|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
|
Issue of 2021‒01‒18
thirty-six papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Giorgia Menta (University of Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | Using real-time data from the University of Luxembourg’s COME-HERE nationally representative panel survey, covering more than 8,000 individuals across France, Germany,Italy, Spain, and Sweden, I investigate how income distributions and poverty rates havechanged from January to September 2020. I find that poverty rates increased on average in allcountries from January to May and partially recovered in September. The increase in povertyis heterogeneous across countries, with Italy being the most affected and France the least;within countries, COVID-19 contributed to exacerbating poverty differences across regions inItaly and Spain. With a set of poverty measures from the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family, I thenexplore the role of individual characteristics in shaping different poverty profiles acrosscountries. Results suggest that poverty increased disproportionately more for youngindividuals, women, and respondents who had a job in January 2020 – with different intensityacross countries. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Poverty, TIP, Europe, Headcount ratio |
| JEL: | I14 I18 I32 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2021-568&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Grebel (TU - Ilmenau University of Technology [Germany]); Mauro Napoletano (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur, OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques - Sciences Po - Sciences Po, SKEMA Business School, SSSUP - Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant'Anna [Pisa]); Lionel Nesta (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur, OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques - Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | We study the productivity level distributions of manufacturing firms in France and Germany, and how these distributions evolved across the Great Recession. We show the presence of a systematic productivity advantage of German firms over French ones in the decade 2003-2013, but the gap has narrowed down after the Great Recession. Convergence is explained by the better growth performance of French firms in the post-recession period, especially of those located in the top percentiles of the productivity distribution. We also highlight the role of sectoral growth, firm size and export intensity in explaining the above convergence. In contrast, the contribution of allocative efficiency was small. |
| Keywords: | International productivity gaps,productivity distributions,firm level comparisons. JEL classification: L10,N10,D24 |
| Date: | 2020–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03049459&r=all |
| By: | Bottasso, Anna; Conti, Maurizio; Robbiano, Simone; Santagata, Marta |
| Abstract: | In this study we leverage on the ancient Roman roads network as a source of exogenous variation in order to identify the causal effect of the modern highways network on innovation using Italian NUTS-3 regional data. Our results suggest that a 10 percent increase in the highways stock in a region causes an increase in the number of patents of about 2-3 percent over a five years period. We document that this positive effect on innovation might in part be explained by a reduction in travel costs that foster collaborations between inventors living in different regions. We also find that the innovation enhancing effect of highways declines over time, possibly because of the introduction of ICT, or the increasing congestion over the Italian network. Finally, we find also evidence of important heterogeneous treatment effects associated to region population density and we cannot rule out the existence of negative spillovers across regions, suggesting possible reorganization of innovative activity across space. |
| Keywords: | transport infrastructure; innovation; regional growth; policy evaluation |
| JEL: | L91 O33 O47 R11 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104735&r=all |
| By: | Fasani, Francesco (Queen Mary, University of London); Mazza, Jacopo (European Commission, Joint Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | We provide a first timely assessment of the pandemic crisis impact on the labour market prospects of immigrant workers in Europe by proposing a novel measure of their exposure to employment risk. We characterize migrants' occupations along four dimensions related to the role of workers' occupations in the response to the pandemic, the contractual protection they enjoy, the possibility of performing their job from home and the resilience of the industry in which they are employed. We show that our measure of employment risk closely predicts actual employment losses observed in European countries after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimate that, within industries and occupations, Extra-EU migrants and women are exposed to higher risk of unemployment than native men and that women are losing jobs at higher rates than equally exposed men. According to our estimates, more than 9 million immigrants in the EU14+UK area are exposed to a high risk of becoming unemployed due to the pandemic crisis, 1.3 million of which are facing a very high risk. |
| Keywords: | employment risk, COVID-19, key occupations |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J20 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13963&r=all |
| By: | Mäcken, Jana; Präg, Patrick; Hess, Moritz; Ellwardt, Lea |
