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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Halla, Martin (University of Linz); Schmieder, Julia (DIW Berlin); Weber, Andrea (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | We study interdependencies in spousal labor supply and the effectiveness of intrahousehold insurance in a sample of married couples, where the husband loses his job due to a mass layoff or plant closure using data from the Austrian Social Security Database. We show that in our sample of relatively young couples the shock hits households at crucial stages of family formation, which requires careful modeling of the wives' counterfactual lifecycle labor market patterns. In our empirical analysis, we propose three independent control groups of unaffected households to identify the causal effects of husbands' displacement on wives' labor supply. Our empirical results show that husbands suffer large and persistent employment and earnings losses over the first 5 years after displacement. But wives' labor supply increases only moderately and they respond predominantly at the extensive margin. The implied participation elasticity with respect to the husband's earnings shock is very small, about -0:04. While the wives' earnings gains recover only a tiny fraction of the household income loss, public transfers and taxes are a more important insurance at least in the short run. In terms of non-labor market related outcomes, we find a small positive effect on the probability of divorce, but no effect of the husband's job displacement on fertility. The presence and ages of children in the household are crucial determinants of the wife's labor supply response. The most responsive group are mothers, who are planning to return to the labor market after a maternity break, while mothers of very young children or wives without children remain unresponsive. We thus conclude that Austria's strong gender identity norms are an explanation for the limited scope of intra-household insurance. |
| Keywords: | firm events, household labor supply, intra-household insurance, added worker effect |
| JEL: | D19 J22 J65 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11752&r=lab |
| By: | Andreas Leibbrandt; John A. List |
| Abstract: | Labor force composition and the allocation of talent remain of vital import to modern economies. For their part, governments and companies around the globe have implemented equal employment opportunity (EEO) regulations to influence labor market flows. Even though such regulations are pervasive, surprisingly little is known about their impacts. We use a natural field experiment conducted across 10 U.S. cities to investigate if EEO statements in job advertisements affect the first step in the employment process, application rates. Making use of data from nearly 2,500 job seekers, we find considerable policy effects, but in an unexpected direction: the presence of an EEO statement dampens rather than encourages racial minorities’ willingness to apply for jobs. Importantly, the effects are particularly pronounced for educated job seekers and in cities with white majority populations. Complementary survey evidence suggests the underlying mechanism at work is “tokenism”, revealing that EEO statements backfire because racial minorities avoid environments in which they are perceived as regulatory, or symbolic, hires rather than being hired on their own merits. Beyond their practical and theoretical importance, our results highlight how field experiments can significantly improve policymaking. In this case, if one goal of EEO regulations is to enhance the pool of minority applicants, then it is not working. |
| JEL: | C93 J71 J82 J88 K31 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25035&r=lab |
| By: | Hammarstedt, Mats (Linnaeus University Centre for Discrimination and Integration Studies); Miao, Chizheng (Linnaeus University Centre for Discrimination and Integration Studies) |
| Abstract: | We present a study of immigrant self-employment in Sweden using the recent matched employer-employee data from 2014. We find large variations in self-employment rates among immigrant groups as well as between immigrants with different points for their time immigration to Sweden. High self-employment rates are found for male immigrants from the Middle East. Immigrants are less likely than natives to have employees in their firms but after controlling for firm characteristics we find that self-employed immigrants are more likely than self-employed natives to have employees. Especially non-European immigrants are more likely than natives to employ other immigrants, and even non-European and recently arrived immigrants, in their firms. Immigrants are more likely than natives to hire their spouses as employees. We conclude that self-employed immigrants play a role in the labour market integration of other immigrants. We also conclude that the family plays a central role for self-employment activities among immigrants and that more knowledge regarding the explanations behind the results is needed. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; Immigrants; Employment; Employees; Sweden |
| JEL: | F22 J21 J61 L26 |
| Date: | 2018–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1235&r=lab |
| By: | Amrit Amirapu; M Niaz Asadullah; Zaki Wahhaj |
| Abstract: | Traditional gender norms can restrict independent migration by women, thus preventing them from taking advantage of economic opportunities in urban non-agricultural industries. However, women may be able to circumvent such restrictions by using marriage to engage in long-distance migration - if they are wealthy enough to match with the desirable migrating grooms. Guided by a model in which women make marriage and migration decisions jointly, we hypothesize that marriage and labour markets will be inextricably linked by the possibility of marital migration. To test our hypotheses, we use the event of the construction of a major bridge in Bangladesh - which dramatically reduced travel time between the economically deprived north-western region and the industrial belt located around the capital city Dhaka - as a source of plausibly exogenous variation in migration costs. In accordance with our model's predictions, we find that the bridge construction induced marriage-related migration (not economic migration) among rural women, but only for those women coming from families above a poverty threshold. |
