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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2020‒07‒13
24 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | LUPPI, FRANCESCA; Arpino, Bruno; Rosina, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | This study offers an overview on changes in fertility plan during the COVID-19 crisis of a representative sample of the young population (18-34) in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and UK. Data were collected between March 27 and April 7, 2020. Our results show that fertility plans have been negatively revised in all countries, but not in the same way. In Germany and France fertility plans changed moderately, with many people still planning or postponing their decision to have a child during the 2020. In Italy, instead, the proportion of abandoners is much higher than in other countries, while comparatively it shows a lower proportion of those deciding to postpone their plans. Moreover, the demographic characteristics of the individuals seem to be associated with fertility plans in different ways across countries. In Italy, abandoners are common among individuals younger than 30 and those without a tertiary education. In Germany, abandoners are slightly more prevalent in the regions most affected by the COVID-19. In UK, fertility plans have been most frequently abandoned by individuals that expect the worse impact of the crisis on their future income. Finally, in France and Spain we did not observe a clear pattern for revision of fertility plans. These results suggest that different mechanisms are at work, due to the different economic, demographic and policy pre-crisis background and post-crisis prospects. Low-fertility contexts, in particular, appear to be more at risk of a fertility loss due to the crisis. |
| Date: | 2020–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:wr9jb&r=all |
| By: | Barigozzi, Francesca (University of Bologna); Di Timoteo, Cesare (Glovo); Monfardini, Chiara (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | We estimate gender gaps in the allocation of time by Italian adults and their trends over the years 2002-2014. We disentangle time use in weekdays and weekend days and analyse separately full-time working parents with young children, representing the subsample more mindful of gender parity. In the complete sample, the positive gap (females-males) in time devoted to Household work and the negative gap in Market work and Leisure have narrowed, while the positive gap in time devoted to Child care (Basic and Quality time together) remained constant. In 2014, family duties still appear heavily unbalanced. In the subsample, full-time working mothers devote to total work (paid and unpaid) 13 hours per week more and to Leisure 11 hours per week less than their partners. On the positive side, the gender gap in Quality child care exhibits a reversed sign, which is driven by fathers' engagement in weekend days. |
| Keywords: | child care, gender gaps, time use, household work |
| JEL: | J13 J22 H31 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13348&r=all |
| By: | Bárcena-Martín, Elena; Medina-Claros, Samuel; Pérez-Moreno, Salvador |
| Abstract: | This paper explores potential gendered effects of employment protection on earnings mobility, differentiating between upward and downward movements. We conduct a micro-macro mobility analysis for 23 European countries over the economic downturn period 2008–2014. The results confirm that, overall, the higher the protection for regular contracts, the lower the earnings mobility (either upwards or downwards) although the effect is stronger among women of high reproductive age. Nevertheless, protection for temporary employment seems to be only associated with reduced downward earnings mobility when considering transitions into and out of employment, with no gender differential effect. |
| Keywords: | earnings mobility,employment protection,European countries,gender |
| JEL: | D31 J08 J13 J31 J60 O15 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:547&r=all |
| By: | Batikas, Michail; Bechtold, Stefan; Kretschmer, Tobias; Peukert, Christian |
| Abstract: | We demonstrate how privacy law interacts with competition and trade policy in the context of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We follow more than 110,000 websites for 18 months to show that websites reduced their connections to web technology providers after GDPR became effective, especially regarding requests involving personal data. This also holds for websites catering to non-EU audiences and therefore not bound by GDPR. We further document an increase in market concentration in web technology services after the introduction of GDPR. While most firms lose market share, the leading firm, Google, significantly increases market share. |
| Keywords: | Antitrust; Brussels effect; competition policy; compliance risk; cookies; GDPR; Internet regulation; privacy; web tracking |
| JEL: | K21 L12 L15 L86 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14475&r=all |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of ageing, defined an extra year of life, on health care utilisation. We disentangle the direct effect of ageing, from other alternative explanations such as the presence of comorbidities and endogenous time to death (TTD) that are argued to absorb the effect of ageing (so-called ‘red herring’ hypothesis). We exploit individual level end of life data from several European countries that record the use of medicine, outpatient and inpatient care as well as long-term care. Consistently with a ‘red herring hypothesis’, we find that corrected TTD estimates are significantly different from uncorrected ones, and its effect size exceeds that of an extra year of life, which in turn is moderated by individual comorbidities. Corrected estimates suggest an overall attenuated effect of ageing, which does not influence outpatient care utilisation. These results suggest the presence of ‘more than one red herring’ depending on the type of health care examined. |
