nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2020‒12‒14
eight papers chosen by
Patrick Kampkötter
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

  1. Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes By Alessandra Bonfiglioli; Rosario Crinò; Harald Fadinger; Gino Gancia
  2. The Impact of ICT on Working from Home: Evidence from EU Countries By Jerbashian, Vahagn; Vilalta-Bufi, Montserrat
  3. Unions, Collective Bargaining and Firm Performance By Laroche, Patrice
  4. LPP - Linked Personnel Panel 1819: Quality of work and economic success : longitudinal study in German establishments (data documentation on the fourth wave) By Ruf, Kevin; Mackeben, Jan; Haepp, Tobias; Wolter, Stefanie; Grunau, Philipp
  5. Payroll Tax Reductions for Minimum Wage Workers: Relative Labor Cost or Cash Windfall Effects? By Sophie Cottet
  6. The career effects of labour market conditions at entry By Dan Andrews; Nathan Deutscher; Jonathan Hambur; David Hansell
  7. Own Motivation, Peer Motivation, and Educational Success By Jan Bietenbeck
  8. The Effect of Group Identity on Hiring Decisions with Incomplete Information By Casoria, Fortuna; Reuben, Ernesto; Rott, Christina

  1. By: Alessandra Bonfiglioli; Rosario Crinò; Harald Fadinger; Gino Gancia
    Abstract: We use French data over the 1994-2013 period to study how imports of industrial robots affect fi rm-level outcomes. Compared to other fi rms operating in the same 5- digit sector, robot importers are larger, more productive, and employ a higher share of managers and engineers. Over time, robot import occurs after periods of expansion in fi rm size, and is followed by improvements in effciency and a fall in demand for labor. Guided by a simple model, we develop various empirical strategies to identify the causal effects of robot adoption. Our results suggest that, while demand shocks generate a positive correlation between robot imports and employment, exogenous changes in automation lead to job losses. We also fi nd that robot imports increase productivity and the employment share of high-skill professions, but have a weak effect on total sales. The latter result suggests that productivity gains from automation may not be entirely passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.
    Keywords: Automation, Displacement, Firms, Robots
    JEL: J23 J24 O33 D22
    Date: 2020–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_243&r=all
  2. By: Jerbashian, Vahagn; Vilalta-Bufi, Montserrat
    Abstract: We use data from 14 European countries and provide evidence that the fall in prices of information and communication technologies (ICT) is associated with a significant increase in the share of employees who work from home. Similar results hold within age, gender, and occupation groups. There are notable differences across age groups, however. The effect of the fall in ICT prices on working from home increases with age. A rationale for such a result is that the preference for working from home increases with age.
    Keywords: Working from Home,ICT,Age,Gender,Occupations
    JEL: J23 J24 O33
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:719&r=all
  3. By: Laroche, Patrice
    Abstract: The impact of unions on firm performance has been the subject of debate and controversy in most industrialized countries, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. The purpose of this chapter is to review and assess the scope and limitations of the economic analysis of unions as well as the controversies surrounding the conclusions of existing empirical research. Although it is difficult to draw firm and general conclusions on the effects of unions on firm performance, the existing results lead us to consider unions not solely in terms of their costs for the company. Empirical results suggest that unionism is often associated with higher productivity but this relationship might vary across industries, institutional contexts and over time. Estimates of the causal mechanisms through which unions affect productivity allow a better understanding of the effects of unions. The literature on the effect of unions on productivity recognizes that part of this effect may work through reducing employee turnover and other mechanisms, such as technological and organizational innovations, which are essential factors of productivity growth. Recent studies dealing with the effects of unions on firm profits support Freeman and Medoff's (1984) conclusion that unionization is associated with lower profitability. Finally, union activities, especially collective bargaining, trade off some economic efficiency for greater justice in workplaces and reduced inequalities.
    Keywords: unions,collective bargaining,productivity,innovation,high-performance work practices,performance
    JEL: J5 J51 J53 M54
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:728&r=all
  4. By: Ruf, Kevin (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Mackeben, Jan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Haepp, Tobias (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Wolter, Stefanie (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Grunau, Philipp (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany])
