|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2018‒07‒30
thirty-six papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Matthias Collischon; Kamila Cygan-Rehm; Regina T. Riphahn |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits several reforms of wage subsidies in the framework of the German Minijob program to investigate substitution and complementarity relationships between subsidized and non-subsidized labor demand. We apply an instrumental variables approach and use administrative data on German establishments for the period 1999-2014. Particularly in small establishments (0-9 employees), subsidized Minijob employment comprises large shares of the work force, on average over 40 percent. For these establishments, robust evidence shows that increasing the subsidization of Minijob employment crowds out non-subsidized employment. Our results imply that Minijob employment in 2014 may have eliminated more than 0.5 million unsubsidized employment relationships just in small establishments. |
| Keywords: | wage subsidy, Minijob, labor demand, substitution effect, crowding out effect, displacement effect, employment, payroll tax |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J38 C26 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7111&r=eur |
| By: | Philippe Jacques; Marie-Louise Leroux; Dalibor Stevanovic |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of first-pillar public pensions spending on the prevalence of poverty among the elderly. Using data from 27 European countries from 1995 to 2014, we estimate the elasticity of the poverty rate among individuals aged over 65 years to per capita public pension spending. We show the existence of a nonlinear relationship between these two variables. The elasticity is negative and statistically different from 0 only beyond a level of spending of 685 Euro per capita. At the average value of 2,819 Euro, it is estimated that the elasticity is about -1.45. This nonlinear relation is robust to the treatment of possible endogeneity and to different robustness checks like the variation of the poverty line, and the inclusion of country-specific differences in public pension plans. |
| Keywords: | Ageing, Poverty, Income Inequalities, Public Pension Systems, Panel Data |
| JEL: | H55 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1807&r=eur |
| By: | Gibbons, Stephen; Scrutinio, Vincenzo; Telhaj, Shqiponja |
| Abstract: | Recent research has established that teachers matter for student achievements, albeit because of dimensions of ‘teacher quality’ that are largely unexplained. A less closely investigated issue is whether teacher turnover directly harms student academic achievement. In this paper, we examine whether teacher turnover affects academic achievement of 16 year old state secondary school students using a unique data set of linked students and teachers in England. Identification comes from either: a school fixed effects design which exploits year-on-year variation in turnover in different subject groups, within schools; or student fixed effect design that where the variation comes from the cross sectional variation in turnover in different subjects, in the same school, experienced by a student. Both methods give similar results, suggesting that a higher teacher entry rate reduces students’ test scores, albeit by small amounts. |
| Keywords: | teachers; turnover; student attainment; schools |
| JEL: | H4 I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88681&r=eur |
| By: | Boschini, Anne (SOFI, Stockholm University); Gunnarsson, Kristin (Department of Economics); Roine, Jesper (SITE, Stockholm School of Economics,) |
| Abstract: | Using a large, register-based panel data set we study gender differences in top incomes in Sweden over the period 1974-2013. We find that, while women are still a minority of the top decile group, and make up a smaller share the higher up in the distribution we move, their presence has steadily increased in all top groups over the past four decades. Top income women are wealthier and rely more on capital incomes, but the difference, relative to men, has decreased since the 1970s. Over this period capital incomes have in general become more important in the top, but the share of working-rich women has gone up, while the opposite is true for men. Realized capital gains are more important for top income women but turn out to be of a more transitory nature than for men. Mobility is generally higher for top income women compared to top income men but the trend since the 1990s is toward increased gender equality in this respect too. Finally, we find important differences between top income women and men in terms of marital status and family composition. Overall, our results suggest that many of the findings in the top income literature have a clear gender component and that understanding gender equality in the top of the distribution requires studying not only earnings and labour market outcomes but also incomes from other sources. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality; income distribution; gender inequality; top incomes; capital incomes; realized capital gains |
| JEL: | D13 D31 H20 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2018_003&r=eur |
