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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Fausto Galli (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE); Daniel Santiago Quinones Roa (Department of Economics, University of Cyprus); Giuseppe Russo (Department of Economics and Statistics - University of Salerno - Italy and CELPE); Ruzica Savcic (Department of Economics, University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the evolution of ethnic identity among immigrants in Germany. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), the study applies transition-based models to estimate the probabilities of moving between four identity types defined by Berry (1997): integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. The results reveal substantial persistence in ethnic identity, particularly for integrated and separated migrants, and show that identity trajectories became more entrenched after 2015. |
| JEL: | J15 J61 C33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:021914 |
| By: | Julia Baarck (LMU Munich); Moritz Bode (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen); Andreas Peichl (LMU Munich) |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, Social Mobility, Income, Education, Inequality. |
| JEL: | J62 I24 D63 |
| Date: | 2025–12–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2515 |
| By: | Storm, Eduard; Gonschor, Myrielle; Schmidt, Marc Justin |
| Abstract: | We study how artificial intelligence (AI) affects workers' earnings and employment stability, combining German job vacancy data with administrative records from 2017-2023. Identification comes from changes in workers' exposure to local AI skill demand over time, instrumented with national demand trends. We find no meaningful displacement or productivity effects on average, but notable skill heterogeneity: expert workers with deep domain knowledge gain while non-experts often lose, with returns shaped by occupational task structures. We also document AI-driven reinstatement effects toward analytic and interactive tasks that raise earnings. Overall, our results imply distributional concerns but also job-augmenting potential of early AI technologies. |
| Keywords: | AI, Online Job Vacancies, Skill Demand, Worker-level Analysis, Employment, Earnings, Expertise |
| JEL: | D22 J23 J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:333893 |
| By: | Evangelos Rasvanis, Andreas Psarras and Theodore Panagiotidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of regional disparities in road traffic accident (RTA) outcomes across European regions. Using panel data and negative binomial models, it examines socioeconomic, institutional, cultural and behavioural drivers on fatalities and injuries. The results reveal marked regional variation, with Southern Europe exhibiting higher casualty rates. Education, perceptions of road safety, rule of law, informal economy and GDP per capita significantly affect RTA outcomes. Marginal effects confirm that tertiary education substantially reduces both fatalities and injuries. The empirical evidence highlights the importance of locational and institutional factors for designing targeted, region-specific road safety policies. |
| Keywords: | Road traffic accidents; European regions; Cultural factors; Behavioural patterns. |
| JEL: | I19 R10 R41 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2025_03 |
| By: | Inmaculada C. Alvarez; Javier Barbero; Luis Orea; Andres Rodriguez-Pose |
| Abstract: | Most studies of institutional quality and regional growth assume uniform effects across territories. However, this may mask crucial regional heterogeneity, with direct policy implications. We use a latent class framework applied to 230 EU regions over 2009-2017 to identify institution-driven regional parameter groups, and to examine both average effects and catching-up effects associated with changes in the institutional environment. We demonstrate that institutional quality generates highly variable returns to investment in physical capital and innovation. Nordic and Central European regions show highest returns to physical capital and R&D investment, whereas less-developed regions benefit most from education spending. Crucially, we find that improving government quality not only raises average returns but also promotes territorial cohesion. By contrast, regional autonomy shows limited impact on returns. Our findings challenge the one-size-fits-all approach to cohesion policy and indicate that cohesion policy should explicitly promote institutional improvements in addition to capital deployment. |
| Keywords: | Institutional quality, European funds, investment, regional development |
| JEL: | O43 E61 H54 R11 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2537 |
| By: | Cesar Barreto; Antoine Bertheau; Dogan Gulumser; Alexander Hijzen; Astrid Kunze; Marta Lachowska; Anne Sophie Lassen; Salvatore Lattanzio; Benjamin Lochner; Stefano Lombardi; Jody Meekes; Balazs Murakozy; Oskar Nordstrom Skans; Marco Palladino |
| Abstract: | We quantify the role of gender-specific firm wage premiums in explaining the private-sector gender gap in hourly wages using a harmonized research design across 11 matched employer-employee datasets—ten European countries and Washington state, USA. These premiums contribute to the gender wage gap through two channels: women’s concentration in lower-paying firms (sorting) and women receiving lower premiums than men within the same firm (pay-setting). We find that firm wage premiums account for 10 to 30 percent of the gender wage gap. While both mechanisms matter, sorting is the predominant driver of the firm contribution to the gender wage gap in most countries. We document three patterns that are broadly consistent across countries: (1) women’s sorting into lower-paying firms increases with age; (2) women are more concentrated in low-paying firms with a high share of part-time workers; and (3) women receive about 90 percent of the rents that men receive from firm surplus gains. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap; Firms; Cross country comparison |
| JEL: | C52 J24 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:102275 |
| By: | Schober, Pia; Philipp, Marie-Fleur; Büchau, Silke |
| Abstract: | By using mostly binary measures of individuals’ sex or gender category, most existing quantitative social science literature has underestimated variations in gender self-concepts among cisgender individuals as well as increasing transgender or non-binary identifications. Some recent mostly non-representative studies from the US, Germany and Sweden have proposed novel gradational measures based on self-rating of masculinity and femininity. We extend these studies by systematically exploring how gender identification and self-perceived (non-)conformity relate to gender socialisation and performance in different domains as well as to gender equality in political, economic and normative dimensions across European regions. We draw on European Social Survey data collected in 2023/24 and apply multi-level regression models for 37, 587 individuals across 199 regions of 26 European countries. The results show the expected associations of gender identification and non-conformity with bodily characteristics and personality traits, regional gender regimes and partly with relationships but not with labour market- and care-related aspects. We find some systematic variation in these associations across gender regimes pointing to altered meanings of masculinity and femininity. On the whole, gradational measures of gender identification are promising to include in future quantitative studies to complement gender category and domain-specific beliefs but contextual comparisons require adjustments to improve comparability. |
| Date: | 2025–12–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:k8qnw_v1 |
| By: | Stefano Caselli, Marta Zava |
| Abstract: | The study examines the structure, functioning, and strategic implications of financial ecosystems across four European countries—France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Italy—to identify institutional best practices relevant to the ongoing transformation of Italy’s financial system. Building on a comparative analysis of legislation and regulation, taxation, investor bases, and financial intermediation, the report highlights how distinct historical and institutional trajectories have shaped divergent models: the French dirigiste system anchored by powerful state-backed institutions and deep asset management pools; the Swedish social-democratic ecosystem driven by broad household equity participation, tax efficient savings vehicles, and equity-oriented pension funds; and the British liberal model, characterized by deep capital markets, strong institutional investor engagement, and globally competitive listing infrastructure. In contrast, Italy remains predominantly bank-centric, with fragmented institutional investment, limited retail equity participation, underdeveloped public markets, and a structural reliance on domestic banking channels for corporate finance. |