    Abstract: "This data report describes the fourth wave of the Linked Personnel Panel (LPP 1819). The LPP is a linked-employer-employee data set on human resources (HR) work, corporate culture and man-agement instruments in German establishments that evolved within the framework of the project 'Quality of work and economic success'. The three survey waves contain information from 1,219 establishments, 7,508 employees (wave 1), 771 establishments and 7,282 employees (wave 2), 846 establishments and 6,779 employees (wave 3), and 769 establishments and 6,494 employees (wave 4). The LPP is representative for German private sector establishments with at least 50 em-ployees subject to social security. The linkage with the IAB Establishment Panel yields a data prod-uct that enables longitudinal analyses regarding HR strategies and quality of work in Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) Additional Information DOI: 10.5164/IAB.FDZD.2011.en.v1 Frequencies and labels auch in Deutsch erschienen als: FDZ-Datenreport, 11/2020 (de)
    Date: 2020–11–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfda:202011_en&r=all
  5. By: Sophie Cottet (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)
    Abstract: This paper uses administrative employer-employee data to uncover the effects of a large payroll tax reduction for minimum-wage workers in France in the 1990s. Exploiting the change in labor costs both at the job level and at the firm level, I find that the number of minimum-wage jobs increases but that these additionnal jobs stem exclusively from firms which had previously very few, or none, minimum wage workers. On the contrary, firms which already employed workers at minimum-wage levels, and thus benefit ex ante from a cash windfall, increase employment irrespective of wage levels. Overall, these results suggest that targeting cash-contrained firms, and not only groups of workers, is key for employment growth.
    Keywords: Payroll taxes,Firm behavior,Rent sharing,Minimum wage
    Date: 2020–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03010943&r=all
  6. By: Dan Andrews; Nathan Deutscher; Jonathan Hambur; David Hansell
    Abstract: This paper explores the effects of labour market conditions at graduation on an individual’s work-life over the following decade. Australians graduating into a state and year with a 5 percentage point higher youth unemployment rate can expect to earn roughly 8 per cent less in their first year of work and 3½ per cent less after five years, with the effect gradually fading to around zero ten years on. The magnitude of this effect varies according to the characteristics of the individual and the tertiary institution they attend. We then explore the mechanisms behind this scarring. Scarring partly reflects the subsequent evolution of the unemployment rate — the fact that unemployment shocks tend to persist — highlighting the potential for timely and effective macroeconomic stabilisation policies to ameliorate these scarring effects. More generally, job switching to more productive firms emerges as a key channel through which workers recover from adverse shocks that initially disrupt (worker-firm) match quality. We find some evidence that the speed of recovery has slowed since 2000, which is consistent with the decline in labour market dynamism observed in Australia over that period.
    Keywords: job mobility, job search, Wages
    JEL: E24 J62 J64
    Date: 2020–12–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaac:20-en&r=all
  7. By: Jan Bietenbeck
    Abstract: I study how motivation shapes own and peers’ educational success. Using data from Project STAR, I find that academic motivation in early elementary school, as measured by a standardized psychological test, predicts contemporaneous and future test scores, high school GPA, and college-test taking over and above cognitive skills. Exploiting random assignment of students to classes, I find that exposure to motivated classmates causally affects contemporaneous reading achievement, a peer effect that operates over and above spillovers from classmates’ past achieve-ment and socio-demographic composition. However, peer motivation does not affect longer-term educational success, likely because it does not change own motivation.
    Keywords: motivation, personality, peer effects, Project STAR
    JEL: I21 J13 J24
    Date: 2020
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8696&r=all
  8. By: Casoria, Fortuna (GATE, University of Lyon); Reuben, Ernesto (New York University, Abu Dhabi); Rott, Christina (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
    Abstract: We investigate the effects of group identity on hiring decisions with adverse selection problems. We run a laboratory experiment in which employers cannot observe a worker's ability nor verify the veracity of the ability the worker claims to have. We evaluate whether sharing an identity results in employers discriminating in favor of ingroup workers, and whether it helps workers and employers overcome the adverse selection problem. We induce identities using the minimal group paradigm and study two settings: one where workers cannot change their identity and one where they can. Although sharing a common identity does not make the worker's claims more honest, employers strongly discriminate in favor of ingroup workers when identities are fixed. Discrimination cannot be explained by employers' beliefs and hence seems to be taste-based. When possible, few workers change their identity. However, the mere possibility of changing identities erodes the employers' trust towards ingroup workers and eliminates discrimination.
    Keywords: discrimination, hiring, group identity, adverse selection
    JEL: J71 D91 D82
    Date: 2020–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13873&r=all

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