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on Microeconomic European Issues |
| By: | Carlsson, Hedda (IHE - The Swedish Institute for Health Economics); Fridhammar, Adam (IHE - The Swedish Institute for Health Economics); Kosir, Urska (IHE - The Swedish Institute for Health Economics); Hofmarcher, Thomas (IHE - The Swedish Institute for Health Economics) |
| Abstract: | Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and a leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Europe. National population-based breast cancer screening programs using mammography reduces breast cancer mortality and are widely implemented across Europe, although substantial differences remain in screening coverage and organization, as well as the participation in opportunistic screening. <p> In 2003, the Council of the European Union recommended biennial, organized population-based mammography screening for women aged 50–69 years, while in 2022, the recommended age range was extended to 45–74 years. Despite the recommendations of the EU council, screening practices still vary across EU countries. France currently screens women aged 50–74 and is investigating lowering the starting age. Germany extended its upper age limit to 75 in 2024, while lowering the starting age to 45 has been approved, but reimbursement and rollout are pending. In Italy, several regions already include women aged 45–49 and 70–74, and the 2026 budget law provides funding to extend screening nationally to these age groups. Spain’s national program covers women aged 50–69, although several regions have extended age limits. Participation is a key determinant of screening effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, yet rates remain below the desired 75% threshold in France (47%), Germany (52%), Italy (55%), and Spain (69%). <p> Objective <p> The aim of this study is to evaluate the health effects, costs, productivity losses, and cost-effectiveness of extending the national breast cancer screening program age range to 45–74 years and increasing participation rates to 75% in national screening programs in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. <p> Methods <p> The study used a prevalence-based approach from a societal perspective to assess the one-year costs and health effects of breast cancer screening among women aged 45–74 years in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Using a decision-analytic model, five scenarios were compared with current practice: lowering the minimum screening age, raising the maximum screening age, adjusting both age limits, increasing participation, and combining all changes. <p> Results <p> In the combined scenario of extended age ranges and increased participation, the estimated number of lives saved annually were 721 in France, 1, 342 in Germany, 849 in Italy, and 297 in Spain. Across the four countries, this corresponded to more than 3, 200 lives saved annually and a 9.3% reduction in total breast cancer mortality. Increasing participation to 75% had the greatest impact on breast cancer mortality in France, Germany, and Italy, whereas raising the upper screening age to 74 years had the greatest impact on mortality in Spain, where the current participation rate is already 69%. <p> These annual health gains were estimated to increase healthcare costs by €662 million, as €749 million in additional screening costs were partly offset by €87 million in lower treatment costs. Productivity losses were estimated to decrease by €142 million, resulting in a net increase in societal costs of €519 million. <p> The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for all scenarios were below the estimated country-specific willingness-to-pay thresholds from both payer and societal perspectives, except for lowering the starting age in Spain. <p> Conclusion <p> Expanding the age ranges of the national breast cancer screening programs was estimated to save additional lives, but increasing participation among women already eligible for screening resulted in the greatest reduction in breast cancer mortality and was the most cost-effective strategy. Policymakers should therefore prioritize measures to improve access, equity, and engagement in breast cancer screening programs, while ensuring that healthcare facilities receive sufficient resources to accommodate screening expansion. |
| Keywords: | Breast cancer screening; Cost-effectiveness; Screening participation; Extended age range; Europé; IHE |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ihewps:2026_008 |
| By: | Boero, Riccardo (NILU - the Climate and Environmental Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Fine-scale employment by industry is largely unavailable across European municipalities, yet it underpins regional economic analysis, environmental-economic extensions, and the regionalization of input--output accounts. This paper presents a mechanism-driven, constrained spatial disaggregation framework that estimates industry employment down to the Local Administrative Unit level while preserving official totals exactly at every geographical level. The economic mechanisms that shape where activity locates --- settlement, infrastructure and accessibility, natural-resource endowments, and inter-industry co-location --- are represented as a reproducible input dataset assembled from official and remote-sensing sources; a family of constrained allocation models, combined by a cross-validated convex ensemble, is trained on data-rich United States geographies and transferred to Europe under official Eurostat totals as constraints. Validated against independent national statistics in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, the estimates reproduce the observed spatial distribution of employment within the held-out uncertainty of the models themselves, and the error does not inflate down the four-step disaggregation. The framework is open, inspectable, and reproducible, providing internally consistent fine-scale employment estimates wherever sub-national industry data are sparse. |
| Date: | 2026–07–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:rqbts_v1 |
| By: | Maczulskij, Terhi |
| Abstract: | Abstract This study examines the effects of the 2004 European Union enlargement on firm productivity and innovation in Finland. Using linked employer–employee and firm-level data, the analysis exploits increased access to workers from the ten new EU member states (EU10). To address the endogenous geographic distribution of immigrants, I construct an instrumental variable based on historically predetermined migration patterns. The results show that increased EU10 employment raises firm labor productivity, the probability of having a granted patent, and STEM employment, while effects on other innovation outcomes are more limited. The responses also differ across sectors. In manufacturing, EU10 employment increases process innovation but reduces STEM employment, whereas in services it increases labor productivity and the probability of having granted patents. Overall, the findings suggest that immigration-induced labor-supply changes can improve firm performance and affect selected dimensions of innovation, with the effects varying across sectors and innovation margins. |
| Keywords: | EU enlargement, Firms, Immigration, Innovation, Instrumental variables, Productivity |
| JEL: | D22 F22 O30 |
| Date: | 2026–08–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:wpaper:145 |
| By: | Cova, Joshua; Marenco, Matteo |
