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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Andri Chassamboulli; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the economic effects of different immigration policies in a model capturing economic and institutional features crucial to understand the migrant flows into the US. We explicitly differentiate among the most relevant channels of immigration 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 through those channels. We find that all types of immigrants generate larger surplus to US firms than natives do. Restricting their entry has a depressing effect on job creation and, in turn, on native labor markets. We also show that substituting family-based entry with employment-based entry, and maintaining the total inflow of immigrants unchanged, produces a stimulus to job creation and native earnings. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Networks, Job creation, Unemployment, Wages |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:06-2019&r=all |
| By: | Kubitza, Christoph; Dib, Jonida Bou; Kopp, Thomas; Krishna, Vijesh V.; Nuryartono, Nunung; Qaim, Matin; Romero, Miriam; Klasen, Stephan |
| Abstract: | Labor saving innovations are essential to increase agricultural productivity, but they might also increase inequality through displacing labor. Empirical evidence on such labor displacements is limited. This study uses representative data at local and national scales to analyze labor market effects of the expansion of oil palm among smallholder farmers in Indonesia. Oil palm is labor-saving in the sense that it requires much less labor per unit of land than alternative crops. The labor market effects depend on how oil-palm-adopting farm households reallocate the saved labor time; either to the off-farm sector or to cultivating additional land. If adopters increase their labor supply to the off-farm sector, employment and wages of rural laborers might decrease. This is especially true for female agricultural laborers, who are often employed in alternative crops but less in oil palm, as their labor productivity in this particular crop is lower than that of men. However, our results suggest that oil palm adoption in Indonesia largely led to the cultivation of additional land, entailing higher agricultural labor demand, especially for men. At the same time, the oil palm boom caused broader rural economic development, providing additional employment opportunities also in the non-agricultural sector, thus absorbing some of the female labor released from agriculture. Overall employment rates did not decrease, neither for men nor for women. While this is good news from economic and social perspectives, the cropland expansion contributes to deforestation with adverse environmental effects. Policies to curb deforestation are needed. Forest conservation policies should go hand-in-hand with measures to further improve rural non-agricultural employment opportunities, to avoid negative socioeconomic effects for poor rural laborers, and women in particular. |
| Keywords: | tree-planting,oil palm,intentions,mediation,Asia |
| JEL: | Q23 R14 J61 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:crc990:26&r=all |
| By: | Hochmuth, Brigitte; Moyen, Stephane; Stähler, Nikolai |
| Abstract: | How do labor market reforms affect international competitiveness and net foreign assets? To answer this question, we build a two-region RBC model with labor market frictions, idiosyncratic consumption risk, and limited cross-sectional heterogeneity to establish a direct link between labor market reforms and changes in net foreign assets via a precautionary savings channel. We apply the model to simulate far-reaching labor market reforms in Germany during the mid-2000s. We find that reducing the generosity of unemployment benefits decreases wages, fosters employment and augments competitiveness as well as trade. In addition, we can explain a significant share of the observed increase in German net foreign assets. A standard representative agent framework is not able to generate any notable effects on net foreign assets and the current account. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefits reform,current account imbalances,precautionary savings,Hartz reform |
| JEL: | E21 E24 F16 F41 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:132019&r=all |
| By: | Adermon, Adrian (Institute for Evaluation of Labor Market and Education Policy (IFAU)); Lindahl, Mikael (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg); Palme, Mårten (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | We study the importance of the extended family – the dynasty – for the persistence in inequality across generations. We use data including the entire Swedish population, linking four generations. This data structure enables us to identify parents’ siblings and cousins, their spouses, and the spouses’ siblings. Using various human capital measures, we show that traditional parent-child estimates of intergenerational persistence miss almost one-third of the persistence found at the dynasty level. To assess the importance of genetic links, we use a sample of adoptees. We then find that the importance of the extended family relative to the parents increases. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility; extended family; dynasty; human capital; |
| JEL: | I24 J62 |
| Date: | 2019–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2019_0002&r=all |
| By: | Mönnig, Anke; Schneemann, Christian (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Weber, Enzo (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Zika, Gerd (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Helmrich, Robert |
