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on Microeconomic European Issues |
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Issue of 2022‒04‒18
23 papers chosen by Giuseppe Marotta Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia |
| By: | Amaia Palencia-Esteban (University of Vigo) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of immigrants on the women-men gap in several labor market outcomes, focusing on their role as child caretakers and substitutes for women’s domestic work. We use administrative Spanish Social Security records from 1998 to 2008 and follow a spatial correlations approach with instrumental variables, based on the distribution of early migrants across provinces. We exploit the presence of children and its interaction with immigrants share to capture the home-care substitution effect. We find that one percentage point increase in the regional share of immigrants rises the women-men differential in employment probability by 0.6 points in families with children, while the effect equals 0.2 for the childless. The additional effect of 0.4 points on families with children is attributed to the impact of immigrants through the supply of childcare services. This effect also applies to the work intensity (days and hours worked) and labor earnings. Our results are largely driven by individuals below tertiary education. |
| Keywords: | D10, F22, J22, J31 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2022-610&r= |
| By: | Hammer, Luisa; Hertweck, Matthias S. |
| Abstract: | EU Eastern Enlargement elicited a rise in (temporary) labour market oriented immi-gration to Germany starting in May 2011. Taking into account that not all immigrantsstay permanently and that outmigration flows are selective, this paper classifies recent EUimmigrants into 'new arrivals' and 'stayers' drawing on administrative social securitydata (2005-2017). This novel strategy allows us to separately identify their potentiallyopposing short- and medium-run effects on labour market outcomes in Germany. We finda transitory negative wage effect among German nationals, particularly at the bottom ofthe wage distribution; and a permanent positive effect on full-time employment. |
| Keywords: | EU Eastern Enlargement,immigration,wages,employment,Germany |
| JEL: | E24 F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:022022&r= |
| By: | Eberle, Mira; Oberrauch, Luis |
| Abstract: | A large body of literature documents that school-based financial education generally improves financial knowledge, yet little is known about the effect of instruction in the broader economic domain. This paper evaluates the effect of a curriculum reform introducing mandatory economic education on economic competence and knowledge in German lower-track schools, in which students have lower socio-economic status and end up having lower incomes when entering the workforce. While we find small but positive effects on basic economic knowledge and interest in economic matters, we observe no effects on competences, i.e., factual and procedural knowledge in the economic domain. Quantile regressions reveal that the effect on students’ knowledge is widely consistent across the entire distribution. With regard to socio-demographic characteristics, we observe strong gender differences already before adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Economic education,economic knowledge,gender gap |
| JEL: | A21 I21 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:250909&r= |
| By: | Merz, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to the subjective well-being and retirement literature by quantifying life satisfaction before (4) and after retirement (9+) periods asking: Are retirees more satisfied? Fixed-effects and causal instrumental variables (IV) estimates with individual longitudinal data of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 33 waves) analyze anticipation and adaptation retirement effects of statutory insured and civil service pensioners in Germany. Main findings: The occupational situation absorbs a positive personal and family influence. There are positive anticipation effects before retirement followed by adaptation instantly when retired both for statutory insured and civil service pensioners. With neutral respectively negative post-retirement adaptation there is no positive retirement effect for both pensioner groups. In short: retirees are not more satisfied, a remarkable result both for statutory insured and civil service pensioners. |
| Keywords: | retirement, statutory insured and civil service pensioners, life satisfaction/subjective well-being, anticipation and adaptation effects, robust fixed-effect regression, causality IV estimates, Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), Germany |
| JEL: | I31 J26 C21 C23 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15140&r= |
| By: | Flawinne, Xavier; Lefebvre, Mathieu; Perelman, Sergio; Pestieau, Pierre (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium); Schoenmaeckers, Jerome |
| Abstract: | The current health crisis has particularly affected the elderly population. Nursing homes have unfortunately experienced a relatively large number of deaths. On the basis of this observation and working with European data (from SHARE), we want to check whether nursing homes were lending themselves to excess mortality even before the pandemic. Controlling for a number of important characteristics of the elderly population in and outside nursing homes, we conjecture that the difference in mortality between those two samples is to be attributed to the way nursing homes are designed and organised. Using matching methods, we observeexcess mortality in Belgium, France, Germany Luxembourg, Switzerland, Estonia and Czech Republic but no statistically significant excess mortality in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Italy or Spain. This raises the question of the organisation and management of these nursing homes, but also of their design and financing. |
| Keywords: | Nursing homes ; mortality ; propensity score matching ; SHARE |
| JEL: | C21 I10 J14 |
| Date: | 2022–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2022006&r= |
| By: | Vonnahme, Christina |