| Abstract: | Opposition to statutory minimum wages by right-of-centre parties has typically been framed around employment externalities. Yet in Germany before the adoption of a statutory minimum wage, and in Italy today, right-of-centre parties have often invoked a different rationale: defending collective bargaining autonomy against state interference. In this paper, we investigate how centre-right parties in both countries have engaged with collective bargaining while each facing a specific scenario: declining coverage in Germany, and weakened representativeness in Italy. Examining recent policy proposals such as linking public procurement to collective bargaining agreements or regulating union representativeness, we find that these measures were largely opposed by the centre-right. A quantitative text analysis of parliamentary debates further reveals a strategic use of collective bargaining discussions by centre-right parties: In Germany, salience peaked before the statutory minimum wage was introduced but fell sharply thereafter, while collective bargaining gained prominence discursively for the Italian centre-right only in conjunction with the minimum wage debate. Complemented by stakeholder interviews and electoral data analysis, our findings suggest that this trend reflects ideological as well as electoral dynamics, as centre-right parties draw on significant support from small business owners in sectors with weak collective bargaining. Appeals to bargaining autonomy thus function less as substantive commitments than as instruments to preserve the status quo in the low-wage sector. |
| Abstract: | Die Ablehnung gesetzlicher Mindestlöhne durch Mitte-rechts-Parteien wird meist mit möglichen negativen Beschäftigungseffekten begründet. In Deutschland vor der Einführung des Mindestlohns und im heutigen Italien griffen diese Parteien jedoch häufig auf ein anderes Argument zurück: den Schutz der Tarifautonomie vor staatlichen Eingriffen. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir, wie Mitte-rechts-Parteien in beiden Ländern mit der Tarifpolitik umgegangen sind, wobei sie mit unterschiedlichen Ausgangslagen konfrontiert waren - einer rückläufigen Tarifbindung in Deutschland und einer geschwächten Repräsentativität der Tarifparteien in Italien. Die Analyse aktueller Reformvorschläge, etwa zur Bindung öffentlicher Auftragsvergabe an Tarifverträge oder zur Regulierung der gewerkschaftlichen Repräsentativität, zeigt, dass solche Maßnahmen von Mitte-rechts-Parteien überwiegend abgelehnt werden. Eine quantitative Textanalyse parlamentarischer Debatten macht zudem deutlich, dass Verweise auf Tarifautonomie strategisch eingesetzt werden: In Deutschland gewann das Thema kurz vor der Einführung des Mindestlohns stark an Bedeutung, verlor danach jedoch deutlich an Salienz, während es für das italienische Mitte-rechts-Lager erst im Kontext der Mindestlohndebatte diskursiv an Gewicht gewann. Ergänzt durch Interviews mit zentralen Akteuren sowie eine Analyse von Wahldaten legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass diese Muster sowohl ideologisch als auch wahlstrategisch motiviert sind. Mitte-rechts-Parteien stützen sich in erheblichem Maße auf Kleinunternehmer in Branchen mit schwacher Tarifbindung. Der Rekurs auf Tarifautonomie erweist sich daher weniger als Ausdruck einer konsistenten politischen Position denn als Mittel zur Stabilisierung bestehender Strukturen im Niedriglohnsektor. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, low-wage sector, minimum wage, quantitative text analysis |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:343055 |
| By: | Hoffmann, Linda; Wicht, Alexandra |
| Abstract: | Vocational education and training (VET) dropout disrupts school-to-work transitions. While spatial mobility is an important strategy for accessing VET, little is known about how it relates to subsequent dropout. Drawing on a cost-benefit perspective, this study examines whether first-year VET dropout differs by spatial mobility and whether these differences vary with resources available to bear mobility-related costs and returns that may offset them. We use representative longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study linked to administrative geospatial data. Logistic regression models distinguish non-mobile students from those mobile within and between regional labor markets (RLMs) and assess heterogeneity by parental socioeconomic status (SES), VET wages, realized occupational aspirations, regional attractiveness, and regional person-environment match. Predicted dropout probabilities are approximately three percentage points higher for mobility within RLMs and four points higher for mobility between RLMs than for no mobility. These mobility-related differences decrease with increasing parental SES for both mobility types. Higher VET wages correspond to smaller dropout differences for mobility within RLMs, whereas greater realization of occupational aspirations corresponds to smaller differences for mobility between RLMs. Higher regional attractiveness shows a similar pattern only for mobility within RLMs, while higher regional person-environment match coincides with smaller dropout differences for both mobility types. Overall, mobility-related dropout differences vary with available resources and realized returns. The social patterning of mobility-related dropout differences may contribute to inequalities in school-to-work transitions, underscoring the importance of considering spatial mobility and regional contexts in research on youths’ educational decision-making. |
| Date: | 2026–08–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:kbcq6_v1 |
| By: | Elsa Perdrix; Axel H. Börsch-Supan; Johannes Geyer; Peter Haan; Sami Louahlia |
| Abstract: | Germany experiences an increase in LTC recipients, due to population ageing but also to reforms which made LTC benefits easier accessible for individuals with cognitive impairments. Previous studies documented the cost of long-term care, and how it evolved. However, less is known about the specific case of elderly people suffering from cognitive impairment. Thus, we measure the economic costs of cognitive impairment, which include extensive medical, nursing care and at-home long-term care. We use the SHARE, the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, Wave 9. We observe 4% of elderly people living at home with severe cognitive impairment (SCI) (Langa et al. (2017) definition). These individuals are 30% more likely to receive any care, and obtain on average 6 more hours of formal care and 6 more hours of informal care per week. The main driver is not the cognitive impairment per-se but the limitation in activities of daily living (ADLs) which SCI leads to. Thus, once controlling for ADLs, SCI does not explain any additional probability to use care. However, because people with SCI are more likely to have ADLs, the annual cost of their care is estimated to 10, 000 euros per year per individual on average. |
| JEL: | I1 J14 P46 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35469 |
| By: | Tom Coupé (University of Canterbury) |
| Abstract: | Fears that automation destroys more jobs than it creates have resurfaced with artificial intelligence. Using five Eurobarometer waves (1989–2024) covering 12 European countries, I examine the long-run evolution of perceptions of technological unemployment. Contemporary pessimism is not historically unusual, it was substantially higher in 1989, and especially 1992, than in 2024. Social divides have also changed. Pronounced educational and occupational differences in 1989 had largely disappeared by 2024. An Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition shows that changing population composition explains little of the decline. These findings show that both the level and the socioeconomic and national patterning of concerns about technological unemployment have changed substantially over time. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, Attitudes, Employment |
| JEL: | J24 O33 J23 |
| Date: | 2026–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:26/07 |
| By: | Schröder, Christoph |
