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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2022‒01‒24
27 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Melisso Boschi; Valeria Bevilacqua; Carla Di Falco |
| Abstract: | We quantify the effect of property tax reforms implemented in Italy in 1993 and 2012 on property prices. We focus on the Italian house prices index using the Interrupted Time Series Analysis (ITSA), a statistical approach that proves to be useful when a counterfactual scenario for policy evaluation is difficult to create due to the universality of intervention. The hypothesis under test is that the two reforms caused a statistically significant discontinuity in the house prices index dynamics. We estimate two alternative versions of the ITSA model ─ one including only Italy, and another one including also similar European countries as control terms (France, Germany, Spain, and the UK). Property tax changes effects are reform-specific. As for the 1993 reform effect on real house prices, we estimate a 13-14 percent decrease of the mean level and a 1 percentage points (p.p.) increase of the rate of growth. As for the 2012 reform, depending on the model chosen, we estimate a 3-5 percent decrease, or a 4 percent increase, in level, as well as a 3-4 p.p. decrease, or a 2 p.p. increase, of the rate of growth. |
| Keywords: | Policy effect evaluation, Property tax, House prices, Property tax capitalization, Tax reforms, Interrupted Time Series Analysis |
| JEL: | C32 H20 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2021-82&r= |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Wittbrodt, Linda (University of Potsdam) |
| Abstract: | In many countries, women are over-represented among low-wage employees, which is why a wage floor could benefit them particularly. Following this notion, we analyse the impact of the German minimum wage introduction in 2015 on the gender wage gap. Germany poses an interesting case study in this context, since it has a rather high gender wage gap and set the minimum wage at a relatively high level, affecting more than four million employees. Based on individual data from the Structure of Earnings Survey, containing information for over one million employees working in 60,000 firms, we use a difference-in-difference framework that exploits regional differences in the bite of the minimum wage. We find a significant negative effect of the minimum wage on the regional gender wage gap. Between 2014 and 2018, the gap at the 10th percentile of the wage distribution was reduced by 4.6 percentage points (or 32%) in regions that were strongly affected by the minimum wage compared to less affected regions. For the gap at the 25th percentile, the effect still amounted to -18%, while for the mean it was smaller (-11%) and not particularly robust. We thus find that the minimum wage can indeed reduce gender wage disparities. While the effect is highest for the low-paid, it also reaches up into higher parts of the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, gender wage gap, regional bite |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J38 J71 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14926&r= |
| By: | Berta, Paolo (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca); Bratti, Massimiliano (University of Milan); Fiorio, Carlo V. (University of Milan); Pisoni, Enrico (European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)); Verzillo, Stefano (European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)) |
| Abstract: | Does the organisation of healthcare systems affect health outcomes in a pandemic situation? To answer this question, we analysed the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic by focusing on mortality rate outcomes and exploited the heterogeneity of the healthcare organisational models among Italian regions, which makes Italy an ideal "laboratory". Within a common national healthcare system, Italian regions are allowed large autonomy to organise themselves as mixed-markets based on choice and competition, network or centralised leadership models, each delivering different responses to the Covid-19 emergency. Exploiting the discontinuity of healthcare organisational models across the Italian regional borders around Lombardy — the region that most convincingly embraced the mixed-market model fostering competition among health service providers — we applied a difference in geographic regression discontinuity design (DiD-GRDD) to compare mortality rates in 2020 of Lombardy's municipalities with that of neighbouring municipalities in other regions and also exploited the pre-crisis period (2017-2019). Our analysis shows that mortality rates in Lombardy during the first wave were higher by 1-2 percentage points among the population of residents aged 80 years or more, compared to the past, as opposed to regions adopting different organisational models. The mortality rate differential disappeared during the second wave following the implementation of a national policy based on risk zones, limiting mobility and taking stock of the experience developed during the first wave. Finally, by investigating the channels causing higher mortality during the first wave, we show that the role of organisational model differences vanishes, as differential mortality is mostly explained by the decision of the Lombardy regional government to use care homes for hosting Covid-19 patients and reduce the excess demand on the hospital system. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, mortality, administrative borders, regions, Italy |
