|
on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Deschacht, Nick (KU Leuven); Guillemyn, Inés (University of Antwerp); Vujic, Suncica (University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE), this paper examines occupational pension income and coverage gaps between men and women. The focus is on a group of countries with comparable occupational pension regulations: Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The results show that after accounting for observable characteristics, over half of the gender gap in occupational pension coverage is explained, largely driven by women’s shorter labour market participation, greater part-time work, and lower wages. Factors driving this gap remain constant across birth cohorts. Conditional on receiving an occupational pension, women receive nearly 40 percent less occupational pension income than men, partly due to part-time work and industry of employment. Selection into pension receipt has only a limited impact on the gender pension gap. While pension coverage gap decomposition shows little variation across countries, this is not the case for the gender pension gap, notably with cross-country differences in part-time work. |
| Keywords: | Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, gender occupational pension income and coverage gaps, Yun decomposition, selection, Europe |
| JEL: | H75 I38 J32 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18163 |
| By: | Fernandez Macias Enrique (European Commission - JRC); Gonzalez Vazquez Ignacio (European Commission - JRC); Torrejon Perez Sergio (European Commission - JRC); Nurski Laura |
| Abstract: | "This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of digital technologies on work and occupations in Europe, critically reassessing dominant narratives of mass unemployment and job polarisation. The report synthesises work done by the JRC Employment team over the last years. Drawing on a wide range of empirical research, the report introduces an analytical framework distinguishing three main vectors of change: automation, the replacement of labour by machines; digitisation, the increasing use of digital tools in work processes; and platformisation, the use of digital platforms for coordinating work. Contrary to widespread fears, our research finds that the impact of automation, such as industrial robots, on net employment levels in recent decades has been modest and often positive. While specific tasks are automated, this has primarily boosted productivity and led to a reallocation of labour rather than a net destruction of jobs. The most profound transformation stems from digitisation. This process, while enhancing efficiency, has fundamentally altered work organisation by enabling unprecedented levels of standardisation, monitoring, and managerial control. This creates a central paradox: while employment shifts away from routine occupations, work processes within many non-routine professional roles are becoming increasingly routinised and subject to digital control, impacting worker autonomy and job quality. Finally, the report identifies the rise of platformisation, not just in the gig economy, but as a logic of algorithmic management and surveillance extending into traditional workplaces. This trend is reshaping the nature of workplace control across the economy. Analysis of occupational structures reveals that job upgrading, rather than job polarisation, has been the most common pattern of change across the EU, driven largely by the growth of high-skilled service sector jobs. The report concludes that the primary impact of the digital era on work is a qualitative transformation in its nature, focusing on coordination, control, and job quality. The effects of technology are not deterministic; they are strongly mediated by institutional frameworks, with regulation and collective bargaining playing a crucial role in shaping outcomes for workers in the digital age." |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc141451 |
| By: | Florian Fouquet (GAINS - Groupe d'Analyse des Itinéraires et des Niveaux Salariaux - UM - Le Mans Université) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to investigate the school‐to‐work transitions and early employment trajectories of young workers with disabilities. Using a survey following a cohort of French young workers exiting education in 2013 on their first 3 years on the labour market, I estimate the effect of disability on the probability of finding a (stable) job using duration models. I use several disability indicators to explore how the different definitions affect the results. Overall, I find that disability increases the duration of the transition to (stable) employment at the beginning of the career. This effect is higher when the disability is administratively recognised than when self‐reported. I also show that the gap between disabled and nondisabled workers is somewhat lower among the most educated, while I evidence no significant difference between women and men. Besides, mental disabilities appear to be more detrimental on the school‐to‐work transitions than other types of disabilities, and having multiple disabilities increases the difficulties in the access to employment. |