| Abstract: | This article examines country differences in the association between education and voluntary or involuntary labor market exit and whether these country differences map onto institutional characteristics of the countries. Work exit is defined as involuntary based on the reasons of exit. Four different types of institutional factors, push and pull, aiming for an earlier work exit and need and maintain factors to retain older workers in employment are considered. Using data from 15 European countries from the longitudinal Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), discrete- time event history models with a categorical outcome are estimated for each country separately. In a second step, we add macro-level indicators and conduct meta-analyses to analyze country differences. Results show that in almost all countries a social gradient in involuntary work exit exists but not in voluntary exit. Lower-educated workers are more likely to involuntarily exit the labor market. Institutional factors, especially those supporting older workers’ retention in employment, are associated with a smaller social gradient in work exit. Our findings suggest that investments in active labor market expenditures, especially in lifelong learning and rehabilitation for lower educated workers, may help to reduce the social gradient in involuntary work exit. |
| Date: | 2020–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gdtcp&r=all |
| By: | Virtanen, Hanna; Riukula, Krista |
| Abstract: | Abstract School consolidations (school closures, mergers, and expansions) have become an increasingly popular policy measure across Western countries facing decreasing fertility, fiscal constraints, and increasing learning disparities. Reducing the regional availability of post-compulsory education may affect choices to participate in education or sorting of individuals across education tracks and schools. These decisions may have long-lasting effects on the schooling and career paths of individuals. Furthermore, school consolidations may increase the regional disparities in the availability of education and thus, introduce inequalities in human capital accumulation between individuals living in different regions. They may also boost differences in skill composition between regions. Research on the effects of school consolidations has concentrated almost exclusively on the effects of closing compulsory schools and the evidence on how closing secondary schools affects the local youth is limited. Our new study Virtanen and Riukula (2020) explores how reducing the regional supply of post-compulsory education affects schooling choices and educational attainment in Finland using both difference-in-differences and event study methods. We exploit variation across municipalities and over time in the availability of three secondary education tracks: general education, and the vocational fields of technology and services. According to our results, access to general education mainly affects decisions regarding what to study, whereas reducing the regional availability of vocational education also postpones studies and may even decrease the educational attainment of local youth. Our results also suggest that school consolidations may have a substantial impact on labor market trajectories. We find that the initial enrollment choices of men are more sensitive to supply reductions than those of women, and that the field of technology is particularly important for individuals with less-educated mothers. |
| Keywords: | School consolidation, Post-compulsory education, Vocational education, School choice, Student mobility, Education supply |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I24 H40 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:briefs:94&r=all |
| By: | Paul Brandily (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Camille Hémet (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Clément Malgouyres (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IPP - Institut des politiques publiques) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the cost of job displacement using administrative data from France that covers employer and employee over both employment and unemployment spells. We find that displaced workers experience earnings losses both because of a decline in hours worked (especially in the short run) and because of lower re-employment hourly wages. In line with an active literature, we find that loss in employer-specific wage premium drives most of earnings losses in the long run. However, displaced workers tend to be re-employed by more productive firms. This result contrasts strikingly with the strong positive correlation between firms' productivity and wage premium in the cross-section. We further show that the re-employment firms also display lower labor shares. Overall, our results show that the commonly estimated loss in wage premium following job displacement does not reflect a reallocation toward low productivity firms. Instead they are most consistent with a loss in bargaining power and reallocation towards low-labor share firms. |
| Keywords: | Displaced workers,Wage,Reallocation,Labor share |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ipppap:halshs-03082302&r=all |
| By: | Hauschultz, Frederik Plum; Munk-Nielsen, Anders |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of product prominence in consumer search on demand and equilibrium prices using data from Danish pharmaceutical markets. Variation in prominence comes from alphabetical ordering in physician IT-systems. We find that both prescriptions, prices, market shares and revenue decrease in alphabetical rank. We estimate a structural ordered search model which confirms that physicians actively search. They react to patient expenditures, albeit less than patients, and increase search effort for low-income and female patients. Sorting products by price would reduce equilibrium expenditures by 5%, which is more than a removal of search frictions would achieve. |
| Keywords: | Ordered search, pharmaceuticals, market power, prominence. |
| JEL: | D12 D83 L13 |
| Date: | 2020–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104582&r=all |
| By: | Kneeshaw, Jack; De Agostini, Paola; Chatsiou, Kakia; Gasior, Katrin; Jara Tamayo, Holguer Xavier; Leventi, Chrysa; Manios, Kostas; Paulus, Alari; Popova, Daria; Tasseva, Iva Valentinova |