| JEL: | I10 H12 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14930&r= |
| By: | Geyer, Johannes; Lorenz, Svenja; Zwick, Thomas; Bruns, Mona |
| Abstract: | Early retirement options are usually targeted at employees at risk of not reaching their regular retirement age in employment. An important at-risk group comprises employees who have worked in demanding jobs for many years. This group may be particularly negatively affected by the abolition of early retirement options. To measure differences in labor market reactions of employees in low- and high-demand jobs, we exploit the quasi-natural experiment of a cohort-specific pension reform that increased the early retirement age for women from 60 to 63 years. Based on a large administrative dataset, we use a regression-discontinuity approach to estimate the labor market reactions. Surprisingly, we find the same relative employment increase of about 25% for treated women who were exposed to low and to high job demand. For older women in demanding jobs, we also do not find substitution effects into unemployment, partial retirement, disability pension, or inactivity. Eligibility for the pension for women required highlabor market attachment; thus, we argue that this eligibility rule induced a positive selection of healthy workers into early retirement. |
| Keywords: | pension reform,job demand,early retirement,quasi-experimental variation |
| JEL: | J14 J18 J22 J26 H31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21082&r= |
| By: | Rebecca Schrader |
| Abstract: | In this study, I investigate the effect of partial retirement at the firm level on older workers’ labor participation. Thereby, I contribute to the controversial debate about the effects of partial retirement. Using detailed administrative employer-employee data from Germany, I exploit the introduction of partial retirement options in Germany related to the law on PR of 1996 within a difference-in-differences framework. My results show that older workers’ labor participation responds to the introduction of partial retirement and reveals substantial effect heterogeneities with regard to the specific partial retirement arrangement. Overall, I find evidence that partial retirement has the potential to extend older workers’ labor participation and thereby to serve as an instrument to lower the financial burden of governments struggling with the economic costs of demographic aging. |
| Keywords: | older workers, partial retirement, retirement decision, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J14 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:215_schrader&r= |
| By: | Brancati, Emanuele (Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak to explore the determinants of firms' R&D choices around an exogenous shock. We make use of unique panel data on 7,800 Italian companies between January 2020 –right before the pandemic– and March of the same year –amid lockdown policies. We then exploit the revision in firms' research plans within this short-time window to test the impact of deteriorating expectations and uncertainty on firms' R&D choices. Our results show a dramatic effect of firms' expectations about future market conditions. In this regard, internationalized and innovative companies, which were particularly suffering the onset of the crisis, display a significantly higher probability of discontinuing research plans. Beyond the role played by expectations, innovative characteristics already in place are found to critically shape firms' reactions to the general uncertainty. Two main patterns emerge from our analysis. On the one hand, there is a strong degree of persistence in R&D choices for a small set of innovators with substantial past expenditure in in-house research activities. On the other, the COVID-19 shock especially jeopardized R&D plans of firms that recently started new research programs or newly innovative companies. We interpret such results as evidence that preexisting sunk costs increase the persistence of R&D choices after uncertainty shocks. |
| Keywords: | firms, R&D, expectations, uncertainty, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | O3 D22 D84 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14889&r= |
| By: | Flavio L. Pinheiro; Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Ron Boschma; Dominik Hartmann |
| Abstract: | As regions evolve, their economies become more complex, and they tend to diversify into related activities. Although there is a bright side to this diversification process in terms of economic development, there may also be a dark side to it, as it possibly contributes to regional inequalities. The paper uses data on industries and patents to analyze the diversification patterns of 283 regions in 32 European countries over the past 15 years. We find that only the most economically advanced regions have the opportunity to diversify into highly complex activities. These regions tend to focus on related high-complex activities, while lagging regions focus on related low-complex activities, creating a spatial inequality feedback loop. This pattern creates a wicked problem for innovation policy: the strategy needed to improve the innovativeness of the European knowledge system might disproportionately benefit regions that are already developed and foster disparities. |
