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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Esther Mirjam Girsberger (Economics Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney); Romuald Meango (Max-Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich); Hillel Rapoport (Paris School of Economics, Universit´e Paris 1 Panth´eon-Sorbonne; CEPII; IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of regional migration on average wages and wage inequality in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). We exploit a unique data from a unified labour force household survey which covers natives and migrants in the seven economic capitals of the region. We estimate the counterfactual wage distributions of UEMOA migrants in absence of migration to evaluate the effect of regional migration. We find that regional migration increases the average wage by 1.8% and it entails a decrease in inequality in the UEMOA region between -1.5% (for the Gini coefficient) and -4.5% (for the interquartile ratio). The decrease in inequality in the UEMOA region is driven by a reduction in inequality between countries, while the migration effect on within-inequality differs across countries and remains overall small. When accounting for possible general equilibrium effects of migration on stayers’ wages, we find a similar or even stronger decrease in inequality, yet a smaller increase in the average wage. With general equilibrium effects, (negatively-) intermediately selected UEMOA migrants depress the average wage of natives in their host country and lead to a slight increase of the average wage among natives in the sending country, with the former effect dominating. Moreover, regional migration in the UEMOA mostly flows from countries with low wages to countries with higher wages. In combination with the general equilibrium effects described above this leads to a larger decrease in between-country inequality than in a setting with exogenous wages. |
| Keywords: | Migration; inequality; Gini index; West Africa |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2019–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uts:ecowps:57&r=all |
| By: | Rannveig K. Hart; Synøve N. Andersen; Nina Drange (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Long paternity leaves have the potential for lasting effects on parental unions, potentially reducing specialization and increasing union stability and fertility. We put these hypotheses to a causal test, using an extension of the Norwegian parental leave father's quota from 6 to 10 weeks as a source of exogenous variation in fathers' leave uptake. We implement a Regression Discontinuity design, using full population data from Norwegian administrative registers of parents of children in a four-month window around the reform (N = 9 757). The reform significantly increased the amount of leave taken by fathers by about three weeks and reduced the amount of leave taken by mothers. Neither union stability, fertility nor his or her subsequent earnings were affected by the reform. |
| Keywords: | Union dissolution; father involvement; quasi experiment |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:899&r=all |
| By: | Brown, J. David (U.S. Census Bureau); Earle, John S. (George Mason University); Kim, Mee Jung (George Mason University); Lee, Kyung Min (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate differences in innovation behavior between foreign versus U.S.-born entrepreneurs in high-tech industries. Our data come from the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, a random sample of firms with detailed information on owner characteristics and innovation activities. We find uniformly higher rates of innovation in immigrant-owned firms for 15 of 16 different innovation measures; the only exception is for copyright/trademark. The immigrant advantage holds for older firms as well as for recent start-ups and for every level of the entrepreneur's education. The size of the estimated immigrant-native differences in product and process innovation activities rises with detailed controls for demographic and human capital characteristics but falls for R&D and patenting. Controlling for finance, motivations, and industry reduces all coefficients, but for most measures and specifications immigrants are estimated to have a sizable advantage in innovation. |
| Keywords: | immigration, entrepreneur, innovation, high-tech, patent |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J60 J61 L26 O15 O30 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12190&r=all |
| By: | Shiue, Carol Hua |
| Abstract: | Abstract Does inequality within the family play a significant role in explaining mobility patterns from one generation to the next? This paper exploits temporal changes in mobility over approximately 20 generations and six centuries to shed light on the sources of social mobility. Socioeconomic data on status and links at the individual level come from historical biographies of seven extended families (dynasties as based on the male surname) who lived in one region in China. The analysis documents a trend towards greater social mobility over time. Times of greater inequality between fathers, especially educational inequality, are times of lower social mobility. Moreover, geographic location strengthens the role of inequality for social mobility. Decomposing inequality into between versus within-dynasty components, however, shows that not all inequality is associated with persistence. While inequality between dynasties is conducive to persistence, inequality witin the dynasty is associated with higher mobility, and this is true both upward and downward. Furthermore, among members of even closer kin in the dynasty, the positive relationship of inequality and mobility is stronger still. The results are robust to alternative measures of mobility, inequality, and definitions of status. |