| Keywords: | migration; marriage markets; female labour force participation; gender norms |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J61 O18 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1810&r=lab |
| By: | Cottier, Lionel (University of Lausanne); Flückiger, Yves (University of Geneva); Kempeneers, Pierre (University of Geneva); Lalive, Rafael (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | We study how job search assistance (JSA) affects employment in a randomized pilot study with long run administrative data. JSA increases employment in the first year after assignment. In the second year, when most job seekers have left JSA, the employment gains evaporate, and even turn into losses in the third year. This sinusoidal pattern is consistent with job finding and employment loss transitions. Job seekers assigned to JSA find employment faster but, once employed, also lose employment faster, especially once eligible for new unemployment benefits. Job seekers assigned to JSA have similar types of contracts and re-employment earnings, but somewhat worse positions in the firm and are more likely to have a part time job. |
| Keywords: | job placement, long term unemployment, job loss, job search assistance, active labor market policy |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11766&r=lab |
| By: | Erixon, Lennart (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | The Stockholm-school member Erik Lundberg is the economist who devoted most attention to the economic theory and policy of the Swedish postwar model. The established view is that Lundberg was a steadfast opponent of the so-called Rehn- Meidner model, an economic and wage policy program developed by two Swedish trade-union economists in the early postwar years. The model recommends fiscal policies in the medium term, extensive labor market programs and wage policies of solidarity to simultaneously obtain price stability, full employment, income equality and high growth. This article maintains that Lundberg shared many of the premises of the Rehn-Meidner model already at the beginning of his debate with Gösta Rehn in the early 1950s. Furthermore, in their debate, Lundberg approached Rehn’s policy program and underlying theory of the working of the Swedish economy. Despite his ideological qualms, Lundberg’s ambiguous attitude to the Rehn-Meidner model turned into a complete adoption of the model in the 1960s. By highlighting the innovative nature of the Rehn-Meidner theory, Lundberg also correctly downplayed the impact of the Stockholm School. |
| Keywords: | Swedish model; Rehn-Meidner model; Stockholm School; Economic policy; Wage policy of solidarity; Labor-market policy |
| JEL: | B25 E31 E62 J23 J61 O43 |
| Date: | 2018–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2018_0004&r=lab |
| By: | Pacifico, Daniele (OECD); Browne, James (OECD); Fernandez, Rodrigo (OECD); Immervoll, Herwig (OECD); Neumann, Dirk (OECD); Thévenot, Céline (OECD) |
| Abstract: | In the aftermath of the financial and economic crisis, large shares of working-age individuals in Italy either did not work or only to a limited extent. As the employment rate bottomed out in 2013, 32% were without employment during the entire year, and a further 7% had weak labour-market attachment, working only a fraction of the year, or on restricted working hours. This paper applies a novel method for measuring and visualising employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data. It first develops indicators to quantify employment obstacles under three broad headings: (i) work-related capabilities, (ii) incentives, and (iii) employment opportunities. It then uses these indicators in conjunction with a statistical clustering approach to identify unobserved ("latent") groups of individuals facing similar combinations of barriers. The resulting typology of labour-market difficulties provides insights on the most pressing policy priorities in supporting different groups into employment. A detailed policy discussion illustrates the use of these empirical results to inform people-centred assessments of existing labour-market integration measures and of key challenges across different policy areas and institutions. The most common employment obstacles in Italy were limited work experience, low education and skill levels, and scarce job opportunities. Although financial disincentives, health limitations and care responsibilities were less widespread overall, they remained important barriers for some groups. A striking finding is that more than half of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of narrow policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation. |
| Keywords: | employment barriers, profiling, activation, policy coordination |
| JEL: | C38 H31 J2 J6 J8 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11768&r=lab |
