|
on Investment |
| By: | Kaya, Tresor |
| Abstract: | This working paper documents a harmonized time series of the 34 statutory revaluations of the French minimum wage (Salaire Minimum Interprofessionnel de Croissance, SMIC) observed between 1 July 2001 (EUR 6.67/hour) and 1 June 2026 (EUR 12.31/hour) — a cumulative increase of +84.6% in current euros over nearly 25 years. The series is built through programmatic extraction of the official INSEE data file (statistical reference 1375188, "Salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance"), supplemented for the most recent revaluation by the ministerial order of 22 May 2026 published in the Journal Officiel (Legifrance, JORFTEXT000054126589) and cross-checked against the 13 May 2026 press release of the French Ministry of Labour. The paper does not present econometric tests; it is a data-availability paper accompanied by descriptive statistics of the trajectory — pace of revaluations, magnitude of increases, periods of stability versus acceleration — intended as a verifiable factual reference for subsequent research on minimum wages, purchasing power, or employment policy in France. The underlying dataset is deposited under an open license (CC BY 4.0) and identified by three independent DOIs (Zenodo, Mendeley Data, Harvard Dataverse), ensuring its citability and long-term preservation. (The full paper is written in French; a French abstract is provided inside the PDF.) |
| Keywords: | SMIC, salaire minimum, France, série historique, revalorisation, INSEE, données ouvertes, pouvoir d'achat, minimum wage, wage policy |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J38 K31 |
| Date: | 2026–07–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:130013 |
| By: | Melissa S. Kearney, James Sullivan |
| Abstract: | We seek to reset the national conversation about poverty by dispelling persistent myths and defining a clear, evidence-based agenda for alleviation. Over the past four decades, poverty in America has fallen markedly, and anti-poverty policies have significantly improved the material well-being of vulnerable households. We document these gains using appropriately constructed measures of income, earnings, and consumption poverty, and other indicators of material conditions. We also describe evidence showing that major programs have improved long-term outcomes for poor children, helping to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. Yet much work remains. We reject the simplistic view that cash transfers alone can solve poverty. While income support is vital, such an approach fails to address poverty’s deeper roots. To confront the complexity of poverty, we propose an agenda centered on equipping people to thrive—by strengthening their skills, building strong families, removing individual barriers to flourishing, and boosting mobility for children born into poverty. These priorities reflect the best available evidence of what works to empower people to provide for themselves and their families and to enable upward mobility and long-term self-sufficiency. |
| Keywords: | poverty, inequality, social policy |
| Date: | 2025–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cxx:wpaper:beyond-the-myths-a-clearer-path-to-poverty-alleviation |
| By: | Bellmann, Lutz (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Dustmann, Christian (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Fitzenberger, Bernd (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "This paper examines the evolution, institutional structure, and current challenges of collective bargaining in Germany. Collective bargaining addresses labor market imperfections, redistributes productivity gains, and shapes working conditions. The German system is centered on industry-level agreements, complemented by firm-level agreements and voluntary adoption of industry-level bargaining outcomes by formally uncovered firms (“orientation”). It has historically supported cooperative labor-management relations, while allowing for flexibility during economic downturns. We document long-term declines in union density and bargaining coverage, partly mitigated by orientation. Moreover, coverage is lower among low-wage workers. We conclude by discussing the future of Germany’s collective bargaining institutions in the context of structural economic change and the growing role of the statutory minimum wage, and draw comparison between Germany and the US." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J38 J51 J58 |
| Date: | 2026–07–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202604 |
| By: | Quanyan Zhu |
| Abstract: | Agentic AI systems are increasingly being deployed as productive resources in organizational workflows, yet existing evaluation methods primarily measure isolated technical performance rather than economic contribution. This paper introduces \emph{Agentomics}, a workflow-based framework for valuing, attributing, and pricing human and artificial agents. The framework models a workflow as a configuration of heterogeneous agents whose collective performance determines gross value, deployment cost, reliability, and expected failure loss. Workflow value is treated as a team-level quantity that may include complementarities, substitution effects, bottlenecks, and nonlinear production; additive stage-level value is only a special case. Building on this workflow model, the paper formulates AI deployment as a coalition-formation problem and defines coalition value as the incremental net surplus generated relative to a benchmark human workflow. The Shapley value is then used to attribute economic surplus among participating AI agents, yielding a principled connection among valuation, accountability, and market pricing. The resulting Shapley pricing equilibrium provides a normative benchmark for assessing whether agent prices reflect expected marginal contribution. A security-operations case study illustrates how the framework accounts for productivity gains, deployment costs, reliability losses, and coalition-level complementarities in hybrid human--AI workflows. |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2606.14769 |