| Abstract: | Untersucht wird, ob ein hoher Tarifgeltungsgrad die funktionale Einkommensverteilung zwischen Unternehmen und Arbeitnehmern beeinflusst. Dies wird an der Lohnquote gemessen. Politische Initiativen wie das Bundestariftreuegesetz und die EU-Mindestlohnrichtlinie zielen darauf ab, die Tarifgeltung auszuweiten. Aus theoretischer Sicht ist ein starker Einfluss der Tarifgeltung auf die Lohnquote jedoch wenig plausibel. Höhere Tariflöhne verteuern den Produktionsfaktor Arbeit in Relation zum Kapital, was langfristig Substitutionseffekte zwischen Kapital und Arbeit auslösen und die Lohnquote senken kann. Zudem können überhöhte Löhne die Beschäftigung gefährden und Rationalisierungen erzwingen, um die Produktivität anzupassen. Die empirische Analyse zeigt im internationalen Vergleich eine große Spannweite beim Tarifgeltungsgrad: Sie reicht von nahezu hundert Prozent in Frankreich bis zu weniger als ein Prozent in Estland. Den in der EUMindestlohnrichtlinie definierten Referenzwert von 80 Prozent erreichten im Jahr 2022 zehn Länder, darunter Frankreich, Österreich, Belgien und die skandinavischen Staaten. Deutschland lag bei rund fünfzig Prozent. Hinsichtlich der Lohnlücke zwischen tarifgebundenen und nicht gebundenen Beschäftigten ergibt sich kein einheitliches Bild. In Ländern mit hoher Tarifgeltung ist der Lohnvorteil tarifgebundener Beschäftigter meist gering oder sogar negativ, wie in Schweden oder Dänemark. In Deutschland beträgt die unbereinigte Lohnlücke etwa 27 Prozent, bereinigt jedoch nur rund 5 Prozent, was auf Selektionseffekte zurückzuführen ist, da vor allem produktivere Unternehmen Tarifverträge anwenden. Der internationale Querschnittsvergleich bestätigt die theoretischen Überlegungen, wonach es keinen engen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Grad der Tarifgeltung und der Höhe der Lohnquote gibt: Länder mit hoher Lohnquote wie Kroatien oder Lettland weisen sehr unterschiedliche Tarifgeltungsgrade auf. Dies belegt auch eine einfache Modellrechnung für Deutschland: Ein Anstieg des Tarifgeltungsgrads von 50 auf 80 Prozent würde die Lohnquote lediglich um etwa 1, 1 Prozentpunkte steigern können, wenn man den bereinigten Lohnvorteil tarifgebundener Firmen von maximal 5 Prozent zugrunde legt. Die Ausweitung des Geltungsbereichs von Tarifverträgen erweist sich somit nicht als wirksames Instrument zur Umverteilung zwischen Arbeit und Kapital. |
| Abstract: | The study examines whether a high level of collective bargaining coverage influences the functional income distribution between companies and employees. This is measured by the wage share. Political initiatives such as the Bundestariftreuegesetz and the EU Minimum Wage Directive aim to expand collective bargaining coverage. From a theoretical perspective, however, a strong impact seems unlikely. Higher collectively agreed wages increase the cost of labor relative to capital, which can trigger substitution effects in the long term and reduce the wage share. Moreover, excessive wages can jeopardize employment and force adjustments toward higher capital intensity and productivity. The empirical analysis in an international comparison shows a wide range of collective bargaining coverage: it spans from nearly one hundred percent in France to less than ten percent in Estonia. Ten countries reach a level of over eighty percent, including France, Austria, Belgium, and the Scandinavian states, while Germany stands at around fifty percent. Regarding the wage gap between employees covered by collective agreements and those not covered, there is no consistent pattern. In countries with high coverage, the wage advantage of covered employees is usually small or even negative, as in Sweden or Denmark. In Germany, the unadjusted wage gap is about 27 percent, but only around five percent when adjusted, which is due to selection effects, as mainly productive companies apply collective agreements. The international cross-sectional comparison confirms the theoretical considerations that there is no close relationship between the degree of collective bargaining coverage and the level of the wage share: countries with a high wage share, such as Croatia or Latvia, show very different coverage levels. This is also confirmed by a simple model calculation for Germany: an increase in coverage from 50 to 80 percent would raise the wage share by only about 1.1 percentage points, assuming an adjusted wage advantage of covered firms of a maximum of 5 percent. Collective bargaining coverage thus does not prove to be an effective instrument for redistribution between labor and capital. |
| JEL: | D33 J50 O49 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwkrep:343051 |
| By: | Burkhard Heer; Mark Trede |
| Abstract: | We develop a medium-scale overlapping-generations model with endogenous labour supply and skill premium to study optimal income redistribution using progressive labour income taxes and pensions. The model is calibrated to the four countries USA, Great Britain, Italy and Germany which differ substantially in their tax and pension systems, demographics, and skill shares among workers. Optimal pension benefits are proportional to lifetime contributions in all four countries, while the optimal degree of income progressivity varies systematically with country characteristics such as the size of the social security system, demographics or the skill share in the labour force. Optimal income taxes should be more progressive in the United States and Great Britain and much less progressive in the continental countries, Italy and Germany. Population ageing further reduces the optimal extent of income redistribution. |
| Keywords: | inequality, income distribution, skill premium, overlapping generations, social security, progressive taxation, pension schedule |
| JEL: | C68 D31 H21 H24 H55 J11 J26 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12938 |
| By: | Galiano, Angelo Maurizio; Dell'Erba, Giuseppe; Costantiello, Alberto; Leogrande, Angelo |
| Abstract: | Europe measures the innovative performance of its regions largely by counting patents, and allocates public resources accordingly. This paper asks what regional patenting actually reflects, drawing on Regional Innovation Scoreboard data for 245 European regions observed annually between 2016 and 2023. Three candidate drivers are considered: the research effort of firms, the intensity of formal collaboration between the research base and industry, and the propensity to protect intangible assets through trademarks. Business research effort emerges as the dominant correlate throughout, science–industry collaboration as a weaker but consistent one, and trademark activity as a positive one, suggesting that firms which protect brands are not forgoing patents but exercising a single appropriation capability across several instruments. Two findings carry implications beyond measurement. Regional innovative capacity proves remarkably immobile: differences between regions account for roughly 95 per cent of the variation in the data, and differences within a region over the eight years for the remainder, so the short-run movements on which policy evaluation typically relies carry very little information, and the returns to innovation investment should be sought over horizons far longer than a programming cycle. And when the 245 regions are grouped into four innovation profiles rather than treated as a single population, the relationship that holds on average holds almost nowhere in particular: it is strong among leading and lagging regions, statistically absent in the largest group, and displaced by brand-led appropriation in a fourth group of 27 regions whose innovation is real but largely non-technological. Uniform innovation policy prescriptions and uniform managerial benchmarks are correspondingly difficult to justify. |
| Date: | 2026–08–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jhr8t_v1 |
| By: | Bergmann, Lea |