| Abstract: | "This study focuses on the economic effects of the phenomenon of the electrification of powertrains in passenger cars (e-mobility). The automotive industry is one of the leading sectors in Germany and the country is one of the world's leading car producers. Therefore the economic impact could be extensive. Using the scenario technique, a number of assumptions have been made and integrated into the QINFORGE analytical tool. At the beginning of the scenario, the underlying assumptions have a positive effect on the economic development. However, in the long run they lead to a lower GDP and level of employment. The change in technology will lead to 114,000 job cuts by the end of 2035. The economy as a whole will lose nearly 20 billion euros (0.6 % of the GDP). In the scenario, we assumed a share of only 23 percent of electric cars as compared to all new registered cars in 2035. The electrification of powertrains will have negative effects especially on skilled workers. The demand for specialist and expert activities will also decrease with a time delay. A much higher market penetration could lead to stronger economic effects. Furthermore, a higher market share of domestically produced cars and traction batteries could generate more positive economic effects." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | E17 E23 E24 E27 |
| Date: | 2019–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201908&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Razzu (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Carl Singleton (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Mark Mitchell (School of Economics, University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Using over four decades of British micro data, this paper asks why the narrowing of the gender employment rate gap has stalled since the early 1990s. We find that changes to the structure of employment both between and within industry sectors impacted the gap at approximately constant rates throughout the period, and does not account for the stall. Instead, changes to how the characteristics of women's partners affected their own employment rates address most of the gap's shift in trend. There is also evidence that increases in women's employment when they had children or higher qualifications continued to narrow the gender gap even after it had stalled overall. |
| Keywords: | gender employment gaps, structural change, micro time series dataset |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2019-02&r=all |
| By: | Sarah Louise Jewell; Giovanni Razzu (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Carl Singleton (Department of Economics, University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | This study reports novel facts about the UK gender pay gap. We use a representative, longitudinal and employer-employee linked dataset for the years 2002-16. Men’s average log hourly wage was 22 points higher than women’s in this period. We find that 16% of this raw pay gap is accounted for by estimated firm-specific wage effects. This is almost three times the amount explained by the occupation differences between men and women. When we decompose a preadjusted measure of the pay gap, we find that less than 1 percentage point is accounted for by the allocation of men and women across high and low wage firms. In other words, only a small share (6%) of what is traditionally referred to as the ‘unexplained’ part of the pay gap is in fact explained by the differences between men and women in whom they work for. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, firm-specific wages, occupation premiums |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2019–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2019-06&r=all |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker, Sascha O. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Fernandes, Ana (Bern University of Applied Sciences); Weichselbaumer, Doris (Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | Due to conventional gender norms, women are more likely to be in charge of childcare than men. From an employer’s perspective, in their fertile age they are also at “risk” of pregnancy. Both factors potentially affect hiring practices of firms. We conduct a largescale correspondence test in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, sending out approx. 9,000 job applications, varying job candidate’s personal characteristics such as marital status and age of children. We find evidence that, for part-time jobs, married women with older kids, who likely finished their childbearing cycle and have more projectable childcare chores than women with very young kids, are at a significant advantage vis-àvis other groups of women. At the same time, married, but childless applicants, who have a higher likelihood to become pregnant, are at a disadvantage compared to single, but childless applicants to part-time jobs. Such effects are not present for full-time jobs, presumably, because by applying to these in contrast to part-time jobs, women signal that they have arranged for external childcare. |
| Keywords: | Fertility ; Discrimination ; Experimental economics |
| JEL: | C93 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1193&r=all |
| By: | Herwig Immervoll; Daniele Pacifico; Marieke Vandeweyer |
| Abstract: | Although Australia’s labour market escaped the dramatic negative impact of the global financial economic crisis seen in other OECD countries, a substantial share of working-age Australians either did were not working or worked only to a limited extent as the global recovery gathered pace between 2013 and 2014. The paper extends a method proposed by Fernandez et al. (2016) to measure and visualise employment barriers of individuals with no or weak labour-market attachment, using household micro-data.The most common employment obstacles in Australia are limited work experience, low skills and poor health. A notable finding is that almost one third of jobless or low-intensity workers face three or more simultaneous barriers, highlighting the limits of policy approaches that focus on subsets of these employment obstacles in isolation. A statistical clustering approach points to seven distinct groups, each characterized by unique profiles of employment barriers that call for different configurations of activation and employment-support policies. |
| JEL: | C38 H31 J2 J6 J8 |
| Date: | 2019–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:226-en&r=all |
| By: | Michael Sposi (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | The age distribution evolves asymmetrically across countries, influencing relative saving rates and labor supply. Emerging economies experienced faster increases in working age shares than advanced economies did. Using a dynamic, multi-country model I quantify the effect of demographic changes on trade imbalances across 28 countries since 1970. Counterfactually holding demographics constant reduces net exports in emerging economies and boosts them in advanced economies. On average, a one percentage point increase in a country's working age share, relative to the world, increases its ratio of net exports to GDP by one-third of a percentage point. These findings alleviate the allocation puzzle. |