| Abstract: | This paper presents baseline results from the latest version of EUROMOD (version I2.0+), the tax-benefit microsimulation model for the EU. First, we briefly report the process of updating EUROMOD. We then present indicators for income inequality and risk of poverty using EUROMOD and discuss the main reasons for differences between these and EU-SILC based indicators. We further compare EUROMOD distributional indicators across all EU 28 countries and over time between 2016 and 2019. Finally, we provide estimates of marginal effective tax rates (METR) for all 28 EU countries in order to explore the effect of tax and benefit systems on work incentives at the intensive margin. Throughout the paper, we highlight both the potential of EUROMOD as a tool for policy analysis and the caveats that should be borne in mind when using it and interpreting results. This paper updates the work reported in Tammik (2019). |
| Date: | 2020–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em20-20&r=all |
| By: | Green, Colin P. (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)); Krehic, Lana (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)) |
| Abstract: | Driving under the influence of alcohol is a major cause of fatalities worldwide. There have been a range of legislative and policy interventions that aim to address this. Bar closing hours is one policy with clear implications for drink driving. Existing evidence, largely drawn from one-off policy changes in urban settings, reports mixed evidence that is difficult to generalise. We return to this issue using a setting, Norway, that is advantageous due to large temporal and regional variation in closing times, frequent changes in closing hours, and a lack of other confounding policy changes. We demonstrate an average zero effect of closing hours on traffic accidents that masks large variations in effects, especially in terms of population density, accident severity, and direction of change in closing hours. Our results suggest that estimates from single policy changes may be difficult to generalise, while demonstrating that closing hours have the potential to generate large effects on traffic accidents. |
| Keywords: | closing hours, alcohol policy, traffic accidents |
| JEL: | I18 R41 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13976&r=all |
| By: | Natia Mosiashvili; Jon Pareliussen |
| Abstract: | With a newly constructed firm-level dataset combining various survey- and registry data from Statistics Estonia, this paper sheds new light on the labour productivity premium from adopting digital technologies and boosting digital skill use. The productivity premium is decomposed into a direct effect benefitting the firms actually increasing their digital intensity, and an indirect effect of belonging to a sector with high digital intensity. The firm-level productivity premium of being an adopting firm is consistently positive and sizeable across different digital technologies and measures of skill intensity. The evidence also suggests positive spill-over effects in manufacturing sectors and sectors with a high routine task content and thus a high automation potential. |
| Keywords: | Digitalisation, productivity, skills, training |
| JEL: | D24 E22 J24 M53 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1638-en&r=all |
| By: | Alexander Hijzen; Wouter Zwysen; Mats Erik Lillehagen |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of job mobility for job reallocation and aggregate wage growth in Norway and the United States using linked employer-employee data. It provides four main findings. First, despite lower overall job mobility in Norway, the speed of worker reallocation from low-wage to high-wage firms is similar to that in the United States. Second, job reallocation tends to be counter-cyclical in Norway, but pro-cyclical in the United States, due to the weaker tendency of high-wage firms in the United States to hoard workers during economic downturns. Third, the reallocation of workers from low to high wage firms through job-to-job mobility disproportionately benefits high-skilled workers in Norway and low-skilled workers in the United States. Fourth, the slowdown in aggregate wage growth primarily reflects a weakening of on-the-job wage growth in both countries rather than a reduced role of job reallocation between low and high-wage firms (although this does also play a role in the United States). |
| JEL: | J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:254-en&r=all |
| By: | Badenes-Plá, Nuria; Blanco Palmero, Patricia; Gambau-Suelves, Borja; Navas Román, María; Villazán Pellejero, Noemí |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the study of the effects on social welfare generated by the scheme of joint taxation of the Spanish Personal Income Tax (PIT), whose peculiarity linked to its condition of optionality, allows the minimization of households´ tax bill. Different scenarios are simulated using the tax-benefit microsimulator of the European Commission – EUROMOD – with data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions corresponding to 2016. In order to measure the welfare, the current PIT scheme is taken as reference and then it is compared with two alternatives, one, in which the families that currently can opt for this system are forced to pay jointly, and another, in which the only taxation scheme was individual. The results show that the Spanish system is revealed as a generator of additional welfare linked both to the circumstance of allowing an option to families, as well as to the fact of designing a specific system of joint taxation. In addition, it is shown that the policy recommendations would be different if only the study of inequality had been considered, since the net income gains of the current system offset the possible improvements in inequality of the simulated alternatives. Our results, therefore, also reinforce the convenience of adopting an approach that simultaneously considers efficiency and equity. |
| Date: | 2020–12–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em23-20&r=all |
| By: | Mikhail Martynovich; Teis Hansen; Karl-Johan Lundquist; ; |