| By: | Jesús Peiró-Palomino (Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo (Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes a composite indicator of well-being for 168 European regions built with data from 10 well-being domains provided by the OECD Regional Well- being Dataset. Regions are then ranked according to their respective levels of well-being. Furthermore, the role of the quality of regional governments in explaining well-being dis- parities is assessed using data from the Quality of Government EU Regional Dataset. Results reveal notable well-being differences across European regions, especially between core and periphery ones, with the former enjoying higher well-being. In addition, government quali- ty is found to boost regional well-being, although uneven impacts are found for core and periphery regions. |
| Keywords: | Composite well-being indicators; European regions; government quality |
| JEL: | C14 C61 I31 H41 R50 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2018/06&r=eur |
| By: | Giuseppe Berlingieri; Sara Calligaris; Chiara Criscuolo |
| Abstract: | Ever since Moore (1911) a large empirical and theoretical literature has established the existence of a firm size-wage premium. At the same time, a second regularity in empirical work, linking size and productivity, has inspired a vast literature in multiple fields. However, the majority of the existing evidence is based on manufacturing data only. With manufacturing nowadays accounting for a very small share of the economy in many countries, whether productivity, size, and wages are closely linked, and how tight this link is across sectors, is still an open question. Using a unique dataset that collects micro-aggregated firm-level information on productivity, size, and wages for the entire economy in 17 countries over the 1994-2012 period, this paper unveils a much more subtle picture. First, while in the manufacturing sector both productivity and wages increase monotonically with firm size, the same is not true in the service sector. Second, a tight and positive link between wages and productivity is instead found in both manufacturing and services. The combination of these results suggests that, when looking at data for a much larger share of the economy, the ``size-wage premium' becomes more a "productivity-wage premium'". Unbundling the relationship between size, wages, and productivity has first-order policy implications for both workers and firms. |
| Keywords: | productivity, size-premium, wages |
| JEL: | E2 D2 J3 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1557&r=eur |
| By: | Esther Mirjam Girsberger; Miriam Rinawi; Matthias Krapf |
| 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 J23 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7114&r=eur |
| By: | Audrey Berry (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - AgroParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) |
| Abstract: | For households, taxing carbon raises the cost of the energy they use to heat their home and to travel. This paper studies the distributional impacts of the recently introduced French carbon tax and the design of compensation measures. Using a microsimulation model built on a representative sample of the French population from 2012, I simulate for each household the taxes levied on its consumption of energy for housing and transport. Without recycling, the carbon tax is regressive and increases fuel poverty. However, I show how compensation measures can offset these impacts. A flat cash transfer offsets tax regressivity by redistributing |
| Keywords: | Carbon tax,Distributional impacts,Fuel poverty,Revenue recycling,Microsimulation |
| Date: | 2018–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01691088&r=eur |
| By: | Frédéric Ghersi (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - AgroParisTech - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) |
| Abstract: | This working paper details in 3 sections (i) the data collection and treatment that were necessary to apply IMACLIM-P to a 28-country European Union (EU); (ii) the particulars of a version of IMACLIMP dedicated to a prospective outlook on the penetration of electric passenger cars in the EU, including how results of the PAN-EU TIMES model of energy systems can be imported in IMACLIMP, together with the complete set of equations of the model; (iii) model implementation. |
| Date: | 2018–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01691740&r=eur |
| By: | Alberto Alesina (Harvard University [Cambridge], IGIER); Johann Harnoss (UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Hillel Rapoport (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) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution in Europe. Using data for 28 European countries from the European Social Survey, we .nd that native workers lower their support for redistribution if the share of immigration in their country is high. This effect is larger for individuals who hold negative views regarding immigration but is smaller when immigrants are culturally closer to natives and come from richer origin countries. The effect also varies with native workers' and immigrants' education. In particular, more educated natives (in terms of formal education but also job-specic human capital and ocupation task skill intensity) support more redistribution if immigrants are also relatively educated. To address endogeneity concerns, we restrict identification to within country and within country-occupation variation and also instrument immigration using a gravity model. Overall, our results show that the negative .First-order effect of immigration on attitudes to redistribution is relatively small and counterbalanced among skilled natives by positive second-order effects for the quality and diversity of immigration. |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01707760&r=eur |
