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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2019‒06‒17
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | José María Durán-Cabré (Universitat de Barcelona, Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)); Alejandro Esteller-Moré (Universitat de Barcelona, Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)); Mariona Mas-Montserrat (Universitat de Barcelona, Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)) |
| Abstract: | In the throes of economic crisis, the Spanish government decided to reintroduce the Wealth Tax, appealing to redistributive motives and its need for greater revenues. This paper studies how individuals reacted to the reintroduction of this tax by drawing on the universe of wealth tax returns submitted to the Catalan Tax Agency between 2011 and 2015. Thus, we exploit the variation in treatment exposure to analyse taxpayers' responses, in terms not only of wealth accumulation, but also of the potential avoidance strategies adopted. Indeed, our results reflect avoidance rather than real responses. They show that while facing higher wealth taxes did not have a negative effect on taxpayers' savings, it did encourage them to change their asset and income composition to take advantage of wealth tax exemptions (mostly business-related) and the existence of a limit on wealth tax liability. This translates into an elasticity of taxable wealth with respect to the net-of-tax rate of return of 0.64, or, put differently, a 0.1 percentage point increase in the average wealth tax rate leads to a reduction in taxable wealth of 3.24% over 4 years. Overall, these avoidance responses are quite marked in terms of tax revenues: they represent a 4-year accumulated revenue loss of 2.6 times the 2011 estimated wealth tax revenues. The existence of such responses mostly related to the design of the wealth tax has relevant policy implications not only in terms of revenues but also insofar as it undermines the tax's redistributive role. |
| Keywords: | Spanish wealth tax, behavioural responses to taxation, elasticity of taxable wealth, tax avoidance and evasion |
| JEL: | H24 H26 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2019-04&r=all |
| By: | Figari, Francesco; Hollan, Katarina; Matsaganis, Manos; Zolyomi, Eszter |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to explore how housing allowances and mortgage interest tax relief have evolved in recent years, against the background of falling disposable incomes and rising housing costs. The analysis focuses on seven EU countries (Greece, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK), covering a range of housing market developments and housing policy responses. The first part of the paper provides an overview of housing market trends over the period following the financial crisis and examines recent changes in housing policies in the countries concerned. The next part discusses the main features of two specific housing policy instruments, housing allowance and mortgage interest tax relief, also exploring recent changes there and the motives behind these. The last part estimates the distributional impact of housing allowances and mortgage tax relief in 2016 as compared with 2007 using the European tax-benefit model EUROMOD. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and of the policy implications. |
| Date: | 2019–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em12-19&r=all |
| By: | Bernardo Fanfani (Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the wage and employment effects of Italian collective bargaining. For this purpose, it analyses monthly data derived from administrative archives on the population of private-sector employees, matched with extensive information on contractual pay levels settled in industry-wide agreements bargained by trade unions' and employers' representatives at the national level. The research design is based on a generalised differences-in-differences method, which exploits the numerous contrasts generated by the Italian wage setting rules and controls for space-specific sectoral unobserved time-varying disturbances in a fully non-parametric way. Results show that a growth in contractual wages produced sizeable increases in actual pay levels for all workers, determining at the same time strong and negative effects on employment. The resulting confidence interval of the implied own-price labour demand elasticity ranged between -0.4 and -1.2, and it was even slightly more negative among incorporated companies. Studying interactions of this parameter with firm-level outcomes –value added per worker, size, the labour share and capital intensity - we found associations broadly consistent with Hicks-Marshall laws and with traditional models of centralized wage bargaining. Further analyses carefully document the presence of dynamic employment adjustments to contractual wage levels and assess the overall robustness of the results. |
| Keywords: | Collective Bargaining, Labour Demand, Employment, Industrial Relations, Minimum Wage. |
| JEL: | J01 J08 J21 J23 J38 J52 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tur:wpapnw:064&r=all |
| By: | Hofmarcher, Thomas (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the causal relationship between education and poverty. I construct a novel database comprising compulsory schooling reforms in 32 European countries and use them as instruments for education. I find economically large poverty-reducing effects of education among people aged 30 to 80. This holds true for both objective measures of poverty (relative income poverty, lack of basic necessities, weak labor market attachment) and a subjective measure of poverty (self-assessed difficulties in making ends meet). An additional year of education thus reduces not only the likelihood of being classified as living in poverty but also the likelihood of considering oneself to live in poverty. Increases in labor force participation and full-time employment as well as better health are potential mechanisms behind these results. |
| Keywords: | poverty; education; compulsory schooling; social exclusion |
| JEL: | I24 I32 |
| Date: | 2019–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2019_009&r=all |