| Abstract: | We perform an explorative analysis of employment patterns in the foundational economy producing mundane everyday necessities and providing welfare services across Swedish regional labour markets between 2007 and 2016. We focus specifically on hierarchical patterns in spatial distribution of foundational activities and their association – direct and through integration with other economic activities – with regional employment dynamics in times of crisis, recovery, and growth. Our findings suggest the foundational economy plays an important role as employment provider to a substantial number of Swedish workers, particularly in non-metropolitan regions. Besides, it appears to be associated with improved ability of regions to retain employment in the most acute phases of economic crisis, but only if it is well integrated into regional industrial profiles. However, its overall contribution to regional resilience in the long term appears to be rather limited. |
| Keywords: | foundational economy; everyday economy; employment; regional resilience; crisis; recovery; Sweden |
| JEL: | E32 J21 L16 R11 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2061&r=all |
| By: | Fossen, Frank M. (University of Nevada, Reno); König, Johannes (DIW Berlin); Schröder, Carsten (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We present first evidence how individual risk preferences shape entrepreneurial investment among the very wealthy using novel survey data from the top of the wealth distribution, which have been added to the 2019 German Socio-economic Panel Study. The data include private wealth balance sheets, in particular the value of own private business assets, and a standard measure of risk tolerance. We find that wealthy individuals are more likely to be entrepreneurs and invest a larger share of their wealth in their own businesses when they are more willing to take risks. These associations are stronger among wealthy than among less wealthy individuals. The results imply that policies affecting the riskiness of income and wealth, such as tax policy and bankruptcy law, affect risky investment decisions at the top of the wealth distribution in ways strongly determined by individual risk tolerance. Since the wealthy dominate aggregate risky investment, their risk preferences must be taken into account for theory development, empirical analysis, and policy evaluations. |
| Keywords: | wealth, entrepreneurship, risk, portfolio choice |
| JEL: | J22 J23 L26 D14 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13951&r=all |
| By: | Midões, Catarina; Seré, Mateo |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 crisis has led to substantial reductions in earnings. We propose a new measure of financial vulnerability, computable through survey data, to determine whether households can withstand a certain income shock for a defined period of time. Using data from the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) we analyse preexisting financial vulnerability in seven EU countries. We find that income support is essential for many families: 47.2 million individuals, out of the 243 million considered, cannot afford three months of food and housing expenses without privately earned income. Differences across countries are stark, and those born outside of the EU are especially vulnerable. Through a tax-benefit microsimulation exercise, we then derive household net income when employees are laid-off and awarded the COVID-19 employment protection benefits enacted in the different countries. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 employment protection schemes awarded are extremely effective in reducing the number of vulnerable individuals. The relative importance of rent and mortgage suspensions in alleviating vulnerability is highly country dependent. |
| Date: | 2020–12–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em21-20&r=all |
| By: | Markova-Nenova, Nonka; Wätzold, Frank; Sturm, Astrid |
| Abstract: | Economic analysis of agri-environment schemes (AES) has focused mainly on improving their cost-effectiveness. In contrast, the distributional impacts of AES have received less attention in the economic literature, even though the implementation of cost-effective policies can receive much more support, if their distributional impacts are desirable. We combine cost-effectiveness and distributional considerations and investigate empirically for a case study (a grassland program in Saxony, Germany), if trade-offs or synergies exist between improving the cost-effectiveness of an AES and its distributional impacts. We apply an ecological-economic modelling procedure to design two cost-effective AES - one scheme with spatially homogeneous payments and one with regionally differentiated payments. To compare the distributional impacts of the schemes we use the criteria of equality, equity and Rawls’ maximin criterion. Our results suggest that substantial cost-effectiveness improvements can be achieved with the spatially differentiated AES. Regarding distributional impacts, on the federal state level and within the largest region, we find a trade-off between equality and cost-effectiveness, whereas equity generally increases with improved cost-effectiveness of the AES, except in the largest region. On Rawls’ maximin criterion the spatially homogeneous payments are preferred, as they lead to the highest net benefits in the poorest region. This shows the importance of analyzing the distributional implications of cost-effective AES on different spatial levels. |
| Keywords: | cost-effectiveness, distribution, fairness, maximin, agri-environmental payments, ecological-economic modelling, spatial differentiation |
| JEL: | Q18 Q57 |
| Date: | 2020–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104759&r=all |