| Keywords: | dark side of innovation, geography of innovation, regional diversification, complexity, regional inequality, Smart Specialisation Policy |
| JEL: | O25 O33 R11 O31 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2202&r= |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Giebel, Marek |
| Abstract: | We utilize a new survey experiment to evaluate the existence and degree of financial constraints for R&D in the economy. The experiment does not only allow to deduct the presence of financial constraints, but also to evaluate their economic significance. Using data on German companies, we find that financial constraints for R&D exist but that their relevance might have been overestimated in the literature. Most R&D projects that have not been implemented because of financial constraints turn out to have low expected marginal rates of return. While this findings stands in some contrast to other studies, we also find several results that are in line with the literature: young firms are most constrained and the constraints occur at the intensive margin, i.e. our results do not suggest that non-innovative companies are deterred from innovation. Instead, highly innovative companies are restricted by the capital market. |
| Keywords: | Innovation,Financial Constraints,Survey Experiment |
| JEL: | G30 O30 O31 O32 L21 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21084&r= |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina (Universidad de Murcia) |
| Abstract: | We study biased survival expectations across two domains and examine whether such biased expectations influence health and financial behaviors. Combining individual-level longitudinal data, retrospective, and end of life data from several European countries for more than a decade, we estimate time-varying individual level bias in 'survival expectations' (BSE) at the individual level and compare it biased 'meteorological expectations' (BME). We exploit variation in an individual's family history (parental age at death) to estimate the effect of BSE on health and financial behaviors and compare it to BME, and other tests to discuss whether the effect of BSE results from the effect of private information. We find that BSE increases the probability of adopting less risky behaviors and financial behaviors. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in BSE reduces the average probability of smoking by 48% and holding retirement accounts by 69%. In contrast, BME barely affects healthy behaviors, and is only associated with a change in some financial behaviors. |
| Keywords: | biased expectations, survival expectations, meteorological expectations, longevity optimism, private information, health behaviour, financial behaviour |
| JEL: | I18 D14 G22 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14876&r= |
| By: | Luca Fumarco; Alessandro Vandromme; Levi Halewyck; Eline Moens; Stijn Baert (-) |
| Abstract: | We are the first to estimate the impact of relative age (i.e., the difference in classmates’ ages) on both speed and quality of individuals’ transition from education to the labour market. Moreover, we are the first to explore whether and how this impact passes through characteristics of students’ educational career. We use rich data pertaining to schooling and to labour market outcomes one year after graduation to conduct instrumental variables analyses. We find that a one-year increase in relative age increases the likelihood of (i) being employed then by 3.5 percentage points, (ii) having a permanent contract by 5.1 percentage points, and (iii) having full-time employment by 6.5 percentage points. These relative age effects are partly mediated by intermediate outcomes such as having had a schooling delay at the age of sixteen or taking on student jobs. The final mediator is particularly notable as no earlier studies examined relative age effects on student employment. |
| Keywords: | relative age, school starting age, labour market transition |
| JEL: | I21 J23 J24 J6 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1037&r= |
| By: | Bindler, Anna (University of Gothenburg); Hjalmarsson, Randi (University of Gothenburg); Ketel, Nadine (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Mitrut, Andreea (University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | Many rights are conferred on Dutch youth at ages 16 and 18. Using national register data for all reported victimizations, we find sharp and discontinuous increases in victimization rates at these ages: about 13% for both genders at 16 and 9% (15%) for males (females) at 18. These results are comparable across subsamples (based on socio-economic and neighborhood characteristics) with different baseline victimization risks. We assess potential mechanisms using data on offense location, cross-cohort variation in the minimum legal drinking age driven by a 2014 reform, and survey data of alcohol/drug consumption and mobility behaviors. We conclude that the bundle of access to weak alcohol, bars/clubs and smoking increases victimization at 16 and that age 18 rights (hard alcohol, marijuana coffee shops) exacerbate this risk; vehicle access does not play an important role. Finally, we do not find systematic spillover effects onto individuals who have not yet received these rights. |
