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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Emmler, Julian; Fitzenberger, Bernd (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Job loss expectations were widespread among workers in East Germany after reunification with West Germany. Though experiencing a large negative employment shock, East German workers were still overpessimistic immediately after reunification with respect to their job risk. Over time, job loss expectations fell and converged to West German levels, which was driven by a stabilizing economic environment and by an adaptation of the interpretation of economic signals with workers learning to distinguish individual risk from firm level risk. In fact, conditional on actual job loss risk, East German workers quickly caught up to West Germans regarding the accuracy of job loss expectations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | staatlicher Zusammenschluss, Arbeitsmarktrisiko, regionaler Vergleich, Massenentlassungen, Erwartung, Frustration, Auswirkungen, Risikoabschätzung, Entwicklung, Konvergenz, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Wahrnehmung, Arbeitsplatzsicherheit, Arbeitsplatzverlust, Westdeutschland, Ostdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | D84 J64 J63 P20 |
| Date: | 2021–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202105&r=all |
| By: | Osea Giuntella (University of Pittsburgh and IZA); Lorenzo Rotunno (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France.); Luca Stella (Cattolica University, CESifo and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using longitudinal data from the German SocioEconomic Panel, we analyze the effects of exposure to trade on the fertility and marital behavior of German workers. We find that individuals working in sectors that were more affected by import competition from Eastern Europe and suffered worse labor market outcomes were less likely to have children. In contrast, workers in sectors that benefited from increased exports had better employment prospects and higher fertility. These effects are driven by low-educated and married men, and reflect changes in the likelihood of having any child (extensive margin). While among workers exposed to import competition there is evidence of some fertility postponement, we find a significant reduction of completed fertility. There is instead little evidence of any significant effect on marital behavior. |
| Keywords: | international trade, labor market outcomes, fertility, marriage |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2121&r=all |
| By: | Laura Choi; Mary C. Daly; Lily Seitelman |
| Abstract: | How much is inequity costing us? Using a simple growth accounting framework we apply standard shift-share techniques to data from the Current Population Survey (1990-2019) to compute the aggregate economic costs of persistent educational and labor market disparities by gender and race. We find significant economic losses associated with these gaps. Building on this finding, we consider which disparities generate the largest costs, paying specific attention to differences in employment, hours worked, educational attainment, educational utilization, and occupational allocation. We also examine gaps in the returns on these variables. Our findings suggest that differences in employment opportunities and educational attainment make the largest contributions by race; differences in returns on these variables also contribute materially to the total costs. Differences by gender are primarily driven by gaps in employment and hours. Given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the labor market outcomes of women and people of color, as well as the fact that the U.S. population is increasingly racially diverse, these costs will only increase in the future. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth; productivity; labor market gaps; misallocation; equity |
| JEL: | E24 J15 J7 O4 |
| Date: | 2021–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:90707&r=all |
| By: | Zoch, Gundula; Bächmann, Ann-Christin; Vicari, Basha (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "The COVID-19 pandemic has had very different impacts on the employment and family work conditions of men and women. Thus, it might have jeopardised the slow and hard-won reduction of gender inequalities in the division of labour achieved in recent decades. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and its supplementary COVID-19 web survey for Germany, we investigate the relationship between working conditions and gender differences in subjective well-being during the first months of the pandemic. Therefore, we systematically consider the household context by distinguishing between adults with and without young children. The results from multivariate regression models accounting for pre-corona satisfaction reveal a decline in all respondents' life satisfaction, particularly among women and mothers with young children. However, the greater reduction in women's well-being cannot be linked to systematic differences in working conditions throughout the pandemic. Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder counterfactual decompositions confirm this conclusion. However, further robustness checks suggest that women's societal concerns and greater loneliness partly explain the remaining gender differences during the first months of the crisis. From a general perspective, our results suggest important gender differences in social life and psychological distress in spring 2020, which are likely to become more pronounced as the crisis unfolds." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | I31 J22 J28 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202104&r=all |
| By: | Haaland, Ingar (University of Bergen and CESifo); Roth, Christopher (University of Warwick, briq, CESifo, CEPR, and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides representative evidence on beliefs about racial discrimination and examines whether information causally affects support for pro-black policies. Eliciting quantitative beliefs about the extent of hiring discrimination against blacks, we uncover large disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination with particularly pronounced partisan differences. An information treatment leads to a convergence in beliefs about racial discrimination but does not lead to a similar convergence in support of pro-black policies. The results demonstrate that while providing information can substantially reduce disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination, it is not sufficient to reduce disagreement about pro-black policies. |