| By: | Carrieri, Vincenzo (Magna Graecia University); De Paola, Maria (University of Calabria); Gioia, Francesca (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | How do people balance health/wealth concerns during a pandemic? And, how does the communication of this trade-off affect individual preferences? We address these questions using a field experiment involving around 2000 students enrolled in a large university in Italy. We design four treatments where the trade-off is communicated using different combinations of a positive framing that focuses on protective strategies and a negative framing which refers to potential costs. We find that positive framing on the health side induces individuals to give greater relevance to the health dimension. The effect is sizeable and highly effective among many different audiences, especially females. Importantly, this triggers a higher level of intention to adhere to social distancing and precautionary behaviors. Moreover, irrespective of the framing, we find a large heterogeneity in students' preferences over the trade-off. Economics students and students who have directly experienced the economic impact of the pandemic are found to favor wealth-centered policies. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, health, economic costs, trade-off, framing |
| JEL: | D04 D83 D84 D91 H12 I10 J10 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13943&r=all |
| By: | Grund, Christian (RWTH Aachen University); Rubin, Maike (RWTH Aachen University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether job autonomy is associated with employees' sickness absence. We can make use of the representative German Study of Mental Health at Work data. In line with our theoretical considerations, we do find evidence for an inverse relation between employees' job autonomy and days of sickness absence. This relation is only weakly mediated by job satisfaction and particularly relevant for more senior employees. |
| Keywords: | job autonomy, sickness absence, age, job satisfaction |
| JEL: | J81 M12 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13945&r=all |
| By: | Maria De Paola (Università della Calabria and IZA); Roberto Nisticò (Università di Napoli Federico II, CSEF and IZA); Vincenzo Scoppa (University of Calabria and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how academic promotions affect the propensity of women to have a child. We use administrative data on the universe of female assistant professors employed in Italian universities from 2001 to 2018. We estimate a model with individual fixed effects and find that promotion to associate professor increases the probability of having a child by 0.6 percentage points, which translates into an increase by 12.5% of the mean. This result is robust to employing a Regression Discontinuity Design in which we exploit the eligibility requirements in terms of research productivity introduced since 2012 by the Italian National Scientific Qualification (NSQ) as an instrument for qualification (and therefore promotion) to associate professor. Our finding provides important policy implications in that reducing uncertainty on career prospects may lead to an increase in fertility. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Promotion, Academic Career, Career uncertainty. |
| JEL: | J13 J65 J41 M51 C31 |
| Date: | 2021–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:595&r=all |
| By: | Antón, José-Ignacio (University of Linz); Fernández-Macías, Enrique (European Commission, Joint Research Centre); Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf (University of Linz) |
| Abstract: | Whereas there are recent papers on the effect of robot adoption on employment and wages, there is no evidence on how robots affect non-monetary working conditions. We explore the impact of robot adoption on several domains of non-monetary working conditions in Europe over the period 1995–2005 combining information from the World Robotics Survey and the European Working Conditions Survey. In order to deal with the possible endogeneity of robot deployment, we employ an instrumental variables strategy, using the robot exposure by sector in other developed countries as an instrument. Our results indicate that robotization has a negative impact on the quality of work in the dimension of work intensity and no relevant impact on the domains of physical environment or skills and discretion. |
| Keywords: | robotization, working conditions, job quality, Europe, regional labour markets |
| JEL: | J24 J81 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13975&r=all |
| By: | Laudicella, Mauro (University of Southern Denmark, DaCHE - Danish Centre for Health Economics); Di Donni, Paolo (University of Palermo, Economics Department & University of Southern Denmark, DaCHE); Rose Olsen, Kim (University of Southern Denmark, DaCHE - Danish Centre for Health Economics); Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte (University of Southern Denmark, DaCHE - Danish Centre for Health Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study measures the increment of health care expenditure (HCE) that can be attributed to technological progress and change in medical practice by using a residual approach and microdata. We examine repeated cross-sections of individuals experiencing an initial health shock at different point in time over a ten-year window and capture the impact of unobservable technology and medical practice to which they are exposed after allowing for differences in health and socioeconomic characteristics. We decompose the residual increment in the part that is due to the effect of delaying time to death, i.e. individuals surviving longer after a health shock and thus contributing longer to the demand of care, and the part that is due to increasing intensity of resource use, i.e. the basket of services becoming more expensive to allow for the cost of innovation. We use data from the Danish National Health System that offers universal coverage and is free of charge at the point of access. We find that technological progress and change in medical practice can explain about 60% of the increment of HCE, in line with macroeconomic studies that traditionally investigate this subject. |
| Keywords: | Health care expenditure; Time-to-death; Ageing; Morbidity; Technological impact |
| JEL: | H51 I18 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sduhec:2020_004&r=all |