| Keywords: | victimization, crime, youth, youth protection laws, alcohol, inequality, RDD |
| JEL: | K42 K36 J13 I12 I14 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14917&r= |
| By: | Fackler, Daniel (IWH Halle); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Stegmaier, Jens (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset of establishments in Germany surveyed during the Covid-19 pandemic, this study investigates whether personnel adjustments during the crisis differed between establishments with and without a works council. Our regression analyses show that the hiring and dismissal rate as well as the churning rate were lower in establishments with a works council. In contrast, the net employment growth rate over the pandemic and the implementation of short-time work did not differ significantly between establishments with and without a works council. We conclude that worker co-determination did indeed make a difference in terms of higher employment stability for the incumbent workforce during the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | personnel adjustments, co-determination, works councils, COVID-19, pandemic |
| JEL: | J53 J63 M51 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14873&r= |
| By: | Bartels, Lara; Kesternich, Martin; Löschel, Andreas |
| Abstract: | With the increasing recognition of the use of reforestation measures as a complement to conventional carbon emissions avoidance technologies it is important to understand the market valuation of local forest carbon sinks for climate change mitigation. We conducted a framed-field experiment among a Germany-wide sample to provide a revealed preference study on the individual willingness to pay (WTP) for carbon sequestration through forests. Our particular focus is on the role of local co-benefits of climate protection activities. In addition, we add geo-data to our experimental data to analyze the impact of spatial variation on the individual WTP. We find that the WTP for carbon removal exceeds the WTP for mitigation efforts found in previous studies. While spatial distances does affect the likelihood to contribute to a local carbon sink, it does not affect the average amount given. Additional survey data finds that trust in forest measures is higher compared to mitigation via an emissions trading scheme, whichcould explain the comparably high WTP. |
| Keywords: | voluntary provision of environmental public goods,climate change mitigation,carbon sequestration,willingness to pay,co-benefits,revealed preferences,framed-field experiment |
| JEL: | Q51 Q54 C93 Q23 H41 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21088&r= |
| By: | Berger, Michael; Czypionka, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a popular yet cost-intensive diagnostic measure whose strengths compared to other medical imaging technologies have led to increased application. But the benefits of aggressive testing are doubtful. The comparatively high MRI usage in Austria in combination with substantial regional variation has hence become a concern for its policy makers. We use a set of routine healthcare data on outpatient MRI service consumption of Austrian patients between Q3-2015 and Q2-2016 on the district level to investigate the extent of medical practice variation in a two-step statistical analysis combining multivariate regression models and Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition. District-level MRI exam rates per 1.000 inhabitants range from 52.38 to 128.69. Controlling for a set of regional characteristics in a multivariate regression model, we identify payer autonomy in regulating access to MRI scans as the biggest contributor to regional variation. Nevertheless, the statistical decomposition highlights that more than 70% of the regional variation remains unexplained by differences between the observable district characteristics. In the absence of epidemiological explanations, the substantial regional medical practice variation calls the efficiency of resource deployment into question. |
| Keywords: | blinder–Oaxaca decomposition; health policy; healthcare service utilization; magnetic resonance imaging; medical practice variation; Open access funding |
| JEL: | C33 H51 I18 |
| Date: | 2021–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112952&r= |
| By: | Simon Bruhn; Thomas Grebel; Lionel Nesta (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques - Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the typical practice of performing growth decompositions based on log-transformed productivity values induces fallacious conclusions: using logs may lead to an inaccurate aggregate growth rate, an inaccurate description of the microsources of aggregate growth, or both. We identify the mathematical sources of this log-induced fallacy in decomposition and analytically demonstrate the questionable reliability of log results. Using firm-level data from the French manufacturing sector during the 2009-2018 period, we empirically show that the magnitude of the log-induced distortions is substantial. Depending on the definition of accurate log measures, we find that around 60-80% of four-digit industry results are prone to mismeasurement. We further find significant correlations of this mismeasurement with commonly deployed industry characteristics, indicating, among other things, that less competitive industries are more prone to log distortions. Evidently, these correlations also affect the validity of studies that investigate the role of industry characteristics in productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | productivity decomposition,growth,log approximation,geometric mean,arithmetic mean |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03474838&r= |
