the returns to schooling. Furthermore, VET appears to improve labour market opportunities through higher job arrival rate and lower job destruction. Workers thus have large benefits from acquiring a VET degree. |
| Keywords: | Occupational training; vocational education; labor market search; sorting; multidimensional skills |
| JEL: | E24 J33 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2018/16&r=eur |
| By: | Eric Bartelsman (VU Amsterdam); Paloma Lopez-Garcia (ECB); Giorgio Presidente (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses cross-country micro-aggregated data on rm dynamics and productivity from the ECB CompNet database to provide empirical evidence on factor reallocation in the EU. The analysis fi nds that reallocation is towards more productive firms although the magnitude varies across countries and over time. Variation in reallocation is related to structural di fferences in firm size distribution across countries as well as to variation in labor and product market institutions. Productivity enhancing reallocation generally rises in downturns but, similar to findings for the US, it did not pick up in the great recession. The sharp drop in exports and tightness in credit markets are seen to provide a partial explanation for this lack of a silver lining. |
| Keywords: | Great Recession; Factor Reallocation |
| JEL: | C8 D24 E32 F4 |
| Date: | 2018–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20180057&r=eur |
| By: | George APOSTOLAKIS (Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Department of Economics, University of Crete); Gert VAN DIJK (Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; TIAS School for Business and Society, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Centre for Entrepreneurship, Governance & Stewardship, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands.) |
| Abstract: | Retirement planning is a key component in achieving retirement goals and fulfilling retirement expectations. Although several socio-economic and psychological factors associated with retirement planning have been reported in the literature, little is known about the influence that specific retirement-related issues have on retirement planning. In this paper, we examine the influence of five retirement concerns – the individual’s financial situation, living situation, care provision, health condition, and loneliness – on retirement planning. Our dataset is derived from a 2010 web-based survey in the care and wellbeing sector in the Netherlands. |
| Keywords: | healthcare; retirement planning; uncertainty |
| JEL: | D12 D60 G23 I31 J26 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:1803&r=eur |
| By: | Christine Benesch; Simon Loretz; David Stadelmann; Tobias Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically explores the link between mass media coverage of migration and immigration worries. Using detailed data on media coverage in Germany, we show that the amount of media reports regarding migration issues is positively associated with concerns about immigration among the German population. The association is robust to the inclusion of time-variant individual control variables and individual fixed-effects. We employ media spillovers from the neighboring country of Switzerland, which occur due to referendum decisions on immigration as an instrumental variable to address endogeneity concerns. The IV estimates suggest that media coverage has a causal impact on immigration worries. Exploring heterogeneous effects between respondents, the results reveal that the link between media reports and immigration worries is particularly relevant for women and respondents active in the workforce. |
| Keywords: | media, migration, news spillovers, political attitudes |
| JEL: | L8 D7 F2 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp970&r=eur |
| By: | Erling Barth (Institute for Social Research, Oslo, and NBER); Alex Bryson (University College London, National Institute of Social and Economic Research and Institute for the Study of Labor); Harald Dale-Olsen (Institute for Social Research, Oslo) |
| Abstract: | We exploit tax-induced exogenous variance in the price of union membership to identify the effects of changes in firm union density on firm productivity and wages in the population of Norwegian firms over the period 2001 to 2012. Increases in union density lead to substantial increases in firm productivity and wages having accounted for the potential endogeneity of unionization. The wage effect is larger in more productive firms, consistent with rent-sharing models. |
| Keywords: | Trade unions; Union density; Productivity; Wages |
| JEL: | J01 J08 J50 J51 |
| Date: | 2017–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1711&r=eur |
| By: | Eyal Bar-Haim; Louis Chauvel; Janet Gornick; Anne Hartung |
| Abstract: | Studying twelve countries over 30 years, we examine whether women’s educational expansion has translated into a closing gender earnings gap. As educational attainment is cohort-dependent, an Age-Period-Cohort analysis is most appropriate in our view. Using the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) data, we show that while in terms of attainment of tertiary education women have caught up and often even outperform men, substantial gender differences in earnings persist in all countries. These results are consistent with the composition of the top earnings decile. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods, we demonstrate that the role of education in explaining the gender earnings gap has been limited and even decreased over cohorts. Contrary, employment status as well as occupation explain a more substantial part in all countries. We conclude that earnings differences at levels far from gender equality likely also persist in the future, even if the “rise of women†in terms of education continues. |
| Keywords: | -gender gap, education, earnings, age-period-cohort analysis, Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition |
| JEL: | J7 N30 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:737&r=eur |
| By: | Niccodemi, Gianmaria (University of Groningen); Bijwaard, Govert (NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute) |