| Keywords: | financial ecosystems; capital markets; institutional investors; household savings; taxation; IPO markets; SME finance; European financial integration; Savings and Investments Union. |
| JEL: | G10 G18 G23 G28 O16 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp25261 |
| By: | Sébastien Fontenay; Libertad González Luna |
| Abstract: | We estimate the long-term impact of early paternal involvement by exploiting the 2002 Belgian paternity leave introduction as a natural experiment. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the reform significantly increased fathers’ long-term time investment in childcare. Tracking children into early adulthood, we find precisely estimated null effects on a comprehensive set of outcomes, including educational attainment, labor market attachment, and family formation. These results hold across subgroups, including children of low and high- educated fathers. We conclude that while paternity leave may increase father involvement, it does not generate detectable advantages (or disadvantages) in children’s early adult lives. |
| Keywords: | Paternity leave , intergenerational effects |
| JEL: | J08 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1934 |
| By: | Ursel Baumann; Annalisa Ferrando; Dimitris Georgarakos; Yuriy Gorodnichenko; Timo Reinelt |
| Abstract: | Using data from the euro area SAFE, a novel survey of firms’ inflation expectations including a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we show that firms’ inflation expectations exhibit significant heterogeneity, challenging the predictions of full-information rational expectations models. At the same time, we document that firms update beliefs rationally but under incomplete information, with geographic location playing a dominant role in shaping expectations. Firms extrapolate from regional and national inflation to form euro area inflation expectations. A basic “Lucas island” model calibrated to euro area data replicates key empirical moments and highlights the structural “pass-through” from national to aggregate expectations. Our findings underscore challenges in anchoring inflation expectations in a heterogeneous monetary union. |
| Date: | 2025–12–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:102218 |
| By: | Andrea Ciaccio; Francesco Moscone; Elisa Tosetti |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the causal impact of the European Union Emissions Trading System, a cap-and-trade scheme limiting greenhouse gas emissions of firms, on their environmental performance. Although previous studies have focused primarily on the effect of the emission cap imposed by the policy, we argue that the trading mechanism creates complex interdependencies among firms that can change the policy's intended effects. We develop a novel Difference-in-Differences approach that disentangles the direct causal effects of the scheme on regulated firms from the indirect spillover effects arising from trading among firms. By incorporating potential interference between treated units, our methodology allows a more comprehensive assessment of the policy's overall effectiveness. Monte Carlo simulations show that our proposed estimators perform well in finite samples, confirming the reliability of our approach. To assess the direct and indirect effects of the scheme, we construct a novel database on emissions of European industrial sites by matching information on treated plants from the European Commission's Community Independent Transaction Log with emission data from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register for the years from 2001 to 2017. We find that the scheme reduced emissions only for non-trading plants, but such reduction is entirely offset when accounting for spillovers from trading plants, thus suggesting that the trading mechanism neutralizes the environmental benefits of the policy. Our findings have important implications for the design of future environmental policies and the ongoing evaluation of cap and trade policies. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.15377 |
| By: | Bernd Bonfert (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School) |
| Abstract: | Rising energy costs expose the instability of our energy system and underline the urgency of transitioning towards decentralized renewable energy provision. Many European countries have tasked municipalities with driving this transition and the European Union has designated local energy communities to receive stronger support. Energy communities involve public, private or community actors in co-producing and distributing renewable energy. They are often praised for helping democratize, decentralize and socially embed the energy system, but remain constrained by economic and legal barriers. To what extent they can contribute to transforming the energy system thus depends on their ability to scale beyond their niche.This article identifies opportunities and challenges encountered by energy communities, especially regarding legislation, municipal governance, and stakeholder participation. Drawing on 'foundational economy' concepts, it explains to what extent energy communities are governed and scaled by public, private or community actors, and discusses the transferability, social cohesion, and democratizing potential of energy innovations. The article compares qualitative findings from four energy community pilot projects in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the UK, based on interviews, observation and document analysis. It finds that while many cities are wellpositioned to launch energy communities, they lack the authority and means to scale up innovations, thus having to rely on other actors. While private companies are often hesitant about adopting innovations, municipal companies are more willing to do so, yet citizen participation is lacking across cases. Findings thus underline a need for legislation to remove barriers to energy innovation and enable democratic participation. |
| Keywords: | Public companies, Citizen participation, Local governance, Peer-to-peer exchange, Social innovation, Renewable energy, Energy communities |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05395002 |
| By: | Sebastian Leitner (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Stella Sophie Zilian (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the disproportional effects of digitalisation across age by investigating (i) within-job age segregation in tasks by digital intensity; (ii) within-job age disparities in digital upskilling; (iii) age inequalities in wage returns to digital job tasks; and (iv) the role of gender in this age segregation and inequalities. The analysis is based on data of Cedefop’s second wave of the European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS2), conducted in 2021. First results of the analysis show that even when controlling for occupation-industry job pairs apart from using other explanatory variables, age segregation and gender gaps are prevalent in the case of digital skill intensity of tasks performed in the jobs of employees, though not in the case of digital upskilling via training measures. Applying the same appropriate controls, we also find that higher within-job digital skill intensity is associated with higher hourly wages. Gender wage gaps are sizable across all skill intensity categories in addition to widening in older age groups. |
| Keywords: | Age inequalities, earnings, gender gaps, job segregation, digital skills, tasks |
| JEL: | J01 J08 J14 J16 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:269 |
| By: | Matej Bajgar (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Suren Karapetyan (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether competitive research grants generate new research led by the supported principal investigators (PIs), distinguishing publications where the PI made a substantial intellectual contribution (first or last authorship) from all publications. Using data on Czech medical research grants awarded between 2015 and 2019, we apply augmented inverse probability weighting and regression discontinuity designs, comparing funded projects with unfunded projects just below the funding cutoff. Both methods find that grants increase total publications over five years by approximately 2 papers, or 17%. Regression discontinuity estimates further indicate that grants have disproportionately large effects on publications involving substantial intellectual contribution from the PI, increasing first/last-author publications by 1.8 papers, or 40%. Standard outcome measures that ignore authorship position may significantly understate the impact of grants on independent, PI-led scientific output. |
| Keywords: | Regression discontinuity design, Research funding, Scientific productivity |