| By: | Reynaert, Mathias |
| Abstract: | Emission standards are a major policy tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. The welfare effects from this type of regulation depend on how firms choose to abate emissions, i.e., by sales-mixing (changing prices), by downsizing (releasing smaller cars), by technology adoption or by gaming emission tests. Using panel data covering 1998-2011, I find that the introduction of a EU-wide emission standard coincides with a 14% drop in emission ratings. I find that this drop is fully explained by technology adoption and gaming and not by sales mixing or downsizing. I estimate a structural model to find that the regulation missed its emission target and was not welfare improving. Abatement with sales mixing would have reduced emissions, but at high costs. The political environment in the EU shaped the design and weak enforcement of the regulation and explains the choices for abatement by technology adoption and gaming. |
| Keywords: | automobiles; Carbon Emissions; compliance; Environmental Regulation; fuel economy |
| JEL: | L5 Q5 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13756&r=all |
| By: | Grätz, Michael (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses the natural experiment of German reunification and a difference-in-differences approach to test whether the political and economic transition in East Germany in 1990 affected intergenerational occupational and educational mobility. Applying data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), I show that German reunification did neither strongly affect occupational nor educational mobility. These findings are robust to operationalizing social origin in various ways. Admittedly, reunification may have had small effects on occupational and educational mobility that cannot be uncovered with data currently available. However, my findings rule out that there were large effects of German reunification on intergenerational mobility. These findings are at odds with theories that argue that institutions strongly affect intergenerational mobility. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility; regime change; German reunification; difference-in-differences |
| Date: | 2019–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2019_001&r=all |
| By: | Valeria Cirillo; Rinaldo Evangelista; Dario Guarascio; Matteo Sostero |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relation between the digitalization and of labour processes, the level of routineness of tasks and changes in employment. The levels of digitalization and routineness of occupations in 796 5-digit ISCO professional groups are measured using data from a unique Italian profession-level survey on skill, task and work contents ó the INAPP-ISTAT Survey on Italian Occupations (ICP), an O*NET-type dataset. We develop three novel digitalization indices: a digital use index measuring the use of digital devices and technologies in the workplace, a digital skills index assessing the familiarity and skill in using digital technologies, and a digital tasks index capturing the frequency and importance of selected digital tasks. Using the same data-source the Autor and Dorn routine task intensity index is also computed. This allows us to explore, based on robust indicators on routinization and digitalization, the existence and the strength of a üroutinized biased technological changeý specifically associated to the use of digital technologies. Results show the multifaceted nature of both digitalization and routineness processes, both characterized by strong sectoral specificities and by being strongly associated with the skill content of labour professions. Professions characterized by higher digital skills are those showing the best employment performances (although this holds only in manufacturing sector). Both the descriptive and econometric evidences show a negative employment dynamics among professions combining high level of digitalization and routineness. |
| Keywords: | Digitalization; employment; task; skills. |
| Date: | 2019–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2019/18&r=all |
| By: | Michal Brzezinski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Katarzyna Sałach (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw); Marcin Wroński (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study how the problem of the ‘missing rich’, the underrepresentation of the wealthiest in household surveys, affects wealth inequality estimates for the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The survey data from the second wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) are joined with the data from the national rich lists for Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Pareto distribution is fitted to the joined survey and rich lists’ data to impute the missing observations for the largest wealth values. We provide the first estimates of the top-corrected wealth inequality for the CEE region in 2013/2014. Despite a short period of wealth accumulation during the post-1989 market economy period, our adjustment procedure reveals that wealth inequality in the Baltic countries is comparable to that of Germany (one of the most wealth unequal countries in Europe), while in Poland and Hungary it has reached levels observed in France or Spain. We discuss possible explanations of these findings with reference to the speed and range of privatization processes, extent of income inequality, and the role of inheritances and wealth taxes in the region. |
| Keywords: | wealth inequality, missing rich, Pareto distribution, rich lists, Forbes, Household Finance and Consumption Survey, transition countries, Central and Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | D31 D63 C46 P36 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2019-09&r=all |