| By: | Auriol, Emmanuelle; Panin, Amma; Raiber, Eva; Seabright, Paul |
| Abstract: | We develop a new model of faith-based organizations (FBOs) as multi-sided platforms. Faith-based platforms (FBPs) offer two types of services. The first is a religious service that includes providing a moral narrative, giving guidance and counselling, and proposing access to the divine through prayer, meditation or rituals. The second is a networking service that allows members to connect with members who come for the religious service. By offering both types of service, FBPs benefit from the spill-over effect of the religious service, which helps to screen for trustworthy network members. FBPs are more profitable than organizations that only offer a religious service, often even per capita, and are generally larger in size. The optimal community size depends on the type of interactions the FBP fosters and how much it invests in the quality of the religious service. This can explain the diversity of FBOs that continue to thrive despite secular competition and some recent phenomena that cannot be fully explained by existing models of FBOs, such as the growth of religion in some urban settings and the emergence of religious communities that have grown very large without sacrificing high profits per member. |
| JEL: | Z12 L14 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21011 |
| By: | Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical foundations of peer and network effects, aiming to bridge insights from both literatures. We first examine the main identification challenges in linear-in-means models — reflection, correlated effects, and sorting — and show how introducing explicit network structures can help address them. We also review reduced-form strategies based on within-school cohort composition, exposure to peers’ shocks, random assignment, and exogenous variation in network links. The analysis then develops the microfoundations of peer effects through linear–quadratic network games, linking equilibrium behavior to network centrality and highlighting the role of key players. Using this framework, we discuss how structural models of network formation and individual effort choices can resolve endogeneity concerns. The paper concludes with recent advances on non-linear and multiplex interactions, where individuals respond to specific peers and operate across multiple, interdependent layers. |
| JEL: | A14 C57 D85 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20814 |
| By: | Canhui Liu |
| Abstract: | Agentic artificial intelligence is increasingly deployed not as a single assistant but as a collective of planners, solvers, reviewers, memory managers, tool users, and orchestrators. These systems are entering organisational workflows under familiar labels such as teams, managers, committees, markets, and workflows. This article asks whether such agent collectives exhibit organisational behaviour in a sense that is analytically comparable to, yet distinct from, human organisational behaviour. I argue that agentic AI is a partial organisational analogue. It resembles a human organisation because it differentiates work, coordinates interdependence, performs recurrent routines, crosses boundaries, and produces collective outcomes. It differs because these patterns are not sustained by motivation, identity, trust, employment, socialisation, or moral accountability. They are sustained by context architecture: prompts, memory, traces, schemas, tools, validators, and permissions. The article develops contextual transaction cost as the central mechanism linking these similarities and differences. Computational theorising, synthetic task simulations, real LLM agent traces, and robustness analyses show that human-imitation forms often underperform when they add lossy handoffs, correlated deliberation, and verification burdens, whereas shared-state and adaptive forms perform better when they make context durable, inspectable, and task-contingent. The article contributes to organisation studies by theorising agentic AI as an emerging object of organising and by specifying the interface conditions under which human and agentic organisational behaviour can jointly support collective intelligence. |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2606.30986 |
