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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2019‒10‒14
35 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Molla, Hemrin (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Rhawi, Caroline (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Lampi, Elina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Both immigration and a troubling housing deficit have increased rapidly in Sweden over the past 20 years. Today, up to 33 percent of the people living in the largest Swedish cities are immigrants. In this Internet-based field experiment, we investigated whether there exists discrimination in the Swedish private rental housing market based on the names of apartment seekers. We used a correspondent test by randomly sending out equivalent applications from four fictitious, highly educated, and seemingly “well-behaved” male applicants in response to a number of randomly selected private housing ads. Each advertiser received applications from two applicants with names signalling Swedish, Arab/Muslim, Eastern European, or East Asian ethnicity. Our results clearly confirm previous findings that persons with a name traditionally associated with the majority group in the respective community receive more call backs than others. When comparing our results with previous discrimination research focusing on Swedish housing market, we find that a man with an Arab/Muslim-sounding name needs to apply for clearly more rental objects in order to get a call back compared with just 10 years ago. Our results strongly indicate that the name of a person matters a great deal when applying for a rental object. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination; housing market; field experiment; correspondent test |
| JEL: | J71 R21 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0777&r=all |
| By: | Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Gidehag, Anton (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Rudholm, Niklas (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)) |
| Abstract: | One way for policymakers to reduce labor costs and stimulate the recruitment of marginalized groups of labor in a highly unionized economy is to lower payroll taxes. However, the efficiency of this policy instrument has been questioned, and previous evaluations have mostly found small employment effects for such reforms. We investigate the effects of a payroll tax cut in Sweden that decreased firms’ labor costs in relation to the number of young employees that they had employed when the reform was implemented in 2007. We find that most firms received small labor cost savings as a result of the reform, but those that received larger cost savings increased their number of employees significantly more than firms that received no, or minor, labor cost savings. Our findings also suggest that the payroll tax cut increased the total wages paid to incumbent workers, but the wage effect was too small to offset the positive extensive-margin employment effect of the reform. In total, we find that the Swedish payroll tax reform created 18,100 jobs over the period 2006-2008; most of these jobs were within the targeted group of young employees. |
| Keywords: | Payroll tax reform; labor demand; employment; wages |
| JEL: | H25 H32 J23 J32 L20 |
| Date: | 2019–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hfiwps:0003&r=all |
| By: | Milenko Fadic; Paula Garda; Mauro Pisu |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causal effect of public administration efficiency on firm-level productivity. To this purpose, we combine newly available data from Italy on public administration efficiency of subnational governments with geo-localised firm-level data for the years 2004-2014. Italy provides a relevant setting to examine the relationship between public administration efficiency and firm productivity because of large and persistent spatial disparities in economic performance and local administrative capacity. The identification strategy exploits discontinuities that occur in local public-administration efficiency across provincial borders. The results suggest that local public administration efficiency has a large effect on firms’ productivity growth. Increasing local public administration efficiency from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile would raise the firm-level labour productivity in Italy by 2.4 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | firm growth, firm performance, interjurisdictional differentials, local government expenditures, local public services, productivity, public administration, public goods, public services |
| JEL: | D24 H41 H72 H73 L25 |
| Date: | 2019–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1573-en&r=all |
| By: | Adéla Zubíková (Faculty of Economics, University of Economics, Prague) |
| Abstract: | In 2015, the so-called migration crisis culminated in Europe. Although immigration can bring along many benefits (labor force, cultural diversification), it constitutes a challenge for fiscal policy if immigrants fail to integrate. This paper examines the level of integration in the EU_15 on the data from Eurostat in period 2009 to 2018. The results show that immigrants who were not born in the EU_28 were significantly worse off in terms of the unemployment rate and the risk-of-poverty rate than the host society. Immigrants born in the other EU_28 country were not significantly worse off on the labor market, but the at-risk-of-poverty rate was significantly higher in comparison with the host society. The data didn?t confirm that share of immigrants with tertiary education (both from the EU_28 or outside the EU_28) was significantly lower than the share of the tertiary educated population in the host society. The level of integration of immigrants did not got worse after the migration crisis. Furthermore, the results showed a considerable difference in the degree of integration between EU_15 countries. |