| By: | Marie Briere; James M. Poterba; Ariane Szafarz |
| Abstract: | This paper employs administrative data from one of the largest plan providers in France to investigate the role of plan and default characteristics in affecting whether employees participate in the plan and whether they accept its default investment option. The dataset includes information on the saving choices of 680,392 active employees at 1,610 firms. French employers have wide discretion in structuring employee saving plans. All plans must offer medium-term investments, which cannot be accessed for five years. Employers may also offer long-term investments that cannot be accessed until retirement. When plans include a long-term option, participation is lower than when the plan offers only more liquid medium term investments. The presence of a long-term saving option also reduces the take-up of the plan’s default investment allocation, which must include a long-term component. One interpretation of the findings, consistent with the theory of choice overload, is that some employees are unwilling to forego the liquidity of the medium-term option but find it costly to make an active election when they opt out of the default, and therefore choose not to participate in the plan at all. |
| JEL: | G41 G5 G51 H24 J14 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29601&r= |
| By: | Antinyan, Armenak (Cardiff University); Bellio, Stefania (Regione Veneto); Bertoni, Marco (University of Padova); Corazzini, Luca (Ca' Foscari University of Venice); Narne, Elena (Regione Veneto) |
| Abstract: | An Italian region introduced a web portal allowing women to manage online their appointment in the public cervical cancer screening program, besides the standard possibility of doing it via phone. We report quasi-experimental evidence on how access to the portal changes screening behaviour. We find that eligible women do manage their appointment online. The introduction of the portal also reduces attendance of the screening program. Two factors contribute to explain this finding. First, by encouraging women not to take a screening test if they performed an analogous one in the previous three years, the portal reduces overly-frequent screening. Second, the portal induces procrastination in rescheduling the appointment. We also find that, when they cancel their appointment online, women are more likely to share information about their screening episodes in the private health sector, that is useful to schedule future screening appointments. |
| Keywords: | ICT intervention, cervical cancer, screening uptake, quasi-experiment |
| JEL: | H51 O33 I12 D91 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14916&r= |
| By: | Felix Bracht; Dennis Verhoeven |
| Abstract: | Existing estimates of the economic costs of air pollution do not account for its effect on inventive output. Using two weather phenomena as instruments, we estimate this effect in a sample of 1,288 European regions. A decrease in exposure to small particulate matter of 0:17 g=m3 – the average yearly reduction in Europe – leads to 1.7% more patented inventions. After ruling out reallocation of human capital, inventor mortality and R&D expenditures as drivers of the effect, we conclude that air pollution’s harm to economic output increases by at least 10% when accounting for innovation. |
| Keywords: | Air Pollution, Air Quality, Innovation, Patent, Productivity |
| Date: | 2021–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:msiper:685945&r= |
| By: | Colagrossi, M.; Deiana, C.; Dragone, D.; Geraci, A.; Giua, L.; Iori, E. |
| Abstract: | Exploiting high-frequency data from the Italian anti-violence helpline and a unique geolocalized dataset on killings of women, we show that the news coverage of a femicide triggers an increase in calls to the helpline. The effect is detectable in the week following the news and in the province where the femicide has occurred. These findings are consistent with a model in which the news of a femicide increase expectations about future intimate partner violence in case no call is made. |
| Keywords: | gender-based violence; Helpline; intimate partner violence; physical violence; psychological violence; sexual violence; |
| JEL: | I18 I38 J12 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:22/01&r= |