| By: | Mounir Atlassi (University Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco); Mohamed Karim (University Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco); Ilham Dkhissi (BEAR Lab - RBS - UIR - BEAR Lab - Rabat Business School - International University of Rabat) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the macroeconomic determinants and dynamic adjustment of tax pressure in Morocco over the period 2000–2024 using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and its associated Error Correction Model (ECM). While the empirical literature on Moroccan taxation remains largely static and descriptive, offering limited insight into short-run adjustment dynamics, this study addresses this gap by providing a dynamic analysis of fiscal adjustment mechanisms in an emerging economy context. The results reveal a mixed order of integration among the variables, justifying the use of the ARDL approach. Although the bounds test yields inconclusive evidence of cointegration, the error correction term is negative and highly statistically significant (−0.833, p |
| Keywords: | Tax pressure, Fiscal policy, ARDL-ECM, Macroeconomic determinants, Fiscal adjustment. |
| Date: | 2026–05–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05622906 |
| By: | li, han |
| Abstract: | Fiscal decentralization fundamentally shapes the spatial distribution of public resources and economic opportunities. This paper examines how China's system of fiscal decentralization, intergovernmental transfers, and local fiscal incentives influences regional coordinated development. Drawing on theories of fiscal federalism, soft budget constraints, and spatial equity, the analysis constructs a framework linking fiscal arrangements to regional convergence through four mechanisms: local revenue mobilization and infrastructure investment, interregional fiscal equalization through transfers, competition among local governments for mobile capital, and the provision of public goods that affect human capital and productivity. While fiscal decentralization has been credited with unleashing local entrepreneurialism and growth, its spatial consequences depend on the design of transfer systems and the incentive structures facing local officials. The paper analyzes China's evolving fiscal architecture—from the fiscal contracting system through the 1994 tax-sharing reform to recent refinements—and explores how it has shaped regional development trajectories. It discusses the role of general-purpose and earmarked transfers in narrowing fiscal disparities and improving public service delivery in lagging regions. The paper further identifies institutional conditions under which fiscal decentralization can promote spatial equity rather than reinforce divergence, including robust equalization mechanisms, transparent performance evaluation, and coordination across jurisdictions. Policy pathways are proposed for aligning fiscal incentives with regional coordination objectives. The paper concludes that fiscal decentralization is not inherently inimical to spatial equity; rather, its impact depends on the institutional framework within which it is embedded. |
| Keywords: | fiscal decentralization; regional coordinated development; transfer payments; spatial equity; intergovernmental fiscal relations |
| JEL: | H71 H72 H77 O18 R58 |
| Date: | 2026–06–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:129924 |
| By: | Fasani, Francesco; Ferro, Simone; Romarri, Alessio; Pasini, Elisabetta |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first causal evaluation of the political impact of asylum seekers in the UK. Although they are dispersed across areas on a no-choice basis, political bargaining between central and local governments introduces potential endogeneity in their allocation. We address this concern with a novel IV strategy that exploits predetermined public-housing characteristics. Focusing on 2004-2019, we estimate a sizeable increase in the Conservative-Labour vote share gap in local elections: a one within-area standard deviation increase in dispersed asylum seekers widens the gap by 3.1 percentage points in favour of the Conservatives. We observe a similar shift to the right in national elections and longitudinal survey data on voting intentions, along with an increase in the Leave vote in the Brexit referendum. Electoral gains are observed for UKIP as well, although this finding is less robust. No effect is detected for non-dispersed asylum seekers, who forgo subsidised housing and make independent residential choices. Turning to mechanisms, voters move to the right without becoming more hostile towards foreigners. Leveraging the universe of MPs' speeches, we show that representatives from more exposed areas emphasise asylum and migration more, with no systematic change in tone or content. This heightened salience appears to shape voters' choices, with Conservative MPs particularly effective at channelling discontent. |
| Keywords: | Refugees; Elections; Brexit referendum; Speech analysis |
| JEL: | F22 D72 J15 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20892 |
