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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Doorley, Karina; Gromadzki, Jan; Lewandowski, Piotr; Tuda, Dora; Van Kerm, Philippe |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of robot penetration on household income inequality in 14 European countries between 2006-2018, a period of rapid adoption of industrial robots. Automation reduced relative hourly wages and employment of more exposed demographic groups, similarly to the results for the US. Using robot-driven wage and employment shocks as input to the EUROMOD microsimulation model, we find that automation had minor effects on income inequality. Household labour income diversification and tax and welfare policies largely absorbed labour market shocks caused by automation. Transfers played a key role in cushioning the transmission of these shocks to household incomes. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen der Roboterdurchdringung auf die Ungleichheit der Haushaltseinkommen in 14 europäischen Ländern zwischen 2006 und 2018, einer Zeit der schnellen Einführung von Industrierobotern. Ähnlich wie in den USA hat die Automatisierung die relativen Stundenlöhne und die Beschäftigung von stärker belasteten demografischen Gruppen reduziert. Unter Verwendung von roboterbedingten Lohn- und Beschäftigungsschocks als Input für das Mikrosimulationsmodell EUROMOD finden wir, dass die Automatisierung nur geringe Auswirkungen auf die Einkommensungleichheit hatte. Die Diversifizierung des Arbeitseinkommens der Haushalte und Steuer- und Sozialpolitik fingen die durch die Automatisierung verursachten Arbeitsmarktschocks weitgehend ab. Transfers spielten eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Abfederung der Übertragung dieser Schocks auf die Haushaltseinkommen. |
| Keywords: | Robots, automation, tasks, income inequality, wage inequality, microsimulation |
| JEL: | J24 O33 J23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:287766&r=eur |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre and Kiel Centre for Globalization) |
| Abstract: | The use of digital technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, or smart devices can be expected to go hand in hand with higher productivity and lower trade costs, and, therefore, to be positively related to export activities. This paper uses firm level data for manufacturing enterprises from the 27 member countries of the European Union to shed further light on this issue by investigating the link between the digitalization intensity of a firm and extensive margins of exports. Applying a new machine-learning estimator, Kernel-Regularized Least Squares (KRLS), which does not impose any restrictive assumptions for the functional form of the relation between margins of exports, digitalization intensity, and any control variables, we find that firms which use more digital technologies do more often export, do more often export to various destinations all over the world, and do export to more different destinations |
| Keywords: | Digital technologies, exports, firm level data, Flash Eurobarometer 486, kernel-regularized least squares (KRLS) |
| JEL: | D22 F14 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:428&r=eur |
| By: | Mario Bossler; Ying Liang; Thorsten Schank |
| Abstract: | In 2015, Germany introduced a national minimum wage. While the literature agrees on at most limited negative effects on the overall employment level, we go into detail and analyze the impact on the working hours dimension and on the subset of minijobs. Using data from the German Structure of Earnings Survey in 2010, 2014, and 2018, we find empirical evidence that the minimum wage significantly reduces inequality in hourly and monthly wages. While various theoretical mechanisms suggest a reduction in working hours, these remain unchanged on average. However, minijobbers experience a notable reduction in working hours which can be linked to the specific institutional framework. Regarding employment, the results show no effects for regular jobs, but there is a noteworthy decline in minijobs, driven by transitions to regular employment and non-employment. The transitions in non-employment imply a wage elasticity of employment of $-0.1$ for minijobs. Our findings highlight that the institutional setting leads to heterogeneous effects of the minimum wage. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.17206&r=eur |
| By: | Bridget Kauma (University of Sussex); Giordano Mion (ESSEC Business School) |
| Keywords: | Firm-level dataset, Merging, BSD, FAME, VAT, FICUS, FARE, Productivity, Markups, UK, France, regional disparities, density |
| JEL: | R12 D24 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:039&r=eur |