| Abstract: | Several studies have found a positive association between education and health. Confounding factors that a ect both education choices and health, such as (ob- served) parental background and (unobserved) intelligence, may play an important role in shaping this association. In this paper we estimate the impact of education on diseases in old age, accounting for this endogeneity. Our estimates are based on administrative data on men born in 1944–1947, who were examined for military service in the Netherlands between 1961–1965, linked to national death and medication use records. We assume medication use identifies diseases. We estimate a structural model, consisting of (i) an ordered probit model for the educational attainment, (ii) a Gompertz mortality model for survival up to old age, (iii) a probit model for medication use in old age and, (iv) a measurement system using IQ tests to identify latent intelligence. Educational choices, surviving up to old age and medication use all depend on observed individual factors and on latent intelligence. Based on the estimation results, we derive the impact of education on diseases in old age. Our empirical results reveal a strong effect of education on physical diseases, but low or no effect of education on depression and anxiety. |
| Keywords: | educational inequality, intelligence, medication use, structural equation model |
| JEL: | I14 I24 C35 C38 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11605&r=eur |
| By: | Díaz-Caro, Carlos; Onrubia Fernández, Jorge |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze how Spanish taxpayers have responded to the introduction of the dual personal income tax model in 2007. The authors estimate the elasticity of taxable income (ETI) with respect to the marginal net tax rate for different groups of taxpayers by sex, marital status and age, separating the substitution effect from the income effect. For the empirical analysis, they use microdata from the Spanish personal income tax return panel disseminated by the Spanish Institute of Fiscal Studies. The main results show that the 2007 tax reform resulted in a range of elasticity values from 0.41 to 0.43, while the estimated income effect yields a negative value of -0.18. The results for the different taxpayer groups are as follows: the removal of retired people from the sample significantly reduces the ETI; elasticity is higher for women than for men; single people have a considerably higher elasticity than married taxpayers; and the ETI decreases with age. Additionally, the authors find that the marginal cost of public funds increased after the reform, and the top marginal tax rate is above optimal. |
| Keywords: | elasticity of taxable income (ETI),tax reforms,dual income tax,marginal cost of public funds,optimal tax rates |
| JEL: | H21 H24 H31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201848&r=eur |
| By: | Marcén, Miriam; Morales, Marina |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether there is a relationship between the recent economic and financial crisis and air passengers in Spain. Static and dynamic models are estimated using data for the period 2004-2016. Initially, no relationship can be discerned between the variables; however, the estimates also show a possible dynamic relationship between the economic crisis and the number of passengers using Spanish airports, depending on the proportion of low-cost airlines at each airport. |
| Keywords: | Economic crisis, Air passengers, Low-cost airlines |
| JEL: | L83 L93 |
| Date: | 2018–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87907&r=eur |
| By: | Ajayi, V.; Reiner, D. |
| Abstract: | We investigate the direct role of technological innovation and other influencing factors on industry-level energy intensity based on a sample of 12 industries across 17 EU countries over 1995–2009. We develop an innovative industry-level patent dataset and find compelling evidence that patent stock negatively influences industrial energy intensity. Using a fixed effects estimator, we find a much stronger effect on energy-intensive industries with an estimated coefficient of -0.138 almost double that of less energy-intensive industries (estimated at -0.085). While our results show energy price remains the major determinant of energy intensity, the chemicals industry appears to be more susceptible to energy prices relative to other energy-intensive industries that are covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Our study reveals that asymmetric response of energy intensity to energy prices in which price rises between 2004 and 2008 accounts for more change in efficiency than when prices fall. We also explore regional differences, notably that carbon tax policy in Northern European countries, which began in the early 1990s, is responsible for a significant fraction of the decline in energy intensity in Northern Europe. |
| Keywords: | Industrial energy intensity, innovation, energy price, carbon tax |
| JEL: | O13 C33 Q41 Q55 |
| Date: | 2018–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1835&r=eur |
| By: | Bavaro, Michele |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a method to estimate intergenerational mobility that takes into account the multidimensionality of the phenomenon. The first premise is that status is unobserved; hence, it must be analysed through latent variable and factor analysis models. The second premise is that the transmission of economic status is a multidimensional phenomenon. The dimensions selected for the status measurement are the resources detained, the occupation performed and the level of education. The results demonstrate that the adoption of a multidimensional approach to the mobility phenomenon severely reduces the estimates of mobility with respect to the unidimensional approach. The empirical application is based on the German SOEP data and the British BHPS-UKHLS. |
| Date: | 2018–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2018-09&r=eur |
| By: | Pollitt, M. |
| Abstract: | The European single market in electricity has been promoted vigorously by the European Commission since 1996. We discuss how national electricity markets and cross border electricity markets have been reshaped by the process. We examine the Commission’s own work on evaluating the benefits of the single market. We look at the wider evidence of impact on prices, security of supply, the environment and on innovation. We conclude that the institutional changes are extensive and there has been significant market harmonisation and integration. However, the measured benefits are difficult to identify, but likely to be small. This is partly because over the same period there has been a large rise in subsidised renewable generation driven by the decarbonisation agenda. |
| Keywords: | electricity single market, decarbonisation |
| JEL: | L94 |
| Date: | 2018–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1832&r=eur |