| By: | Dettoni, Robinson (Department of Economics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile); Böckerman, Petri (University of Jyväskylä); Bahamondes, Cliff (Department of Economics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile); Vasquez, Jose (Department of Economics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile); Yévenes, Carlos (Department of Economics, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile); Raitakari, Olli (University of Turku); Viinikainen, Jutta (Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics); Lehtimäki, Terho (University of Tampere); Pehkonen, Jaakko (Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of body mass index (BMI) on hypertension risk using data from the Young Finns Study. The empirical framework combines genetic instruments for BMI with a triangular copula model that accommodates a binary outcome and a continuous endogenous treatment, allowing unobserved determinants of BMI and hypertension to be correlated through alternative symmetric and asymmetric copula specifications. Sensitivity analyses examine alternative copula families and nested BMI genetic-score constructions to address pleiotropy concerns. The results show that higher BMI increases hypertension risk across ordered blood-pressure severity categories. Probability-scale treatment effects reveal a nonlinear pattern: marginal risk is concentrated in clinically relevant regions of the BMI distribution and shifts from early blood-pressure elevation toward more severe hypertension as body mass increases. The findings illustrate how genetic instruments and copula-based triangular models can be combined to study endogenous continuous treatments with nonlinear health outcomes, while identifying where along the BMI distribution marginal increases in body mass are most consequential for blood-pressure risk. |
| Keywords: | body mass index, hypertension, genetic instruments, copula models, endogeneity, mendelian randomization, latent dependence |
| JEL: | I12 I14 C14 C51 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18748 |
| By: | Annie Liu; Riley Sullivan; Jeffrey P. Thompson |
| Abstract: | Small businesses occupy a position of economic and civic importance in New England that is not captured by any single statistic. These firms collectively employ millions of workers, anchor local communities, supply large institutions with goods and services, and are incubators of regional innovation and job growth. Using data from the US Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics, this brief quantifies the contributions that small businesses made to employment and employment growth in New England during the 2000–2023 period. |
| Keywords: | New England; small business; employment; health care |
| Date: | 2026–07–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbrb:103508 |
| By: | Wendel, Flora; Walbaum, Magdalena; Finger, Celina; Brettschneider, Christian; Jung-Sievers, Caroline; Knapp, Martin; Rehfuess, Eva A; Asaria, Miqdad |
| Abstract: | Objective To assess the economic evidence on school-based prevention and mental health promotion interventions, focusing on costs and outcomes across key societal sectors, including healthcare, education, social care, criminal justice, as well as in productivity and individual expenses. Design A systematic review with narrative synthesis was conducted following the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis approach, including an assessment of monetised outcomes across all sectors and an additional analysis of non-monetised outcomes in the education sector. Study quality was appraised using Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) and Consensus Health Economic Criteria (CHEC). Data sources Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Econlit, ERIC and Scopus. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Economic evaluations of school-based prevention or mental health promotion interventions for children or adolescents in Europe that report outcomes across healthcare and other societal sectors. Results 20 studies were included, comprising different types of economic evaluations as well as trial-based and model-based evaluations. Based on the primary analyses reported in the studies, which consider costs and benefits across multiple societal sectors, most evaluations suggested favourable economic outcomes. Benefits exceeded costs in four out of five (80%) cost–benefit analyses (average cost–benefit ratio of 5.14). Half of the cost-effectiveness analyses found that interventions were more effective but also more costly than the comparator while two interventions were both more effective and less costly. In cost–utility analyses, 9 out of 10 (90%) fell below commonly used thresholds for good value for money. Reported outcomes covered healthcare, education, social care, criminal justice sectors, as well as productivity and individual expenses. Pronounced cost savings from included interventions were observed in productivity and healthcare, with improvements also observed in non-monetised education outcomes. Study quality was mixed. Conclusions School-based mental health interventions yield cross-sectoral economic benefits and, in many cases, societal returns on investment, in both the short and longer term, by influencing key determinants of health and well-being across multiple sectors. |
| JEL: | I18 I12 H51 |
| Date: | 2026–06–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:138989 |