| Abstract: | The integration of foreign origin students in host countries' educational systems has mostly been studied based on cross-sectional data. In contrast, I use data from a national longitudinal education study to calculate achievement gaps in vocabulary, reading and math tests for foreign origin relative to native students over the school career in Germany for the years 2010 to 2018. In line with previous research, the raw gaps are substantial and can be explained to one to two thirds by school characteristics and the socio-economic background of the child. Taking a longitudinal perspective reveals that both raw and conditional gaps slightly decrease over several parts of the school career. However, the unexplained part of the decomposed gaps tends to increase as children grow older. The findings demonstrate that initial disadvantages of foreign origin students reduce rather than accumulate, but partly prevail until the end of school. |
| Keywords: | Integration,achievement gaps,educational performance,immigrants |
| JEL: | I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:932&r= |
| By: | Hirsch, Boris; Lentge, Philipp; Schnabel, Claus |
| Abstract: | In Germany, employers used to pay union members and non-members in a plant the same union wage in order to prevent workers from joining unions. Using recent administrative data, we investigate which workers in firms covered by collective bargaining agreements still individually benefit from these union agreements, which workers are not covered anymore, and what this means for their wages. We show that about 9 percent of workers in plants with collective agreements do not enjoy individual coverage (and thus the union wage) anymore. Econometric analyses with unconditional quantile regressions and firm-fixed-effects estimations demonstrate that not being individually covered by a collective agreement has serious wage implications for most workers. Low-wage non-union workers and those at low hierarchy levels particularly suffer since employers abstain from extending union wages to them in order to pay lower wages. This jeopardizes unions' goal of protecting all disadvantaged workers. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining,union wage,uncovered workers,Germany |
| JEL: | J31 J53 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:123&r= |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric Alan; Jacobs, Babs; Schwerdt, Guido; van der Velden, Rolf; Vermeulen, Stan; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | The extensive literature on intergenerational mobility highlights the importance of family linkages but fails to provide credible evidence about the underlying family factors that drive the pervasive correlations. We employ a unique combination of Dutch survey and registry data that links math and language skills across generations. We identify the connection between cognitive skills of parents and their children by exploiting within-family between-subject variation in these skills. A causal interpretation of the between-subject estimates is reinforced by novel IV estimation that isolates variation in parent cognitive skills due to teacher and classroom peer quality. The between-subject and IV estimates of the key intergenerational persistence parameter are strikingly similar and close at about 0.1. Finally, we show the strong influence of family skill transmission on children's choices of STEM fields. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility,parent-child skill transmission,causality,STEM |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J12 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cexwps:09&r= |
| By: | Alexander Krenek (WIFO); Margit Schratzenstaller; Klaus Grünberger (Austrian Institute of Economic Research); Andreas Thiemann |
| Abstract: | Based on the most recent data from the ECB's Household Finance and Consumption Survey, the project models the future household-level wealth distribution in five selected EU member countries (Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy) to derive inheritances based on different demographic and wealth projection scenarios. On this basis, various inheritance tax scenarios are simulated to estimate potential inheritance tax revenues for a projection period of 30 years. Our results indicate that multiple factors coincide in favouring a growing revenue potential for inheritance taxation in the medium-term. Wealth accumulation and appreciation lead to higher average wealth levels. The shift of the baby boomer generation out of the labour force results in an increase of the older population both in absolute and relative terms. Eventually, this will lead to a rise in the number of deaths and the number of inheritances. Additionally, low fertility rates lead to a reduction of the average number of successors and thereby decrease the importance of exemption thresholds, as individual inheritances become larger. Overall, our simulations show that the future revenue potential of inheritance taxes may be substantial. In practice, it can be expected that the theoretical revenue potential demonstrated by our simulations will be reduced by tax avoidance, real responses, and general equilibrium effects on other taxes. A review of the empirical evidence shows that behavioural responses to inheritance taxes are less pronounced compared to a net wealth tax. |
| Keywords: | TP_Europa, inheritance taxation, wealth taxation, ageing, HFCS, behavioural effects |
| Date: | 2022–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2022:i:645&r= |
| By: | Miriam Beblo (Centre for European Economic Research (Mannheim, Germany) - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) - Universität Mannheim [Mannheim]); Denis Beninger (Centre for European Economic Research (Mannheim, Germany) - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) - Universität Mannheim [Mannheim]); Francois Laisney (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre for European Economic Research (Mannheim, Germany) - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) - Universität Mannheim [Mannheim]) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the effects that an introduction of the French family splitting mechanism would have on German families' labour supply and intra-household consumption behaviour. We use simulated real world microdata created by means of a 'deterministic' collective labour supply model. The data are generated by a compound procedure of estimation and calibration based on GSOEP data. In a microsimulation the present tax-benefit system with child benefit/allowance is replaced by a tax scheme with family splitting. The resulting changes in labour supply are surprisingly small, even for women. Welfare effects are also modest, but differ for husbands and wives. |