| JEL: | O38 O30 I23 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2025_30 |
| By: | Alexander Ahammer; Martin Halla; Pia Heckl; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | Long-term unemployment among older workers is particularly difficult to overcome. We study the impacts of a large-scale job guarantee program that offered up to two years of fully subsidized employment to long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 and above. Using a sharp age-based discontinuity in eligibility, we find that participation increased regular, unsubsidized employment by 43 percentage points two years after the program ended. The gains are driven by transitions into new firms and industries, rather than continued subsidized employment, and we find no evidence of displacement effects for non-participants or spillovers to family members. The program had no measurable short-run health effects. |
| Keywords: | long-term unemployment, temporary job guarantee, subsidized employment, health status |
| JEL: | J64 J08 J78 I14 H51 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12340 |
| By: | Katrine M. Jakobsen; Thomas H. Jorgensen; Hamish W. Low |
| Abstract: | We study how fertility decisions interact with labor supply and human capital accumulation of men and women. First, we use longitudinal Danish register data and tax reforms to show that increases in wages of women decrease fertility while increases in wages of men increase fertility. Second, we estimate a life-cycle model to quantify the importance of fertility adjustments for labor supply and long-run gender inequality. Wage elasticities of women are more than 10% lower if fertility cannot be adjusted. Finally, we show that the long-term consequences of human capital depreciation around childbirth are an important driver of the long-run gender wage gap in the model. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; Labor supply; human capital accumulation; Gender inequality; Tax reform |
| JEL: | D15 H24 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2025–12–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:102277 |
| By: | Sara Giunti; Andrea Guariso; Mariapia Mendola; Irene Solmone |
| Abstract: | In advanced economies, growing population diversity often fuels hostility toward immigrants and deepens social divides. We study a short educational program for high-school students designed to promote cultural diversity and improve attitudes toward immigration through active learning. Using a randomized controlled trial involving 4, 500 students from 252 classes across 40 schools in northern Italy, we find that the program fostered more positive attitudes and behaviors toward immigrants, particularly in more diverse classrooms. In terms of mechanisms, the intervention reduced students’ misperceptions and shifted perceived classroom norms, but did not affect implicit bias, empathy, or social networks. Our findings indicate that anti-immigration attitudes largely stem from stereotypes and broad societal concerns, and that educational programs combining factual learning with norm-shaping elements, such as critical thinking and structured intergroup engagement, can effectively mitigate them. |
| Keywords: | Immigration attitudes, Ethnic Stereotypes, Social Inclusion Policy, Impact Evaluation. |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 D72 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:564 |
| By: | Alexander Ahammer; Martin Halla; Pia Heckl; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | Long-term unemployment among older workers is particularly difficult to overcome. We study the impacts of a large-scale job guarantee program that offered up to two years of fully subsidized employment to long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 and above. Using a sharp age-based discontinuity in eligibility, we find that participation increased regular, unsubsidized employment by 43 percentage points two years after the program ended. The gains are driven by transitions into new firms and industries, rather than continued subsidized employment, and we find no evidence of displacement effects for non-participants or spillovers to family members. The program had no measurable short-run health effects. |
| Keywords: | Long-term unemployment, temporary job guarantee, subsidized employment, health status |
| JEL: | J64 J08 J78 I14 H51 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2025-12 |
| By: | Libertad González Luna; Parijat Maitra |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of early elective birth timing on children’s health and educational outcomes, focusing on cognitive development as measured by elementary school grades. We exploit a natural experiment in Spain: the abrupt termination of a generous child benefit at the end of 2010, which led to a sharp increase in elective deliveries during the final week of December. Children born during this spike had slightly shorter gestation periods and lower birth weights (within the normal range), and experienced a higher incidence of respiratory disorders during infancy. We find that the affected cohort of children had significantly lower academic performance at age seven (in second grade), suggesting large persistent effects on cognitive development. Our results provide causal evidence on the medium-term costs of early elective deliveries, and underscore the link between neonatal health and human capital. |
| Keywords: | education , health , birthweight , family benefits |
| JEL: | I2 I1 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1933 |
| By: | Maria Petrillo (ESRC Centre for Care & CIRCLE, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK); Ricardo Rodrigues (ISEG Research, ISEG (Lisbon School of Economics and Management), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal); Matt Bennett (ESRC Centre for Care & School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham, UK); Gwilym Pryce (ESRC Centre for Care & School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK) |
| Abstract: | We provide the first detailed cohort analysis to investigate both the effect of individual-level poverty and meso-level deprivation on the gender care gap, highlighting how individual circumstances and place shape caregiving provision. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N =40, 324), we apply two complementary approaches: (i) multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression to provide detailed age cohort analysis of the probability of providing informal care by sex, accounting for the nested data structure; and (ii) Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy (MAIHDA) to examine whether the factors that shape the probability of providing care have additive or multiplicative reinforcing effects. Results reveal a clear age pattern in caregiving, peaking between ages 60–70 before declining, with earlier-born cohorts showing higher caregiving likelihood at the same ages compared to later-born cohorts. The gender care gap is most pronounced among middle-born cohorts (1969–1978, 1959–1968, and 1949–1958), particularly between ages 50 and 60. Both poverty and geographic deprivation significantly shape gendered caregiving inequalities: the gender care gap is wider among individuals above the poverty line and in deprived local authority districts. The caregiving likelihood is primarily driven by the independent effects of cohort, gender, poverty, and meso-level deprivation, with limited evidence of multiplicative intersectional effects. These findings demonstrate that the gender care gap is not a uniform phenomenon. Policy attempts to address the gender care gap need to be mindful of these variations, not least because they potentially elucidate the potential sources of gender inequalities in care. |
| Keywords: | Informal caregiving, inequality, age-cohort analysis, MAIHDA |
| JEL: | D63 J16 I3 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2025009 |
| By: | Sita Slavov |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence suggesting that delayed Social Security claiming by husbands – resulting in an actuarially enhanced benefit – attenuates the financial shock of widowhood for their wives. Under Social Security survivor benefit rules, primary earners (usually husbands) pass on the actuarial adjustments from delayed claiming to their surviving spouses. Using a staggered difference-in-differences approach, I find women whose husbands delayed claiming to full retirement age or later face a post-widowhood increase of 6.9 percentage points in the probability of falling below the 5th percentile of the pre-widowhood income distribution. This effect is almost 12 percent smaller for each year of delayed claiming by the husband (though the attenuation is concentrated in the first 4 years of widowhood). The general findings are robust to instrumenting for the husband’s claiming age using the loosening of the retirement earnings test in 2000 – a policy change that incentivized earlier claiming. |