| By: | Alfano, Maria Rosaria; Baraldi, Anna Laura; Papagni, Erasmo |
| Abstract: | This work analyses the effect of the two preference voting systems – proportional system with blocked lists of candidates vs proportional system with open list of candidates - on the quality of politicians. The exogenous variation in the Italian Parliament electoral system (Law n. 270/2005) - which marked the switch from an open to a closed list - allows us implement a Difference-inDifferences approach to compare the change in politicians' quality (as their education level) across the treatment group (the Parliamentarians) and the control group (the regional councillors) of politicians before and after the electoral reform is enforced. We find that the introduction of the reform lowered the politicians' ability. The result is common for Senators and Deputies and it is robust to the inclusion of control variables and to the restriction of treatment group to pastappointed Parliamentarians. This evidence suggests that voters are able to choose more qualifying politicians than political parties and it may be an argument in favor the re-introduction, in the electoral law, of preference voting schemes. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2020–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemff:308020&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Abramo; Ciriaco Andrea D'Angelo; Flavia Di Costa |
| Abstract: | Literature about the scholarly impact of scientific research offers very few contributions on private sector research, and the comparison with public sector. In this work, we try to fill this gap examining the citation-based impact of Italian 2010-2017 publications distinguishing authorship by the private sector from the public sector. In particular, we investigate the relation between different forms of collaboration and impact: how intra-sector private publications compare to public, and how private-public joint publications compare to intra-sector extramural collaborations. Finally, we assess the different effect of international collaboration on private and public research impact, and whether there occur differences across research fields. |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2012.04908&r=all |
| By: | Bömmel, Nadja (Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsverläufe (LIfBi)); Heineck, Guido (University of Bamberg) |
| Abstract: | A substantial number of studies suggests a strong relationship between education and aspects of political participation and interest. Only a small body of literature, however, addresses whether these patterns represent causal effects. We add to this research and re-examine the question in the German context. For identification, we exploit an exogenous increase in lower secondary compulsory schooling between 1949 and 1969 in former West Germany, and use data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to identify individuals' educational biographies more precisely than prior research. Our results reinforce findings from Siedler (2010): multiple regression analyses first indicate a positive, statistically significant correlation between schooling and our measures of political activities. IV estimates, however, are all trivial, for both compliers and the full sample, indicating that the reform did not stimulate long-term changes in political participation and interest. |
| Keywords: | school reform, political participation, IV estimation, returns to education, Germany |
| JEL: | I2 H4 H23 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13954&r=all |
| By: | Hahn, Anja M.; Kholodilin, Konstantin A.; Waltl, Sofie R. |
| Abstract: | In 2020, Berlin enacted a rigorous rent-control policy: the “Mietendeckel” (rent freeze), aiming to stop rapidly growing rental prices. We evaluate this newly enacted but old-fashionably designed policy by analyzing its immediate supply-side effects. Using a rich pool of rent advertisements reporting asking rents and comprehensive dwelling characteristics, we perform hedonic-style Difference-in-Difference analyses comparing trajectories of dwellings inside and outside the policy’s scope. We find no immediate effect upon announcement of the policy. Yet advertised rents drop significantly upon the policy’s enactment. Additionally, we document a substitution effect affecting the rental markets of Berlin’s (unregulated) satellite city Potsdam and adjacent smaller municipalities. On top, the supplemental quantity analyses reveal a stark reduction of the number of advertised rental units hampering a successful housing search for newcomers, (young) first-time renters and tenants aiming for a different housing opportunity. |
| Keywords: | First-Generation Rent Control, Rent Freeze, Urban Policy, Rent Price, Supply Disruptions, Berlin |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:7911&r=all |
| By: | Virtanen, Hanna; Riukula, Krista |
| Abstract: | Abstract We study how reducing the regional supply of post-compulsory education affects schooling choices and educational attainment in Finland. We exploit variation across municipalities and over time in the availability of three secondary education tracks: general education, and the vocational fields of technology and services. According to our results, access to general education mainly affects decisions regarding what to study, whereas reducing the regional availability of vocational education also postpones studies and may even decrease the educational attainment of local youth. Our results also suggest that school consolidations may have a substantial impact on labor market trajectories. We find that the initial enrollment choices of men are more sensitive to supply reductions than those of women, and that the field of technology is particularly important for individuals with less-educated mothers. |
| Keywords: | School consolidation, Post-compulsory education, Vocational education, School choice, Student mobility, Education supply |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I24 H40 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:85&r=all |