| By: | Meroni, Elena Claudia (European Commission, Joint Research Centre); Piazzalunga, Daniela (University of Verona); Pronzato, Chiara D. (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the effects of extra-school activities on children's non-cognitive development, using data from the Millennium Cohort Study (UK) and focusing on children aged 7-11 years old. We classify the time spent out of school into six homogenous groups of activities, using principal component analysis, and estimate the relationship thereof with five behavioural dimensions drawn from the Strength and Difficulties questionnaire, exploiting the panel structure of the data. Results show the beneficial effects on children's behaviour of sports, school-related activities, time with parents and household chores, while a small detrimental effect of video-screen time is detected. We test the robustness of our estimates against omitted variable bias, and the results are confirmed. We also observe that children from more advantaged backgrounds have easier access to more beneficial activities. Overall, our results suggest that different uses of time may reinforce inequalities across children from different backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | child time use, extra-curricular activities, Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire, longitudinal data, Millennium Cohort Study, non-cognitive development, omitted variable bias |
| JEL: | J13 D1 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11606&r=eur |
| By: | Engström, Per (Department of Economics and UCFS, Uppsala University, Sweden); Nordblom, Katarina (Department of Economics and CeCAR, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and UCFS, Uppsala University); Stefánsson, Arnaldur (Department of Economics, UCFS and UCLS, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We study what determines taxpayers’ deduction behavior when filing tax returns. Preliminary deficits might be viewed as losses assuming zero preliminary balance as reference point. Swedish taxpayers may escape these losses by claiming deductions after receiving information about the preliminary balance. Furthermore, the Swedish income tax system has a substantial kink (20 percentage points) where the central government tax applies. Taxpayers slightly above the governmental tax kink have substantially higher (standard economic) incentives to claim deductions than taxpayers slightly below the kink. Using a regression kink and discontinuity approach with individual fixed effects, we study a panel of 4.1 million Swedish taxpayers in 1999 to 2006. We find strong causal effects of preliminary deficits on the probability of claiming deductions. The initial empirical evidence for a kink in deduction probability at the central government threshold, anticipated by standard economic theory, is weaker but significant. However, a more detailed analysis reveals that the kink at the tax threshold is not likely due to the tax incentives per se. When controlling for the preliminary tax deficit, the kink at the tax threshold disappears. Taxpayers just above the tax kink are namely more likely to run a preliminary tax deficit than those just below it. Hence, the most plausible explanation also for the kink at the tax threshold is therefore loss aversion and not standard economic incentives. The Swedish taxpayers are thus “misbehaving”, in a Thaler (2015) sense, on two separate margins: they are highly loss averse but surprisingly inattentive to standard monetary incentives. |
| Keywords: | tax compliance; loss aversion; prospect theory; quasi-experiment; regression kink; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | C21 D91 H24 H26 |
| Date: | 2018–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2018_008&r=eur |
| By: | Hufe, Paul (ZEW Mannheim); Kanbur, Ravi (Cornell University); Peichl, Andreas (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Rising income inequalities are widely debated in public and academic discourse. In this paper, we contribute to this debate by proposing a new family of measures of unfair inequality. To do so, we acknowledge that inequality is not bad per se, but that its underlying sources need to be taken into account. Thereby, this paper is the first to reconcile two prominent fairness principles, namely equality of opportunity and freedom from poverty, into a joint measure of unfair inequality. Two empirical applications provide important new insights on the development of unfair inequality both over time (in the US) and across countries (in Europe). First, unfair inequality shows different time trends and country rankings compared to total inequality. Second, average unfair inequality doubles when complementing the ideal of an equal opportunity society with poverty aversion. Furthermore, we show that an exclusive focus on top incomes may misguide fairness judgments. |
| Keywords: | inequality, equality of opportunity, poverty, fairness, measurement |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I32 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11601&r=eur |
| By: | Giuseppe Marotta |