| By: | Nong Zhu; Jianwei Zhong |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, rural Canada has faced significant demographic challenges, particularly in the aging and decline of its population. These demographic trends are leading to social, economic and political changes within these communities. Regardless of the cause, a decline in a community’s population will invariably bring about budgetary consequences. The tax base, i.e., the number of its taxpayers, decreases, which reduces the community’s ability to fund its fixed costs and maintain its infrastructure. In this article, the authors analyze the relationship between the movement of immigrants to non-metropolitan areas in Canada and the income distribution in these regions. Using data from Canadian censuses, they show that the settlement of immigrants in non-metropolitan regions contributes to an increase in their average income and a reduction in income inequality within this group. Au cours des dernières décennies, les régions rurales du Canada ont été confrontées à d’importants défis démographiques, en particulier au déclin et au vieillissement de la population. Ces dynamiques démographiques entraînent des recompositions sociales, économiques et politiques au sein des communautés rurales. Quelle qu’en soit la cause, la diminution de la population d’une communauté entraîne très généralement des conséquences sur le plan budgétaire. Le nombre de contribuables, et donc la base fiscale, diminue, ce qui diminue la capacité de la communauté à financer ses charges fixes, les coûts d’entretien de son territoire et ses infrastructures. Dans cet article, les auteurs analysent les relations entre la migration des immigrants vers les régions non métropolitaines du Canada et la distribution de revenu dans ces régions. À partir des données des recensements canadiens, ils montrent que l’installation des immigrants dans les régions non métropolitaines contribue à l’amélioration de leur revenu moyen et à la réduction des inégalités de revenu au sein des communautés immigrantes. |
| Date: | 2026–07–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:circah:2026pj-14 |
| By: | Duong Trinh; Santiago Montoya-Bland\'on |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a new econometric framework for modeling social interactions with heterogeneous peer responses, addressing endogenous link formation. Our Selection-corrected Heterogeneous Spatial Autoregressive (SCHSAR) approach jointly models link formation and outcome determination. We incorporate a finite mixture structure to capture heterogeneity in peer effects and account for unobserved individual-specific factors driving both network formation and outcome equations, addressing network endogeneity for credible estimation of heterogeneous spillover effects. We propose a fully Bayesian data augmentation approach for estimation and inference, overcoming challenges posed to standard likelihood-based methods. A simulation study validates our approach. Our empirical application to an innovation network among U.S. firms reveals significant positive, yet heterogeneous, peer effects on corporate R&D investments, after accounting for endogenous network formation. The findings highlight varying firm behaviors in response to exogenous R&D policy shocks and and quantify firm-level direct and spillover effects, offering valuable insights for evidence-based and targeted policy design. |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2606.24850 |
| By: | Jin Seo Cho (Yonsei University); Peter C. B. Phillips (Yale University, University of Auckland & Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | In GMM estimation it is well known that if the number of moment conditions grows with the sample size, GMM asymptotics differ from the standard case with moment size fixed as the sample size tends to infinity. The present work explores infinite dimensional GMM estimation under various conditions on the moment conditions and the weight matrix. Our approach employs a partial sum process formed by the moment conditions to represent high dimensional moments and an invariance principle to capture the infinite dimensional asymptotics as the moment size grows. Next, the GMM weight matrix is assumed to converge to one of two kernels at the limit: a continuous kernel or the Dirac delta function. Combining these different conditions enables development of a large sample theory for most efficient GMM estimation. The effects of permuting the moment conditions on GMM efficiency are also explored. The resulting theory is applied to weak instrumental variable estimation and the Angrist and Krueger (1991) data are re-analyzed in an empirical application of the new methods. |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2525 |
| By: | Su, Ruibing; Yang, Chenyu; Sweeting, Andrew |
| Abstract: | We estimate a dynamic model of the U.S. space launch industry. The model allows past launches to improve rocket reliability and lower launch costs. It also allows the government to make forward-looking procurement choices. We use the model to analyze policy-relevant issues in the recent history of the industry: the 2006 United Launch Alliance "merger-to-monopoly" and the effects of efficiencies in the form of learning synergies; innovations, such as SpaceX's Falcon 9 and ULA's recent introduction of Vulcan Centaur; the costs and benefits of forward-looking procurements; and, the trade-offs between the advantages of centralized control and possible inefficiencies. |
| JEL: | C73 D21 D43 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21140 |
| By: | Joan Alegre Canton |
| Abstract: | Structural models often fix (calibrate) some parameters and estimate the rest, but this calibration-estimation partition is usually chosen by convention. This paper treats that choice as an econometric partition-selection problem. For each admissible partition, we construct a scalar sensitivity statistic measuring the local response of a target object -- such as a policy effect, welfare measure, impulse response, or treatment effect -- to perturbations of the calibrated parameters. The selected partition minimizes this statistic and therefore minimizes worst-case local bias from calibration errors. We first illustrate the decision problem in two canonical examples. We then apply it to the New Keynesian model of Nakamura and Steinsson (2018), where the partition choice has large implications for credibility: some partitions remain reliable under sizeable miscalibrations, whereas others generate large bias from small calibration errors. The procedure requires only local derivatives, avoids repeated re-estimation, and applies to a broad class of structural models. |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2606.25688 |