| JEL: | D14 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34612 |
| By: | Katerina Vachova (RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic); Anna Bartoskova Polcrova (RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic); Denes Stefler (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, United Kingdom); Nadezda Capkova (National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czechia); Martin Bobak (RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, United Kingdom); Hynek Pikhart (RECETOX, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | **Purpose** Late-life depression is more likely to be modified by external factors, such as diet. We aimed to longitudinally assess the relationship of three dietary scores with depressive symptoms in Czech older adults. **Methods** We used data on 3519 participants from the Czech part of the prospective Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe cohort. Participants reported their depressive symptoms using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale. Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI), Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), and Eastern European Diet Score (EEDS), were calculated from a Food Frequency Questionnaire collected at baseline. Growth curve model was used to investigate the longitudinal relationship between adherence to various dietary scores and depressive symptoms. **Results** At baseline, women with high adherence to any of the three dietary scores had significantly lower depressive symptoms compared with those with low adherence (HDI: B=-0.65, 95\% CI [-1.18; -0.12], MDS: -0.56 [-1.01; -0.10], EEDS: -0.88 [-1.37; -0.39]). In terms of longitudinal trajectories among women, depressive symptoms increased over time with similar slopes across low, medium and high adherence groups for HDI and MDS. However, for EEDS, high and medium adherence was associated with steeper slopes compared to low adherence. Depressive symptoms were not consistently associated with dietary patterns in men. **Conclusion** Our results suggest a relationship between adherence to healthy dietary patterns and lower depressive symptoms in Czech older women, while there was little evidence on an association in men. The Eastern European diet and its health impacts should be further evaluated. |
| Keywords: | epression; depressive symptoms; ageing; Mediterranean diet; HAPIEE |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mub:wpaper:2025-08 |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Clarke, Damian (University of Chile); Venkataramani, Atheendar (Massachusetts General Hospital) |
| Abstract: | We leverage the introduction of the first antibiotic therapies in 1937 to examine the long-run effects of early-childhood pneumonia on adult educational attainment, employment, income, and work-related disability. Using census data, we document large average improvements across all outcomes, alongside substantial heterogeneity by gender and race. Among women, health gains led to changes in marriage and fertility that partially offset their labor market improvements. Among Black Americans, we uncover a pronounced gradient linked to systemic racial discrimination in the pre-Civil Rights era: individuals born in more discriminatory Jim Crow states realized much smaller gains than those born in less discriminatory states, despite larger reductions in pneumonia exposure. There is no similar gradient among white Americans. Together, these findings highlight the central role of institutional environments in shaping whether investments in early-life health translate into long-run socioeconomic gains. |
| Keywords: | infectious disease, institutions, systemic discrimination, disability, income, education, human capital production, race, medical innovation, early childhood, pneumonia, antibiotics, sulfa drugs |
| JEL: | I10 I14 J71 H70 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18327 |
| By: | Martín Finkelstein (Harvard Kennedy School) |
| Abstract: | Using the 2017 Mexican Social Mobility Survey (ESRU-EMOVI 2017), this study documents how family structure during upbringing is a key determinant of educational results. Individuals raised in two-parent households attain between 0.25 and 0.38 more years of education and show, on average, a two to three percentage point higher probability of completing higher education than their peers raised without one of their parents at home. An analysis of why individuals drop out of the education system indicates that differences in educational attainment may stem from a lack of opportunities. The evidence points to parental death as a significant contributor to this gap. Individuals who lose a parent during their formative years complete, on average, between 0.9 and 1 fewer years of education and are 3 to 5 percentage points less likely to complete higher education. The timing of parental death is critical: experiencing the loss of a parent during adolescence (between ages 13 and 18) is particularly detrimental to the likelihood of achieving key educational milestones. |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0362 |
| By: | Julian Keutz (Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI)); Jan Hendrik Kopp (Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI)) |
| Abstract: | The European Unions pursuit of climate neutrality necessitates a robust and secure energy system that will likely become reliant on imported green hydrogen. However, this dependency introduces inherent risks related to import disruptions and the weather-driven production variability of green hydrogen. This paper develops a comprehensive modeling approach to address these risks in a decarbonized European energy system. We use stochastic optimization to account for weather-induced variability, while applying dedicated mitigation strategies to analyze the cost and implications of hedging against import disruptions. We model hydrogen imports via long-term contracts, with prices and delivery profiles determined based on a stochastic calculation of the levelized cost of hydrogen supply. This approach informs the stochastic modeling of the European energy system using the HYEBRID model, which accounts for weather variability across domestic and exporting regions. Our analysis reveals that the stochastic extension of HYEBRID reduces system costs by one-third compared to a deterministic solution that assumes average weather conditions. We also identify the need for a substantial expansion of hydrogen storage capacity, considerably exceeding previous estimates, to manage fluctuations in both domestic and imported supply. A pure cost minimization of imports results in significant market concentration, with only three exporters being contracted. By evaluating strategies to mitigate import disruption risk, we find that diversification and import reduction strategies incur higher costs in the investment stage, which can be economically justified if the perceived risk of exporter disruption is sufficiently high. |
| Keywords: | Energy System Modeling; Hydrogen Infrastructure; Stochastic Optimization; Weather Variability; Hydrogen Import Risks |
| JEL: | C61 F52 Q27 Q41 Q42 Q48 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:021921 |
| By: | Sanny B. D. Afable (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Megan Evans (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Yana C. Vierboom (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Kaarina Korhonen; Pekka Martikainen (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Júlia Mikolai (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Mikko Myrskylä (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Hill Kulu (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Health is a driver of residential mobility in later life. The literature, however, overlooks how health decline influences the residential moves of not just the older adult but also their family members, who are potential sources of informal care. This study examines whether parental health decline is associated with parents and their adult children moving closer to each other, and whether and how this association varies by parental sociodemographic characteristics. We study Finland, one of the most rapidly ageing countries in Europe. Using a random sample of Finnish parents aged 50-83 (N = 3, 689, 953) drawn from linked administrative registers, we examine the relationship between hospital admissions and subsequent residential moves. Results show that a quarter of residential moves experienced by older parents are proximity-enhancing, and around 60% of these moves are done by adult children. However, we find that it is the parents—rather than the children—who engage in proximity-enhancing moves following hospitalisation, highlighting the dual challenges of worsening health and residential relocation in later life. The association between hospitalisation and co-residence with a child is especially pronounced for older, lower-educated, and spouseless parents, while younger and non-homeowning parents are more likely to move closer to a child following hospitalisation. |