| By: | Anabela Marques Santos (European Commission - JRC); Javier Barbero (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid); Simone Salotti (European Commission - JRC); Andrea Conte (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The recent increase in the use of digital technologies has brought benefits in terms of increased productivity, sales and exports. The COVID-19 crisis accelerated the digital transition, pushing both governments and businesses to invest more in information and communication technology (ICT). Policy makers and researchers are interested in assessing the macroeconomic and distributional effects of digitalisation on the labour market. The impact of digitalisation may be either positive or negative, and may affect certain jobs and sectors more than others. Several recent studies have quantified the net impact of digital technologies on employment, with mixed results. This Policy Insight reports the results of a study using European Union (EU) data from 1995 to 2019, which finds a net positive effect, albeit heterogeneous across countries. |
| Keywords: | digitalisation, employment |
| JEL: | C68 R13 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc136551&r=eur |
| By: | Montserrat Botey; Guillaume Chapelle (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | The dramatic rise in wealth inequalities has generated debates on the oppor- tunity to tax wealth (Piketty, 2014; Garbinti et al., 2017). Increasing housing prices are, to a great extent, driving these widening wealth disparities. This paper examines the potential redistributive impact of taxing imputed rents, which usually are exempt from income taxation. We estimate tax savings and their distribution between households in France by using a fiscal simulator that Landais et al. (2011) developed. We find that while net imputed rents represent 7% of national net income, their nontaxation amounts to hidden fiscal spending (i.e., tax expenditures) totaling up to 11 billion euros annually. This indicates that nontaxation is the largest public spending directed at homeowners, bene- fiting mostly the oldest and wealthiest households. Replacing the property tax with imputed rent taxation could favor the youngest and poorest households, who went through a steady decline in their homeownership rates over the past few decades. |
| Keywords: | Housing, Wealth, Imputed Rents, Taxation , Inequalities |
| JEL: | H23 R38 D31 I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2023-21&r=eur |
| By: | François Cohen (UB Department of Economics, Energy Sustainability Chair & IEB); Victor Kahn (Mines Paris PSL); Guillaume Wald (Mines Paris PSL) |
| Abstract: | Vast amounts are being invested in the energy transition worldwide, with optimistic expectations of economic growth and green job creation. Yet, we crucially lack ex-post validations of the multiplier effects widely used to quantify new green jobs. Focusing on the French Energy Efficiency Obligations scheme, this paper provides the first ex-post estimate of the employment effect of a large energy-retrofit investment program. We exploit a discontinuity in the provision of subsidies and use a novel synthetic control method on disaggregated data to estimate regional-level employment effects. We estimate that the scheme created 1.4 jobs per million euros invested. |
| Keywords: | Energy Efficiency, Green Jobs, Employment, Energy Transition, Subsidies, Certificates |
| JEL: | J21 H23 Q43 Q48 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2024-01&r=eur |
| By: | Hertrich, Tobias Johannes; Brenner, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In Europe, there is an increasing shortage of skilled workers and jobs remain vacant for long periods of time. The shortage of skilled workers has become a key issue for various stakeholders, as it not only makes it difficult to recruit and retain employees, but it is also seen as a significant barrier to innovation for companies. So far, most analyses of skills shortage take place at company level. We supplement this with a regional perspective, because many measures, especially those of policy makers, are conducted on the regional level. We examine the impact of skills shortage on various aspects of regional economic development. Using the spatial vector autoregressive panel model, significant effects on gross domestic product (GDP), employment are found, but not on research and development (R&D) activities. Expert interviews are used to dig deeper into the reasons for these findings, showing that the disadvantages of skills shortages on innovativeness are perceived, but relate to the future or to the more general economic situation. |
| Abstract: | In Europa herrscht ein zunehmender Mangel an qualifizierten Arbeitskräften, und Stellen bleiben über lange Zeiträume unbesetzt. Der Fachkräftemangel ist für verschiedene Interessengruppen zu einem zentralen Thema geworden, da er nicht nur die Einstellung und Bindung von Mitarbeitern erschwert, sondern auch als erhebliches Innovationshemmnis für Unternehmen angesehen wird. Bislang wurden die meisten Analysen des Fachkräftemangels auf Unternehmensebene durchgeführt. Wir ergänzen dies um eine regionale Perspektive, da viele Maßnahmen, insbesondere die der politischen Entscheidungsträger, auf regionaler Ebene durchgeführt werden. Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen des Fachkräftemangels auf verschiedene Aspekte der regionalen Wirtschaftsentwicklung. Unter Verwendung des räumlichen vektorautoregressiven Panelmodells werden signifikante Auswirkungen auf das Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) und die Beschäftigung festgestellt, nicht jedoch auf die Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitäten (FuE). Experteninterviews werden genutzt, um die Gründe für diese Ergebnisse zu ergründen, und zeigen, dass die Nachteile des Fachkräftemangels für die Innovationsfähigkeit zwar wahrgenommen werden, sich aber auf die Zukunft oder die allgemeine Wirtschaftslage beziehen. |