| Keywords: | immigration, economic integration, social integration, refugees, European Union |
| JEL: | F22 F29 F50 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iefpro:10112410&r=all |
| By: | Mancusi, Maria Luisa; Conti, Chiara; Sanna-Randaccio, Francesca; Sestini, Roberta |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the fragmentation of the EU innovation system in the field of renewable energy sources (RES) by estimating the intensity and direction of knowledge spillovers over the years 1985-2010. We modify the original double exponential knowledge diffusion model proposed by Caballero and Jaffe (1993) to provide information on the degree of integration of EU countries’ RES knowledge bases and to assess how citation patterns changed over time. We show that EU RES inventors have increasingly built “on the shoulders of the other EU giants”, intensifying their citations to other member countries and decreasing those to domestic inventors. Furthermore, the EU strengthened its position as source of RES knowledge for the US. Finally, we show that this pattern is peculiar to RES, with other traditional (i.e. fossil-based) energy technologies and other radically new technologies behaving differently. We provide suggestive, but convincing evidence that such decrease in fragmentation around the turn of the century emerged as a result of the EU increased support for RES taking mainly the form of demand-pull policies. |
| Keywords: | EU integration; renewable energy technologies; knowledge flows |
| JEL: | O31 Q42 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:95775&r=all |
| By: | Alessandra Venturini; Manuela Stranges; Daniele Vignoli |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the growing strand of literature that investigates migrants’ subjective wellbeing by analysing how the social comparison with two reference groups (natives and other migrants) within the host country affects migrants’ life satisfaction. Using data from six rounds of the European Social Survey, we constructed two measures of economic distance that compare each migrant’s situation with the average of the group of natives and the group of migrants with similar characteristics. Our results indicate that when the disadvantage between the migrant and the reference groups becomes smaller, migrant’s life satisfaction increases. The effect of the social comparison with natives appears larger than the social comparison with migrants and, in both cases, it is stronger for individuals with higher levels of education. We also show that social comparison is stronger for second generation migrants than for first generation migrants and, within this latter group, it intensifies as length of stay in the host country increases. Overall, the role of social comparison seems crucial to understanding patterns of integration in an enlarged Europe. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, migrants, social comparison |
| JEL: | I31 F22 |
| Date: | 2019–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:53&r=all |
| By: | Matej Bajgar; Giuseppe Berlingieri; Sara Calligaris; Chiara Criscuolo; Jonathan Timmis |
| Abstract: | This report presents new evidence on industry concentration trends in Europe and in North America. It uses two novel data sources: representative firm-level concentration measures from the OECD MultiProd project, and business-group-level concentration measures using matched Orbis-Worldscope-Zephyr data. Based on the MultiProd data, it finds that between 2001 and 2012 the average industry across 10 European economies saw a 2-3-percentage-point increase in the share of the 10% largest companies in industry sales. Using the Orbis-Worldscope-Zephyr data, it documents a clear increase in industry concentration in Europe as well as in North America between 2000 and 2014 of the order of 4-8 percentage points for the average industry. Over the period, about 3 out of 4 (2-digit) industries in each region saw their concentration increase. The increase is observed for both manufacturing and non-financial services and is not driven by digital-intensive sectors. |
| Keywords: | Industry concentration, business dynamics, measurement |
| JEL: | D4 L11 L25 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1654&r=all |
| By: | Frédéric Dobruszkes |
| Abstract: | The potential impacts of Brexit on transportation have been discussed to some extent, mostly considering the economic shock as a main factor that would affect the volume of passenger and cargo flows. However, one should also consider the expected impact in terms of regulatory regimes. This specifically concerns aviation, traditionally a tightly regulated market that was extensively liberalised by the European Union. In this note, the worst scenario is tested. Namely, UK airlines would not operate services between or within third countries anymore, and non-UK airlines could only link the UK to their home country. This leads to the concept of “vulnerable” air services, which are mapped at the airport level. The likely consequence is that a myriad of regional airports would be affected, especially in Poland, but also in various tourist areas. In addition, several larger airports and the secondary airports of large cities would also be significantly affected, especially London Stansted. |
| Keywords: | Brexit; Europe; Air market; Aviation liberalisation; Aviation regulation |
| Date: | 2019–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/280924&r=all |