| Keywords: | Finland, ageing, health, population registers, residential mobility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2025-037 |
| By: | Eirik E. Brandsaas |
| Abstract: | Housing is the largest asset in U.S. household portfolios, and first-time homebuyers increasingly rely on parental transfers. This paper quantifies the contribution of parental transfers to the homeownership rate of young households. I build and estimate a life-cycle overlapping generations model with housing, where adult children and parents interact without commitment. I find that parental transfers account for 13 percentage points (27%) of young households' homeownership. Transfers from wealthy parents not only help households overcome borrowing constraints, but also help sustain homeownership, mitigating the drawbacks of illiquidity. Surprisingly, policies lowering entry barriers to homeownership generally increase the reliance on parental wealth, whereas increased liquidity reduces it. Finally, I show that children of wealthy parents strategically use the illiquidity of housing as a commitment device to encourage transfers, resulting in a preference for illiquidity. |
| Keywords: | Homeownership; Parental transfers; Altruism; Life-cycle models |
| JEL: | D14 D15 E21 G51 R21 |
| Date: | 2025–09–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-94 |
| By: | Ross Chu; Sohee Jeon; Hyun Seung Lee; Tammy Lee |
| Abstract: | Using detailed data on workplace benefits linked with administrative registers in Korea, we analyze patterns of separations and job transitions to study how parents sort into family-friendly firms after childbirth. We examine two quasi-experimental case studies: 1) staggered compliance with providing onsite childcare, and 2) mandated enrollment into paternity leave at a large conglomerate. In both cases, introducing family-friendly changes attracted more entry by parents who would gain from these benefits, and parents with young children stayed despite slower salary growth. We use richer data on a wider range of benefits to show that sorting on family-friendliness mainly occurs through labor force survival rather than job transitions. Most mothers do not actively switch into new jobs after childbirth, and they are more likely to withdraw from the labor force when their employers lack family-friendly benefits. We explain these findings with a simple model of sorting that features heterogeneity in outside options and opportunity costs for staying employed, which change after childbirth and vary by gender and family-friendliness at current jobs. Taken together, our findings indicate that mothers are concentrated at family-friendly firms not because they switch into new jobs after childbirth, but because they exit the labor force when their employers lack such benefits. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.22810 |
| By: | Tommaso Agasisti (School of Management, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy); Gaetano Francesco Coppeta (Department of Management, Economics & Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian universities, comparing public, private, and online (telematic) institutions over the period 2015-2022. This paper is the first study on the efficiency of online universities in Italy. Using a Generalized True Random Effect (GTRE) stochastic frontier model, we disentangle persistent and transient inefficiencies while accounting for unobserved heterogeneity. Results reveal significant differences across university types, especially when research output is included in the production function. Online universities, despite their rapid growth, exhibit lower efficiency scores due to limited research activity. Our findings suggest that institutional missions and structural configurations shape performance, and that efficiency assessments should reflect the multiple universities’ goals of teaching, research and third mission. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, Higher Education Institutions, Online universities Stochastic frontier, Italy |
| JEL: | I23 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:122 |
| By: | Nicholas Li (Department of Economics, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada); Tracey Galloway (Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) |
| Keywords: | pass-through, retail, pricing, subsidy, nutrition, north, Canada, competition |
| JEL: | H23 L11 D22 Q18 R12 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp097 |
| By: | Alessio Carrozzo Magli; Giovanni Righetto; Antonio Schiavone |
| Abstract: | Organised crime groups often deliver electoral support to politicians, yet how they are rewarded remains unclear. Using data from Sicilian municipalities (1992–2022), we show that narrowly won races by Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi’s party, coincide with sharp declines in the reallocation of confiscated mafia assets—but only in mafia-controlled areas. Exploiting historical variation in the mafia’s vote-buying capacity, we find that municipalities with stronger historical ties experience larger post-election declines, exclusively under Berlusconi’s governments. Instrumenting modern support with this proxy further reinforces the plausibly causal evidence that national authorities reward organised crime through policy inaction. |
| Keywords: | organised crime, mafia, vote buying, corruption, misallocation of confiscated assets, political economy |
| JEL: | D72 D73 H11 K42 P16 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12330 |
| By: | Maciej Albinowski; Piotr Lewandowski; Karol Madoñ; Mateusz Smoter |
| Abstract: | The report analyses patterns of nicotine product consumption in Poland and the potential effects of regulatory interventions. The survey (June 2025, over 4, 500 respondents aged 18–64) shows that traditional cigarettes remain the dominant product, although their popularity and frequency of use are lower in younger age groups. While most traditional cigarette users do not combine them with other products, consumers of alternative products typically use more than one nicotine product. Perceived harmfulness is low, especially for alternative products: only 38% of daily e-cigarette users consider them very harmful, and among heated tobacco users this figure is just 30%. Demand is price sensitive, with multiproduct users responding more strongly, though they are less likely to quit nicotine altogether. Price increases for e-cigarettes introduced in 2025 may reduce the number of primary e-cigarette users by 659 thousand (62%), of whom 178 thousand would quit nicotine. To substantially reduce the number of nicotine consumers, price increases for traditional cigarettes are also necessary. |
| Keywords: | Nicotine consumption, excise tax |
| JEL: | I18 D12 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:report:rr012025 |
| By: | Jason Nassios; Janine Dixon |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the model of Dixon et al. (2004) by introducing taxes on non-labour income with thresholds into a simple firm-size framework. The modification allows analysis of how threshold-based corporate tax provisions distort firms' output decisions and create deadweight losses. By linking firm counts and average costs to the presence of a tax threshold, the model quantifies the efficiency costs associated with discontinuities in the effective tax schedule. The framework provides a transparent way to assess how threshold policies influence aggregate efficiency without relying on a full general equilibrium setting. |
| Keywords: | Monopolistic competition, Firm entry and scale, Tax efficiency, Tax incidence, Corporate income tax, Thresholds |
| JEL: | H21 H22 H25 L11 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cop:wpaper:g-359 |