| Keywords: | school-to-work transitions, labour market inequalities, duration models, disability, access to employment |
| Date: | 2025–05–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05298607 |
| By: | Griniece Elina; Reid Alasdair; Miedzinski Michal (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | "This report explores the role of local and regional actors in mission-oriented innovation and industrial policies. It examines how current mission-oriented approaches engage regions, cities, and rural communities in mission design and implementation, and whether these policies have the potential to contribute to ‘competitive sustainability’ in the European Union (EU). The study finds that despite the development of vertical coordination structures, EU missions and many national mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) lack effective multi-level collaboration mechanisms resulting in limited regional and local ownership of missions. There is a need for a higher degree of involvement of territorial stakeholders in the design and implementation of missions. The study provides lessons for place-based industrial missions, using the example of the automotive industry and sustainable mobility. It argues that a socially concerned industrial mission for the automotive sector should address differing dimensions depending on the type of region, such as urban or rural areas. The report emphasises the need for enabling frameworks that allow regions and cities to co-shape missions, and for mechanisms of ongoing evaluation and learning to capture new ideas and channel them into MOIPs." |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc143455 |
| By: | Etienne Bacher; Michel Beine; Hillel Rapoport |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of anti-immigration attitudes on immigration plans to Europe. We propose a new instrument for attitudes toward immigration, namely, the number of country nationals killed in terrorist attacks taking place outside of Europe. Our first-stage results confirm that such terrorist attacks increase negative attitudes to immigration in the origin country of the victims. Our second-stage results then show that this higher hostility toward migrants decreases the attractiveness of the country for prospective immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration;Terrorism;Anti-immigration attitudes;Europe |
| JEL: | C1 F2 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2025-13 |
| By: | Joern Block; Miriam Gnad; Alexander S. Kritikos; Caroline Stiel |
| Abstract: | Despite substantial research on job satisfaction in self-employment, we know little about the specific consequences for the venture when job satisfaction declines after an external shock. Taking the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of an external shock and drawing on a sample of nearly 7, 000 self-employed individuals living in Germany, we investigate how declines in job satisfaction are related to investment decisions of self-employed individuals. Having separated job satisfaction into its financial and non-financial aspects, we build in our analysis on two complementary behavioral perspectives to predict how reductions in financial and non-financial job satisfaction relate to investments in venture development. Our results show that decreasing financial job satisfaction is positively related to time investments. This finding provides support for the performance feedback perspective, where negative performance, in terms of reduced financial job satisfaction, induces higher search efforts to improve the business situation. Moreover, we also observe that reductions in non-financial job satisfaction are negatively associated with both time and monetary investments. This supports the broadening-and-build perspective in that negative experiences – in the form of reduced non-financial job satisfaction – narrow the thought-action repertoire, thus hindering resource deployment. Implications of reduced job satisfaction on investment behavior are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction, investment decisions, self-employment and entrepreneurship, performance feedback perspective, broadening-and-build perspective, behavioral economics, economic psychology, Germany |
| JEL: | L26 J28 G11 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2142 |
| By: | Baktash, Mehrzad B.; Heywood, John S.; Jirjahn, Uwe |
| Abstract: | Using German survey data, we show conflicting influences of performance pay on overall life satisfaction. The overall influence reflects a strong positive influence through domains of life satisfaction associated with the job (job satisfaction, individual earnings satisfaction and household earning satisfaction) and a strong negative influence through domains away from the job (health satisfaction, sleep satisfaction and family life satisfaction). This trade-off between work and home generalizes and helps explain many previous studies examining much more specific consequences of performance pay. Finally, controlling for the mediating role of the domains, the direct influence on life satisfaction is positive for women and insignificantly different from zero for men. |
| Keywords: | Performance Pay, Life Satisfaction, Well-Being, Satisfaction Domains, Gender |