| By: | Carlsson, Fredrik (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Kataria, Mitesh (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Lampi, Elina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Martinsson, Peter (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Households’ demand for electricity continues to increase. This trend per se should indicate increased disutility from power outages. On the other hand, batteries and other back-up systems have been improved and the frequency and duration of outages have been reduced in many countries. By comparing the results from two stated preference studies on Swedish households’ willingness to pay to avoid power outages in 2004 and 2017, we investigate whether the willingness to pay has changed. The willingness to pay is assessed for power outages of different durations, and whether it is planned or unplanned. We find three main differences: i) The proportion of households stating zero willingness to pay to avoid power outages decreased significantly from 2004 to 2017 and ii) the overall WTP was considerably higher in 2017 than in 2014, but iii) the WTP for duration of an outage has decreased. These results have implications for how regulators incentivize and regulate electricity suppliers since they suggest that a reliable supply of electricity is of greater importance now than what earlier studies have suggested. |
| Keywords: | Power outage; stated preferences; Sweden |
| JEL: | D12 Q40 Q41 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0776&r=all |
| By: | Ejermo, Olof (Lund University); Fassio, Claudio (Lund University); Källström, John (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Using a highly comprehensive new dataset on Swedish researchers, we investigate the effects of interuniversity mobility on researcher productivity. Our study suggests substantial gains from mobility on scientific output. We find that mobility induces a long-lasting increase in a researcher’s publications by 29% and citations by 50%. Moreover, we analyze the factors that are likely to have an impact on the overall effect of mobility: the interaction of mobility and promotion, the importance of the status of the destination university, as well as the role of the specific disciplinary field of mobile researchers. The empirical analysis addresses selection using inverse probability treatment censoring weights. |
| Keywords: | Economics of science; mobility; scientific productivity; university |
| JEL: | I23 J24 O31 |
| Date: | 2019–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2019_014&r=all |
| By: | Martins, Pedro S. |
| Abstract: | Many governments extend the coverage of collective agreements to workers and employ- ers that were not involved in their bargaining. These extensions may address coordination issues but may also distort competition by imposing sector-specific minimum wages and other work conditions that are not suitable for some firms and workers. In this paper, we analyse the impact of such extensions along several economic margins. Drawing on worker- and firm-level monthly data for Portugal, a country where extensions have been widespread, and the scattered timing of the extensions, we find that, while continuing workers experience wage increases following an extension, formal employment and wage bills in the relevant sectors fall, on average, by 2%. These results increase by about 25% across small firms and are driven by reduced hirings. In contrast, the employment and wage bills of independent contractors, who are not subject to labour law or collective bargaining, increases by over 1% following an extension. |
| Keywords: | Collective agreements,Worker flows,Labour law |
| JEL: | J52 K31 J23 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:413&r=all |
| By: | Ostfeld, R.; Reiner, D. |
| Abstract: | Scotland offers a case study of a country with significant fossil energy resources that has recently moved to rapidly decarbonize its economy and deploy renewable energy sources. We review the key policies that have facilitated a 47% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and almost 75% of Scottish electricity being produced from renewable energy. Public views on climate policy, renewable energy, and low-carbon technologies are explored using focus groups we conducted in Aberdeen, Peterhead, and Edinburgh and citizens’ juries held in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The deliberative processes reveal strong public support for continued diversification of Scotland’s energy portfolio to include more renewable energy sources, particularly at the local level. We also found support for a greater role for state-led involvement in the energy sector. Pro-renewables sentiments and skepticism of industry pervade even in Aberdeen, the main UK hub for oil and gas exploration, alongside support for further exploration of low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Although Peterhead stood to benefit from a major CCS project, there was little awareness of the proposed project among residents nor its cancellation. Finally, we argue deliberative processes can help both policy-makers and developers gauge where they can (and cannot) expect support. |
| Keywords: | Citizens' jury, focus groups, energy transition, climate policy, renewable energy, low-carbon technologies, Scotland, carbon capture and storage |
| JEL: | Q42 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2019–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1987&r=all |