| By: | William Skoglund (Uppsala History of Inequality and Labor Lab, Uppsala University); Jakob Molinder (Uppsala History of Inequality and Labor Lab, Uppsala University, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of unionization in shaping income distributions during the Great Leveling, comparing Sweden and the United States—two countries with markedly different union traditions and levels of organization. Using data from the 1940 and 1950 U.S. censuses and Swedish tax registers, we exploit plausibly exogenous variation in unionization and estimate distributional effects using quantile regressions and interactions with worker characteristics. Our results indicate that stronger unions elevated earnings in both countries, but the elasticity was roughly double in the United States compared with Sweden. U.S. unions also had a more radical impact on the earnings distribution: the effect at the 10th percentile was almost twice that at the 90th percentile while also reducing earnings differences between workers with different levels of skill and education. We relate the difference between the two countries to their patterns of union membership: in the United States, it was concentrated among lower-skilled workers, whereas in Sweden it was high across the occupational distribution and among employees with both low and high levels of education, shaping their incentives to negotiate higher wages and compress the earnings distribution. Our study shows that unions played a pivotal role in the Great Leveling in two countries at opposite ends of the labor-market-regime continuum. While there appears to be a trade-off between unions’ organizational reach and impact on wages, Sweden’s more encompassing unions have been more successful in engendering a compressed income distribution. U.S. unions have instead gradually lost their power to affect outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Unions |
| JEL: | J31 J51 N41 N44 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0292 |
| By: | Sonia R. Bhalotra; Damian Clarke; Atheendar Venkataramani |
| Abstract: | We leverage the introduction of the first antibiotic therapies in 1937 to examine the long-run effects of early-childhood pneumonia on adult educational attainment, employment, income, and work-related disability. Using census data, we document large average improvements across all outcomes, alongside substantial heterogeneity by gender and race. Among women, health gains led to changes in marriage and fertility that partially offset their labor market improvements. Among Black Americans, we uncover a pronounced gradient linked to systemic racial discrimination in the pre–Civil Rights era: individuals born in more discriminatory Jim Crow states realized much smaller gains than those born in less discriminatory states, despite larger reductions in pneumonia exposure. There is no similar gradient among white Americans. Together, these findings highlight the central role of institutional environments in shaping whether investments in early-life health translate into long-run socioeconomic gains. |
| JEL: | I0 I10 I14 I18 I3 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34606 |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Anna Nicinska |
| Abstract: | Education systems serve various purposes, including the enhancement of later-life health, though its effect can differ by socio-political regime. This paper examines the effects of exposure to communist education, which exposed children to a distinct cur-Curriculum and ideological content on later-life health. We exploit a novel dataset that collects information on compulsory education reforms in several European countries, with different cohorts exposed and unexposed to Soviet communist education. Using a difference-in-differences (DiD) design, we show that while the extension of compulsory education improved some relevant measures of health, communist education encompassed an additional health-enhancing effect. We document that the effect remains robust when using staggered DiD approaches and various robustness tests, and that it is explained by the priority given to physical education in school curricula, together with an increased likelihood of marriage. |
| Keywords: | communist education, health education gradient, later-life health, physical activity, Europe, Soviet Communism |
| JEL: | I18 I26 P36 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12313 |
| By: | Suteau, Margaux |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of household socio-economic characteristics in shaping responses to policy interventions when traditional norms are strong, focusing on the impact of land inheritance amendments on women’s empowerment in India. Leveraging changes to the Hindu Succession Act, which granted women the right to inherit ancestral property, and a simple conceptual framework with testable prediction, I show that the diverging results that can be found in the literature about the amendments can be explained by the heterogeneous responses to such policy changes. Using representative survey data, I find that the amendments positively affected education, especially among women from rural, landowning households with smaller plots of land. These women also experienced improved marriage market outcomes. The impact on female labor force participation varied across the socioeconomic spectrum, with more educated women showing increased participation in higher-paying jobs, while less educated women in rural areas either left the workforce or transitioned to less demanding occupations. This research contributes to understanding the complex dynamics of policy responses, highlighting the importance of considering the interplay between cultural practices, household characteristics, and socioeconomic factors in policy design and implementation, especially in contexts of high inequality. |
| Keywords: | Hindu succession act; education; female labor force participation; marriage market; India |
| JEL: | J16 I20 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2025–12–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:130362 |
| By: | Hamish W. Low; Costas Meghir; Luigi Pistaferri; Alessandra Voena |
| Abstract: | The 1996 U.S. welfare reform introduced time limits on welfare receipt. We use quasi-experimental evidence and a rich life cycle model to understand the impact of time limits on different margins of behavior and well-being. We stress the impact of marital status and marital transitions on mitigating the cost and impact of time limits. Time limits cause women to defer claiming in anticipation of future needs and to work more, effects that depend on the probabilities of marriage and divorce. They also cause an increase in employment among single mothers and reduce divorce, but their introduction costs women 0.7% of lifetime consumption, gross of the redistribution of government savings. |
| Keywords: | Welfare; Welfare reform; Limited commitment |
| JEL: | D91 H53 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2025–12–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:102278 |
| By: | Bakens, Jessie (ROA / Labour market and training, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); van der Velden, Rolf (ROA / Labour market and training, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research) |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umarpp:2025001 |
| By: | Bakens, Jessie (ROA / Labour market and training, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); Dijksman, Sander (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training); Höfelmann, Ludo (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work); Meijer, Roy (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training) |
| Abstract: | ROA berekent nationale prognoses voor 112 verschillende beroepsgroepen en 104 opleidingstypen. De nationale prognoses naar opleidingen (ITA) werden in het verleden altijd doorgerekend naar 35 verschillende arbeidsmarktregio’s (AMRs) op het niveau van opleidingsectoren en -subsectoren. Vanaf 2025 worden hier regionale prognoses naar provincies aan toegevoegd en prognoses voor beroepen (ITKB) op het niveau van beroepsklassen en -segmenten naar 35 arbeidsmarktregio’s en 12 provincies. Deze uitbreiding is tot stand gekomen in samenwerking met UWV.1 Figuur 1.1 geeft de indeling naar de 12 provincies weer (in kleur) en naar de 35 arbeidsmarktregio’s (stippellijnen). Door de regionale prognoses zowel op provincie als op arbeidsmarktregio te maken, kan aangesloten worden bij het feit dat voor een gedeelte van de beroepen en opleidingen de lokale arbeidsmarkt het meest relevant is, en voor andere beroepen en opleidingen een veel groter gebied relevant is omdat werkenden bijvoorbeeld verder pendelen voor hun werk of door de mogelijkheden van thuiswerken verder van het werk kunnen wonen. Het maken van de prognoses naar arbeidsmarktregio en provincie biedt ook beter inzicht in regionale samenhang van knelpunten en perspectieven. Bij het maken van de prognoses wordt rekening gehouden met de pendel en verhuis mogelijkheid van werkenden, maar in de methodiek wordt alleen gekeken naar de dichtstbijzijnde regio’s. Op het moment dat er grote verschillen zijn in perspectieven tussen aangrenzende arbeidsmarktregio’s én werkenden verder kunnen pendelen voor werk, dan geven de perspectieven van de provincie een goed beeld van de arbeidsmarktperspectieven over de arbeidsmarktregio’s heen. |
| Date: | 2025–12–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umarep:2025009 |