| By: | Masaaki Fujii (Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | This work solves the equilibrium price formation problem for the risky stock by combining mean-field game theory with the binomial tree framework, adapting the classic approach of Cox, Ross & Rubinstein. For agents with exponential and recursive utilities of exponential-type, we prove the existence of a unique mean-field market-clearing equilibrium and derive an explicit analytic formula for equilibrium transition probabilities of the stock price on the binomial lattice. The agents face stochastic terminal liabilities and incremental endowments that depend on unhedgeable common and idiosyncratic factors, in addition to the stock price path. We also incorporate an external order ow. Furthermore, the analytic tractability of the proposed approach allows us to extend the framework in two important directions: First, we incorporate multi-population heterogeneity, allowing agents to differ in functional forms for their liabilities, endowments, and risk coefficients. Second, we relax the rational expectations hypothesis by modeling agents operating under subjective probability measures which induce stochastically biased views on the stock transition probabilities. Our numerical examples illustrate the qualitative effects of these components on the equilibrium price distribution. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfi:fseres:cf630 |
| By: | Jaison R. Abel; Mary Amiti; Richard Deitz; Sebastian Heise; Nick Montalbano |
| Abstract: | The past year brought dramatic changes to U.S. trade policy, including sweeping new tariffs, as well as a Supreme Court decision that further reshaped the tariff landscape. Many businesses saw their costs increase significantly and faced complex decisions about whether to absorb the tariffs through lower profit margins, raise their prices to recover the higher costs, or some combination of the two. Last year, we found that most businesses had passed on at least some of these higher costs to their customers through higher prices. Now, over a year later, have businesses finished adjusting prices, or do further tariff-induced price increases lie ahead? Our latest regional business surveys reveal that nearly half of firms that have paid tariffs still plan additional price increases to offset these costs, with some expecting to raise prices six months or more in the future. |
| Keywords: | tariffs; pass-through; imports; prices |
| JEL: | F13 E31 |
| Date: | 2026–07–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:103505 |
| By: | Maria Chiara Fatigato (Sapienza Università di Roma - Dipartimento di Studi Giuridici ed Economici) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the evolution of the regulatory state in Brazil, focusing on the transformation of the public role in the economy and the regulation of public services following the 1988 Federal Constitution. Drawing on the main contributions of Brazilian and European legal scholarship, it investigates how Brazil progressively moved beyond the interventionist model by redefining the State as regulator, supervisor and guarantor of the public interest rather than as a direct economic operator. The analysis argues that this transformation does not simply reflect the adoption of a neoliberal model but results from the interaction between the French administrative law tradition, the theory of public service, Anglo-Saxon New Public Management and the U.S. model of independent regulatory agencies. Through an examination of the constitutional framework, independent regulatory authorities and the principles governing public services, the paper shows how the Brazilian regulatory model seeks to reconcile market freedom, users' protection and the effective safeguarding of fundamental rights. |
| Keywords: | regulatory state, Brazil, public services, independent regulatory agencies, comparative administrative law, Brazilian Constitution of 1988, economic regulation, New Public Management |
| JEL: | K23 K20 H11 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:00086 |
| By: | Faißt, Christian (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Hamann, Silke (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Jahn, Daniel (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Wapler, Rüdiger (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "Die Studie untersucht die regionalen Unterschiede im Beschäftigungswachstum und ihre Einflussfaktoren mit dem Fokus auf Baden-Württemberg und die baden-württembergischen Kreise. Im Untersuchungszeitraum zwischen 2000 und 2023 ist die Zahl der sozialversicherungspflichtigen Beschäftigten in Baden-Württemberg mit 24, 5 Prozent im Bundesvergleich überdurchschnittlich gestiegen. Dabei weisen alle baden-württembergischen Kreise ein positives Beschäftigungswachstum auf, die Dynamik variiert aber erheblich zwischen den Regionen. Auch die Effekte