| By: | Omoniyi Alimi (Waikato University); David C Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Jacques Poot (Vrije Universiteit and University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Educational assortative matching among couples, i.e. the phenomenon whereby the high-educated have partners who are also high-educated, has gained attention in popular media and academic research as a driver of recent changes in the distribution of household income. We examine the effect of educational assortative matching on the distribution of household income in New Zealand - a country which has experienced rising inequality, increased educational attainment and a relatively low, and falling, wage premium for higher levels of education. Using data from the 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2013 Census of Population and Dwellings and a counterfactual randomisation methodology that accounts for secular changes in the educational distribution, we find that educational assortative matching has increased but, contrary to some evidence overseas, this increase was driven by increased matching in the middle of the educational distribution. Spatially, we find higher and increasing levels of educational assortative matching in metropolitan areas compared to non-metropolitan areas where assortative matching was lower and decreasing. We find that educational assortative matching has had an inequality-increasing impact on the distribution of income, especially for the full-time employed – for whom the matching impact is around 20 percent of the Mean Log Deviation measure of inequality. Additionally, sorting on observable characteristics such as age and location (with the higher educated being disproportionally attracted to the metropolitan areas) are also inequality-increasing and sorting on unobservable characteristics that impact on income can play an important role as well. |
| Keywords: | Assortative matching, inequality |
| JEL: | D31 J12 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:18_13&r=lab |
| By: | Iva Tomic (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb); Ivan Zilic (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate the effects of active labor market policy (ALMP) reform, the so-called SOR measure (vocational training for work without commencing employment), on labor market outcomes in Croatia. In 2012 SOR was redesigned to ease the first labor market entry and promote on-the-job training, enabling a young person without relevant work experience to get a one-year contract and a net monthly remuneration of 210 euro. The measure soon became popular, especially among university graduates, accounting for around third of their unemployment exits, and absorbing two thirds of funds allocated to ALMPs. Pooling Croatian Labor Force Surveys from 2007-2016 and using difference-in-difference strategy, we estimate the causal intent-to-treat effect of the reform on labor market outcomes of the potentially eligible group: 18-29-year-olds. Results indicate that the reform has had, at best, neutral effects on employment and unemployment; moreover, we find some evidence that a portion of young individuals were propelled into inactivity. However, we do find an adverse effect on wages-driven mostly by wages received by females and university graduates-both at the mean and higher percentiles of the wage distribution. This research provides insights on effectiveness of ALMPs in ameliorating youth unemployment in Europe, and opens questions on the appropriateness of the use of European Union funds in new EU member states. |
| Keywords: | ALMP, evaluation, labor market outcomes, traineeship reform, youth unemployment |
| JEL: | J08 J31 J41 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iez:wpaper:1804&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandra M. de Pleijt (University of Oxford, Department of Economics); Jan Luiten van Zanden (Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | It is generally acknowledged that the degree to which women participate in labour markets and how they are remunerated are important determinants of female autonomy that may also affect their demographic behaviour. Such links have been discussed in the literature about the “European Marriage Pattern” (EMP). In order to bring about the conditions for female autonomy of the EMP (in which women have a large say in the decision when and with whom they marry), women should have had access to the labour market and have earned a decent wage. This is clearly affected by the gender wage gap and the possibility that women earn their own living and have the option to remain single. But so far no attempt has been made to compare the wages of women across Europe over the long run. In this paper we therefore provide evidence on the wages of unskilled women for seven European countries between 1300 and 1800. Our evidence shows that there were two worlds of female labour. In the South of Europe women earned about 50% of the wage of unskilled male labourers. In the Northern and Western parts of Europe this gap was much smaller during late Medieval Period, but it increased dramatically between about 1500 and 1800. |
| Keywords: | Living standards, labour market, gender inequality, pre-industrial development |
| JEL: | N13 N33 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0138&r=lab |
| By: | Heywood, John S. (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee); O'Mahony, Mary (King's College London); Siebert, W. Stanley (University of Birmingham); Rincon-Aznar, Ana (National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether the job security offered by stricter employment protection legislation (EPL) undermines positive compensating wage differentials that would otherwise be paid. Specifically, we ask whether industries with relatively more need for layoffs and labour flexibility have lower wages in countries where stricter EPL protects workers from layoffs. We find this generally to be true for a large sample of industries in the major OECD countries over 1984-2005, particularly for wages of unskilled workers. However, we also find that where workers are well organised, they can take advantage of EPL to secure higher wages. |
| Keywords: | employment protection legislation, labour regulation, compensating wage differentials, education and inequality, labour organisation, layoffs |
| JEL: | I24 J31 J41 J50 J63 J83 K31 L51 M50 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11788&r=lab |