| By: | Leonardo Bonilla-Mejía; Luz A. Florez; Didier Hermida; Francisco Lasso-Valderrama; Leonardo Fabio Morales; José Pulido |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of payroll subsidies targeting SMEs on labor market formalization in developing economies, where informal labor markets are prevalent. Our evidence is based on a payroll subsidy program in Colombia (PAEF-stage 2) targeting firms under 50 employees that subsidized up to 50% of the payroll. We exploit detailed administrative records, as well as the discontinuity in the eligibility threshold and the timing of the program implementation to estimate the causal effect of the program. Our findings indicate that the subsidy had a positive and persistent effect on formal employment. The impact is larger for industries receiving more subsidies but does not vary across employees’ gender. Cost-benefit analysis shows that the program was financially sustainable, with internal rates of return ranging from 58% to 169%. *****RESUMEN: En este trabajo se analiza el impacto de los subsidios a la nómina dirigidos a pequeñas y medianas empresas sobre la formalización laboral en una economía en desarrollo, donde los mercados laborales informales son predominantes. Nuestra evidencia se basa en la segunda fase del Programa de Apoyo al Empleo Formal (PAEF) en Colombia, que otorgó subsidios de hasta el 50% de la nómina a empresas con menos de 50 empleados. Se usan registros administrativos detallados, así como la discontinuidad en el umbral de elegibilidad y el momento de implementación del programa, para estimar su efecto causal. Los resultados indican que el subsidio tuvo un efecto positivo y persistente sobre el empleo formal. El impacto fue mayor en los sectores que recibieron mayores montos de subsidio, pero no presentó variaciones según el género de los trabajadores. El análisis costo-beneficio muestra que el programa fue financieramente sostenible, con tasas internas de retorno que oscilan entre el 58% y el 169%. |
| Keywords: | Payroll subsidies, small and medium enterprises, informality, developing economies, Subsidios a la nómina, pequeñas y medianas empresas, informalidad, economías en desarrollo |
| JEL: | J68 J38 J23 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1338 |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | The term governance is widely used in a number of scientific disciplines, as well as by international, state, business, non-governmental, etc. organizations. The interdisciplinary New Institutional Economics has contributed greatly to the modern understanding of the nature and factors of governance in general, and of governance in individual areas of social activity and levels of analysis – from the governance of individual transactions to the governance of global affairs. Almost ninety years after the “discovery” of transaction costs by Coase (1937) and the “reasons” for the existence of economic organizations of different types, today this “new” methodology is an integral part of the general (mainstream) economic theory and analysis. Of course, Williamson (1985) - in operationalizing this concept, and North (1991) - in revealing the role of institutions in economic development, significantly contributed to the development of the New Institutional Economics. Many other economists have also made a great contribution to the development of this new "branch" of economic science, which has been well summarized by Furubotn and Richter (2005) and Ménard and Shirley (2022). The author of this study was among the first to adapt the achievements of the New Institutional Economics in the analysis of agrarian governance and institutional modernization in Bulgaria (Bachev, 1996) and elsewhere (Bachev, 1995). Over the past three decades, Bulgarian economists have made numerous publications with analyses of the forms, factors, effectiveness and evolution of the governance of the main types of agrarian transactions, farmer organizations, and levels of governance during the period of transformation, pre-accession and full membership of the country in the European Union (https://agro-governance.alle.bg/#). Here we would like to underline our close cooperation with the leading scholars in the institutional analysis of agrarian contracts and organizations from the University of Missouri in the USA, which began in 1992 and has been deepening to the present day. We are especially grateful to Michael Cook and Michael Sykuta for their training, inspiration, continuous support and long-term cooperation. The paper presents the results of current research in the field of agrarian governance in Bulgaria. Without claiming to be comprehensive, it provides an idea of the Bulgarian experience in agrarian governance, and of the modest Bulgarian contribution to the implementation of the institutional analysis of the modes and mechanisms of agrarian governance. First, a holistic approach to understanding and analysing agrarian governance is presented. Then, the economic role of agrarian contracts is revealed, their types are classified, and an approach to assessing their effectiveness is presented. This is followed by an assessment of the quality of the system of agrarian governance in Bulgaria at the present stage of development. Then, an analysis of the governance and contractual structures of major functional areas of Bulgarian farms is made. Then, the forms, factors and effectiveness of land and labour supplies in Bulgarian farms are identified. The identification of modes, factors and efficiency of the provision of ecosystem services by the Bulgarian farms follows. After that, the levels and evolution of governance efficiency of Bulgarian farms are evaluated. Then, a holistic assessment of the comparative and absolute competitiveness of Bulgarian farms is made. Finally, the state, evolution, efficiency and factors of governance of agricultural inclusion in sustainable wastewater management in Bulgaria are presented. |
| Keywords: | governance, modes, mechanisms, agriculture, transaction costs, Bulgaria |
| JEL: | K40 Q12 Q13 Q15 Q18 Q5 |
| Date: | 2025–12–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127439 |
| By: | Radosveta Ivanova-Stenzel (TU Berlin); Michel Tolksdorf (TU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Despite the documented benefits of algorithmic decision-making, individuals often prefer to retain control rather than delegate decisions to AI agents. To what extent are the aversion to and distrust of algorithms rooted in a fundamental discomfort with giving up decision authority? Using two incentivized laboratory experiments across distinct decision domains, hiring (social decision-making) and forecasting (analytical decision-making), and decision architecture (nature and number of decisions), we elicit participants’ willingness to delegate decisions separately to an AI agent and a human agent. This within-subject design enables a direct comparison of delegation preferences across different agent types. We find that participants consistently underutilize both agents, even when informed of the agents’ superior performance. However, participants are more willing to delegate to the AI agent than to the human agent. Our results suggest that algorithm aversion may be driven less by distrust in AI and more by a general preference for decision autonomy. This implies that efforts to increase algorithm adoption should address broader concerns about control, rather than focusing solely on trust-building interventions. |
| Keywords: | algorithm; delegation; artificial intelligence; trust in ai; experiment; preferences; |
| JEL: | C72 C91 D44 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–12–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:558 |
| By: | Suleyman Faruk Gozen; David Hong; Mehmet Furkan Karaca |
| Abstract: | We study how non-rival intangible capital interacts with borrowing structure and financial frictions to shape firm dynamics over business cycles. We show: (i) the positive and significant association between intangible-capital growth and labor productivity growth becomes smaller in recessions; (ii) the non-rivalry of intangible capital is evident such that intangible growth predicts faster sales growth and broader firm scope, yet this relationship declines in recessions; (iii) intangible-intensive firms carry less total and secured debt, and substitute toward earnings-based covenant (EBC) borrowing over asset-based covenant (ABC) borrowing; and (iv) intangible-intensive firms with EBC have tightening financially constraints in recessions, which mitigates the productivity payoff of non-rival intangibles. We rationalize these patterns in a general-equilibrium model in which firms draw EBC/ABC constraints at entry and intangibles are non-rival in the firm production technology. The model yields a creditamplification mechanism with heterogeneous borrowing types, reconciling the productivity slowdown despite rising intangibles |
| Date: | 2025–04–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:25/815 |
| By: | Pierre Pestieau; Maria Racionero |