| JEL: | D31 J62 N35 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13589&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Cahuc (Département d'économie); Sandra Nevoux (Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the reforms which expanded short-time work in France after the great 2008-2009 recession were largely to the benefit of large firms which are recurrent short-time work users. We argue that this expansion of short-time work is an inefficient way to provide insurance to workers, as it entails cross-subsidies which reduce aggregate production. An efficient policy should provide unemployment insurance benefits funded by experience rated employers’ contributions instead of short-time work benefits. We find that short-time work entails significant production losses compared to an unemployment insurance scheme with experience rating. |
| Keywords: | Short-time work; Unemployment insurance; Experience rating |
| JEL: | J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/68ufmnnh3j9vmblf03huqt18qe&r=all |
| By: | Ager, Philipp; Herz, Benedikt |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new insights on the relationship between structural change and the fertility transition. We exploit the spread of an agricultural pest in the American South in the 1890s as plausibly exogenous variation in agricultural production to establish a causal link between earnings opportunities in agriculture and fertility. Households staying in agriculture reduced fertility because children are a normal good, while households switching to manufacturing reduced fertility because of the higher opportunity costs of raising children. The lower earnings opportunities in agriculture also decreased the value of child labor which increased schooling, consistent with a quantity-quality model of fertility. |
| Keywords: | Fertility Transition, Structural Change, Industrialization, Agricultural Income |
| JEL: | J13 N31 O14 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92883&r=all |
| By: | Almås, Ingvild (IIES, Stockholm University); Kotsadam, Andreas (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Moen, Espen R. (Norwegian Business School (BI)); Røed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Partner selection is a vital feature of human behavior with important consequences for individuals, families, and society. Hypergamy occurs when a husband’s earning capacity systematically exceeds that of his wife. We provide a theoretical framework that rationalizes hypergamy even in the absence of gender differences in the distribution of earnings capacity. Using parental earnings rank, a predetermined measure of earnings capacity that solves the simultaneity problem of matching affecting earnings outcomes, we show that hypergamy is an important feature of Norwegian mating patterns. A vignette experiment identifies gender differences in preferences that can explain the observed patterns. |
| Keywords: | marriage, gender identity, labor supply, household specialization |
| JEL: | J12 D10 J22 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12185&r=all |
| By: | Feng, Shuaizhang (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics); Guo, Naijia (Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of state-owned enterprises on the dynamics of the Chinese urban labor market. Using longitudinal monthly panel data, we document very low dynamics in the labor market, especially in the state sector. We develop and calibrate an equilibrium search and matching model with three differences between the state and the non-state sector: labor productivity, labor adjustment cost, and workers' bargaining power. Counterfactual analysis shows that the lack of dynamics is mainly driven by the strong bargaining power of state-sector workers. Eliminating the differences between the two sectors substantially reduces the unemployment rate and long-term unemployment rate. |
| Keywords: | state sector, labor market dynamics, search and matching, China, long-term unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 J45 P23 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12170&r=all |
| By: | Timothy K.M. Beatty; Marianne P. Bitler; Xinzhe Huang Cheng; Cynthia van der Werf |
| Abstract: | It is well documented that individuals do not spend SNAP benefits smoothly over the month after receipt. Rather, recipients spend a disproportionate share of benefits at the beginning of the benefit month. This has costs for recipients and stores. There is also evidence that other income streams, such as Social Security and paychecks, are not spent smoothly. The presence of these other income streams may bias estimates of the effects of this SNAP cycle on consumption for working SNAP beneficiaries and those who receive other government benefits. We use data from USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey to explore how the SNAP cycle is affected by accounting for these other income streams. We find suggestive evidence that the cycle is more pronounced for workers who are paid on a weekly or monthly basis, but little evidence that cycles in other income streams mitigate or exacerbate the SNAP cycle. |