| Abstract: | Shorter working hours reflect a fundamental tension in modern labor mar- kets: They may increase the labor force participation of women and improve work-life balance, but may impose organizational costs on firms through co- ordination frictions and reduced scheduling flexibility. I examine a 2001 Ger- man reform that granted employees in firms with 16 or more employees the legal right to reduce working hours permanently. Using firm-level administra- tive data and a difference-in-discontinuities design around the 16-employee threshold, I find no evidence that the mandate alters firms' employee struc- ture. Moreover, it does not affect firms' business volume or hiring behavior. These null effects can be explained by firms already accommodating part-time requests before the reform. Overall, the results indicate that the mandate did not generate detectable distortions in employment or firm performance. |
| Abstract: | Teilzeitarbeit ist ein Spannungsfeld auf modernen Arbeitsmärkten: Sie kann die Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen erhöhen und die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Privatleben verbessern, jedoch potenziell organisatorische Kosten für Unternehmen verursachen, aufgrund von Koordinationsproblemen und weniger Flexibilität bei der Arbeitsplanung. Diese Studie untersucht eine deutsche Reform aus dem Jahr 2001, die Beschäftigten in Unternehmen mit 16 oder mehr Mitarbeitern das Recht einräumte, ihre Arbeitszeit dauerhaft zu verkürzen. Anhand von administrativen Daten auf Unternehmensebene und eines Difference-in-Discontinuities-Designs rund um die Schwelle von 16 Beschäftigten finden sich keine Hinweise darauf, dass die Vorschrift die Beschäftigungsstruktur der Unternehmen verändert. Darüber hinaus hat sie keinen Einfluss auf das Geschäftsvolumen oder die Neueinstellungen von Unternehmen. Diese Nulleffekte lassen sich dadurch erklären, dass die Unternehmen bereits vor der Reform Teilzeitwünsche gestattet haben. Insgesamt deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass ein Recht auf Teilzeitarbeit keine nachweisbaren Veränderungen bei der Beschäftigung oder dem Geschäftserfolg verursacht hat. |
| Keywords: | part-time, firms, labor regulation |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J22 J63 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:343040 |
| By: | Javier Gonzalez-Ruiz; Carlos Rodriguez-Pardo; Alice Di Bella; Paolo Mastropietro; Jose Pablo Chavez-Avila; Massimo Tavoni |
| Abstract: | European countries are debating policies to mitigate the increased energy costs caused by renewed geopolitical tensions, while pursuing decarbonization and electrification. A notable example is Italy's 2026 Decreto Bollette package, which proposes to remove the carbon price equivalent from the bids of certain gas-driven power plants to wholesale electricity markets, among other provisions. We use this as a case study to assess the long-term implications of suppressing the carbon price signal in the electricity market for investment, emissions, and consumer costs. We employ a stylized Italian power system using MARLEY, a multi-agent reinforcement learning framework focused on long-term electricity market assessments. In this framework, we test this policy across configurations with varying levels of support for green investment, resource adequacy, and flexibility. Results show that partial suppression of the carbon price signal yields short-term cost reductions but only a minor long-term effect on total system costs, as the deferred emissions are ultimately repaid by consumers. CO$_2$ emissions rise across most configurations since suppressing the price signal erodes incentives for renewable and storage investment. Only the most ambitious configurations for supporting green investment avoid this outcome, but they do so by marginalizing the wholesale price signal itself, thereby requiring a commitment to a hybrid market paradigm that is in contradiction with the rationale of the proposed price intervention. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2608.12363 |
| By: | Felix B. Schäfer (Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI)); David Wohlleben (Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI)) |
| Abstract: | In the EU, hydrogen production must meet additionality and temporal correlation requirements to qualify as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO), which puts renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) into focus. We first derive hypotheses on how RFNBO criteria, renewable electricity support schemes, and the default risk of hydrogen suppliers jointly affect hydrogen supply costs. We then model the supplier’s electricity procurement and asset configuration problem as a stochastic optimization under weather-year uncertainty, incorporating risk preferences. Further, we approximate the near-optimal solution space by exploiting the problem’s convexity. Finally, we test the hypotheses in a case study for Germany: We find RFNBO criteria to raise hydrogen supply costs by 14–41 EUR/MWhH2 , with additionality, default risk, and hourly matching being the main cost drivers. The interaction of renewable electricity support schemes with the additionality criterion further shapes the technological and regional composition of the optimal PPA portfolio. Tighter temporal correlation enlarges the optimal PPA portfolio and makes surplus electricity sales a key cost-reduction channel. Annual supply costs vary by 4–20 EUR/MWhH2 between the most and least favorable weather years, with the largest variations under hourly matching. A risk-averse supplier weighs expected costs against interannual costs variability, though the trade-off appears small. The near-optimal solution space contains PPA portfolios of different compositions. However, its size and thus the hydrogen supplier’s flexibility in technology choice shrink with stricter RFNBO criteria, especially when accounting for the hydrogen supplier’s default risk. We discuss that hydrogen suppliers’ default risk is especially relevant during the market ramp-up phase, and that introducing the additionality criterion and tight temporal matching regimes without de-risking instruments could further slow down market ramp-up dynamics. |
| Keywords: | RFNBO; Power purchase agreement (PPA); Renewable energy support schemes; Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH); Near-optimal solutions; Environmental policy |
| JEL: | C61 D81 Q42 Q48 |
| Date: | 2026–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:023573 |
| By: | Treu, Johannes |
| Abstract: | This study uses exploratory data analysis to investigate the determinants of financial well-being in Germany. Based on a sample of n = 2, 000 respondents, descriptive analyses, bivariate correlations, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression analyses are conducted to examine which sociodemographic characteristics and context factors predict financial well-being. The results show that context factors are the strongest predictors of financial well-being, substantially exceeding the predictive power of sociodemographic characteristics. Notably, all sociodemographic variables (with the exception of income) lose their independent predictive power when context factors are controlled for. Dimension-specific analyses reveal that economic concerns primarily impair subjective well-being, whereas low financial self-efficacy has a stronger impact on objective well-being. Furthermore, suppressor effects are identified for the variables age and financial role models, highlighting the complexity of the underlying determinant structure. The findings suggest that financial well-being should be conceptualized as a biopsychosocial construct. Moreover, interventions aimed at strengthening financial self-efficacy and reducing economic concerns may represent effective approaches to improving financial well-being. |
| Keywords: | Finanzielles Wohlergehen, Financial Well-Being, Explorative Datenanalyse, Primärdaten |
| JEL: | G5 I31 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iubhbm:342466 |