| By: | Andersson, Jonas (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Schroyen, Fred (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Torsvik, Gaute (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop a model for tax amnesty applications in a multi-period setting. One key insight from the model is that applying for amnesty becomes more attractive at the moment when stricter enforcement is announced, even if the implementation of the policy is in the distant future. We use our model to make sense of how international tax information exchange agreements affects voluntary disclosure of wealth and income previously hidden in tax havens. Our data is from Norway. In accordance with the dynamic amnesty model we observe a strong announcement effect of a tax information exchange agreement between Norway and Switzerland and Luxembourg, the two most important tax havens for Norwegian tax evaders. However, the effect levels off very quickly, much faster than our model predicts. We think this is because the initial announcement of the tax agreement exaggerated the risk the agreement imposed to those who had hidden taxable income and wealth in Switzerland. We also estimate and find significant effects of the press releases the Norwegian Tax Authority issues to inform taxpayers about new international tax agreements and the amnesty, or voluntary disclosure, option that exists in the Norwegian tax code. |
| Keywords: | Tax Evasion; Tax Amnesty; Tax Information Exchange Agreement |
| JEL: | C22 C23 H26 H27 K34 |
| Date: | 2019–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2019_012&r=all |
| By: | Amore, Mario Daniele; Marzano, Riccardo |
| Abstract: | We study how family ownership shapes the firms' likelihood of being involved in antitrust indictments. Using data from Italy, we show that family firms are significantly less likely than other firms to commit antitrust violations. To achieve identification, we exploit a law change that made it easier to transfer family control. Studying the mechanisms at play, we find that family firms are especially less likely to commit antitrust violations when they feature a more prominent size relative to the city where they are located, which magnifies reputational concerns. Next, we show that family firms involved in antitrust violations appoint more family members in top executive positions in the aftermath of the indictment. Moreover, these firms invest less and curb equity financing as compared to nonfamily firms. Collectively, our findings suggest that family control wards off reputational damages but, at the same time, it weakens the ability to expand in order to keep up with fiercer competition following the dismantlement of the anticompetitive practice. |
| Keywords: | Antitrust violation; Financing; investment; ownership |
| JEL: | D22 G34 G38 K21 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14018&r=all |
| By: | Niels-Jakob Harbo, Hansen (International Monetary Fund); Karl, Harmenberg (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Erik, Öberg (Uppsala University); Hans-Henrik, Sievertsen (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Atkinson et al. (2018) propose a measure of the glass ceiling exploiting that top incomes are approximately Pareto distributed. We clarify how this glass-ceiling coefficient describes the increasing scarcity of women further up in the income distribution and show how it relates to the top-income gender gap. If interpreting top income gender differences as caused by a female-specific income tax, the gender gap and glass ceiling coefficient measure its level and progressivity, respectively. Using Danish data on earnings, we show that the top gender gap and the glass-ceiling coefficient evolves across time, the life cycle, and educational groups. |
| Keywords: | decomposition; gender gap; glass ceiling; summary statistics |
| JEL: | C10 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2019–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2019_009&r=all |
| By: | Puhani, Patrick A.; Yang, Philip |
| Abstract: | Because accountability may improve the comparability that is compromised by lenient grading, we compare exit exam outcomes in the same schools before and after a policy change that increased teacher accountability by anchoring grading scales. In particular, using a large administrative dataset of 364,445 exit exam outcomes for 72,889 students, we assess the effect of introducing centralized scoring standards into schools with higher and lower quality peer groups. We find that implementation of these standards increases scoring differences between the two school types by about 25 percent. |
| Keywords: | Subjective performance evaluation,rating standards,policy reform,transparency |
| JEL: | H83 I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:412&r=all |
| By: | Zhou, Wenchao (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics); Bostian, Moriah (Lewis & Clark College, USA); Färe, Rolf (Department of Economics, Oregon State University); Grosskopf, Shawna (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics); Lundgren, Tommy (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics) |
| Abstract: | Forest fuel defined as branches and tops (GROT) of harvested trees represents a large share of forest biomass and is increasingly viewed as a potential energy source. This study assesses the economic potentials of forest bioenergy production in Swedish forests, using a network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to estimate the technology for biofuel and other forest products. We consider that forests are managed to use multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs. Outputs include sawtimber, pulpwood, fuelwood, and bioenergy in terms of GROT. Our model also considers environmental concerns over biodiversity and CO2 emissions from burning biomass. We apply the network DEA model to measure the revenue efficiency of forest production of Swedish forests using a panel consisting of 20 counties and covering the years from 2008 to 2014. Our results show that there exist persistent economic inefficiencies of forest production in some counties, reducing the overall efficiency of Sweden’s forest and wood products industry. In addition, we also estimate the potential increase in bioenergy, deadwood and CO2 emissions reduction from combustion of bioenergy and by-products from sawtimber and pulpwood. |