| Keywords: | time to death, ageing, health care utilization, hospital care, medicines use, home help use and comorbidity, endogeneous time to death (TTD), comorbidities |
| JEL: | I18 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8300&r=all |
| By: | Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola (Goethe University Frankfurt); Kuhn, Moritz (University of Bonn); Tertilt, Michèle (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | The COVID19 crisis has hit labor markets. School and child-care closures have put families with children in challenging situations. We look at Germany and quantify the macroeconomic importance of working parents. We document that 26 percent of the German workforce have children aged 14 or younger and estimate that 11 percent of workers and 8 percent of all working hours are affected if schools and child-care centers remain closed. In most European countries, the share of affected working hours is even higher. Policies to restart the economy have to accommodate the concerns of these families. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, labor market, children, child-care, parents, workforce |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J22 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13353&r=all |
| By: | Alpino, Matteo; Asatryan, Zareh; Blesse, Sebastian; Wehrhöfer, Nils |
| Abstract: | What are the effects of austerity on distributional policy? We exploit the autonomy of Italian municipalities in setting non-linear income taxes and the exogenous introduction of a fiscal rule to show that austerity increases income tax progressivity. Consistent with this evidence, we find that in a panel of countries austerity correlates with higher marginal tax rates on top- but not on average-earners. The increase in progressivity in Italy is driven by high-skilled mayors, while low-skilled mayors raise taxes uniformly. In the election after the reform, high-skill mayors have higher reelection odds than low-skill mayors, while there was no difference beforehand. |
| Keywords: | austerity,fiscal rules,non-linear income taxation,difference-in-discontinuity |
| JEL: | D78 H24 H70 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:20028&r=all |
| By: | Alexander Ahammer; Analisa Packham |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data for Upper Austrian workers from 2003--2013, we show that an extension in unemployment insurance (UI) duration increases unemployment length and impacts worker physical and mental health. These effects vary by gender. Specifically, we find that women eligible for an additional 9 weeks of UI benefits fill fewer opioid and antidepressant prescriptions and experience a lower likelihood of filing a disability claim, as compared to non-eligible unemployed women. Moreover, estimates indicate within-household spillovers for young children. For men, we find that extending UI benefit duration increases the likelihood of a cardiac event and eventual disability retirement filing. |
| JEL: | I18 I38 J18 J65 |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27267&r=all |
| By: | Bart Cockx; Michael Lechner; Joost Bollens |
| Abstract: | Based on administrative data of unemployed in Belgium, we estimate the labour market effects of three training programmes at various aggregation levels using Modified Causal Forests, a causal machine learning estimator. While all programmes have positive effects after the lock-in period, we find substantial heterogeneity across programmes and unemployed. Simulations show that “black-box” rules that reassign unemployed to programmes that maximise estimated individual gains can considerably improve effectiveness: up to 20% more (less) time spent in (un)employment within a 30 months window. A shallow policy tree delivers a simple rule that realizes about 70% of this gain. |
| Keywords: | policy evaluation, active labour market policy, causal machine learning, modified causal forest, conditional average treatment effects |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8297&r=all |
| By: | Budzinski, Oliver; Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp |
| Abstract: | The 50plus1-rule in German football is a controversially discussed institution that regulates investment behavior of professional football teams. This paper discusses from a sports economics perspective the suspected market failures that the 50plus1-rule is expected to prevent. To examine the effects of the regulation empirically, we gathered panel data on 47 teams in the German Major League Football ("Erste Bundesliga") from the seasons 1989/90 until 2018/2019. Applying various approaches to measure financial and competitive imbalance in the league, we derive a growing trend of imbalance since the introduction of the 50plus1-rule. We employ a Difference-in-Differences approach to examine investment behavior in budgets and sporting success between afflicted competitors and those exempted from the rule. Our results do not suggest any equalizing properties of the regulation. We find anticompetitive effects and distorting properties of the regulation. |
| Keywords: | 50plus1-rule,football,sports economics,financial regulation,investment,sport finance,soccer,competition economics |
| JEL: | Z23 Z21 Z2 J83 L11 L50 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:141&r=all |