| By: | Stéphane Dees, Eve Hanoune, Oriane Wegner |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the financial materiality of nature-related legal disputes, focusing on biodiversity loss, pollution, and ecosystem degradation. We analyze whether firms targeted by nature litigation experience statistically significant declines in market valuation using a dataset of 48 litigation (123 event dates) against 22 major companies in North America and Europe (1996–2025). Employing an event study methodology with the Fama-French three-factor model, we calculate Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CAR) over a [-5, +5] day window. Our results demonstrate that markets price in the impact of these events, leading to significant valuation declines following litigation decisions. In Europe, stock corrections occur immediately upon the filing of a complaint, suggesting a 'reputational premium' driven by investor ESG sensitivity. In North America, however, ruling/settlement dates yield larger market shocks, reflecting heavier financial penalties. Furthermore, we find evidence of sectoral spillover effects, where litigation against a single firm triggers negative contagion across the industry. The findings emphasize the necessity for financial institutions to integrate nature-related legal liabilities into their risk management frameworks. |
| Keywords: | Nature-Related Risks, Litigation Risks, Corporate Valuation, Environmental Complaints |
| JEL: | G12 K32 K41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:1060 |
| By: | Viktoria Falk; Andreas Madestam; Emilia Simeonova |
| Abstract: | This study examines the persistence of fertility-related health problems across generations within the same family, and the utilization of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Using comprehensive Swedish registry data, we document significant intergenerational transmission of fertility difficulties for both daughters and sons, independent of parental socioeconomic status. Daughters whose parents reported such problems are 2.6 percentage points, or 19.4 percent, more likely to experience fertility problems themselves. Sons whose parents reported fertility difficulties experience a 1.7 percentage point, or 13.5 percent, increase. These associations persist across alternative measures and samples. Comparing biological and adopted children raised in the same households, we find that this phenomenon is unlikely to be driven by family awareness of fertility issues, pointing to biological and other factors that biological children share with their parents but adopted children do not. Medical technology works equally well for those who use it, and we find no significant association between the success of advanced fertility treatments and parental backgrounds. However, past generations’ fertility difficulties are associated both with higher medical expenses and with social costs such as increased likelihood of divorce. |
| JEL: | I10 J13 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35585 |
| By: | Olivier de Bandt, David Nefzi, Johannes-Gabriel Werner |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether supervisory climate stress tests change how euro-area banks price and allocate credit according to borrowers’ transition risk. We combine loan-level data from the Eurosystem’s AnaCredit database with a firm-level measure of greenhouse-gas (GHG) intensity and compare banks subject to the ECB’s 2021-22 climate stress test with non-participating banks. A difference-in-differences-in-slopes design estimates whether the sensitivity of new-loan spreads to carbon intensity changed after the exercise. The average shift in this spread-intensity relationship is small and statistically insignificant. However, decomposing the aggregate effect reveals economically meaningful and offsetting adjustments. Participating banks reallocate new credit away from more carbon-intensive incumbent borrowers, while applying more carbon-sensitive pricing to relationships that enter or exit their portfolios; for new borrowers, a one-standard-deviation increase in carbon intensity is associated with about 10 basis points higher spreads. By contrast, repricing within continuing bank-firm relationships remains limited. The effects are strongest among the most carbon-intensive firms, and participation in the more demanding bottom-up module does not generate a clearly additional response. Overall, climate stress tests appear to operate mainly through portfolio recomposition and extensive-margin pricing, consistent with an information-and-supervisory-scrutiny channel rather than a broad repricing of existing loans. |
| Keywords: | Banking, Climate Stress Tests, Transition Risk, Credit Register, Loan Pricing, Carbon Intensity |
| JEL: | C23 E51 E58 G21 G28 G32 Q54 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:1059 |
| By: | Zettier, Fabian; Krickel, Frank; Linke, Knut |
| Abstract: | This discussion paper investigates which generative AI (GenAI) competencies are demanded in German job advertisements and how they align with AI competency frameworks. The study combines a synthesis of 18 competency frameworks with an AI-assisted qualitative content analysis of 258 GenAI-relevant job postings from the German Federal Employment Agency's job portal (collected on 14 March 2026) using a deductive-inductive approach. Results show a strongly technology-centric demand pattern: programming and cloud/MLOps dominate, while reflection, governance, and legal/compliance competencies remain weakly articulated despite their prominence in literature and regulatory relevance. Cluster analysis reveals three role profiles: technical engineering, application/process-oriented roles, and hybrid profiles combining technical depth with strategic integration. Inductive analysis identifies emerging competency fields not systematically covered by existing frameworks, including AI enablement and knowledge transfer, domain expertise, AI tool evaluation, human-centred design, and protocol-related integration skills. Implications are derived for competency-based recruiting and role-specific upskilling, emphasizing the need to explicitly anchor governance and compliance capabilities alongside technical implementation expertise. |
| Keywords: | Generative AI, German labor market, IT labor, AI competency frameworks |
| JEL: | J24 M51 L86 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iubhit:343092 |
| By: | Zelda Brutti; Maria Chiara Cecchetti; Marzia Freo; Gian Luca Landi; Gianluca Stefani |
| Abstract: | The greening of the Common Agricultural Policy has faced criticism in both ex-ante and ex-post evaluation analyses. Positioning itself within this latter strand of literature, our study provides further evidence on the impact of the crop diversification requirement under the greening on the local environmental performance and land-use practices. Exploiting the discontinuity in eligibility criteria at 10 and 30 hectares, we apply a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to a detailed georeferenced dataset for Tuscany (Italy). The data also allows to assess innovative crop-rotation indicators as an indirect measure of environmental performance. The results show that crop diversification supported the intended changes in land-use patterns, generating local environmental benefits particularly among small and medium-sized farms. However, no significant effects emerge for larger farms. Additionally, the findings indicate a positive relationship between diversification and rotation practices, suggesting potential policy implications in which diversification can be leveraged to promote crop rotation. |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, Green Payments, Crop Diversification, Crop Rotation, Regression Discontinuity Design |
| JEL: | O18 Q12 Q18 Q58 R52 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2026_17.rdf |
| By: | Vannutelli, Silvia |