| Keywords: | skills shortage, regional development, regional innovativeness, mixed methods |
| JEL: | O10 O30 J23 J21 J11 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:289434&r=eur |
| By: | MARQUES SANTOS Anabela (European Commission - JRC); BARBERO Javier; SALOTTI Simone (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The transition to a competitive and sustainable economy is at the heart of EU strategies to achieve climate neutrality while increasing economic efficiency. An indicator to measure the competitive and sustainable transition at regional level is presented based on Santos et al. (2023). The indicator accounts for shifts in employment towards greener and more productive sectors over the 2008-2020 period. On average, the share of employment in more productive and greener sectors is increasing over time, although the impact of the Covid-19 crisis is tangible. There is strong heterogeneity across EU regions, but most of the less developed regions lag behind the more developed ones. However, on the dimension measuring competitiveness, the less developed regions perform better than the more developed ones. The opposite is true for the environmental sustainability dimension. This suggests that regions initially improve along the competitiveness dimension, and only afterwards are capable of concentrating on environmental sustainability. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc136629&r=eur |
| By: | AMORES Antonio F (European Commission - JRC); SPEITMANN Raffael (European Commission - JRC); STOEHLKER Daniel (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | In May 2023, the Austrian government announced to set up a new online database to help people compare retail prices across supermarkets and find the cheapest offers in an effort to fight soaring food prices. While plans for a government-built website have been abandoned, private developers released a handful of easy to navigate price comparison websites by June 2023, comprising the assortments of all main supermarket chains in Austria. This brief analyses the extent to which price transparency led to an effective reduction in final consumer prices. To this end, we compare the prices of listed products in Austria with those of the exact same products in Germany, where such price comparison websites are not available. Our results indicate that retail prices of affected products have not decreased since the availability of such websites, potentially due to a low up-take of the service. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc137127&r=eur |
| By: | Raquel Carrasco; Diego González-González |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of childhood obesity on the academic performance and human capital accumulation of high school students using data from Spain. To address potential endogeneity issues, we exploit the exogenous variation in obesity within peer groups. Specifically, we use the prevalence of obesity by gender in students’ classes as an instrumental variable for individual obesity. The results indicate that obesity has a negative impact on academic achievement, particularly on general scores for girls, cognitive abilities as measured by CRT scores, financial abilities, and English grades for both boys and girls. In addition, we found a negative impact of obesity on girls’ mathematics scores, while boys experienced a positive impact. We identify several key drivers of these effects, including teacher bias, psychological well-being, time preferences, and expectations related to labor market discrimination. Our analysis sheds light on the multiple influences of childhood obesity on academic outcomes and highlights the need for targeted interventions. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2024-03&r=eur |
| By: | Nguyen, Hang T. T. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between the corporate income tax (CIT) and the growth of total factor productivity (TFP) within European firms. Using data from the AMADEUS database over the 2005-2013 period, I measure the TFP of each firm using Wooldridge's (2009) methodology, alongside four alternative approaches introduced by Olley and Pakes (1996), Levinsohn and Petrin (2003), Ackerberg et al. (2015), and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The baseline investigation follows the TFP catch-up framework of Griffith et al. (2009). While my analysis corroborates prior findings indicating a negative relationship between CIT rates and the speed with which firms converge to the productivity frontier (productivity catch-up, Gemmell et al., 2018), it also uncovers a positive association between CIT rates and the average growth of productivity. Thus, the evidence reveals a non-linear relationship between corporate taxation and firms' productivity growth. Heterogeneity tests show that corporate income taxation is more relevant for the productivity growth of small-scale enterprises and domestic entities. These findings are robust to a variety of alternative specifications and tests. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:arqudp:289456&r=eur |