| By: | Castelli, Chiara; Parenti, Angela |
| Abstract: | Commuting shapes countless everyday-lives around the world, with dynamics varying from city to regional and cross regional level. Taking as reference the free-movement EU-28 area (plus Switzerland and Norway), the analysis considers a total sample of 195 NUTS2 regions over the decade 2007-2017 to depict regional cross-border dynamics, thus including the impacts of the 2008 financial crisis. The tested presence of spatial interactions among regions leads to the adoption of the Spatial Durbin Model in a panel context, thus including fixed effects in order to eliminate any time influence on variables as well as any regional idiosyncrasy (i.e. cultural, institutional etc.). The outcoming analysis highlights the potentiality of temporary contracts in preserving jobs during crisis, as they offer a flexible tool for employment adjustments. Moreover, the regional specialization in the knowledge sector is found to be an important attractor of external workers as well as a relatively effective retaining factor of the domestic labour force. But there are also other factors affecting mobility. For instance, the perceived commuting distance significantly depends on the time needed to reach the corresponding workplace and this study finds that the more diffused is the transportation system (in terms of highways’ density) the higher the commuting outflow. A similar impact is found with respect to housing costs, that is the cheaper is the relative house price of the region of residence with respect to the surrounding territories, the more travel-to-work becomes an attractive option, even in its extend of long-distance commute. Finally, a last strong push factor of mobility is found in the lack job opportunities, here expressed as the unemployment rate differential for each single territory with respect to its surroundings. Indeed, the higher the lack of job opportunities in the domestic market with respect to its neighbours, the higher the share of workers that will try to seek their fortune crossing the regional border. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2020–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemgc:307985&r=all |
| By: | Carillo, Maria Rosaria; Lombardo, Vincenzo; Venittelli, Tiziana |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between social identity and labor market outcomes of immigrants. Using survey data from Italy, we provide robust evidence that immigrants with stronger feelings of belonging to the societies of both the host and home country have higher employment rates, while those who exclusively identify with the host country culture do not have a net occupational advantage. Analysis of the potential mechanisms suggests that, although simultaneous identification with host and home country groups can be costly, the positive effect of multiple social identities is especially triggered by the enlarged information transmission and in-group favoritism that identification with, and membership of, extended communities ensure. |
| Keywords: | Migration,Integration,Ethnic identity,Acculturation,Culture,Labor market |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 Z1 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:749&r=all |
| By: | Arun Advani (University of Warwick [Coventry], IFS - Institut für Sozialforschung, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science); Andy Summers (LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science) |
| Abstract: | Aggregate taxable capital gains in UK have tripled in past decade. Using confidential administrative data on the universe of UK taxpayers, we show that including gains changes the picture of UK inequality over the past two decades. These taxable gains are largely repackaged income, so their exclusion biases the picture of inequality. Including them changes who is at the top of the distribution, adding more business owners and older people. The share of income plus gains (both pre-and post-tax) going to the top 1% is 3pp higher than for income only, and this gap has been steadily rising. |
| Keywords: | inequality,capital gains,income shifting,top shares |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03022609&r=all |
| By: | Adrian Nieto; Marc Suhrcke |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of screen-based activities on obesity and mental well-being for children, exploiting exogenous variation in the entry date of the digital television transition in the UK. The digital transition increased the number of available free television channels from 5 to 40, leading to an increase in television viewing time. Our results show that one additional year with access to digital television signal increases BMI z-scores by 0.159 standard deviations and the mental health total difficulties score by 2.13% among children. Underlying the net effects appears to be a decrease in physical activity among children, while neither eating habits nor personal views about self-appearance seem to play a signicant role. |
| Keywords: | Television; BMI; Obesity; Mental Health; Well-being |
| JEL: | D60 I10 I31 J13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2020-12&r=all |
| By: | Nicole Jonker; Carin van der Cruijsen; Michiel Bijlsma; Wilko Bolt |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 has temporarily changed the relative cost and benefits of different payment methods: cash has become more costly in terms of health risks, ease of use and likelihood of acceptance, whereas debit card usage has become less costly. As a result, consumers have shifted away from cash. For some, this may speed up the adoption of electronic payment methods, resulting in a permanent change in payment behaviour. Others will return to their preferred payment method once the influence of COVID-19 on our health and daily lives has faded away. Based on unique payment diary survey data collected among a representative panel of Dutch consumers, we study the shift in payment behaviour and payment preferences during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the start of the lockdown in the Netherlands the likelihood of debit card usage at the expense of cash has increased by 13 percentage points. About 60 percent of this shift has persisted seven months after the start of the pandemic in the Netherlands and appears to be longlived. Also, the pandemic has resulted in a shift in payment preferences towards more contactless payments. Both effects are largest for elderly people. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; consumer payment behaviour; consumption; payment diary data |