| JEL: | D10 J22 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1677 |
| By: | Bertoni, Fabio; Colombo, Massimo G.; Quas, Anita |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) on SMEs in Belgium, France, and Italy between 2015 and 2023. Using advanced econometric methods, we compare SMEs that received a guarantee with a control group of similar companies and find that beneficiaries experienced higher growth in total assets, sales, employment, and both tangible and intangible fixed assets three years after the signature year. The analysis also shows that guaranteed loans improve firms' survival prospects, without adverse long-term effects on productivity. Moreover the study highlights that the effects tend to be larger for smaller and younger firms. This study is part of our ongoing effort to design and implement a comprehensive Impact Assessment Framework. Ex-post evaluations, such as this report, provide essential evidence for shaping future support measures and improving the accuracy of impact forecasts. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:328250 |
| By: | Patrick Aubert (IPP - Institut des politiques publiques) |
| Abstract: | The reforms that have been implemented in France since the 1970s have greatly increased the options for retiring early with a full‑rate pension, the idea being that this would benefit those individuals presumed to have the shortest life expectancies. These options were initially aimed at individuals who had been declared unfit for work, but they are now largely based on having worked a full career, with this criterion intended to benefit persons who started working at a younger age, who are presumed to be in poorer health. However, although the life expectancy at 60 years of age of this latter group is indeed lower, this trend is only observed for those who started their careers before the age of 20 for men and 18 for women. In practice, no positive relationship can be observed between life expectancy at 60 years of age and the age at which a person is entitled to retire with a full‑rate pension. Among women, the relationship even appears to be negative. |
| Abstract: | Les réformes mises en œuvre depuis les années 1970 ont fortement étendu les possibilités de partir à la retraite au taux plein de façon anticipée, avec l'idée que cela béné‑ ficierait aux assurés dont l'espérance de vie était supposée la plus courte. Ces possibilités concernaient initialement les assurés reconnus inaptes au travail, mais elles s'appuient mainte‑ nant principalement sur le fait d'avoir eu une carrière complète, ce critère visant à avantager les personnes ayant commencé à travailler plus jeunes, supposées en moins bonne santé. Toutefois, si l'espérance de vie à 60 ans de ces dernières s'avère effectivement plus basse, cette relation ne s'observe que pour les débuts de carrière avant 20 ans pour les hommes et avant 18 ans pour les femmes. En pratique, on n'observe pas de relation croissante entre l'espérance de vie à 60 ans et l'âge auquel le système de retraite permet de partir à la retraite à taux plein. Parmi les femmes, la relation semble même décroissante. |
| Keywords: | length of career, life expectancy, retirement age, early retirement, pension reform, Espérance de vie, durée de carrière, âge de départ, retraite anticipée, réforme des retraites |
| Date: | 2025–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05302171 |
| By: | Patrick Aubert (IPP - Institut des politiques publiques) |
| Abstract: | The reforms that have been implemented in France since the 1970s have greatly increased the options for retiring early with a full‑rate pension, the idea being that this would benefit those individuals presumed to have the shortest life expectancies. These options were initially aimed at individuals who had been declared unfit for work, but they are now largely based on having worked a full career, with this criterion intended to benefit persons who started working at a younger age, who are presumed to be in poorer health. However, although the life expectancy at 60 years of age of this latter group is indeed lower, this trend is only observed for those who started their careers before the age of 20 for men and 18 for women. In practice, no positive relationship can be observed between life expectancy at 60 years of age and the age at which a person is entitled to retire with a full‑rate pension. Among women, the relationship even appears to be negative. |
| Abstract: | Les réformes mises en œuvre depuis les années 1970 ont fortement étendu les possibilités de partir à la retraite au taux plein de façon anticipée, avec l'idée que cela béné‑ ficierait aux assurés dont l'espérance de vie était supposée la plus courte. Ces possibilités concernaient initialement les assurés reconnus inaptes au travail, mais elles s'appuient mainte‑ nant principalement sur le fait d'avoir eu une carrière complète, ce critère visant à avantager les personnes ayant commencé à travailler plus jeunes, supposées en moins bonne santé. Toutefois, si l'espérance de vie à 60 ans de ces dernières s'avère effectivement plus basse, cette relation ne s'observe que pour les débuts de carrière avant 20 ans pour les hommes et avant 18 ans pour les femmes. En pratique, on n'observe pas de relation croissante entre l'espérance de vie à 60 ans et l'âge auquel le système de retraite permet de partir à la retraite à taux plein. Parmi les femmes, la relation semble même décroissante. |