| Abstract: | We investigate the puzzle of choices of dominated personal pension instruments in Italy, with insurers’ products (PIPs) much more subscribed than shares of open pension funds offered by banks (FPAs). We find evidence, using the three waves of Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) between 2010 and 2014, of a sales force effect deriving from a network of post offices and independent financial advisors associated with insurance companies much more widespread than bank branches. We document that financial literacy has a significant dampening effect on the supply push factor only for PIPs, and especially for the subset with voluntary matching employers’ contributions. The effect is detected mostly in the 2014 SHIW wave, the one fully affected by the implementation of the pension system reform legislated in December 2011. |
| Keywords: | ension system reform, Financial literacy, Retail financial products distribution, Italy |
| JEL: | D91 E21 G11 H55 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:wcefin:0072&r=eur |
| By: | Nelly El-Mallakh |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of the 2014 family policy reforms in France on fertility choices and labor supply for both women and men. Using a unique policy episode that consisted in conditioning the amount of basic allowances of early childhood benefits on household income, I employ a Regression-Discontinuity Design (RDD) to examine the impact of this sharp discontinuity in the provision of child benefits on fertility and the hours of work of women and men. The analysis relies on data from the Statistics on Resources and Living Conditions in France. The dataset has the unique feature of providing administrative information on both income and social benefits. Using a “sharp” RDD specification, the results suggest that not being eligible to any family allowances for children decreases the birth probability at the household level. The results also highlight that receiving half the amount of the family allowances for children or not receiving any allowances leads to an increase in the number of hours of work per week for both women and men, compared to individuals who are eligible to the total amount of child benefits. These results are in line with the literature showing that the elimination of welfare programs is associated with an increase in working hours. |
| Keywords: | family policy, child allowances, fertility, labor supply. |
| JEL: | H53 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2018-30&r=eur |
| By: | Danzer, Alexander M. (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, IZA, CReAM, and CESifo); Feuerbaum, Carsten (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt); Piopiunik, Marc (ifo Institute at the University of Munich and CESifo); Woessmann, Ludger (University of Munich, ifo Institute, IZA, and CESifo) |
| 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 Classification: J15 ; I20 ; R23 ; J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:380&r=eur |
| By: | Nikolova, Milena |
| Abstract: | Drawing upon theoretical insights from the Job Demand-Control model, which links occupational characteristics to health, this paper provides the first causal evidence of the physical and mental health consequences of self-employment. Specifically, I utilize German longitudinal data for the period 2002-2014 and difference-in-differences estimations and find that both switches from unemployment to self-employment (necessity entrepreneurship) and transitions from regular employment to self-employment (opportunity entrepreneurship) lead to health enhancements for entrepreneurs with and without employees. Specifically, necessity entrepreneurs experience improvements in mental but not physical health, while opportunity entrepreneurship is associated with both physical and mental health gains, which is in line with the theoretical predictions. Importantly, the health improvements cannot be explained by changes in income or working conditions and are not driven by personality and risk preferences or the local unemployment conditions. The results have implications for entrepreneurship theory and practice, current and would-be entrepreneurs as well as policy-makers. |
| Keywords: | mental health,physical health,self-employment,difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I10 J01 L26 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:226&r=eur |
| By: | Kohl, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | America's "infatuation with homeownership" has been identified as one cause of the latest financial crisis. Based on codings of 1,809 party manifestos in 19 OECD countries since 1945, this paper addresses the question of where the political ideal to democratize homeownership came from. While conservative parties have defended homeownership across countries and time, center-left parties have oscillated between a pro-homeownership and a pro-rental position. The former occurs in Anglo-Saxon, Northern and Southern European countries, while the latter prevails among German-speaking countries. Beyond partisan effects, once a country has a majority of homeowners and parties defending homeownership, larger parties are more likely to support it. The extent of center-left parties' support for homeownership is conditionally associated with higher homeownership rates, more encouraging mortgage regimes, and a bigger housing bubble burst after 2007. The ideational origins of the financialization of housing and private Keynesianism are, after all, not only conservative and market-liberal. |