| JEL: | D12 E21 E42 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:701&r=all |
| By: | Oreffice, Sonia; Quintana-Domeque, Climent |
| Abstract: | We investigate gender differences across multiple dimensions after three months of the first UK lockdown of March 2020, using an online sample of approximately 1,500 Prolific respondents residents in the UK. We find that women's mental health was worse than men's along the four metrics we collected data on, that women were more concerned about getting and spreading the virus, and that women perceived the virus as more prevalent and lethal than men did. Women were also more likely to expect a new lockdown or virus outbreak by the end of 2020, and were more pessimistic about the contemporaneous and future state of the UK economy, as measured by their forecasted contemporaneous and future unemployment rates. We also show that, between earlier in 2020 before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and June 2020, women had increased childcare and housework more than men. Neither the gender gaps in COVID-19-related health and economic concerns nor the gender gaps in the increase in hours of childcare and housework can be accounted for by a rich set of control variables. Instead, we find that the gender gap in mental health can be partially accounted for by the difference in COVID-19-related health concerns between men and women. |
| Keywords: | Coronavirus,sex,inequity,wellbeing,mental health,anxiety,employment,concerns,perceptions,donations,time allocation,childcare,housework |
| JEL: | H1 J1 J16 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:738&r=all |
| By: | Hippolyte d'Albis (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Ikpidi Badji (EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Najat El Mekkaoui (Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Julien Navaux (uOttawa - University of Ottawa [Ottawa]) |
| Abstract: | We use the National Transfer Accounts methodology to calculate private asset income by age for the years 1979–2011. We analyze age profiles using three indicators of intergenerational equity. Monetary asset income shows no evidence of generational breaks to the benefit of the baby‐boom generation. On the contrary, baby‐boomers suffered from the high interest rates that they paid to become homeowners. Imputed rents show an obvious breakdown of intergenerational equity when we use an inter‐age and intergenerational indicator. This indicator compares the per capita asset income at a given age with the average asset income of people aged 18‐85. It gives the relative situation of one age group compared to its contemporaries and it also gives the relative situation of one generation when we compare birth cohorts over time. We find that the cohort born in 1950 benefited from a better position than their successors. Moreover, the cohorts born before the war and during the war appear to be even more favored than the baby‐boomers. The cohorts born in 1930 and in 1940 have a better situation than the previous generations and a better position than the following generations. |
| Keywords: | National Transfer Accounts,Private Asset Income,Intergenerational Equity |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03019470&r=all |
| By: | Badenes-Plá, Nuria; Gambau-Suelves, Borja |
| Abstract: | The “Minimum Vital Income†(IMV) constitutes a novelty in the panorama for fighting poverty by guaranteeing minimum incomes after the COVID-19 crisis. This work simulates the distributional and poverty effects of the IMV introduction across Spanish regions using EUROMOD. Our results show that the IMV reduces inequality and poverty – general and extreme - for all regions. The regional minimum income schemes (RMI) have been a fundamental measure to fight poverty in Spain from the regional level, although this power has not been as effective as it was expected in reducing inequality. This work also simulates the effects on inequality and poverty that the elimination of current RMI and the introduction of the new IMV would generate. Considering the simultaneous introduction of IMV and RMI elimination, the negative effects of RMI would be offset by positive effects of IMV, leading also to a big additional saving for the Spanish Public Accounts. |
| Date: | 2020–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em22-20&r=all |
| By: | Mariani, R. D.; Rosati, F. C. |
| Abstract: | The availability of child-care services has often been advocated as one of the instruments to counter the fertility decline observed in many high-income countries. In the recent past large inflows of lowskilled migrants have substantially increased the supply of child-care services. In this paper we examine if the flow of immigrants as actually affected fertility exploiting the natural experiment occurred in Italy in 2007, when a large inflow of migrants - many of them specialized in the supply of child care - arrived unexpectedly. With a difference-in-differences method, we show that newly arrived immigrant female workers have increased the number of native births by roughly 2 per cent. We validate our result by the implementation of an instrumental variable approach and several robustness tests, all concluding that the increase in the supply of child-care services by immigrants has positively affected native fertility choice. |
| Keywords: | Household Economics,Fertility,Immigrant Labour,International Migration |
| JEL: | D12 F22 J13 J61 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:745&r=all |