| Keywords: | Climate; Bioenergy; Efficiency; Environment; Forests; Network |
| JEL: | D20 D21 D22 D24 |
| Date: | 2019–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2019_012&r=all |
| By: | Mariateresa Ciommi (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche); Chiara Gigliarano (Universita' degli Studi dell'Insubria); Giovanni Maria Giorgi (Sapienza Universita' di Roma) |
| Abstract: | Aim of this paper is to propose new bipolarization indices based on he Bonferroni and De Vergottini indices of inequality.The new bipolarization indices follow the approach of Foster and Wolfson and are based on new subgroup decomposition of Bonferroni and De Vergottini indices of inequality. We also provide the conditions under which the new polarization indices satisfy the Increased Spread and Increased Bipolarity axioms. Finally, a simulation study has been carried out to compare the different sensitivity of the new bipolarization indices to progressive transfers. Also, an empirical application based on EU-SILC data for Italy ober the period 2007-2011 show the appeal of our proposal. |
| Keywords: | Bonferroni index; De Vergottini index; Gini index; In-equality; Subgroup decomposition; Polarization measurement. |
| JEL: | D31 D63 C43 I32 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:439&r=all |
| By: | Gardberg, Malin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Heyman, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Norbäck, Pehr-Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Persson, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between occupational automation probabilities and employment dynamics over nearly two decades. We show that employment and wage shares of occupations with a higher automation risk have declined in Sweden over the period 1996-2013. This has occurred both in the aggregate private business sector but also within firms, where the wage share changes have been larger than the employment share changes. Combining the automation risk in workers’ occupations with individual worker characteristics, we find substantial heterogeneity. This includes that education dampens the automation risk of workers, as the average automation probability of low-skilled workers is almost twice as high as of university graduates. Employment shares in high-risk occupations have moreover declined across all wage levels, and most so in high-wage occupations. |
| Keywords: | Automation; Digitization; Employment shares; Wage shares |
| JEL: | J31 J62 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1299&r=all |
| By: | Magnac, Thierry; Roux, Sébastien |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from a single cohort of French male wage earners observed over a long span of 30 years starting at their entry in the labor market, we estimate parameters of a human capital investment model by random and fixed effect methods. Individual wage proles are described by their individual-specific level, slope and curvature. This allows a fine decomposition of the variance of (log-)wages at different times of the life-cycle and in the long run. Among salient results, short run time-varying inequalities are shown to be larger that long run inequality by a factor of 20% to 80%. Individual permanent heterogeneity explain between 60 to 90% of the variance of wages. Single dimensional heterogeneity explains well those variances at a point in time but not over the whole period or in the long run. Multidimensional heterogeneity is needed and in particular under the form of a horizon individual effect. |
| JEL: | C33 D91 I24 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:123621&r=all |
| By: | Jose de Sousa (University Paris Sud, RITM and CREST); Eve Sihra (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem); Thierry Mayer (Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the evolution of consumption patterns across French departements in a context of deep market integration. Using a structural demand system and household survey data on food consumption in France from 1974 to 2005, we find that (1) France is characterized by strong localized tastes in food consumption, which (2) converge over time, and (3) not only due to changes in price and income. In short, France becomes ``flatter'', culturally more homogenized. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed019:1178&r=all |
| By: | Haelermans, Carla (General Economics 2 (Macro)); Ghysels, Joris (vdab, brussels) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the effect of involving parents in human capital investment. We study the effect of a parental app on student effort in a digital homework practice tool, and its effect on subsequent human capital development. The randomized field experiment includes more than 2000 7-9 grade students of 2 schools and we specifically focus on different socio-economic status (SES) groups. The results indicate that parental involvement via an app positively affects effort and human capital development of 7th and 8th grade students, but not of 9th grade students. The positive effects are mainly driven by low-SES students and are larger for males. |