| Keywords: | Racial Discrimination ; Beliefs ; Pro-Black Policies ; Policy Preferences JEL Classification: C91 ; D83 ; J71 ; J15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1339&r=all |
| By: | Amaral, Sofia (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Prakash, Nishith (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of establishing women police stations (WPS) on reporting of gender- based violence. Using administrative crime data and exploiting staggered implementation across Indian cities, we find that the opening of WPS is associated with an increase in police reports of crimes against women of 29 percent, a result driven by domestic violence. This appears to reflect reporting rather than incidence as we find no changes in femicide or in survey-reported domestic violence. We also find some evidence of an increase in women's labor supply following WPS opening, consistent with women feeling safer once the costs of reporting violence fall. |
| Keywords: | women police stations, gender-based violence, women in policing, India |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J78 K14 K31 K42 N92 I12 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14250&r=all |
| By: | Dogu Tan Araci (Prosus); Murat Demirci (Department of Economics, Koç University); Murat Guray Kirdar (Department of Economics, Bogazici University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how the impact of refugees on natives’ labor market outcomes varies by the development level of hosting areas, which has important implications for the optimal allocation of refugees across regions and countries. For this purpose, in the context of the largest refugee group in the world in a single country, Syrian refugees in Turkey, we exploit the significant variation in the development level across regions of Turkey, several of which host a substantial number of refugees. We find that the impact of refugees on natives’ labor market outcomes becomes significantly less adverse as regional development level rises. For instance, the negative effects of the refugee shock on employment and labor force participation of women observed at the mean level of development vanish at high levels of development. Moreover, while the impact of the refugees on employment of men is negative for the least developed regions, it is positive for highly developed regions. Our findings imply that developed regions and countries are in a better position in terms of protecting their local population from the adverse effects of refugees in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | refugees, optimal refugee allocation, labor market impact, development level, employment and wages of men and women. |
| JEL: | J61 O15 F22 R23 R58 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:2102&r=all |
| By: | Michel Serafinelli; Guido Tabellini |
| Abstract: | Creativity is often highly concentrated in time and space, and across different domains. What explains the formation and decay of clusters of creativity? We match data on notable individuals born in Europe between the XIth and the XIXth century with historical city data. The production and attraction of creative talent is associated with city institutions that protected economic and political freedoms and promoted local autonomy. Instead, indicators of local economic conditions such as city size and real wages, do not predict creative clusters. We also show that famous creatives are spatially concentrated and clustered across disciplines, that their spatial mobility has remained stable over the centuries, and that creative clusters are persistent but less than population. |
| Keywords: | innovation, agglomeration, political institutions, immigration, gravity, human capital |
| JEL: | R10 O10 J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8973&r=all |
| By: | Pia M. Orrenius; Madeline Zavodny |
| Abstract: | Latinos make up the nation’s largest ethnic minority group. The majority of Latinos are U.S. born, making the progress and well-being of Latinos no longer just a question of immigrant assimilation but also of the effectiveness of U.S. educational institutions and labor markets in equipping young Latinos to move out of the working class and into the middle class. One significant headwind to progress among Latinos is recessions. Economic outcomes of Latinos are far more sensitive to the business cycle than are outcomes for non-Hispanic whites. Latinos also have higher poverty rates than whites, although the gap had been falling prior to the pandemic. Deep holes in the pandemic safety net further imperiled Latino progress in 2020 and almost surely will in 2021 as well. Policies that would help working-class and poor Latinos include immigration reform and education reform and broader access to affordable health care. |
| Keywords: | Hispanics; immigrants; working class; business cycle |
| JEL: | J11 J15 E24 |
| Date: | 2021–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:90679&r=all |
| By: | Marcén, Miriam; Morales, Marina |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of the gender equality culture in cross-country gender commuting gap differences. To avoid inter-relationships between culture, institutions, and economic conditions in a simple cross-country analysis, we adopt the epidemiological approach. We merge data from the American Time Use Survey for the years 2006–2018 on early-arrival first- and second-generation immigrants living in the United States with their corresponding annual country of ancestry’s Gender Gap Index (GGI). Because all these immigrants (with different cultural backgrounds) have grown up under the same laws, institutions, and economic conditions in the US, the gender differences among them in the time devoted to commuting to/from work can be interpreted as evidence of the existence of a cultural impact. Our results show that a culture with more gender equality in the country of ancestry may reduce the gender commuting gap of parents. Specifically, an increase of 1 standard deviation in the GGI increases women’s daily commuting time relative to men by almost 5 minutes, a sizeable effect representing 23 percent of the standard deviation in the gender commuting gap across countries of ancestry. A supplementary analysis provides possible mechanisms through which culture operates and is transmitted, showing the potential existence of horizontal transmission and the importance of the presence of children in commuting. Our results are robust to the use of different subsamples, geographical controls, and selection into employment and telework. |
| Keywords: | Commuting,culture,immigrants,American Time Use Survey |
| JEL: | R41 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:813&r=all |