| Keywords: | comparative politics,homeownership,political economy,Hauseigentum,politische Ökonomie,vergleichende Parteienforschung |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:186&r=eur |
| By: | Miguel A. Meléndez-Jiménez (Department of Economics, University of Málaga); Arnold Polanski (School of Economics, University of East Anglia) |
| Abstract: | We apply a network approach to analyze individual and aggregate consumption that generates predominately local pollution (e.g., noise, water and air quality, waste disposal sites). This allows us to relate the individual pollution levels to network centralities and to design policy measures aimed at reducing the aggregate contamination. We then apply our theoretical framework to analyze the European data on fossil fuel energy consumption and discuss possible transfer schemes that, according to our model, would result in lower aggregate levels of pollution in the EU. |
| Keywords: | local pollution, negative externalities, networks |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mal:wpaper:2018-6&r=eur |
| By: | Julien Jourdan (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris-Dauphine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Firms increasingly face fragmented institutional environments where stakeholders endorse different institutional logics. While the effects of market specialization have been extensively studied, we don't know much about the firm-level implications of institutional specialization, i.e. when firms demonstrate consistent conformity to an institutional logic. In this study, I explore whether and to what extent institutional specialization affects firm survival. In contrast with arguments and evidence highlighting the potential negative survival effect of market specialization, I posit that institutional specialization is positively associated with survival. Because they may be more skilled at interacting with stakeholders, which perceive them as more appealing and understandable, institutional specialists, I argue, are more likely than other firms to form and maintain the reciprocal stakeholder relationships needed to operate and survive. I expect the survival benefit of institutional specialization to be accentuated when the contrast between logics decreases. I test and find support for these ideas using unique population data on French film producers (1994-2008). |
| Keywords: | Corporate Strategy,Institutional Theory,Industry Dynamics |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01819590&r=eur |
| By: | Escarce, José J.; Rocco, Lorenzo |
| Abstract: | Previous research has found that immigration benefits the health of working-age natives, an effect mediated through the labor market. We use the Study of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to investigate whether immigration also affects the health of natives 65-80 years old. Immigration may increase the supply and lower the price of personal and household services, a term that refers to care services and non-care services such as cleaning, meal preparation, and domestic chores. Higher consumption of personal and household services by older natives may help maintain health through a variety of pathways. Using a shift-share IV, we find pervasive beneficial effects of immigration on the physical and mental health of older natives. We also find evidence for the hypothesized pathways, especially for an effect of immigration in increasing social integration (e.g., institutional connections, social participation). However, our ability to test mechanisms is limited in our data. |
| Keywords: | Health,immigration,aging,social determinants |
| JEL: | I12 I14 J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:228&r=eur |
| By: | Erixson, Oscar (Department of Economics); Escobar, Sebastian (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | There is an ongoing debate about whether inheritance and estate taxes are effective in raising revenues and in contributing to a more equal society. The different views on transfer taxes are largely dependent on beliefs about whether people plan their wealth to avoid these taxes. In this paper, we follow Kopczuk (2007) and study people’s planning response to the onset of terminal illness. An extension of Kopczuk’s work is that we can effectively control for responses in wealth caused by terminal illness but unrelated to tax planning. We do this by exploiting a tax reform in Sweden that removed the incentives for people to plan their estates to avoid inheritance taxation. We find some evidence of long-term terminal illness inducing responses consistent with tax planning, but that these are not widespread or efficient enough to reduce the overall tax burden in the study population. Our results, similarly to those of Kopczuk, show that people appear to postpone some decisions about their estates until shortly before death. |
| Keywords: | tax avoidance; tax evasion; tax reform; terminal illness |
| JEL: | D14 D64 H26 H31 |
| Date: | 2018–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2018_005&r=eur |
| By: | Asma Benhenda (University College London, Institute of Education) |