| Keywords: | Collective model,Household labour supply,Intra-household allocation,Tax reform,Family splitting |
| Date: | 2022–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00279012&r= |
| By: | Reader, Mary (London School of Economics); Portes, Jonathan (King's College London); Patrick, Ruth (University of York) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of restricting child-related social assistance to the first two children in the family on the fertility of third and subsequent births. As of April 2017, all third and subsequent born children to low-income families in the UK did not receive means-tested child benefits, amounting to a reduction in income relative to the previous system of approximately 3000 GBP a year per child. We use administrative births microdata and household survey data to estimate the impact of the two-child limit on higher-order births with a triple differences approach, exploiting variation over date of birth, socio-economic status, and birth order. We find some evidence that the policy led to a small decline in higher-order fertility among lowincome families. However, compared to earlier research in the UK and elsewhere, largely based on benefit increases, the impact is small. This may be due to informational barriers or to other economic and social constraints affecting low income families. Our results imply that the main impact of cuts to child benefits is not to reduce fertility but to withdraw income from low-income families, with potential implications for child poverty. |
| Keywords: | fertility, family size, social assistance, welfare reform |
| JEL: | J13 J18 H31 H53 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15203&r= |
| By: | Duygu Buyukyazici; Leonardo Mazzoni; Massimo Riccaboni; Francesco Serti |
| Abstract: | We quantify the general equilibrium effects on economic growth of improving the quality of institutions at the regional level in the context of the implementation of the European Cohesion Policy for the European Union and the UK. The direct impact of changes in the quality of government is integrated in a general equilibrium model to analyse the system-wide economic effects resulting from additional endogenous mechanisms and feedback effects. The results reveal a significant direct effect as well as considerable system-wide benefits from improved government quality on economic growth. A small 5% increase in government quality across European Union regions increases the impact of Cohesion investment by up to 7% in the short run and 3% in the long run. The exact magnitude of the gains depends on various local factors, including the initial endowments of public capital, the level of government quality, and the degree of persistence over time. inked to higher mortality. Accounting for a host of potential confounders, we find robust support that regions with lower levels of both social and political trust are associated with higher excess mortality, along with citizen polarization in institutional trust in some models. On the ideological make-up regional parliaments, we find that, ceteris paribus, those that lean more ‘tan’ on the ‘gal-tan’ spectrum yielded higher excess mortality. Moreover, although we find limited evidence of elite polarization driving excess deaths on the left-right or gal-tan spectrums, partisan differences on the attitudes towards the EU demonstrated significantly higher deaths, which we argue proxies for (anti)populism. Overall, we find that both lower citizen-level trust and populist elite-level ideological characteristics of regional parliaments are associated with higher excess mortality in European regions during the first wave of the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | Skill relatedness; Economic complexity; Industrial specialisation; Regional capabilities; Regional diversification. |
| JEL: | J24 O18 R10 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2207&r= |
| By: | Axenbeck, Janna; Niebel, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Although information and communication technologies (ICT) consume energy themselves, they are considered to have the potential to reduce overall energy intensity within economic sectors. While previous empirical evidence is based on aggregated data, this is the first large-scale empirical study on the relationship between ICT and energy intensity at the firm level. For this purpose, we employ administrative panel data on 28,600 manufacturing firms from German Statistical Offices collected between 2009 and 2017. Our results confirm a statistically significant and robust negative link between software capital as an indicator for the firm-level degree of digitalization and energy intensity, but the effect size is rather small. Hence, we conclude that energy intensity reductions related to the use of digital technologies are lower than expected. |
| Keywords: | ICT,Firm-level panel data,Energy intensity improvements |
| JEL: | D22 D24 L60 O12 O14 O33 Q40 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21105&r= |
| By: | Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna (UCL Institute of Education); Shure, Nikki (University College London) |