| By: | von Buxhoeveden, Mathias (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits on job finding rates and entry level wages for unemployed high school leavers. Up to year 2007, Swedish high school-students who became unemployed shortly after graduation were entitled to UI-benefits once they became 20 years of age. Therefore, the start of an unemployment spell relative to the 20:th birthday creates potentially exogenous variation in time to treatment. I exploit this to estimate the effect of UI benefits on unemployment duration and entry level wages. The results show that there is a large and statistically significant negative effect of UI benefits on the employment hazard. There are no detectable effects on entry level wages. This would suggest that unemployment benefits induce high school leavers to postpone labor market entry but does not seem to effect job match quality. |
| Keywords: | youth; unemployment; insurance; labor; market; entry |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2019–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_012&r=all |
| By: | Graetz, Georg (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies, Uppsala University); Karimi, Arizo (Department of Economics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | In Sweden, females outperform males on compulsory and high school GPAs by a third of a standard deviation, while males outperform females on the Swedish SAT by the same magnitude. We establish that GPAs capture different attributes and skills compared to SAT scores. Differences in motivation and effort explain up to 60 percent of the female advantage in GPAs, while cognitive skills explain 40 percent of the male advantage in SAT scores. The latter is accounted for by differential self-selection into taking the SAT. Our findings imply large effects of the choice of university admission criterion on admitted students’characteristics. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps; student assessment; cognitive skills; non-cognitive skills; university admissions |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2019–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_008&r=all |
| By: | Carlo Drago (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Roberto Ricciuti (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | We propose a new approach based on bootstrapping to compare complex networks. This is an important task when we wish to compare the effect of a (policy) shock on the structure of a network. The bootstrap test compares two values of the Gini index, and the test is performed on the difference between them. The application is based on the interlocking directorship network. At the director level, Italian corporate governance is characterized by the widespread occurrence of interlocking directorates. Article 36 of Law 214/2011 prohibited interlocking directorates in the financial sector. We compare the interlocking directorship networks in 2009 (before the reform) with 2012 (after the reform) and find evidence of an asymmetric effect of the reform on the network centrality of the different companies but no significant effects on Gini indices. |
| Keywords: | Complex Networks, Gini Index, Bootstrap Method |
| JEL: | C13 G34 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:05/2019&r=all |
| By: | Sarah Guillou (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques); Tania Treibich (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to show that part of the fixed cost of a firm’s trade expansion is due to the acquisition of new internal capabilities (e.g., technology, production processes or skills), which implies a costly change in the firm’s internal labor organization. We investigate the relationship between a firm’s labor structure, in terms of the relative number of managers, and the scope of its export portfolio, in terms of its product-destination varieties. The empirical analysis is based on a matched employer-employee dataset covering the population of French firms from tradable sectors over the period 2009-2015. Our analysis suggests that market ex- pansion, both through export entry and export diversification, is associated with a change in the firm’s workforce composition, namely an increase in the number of managerial layers. These results are generally confirmed with the use of an instrumental variable approach to control for reverse causality. We show how these results are consistent with a simple model, where the complexity of a firm’s operations increases with the number of product-destination couples ex- ported and the manager’s role is to address the unsolved problems arising from such increased operational complexity. |
| Keywords: | Exports diversification; Managers; Occupations; Employer-employee data |
| JEL: | F16 E24 C14 D20 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6th2hsnrrq9ro9u65eksphmaf9&r=all |
| By: | Christian Geppert; Yvan Guillemette; Hermes Morgavi; David Turner |
| Abstract: | A decomposition of changes to participation rates of 55-to-74 year-olds between 2002 and 2017 based on an estimated equation attributes more than two thirds of the median increase (of 10.9 percentage points) to rising life expectancy and educational attainment. About 1 percentage point is attributable to changes in statutory retirement ages, although part of the reason these effects are not larger is that in most countries, statutory retirement ages have not kept pace with life expectancy. Although difficult to incorporate in the empirical framework, evidence of falling disability pension rolls and reduced sensitivity of old-age participation to the level of unemployment suggests that the tightening of alternative early retirement pathways through unemployment or disability schemes has been a major factor in the turnaround in the participation rate of older workers. Projections indicate that participation rates for 55-to-74 year-olds should keep rising through 2030, by 3.4 percentage points for the median country. Rising life expectancy and educational attainment are projected to make the largest contributions, more than compensating for the negative contribution of population ageing in most countries. |
| Keywords: | labour supply, older workers, Participation, statutory retirement ages |
| JEL: | J21 J26 |
| Date: | 2019–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1554-en&r=all |
| By: | Iga Magda; Katarzyna Sa³ach |