| Abstract: | I study the relationship between systematic and complementary screening and on-the-job teacher evaluations by their hierarchy, and teacher performance in secondary school. Using comprehensive French administrative data, I exploit within student across topics variations and I find that the classroom observation grade is the only evaluation grade significantly related to teacher performance. I then investigate whether the classroom observation has an impact on teacher performance and behaviour during the year of evaluation and in subsequent years. An event study shows that the classroom observation has no statistically significant impact on student achievement. I find that teachers are more absent during the months following the evaluation, suggesting that this evaluation provokes a temporary change in teacher behaviour. |
| JEL: | I2 J2 M51 |
| Date: | 2018–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1806&r=eur |
| By: | Cahuc, Pierre; Kramarz, Francis; Nevoux, Sandra |
| Abstract: | Short-time work programs were revived by the Great Recession. To understand their operating mechanisms, we first provide a model showing that short-time work may save jobs in firms hit by strong negative revenue shocks, but not in less severely-hit firms, where hours worked are reduced, without saving jobs. The cost of saving jobs is low because short-time work targets those at risk of being destroyed. Using extremely detailed data on the administration of the program covering the universe of French establishments, we devise a causal identification strategy based on the geography of the program that demonstrates that short-time work saved jobs in firms faced with large drops in their revenues during the Great Recession, in particular when highly levered, but only in these firms. The measured cost per saved job is shown to be very low relative to that of other employment policies. |
| Keywords: | employment; Short-time work; unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 J22 J65 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13041&r=eur |
| By: | Raquel Fonseca; Pierre-Carl Michaud; Yuhui Zheng |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds light on the causal relationship between education and health outcomes. We combine three surveys (SHARE, HRS and ELSA) that include nationally representative samples of people aged 50 and over from fifteen OECD countries. We use variations in the timing of educational reforms across these countries as an instrument for education. Using IV-Probit models, we find causal evidence that more years of education lead to a lower probability of reporting poor health, less likely of having limitations in functional status (ADL and iADLs), and lower prevalence for diabetes. These effects are larger than those from the Probit that do not control for the endogeneity of education. The relationship between education and cancer is positive in both Probit and IV-Probit models. The causal impacts of education on other chronic conditions as well as functional status are not established using IV-Probit models. |
| Keywords: | education, health, causality, compulsory schooling laws |
| JEL: | I1 I2 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1802&r=eur |
| By: | Bonaventura, Luigi; Cellini, Roberto; Sambataro, Mario |
| Abstract: | This article provides the estimation of a basic version of the Okun law in the Italian regions, distinguishing between male and female unemployment rate. It shows that relevant differences exist across the regions, concerning not only the size of the Okun coefficients, but also the different sensitivity of male and female unemployment rate to GDP growth. While in Northern regions, the change of female unemployment is more sensitive to the variation of GDP as compared to the male unemployment, the opposite occurs in the Southern regions (characterized by lower GDP and higher unemployment rates), where the Okun coefficient is insignificant for women in several cases. |
| Keywords: | Okun's law; Unemployment; GDP; Regions; Italy. |
| JEL: | J70 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87557&r=eur |
| By: | Bögenhold, Dieter; Permana, Muhammad Yorga |
| Abstract: | The paper is about a socioeconomics and sociology of middle classes in a theoretical discussion and empirically focussing at “middle class” segments of different European societies for the time period between 2003 and 2014. The argumentation is strongly embedded to Schumpeterian thought of evolutionary economics but it is tried to link discussion about “creative destruction” to digitalization and the evolution of stratified societies in Europe on international comparison. The paper attempts to question assumptions of growing inequality theoretically and empirically by referring to Collins’ thesis of an increased de-middledization. We argue that the ability of ICT innovations (i.e. digitalization) to perform specialized, routine, and predicted tasks better than human allows them to supress middle skilled labor, affect to the polarization of jobs, and finally lead to de-middledization. |
| Keywords: | society, digital age, middle-class, European societies, creative destruction, |
| JEL: | J11 O1 O10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87202&r=eur |
| By: | Amberg, Niklas (Department of Finance); Jacobson, Tor (Research Department, Central Bank of Sweden); von Schedvin , Erik (Research Department, Central Bank of Sweden) |