| Abstract: | There is a large gender gap in the probability of being in a "top job" in mid-career. Top jobs bring higher earnings, and also have more job security and better career trajectories. Recent literature has raised the possibility that some of this gap may be attributable to women not "leaning in" while men are more overconfident in their abilities. We use longitudinal data from childhood into mid-career and construct a measure of overconfidence using multiple measures of objective cognitive ability and subjective estimated ability. Our measure confirms previous findings that men are more overconfident than women. We then use linear regression and decomposition techniques to account for the gender gap in top jobs including our measure of overconfidence. Our results show that men being more overconfident explains 5-11 percent of the gender gap in top job employment. This contribution is statistically significant although small in magnitude. This indicates that while overconfidence matters for gender inequality in the labor market and has implications for how firms recruit and promote workers, other individual, structural, and societal factors play a larger role. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, inequality, overconfidence, labor market |
| JEL: | I24 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15145&r= |
| By: | Dudek, Thomas (Victoria University of Wellington); Brenøe, Anne Ardila (University of Zurich); Feld, Jan (Victoria University of Wellington); Rohrer, Julia (University of Leipzig) |
| Abstract: | Does growing up with a sister rather than a brother affect personality? In this paper, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the effects of siblings' gender on adults' personality, using data from 85,887 people from 12 large representative surveys covering 9 countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, China, and Indonesia). We investigated the personality traits risk tolerance, trust, patience, locus of control, and the Big Five. We found no meaningful causal effects of the gender of the next younger sibling, and no associations with the gender of the next older sibling. Based on high statistical power and consistent results in the overall sample and relevant subsamples, our results suggest that siblings' gender does not systematically affect personality. |
| Keywords: | personality, economic preferences, sibling gender, sibling sex |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15137&r= |
| By: | von Borries, Alvaro (CIRCLE, Lund University); Grillitsch, Markus (CIRCLE, Lund University); Lundquist, Karl-Johan (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore the (changing) spatial concentration of low-income jobs throughout the last 30 years in Sweden, a period that has been characterized by the rise of what has become known as the knowledge economy. In particular, we describe (map) and try to understand what drives the concentration of low-income jobs in certain regions and how that has changed in time. We observe an overall decrease of the prevalence of low-income jobs during the last three decades. Moreover, regions have also converged, meaning that the great differentiator between places is less and less about how many low-income jobs they host, but how many very well paid there are. We also find that labor market polarization does not seem to lead to a greater incidence of low-income jobs when measured against a threshold related to the national income distribution, but, as expected, it does when we move towards a regional threshold, thus accounting for regional income differences. Finally, regions with a larger knowledge economy have tended to have a lower incidence of low-income jobs, both measured with respect to the national and to the regional income. This points towards the knowledge economy being a source of regional prosperity either through the upgrading of jobs or rising the wages of low- income workers. Despite all the discourse about the degradation of the Nordic model, we provide some evidence for it to be still working in Sweden under this new and complex knowledge-dominated era. |
| Keywords: | low-income jobs; regional development; inequality; knowledge economy; labor market polarization |
| JEL: | D31 J21 P25 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2022_004&r= |
| By: | Sara Rellstab (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Pieter Bakx (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Pilar Garci‡-G—mez (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of a miscarriage on mental health care use, labour market and family outcomes of women and their partners using Dutch linked ad- ministrative data. Miscarriages are common and largely random conditional on age. We estimate event study models using women with a completed pregnancy as a control group. A first miscarriage increases womenÕs use of mental health ther- apy compared to the control group. These effects disappear over time. Partners are equally likely to use any mental health care as the control group. There are differences in labour market outcomes and probability of living together. |
| Keywords: | health investment, education, human capital, health capital, dynamic optimal control, longevity |
| JEL: | J13 J16 I1 |
| Date: | 2022–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220027&r= |
| By: | Rettl, Daniel A. (University of Georgia); Schandlbauer, Alexander (University of Southern Denmark); Trandafir, Mircea (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | When workers are in bad health, their productivity declines. We investigate whether the health of employees affects firm performance, taking advantage of the severity of the seasonal influenza seasons as a source of exogenous variation. We find that firms whose employees are particularly affected by influenza experience reductions in their return on assets and in net income. These results are not driven by firm-specific characteristics, as we find the same relationship between influenza severity and firm performance within firms, at the establishment level. We also document substantial heterogeneity in the effects, with small firms and labor-intensive firms driving our findings. This suggests that labor is an important driver of firm performance and that capital-intensive and larger firms are better able to shift resources in response to temporary shocks to their workforce. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that smaller firms may be better off subsidizing vaccination programs for their employees. |
| Keywords: | seasonal influenza, health shock, firm performance |
| JEL: | L25 I12 G30 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15147&r= |