| By: | Francesco Cappelletti (ELF - European Liberal Forum); Gérard Pogorel (IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, SES - Département Sciences Economiques et Sociales - Télécom ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | In addressing the EU's contemporary challenges, this analysis acknowledges a critical intersection between the imperatives of security, sustainability, and industrial autonomy. The EU undertakes substantial efforts in these domains. The rapidly shifting glob- al context, its considerable volatility, and emerging trends render any immediate as- sessment of recent policy initiatives prema- ture. However, this dynamic and uncertain landscape underscores the limitations of conventional forecasting and necessitates an ongoing reassessment of the EU's strate- gic priorities. Central to this discourse is the policy ‘trilemma' confronting the Union: the need to simultaneously uphold security, fos- ter sustainability, and maintain the focus on competitiveness. In this sense, industrial au- tonomy refers to the EU's strategic capacity to reinforce its industrial base and supply chains in key sectors, adapting swiftly to global eco- nomic and geopolitical shifts. This chapter explores these issues and proposes coherent changes in approach, all within the frame- work of an EU policy trilemma focusing on security, sustainability, and competitiveness. |
| Date: | 2024–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04505097&r=eur |
| By: | Gupta, Anandita (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Pandey, Radhika (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy); Sapatnekar, Sanhita (Department of Economics, University of Navarra, Spain) |
| Abstract: | In May 2023, the European Union (EU) implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to prevent carbon leakage risks associated with its ambitious climate policies. Examining CBAM in conjunction with the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the paper highlights potential CBAM implications and discusses proposals to address key issues. CBAM is likely to impact exporters’ profitability and trade competitiveness, favouring nations with faster decarbonisation ability and robust carbon pricing systems. The paper advocates for non-EU countries to strengthen their emissions monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems and carbon pricing frameworks. For India, changing the nomenclature of the coal component under the GST Compensation Cess to a ‘carbon tax’ could be considered to reduce industries’ potential carbon liabilities. The development of India’s national emissions trading system could consider CBAM-related impacts, international standards, and insights from other jurisdictions, to strengthen its carbon market and achieve its climate commitments. Lastly, the paper highlights the need for a task force under the leadership of the Prime Minister for continuous engagement on evolving carbon market issues and the dynamic global trade landscape. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:npf:wpaper:24/408&r=eur |
| By: | Didarul Islam; Mohammad Abdullah Al Faisal |
| Abstract: | This study explored the variability in Aggregate Personal Income (PI) across 13 major industrial sectors in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing time-series data from 2010 Q1 to 2019 Q4, we employed Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models to establish baseline trends in Personal Income (PI) before the pandemic. We then extended these models to forecast PI values for the subsequent 14 quarters, from 2020 Q1 to 2023 Q2, as if the pandemic had never happened. This forecasted data was compared with the actual PI data collected during the pandemic to quantify its impacts. This approach allowed for the assessment of both immediate and extended effects of COVID-19 on sector-specific PI. Our study highlighted the resilience of PI in sectors like Utilities, Retail, Finance, Real Estate, and Healthcare, with Farming showing an early recovery in PI, despite significant initial setbacks. In contrast, PI in Accommodation and Food Services experienced delayed recovery, contributing significantly to the overall impact variance alongside Farming (53.26\% and 33.26\% respectively). Finance and Utilities demonstrated positive deviations, suggesting a lesser impact or potential benefit in early pandemic stages. Meanwhile, sectoral PI in Manufacturing, Wholesale and Education showed moderate recovery, whereas Construction and Government lagged in resilience. The aggregate economic impact, initially negative at -0.027 in 2020 Q1, drastically worsened to -1.42 in Q2, but improved by Q4, reflecting a broader trend of adaptation and resilience across all the sectors during the pandemic. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.20039&r=eur |