| Abstract: | We empirically investigate the proposition that firms charge premia on cash prices in transactions involving trade credit. Using a comprehensive Swedish panel dataset on product-level transaction prices and firm-characteristics, we relate trade credit issuance to price setting. In a recession characterized by tightened credit conditions, we find that prices increase significantly more on products sold by firms issuing more trade credit, reflecting their larger exposures to increased funding costs and counterparty risks. Our results thus demonstrate the importance of trade credit for price setting and show that trade credit issuance induces a channel through which financial frictions affect prices. |
| Keywords: | Trade credit; prices; inflation; liquidity; counterparty risk |
| JEL: | D22 E31 E32 G30 L11 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:rbnkwp:0354&r=eur |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat; Stefania Simion |
| Abstract: | Reforms in higher education funding, which have taken England from offering free-of-charge, full-time undergraduate studies to being one of the most expensive systems in the OECD, have led to a reduction in the participation gap among those entering university from higher and lower socio-economic groups. Returning to free higher education would not enhance equity: students are still disproportionately from high-income households. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, tuition fees, means-tested support, career choices, career outcomes |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I29 J30 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:536&r=eur |
| By: | Andreas M. Fischer; Lucca Zachmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of household income on interest credits from early tax payments. The hypothesis that the richest households from high-income municipalities pay their income taxes early is tested in a demand specification for interest credit for early tax payments. The empirical analysis uses regional data from 170 municipalities in the canton of Zurich from 2007 to 2013. A one standard deviation increase in the ratio for household income between the mean and the 75th percentile increases the ratio of interest tax credit to total taxes by 5%. The finding that high-income households pay their taxes early supports the view that institutional arrangements supporting early tax payments make the (effective) tax system more regressive for high-income households. |
| Keywords: | Early tax payment, demand for interest credit on early tax payment |
| JEL: | D14 D30 E21 E41 H31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snb:snbwpa:2018-08&r=eur |
| By: | Setti Rais Ali (Hospinnomics (PSE - AP-HP), PSE - Paris School of Economics); Paul Dourgnon (Institute for genetic disease); Lise Rochaix (Hospinomics - PSE - Paris School of Economics, 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 study, we measure time to diagnosis defined as the timespan from first symptoms to final diagnostic for four chronic conditions, and analyze the role played by patients social characteristics in accounting for time to diagnosis. We use self-reported data from an online open access questionnaire administered to a large French social network of patients with chronic conditions. Duration models were used to explain variations in time to diagnosis. The results suggest that social participation and social support reduce the probability of experiencing longer periods of time to diagnosis. Higher levels of education, on the contrary, increase the probability of experiencing longer period of time to diagnosis. We further analyze this result by identifying differences in health care-seeking behavior: more educated patients tend to first consult specialists, which is correlated with a longer time to diagnostic work-up. Indeed, ambulatory care specialists are less likely than GPs to refer patients to hospitals for additional tests, when needed. The findings on social capital support WHOs recommendations to enhance individual social capital as this could reduce the time period needed to obtain a final diagnosis. In addition, our results on education suggest that public interventions aimed at optimizing healthcare pathways through a GP referral system for specialists services may reduce period of time to diagnosis. |
| Keywords: | Social, Health inequalities,Chronic disease, Diagnosis, Education,capital |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01703170&r=eur |
| By: | Turrell, Arthur (Bank of England); Speigner, Bradley (Bank of England); Djumalieva, Jyldyz (Bank of England); Copple, David (Bank of England); Thurgood, James (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | Mismatch in the labour market has been implicated as a driver of the UK’s productivity ‘puzzle’, the phenomenon describing how the growth rate and level of UK productivity have fallen behind their respective pre-Great Financial Crisis trends. Using a new dataset of around 15 million job adverts originally posted online, we examine the extent to which eliminating occupational or regional mismatch would have boosted productivity and output growth in the UK in the post-crisis period. To show how aggregate labour market data hide important heterogeneity, we map the naturally occurring vacancy data into official occupational classifications using a novel application of text analysis. The effects of mismatch on aggregate UK productivity and output are driven by dispersion in regional or occupational productivity, tightness, and matching efficiency. We find, contrary to previous work, that unwinding occupational mismatch would have had a weak effect on growth in the post-crisis period. However, unwinding regional mismatch would have substantially boosted output and productivity relative to their realised paths, bringing them in line with their pre-crisis trends. |