| By: | Jennifer A. Holland; Kenneth Aa. Wiik (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Differences in the timing and pathway into family life provide insights into the social distance between majority and immigrant-background groups. Increasing similarity in these processes across immigrant generations may indicate blurring of group distinctions. We situate our study in Norway, a country on the forefront of family change with an increasingly diverse population. Using administrative register data and discrete-time event history models, we demonstrate differential timings and propensities to form families via marriage or a nonmarital first birth among the majority population and the children of immigrants from ten countries of (parental) origin in Europe, the Middle East, East Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia and Latin America. Results demonstrated a generational shift toward the Nordic late marriage pattern among women and men originating from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran and Vietnam and men with origins in Turkey. We find limited evidence of generational shifts in the propensity to form a family via a nonmarital first birth, however, in some context, those who form families via this pathway also follow the majority timing pattern, regardless of background or generation. Findings suggest that jointly investigating the timing of family formation and distinct pathways into family life provides new insights into the gradations in and the context of adaptation and diminishing social distance between groups in diverse societies. |
| Keywords: | Children of immigrants; Second generation; Family formation; Marriage; Parenthood; Norway |
| JEL: | J10 J12 J15 Y8 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:973&r= |
| By: | Cappelletti, Matilde; Giuffrida, Leonardo M. |
| Abstract: | Public spending (i.e., 'G') enables governments to fulfill their fiscal policies. This paper takes a micro perspective and quantifies the impact of procurement spending - a specific component of G - on firm survival. We find that firms that receive public contracts survive longer, ceteris paribus, and that this effect accrues over time, reaching 20 percentage points after ten years. Our results are based on a novel dataset for Italy that combines balance sheet data on the universe of limited liability firms with administrative records on market entry and exit and quasi-universe of public contract data between 2008 and 2018. For construction auctions, we also rely on bid-level data to inform a regression discontinuity analysis. We find that the survival rate of winners relative to marginal losers is 70% higher after 36 months - or after two years and half of the median contract expiration. We explore several alternative channels that could rationalize our findings. We find that recipients do not become more productive, and their earnings become increasingly dependent on sales to public customers. |
| Keywords: | firm survival,firm dynamics,government demand,public procurement,demandshocks,productivity,auctions,regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | D44 H32 H57 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21093&r= |
| By: | Laureti, Lucio; Costantiello, Alberto; Matarrese, Marco Maria; Leogrande, Angelo |
| Abstract: | In this article we evaluate the determinants of the Employment in Innovative Enterprises in Europe. We use data from the European Innovation Scoreboard of the European Commission for 36 countries in the period 2000-2019 with Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Panel Data with Random Effects, Dynamic Panel, WLS and Pooled OLS. We found that the “Employment in Innovative Enterprises in Europe” is positively associated with “Broadband Penetration in Europe”, “Foreign Controlled Enterprises Share of Value Added”, “Innovation Index”, “Medium and High-Tech Product Exports” and negatively associated to “Basic School Entrepreneurial Education and Training”, “International Co-Publications”, and “Marketing or Organizational Innovators”. Secondly, we perform a cluster analysis with the k-Means algorithm optimized with the Silhouette Coefficient and we found the presence of four different clusters. Finally, we perform a comparison among eight different machine learning algorithms to predict the level of “Employment in Innovative Enterprises” in Europe and we found that the Linear Regression is the best predictor. |
| Keywords: | Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences • Diffusion Processes; Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital. |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111335&r= |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia (Department of Economics, University of Warwick, CEPR, IEA, IZA, CAGE); Clarke, Damian (Department of Economics, University of Chile and IZA); Mühlrad, Hanna (Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU)); Palme, Mårten (Department of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | IVF allows women to delay birth and pursue careers, but IVF massively increases the risk of twin birth. There is limited evidence of how having twins influences women’s post-birth careers. We investigate this, leveraging a single embryo transfer (SET) mandate implemented in Sweden in 2003, following which the share of twin births showed a precipitous drop of 70%. Linking birth registers to hospitalization and earnings registers, we identify substantial improvements in maternal and child health and women’s earnings following IVF birth, alongside an increase in subsequent fertility. We provide the first comprehensive evaluation of SET, relevant given the secular rise in IVF births and growing concerns over twin birth risk. We contribute new estimates of the child penalty imposed by twin as opposed to singleton birth, relevant to the secular rise in the global twin birth rate. |