| Keywords: | Demographics, Trade imbalances, Dynamics, Labor supply. |
| JEL: | F11 F21 J11 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:1902&r=all |
| By: | Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal; Yavuz, Hasan Bilgehan; Pastore, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to study the process of intergenerational income mobility in some Latin American economies (Panama and Brazil), which have been much neglected in the existing literature. Like other countries in the area, also Brazil and Panama have a stagnant economy coupled with high income inequality. Our rich and detailed dataset, the IPUMS survey data bank allows us to provide the most reliable and robust estimates of intergenerational transfer, after controlling for a number of additional control variables which were unavailable in previous studies, such as family size, literacy level of fathers, and location in rural versus urban areas. We provide estimates broken down for different genders, age, location, education of fathers in each country. Our results are robust to different specifications and suggest that previous studies significantly overrated the extent of the intergenerational transfer in the countries considered. However, our figures are still compatible with an extremely low degree of social mobility. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility,Occupational mobility,Latin American Economies |
| JEL: | J62 J60 D3 D6 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:343&r=all |
| By: | Julian Kolev; Yuly Fuentes-Medel; Fiona Murray |
| Abstract: | For organizations focused on scientific research and innovation, workforce diversity is a key driver of success. Blinded review is an increasingly popular approach to reducing bias and increasing diversity in the selection of people and projects, yet its effectiveness is not fully understood. We explore the impact of blinded review on gender inclusion in a unique setting: innovative research grant proposals submitted to the Gates Foundation from 2008-2017. Despite blinded review, female applicants receive significantly lower scores, which cannot be explained by reviewer characteristics, proposal topics, or ex-ante measures of applicant quality. By contrast, the gender score gap is no longer significant after controlling for text-based measures of proposals’ titles and descriptions. Specifically, we find strong gender differences in the usage of broad and narrow words, suggesting that differing communication styles are a key driver of the gender score gap. Importantly, the text-based measures that predict higher reviewer scores do not also predict higher ex-post innovative performance. Instead, female applicants exhibit a greater response in follow-on scientific output after an accepted proposal, relative to male applicants. Our results reveal that gender differences in writing and communication are a significant contributor to gender disparities in the evaluation of science and innovation. |
| JEL: | D70 J16 M14 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25759&r=all |
| By: | Angela Cools; Raquel Fernández; Eleonora Patacchini |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of exposure to female and male “high-achievers” in high school on the long-run educational outcomes of their peers. Using data from a recent cohort of students in the United States, we identify a causal effect by exploiting quasi-random variation in the exposure of students to peers with highly educated parents across cohorts within a school. We find that greater exposure to “high-achieving” boys, as proxied by their parents' education, decreases the likelihood that girls go on to complete a bachelor's degree, substituting the latter with junior college degrees. It also affects negatively their math and science grades and, in the long term, decreases labor force participation and increases fertility. We explore possible mechanisms and find that greater exposure leads to lower self-confidence and aspirations and to more risky behavior (including having a child before age 18). The girls most strongly affected are those in the bottom half of the ability distribution (as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), those with at least one college-educated parent, and those attending a school in the upper half of the socioeconomic distribution. The effects are quantitatively important: an increase of one standard deviation in the percent of “high-achieving” boys decreases the probability of obtaining a bachelor's degree from 2.2-4.5 percentage points, depending on the group. Greater exposure to “high-achieving” girls, on the other hand, increases bachelor's degree attainment for girls in the lower half of the ability distribution, those without a college-educated parent, and those attending a school in the upper half of the socio-economic distribution. The effect of “high-achievers” on male outcomes is markedly different: boys are unaffected by “high-achievers” of either gender. |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25763&r=all |
| By: | Barnette, Justin; Park, Jooyoun |
| Abstract: | We investigate the training choices made by workers entering the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. This is important as more workers enter these types of programs due to technological change and globalization. We show that workers that choose a training occupation beyond their skill level (skill overshooting) or previous wage level (wage overshooting) achieve higher earnings and wage replacement rates with the cost being that it lowers their reemployment rates. Specifically, skill overshooting lowers the reemployment rates for these workers by 2.0 to 3.2 percentage points, but they enjoy an increase in their earnings by 2.0 - 2.2 percent. Wage overshooting leads to a similar decline in the reemployment rate (2.2 percentage points) but shows a much larger increase in their earnings (6.9 to 8.5%). The findings are robust to various subsamples. |
| Keywords: | TAA, job training, wage replacement, ALMP |
| JEL: | F16 J08 J68 |
| Date: | 2019–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93412&r=all |