| JEL: | H53 I38 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25635&r=all |
| By: | Sergio Pinto (University of Maryland); Carol Graham (The Brookings Institution) |
| Abstract: | The global economy is full of paradoxes. Despite progress in technology, reducing poverty, and increasing life expectancy, the poorest states lag behind, and there is increasing inequality and anomie in the wealthiest ones. A key driver of such unhappiness in advanced countries is the decline in the status and wages of low-skilled labor. A related feature is the increase in prime-aged males (and to a lesser extent women) simply dropping out of the labor force, particularly in the U.S. This same group is over-represented in the “deaths of despair.” There is frustration among this same cohort in Europe and it is reflected in voting trends in both contexts. Prime-aged males out of the labor force in the U.S. are the least hopeful and most stressed and angry compared to the same group in other regions, including the Middle East. Our aim is to better understand this cohort as part of a broader need to rethink our growth models and to explore policies that encourage the participation of able workers in the new global economy and can provide incentives for community involvement and other forms of engagement for those who can no longer work. |
| Keywords: | well-being, happiness, Inequality, gender, unemployment |
| JEL: | I31 D63 E24 J68 J16 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-016&r=all |
| By: | Gicheva, Dora (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the phenomenon of uncompensated long hours in jobs with pro-social characteristics and presents evidence that long-hour wage premiums and occupational social value are substitutes in compensating salaried workers who supply hours exceeding the standard workweek. I show that the social value of an occupation, in particular the degree to which jobs involve helping or providing service to others, is inversely related to long-hour pay. Allowing for heterogeneity in the degree to which workers value their job's helping orientation allows me to explore how gender differences in employees' attitudes toward pro-social behavior can explain some of the observed occupational sorting trends and gender differences in long-hour compensation. Women tend to be more strongly drawn to "helping" occupations and at the same time receive lower long-hour premiums in these jobs relative to men. I offer a theoretical framework to rationalize the empirical trends. |
| Keywords: | job characteristics; return to long hours; occupational choice; gender differences; |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2019–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2019_005&r=all |
| By: | Carlino, Gerald A. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Salz, Albert (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Modern urban economic theory and policymakers are coming to see the provision of consumer-leisure amenities as a way to attract population, especially the highly skilled and their employers. However, past studies have arguably only provided indirect evidence of the importance of leisure amenities for urban development. In this paper, we propose and validate the number of tourist trips and the number of crowdsourced picturesque locations as measures of consumer revealed preferences for local lifestyle amenities. Urban population growth in the 1990-2010 period was about 10 percentage points (about one standard deviation) higher in a metro area that was perceived as twice more picturesque. This measure ties with low taxes as the most important predictor of urban population growth. “Beautiful cities” disproportionally attracted highly educated individuals and experienced faster housing price appreciation, especially in supply-inelastic markets. In contrast to the generally declining trend of the American central city, neighborhoods that were close to central recreational districts have experienced economic growth, albeit at the cost of minority displacement |
| Keywords: | Internal migration; amenities; urban population growth |
| JEL: | J11 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:19-16&r=all |
| By: | Suzuki, Ken (Asian Development Bank Institute); Paul, Saumik (Asian Development Bank Institute); Maru, Takeshi (Asian Development Bank Institute); Kusadokoro, Motoi (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of the recent influx of Syrian refugees on the Turkish labor market. Exploiting this natural experiment, we estimated the causal impacts of involuntary migration on labor market outcomes. We selected the five refugee-hosting regions with the highest number of refugees as treatment regions and four comparable regions with a low refugee-to-population ratio as control regions. Using a difference-in-differences estimation, we found that informal Turkish workers in the refugee-hosting regions were about 4% more likely to leave their job than workers in regions that did not widely host refugees. Such negative impacts on labor market outcomes became larger in 2014–2015 compared with 2012–2013. Furthermore, while females and older workers withdrew themselves from the labor market, males and younger workers become unemployed after the refugee influx. |
| Keywords: | refugee; migration; Syria; Turkey; difference-in-differences estimation |
| JEL: | F22 J00 |
| Date: | 2019–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0935&r=all |