| Keywords: | parental involvement, randomized field experiment, Socio-Economic Status, SES, student effort, human capital development, secondary education |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 C93 |
| Date: | 2019–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2019025&r=all |
| By: | Cummins, Neil |
| Abstract: | Sharp declines in wealth-concentration occurred across Europe and the US during the 20th century. But this stylized fact is based on declared wealth. It is possible that today the richest are not less rich but rather that they are hiding much of their wealth. This paper proposes a method to measure this hidden wealth, in any form. In England, 1920-1992, elites are concealing 20-32% of their wealth. Among dynasties, hidden wealth, independent of declared wealth, predicts appearance in the Offshore Leaks Database of 2013-6, house values in 1999, and Oxbridge attendance, 1990-2016. Accounting for hidden wealth eliminates one-third of the observed decline of top 10% wealth-share over the past century. |
| Keywords: | Big Data; economic history; hidden wealth; inequality; tax evasion |
| JEL: | D31 H26 N00 N33 N34 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14020&r=all |
| By: | David Steinmayr; Doris Weichselbaumer; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We use data from wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to construct an individual-level index of active ageing for people aged between 50 and 90 years. We develop nine sub-indices for different dimensions, which are then aggregated to the final index. This individual-level index allows to analyze inequalities between age cohorts, dimensions, countries, and other individual-characteristics that are covered by SHARE. We focus on differences between the sexes. Overall, women score lower than men with 54.9 index-points compared to 57.7 for men. We present gender differences in active ageing for some sub-populations as a showcase for this new individual-level index. |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2019_02&r=all |
| By: | Willman, Paul; Pepper, Alexander |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of the modern firm in generating income inequality. Specifically, we consider the growth in the use of asset-based rewards for senior executives, combined with continued use of salaries and wages for other employees, and the impact this has on measures of inequality within firms. Our paper presents data on intra firm inequality from the UK FTSE 100 for the period 2000-2015. It looks at ratios of CEO to average earnings and attempts to explain both the growth in inequality on this measure and the extent of variance between firms. It distinguishes between a period of “administered inequality” up to the early 1980’s when intra-firm processes defined differential pay and a subsequent one of “outsourced inequality” when capital market measures dominate executive pay. In the latter period, intra firm inequality measures are defined by upward movements in capital market measures and the extent of outsourcing of low paid work. |
| Keywords: | executive compensation; intra-firm inequality; salaries & wages |
| JEL: | D31 J31 M21 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:101870&r=all |
| By: | Bührle, Anna Theresa; Spengel, Christoph |
| Abstract: | Most of the European Member States employ anti-loss trafficking rules. They aim to prevent the acquisition of mere corporate shells with high tax loss carryforwards for the tax asset to be utilized in profitable companies. However, other corporations can unintentionally be affected by the anti-abuse regulations if there is a change in ownership or activity. The transfer restrictions have been argued to impair start-up financing, as investors are faced with the risk of losing accumulated loss carryforwards in the corporation upon the entering of new or the capital increase of existing investors. This study provides an overview over the design and development of loss transfer restrictions in the EU28 over a time period of 19 years (2000-2018). Different aspects of the regulations are analyzed against the background of their impact on start-ups. Finally, the rules are categorized with respect to their strictness. Over time, more countries introduced restrictions. At the same time, the regulations became more lenient, offering start-ups more opportunities to maintain their loss carryforwards and, therefore, decreasing the risk for investors. |
| Keywords: | tax loss carryforward,loss trafficking,loss transfer,entrepreneurship,start-ups |
| JEL: | M13 H25 H32 L52 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19037&r=all |
| By: | Eric S. M. Protzer (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | What is driving contemporary populism, for example Brexit, Trump, the Gilets Jaunes, and Five-Star? Commonly-accepted answers are divided into two schools of thought, one economic and one cultural. The main explanation in the former camp is income inequality; those in the latter are social media-induced ideological polarization, unprecedented levels of immigration, and older generations reacting against millennial values. This paper exploits geographic variation in the incidence of populism to apply cross-sectional regression analysis to these arguments, and concludes that they are highly unconvincing. Instead, the thus-largely overlooked factor of social mobility is found to have far greater explanatory power. Four settings are analyzed: the 2016 US Presidential Election, the 2017 French Presidential Election, the 2019 European Parliament Elections, and the political stability of developed countries in 2018. The article contends that the decisiveness of social mobility as an explanatory variable for populism is plausibly rooted in universal human conceptions of fairness. |