| Keywords: | length of career, life expectancy, retirement age, early retirement, pension reform, Espérance de vie, durée de carrière, âge de départ, retraite anticipée, réforme des retraites |
| Date: | 2025–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:ipppap:hal-05302171 |
| By: | Hospido, Laura (Bank of Spain); Varela, Begoña (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates a program that seeks to improve the levels of social inclusion of families with children and adolescents receiving the National Minimum Income Scheme (IMV) and/or the Regional Inclusion Income (RISGA) in the seven largest municipalities in Galicia, Spain. The intervention used stratified random assignment to evaluate the effectiveness of a new model of personalized and integral support, according to the specific needs of each member of the target family, with multiple interventions grouped into three packages (social, educational and labor). The control group received the usual financial aid from the traditional model. The analysis reveals that the treatment significantly reduces child material deprivation. Positive effects are also found in the synthetic indicator of social inclusion, with the greatest improvements concentrated in the measures of housing conditions, parental responsibilities, community integration, and education. The treatment, however, does not have a significant effect on simplified poverty indicators, on employability, or on income from work, despite an improvement in the activation of household members to search for employment. |
| Keywords: | randomized controlled trial, children, families, social inclusion |
| JEL: | I32 I38 E24 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18170 |
| By: | Giulia Montresor; Catia Nicodemo; Cristina Bellés Obrero |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effects of extreme temperatures and a related adaptation policy on workplace accidents in Spain, combining administrative records on occupational accidents with high-resolution weather data. Both cold and heat raise the incidence of work accidents, though with different magnitudes: ice days (maximum temperatures |
| Keywords: | adaptation policy, climate change, temperature, work place accidents |
| JEL: | I1 J28 J81 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1519 |
| By: | Joan Monràs |
| Abstract: | Immigrants are not just workers, they are also consumers. Yet most of the literature studying immigration has focused on the former. This paper uses detailed Spanish consumption survey data to characterize how immigrant consumption differs from that of natives. Immigrants are much more likely to rent than native households, even when controlling for many observable characteristics. Decompositions of the differences in consumption patterns between immigrants and natives show that most of the differences cannot be accounted for standard socio-economic characteristics like income, household size, and geography. Variation from the amnesty program implemented in Spain in 2005 suggests that a small part of the differences in housing tenure status depend on the fact that many immigrants lack work permits, and potentially, formal access to mortgage credit. |
| Keywords: | amnesty, assimilation, housing markets, Immigrant consumption |
| JEL: | J61 D12 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1517 |
| By: | Croce, Annalisa; Gvetadze, Salome; Toschi, Laura; Ughetto, Elisa |
| Abstract: | This working paper provides a comprehensive overview of Europe's cleantech innovation landscape, highlighting both the sector's substantial maturity and the key challenges holding back the scale-up of clean technologies. It distils insights from four interlinked research studies - mapping the cleantech ecosystem, surveying industry perspectives, analysing venture capital's impact, and evaluating policy frameworks - to examine how cleantech companies can reach their full potential and what support they need to thrive. The paper reflects the EIF's commitment to bridging financing gaps and fostering sustainable growth across Europe. The EIF Working Papers are designed to make available to a wider readership selected topics and studies in relation to EIF's business. The Working Papers are edited by EIF's Market Assessment & Research and are typically authored or co-authored by EIF staff or are written in cooperation with EIF. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:328253 |
| By: | Rieder, André (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Representative establishment data reveal that over 60 percent of German plants covered by collective agreements pay wages above the level stipulated in the agreements, creating a wage cushion between actual and contractual wages. While collective bargaining coverage has fallen over time, the prevalence of wage cushions has increased, particularly in eastern Germany. Cross-sectional and fixed-effects analyses for 2008-2023 indicate that in western Germany the presence of a wage cushion is mainly related to plant profitability, unemployment, vacancies, and the business cycle. Plants which apply collective agreements at the firm rather than the sectoral level are less likely to have wage cushions since firm-level agreements make it easier to explicitly take firm-specific conditions into account. In eastern Germany, however, the explanatory power of these variables is considerably lower. Against the backdrop of falling bargaining coverage, the increasing prevalence of wage cushions suggests that the traditionally rigid German system of wage determination has become more flexible and differentiated. |