| By: | Néstor Duch-Brown; Lukasz Grzybowski; André Romahn; Frank Verboven |
| Abstract: | We develop a framework to evaluate the impact of market integration, accounting for spillovers between multiple distribution channels. Our adaptation of the standard random coefficients logit demand model allows for substitution between distribution channels and incorporates consumer arbitrage across countries. We apply our framework to the European portable PC market, where geo-blocking practices that restrict online trade have recently been banned. The total consumer and welfare gains from reducing cross-border arbitrage costs are relatively modest, and entirely due to increased product choice rather than reduced price discrimination. At the same time, the distributional effects from the cross-country price convergence are substantial. Consumers in high income countries gain most, while consumers in medium and low income countries are only marginally better or even worse off. |
| Date: | 2020–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:655992&r=all |
| By: | Olivier Marie (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Judit Vall Castello (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact on work absence of a massive reduction in paid sick leave benefits. We exploit a policy change that only affected public sector workers in Spain and compare changes in the number and length of spells they take relative to unaffected private sector workers. Our results highlight a large drop in frequency mostly offset by increases in average duration. Overall, the policy did reduce number of days lost to sick leave. For some, however, return to work may have been premature as we document huge increases in both the proportion of relapses and working accidents rates. |
| Keywords: | Sickness Insurance, Paid Sick Leave, Absenteeism, Presenteeism, Relapses Contagious Diseases, Benefit Displacement, Working Accidents, Negative Externalities, Spain |
| JEL: | J32 I12 I13 I18 J22 J28 |
| Date: | 2020–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200032&r=all |
| By: | Luisa Corrado (Tor Vergata University, Italy); Andrea Fazio (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy); Alessandra Pelloni (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Italy; Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis) |
| Abstract: | We investigate some motivations of recycling, using Italian survey data. We find that people declaring an interest in environmental issues or belonging to an environmental association are more likely to recycle. This suggests that the motivations for behaving pro-environmentally have an expressive and non-instrumental motivation. However, we also find that if people perceive to live in a deteriorated environment, they are less likely to recycle. We discuss possible explanations for this finding. |
| Keywords: | Pro-Environmental Behavior, Intrinsic Motivation, Recycling, Environmental Degradation |
| JEL: | Q57 Q53 R11 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:20-21&r=all |
| By: | Anthony Terriau (GAINS, University of Le Mans); Arthur Poirier (GAINS, University of Le Mans); Julien Albertini (Univ Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130 Ecully, France); Quentin Le Bastard (MiHAR, University of Nantes) |
| Abstract: | In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, governments have adopted a variety of public health measures. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of testing on the fatality rate. We use data on inpatients across French geographic areas and propose a novel methodology that exploits policy discontinuities at region borders to estimate the effect of testing symptomatic individuals on the case-fatality rate in France. Our identi?cation strategy is based on the fact that, in France, testing policies are determined regionally by the Regional Public Health Agencies. We compare all contiguous department pairs located on the opposite sides of a region border. Department pairs have different testing rates but share similar health trends. The heterogeneity in testing rate between department pairs together with the similarities in other dimensions allow us to mimic the existence of treatment and control groups and to identify the impact of testing on the mortality rate. We find that in France, the increase of one percentage point in the test rate is associated with a decrease of 0.001 percentage point in the death rate. Putting this number into perspective involves that for each additional 1000 tests, one person would have remained alive. |
| Keywords: | Tests, Covid-19, Case-fatality rate, fixed-effects model |
| JEL: | I10 C21 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2015&r=all |
| By: | Samuel Hoey (Erasmus School of Economics); Thomas Peeters (Erasmus School of Economics); Francesco Principe (Erasmus School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | One major argument to legitimize the transfer system in European club football is that transfer fees paid by hiring clubs result in a redistribution of revenues from large market to small market clubs, which may lead to more intense on-field competition. We investigate this claim using a unique dataset of digitalized financial accounts for a representative sample of clubs across eight national football associations. Overall, the transfer system leads to a very modest reduction in revenue inequality. Small market clubs rarely earn substantial amounts of money from the transfer market. The main financial beneficiaries are clubs around the middle of the market size distribution. A select group of large market clubs makes significant transfer losses, but this does not undo these clubs’ initial financial advantage. |