| Keywords: | Inclusive Growth, Populism |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cid:wpfacu:118a&r=all |
| By: | Marianne Bertrand; Magne Mogstad (Statistics Norway); Jack Mountjoy |
| Abstract: | High school vocational education has a controversial history in the United States, largely due to a perceived tradeoff between teaching readily deployable occupational skills versus shunting mostly disadvantaged students away from the educational and career flexibility afforded by general academic courses. We study the effects of a nationwide high school reform in Norway that aimed to move beyond this tradeoff. Reform 94, implemented in one step in the fall of 1994, integrated more general education into the vocational track, offered vocational students a pathway to college through a supplementary semester of academic courses, and sought to improve the quality of the vocational track through greater access to apprenticeships. We identify the impacts of the reform through a difference-indiscontinuity research design, comparing students born just before and after the reform’s birthdate eligibility cutoff to students born around the same cutoff in placebo years. Linking multiple administrative registries covering the entire Norwegian population, we find that the reform substantially increased initial enrollment in the vocational track, but with different subsequent outcomes for different groups. More men complete the vocational track at the expense of academic diplomas, but this has no detectable impact on college-going and leads to reduced criminal activity and higher earnings in adulthood, especially among disadvantaged men. For disadvantaged women, the initial surge in vocational enrollment leads to fewer high school dropouts and more vocational degrees with the college-prep supplement, and hence an increase in the share of college-eligible women; however, this translates into only small and insignificant increases in college completion and adult earnings. We show that men overwhelmingly pursue vocational education in higher-paying skilled trade fields, while women almost exclusively pursue vocational education in lower-paying service-based fields, which helps in interpreting some of these results. Overall, the reform succeeded at improving social mobility, particularly among men, but it somewhat exacerbated the gender gap in adult earnings. |
| Keywords: | Social mobility; vocational education; Reform 94 |
| JEL: | I24 I28 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:916&r=all |
| By: | Bersch, Johannes; Degryse, Hans; Kick, Thomas; Stein, Ingrid |
| Abstract: | How does bank distress impact their customers' probability of default and trade credit availability? We address this question by looking at a unique sample of German firms from 2000 to 2011. We follow their firm-bank relationships through times of distress and crisis, featuring the different transmission of bank distress shocks into already weakened firm balance sheets. We find that a distressed bank bailout, which is subject to restructuring and deleveraging conditions, leads to a bank-induced increase of firms' probabilities of default. Moreover, bailouts tend to reduce trade credit availability and ultimately firms' sales. We further find that the direction and magnitude of the effects depends on firm quality and the relationship orientation of banks. |
| Keywords: | bank distress,bank risk channel,firm risk channel,relationship banking,firmdefaults,financial crisis |
| JEL: | G01 G21 G24 G33 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:382019&r=all |
| By: | Chandler, Vincent; Heger, Dörte; Wuckel, Christiane |
| Abstract: | Taking advantage of temporal and geographical variations in the timing of school holidays in Germany, this paper finds that school holidays cause an 19 percent (0.03 percentage points) decrease in the probability of youth suicide. This effect is constant across different types of holidays (fall, Christmas, winter, Easter, Pentecost, and summer). Moreover, we find evidence of a spike in suicide propensity in the first two days following the end of school holidays. The results are robust to the inclusion of a series of control variables and to different definitions of youth. Overall, this paper suggests that school holidays have a beneficial impact on the well-being of students and that suicide prevention efforts are particularly important in the days following the end of holidays. |
| Keywords: | school,suicide,teenagers,bullying,stress |
| JEL: | I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:820&r=all |
| By: | Böhler, Yvonne-Beatrice; Lamping, Christian; Wichardt, Philipp C. |
| Abstract: | This paper reports the results from a statistical analysis of pharmaceutical price negotiations in Germany, where the pricing system was changed in 2011 in order to tie prices more to the benefits of the pharmaceuticals. A multiple linear regression of 187 pharmaceuticals which were assessed from 2011 to 2017 suggests that, despite the change, the manufacturers' launch strategy (freely chosen first year price) still has a major impact on pricing while the impact of the additional benefit remains comparably small. Moreover, the data suggest that the assessment of the Federal Joint Committee - while not yet existing at the point - best explains the manufacturer's launch strategy, indicating that manufacturers know more than they reveal. |
| Keywords: | AMNOG,early benefit assessment,pharmaceuticals |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2141&r=all |