| Keywords: | twins ; IVF ; single embryo transfer ; career costs of children ; child penalty ; gender wage gap ; fertility ; maternal health ; neonatal health ; gender JEL Classification: J13 ; I11 ; I12 ; I38 ; J24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1391&r= |
| By: | Takalo, Tuomas; Tanayama, Tanja; Toivanen, Otto |
| Abstract: | We construct a model of innovation incorporating R&D externalities, R&D participation, financial market imperfections, and application and allocation of R&D subsidies, estimate it using Finnish R&D project level data and conduct a welfare analysis. The intensive, not the extensive R&D margin is important. Financial market imperfections are small.Tax credits and subsidies do not reach first best R&D but increase R&D 29-47% compared to laissez-faire. Welfare effects are small: Tax credits increase welfare 1%; subsidies reduce welfare once application costs are taken into accout. In terms of fiscal cost, tax credits are 90% more expensive than R&D subsidies. |
| Date: | 2022–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofrdp:2022_002&r= |
| By: | Max Deter; Martin Lange |
| Abstract: | The empirical literature is inconclusive about whether a country’s democratization goes hand in hand with a reallocation of economic resources. With newly available individual-level data of former residents of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), we analyse how supporters and opponents of the socialist system performed within the market-based democracy of West Germany after reunification. Protesters, those who helped to overthrow the socialist regime in the Peaceful Revolution show higher life satisfaction and better labor market outcomes in the new economic system. Former members of the ruling socialist party and employees in state-supervised sectors become substantially less satisfied. These results do not seem to be driven by individual reactions to the transition, but rather by the removal of discriminatory practices in the GDR. Additional results indicate that conformism in the GDR also explains political preferences over the almost three decades after the reunification of Germany. |
| Keywords: | East Germany, state socialism, transition, labor market, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | H10 N44 P20 D31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9492&r= |
| By: | Nicolas Koch (Mercator Research Center for Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), EUREF Campus 19, 10829 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5–9, 53113 Bonn, Germany); Nolan Ritter (Mercator Research Center for Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), EUREF Campus 19, 10829 Berlin, Germany); Alexander Rohlf (Mercator Research Center for Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), EUREF Campus 19, 10829 Berlin, Germany); Francesco Scarazzato (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the world’s most mature electric vehicle (EV) market in Norway has overcome critical mass constraints and can achieve sustainable long-term equilibria without subsidies. We estimate a structural model that allows for multiple equilibria emerging from the interdependence between EV demand and charging station supply. We first estimate the resulting indirect network effects using an instrumental variable approach. Then, we simulate long-term market outcomes for each of the 422 Norwegian municipalities. We find that almost 20% of all municipalities faced critical mass constraints in the earliest stage of the market. Half of them are effectively trapped in a zero-adoption equilibrium. However, in the maturing market, all municipalities have passed critical mass. Overall, about 60% of the Norwegian population now lives in municipalities with a high-adoption equilibrium, even if subsidies were removed. This suggests that critical mass constraints do no longer justify the provision of subsidies. |
| Keywords: | electric vehicles, network externalities, critical mass, subsidies |
| JEL: | H23 L62 Q48 Q58 R48 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp317&r= |
| By: | Koch, Nicolas; Ritter, Nolan; Rohlf, Alexander; Scarazzato, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the world’s most mature electric vehicle (EV) market in Norway has overcome critical mass constraints and can achieve sustainable long-term equilibria without subsidies. We estimate a structural model that allows for multiple equilibria emerging from the interdependence between EV demand and charging station supply. We first estimate the resulting indirect network effects using an instrumental variable approach. Then, we simulate long-term market outcomes for each of the 422 Norwegian municipalities. We find that almost 20% of all municipalities faced critical mass constraints in the earliest stage of the market. Half of them are effectively trapped in a zero-adoption equilibrium. However, in the maturing market, all municipalities have passed critical mass. Overall, about 60% of the Norwegian population now lives in municipalities with a high-adoption equilibrium, even if subsidies were removed. This suggests that critical mass constraints do no longer justify the provision of subsidies. |
| Keywords: | electric vehicles, network externalities, critical mass, subsidies |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus005:8514&r= |