unterschiedlicher Faktoren, die die Beschäftigungsentwicklung beeinflussen, unterschieden sich sowohl in ihrer Stärke als auch in ihrem Vorzeichen über die Regionen hinweg. Die Analyse hat ergeben, dass die lokale Branchen- und Qualifikationsstruktur die Beschäftigungsentwicklung in Baden-Württemberg etwas gedämpft haben. Auch die Betriebsgrößenstruktur hat sich ungünstig ausgewirkt. Dagegen sind die Standortbedingungen und die Altersstruktur der Beschäftigten mit deutlich positiven Impulsen für die Arbeitsnachfrage verbunden. Insgesamt zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass Baden-Württemberg trotz der vergleichsweise guten Beschäftigungsentwicklung in der Vergangenheit vor besonderen Herausforderungen steht. Diese bestehen beispielsweise in der Transformation der für Baden-Württemberg zentralen Industrien und der Notwendigkeit, weitere Wachstumsimpulse für die Beschäftigung zu generieren. Die Voraussetzungen sind angesichts der Forschungsstärke im Land gegeben. Aber auch die bislang noch günstig wirkenden demografischen Einflüsse sind kein Selbstläufer. Hier gilt es die Voraussetzungen dafür zu schaffen, das im Land vorhandene Fachkräftepotenzial noch besser zu nutzen und mehr Arbeitskräfte als zuletzt sowohl aus dem In- als auch Ausland dazuzugewinnen." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku) |
| Keywords: | Baden-Württemberg ; Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Auswirkungen ; Beschäftigungsentwicklung ; Betriebsgröße ; demografischer Wandel ; IAB-Beschäftigtenhistorik ; IAB-Betriebs-Historik-Panel ; Landkreis ; Altersstruktur ; Qualifikationsstruktur ; regionale Faktoren ; regionaler Arbeitsmarkt ; regionaler Vergleich ; Stadt ; Standortfaktoren ; Arbeitskräftestruktur ; Wirtschaftsstruktur ; 1999-2023 |
| Date: | 2026–06–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabrbw:202601 |
| By: | Rrukaj, Ritvana; Steen, Frode |
| Abstract: | Estimating non-linear autoregressive distributed lag models, we establish that short-run cost pass-through in the Swedish retail gasoline market depends on station heterogeneity. Our findings reveal a slower correction of the disequilibrium error in volume-adjusted prices compared to average pump prices. We also show that high volume stations possess longer price asymmetry. Our findings thus support that oil companies are more focused on pricing on days and at stations with higher sales, suggesting that earlier studies of pass-through using average prices underestimate the price asymmetry. Further, gasoline stations less exposed to local competition impose more prolonged price asymmetry. This is also true for full-service stations as compared to automated self-service stations. We show that the asymmetry, despite indicating only roughly three percent rise in consumer prices, accounts for nearly 40% of firms’ gross margins, carrying significant implications for market regulation and business strategies. |
| Keywords: | Gasoline markets; asymmetric short- and long-run cost pass-through; Station heterogeneity; Volume-adjusted prices; market power |
| JEL: | C12 C13 F14 L11 L71 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20876 |
| By: | Hansen, Casper Worm; Jensen, Peter Sandholdt |
| Abstract: | We study how institutional constraints on executive selection shape redistributive policy, using a 1919 Danish reform that allowed town councils to democratically elect mayors. While the reform applied uniformly across towns, it made left-wing executive control politically feasible for the first time, particularly in towns with stronger prior support for the Social Democratic party. Exploiting predetermined Social Democratic vote shares from the 1917 election interacted with the post-reform period, we identify the causal effect of Social Democratic executive control on local public finance. We show that Social Democratic mayors substantially increased social spending, especially on poor relief and public assistance, with these expansions financed primarily through higher direct taxes. We find no robust evidence that these policies reduced local economic activity. The results highlight how removing institutional constraints on executive selection can translate latent voter preferences into concrete redistributive policy outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Democratization; Redistribution |
| JEL: | H53 H71 N44 O43 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21047 |
| By: | Andrey Malenko; Nadya Malenko; Anton Tsoy |
| Abstract: | The asset management industry is increasingly shifting toward tailored portfolios, fund proliferation, and decentralization of stewardship—trends partly driven by growing heterogeneity in investor preferences. While these developments better align investment products with investor demands, they also reshape ownership structures, potentially leading to more fragmented ownership and weaker managerial oversight. We develop a framework to evaluate these trade-offs and show that fund proliferation does not necessarily weaken governance: Stronger incentives for asset managers and concentrated portfolios of specialized funds can offset these effects, especially when investor preferences are intense. However, strong investor preferences can also induce asset managers to compete on a new margin—granting investors control by decentralizing stewardship and adopting pass-through voting—without internalizing the associated governance costs. |