| By: | Shoshana Neuman; Teresa García-Muñoz; Tzahi Neuman |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the development-health literature by studying the correlation between development measures (see below) and health measures - one subjective ('self-assessed-health-status'), and the other one objective (the individual's 'number of chronic diseases'). Correlations are examined for 29 European countries, using the SHARE data set, and country-level development measures. Specifically, we examine whether country fixed-effects in regressions of health measures, controlling for individual socio-demographic variables, are significantly correlated with country development variables, which include: logarithm of per-capita GDP; the Human Development Index; the Social Progress Index; life expectancy; percentage of GDP spent on health; and the novel measure expressed by the Environmental Health Index. The novelty of our study is the introduction of a channel for the significant health-wealth correlation, speculating that the driving forces are psychological. |
| Keywords: | development; self-assessed-health-status; diseases; environmental hazards; psychological motives; SHARE; Europe |
| JEL: | I1 I15 |
| Date: | 2019–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cel:dpaper:52&r=all |
| By: | Mihály Szoboszlai (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)); Zoltán Bögöthy (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)); Pálma Mosberger (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)); Dávid Berta (Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary)) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we analyse the immediate budgetary and the long-term macroeconomic and fiscal effects of measures concerning taxes, contributions and transfers in the period between 2010 and 2017 with a microsimulation model. The corresponding tool is an updated and extended version of the behavioural general equilibrium microsimulation model developed by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank. Among the relevant fiscal policy measures, we primarily took into account the changes in labour taxes, the main elements of the transformation of social benefits and indirectly several other tax changes (on sales, capital and consumption taxes) over the period between 2010 and 2017. Our results suggest that the policy measures examined might contribute to Hungarian GDP growth by nearly 6 percent with a labour supply growth exceeding 6 percent from 2010 onward. The measures have a positive effect on the general government balance, improving the fiscal position over the long run by more than HUF 200 billion. The effects of the statutory changes are evaluated separately and cumulatively. The results of the study might be significantly influenced by the calibrated parameter values in the macromodel that is linked to the microsimulation. |
| Keywords: | behavioural microsimulation, micro macro model, taxation, transfers, tax reform |
| JEL: | C54 E62 H22 H31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnb:opaper:2018/135&r=all |
| By: | Hombert, Johan; Lyonnet, Victor |
| Abstract: | This paper shows how one of the most popular savings products in Europe -- life insurance financial products -- shares market risk across investor cohorts. Insurers smooth returns by varying reserves that offset fluctuations in asset returns. Reserves are passed on between successive investor cohorts, causing redistribution across cohorts. Using regulatory and survey data on the 1.4 trillion euro French market, we estimate this redistribution to be quantitatively large: 1.4% of savings value per year on average, or 0.8% of GDP. These findings challenge a large theoretical literature that assumes inter-cohort risk sharing is impossible. We develop and provide evidence for a model in which the elasticity of investor demand to predictable returns determines the amount of risk sharing that is possible. The evidence is consistent with low elasticity, sustaining inter-cohort risk sharing despite predictable returns. Demand elasticity is higher for investors with a larger investment amount, suggesting that low investor sophistication enables inter-cohort risk sharing. |
| Keywords: | Inter-cohort risk sharing; Life insurers |
| JEL: | G22 G32 |
| Date: | 2019–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14029&r=all |
| By: | Silvana Salvini (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | Sex remains too often a taboo in the dialogue between parents and children. And this is a problem because kids know little or nothing about sexually transmitted diseases, which, according to the Higher Institute of Health, are growing. Moreover, adolescents are not even concerned about HIV risk. On the other hand, the age of the first relationship seems to be decreasing, increasingly promiscuous and anaffective : Adolescents seek pleasure but not falling in love. Even the school does little to provide information on the subject and therefore often, as indeed happened in the past generations, the source of (scarce) knowledge is friends, and social media. In this paper, we intend to analyze the relationship between sexual behavior of university students, risk behavior related to sexuality and the role of parents. Data derive from two surveys carried out in 2000 and 2017 and methods used is logistic regression. The aim of this paper consist therefore into verifying the following two hypotheses, also controlling the change over time in the behavior of young people: (i) The more the parents communicate with their children, the less are the risks for the adolescents; (ii) the more the risk behavior in the domains of alcohol, drug and driving, the more are the sexual risks for the adolescents. |
| Keywords: | sex behavior, parents-children communication, Italy, university students. |
| JEL: | J13 J12 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2019_10&r=all |