| By: | Bratsberg, Bernt (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Markussen, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Raaum, Oddbjørn (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Røed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Røgeberg, Ole J. (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Fertility patterns and assortative mating help shape the level and the distribution of offspring outcomes. Increased assortative mating among the less educated has been reported across Western nations, suggesting that inequality in parental resources may be on the rise. In times of rising attainment, we argue that it is difficult to interpret trends in educational assortative mating as they can arise from change in sorting into education as much as from change in sorting into partnerships. Using rank measures of parental resources that have constant marginal distributions, we uncover evidence of declining assortative mating over the last 30 years in Norway. We also find an increasingly positive selection into parenthood. Estimating the contribution of parental resources to offspring outcomes, we show that recent trends in mating have caused a small rise in average offspring education and earnings as well as a decline in offspring inequality. |
| Keywords: | assortative mating, homogamy, intergenerational mobility, inequality |
| JEL: | J12 J24 J62 D63 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11753&r=lab |
| By: | Lang, Julia (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Proficiency in the host country's language is an important factor for a successful labor market integration of immigrants. In this study we analyze the effects of a language training program for professional purposes on the employment opportunities of the participants. We apply an instrumental variable approach and exploit differences in the local training intensities to deal with the problem of unobserved language skills in the data. Our results show that not taking into account endogeneity of language training leads to an underestimation of the effects. Bivariate probit estimates show that language training increases the employment probability of individuals with migration background who participated in 2014 by approximately seven percentage points two years after program start." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | C26 J24 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2018–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201821&r=lab |
| By: | Hergovich, Philipp (Vienna Graduate School of Economics); Merz, Monika (University of Vienna) |
| Abstract: | The capital-to-labor ratio has steadily risen in the U.S. and elsewhere during the post-WWII period. Since the 1970s this rise has been accompanied by a rise in the level and variability of corporate profits whereas the labor share of income has declined. In this paper we ask whether these trends are related in that they can be explained by a common determinant such as the observed decline in the relative price of new capital goods, or the change in production technology towards in- creased factor substitutability. We use a dynamic stochastic equilibrium model of competitive search in the labor market augmented by a CES production function that allows firms to substitute between capital and labor at varying degrees. By assumption, firms can adjust capital more easily than labor. Profits arise from rents paid to quasi-fixed factors of production. We find that the declining relative price of capital and the increase in factor substitutability each causes the capital-to-labor ratio and the level and volatility of corporate profits to rise, but only increased factor substitutability generates the observed decrease in the labor share of income. |
| Keywords: | factor substitutability, quasi-fixed production factor, competitive search, profits |
| JEL: | E24 G32 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11791&r=lab |
| By: | Andri Chassamboulli; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the economic effects of changing immigration policies in a realistic institutional set-up, using a search model calibrated to the migrant flows between the US and the rest of the world. We explicitly differentiate among the most relevant channels of entry of immigrants to the US: family-based, employment-based and undocumented. Moreover we explicitly account for earning incentives to migrate and for the role of immigrant networks in generating job-related and family-related immigration opportunities. Hence, we can analyze the effect of policy changes in each channel, accounting for the response of immigrants in general equilibrium. We find that all types of immigrants generate higher surplus for US firms relative to natives, hence restricting their entry has a depressing effect on job creation and, in turn, on native labor markets. We also show that substituting a family-based entry with an employment-based entry system, and maintaining the total inflow of immigrants unchanged, job creation and natives' income increase. |
| JEL: | E24 F22 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25074&r=lab |
| By: | Gaetano Basso; Francesco D'Amuri; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | We analyze the role of labor mobility in cushioning labor demand shocks in the Euro Area. We find that foreign born workers’ mobility is strongly cyclical, while this is not the case for natives. Foreigners’ higher population to employment elasticity reduces the variation of overall employment rates over the business cycle: thanks to them, the impact of a one standard deviation change in employment on employment rates decreases by 6 per cent at the country level and by 7 per cent at the regional level. Additionally, we compare Euro Area mobility to that of another currency union, the US. We find that the population to employment elasticity estimated for foreign-born persons is similar in the Euro Area and the US, while EA natives are definitely less mobile across countries than US natives are across states in response to labor demand shocks. This last result confirms that in the Euro Area there is room for improving country specific shocks absorption through higher labor mobility. It also suggests that immigration helped labor market adjustments. |
| JEL: | E32 F22 J6 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25091&r=lab |
| By: | Nicholas W. Papageorge; Kevin Thom |