| JEL: | G11 G23 G34 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35388 |
| By: | Belloc, Marianna |
| Abstract: | By revisiting well-established empirical regularities, this paper examines the distributional properties of city sizes in Italy over the period 2001-2024. Three main findings emerge. First, when considering the full population of approximately 7, 900 municipalities, city sizes are well approximated by a lognormal distribution. Second, consistent with Gibrat’s law, city population growth rates appear to be independent of initial city size. Third, the upper tail of the distribution follows Zipf’s law, although the results are sensitive to the choice of truncation threshold. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to urban dynamics and the organization of the Italian urban system. |
| JEL: | C46 J10 R12 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20989 |
| By: | Baslandze, Salomé; Vardishvili, Ia |
| Abstract: | Large productivity differences across firms reflect substantial ex-ante heterogeneity at entry, yet the origins of this heterogeneity remain poorly understood. This paper shows that innovating spinouts—firms formed by inventors leaving incumbent innovators—are a key endogenous source of high-growth entrepreneurship and aggregate productivity growth. Using inventor mobility in patent data, we document that spinouts systematically outperform other entrants throughout their life cycle, their performance is strongly linked to parent-firm technological strength, and their formation temporarily depresses parent-firm innovation. We develop a Schumpeterian growth model that endogenizes spinout formation and the fundamental tradeoff between knowledge diffusion, creative destruction, and appropriability. Closely disciplined by rich microlevel data, the model implies that spinouts account for a disproportionate share of high-growth firms and nearly forty percent of aggregate productivity growth, but that inventor departures also impose sizable costs on incumbents, generating a fundamental policy tradeoff. Policy counterfactuals show that relaxing non-compete restrictions raises aggregate growth and welfare and amplifies the effectiveness of entry subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | O30 O43 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21016 |
| By: | Loschiavo, David; Armantier, Olivier; Dalla-Zuanna, Antonio; Gambacorta, Leonardo; Moscatelli, Mirko; Supino, Ilaria |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the household adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the United States and Italy, leveraging survey data to compare usage patterns, demographic influences, and employment sectoral composition effects. Our findings reveal higher adoption rates in the US, driven by socio-demographic differences between the two countries. Despite their lower usage of GenAI, Italians are more confident in its potential to improve their well-being and financial situation. Both Italian and US users tend to trust GenAI tools less than humanoperated services, but Italians report greater relative trust in government and institutions when handling personal data with GenAI tools. |
| Keywords: | Generative AI; Technology adoption; Cross-country comparisons; Socio-demographic factors; Trust in technology; Cultural attitudes |
| JEL: | O33 D10 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21083 |
| By: | Mary-Frances Styczynski |
| Abstract: | Retail sweeps emerged in the 1990s as a way for depository institutions (DIs) to reduce the cost of satisfying federally mandated reserve requirements. Retail sweeps grew, even as the cost of satisfying reserve requirements was minimized with the beginning of interest on reserves in 2008. |
| Date: | 2026–06–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:103450 |
| By: | Unterguggenberger Mara; Dreoni Ilda (European Commission - JRC); Klenert David (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Carbon pricing policies are often met with resistance from parts of the public, even if they are designed with efficiency and fairness in mind. To understand in more depth what the policy design characteristics of carbon price policies are that increase public acceptability, we perform a systematic literature review. We use a dual-stage screening process to systematically review both peer-reviewed and grey literature. Out of the 431 initial search results we selected 23 papers, comprising 38 survey samples with approximately 60, 000 participants from 17 countries. 58% of them examine revenue redistribution strategies and 30% assess the impact of carbon price levels, which cover a wide range of prices. We find that revenue redistribution mechanisms in general exhibit the largest proportion of increased acceptability. In particular, monetary redistribution schemes, such as cash transfers or tax cuts, as well as green public investment, are identified as having a positive effect on the acceptability of carbon pricing policies. Further, we highlight factors that are relevant for public support but are currently under-explored, such as policy transparency, timing of redistribution and administrative scale of implementation. Also, geographical coverage remains uneven, with 73% of samples drawn from North America and Europe, and Germany alone accounting for 31%, underscoring the need for broader regional representation in future research. |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:taxref:202609 |