| Keywords: | wage cushion, collective bargaining, wage determination, Germany |
| JEL: | J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18153 |
| By: | Simone Moriconi; Mikaël Pasternak; Ahmed Tritah; Nadiya Ukrayinchuk |
| Abstract: | We provide new evidence on intergenerational social mobility among immigrants and natives in France. Using linked parent–child data from censuses, we introduce an individual-level metric - the Intergenerational Rank Difference (IRD) - that measures upward and downward mobility relative to the highest-ranked parent across both education and predicted income. We document a robust mobility premium for second-generation immigrants: on average, they achieve a predicted income rank six percentiles higher than observationally equivalent natives, with the advantage most pronounced among women, children of two immigrant parents, and those from disadvantaged households. Educational gains explain part of this differential, but labor-market advancement plays the larger role. Internal migration emerges as an important channel, as immigrant movers disproportionately relocate to high-mobility areas. Finally, a spatial analysis highlights substantial heterogeneity: some local areas act as “lands of opportunity, ” while others are associated with stagnation or decline. These findings underscore the interplay of individual characteristics and local contexts in shaping long-run integration and suggest a role for place-aware policies to foster equality of opportunity. |
| Keywords: | migration economics, intergenerational social mobility, human capital |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J62 J71 I24 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12196 |
| By: | Fawaz, Yarine (CEMFI, Madrid); Hospido, Laura (Bank of Spain); Martí Llobet, Júlia (CEMFI) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the effects of a randomized activation program targeting recipients of the Spain’s national Minimum Income Scheme. The intervention combined personalized coaching, job-search assistance, soft-skills training, and, in one treatment arm, also digital-skills workshops. While short-run employment effects were limited, the program significantly reduced the prevalence of informal work and improved participants’ financial resilience. Gains were particularly pronounced among those who received the digital-skills component, who reported large improvements in digital task performance. Half a year after receiving the treatment, administrative social security records show emerging positive effects on days worked, contract stability, and full-time employment, especially in the digital-skills group. We also find evidence of a psychological awareness effect: low-engagement participants reported lower self-assessed transversal skills, possibly reflecting a shift in self-perception. Our findings highlight the potential of multidimensional, personalized activation strategies to foster formalization and digital inclusion among low-income populations. |
| Keywords: | randomized controlled trial, active labor market policies, social inclusion |
| JEL: | I32 I38 E24 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18169 |
| By: | Ferlenga, Francesco (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Kang, Stephanie (Market Development, ISO New England) |
| Abstract: | We study how expanding immigrants' rights affects their political and social integration by leveraging Romania's 2007 EU accession, which granted Romanian immigrants in Italy municipal voting and residency rights. Using municipality-level event studies, we find: (1) Enfranchisement increased the election of Romanian-born councilors - especially in competitive races - despite limited changes in candidacy rates. It also increased Romanian turnout, suggesting that electoral gains stem from an expanded voter base. An instrumented difference-in-differences analysis shows this is driven by pre-existing Romanian residents, not new arrivals. (2) Consent to organ donation rose among Romanians post-2007, indicating that the expansion of rights extends to prosocial behavior. (3) Nonetheless, immigrant presence continues to raise support for right-leaning parties and security spending while reducing social spending, highlighting persistent native backlash that outweighs immigrant political influence. |
| Keywords: | JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:775 |
| By: | Helmers, Viola |