| Abstract: | Recent advances have led to the discovery of specific genetic variants that predict educational attainment. We study how these variants, summarized as a linear index — known as a polygenic score — are associated with human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We present two main sets of results. First, we find evidence that the genetic factors measured by this score interact strongly with childhood socioeconomic status in determining educational outcomes. In particular, while the polygenic score predicts higher rates of college graduation on average, this relationship is substantially stronger for individuals who grew up in households with higher socioeconomic status relative to those who grew up in poorer households. Second, the polygenic score predicts labor earnings even after adjusting for completed education, with larger returns in more recent decades. These patterns suggest that the genetic traits that promote education might allow workers to better accommodate ongoing skill biased technological change. Consistent with this interpretation, we find a positive association between the polygenic score and non-routine analytic tasks that have benefited from the introduction of new technologies. Nonetheless, the college premium remains the dominant determinant of earnings differences at all levels of the polygenic score. Given the role of childhood SES in predicting college attainment, this raises concerns about wasted potential arising from limited household resources. |
| JEL: | I10 I24 J01 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25114&r=lab |
| By: | Stefano Fusaro (Universitat de Barcelona & AQR-IREA.); Enrique López-Bazo (Universitat de Barcelona & AQR-IREA.) |
| Abstract: | Whether host countries economically benefit or not from immigration is a longstanding debate. In this paper, by taking advantage of the consistent variation of foreign-born workers' settlements across local labor market, we investigate the impact of immigration on native employment in Italy over the period 2009-2017. Both the country and the time span considered represent an interesting novelty that adds a further piece of evidence to the existing literature. Despite the fact that immigration has recently become a major issue, the studies on the impact of immigration into Italy are indeed relatively scarce. In addition, the peculiar institutional framework of Italy, that plays a crucial role in the extent to which local labor markets are able to absorb immigration-induced supply shocks, makes this analysis particularly relevant. Likewise, the period analyzed is of extreme interest since it is characterized by the combination of the economic downturn and by an unprecedented increase of the migratory in inflows. Overall, the results contradict the belief that immigrants \take away jobs from natives" and present a scenario in which foreign-born workers have an average negligible impact on native employment opportunities. Consistently with the canonical model of immigration however, when distinguishing the native population by education levels, the results indicate a positive impact on high-educated natives and a strong negative one on low-educated. Nevertheless, after controlling for immigrants’ “skill-downgrading” and for natives' over-education,the negative impact estimated for the latter experiences a consistent reduction. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Employment; Local Labor Markets; Shift-Share;Bartik Instrument; Italian Provinces. JEL classification:J15; J61; R23. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201822&r=lab |
| By: | Denzer, Manuel (University of Mainz); Schank, Thorsten (University of Mainz); Upward, Richard (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of household access to the internet on job finding rates in Germany during a period (2006-2009) in which internet access increased rapidly, and job-seekers increased their use of the internet as a search tool. During this period, household access to the internet was almost completely dependent on connection to a particular technology (DSL). We therefore exploit the variation in connection rates across municipalities as an instrument for household access to the internet. OLS estimates which control for differences in individual and local area characteristics suggest a job-finding advantage of about five percentage points. The IV estimates are substantially larger, but much less precisely estimated. However, we cannot reject the hypothesis that, conditional on observables, residential computer access with internet was as good as randomly assigned with respect to the job-finding rate. The hypothesis that residential internet access helped job-seekers find work because of its effect on the job search process is supported by the finding that residential internet access greatly increased the use of the internet as a search method. We find some evidence that household access to the internet reduced the use of traditional job search methods, but this effect is outweighed by the increase in internet-based search methods. |
| Keywords: | job search, unemployment, job finding rate, internet, DSL |
| JEL: | J64 C26 L86 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11764&r=lab |
| By: | Källner, Emelie (Department of Industrial Economics and Management, KTH, The Royal Institute of Technology); Nyström, Kristina (The Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the entrepreneurial motivation and idea generation process of displaced employees. The empirical results are based on both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews) data collected from displaced employees who decided to become entrepreneurs after the closure of R&D facilities of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in Lund (2010) and Södertälje (2012), Sweden. The empirical findings show that the previous experience and expertise gained from AstraZeneca greatly influenced the idea generation process. Although the employees were affected by their job displacement, still 70 percent of the entrepreneurial activities could be regarded as opportunity-based, suggesting that many entrepreneurs are driven by a combination of push and pull motives. With regard to the timing of the idea generation process, about one third of the entrepreneurs came up with their business ideas before learning about the facility closures. Hence, in many cases, being affected by the displacement spurred the launch of ideas that already existed. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; firm closure; firm exit; entrepreneurship after displacement; entrepreneurial idea generation |