| By: | Jérémy Hervelin; Pierre Villedieu (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether work experience gained through a subsidized job program can improve the employment prospects of young school dropouts. Relying on a correspondence study field experiment conducted in France, we find that the chances to be invited for a job interview are more than doubled (from 7.6 percent to 19.3 percent) when youths signal a one-year job-related experience in their résumé - either in the private or public sector; either certified or not - compared to youths who remained mainly inactive after dropping out from high school. We show that this e ect is fairly stable across firm, contract or labor market characteristics, and also when testing another channel of application where resumes were sent spontaneously to firms. |
| Keywords: | School dropouts, Work experience, Subsidized employment, Job Interview, Field experiment |
| JEL: | J08 J24 J71 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2022-07&r= |
| By: | Jay Rappaport; Carlo Pizzinelli; Ms. Era Dabla-Norris |
| Abstract: | Labor markets in the UK have been characterized by markedly widening wage inequality for lowskill (non-college) women, a trend that predates the pandemic. We examine the contribution of job polarization to this trend by estimating age, period, and cohort effects for the likelihood of employment in different occupations and the wages earned therein over 2001-2019. For recent generations of women, cohort effects indicate a higher likelihood of employment in low-paying manual jobs relative to high-paying abstract jobs. However, cohort effects also underpin falling wages for post-1980 cohorts across all occupations. We find that falling returns to labor rather than job polarization has been a key driver of rising inter-age wage inequality among low-skill females. Wage-level cohort effects underpin a nearly 10 percent fall in expected lifetime earnings for low-skill women born in 1990 relative to those born in 1970. |
| Keywords: | Job polarization, Occupational choice, Life-cycle, Cohorts, Intergenerational inequality |
| Date: | 2022–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/042&r= |
| By: | Baurin, Arno (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/IRES, Belgium); Hindriks, Jean (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | Pension reforms, required to address the financial challenge of an ageing population, involve changing the accrual rate or the indexation rates. The accrual rate is the rate at which pension benefit is built up for each year of work. The indexation rate is the rate at which pension benefit is tied to the nominal wage growth. In this paper, we study the prospective consequences of indexation and accrual reforms and show the existence of a tension between democracy and equality. Simulating the effects of long-term budget balancing reforms, we show that 80% of the population prefers accrual over indexation reforms, with the implication that the youngest half of the population would bear 85% of the total adjustment cost. Then, we consider alternative pension reforms improving the generational balance (including policy mix and contribution reforms), and we show that all those reforms fail to get majority support. Finally we show that even though indexation reform is preferable in terms of work incentives, that does not change vote incentives. So, the tension is also between democracy and efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Pension reform ; Ageing ; Generational balance ; Prospective incidence ; Indexation ; Fiscal balance |
| JEL: | D63 D64 H55 I38 |
| Date: | 2022–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2022008&r= |
| By: | Drishti, Elvisa; Carmichael, Fiona |
| Abstract: | Fear of the threat of job loss is likely to elicit negative thoughts that have adverse consequences for not only job satisfaction, but also, all-round happiness and satisfaction with life. Using nationally representative cross-sectional data, this study provides evidence of the negative effect of perceived job insecurity on life satisfaction in post-communist Albania, an under-research context. This adverse effect is found to be more pronounced for women and for blue-collar workers: being in a blue-collar job is associated with lower overall life satisfaction, but if this job is perceived as insecure, the negative effect on life satisfaction is magnified. In contrast, workers in well-paying jobs are more satisfied with their lives and, relatedly, higher education also has a positive impact, more so for males. Evidence of the quality of life effects of job insecurity can be used to inform workplace policy initiatives and practices, particularly as measures of life satisfaction, well-being and happiness are increasingly considered appropriate indicators of social progress and the ultimate goal of public policy. |
| Keywords: | job insecurity,life satisfaction,Albania,well-being,post-communist |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1072&r= |
| By: | Nordström Skans, Oskar (Uppsala University,); Choné, Philippe (CREST-ENSAE, IP Paris); Kramarz, Francis (Crest) |
| Abstract: | This empirical paper analyzes labor market sorting across establishments using Swedish register data on cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. We draw on the theoretical foundations of Choné and Kramarz (2021), in which workers are endowed with sets of multidimensional skills that need to be sold in “bundles” to employers that differ in their use of each of these skills. The theory also outlines how wage and sorting patterns should evolve when innovations “unbundle” the skills through the emergence of markets where each specific skill can be traded s eparately. Our empirical results show that labor is sorted across establishments on both comparative advantage and absolute ability. Furthermore, wage returns to each skill is higher in market segments where employers rely more heavily on workers who specialize in that particular skill. Changes over time are well in line with a process of unbundling; sorting on comparative advantage has increased and the market wages of generalists have risen relative to those of specialists. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive skills; Non-Cognitive Skills; Firms; Technology |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2022_006&r= |