| Keywords: | labor contracts, transfer system, European football, antitrust, revenue redistribution |
| JEL: | L41 J41 K12 L83 |
| Date: | 2020–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200034&r=all |
| By: | Kuhn, Andreas (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | Occupational choices remain strongly segregated by gender, for reasons not yet fully understood. In this paper, we use detailed information on the cognitive requirements in 130 distinct learnable occupations in the Swiss apprenticeship system to describe the broad job content in these occupations along the things-versus-people dimension. We first show that our occupational classification along this dimension closely aligns with actual job tasks, taken from an independent data source on employers' job advertisements. We then document that female apprentices tend to choose occupations that are oriented towards working with people, while male apprentices tend to favor occupations that involve working with things. In fact, our analysis suggests that this variable is by any statistical measure among the most important proximate predictors of occupational gender segregation. In a further step, we replicate this finding using individual-level data on both occupational aspirations and actual occupational choices for a sample of adolescents at the start of 8th grade and the end of 9th grade, respectively. Using these additional data, we finally also show that the gender difference in occupational preferences is largely independent of individual, parental, and regional controls. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, occupational gender segregation, things versus people, preferences, gender differences, job content |
| JEL: | J16 J24 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13380&r=all |
| By: | Bertoli, Simone (CERDI, University of Auvergne); Guichard, Lucas (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Marchetta, Francesca (CERDI, University of Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the consequences of the decision of French government to maintain the first round of the municipal elections on March 15, 2020 on local excess mortality in the following weeks. We exploit heterogeneity across municipalities in voter turnout, which we instrument using a measure of the intensity of local competition. The results reveal that a higher turnout was associated with a significantly higher death counts for the elderly population in the five weeks after the elections. If the historically low turnout in 2020 had been at its 2014 level, the number of deaths would have been 21.8 percent higher than the one that was recorded. More than three quarters of these additional deaths would have occurred among the individuals aged 80 and above. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, excess mortality, voter turnout, intensity of electoral competition, municipal-level data |
| JEL: | J11 D72 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13335&r=all |
| By: | Amjadi, Golnaz (CERE - the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to investigate whether the claimed conflict regarding "jobs versus the environment" exists in the Swedish manufacturing industry. The impact of environmental management costs on employment is studied using a detailed firm-level panel data for the Swedish manufacturing industry over the period 2001–2008. The results show that the sign and magnitude of such costs on employment ultimately depends on the aggregate sector-level output demand elasticity. If the output demand is inelastic, environmental management costs induce small positive net changes in employment, while a more elastic output demand could offset the positive effect and result in negative, but in most sectors relatively small, net effects on employment. Hence, the results do not generally indicate any substantial trade-off between jobs and the environment. However, in the absence of empirically estimated demand effects, the policy implication from this study still generally advocates a careful attitude regarding national environmental initiatives for sectors exposed to world market price competition. |
| Keywords: | Environmental management costs; Output demand elasticity |
| JEL: | C33 D22 J23 K32 |
| Date: | 2020–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2020_013&r=all |
| By: | Clot, Sophie (University of Reading); Della Giusta, Marina (University of Reading); Razzu, Giovanni (University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | We use a controlled experiment widely adopted in the literature to assess the extent of gender differences in attitudes towards competition in a sample of UK professionals working in two different companies. We find no gender differences in attitudes towards competition nor in performance under a competitive reward scheme. This results qualifies the findings of a large number of experimental studies that show that women are more likely than men to shy away from competition. We also find that, in our sample of professionals, women's performance under competitive schemes does not decline. We conclude that it is important to avoid generalisations on the presence of gender gaps in attitudes towards competition. This being the first field study with professional workers in relatively competitive sectors, we think more needs to be carried out. |
| Keywords: | gender, competition, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13323&r=all |