| Keywords: | Vacancies; matching; mismatch |
| JEL: | E24 J63 |
| Date: | 2018–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0737&r=eur |
| By: | Damien Bricard (IRDES - Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé - Institut de la Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé); Stéphane Legleye (INSEE); Myriam Khlat (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques) |
| Abstract: | Objectives: This paper aimed to analyse the temporal relation between family transitions (partnership formation, first childbirth, separation) and changes in smoking initiation and cessation. Methods: We propose a discrete-time logistic model to explore the timing of changes in terms of leads and lags effects up to three years around the event in order to measure both anticipation and adaptation mechanisms. Retrospective biographical data from the Santé et Itinéraires Professionnels (SIP) survey conducted in France in 2006 are used. Results: Partnership formation was followed for both genders by a fall in initiation and a contemporaneous rise in cessation. Effects related to first childbirth were strongly patterned by gender, as a protective anticipation effect was found in initiation and cessation for women, while only a contemporaneous rise in cessation was observed for men. Separation was preceded by unhealthy behavioural changes in women, while this effect was contemporaneous for men. Conclusion: Our findings highlight opportunities for more targeted interventions over the life course to reduce smoking, and therefore have relevance for general practitioners and public policy elaboration. |
| Keywords: | smoking, family life transitions, life cycle, longitudinal analysis, anticipation effects,adaptation effects |
| Date: | 2018–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01831985&r=eur |
| By: | McVicar, Duncan (Queen's University Belfast); Park, Andrew (University of Ulster); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines employment and hours impacts of the 1999 introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the 2016 introduction of the UK National Living Wage (NLW) in Northern Ireland (NI). NI is the only part of the UK with a land border where the NMW and NLW cover those working on one side of the border (NI) but not those working on the other side of the border (Republic of Ireland). This discontinuity in minimum wage coverage enables a research design that estimates the impacts of the NMW and NLW on employment and hours worked using difference-in-differences. We find a small decrease in the employment rate of 22-59/64 year olds in NI, of up to two percentage points, in the year following the introduction of the NMW, but no impact on hours worked. We find no evidence that the introduction of the NLW impacted either employment or hours worked in NI. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, Northern Ireland, employment, hours |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11585&r=eur |
| By: | Aurélie Côté-Sergent; Raquel Fonseca; Erin Strumpf |
| Abstract: | Inequalities in health by educational attainment are persistent both over time and across countries. However, their magnitudes, evolution, and main drivers are not necessarily consistent across jurisdictions. We examine the health-education gradient among older adults in the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, including how it changes over time between 2004 and 2010. Using longitudinal survey data, we assess how rates of incident poor health, incident difficulties with activities of daily living, and incident chronic conditions vary by educational attainment across countries. We also examine how potential confounders, including demographic characteristics, income, health care utilisation and health behaviours, affect the health-education gradient within countries over time. We find systematic differences in disease incidence, as well as in the health-education gradients, across countries. We also demonstrate that while adjusting for confounders generally diminishes the health-education gradient, the impacts of these variables vary somewhat across countries. |
| Keywords: | disease incidence, older ages, education |
| JEL: | I1 I2 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1801&r=eur |
| By: | Waights, Sevrin |
| Abstract: | My theoretical model motivates an ‘identification-via-interaction’ (IvI) approach that separates the causal impact of gentrification on poor exits from endogenous channels. In the empirical analysis, I create a measure of gentrification as the increase in the share of neighbourhood residents who hold a university degree based on the UK Census for 1991, 2001 and 2011. Applying the IvI approach for a sample of private renters from the British Household Panel Survey, 1991–2008, I find that gentrification results in displacement. The IvI approach has general applications in estimating causal relationships where variables are highly endogenous. |
| Keywords: | neighbourhood change; mobility; turnover; causality; cities; urban; housing |
| JEL: | C20 R21 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88691&r=eur |