| Abstract: | Using data from a 2024 survey among 3, 052 participants in Germany, this study looks at the modal split indicator from the perspective of laypersons. This indicator is often used to communicate local mobility goals with the public. We investigate whether people are able to guess the modal split distribution in their locale, which modal split would be ideal in their view, and how these perceptions influence opinions on public spending for transportation. We also examine whether showing examples of real modal splits to a random subset of participants influences accuracy or any of our other markers. Results indicate that participants have some trouble guessing modal split proportions, and that the examples did not significantly improve this. For example, only 17% of participants' guesses for the car share are within 5 percentage points of the real split. However, 85.6% of participants would like the share of car trips to be lower by on average 22.2 percentage points (mean perceived car share is 55.2%). Additionally, introducing people to the concept of the modal split without also giving real world reference points negatively influences the amount of public funds they would like to be assigned to sustainable transportation modes. |
| Abstract: | Anhand von Daten aus einer Umfrage unter 3.052 Teilnehmern in Deutschland aus dem Jahr 2024 untersucht diese Studie den Modal-Split-Indikator aus der Perspektive von Laien. Dieser Indikator wird häufig verwendet, um der Öffentlichkeit regionale Mobilitätsziele zu vermitteln. Wir untersuchen anhand einer Befragung, ob die Teilnehmenden in der Lage sind, die Modal-Split-Verteilung in ihrer Region zu schätzen, welcher Modal Split ihrer Meinung nach ideal wäre und wie diese Wahrnehmungen die Meinung über öffentlichen Ausgaben für den Verkehr beeinflussen. Wir untersuchen auch, ob zusätzliche Informationen über reale Modal Splits die Genauigkeit oder andere Ergebnisse beeinflusst. Es zeigt sich, dass die Teilnehmenden Schwierigkeiten haben, die Anteile der Verkehrsmittelaufteilung zu schätzen, und dass die Beispiele dies nicht wesentlich verbessern. So liegen beispielsweise nur 17% der Schätzungen der Teilnehmer für den Anteil des Pkw-Verkehrs innerhalb von 5 Prozentpunkten des tatsächlichen Anteils. Allerdings würden 85, 6% der Teilnehmer den Anteil der Autofahrten um durchschnittlich 22, 2 Prozentpunkte senken wollen (der durchschnittlich wahrgenommene Anteil des Autoverkehrs beträgt 55, 2%). Darüber hinaus wirkt sich die Heranführung an das Konzept des Modal Split ohne reale Bezugspunkte negativ auf die Höhe der öffentlichen Mittel aus, die sie für nachhaltige Verkehrsmittel bereitstellen möchten. |
| Keywords: | Modal split, perception bias, mobility preferences, information treatment, public spending, policy communication |
| JEL: | R40 R42 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:328239 |
| By: | Sturm, Patrick |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates workplace peer efects in retirement by leveraging a German pension reform that eliminated a widely used early retirement option for women. Using administrative linked employer-employee data, I compare women's retirement behavior by exploiting variation in the share of their workplace peers who were afected by the reform based on their birth date. I fnd signifcant and robust peer efects: women are more likely to delay their retirement when their peers extend their employment due to the reform. Investigating potential underlying mechanisms, I provide suggestive evidence for information transmission and social norms about working in old-age. In addition, employer characteristics play an important role in shaping these peer efects. Overall, the fndings highlight the importance of accounting for workplace peer efects when evaluating the broader labor supply impacts of pension policies. |
| Keywords: | peer efects, retirement policies, social interactions |
| JEL: | D22 J08 J26 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wuewep:328243 |
| By: | Ban, Cornel; Liu, Imogen T. |
| Abstract: | Why did Sweden’s Northvolt—Europe’s most celebrated green industrial startup—collapse, while France managed to stabilise its local aspiring champions in the same cleantech sector? This paper uses these contrasting trajectories to interrogate the EU’s more assertive industrial policy turn. Drawing on the developmental network state (DNS) framework, we argue that while the EU has shifted from market neutrality to vertical industrial policy activism in a global context marked by geopolitical competition, its capacity to sustain strategic firms through crises remains underdeveloped. However, domestic capabilities and strategies mediated EU resourcing, brokering, facilitation, and protection, the main functions of the DNS. Where Sweden lacked credible financial, fiscal and institutional mechanisms of internal protection for the beleaguered Northvolt, France deployed a more robust economic statecraft toolkit, combining strategic finance, firm-level coordination, and public investment. Northvolt’s collapse illustrates the limits of Europe’s institutional orchestration of ambitious industrial policies: a regime that can incubate innovation but cannot stabilise it commercially. We conclude that without repurposed macro-financial institutions, Europe’s role as a competitive supplier of decarbonisation technologies will remain vulnerable. |
| Date: | 2025–10–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ax56z_v1 |