| JEL: | J63 L26 |
| Date: | 2018–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0311&r=lab |
| By: | Baumberg Geiger, Ben (University of Kent); Böheim, René (University of Linz); Leoni, Thomas (WIFO - Austrian Institute of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Many countries have reduced the generosity of disability benefits while making them more activating – yet few studies have examined how employment rates have subsequently changed. We present estimates of how the employment rates of older workers with poor health in 13 high-income countries changed between 2004-7 and 2012-15 using HRS/SHARE/ELSA data. We find that those in poor health in the USA have experienced a unique deterioration: they have not only seen a widening gap to the employment rates of those with good health, but their employment rates fell per se. We find only for Sweden (and possibly England) signs that the health employment gap shrank. We then examine possible explanations for the development in the USA: we find no evidence it links to labour market trends, but possible links to the USA's lack of disability benefit reform – which should be considered alongside the wider challenges of our findings for policymakers. |
| Keywords: | disability benefits, employment of older workers, health employment gap |
| JEL: | J14 J18 H55 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11769&r=lab |
| By: | Zinovyeva, Natalia (Aalto University); Tverdostup, Maryna (University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | Bertrand, Kamenica and Pan (2015) document that in the U.S. there is a sharp discontinuity to the right of 1/2 in the distribution of households according to the share of income earned by the wife, which they attribute to the existence of a gender identity norm postulating that a wife should earn less than her husband. We propose an alternative explanation for the existence of this discontinuity. We argue that any force that pushes some spouses towards equalizing their earnings, such as family businesses and co-working of spouses, creates a similar discontinuity. Using linked employer-employee data from Finland, we document the existence of a discontinuity of the same magnitude as in the U.S. and show that it can be fully explained by the earnings convergence of spouses who start working together. We also provide evidence suggesting that co-working spouses play an important role in explaining the discontinuity observed in the U.S. |
| Keywords: | co-working spouses, gender identity norms, spouses' relative earnings |
| JEL: | D10 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11757&r=lab |
| By: | Luca Verginer (IMT School for advanced studies); Massimo Riccaboni (IMT School for advanced studies) |
| Abstract: | Global mobility and migration of scientists is an important modern phenomenon with economic and political implications. As scientists become ever more footloose it is important to identify general patterns and regularities at a global scale. At the same time cities, and especially global cities, have become impor- tant loci of economic and scientific activity. Limiting research to international migration, would disregard the importance of local innovation systems. The analysis of the mobility and brain circulation patterns at global scale remains challenging, due to difficulties in obtaining individual level mobility data. In this work we propose a methodology to trace intercity and international mobility through bibliographic records. We reconstruct the intercity and international mobility network of 3.7 Million Life Scientists moving between 9,745 cities. We present several features of the extracted network, offer evidence that the international innovation system is marked by national borders and linguistic similarity and show that international mo- bility largely contributes to the scientific output of national research systems. Moreover we find evidence to suggest that global cities attract highly productive scientist early in their careers. |
| Keywords: | Network Analysis; Scientist Mobility; Brain Circulation; Global Cities; National Innovation Systems |
| JEL: | F22 J61 L65 O18 O15 O30 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ial:wpaper:4/2018&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Andreoli (LISER); Eugenio Peluso (University of Verona) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the literature on neighborhood inequality along both theoretical and empirical lines. We introduce a new neighborhood inequality index (NI) to measure income inequality within individual neighborhoods of varying sizes, and study its normative and statistical properties. The NI index is used in combination with a large database of income distributions defined on a fine-grained geographic scale to study neighborhood inequality in American cities over the last 35 years. Inequality within small individual neighborhoods is found to grow steadily over the period, albeit heterogeneously across cities. We investigate the intergenerational consequences of a rising NI index, exploiting labor market responses to minimum wage regulation as a source of identification. We find that lower neighborhood inequality during childhood makes income mobility for children with a disadvantaged parental background more likely. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, individual neighborhood, geostatistics, census, ACS, intergenerational mobility, divided city, mixed city. |
| JEL: | D31 D63 C21 R23 J62 I14 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2018-477&r=lab |