| Abstract: | We consider a society where social mobility is influenced by parental wealth transfers and education investments. Specifically, the educational investments capture the time parents devote to the education of their children. We show that, in the absence of government intervention, the market equilibrium results in a level of upward social mobility lower than that in an ideal first-best scenario. Given the challenge of observing individual characteristics, we characterize the second-best solution achievable through the implementation of non-linear taxation. We consider two alternative government objectives: a weighted utilitarian criterion and a Rawlsian criterion. Additionally, we explore the implications of two alternative informational assumptions: whether educational investments are observable or non-observable. |
| Keywords: | H21, H31, H52 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2025-706 |
| By: | Maczulskij, Terhi |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper examines how firms’ innovation activity responds to product- and destination-specific export demand shocks in their export markets. I draw on unique administrative data for Finnish manufacturing firms from 1999 onwards, matched with national customs records, patent data, and innovation and R&D surveys. The analysis reveals that positive export demand shocks significantly increase patenting activity and the likelihood of introducing new product innovations, while negative shocks reduce patenting and exports. The study finds that these innovation responses are dynamic, with patent applications rising in the short term and granted patents materializing over longer horizons. Heterogeneity analysis shows that more productive and financially stronger firms benefit disproportionately from export demand expansions. This pattern suggests that financial constraints may limit the ability of firms to adopt new innovations even as they expand production. |
| Keywords: | Export demand shock, Firm-level, Innovation, Manufacturing |
| JEL: | F14 O19 O30 |
| Date: | 2025–12–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:134 |
| By: | Degiannakis, Stavros; Delis, Panagiotis; Filis, George |
| Abstract: | The aim of the current study is to assess the households’ inflation inequality in Greece not only across different income groups but also across other households’ social and economics characteristics, such as, occupational status and household composition, among others, for a more recent period, which is that of 2009 – 2022. The picture that emerges from our results is that there are important inflation differences across different categories of households. More specifically, we find that the main discrepancies are evident at the different household income categories with the poorer household experiencing significant higher inflation. Other factors that lead to inflation gap across households include the size of the household, the profession of the lead member of the household, as well as, the composition of the household. Policy implications of these results are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Household-level inflation, inflation inequality, Greece. |
| JEL: | D12 D31 D63 E31 |
| Date: | 2025–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127227 |
| By: | Yixuan Shi |
| Abstract: | In mixed electoral systems, candidates can win parliamentary seats either by securing the most votes in local districts or through party lists. Candidates’ successes of district elections often hinge on personal charisma, whereas the total number of party seats depends on the overall party vote share. With limited campaign budget, candidates face a trade-off between allocating resources towards their individual or team battles: more individualised campaigning boosts individual appeal and attract voters at local districts, while more party-centric campaigning increases the party’s seat share. We examine how candidates allocate resources in mixed electoral systems using a contest-theoretical model. Under a closed-list system, where party-level prizes are distributed according to a predetermined ranking, lower-ranked candidates concentrate their efforts on their individual battles, while higher-ranked candidates balance resources in both battles. Their exact allocation also depends on the rank of their district-level opponents. In contrast, in an open-list system, where party-level prizes are tied to candidates' vote shares, all candidates are incentivised to contribute to party-centric campaigning. |
| JEL: | C72 D72 |
| Date: | 2025–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpi:wpaper:tax-mpg-rps-2025-08 |
| By: | Giorgio Chiovelli; Stelios Michalopoulos; Elias Papaioannou; Sandra Sequeira |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of conflict-driven displacement on human capital and occupational shifts, focusing on the Mozambican civil war (1977 - 1992), during which millions of civilians were forcibly displaced to the countryside, cities, and neighboring countries. Reconstructing the movements of the entire population during the civil war, we examine the consequences of multiple displacement trajectories within a unified framework. First, we characterize the education and sectoral employment of the universe of (non)displaced. Second, we exploit variation in displacement experiences among extended kin members during their school-going years to account for shared household characteristics. Displacement is associated with significant gains in education. Third, employing a “movers design, ” we show that minors displaced earlier to better districts experienced an increase in educational attainment. Focusing on moves during the intensification of the war and when comparing members of the same household, regional childhood exposure effects remain strong, whereas spatial sorting vanishes. Fourth, we jointly estimate place-based, spatial sorting, and uprootedness effects, showing that all forces are at play. Fifth, a small survey in Mozambique’s largest north- ern city reveals long-term effects: internally displaced report higher education than their siblings who stayed behind, but lower social capital and worse mental health relative to locals. Our findings demonstrate that displacement shocks can foster human capital accumulation, even in very low-income settings, albeit at the cost of enduring social and psychological traumas. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:2508 |
| By: | Gondwe, Anderson; Nankwenya, Bonface; Goeb, Joseph |
| Abstract: | A large share of Malawian households faces multiple shocks which affect their welfare. There is a need to develop programs that increase household resilience against the recurring weather-related disasters and adversities such as promotion of climate smart technologies and practices. As a coping mechanism, most households resort to using own savings, while a significant number of households do nothing. Social safety nets and farm input subsidies play a significant role in cushioning households against shocks, but the current programmes are hampered by poor targeting hence not fully benefiting the intended poor households. The government and development partners should develop better ways of targeting of the existing social safety nets and input subsidy programmes so as to benefit the deserving and intended poor households. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:maappb:338598 |
| By: | Armstrong, Mark; Vickers, John |
| Abstract: | We study a market in which firms each might supply a number of variants, or "brands", of fundamentally the same product. Consumers differ in the sets of brands they consider, and firms compete using (multi-dimensional) mixed pricing strategies. We show when firms apply uniform pricing across their brands, and when they use segmented pricing so that one "discount" brand is priced below another "premium" brand. We study the case of symmetric brands in particular, and discuss the impact of a firm introducing a new brand, of imposing a requirement to set uniform prices across brands, and of mergers between firms. |
| Keywords: | Price dispersion, price discrimination, multiproduct firms, mixed strategies, oligopoly, multibranding, multi-channel selling. |
| JEL: | C72 D43 D83 L13 M31 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127017 |
| By: | Ala Avoyan; Mauricio Ribeiro; Andrew Schotter |
| Abstract: | There are two ways in which people usually engage with contracts—compensation schemes to execute tasks. They can choose between them (contract choice), or allocate time across them (contract time allocation). In this paper, we study how people behave in each of these problems. A standard model suggests that drafting a cost-effective contract that both induces an agent to choose it and allocate time to it presents a significant challenge. However, our experimental results indicate that this tradeoff might be less pronounced than the model predicts due to what we call the attractiveness bias–a tendency for subjects to allocate more time to contracts they find appealing, even when the model suggests they should get relatively little time. |
| Date: | 2025–04–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:25/808 |