| Abstract: | Stimulus transfers are widely used during economic downturns, yet they are often poorly targeted from an economic perspective. I show that political incentives might help explain this discrepancy. I study one of the largest stimulus tax credits in Italy which excluded the poorest individuals and targeted middle-income earners. Leveraging quasi-random geographic variation in recipient shares and a difference-in-differences design, I find that the transfer raised the incumbent party's vote share by 0.18 percentage points per 1 pp rise in recipients. These gains persist for at least five years. Political returns are stronger in areas with relatively richer beneficiaries, despite weaker consumption responses, and electoral punishment for exclusion is similarly asymmetric: higherincome excluded individuals reduce support for the incumbent, while poorer excluded individuals do not. Voters also punish incumbents when transfers are revoked, helping explain why temporary programs are rarely repealed. A counterfactual transfer targeting poorer households would have increased the consumption response by 30% but reduced electoral returns by at least 15%. These findings highlight a key political-economy trade-off in stimulus design, where electoral incentives skew transfers toward politically responsive recipients, as opposed to consumption responsive recipients. |
| JEL: | D72 H23 H53 I38 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:342456 |
| By: | Peter A. Diamond |
| Abstract: | Public pension systems are long-term social contracts operating under persistent economic, demographic, and political uncertainty. Periods of turbulence, marked by financial shocks, changes in longevity, and shifting labour markets, test the capacity of pension institutions to adapt while maintaining adequacy, equity, and legitimacy. Building on earlier joint work on pension economics and reform with Nicholas Barr, this chapter analyses the role of automatic and semi-automatic adjustment mechanisms in public pension design. Drawing on comparative experience from Sweden, Canada, and the United States, we examine mechanisms for maintaining financial balance, the incorporation of life expectancy into retirement age and benefit design, and the accumulation and drawdown phases of defined contribution pensions. We argue that well-designed automatic mechanisms can discipline political decision-making and improve resilience, but only if they are proportionate, transparent, and attentive to distributional and intergenerational consequences. In turbulent times, good pension design does not eliminate the need for political choice; rather, it structures that choice so that adjustment can occur without repeated crises. |
| Keywords: | national pensions, automatic indexing |
| JEL: | H55 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12951 |
| By: | Laurine Basse (AMU IMPGT - Institut de management public et de gouvernance territoriale - AMU - Aix Marseille Université, CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon, AMU - Aix Marseille Université); Zilacene Dekli (LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marius Bertolucci (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon, AMU IMPGT - Institut de management public et de gouvernance territoriale - AMU - Aix Marseille Université) |
| Abstract: | How do AIS affect the institutional pluralism of highly structured institutional fields? This paper addresses this question by examining the deployment of AIS in the French judicial field. Adopting a strong process-oriented perspective (Reinecke & Lawrence, 2023) combined with the theory of institutional logics (Thornton et al., 2012; Fak et al., 2020), we view the deployment of AIS not as a rupture, but as an incremental and endogenous transformation. We examine how fields absorb the integration of new technology. Based on a qualitative case study comprising 24 semi-structured interviews, two nonparticipant observations, and an analysis of 80 documents, we present three key findings. Firstly, we identify a four-stage stabilisation cycle (infusion, impetus, acceleration and absorption) through which the legal sector gradually adopts the technology. Secondly, we demonstrate that AIS is more than just a tool. We are witnessing the stabilisation of a new institutional logic (the algorithmic logic) driven by nine mechanisms involved in its framing, integration, and finally, anchoring. Thirdly, we show that this algorithmic logic affects institutional pluralism in three ways: it feeds off dominant logics to establish its legitimacy; it reinforces managerial logic by amplifying its bases of attention and strategy; and it gradually weakens bureaucratic logic first, and then more insidiously, legal logic, by calling into question their professional identities, sources of authority, and original metaphors. Technology does not directly challenge existing logics, but rather gradually renders them obsolete, ultimately reducing their influence within institutional pluralism. |
| Keywords: | justice, stabilisation, institutional pluralism, institutional logics, Artificial intelligence systems |
| Date: | 2026–07–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05727670 |
| By: | Clemens Stiewe |
| Abstract: | Long-term transmission rights (LTTRs) are designed to support hedging in interconnected European electricity markets. LTTR auction prices have historically fallen short of forward market prices, signaling limited arbitrage. This paper studies the interaction of transmission rights and forward markets. Option pricing theory predicts that LTTR holders take short forward positions in importing markets and long forward positions in exporting markets to lock in arbitrage profits. Empirically, I find a corresponding price effect in the German electricity forward market immediately after LTTR auctions, using panel regression on EEX futures contracts traded between 2018 and 2025. This shows that LTTR holders can achieve systematic rents, indicating an inefficient regulatory intervention and a transfer from consumers to LTTR holders. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2607.28790 |
| By: | Karlsson, Jimmy (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Carbon taxation is one of the main policy instruments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, yet there is still limited evidence on its effects on firms and workers. This paper studies the environmental and economic effects of carbon taxation, with a particular focus on heterogeneity in labor demand across worker groups. I exploit a reform that increased the effective carbon tax for a subset of Swedish manufacturing firms between 2011 and 2018, and combine administrative firm data with matched employer-employee records in a difference-in-differences design. The reform reduced emissions by about 30%, primarily through substitution away from fossil fuels toward biofuels and district heating. It also reduced revenue and employment, with the strongest negative effects concentrated among emission-intensive firms. The employment effects are driven mainly by older workers without a high school degree, although older, highly educated workers are also negatively affected in the most exposed firms. Additional evidence suggests that firms adjusted labor demand primarily through lower hiring rather than higher separations. Scaled by the average increase in effective tax rates (measured in euro per ton CO2), the estimates imply semi-elasticities of -0.58% for emissions and -0.20% for employment among low-educated workers. These results suggest that carbon taxation can substantially reduce industrial emissions, but with concentrated labor-market costs. |
| Keywords: | Carbon taxation; Climate change; Firm performance; Inequality; Employment |
| JEL: | H23 J23 L60 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2026–08–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1564 |
| By: | Yvonne Krabbe-Alkemade; France Portrait; Maarten Lindeboom; Marjolein Broese van Groenou; Hendrika J Luijen; Dorly Deegdijk |