| Abstract: | We investigate differences in gender wage gaps between foreign-owned and domestically-owned firms in Poland, a country that has experienced large FDI inflows over the past three decades. We show that according to standard estimates of adjusted gender wage gaps, these differences are much larger in the foreign-owned companies than in the domestic firms. However, we also find that these estimates cannot be trusted because the domestically-owned firms have considerably higher levels of gender segregation. Using a non parametric matching and decomposition technique (Nopo 2008) we find that gender wage gaps in domestically-owned firms are only slightly smaller than those in foreign-owned companies. Women tend to segregate into low-paid jobs in the domestic sector, whereas foreign-owned companies have much larger within-firm differences in earnings. In sum, we find that the nature of gender wage gaps and the factors that underlie them differ between domestic and foreign-owned companies. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gaps, domestic ownership, foreign ownership, FDI |
| JEL: | F23 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:wpaper:wp052019&r=all |
| By: | Tim Pawlowski; Carina Steckenleiter; Tim Wallrafen; Michael Lechner |
| Abstract: | By merging administrative data on public finances of all municipalities in Germany with individual data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we explore whether local public expenditures on sports facilities influences individual labor market outcomes. Our identification strategy follows a selection-on-observables approach and exploits the panel structure of the data covering 12 years between 2001 and 2012. The results of our matching estimations suggest that both women and men living in municipalities with high expenditure levels benefit, exhibiting approximately 7 percent of additional household net income on average. However, this income effect is fully captured by earning gains for men rather than women living in the household. Additional analysis suggests, that these gender differences, which can also be observed in terms of working time, hourly wage and employment status, appear plausible since women in the age cohort under consideration are less likely than men to engage in sports in general and in any of the publicly funded sports facilities in particular. Moreover, improved well-being and health are possible mechanisms that determine how the positive labor market effects for men may unfold. |
| Keywords: | Labor market effects, public expenditures, sports, health, well-being |
| JEL: | H72 H75 J31 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1040&r=all |
| By: | Daniel Gros (Centre for European Policy Studies); Roberto Musmeci (Centre for European Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the state of play of the preparations for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the EU for the period 2021-2027. It then turns to an analysis of the allocation of regional support funding over the last two MFFs, using a standard growth model to interpret the results. It finds that: First, the distribution of Cohesion spending across regions (as proportion of regional GDP) can be explained to a large extent by a few variables, namely income per capita, unemployment and the importance of agriculture. However, there are also important differences across different clusters of regions. Regions in Southern Europe received less funding than those in Central and Eastern Europe even accounting for differences in these determinants. Second, regions in Southern Europe have a relatively high capital/output ratio and thus a lower productivity of capital. Moreover, their investment rates do not seem to be affected by the Structural Funds they receive. These results suggest the need for a change in emphasis from infrastructure investment to measures that improve overall allocation of resources. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal transfers, Structural Funds, Cohesion Policy |
| JEL: | C53 H50 O11 R11 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:lleewp:19147&r=all |
| By: | Goller, Daniel; Krumer, Alex |
| Abstract: | Balancing the allocation of games in sports competitions is an important organizational task that can have serious financial consequences. In this paper, we examine data from 9,930 soccer games played in the top German, Spanish, French, and English soccer leagues between 2007/2008 and 2016/2017. Using a machine learning technique for variable selection and applying a semi-parametric analysis of radius matching on the propensity score, we find that all four leagues have a lower attendance as the share of stadium capacity in games that take place on non-frequently played days compared to the frequently played days. In addition, we find that in all leagues except for the English Premier League, there is a significantly lower home advantage for the underdog teams on non-frequent days. Our findings suggest that the current schedule favors underdog teams with fewer home games on non-frequent days. Therefore, to increase the fairness of the competitions, it is necessary to adjust the allocation of the home games on non-frequent days in a way that eliminates any advantage driven by the schedule. These findings have implications for the stakeholders of the leagues, as well as for coaches and players. |
| Keywords: | Performance, schedule effects, soccer |
| JEL: | D00 L00 D20 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2019:07&r=all |
| By: | Annalisa Scognamiglio (CSEF, Università di Napoli) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the response of sickness absences to changes in the replacement rate for sick leave. In June 2008 a national law modified both the strength of monitoring and the monetary cost of sick leaves for public sector employees in Italy. This paper focuses on the National Health Service, which accounts for about 21% of the total number of workers employed in the Italian public administration. Using administrative data I show that absenteeism largely decreased following the reform. I identify the effects of an increase in the monetary cost of an absence using a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits variation in changes to the replacement rate for sick leave. Under the assumption that changes in monitoring had the same proportional impact on absenteeism within the same institutions, I estimate that a 1 percentage point decrease in the replacement rate reduces absenteeism by 1%. JEL Classification: J88, J08. |