| By: | Gabriele Ciminelli (Asian Development Bank); Guido Franco (Centro Studi Confindustria) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of job protection deregulation on firms’ productivity, leveraging a size-based cutoff in the eligibility criteria of a pivotal 2014 labor market reform in Italy. The reform replaced reinstatement requirements with a progressive compensation system for unjust dismissals of new hires in firms with more than 15 employees, while leaving smaller firms unaffected. We find that total factor productivity increased by 1% in treated firms relative to control firms, on average, in each of the 5 years following the reform’s implementation. Labor productivity gains were slightly larger, also driven by capital deepening. Next, we extend the analysis to uncover how the productivity gains were distributed between employers and workers. Capital owners benefited more, as the reform led to a gradual decline in the labor share of value added, reaching 0.7 percentage points after 5 years. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation;job protection deregulation;total factor productivity;capital deepening;income distribution;labor share of income |
| JEL: | D22 D24 J08 J41 O43 |
| Date: | 2025–10–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:021674 |
| By: | Pasquale Accardo (University of Bath); Adriano Amati (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia); Giovanni Mastrobuoni (Collegio Carlo Alberto; University of Turin; University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | This study uses a unique longitudinal data set on daily museum visits in Northern Italy to investigate how social networks influence leisure consumption. Based on detailed administrative records of museum cardholders, we use repeated joint visits to build a dynamic network of peers. We identify peer effects that exploit exogenous variation in membership prices generated by age-based discounts. We find robust evidence of peer spillovers in both museum attendance and membership renewal, primarily driven by a preference for shared experiences. These results underscore the role of social interactions in shaping leisure demand and support the view that social networks can amplify individual behavior. More broadly, our findings contribute to the understanding of peer dynamics in settings where consumption is inherently social. |
| Date: | 2025–09–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eid:wpaper:58191 |
| By: | Piseddu, Tommaso (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This study aims to shed light on the implications of biodiversity risk for the Swedish residential housing market. While most of the previous academic literature and national and international financial supervision focused on transition and physical risks as the main channels of climate’s impact on housing prices, this study reveals the significant role that biodiversity risk can play. In Sweden, higher temperatures, discharges of nutrients from agricultural activities and changing raining patterns have rendered algae blooms a frequent presence in the country’s lakes, streams and seashores. By adopting a repeat-sales approach over the housing transactions that occurred in the country between 2005 and 2021, it is found that each additional appearance of blooming algae reduced returns on investments by 0.5% on average. Additional identification strategies confirm that the marginal impact of one additional blooming alga has a very small impact, while the first appearance can reduce the return on investment by about 5.5% on average. The results are robust to several forms of sensitivity analysis, such as including information on housing renovation and excluding assets with short holding periods. Concerns over measurement errors and endogeneity of the distribution of the algae are addressed with the use of instrumental variables (IVs), which confirm the validity of the findings and reveal an even stronger impact. The results of this study are relevant for a large number of economic actors, among these private households, investors and policymakers, and present alternative channels, other than natural hazards, through which climate change can impact housing markets. |
| Keywords: | blooming algae; housing prices; returns on investment; Sweden; biodiversity risk |
| JEL: | C10 Q50 R30 |
| Date: | 2025–10–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kthrec:2025_011 |
| By: | María Alejandra Amado (BANCO DE ESPAÑA); Carlos Burga (PUC-CHILE); José E. Gutiérrez (BANCO DE ESPAÑA) |
| Abstract: | We document a novel channel through which domestic bank regulations generate cross-border real effects via international trade. Our setting is a one-time, unexpected increase in loan loss provisions in Spain in 2012. Using comprehensive administrative data from the Spanish credit register matched with customs data, we show that importers relying on the most affected banks experienced sharp reductions in credit supply, which led to a decline in their purchases abroad. Leveraging bilateral trade data at the country-product level, we find that Spanish aggregate imports declined, indicating limited reallocation across firms: the shock on highly exposed importers was not offset by the expansion from less exposed ones. This decline in Spain’s import demand is transmitted internationally, as total exports of Spain’s trading partners fell. The effect was stronger for countries with less developed financial systems, for exporters facing higher bilateral trade costs vis-à-vis Spain, and for products that are harder to reallocate across markets. Our findings highlight international trade as a key transmission mechanism of banking regulation –and domestic shocks more broadly– with implications for the cross-border coordination of prudential policy. |