| Abstract: | This study examines the causal effect of labor market restrictions faced by women in early adulthood on later-life cognitive functioning. To identify this effect, we exploit an exogenous policy change in the Netherlands that removed restrictions on married women's access to paid employment in 1957. Our study draws on data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, an ongoing cohort study of older individuals. We focus on individuals aged 75 and older born between 1928 and 1947. We first examine how work restrictions in early adulthood shape lifetime employment. Next, we assess how these work restrictions affect women’s later-life cognitive outcomes exploiting an exogenous change in labor restriction laws and complement this with an instrumental variables approach. The estimation results indicate that restricted access to paid employment for women in early adulthood reduced labor force participation and occupational prestige over the life course. These reduced labor market opportunities, in turn, led to poorer cognitive functioning after age 75. We also find some suggestive evidence that these restrictions resulted in faster cognitive decline. Taken together, our findings indicate that restrictions on women’s access to paid employment adversely affect cognitive functioning, thereby contributing to cognitive disparities between men and women in later life. More broadly, they highlight the long-term cognitive benefits of sustained labor market engagement and cognitively stimulating work, with potential implications for dementia prevention. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive functioning at older age, dementia, access to paid employment, gender disparities |
| JEL: | J16 J19 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mhe:chemon:paper_1788391888415_642 |
| By: | Lauro Carnicelli; Tuomo Suhonen |
| Abstract: | This report examines the evolution of the economic status and role of PhD holders in Finland’s labor market and firms using Statistics Finland’s register and survey data. Special attention is paid to PhD graduates in the business, ICT, and engineering fields. The findings indicate a very tight labor market for PhD holders until the late 2000s, followed by rising unemployment and overeducation among them, as well as a stagnating wage premium for completing a PhD, in the 2010s. While PhDs have earned more than master’s and bachelor’s graduates on average, the PhD wage premium is found to be much higher for women than for men and to vary across fields of study. The firm-level analyses show no significant changes in productivity or profitability around the event of hiring the first PhD in a firm, whereas a higher share of PhD workers is found to be associated with increased wages and productivity. The results also provide suggestive evidence of PhDs, particularly those in the business, ICT, and engineering fields, playing a role in business-university collaboration. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, Doctorate, Human capital, Labor markets, Wages, Firms, Research and development, Productivity, Business-university collaboration |
| JEL: | I23 I26 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:studie:117 |
| By: | Thomas Dulak |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, sustainable finance has become an established part of global financial markets. As its expansion slows amid greater scrutiny of sustainability claims, evolving sustainability standards and political resistance in some jurisdictions, understanding when and how sustainability considerations affect financial outcomes has become increasingly important. This thesis examines how sustainability-related risks, investor preferences and information influence asset valuations, secondary-market trading, product-management decisions by financial intermediaries and investor flows across four settings: climate litigation, green bonds, sustainable mutual funds and sustainability labels. The first chapter examines stock market reactions to climate lawsuit filings and adverse court decisions involving corporations in North America and Europe. It finds generally limited reactions for both targeted firms and their industry peers, although responses vary across cases and industries. The second chapter compares the secondary-market trading of green and conventional bonds using transaction data provided by Euroclear. Green bonds exhibit higher aggregate trading volumes because they trade on a larger share of days, despite smaller average transaction sizes. The third chapter studies liquidation decisions among European equity mutual funds. While sustainable funds do not exhibit a robustly different liquidation risk on average, they face a higher risk shortly after inception, with the difference disappearing as funds mature. The fourth chapter investigates investor responses to the reform of the French ISR label. Holding or acquiring the label is not associated with detectably higher investor flows, whereas funds losing it under the tightened requirements experience persistently weaker flows than funds retaining it. Taken together, the four chapters show that sustainability considerations may affect financial markets through different mechanisms. The findings point towards a more selective and differentiated sustainable finance market, whose long-term development will depend increasingly on the financial materiality of sustainability-related risks, the viability of sustainable products and the credibility of sustainability standards and information. |
| Keywords: | Financial economics; Sustainable finance |
| Date: | 2026–08–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/412432 |
| By: | Loureiro Lopes, A.I.; Gonçalves, João (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We analyzed the social media posts of top 20 European and US companies for their Diversity related content before (2024) and after (2025) the election of Donald Trump. We find that there was a decline in diversity related content in 2025 both in the US and in Europe, with the biggest drop being registered in the US. From all social media content, 6, 7% of posts by US based companies in 2024 included diversity related topics, while in 2025 only 1, 3% were about diversity. For European companies, the scenario is similar. In 2024, 12, 6% of social media posts by European companies touch upon diversity content which dropped to 7, 0% in the same period of 2025. In general, European companies posted more on diversity than American companies both in 2024 and in 2025. These results show us that while the drop in diversity related talk by corporations was more accentuated in the US, other geographies seem to also replicate the trend. |
| Date: | 2026–08–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:dnra7_v1 |
| By: | Rosbach, Johannes; Pur, Sabine; Bozyasi, Esin |
| Abstract: | This discussion paper examines how Design Thinking can be implemented as a user-centred innovation method within the product and innovation management of an industrial-technical company. Using the case of EWM GmbH, a manufacturer of comprehensive welding system solutions, the study explores how a newly established product management department introduced a customer-oriented innovation strategy as part of an organisational restructuring. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Design Thinking by Plattner et al. (2009), a practical guideline was developed and tested in a one-day workshop involving six participants from various departments. The workshop resulted in the development of a viable prototype concept of a TIG welding torch. Evaluation findings indicate that creative methods can be applied effectively in industrial-technical environments and that a purpose-designed M-Gate idea submission form provides a suitable interface for transferring workshop outcomes into the existing innovation process. The results also highlight that sustainably embedding Design Thinking within an organisation requires continuous application, iterative evaluation, and broader cultural change beyond initial workshop implementation. |