| By: | Elaine Agyemang Tontoh (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a theory of maternal economic oppression within capitalist society using Marxist theory and Marxist feminist social reproduction theory to address the triple day problem- the inability of a mother to engage in self-reproduction. Maternal economic oppression is conceptualized as the exploitation of motherhood labor - the socially necessary non-wage labor of childbearing and childrearing - through zero-compensation. Subsequently, the paper develops the single-double-triple-day (SDTD) argument of maternal economic oppression to make the case for motherhood compensation to resolve the triple day problem. The SDTD argument stipulates that as a mother’s work transitions from a single day to a double day, the tendency exists for the oppression of mothers to evolve into complex levels of destruction which triggers a critical need for mothers to engage in the triple day of self-reproduction with the evolution triggered primarily by the non-payment of monetary compensation for reproductive work. The paper finally makes the case for motherhood compensation to be paid during a child’s age of reproductive dependence rather than the age of reproductive independence if it is to be effective. |
| Keywords: | Triple day, maternal economic oppression, Marxist feminism, human essence, motherhood compensation, single-double-triple-day (SDTD) argument, material justice |
| JEL: | B51 B54 B55 D13 D63 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:2108&r=all |
| By: | Serdar Birinci; Fernando Leibovici; Kurt See |
| Abstract: | We quantify the barriers that impede the integration of immigrants into foreign labor markets and investigate their aggregate implications. We develop a model of occupational choice with natives and immigrants of multiple types whose decisions are subject to wedges which distort their allocation across occupations. We estimate the model to match salient features of U.S. and cross-country individual-level data. We find that there are sizable GDP gains from removing the wedges faced by immigrants in U.S. labor markets, accounting for approximately one-fifth of the overall economic contribution of immigrants to the U.S. economy. These effects arise from both increased flows from non-participation to predominantly manual jobs as well as from reallocation within the market sector that raises productivity in non-routine cognitive jobs. We contrast our findings for the U.S. with estimates for 11 high-income countries and document substantial differences in the magnitude of immigrant wedges across countries. Importantly, we find differences in the distribution of immigrant wedges across occupations lead to substantial variation in the gains from removing immigrant misallocation, even among countries with similar average degrees of distortions. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Occupational Barriers; Mobility; Misallocation |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:90705&r=all |
| By: | Jérôme Adda (Bocconi University, BIDSA and IGIER); Christian Dustmann (University College London and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration); Joseph-Simon Görlach (Bocconi University, BIDSA, CReAM, IGIER and LEAP) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model where individuals differ in ability and location preference to evaluate the mechanisms that affect the evolution of immigrants’ careers in conjunction with their re-migration plans. Our analysis highlights a novel form of selective return migration where those who plan to stay longer invest more into skill acquisition, with important implications for the assessment of immigrants’ career paths and the estimation of their earnings profiles. Our study also explains the willingness of immigrants to accept jobs at wages that seem unacceptable to natives. Finally, our model provides important insight for the design of migration policies, showing that policies which initially restrict residence or condition residence on achievement shape not only immigrants’ career profiles through their impact on human capital investment but also determine the selection of arrivals and leavers. |
| Keywords: | International migration, human capital, expectations |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2111&r=all |
| By: | Viswanathan, Madhu; Mukherji, Prokriti; Narasimhan, Om; Chandy, Rajesh |
| Abstract: | Firms in technology markets often outsource the manufacture of core components – components that are central to product performance and comprise a substantial portion of product costs. Despite the strategic importance of core component outsourcing, there is little empirical evidence (and many conflicting opinions) about its impact on consumer demand. We address this gap with an examination of panel data from the flat panel television industry, across key regions globally. Results from our estimation indicate that core component outsourcing reduces the firm’s ability to be on the technological frontier; this hurts demand, because our estimates suggest that consumers care about firms being on the frontier. On the other hand, such outsourcing also reduces costs. Finally, we find that outsourcing increases the intensity of competition in the marketplace. We assess these (often opposing) effects, and conduct thought experiments to quantify the performance impact of core component outsourcing. |
| Keywords: | high technology markets; outsourcing; technology frontier |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:109853&r=all |
| By: | Rickard, Stephanie |
| Abstract: | How does globalization affect politics? One of the most controversial aspects of globalization is offshoring, when manufacturing operations and business functions move abroad. Although voters generally dislike offshoring, it remains unclear how moving jobs abroad impacts democratic elections. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, the author finds that incumbent government parties lose more votes in municipalities where a local plant moved production abroad between elections than in municipalities that did not experience such an event. The result holds across various time periods, different incumbent parties and diverse types of elections. In both national and regional elections, voters punish incumbent government parties when a local firm moves production abroad. Incumbent parties' vote shares fall as the number of jobs lost due to offshoring increases. In multiparty governments, voters disproportionately punish the largest coalition party for offshoring. The results of an original survey administered in Spain verify the importance of offshoring for voters' retrospective evaluations of incumbents. |
| Keywords: | globalization; offshoring; voting; coalition government; incumbents; economic vote; regional government; elections |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:107517&r=all |