| Keywords: | bank regulations, spillovers, international trade |
| JEL: | F14 F36 F42 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2538 |
| By: | Hall, Caroline (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Lindskog, Annika (Department of Economics, University of Gothenborg); Lundin, Martin (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of distance learning on educational outcomes for lower secondary school students in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. We leverage variation in the implementation of remote instruction across schools and compare pre-pandemic and pandemic-affected cohorts using a difference-in-differences design with entropy balancing weights. We examine effects on grade 9 students’ test scores on standardized tests and their transition to upper secondary school. Our findings suggest that students in schools that adopted remote instruction performed similarly to those in schools that maintained in-person teaching throughout the pandemic. Moreover, progression to upper secondary school was not negatively affected. In some cases, we even find evidence of positive effects of remote instruction. We find some support for the interpretation that these positive effects may be due to remote instruction enabling more teaching hours during a period with high teacher and student absence. |
| Keywords: | Remote instruction; distance learning; school performance; COVID-19 |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2025–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_016 |
| By: | Leonardo Gambacorta; Tullio Jappelli; Tommaso Oliviero |
| Abstract: | We present findings from a specialized module on generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) included in the Italian Survey of Consumer Expectations (ISCE), conducted in 2024 with a representative sample of Italian individuals. This analysis offers novel insights into current and anticipated interactions with gen AI tools and the potential benefits from adoption. As of April 2024, 75.6% of the Italian population aged 18–75 was aware of gen AI, 36.7% had used it in the previous 12 months, and 20.1% reported monthly usage. Socio-economic factors significantly influence adoption rates, with higher usage observed among men, individuals with college degrees, and younger individuals, particularly students. Looking ahead, gen AI is expected to be used more frequently for education and leisure activities in the coming months. Finally, using a Mincer earnings regression, we highlight that the income return associated with gen AI usage is around 2%. |
| Keywords: | generative AI, households' survey |
| JEL: | D10 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1298 |
| By: | Bertoni, Fabio; Colombo, Massimo G.; Quas, Anita |
| Abstract: | This working paper evaluates the impact of the COSME Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) on SMEs in Greece, Poland, Spain, and Romania between 2015 and 2023. Using advanced econometric methods, we compare SMEs that received a guarantee with a control group of similar companies. We find that SMEs benefiting from guaranteed loans outgrow their counterparts three years after the signature year, in terms of total assets, sales, and both tangible and intangible fixed assets. Moreover, beneficiary companies are less likely to go bankrupt by the end of 2023, particularly smaller and older firms. The results confirm that guaranteed loans support SME growth without adverse long-term effects on productivity or business survival. This paper is part of the ongoing work of the Impact Assessment division to support the EIF's transition to an impact-driven institution by designing and implementing a comprehensive Impact Assessment Framework. Ex-post impact studies, such as this report, play a key role in this Framework by informing and refining future support measures, while also enhancing the accuracy of predicted outcomes. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:eifwps:328255 |
| By: | Moritz Lubczyk; Maria Waldinger |
| Abstract: | What are the long-run effects of sustained exposure to air pollution? A unique natural experiment allows us to examine this question. In 1982, a sudden cut in Soviet oil forced Socialist East Germany to switch to highly polluting lignite coal. While the shock sharply increased air pollution near mining regions, authoritarian restrictions on mobility, housing, and jobs prevented sorting responses. We document persistent labor market impacts over three decades. Exposed individuals work less, earn lower wages, and retire earlier. Health is a key mechanism: infant mortality rises by 9\% and the long-run incidence of asthma and cardiopathy increases significantly. |
| Keywords: | air pollution, labour supply |
| JEL: | I15 J24 J60 N54 Q53 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12197 |