| Keywords: | Public sector absenteeism, paid sick leave, incentives. |
| Date: | 2019–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:530&r=all |
| By: | Enrietti, Aldo; Geuna, Aldo; Nava, Consuelo R.; Patrucco, Pier Paolo (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | By discussing the relation between the traditional Marshallian/Jacobian approach and Klepper’s concept of spinoffs and their role, this paper tries to explain the early genesis and later evolution of the Italian automotive industry, based on the for mation of the Torino’s car cluster from the late nineteenth century. Historical analysis and econometric models are integrated to identify key factors that enabled the creation and success of the automotive industry in Turin. Specifically, we investigate agglomeration economies, the role of spinoffs and institutional factors such as the level and importance of local education. Based on original archival research, we built a new database of all Italian automobile companies. Replication of Klepper’s (2007) and Boschma and Wenting’s (2007) models shows no particular influence of the Turin cluster and no early entry advantages. Our model, which integrates and extends previous contributions, confirms the existence of a spinoffs effect, and in particular the positive effect of inherited technical skills embedded in pilots. We find support also, for positive agglomeration effects at the regional level and inter industry externalities from aeronautics, a metropolitan cluster effect and the significance of metropolitan education. |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201909&r=all |
| By: | Ichino, Andrea (European University Institute, U. Bologna and CEPR); Olsson, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN, Stockholm) and IFAU); Petrongolo, Barbara (Queen Mary University London, CEP (LSE) and CEPR); Skogman Thoursie, Peter (Stockholm University and IFAU) |
| Abstract: | We infer the role of gender identity norms from the reallocation of childcare across parents, following changes in their relative wages. By exploiting variation from a Swedish tax reform, we estimate the elasticity of substitution in parental childcare for the whole population and for demographic groups potentially adhering to differently binding norms. We find that immigrant, married and male breadwinner couples, as well as couples with a male first-born, react more strongly to tax changes that induce a more traditional allocation of spouses' time, while the respective counterpart couples react more strongly to tax changes that induce a more egalitarian division of labor. |
| Keywords: | Home production; taxes; gender identity; gender gaps. |
| JEL: | D13 H24 J22 |
| Date: | 2019–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_011&r=all |
| By: | Daryna Grechyna (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada.) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates political polarization in English counties during 1991–2007, based on the aggregated individual data from the British Household Panel Survey and using three variants of the political polarization measure. It analyzes the socioeconomic determinants of political polarization, using the indicators computed from the same survey. The results suggest that the statistical properties of three different polarization measures are similar, though there is some variation in the levels of polarization related to different policy statements. Greater income inequality, greater average age of county residents, greater share of employed full time, and lower share of natives are associated with greater political polarization in English counties. These findings shed some light on the microeconomic foundations of political polarization. |
| Keywords: | political polarization; income inequality; social inequality; survey data. |
| JEL: | D31 D63 D72 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:19/07&r=all |
| By: | Cristina Bellés-Obrero; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Judit Vall Castello |
| Abstract: | We examine the gender asymmetries in the health benefits of acquiring further education at a time of increasing gender equality and women’s greater access to economic opportunities. A labor market reform in Spain in 1980 raised the minimum legal working age from 14 to 16, while the school-leaving age remained at 14. We apply a difference-in-difference strategy to identify the reform’s within-cohort effects, where treated and control individuals differ only in their month of birth. Although the reform improved the educational attainment of both women and men, the long-term effects over mortality differ by gender. We find that the reform decreased mortality at young ages (14-29) by 6.3% among men and by 8.9% among women. This was driven by a decrease (12.2% for men, 14.7% for women) in the probability of dying from external causes of death (accidents). However, we also find that the child labor reform increased mortality for prime-age women (30-45) by 6.3%. This effect is driven by increases in HIV mortality (11.6%), as well as by diseases of the nervous and circulatory system (8.7%). This pattern helps explain the narrowing age gap in life expectancy between women and men in Spain. |
| Keywords: | minimum working age, education, mortality, gender |
| JEL: | I12 I20 J10 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1660&r=all |
| By: | Bronwyn H Hall |
| Abstract: | A large number of countries around the world now provide some kind of tax incentive to encourage firms to undertake innovative activity. This paper presents the policy rationale for these incentives, discusses their design and potential effectiveness, and reviews the empirical evidence on their actual effectiveness. The focus is on the two most important and most studied incentives: R&D tax credits and super deductions, and IP boxes (reduced corporate taxes in income from patents and other intellectual property). |
| Keywords: | R&D tax credit, patent box, super deduction, IP box, tax subsidy, innovation |
| JEL: | H25 O32 O38 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:506&r=all |