| By: | Graetz, Georg (Uppsala University); Öckert, Björn (IFAU); Nordström Skans, Oskar (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Using discontinuities within the Swedish SAT system, we show that additional admission opportunities causally affect college choices. Students with high-educated parents change timing, colleges, and fields in ways that appear consistent with basic economic theory. In contrast, very talented students with low-educated parents react to higher scores by increasing overall enrolment and graduation rates. Remarkably, most of this effect arises from increased participation in college programs and institutions that they could have attended even with a lower score. This suggests that students with low-educated parents face behavioral barriers even in a setting where colleges are tuition-free, student grants are universal and application systems are simple. |
| Keywords: | educational choice, intergenerational transmission of education, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | I21 I23 J62 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13343&r=all |
| By: | Margaret Samahita; Håkan J Holm |
| Abstract: | We conduct what we believe to be the most methodologically rigorous study of mood effect in the field so far to measure its economic impact and address shortcomings in the existing literature. Using a large dataset containing over 46 million car inspections in Sweden and England in 2016 and 2017, we study whether inspectors are more lenient on days when their mood is predicted to be good, and if car owners exploit the mood effect by selecting these days to inspect low quality cars. Different sources of good mood are studied: Fridays, sunny days, and days following unexpected wins by the local soccer team, with varying degrees of the car owner’s ability to plan for inspection, and hence the likelihood of selection bias. We find limited evidence to support the existence of mood effects in this domain, despite survey results showing belief to the contrary. There is some indication of selection effect on the part of car owners. Our findings cast doubt on previous mood effects found in the field. |
| Keywords: | Mood effect; Selection bias; Car inspection |
| JEL: | D12 D22 D84 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:202002&r=all |
| By: | Grübl, Dominik; Lackner, Mario; Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of parents' unemployment on unemployment among their children in their own adulthood. We use administrative data for Austrian children born between 1974 and 1984 and apply an instrumental variables (IV) identification strategy using parents' job loss during a mass layoff as the instrument. We find evidence of unemployment inheritance in the next generation. An additional day of unemployment during childhood causally raises the average unemployment days of the adult child by 1 to 2%. The greatest effects are observed for unmarried parents, young children, children of low-education parents, and in families living in capital cities. We also explore various channels of intergenerational unemployment, such as education, income, and job matching by parents. |
| Keywords: | instrumental variables; Intergenerational transmission; mass layoff; Unemployment Duration |
| JEL: | J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14505&r=all |
| By: | Blanchflower, David G.; Clark, Andrew E. |
| Abstract: | The common finding of a zero or negative correlation between the presence of children and parental well-being continues to generate research interest. We here consider international data, including well over one million observations on Europeans from eleven years of Eurobarometer surveys, and in the first instance replicate this negative finding, both in the overall data and then for most different marital statuses. Children are expensive: controlling for financial difficulties turns our estimated child coefficients positive. We argue that difficulties paying the bills explains the pattern of existing results by parental education and income, and country income and social support. Last, we underline that not all children are the same, with stepchildren commonly having a more negative correlation than children from the current relationship. |
| Keywords: | Children,subjective well-being,age,financial difficulties,Eurobarometer |
| JEL: | D14 I31 J13 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:561&r=all |
| By: | Kulu, Hill; Dorey, Peter |
| Abstract: | This study estimates cumulative infection rates from Covid-19 in Great Britain by geographical units and investigates spatial patterns in infection rates. We propose a model-based approach to calculate cumulative infection rates from data on observed and expected deaths from Covid-19. Our analysis of mortality data shows that between 5 and 6% of people in Great Britain were infected by Covid-19 by the last third of April 2020. It is unlikely that the infection rate was lower than 3% or higher than 12%. Secondly, England had higher infection rates than Scotland and Wales, although the differences between countries were not large. Thirdly, we observed a substantial variation in virus infection rates in Great Britain by geographical units. Estimated infection rates were highest in the capital city of London where more than 10% of the population might have been infected and also in other major urban regions, while the lowest were in small towns and rural areas. Finally, spatial regression analysis showed that the virus infection rates increased with the increasing population density of the area and the level of deprivation. The results suggest that people from lower socioeconomic groups in urban areas (including those with minority backgrounds) were most affected by the spread of coronavirus in March and April. |
| Date: | 2020–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:84f3e&r=all |