| Keywords: | Design Thinking, Nutzerzentrierte Innovation, Innovationsmanagement, Produktmanagement, Hidden Champions, Industrielle KMU |
| JEL: | O31 O32 M10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iubhbm:342516 |
| By: | Jessen, Lasse J.; Köhne, Sebastian; Nüß, Patrick; Ruhose, Jens |
| Abstract: | Using survey experiments in the United States and Germany with about 12, 000 participants, we study perceptions of socioeconomic inequality in life expectancy and policy demand. Respondents overestimate the rich-poor gap in both countries, judging the life expectancy of the rich roughly accurately but placing that of the poor well below its true level. These misperceptions vary little with political orientation or other characteristics. Correcting them shifts concern but leaves policy demand largely unchanged across general, specific, and real-stakes measures. Instead, demand divides politically, sharply in the United States and much less in Germany, consistent with views about the role of government rather than the inequality itself shaping policy demand. |
| Keywords: | health care, information treatment, socioeconomic inequality in life expectancy, survey experiment |
| JEL: | D72 D83 H53 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:343096 |
| By: | R. Andrew Butters; Jackson Dorsey; Ivan Rudik |
| Abstract: | How much does pricing pollution cut aggregate emissions, and at what cost? We develop a microfounded equilibrium model of firm production and abatement that can be estimated from standard firm financial and emissions data, without observing abatement effort directly. The model captures three adjustment margins: short-run input substitution, reallocation of output from dirty to cleaner firms, and long-run clean technology adoption. Applying it to the first 17 years of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), we find input substitution is rigid: firms cannot cut emissions in the short run without cutting output. Reallocation instead drives nearly all of the short-run aggregate emissions response, concentrated in sectors with heterogeneous emissions intensities, like power and cement, or with elastic demand, like refining. Clean technology adoption also responds causally to permit price shocks, reducing firms’ emissions intensity over the five years that follow. Doubling the permit price cuts aggregate emissions 23% in the short run and 31% in the longer run after induced clean technology adoption. In the short run, output falls by 4%, primarily because carbon costs pass from upstream polluting industries like electricity to downstream producers. In the long run, output falls just 2.5%, as clean technology adoption dampens these supply-chain impacts. Carbon pricing thus delivers substantial emissions reductions with moderate output effects, and much of the economic burden falls on downstream firms through higher upstream input costs. |
| JEL: | D22 E23 Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35682 |
| By: | Loske, Dominic; Grosse, Eric H.; Glock, Christoph H.; Klumpp, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Within warehouse logistics processes, design concepts and management decisions regarding operations systems determine the demands placed on human operators. While the literature proposes that human-centric work system design positively affects the operator, the impact on operator performance remains under-explored. We analyse the case of a German retail warehouse where the shelf numbering follows the pickers' walking direction from right to left. However, all human order pickers working in this system are familiar with a left-to-right writing system due to their schooling and training. Because cognitive psychology proposes that writing system direction impacts spatial orientation in goal-oriented visual search, we are motivated to explore the interplay of rack configuration and human cognitive demands. We ground our mixed-effects model on archival data, including 470, 968 storage location visits. Our results indicate that order pickers work 18.7% faster when picking items starting from the left side of the shelf compared to starting their visual search from the right side. Our findings suggest that human search strategies in warehousing operations are influenced by attention templates like writing direction on a similar level as by system design elements of the warehouse itself. This insight underscores the potential for diversified future human-centric design approaches in warehouse logistics. |
| Date: | 2026–08–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:161816 |
| By: | Bo Becker; Efraim Benmelech; Joao Monteiro |
| Abstract: | In 2008, the aggregate market value of U.S.-listed firms was roughly one-third higher than that of European-listed firms. By 2023, it was more than 300% higher, a difference of $34 trillion. The valuation gap is broad-based, rather than concentrated among a few superstar firms, and is driven by differences in firm values, not in the number of listed firms. Across sectors, the gap is larger in R&D-intensive industries and in industries with high returns to scale. European firms’ size is strongly correlated with home-country GDP, whereas U.S. firms’ size is unrelated to home-state GDP. Smaller European firms also face a particularly large cost-of-capital gap and do not appear able to substitute debt for limited access to equity financing, including venture capital. Taken together, these facts suggest that financial and product-market frictions constrain European firms’ ability to scale. |
| JEL: | G12 G15 G32 O36 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35577 |
| By: | Irene Brunetti; Lorenzo Corsini |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the role that work experience during school has in the school-to-work transition. We exploit an ad-hoc module from European labour force survey to have detailed information about young workers in 2016 and estimate the determinants of the job finding process. Since the estimation may suffer from a selection into sample problem, we use the Heckman correction model to solve this issue. Results show that work experience during school successfully increases the probability to find a job and a policy facilitating work programs within school tracks could be effective. However, we also find that the efficacy of this work experience is larger in labour markets whose performance is lacking (in the Centre and South of Italy) whereas it tends to be smaller and not significant in markets that are better off (the north of Italy). |
| Keywords: | School-to-work transition; work experience, vocational studies |
| JEL: | I21 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2026/332 |
| By: | van Luttervelt, Mads Pieter; Østergaard-Nielsen, Mathias (Aarhus University); Grøn, Anders |
| Abstract: | Politicians often change policies—sometimes unexpectedly—but how it affects the bureaucracy remains largely unknown. We argue that changing policies can undermine the credibility of public managers in the eyes of the street-level bureaucrats. Testing this argument causally in the real world is challenging as it requires unanticipated policy change that only affects part of the bureaucracy and a pre- and post-change measurement of relevant constructs. To overcome these challenges, we leverage a quasi-experimental design by exploiting that a nationwide reform in Denmark’s education sector was unexpectedly changed for half of the country’s high schools. We find a long-term negative causal effect of policy change on the credibility of public managers, when they showed commitment to the initial policy. The effect is driven by street-level bureaucrats whose policy preferences align with the initial policy. We discuss trade-offs for policy makers and managers when initiating or responding to policy changes. |
| Date: | 2026–08–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:3qt4b_v1 |