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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Albert Jan Hummel |
| Abstract: | This paper studies optimal income taxation in an environment where matching frictions generate a trade-off for workers between high wages and low unemployment risk. A higher marginal tax rate shifts the trade-off in favor of low unemployment risk, whereas a higher tax burden or unemployment benefit has the opposite effect. Changes in unemployment generate fiscal externalities, which modify optimal tax formulas. I show that optimal employment subsidies (such as the EITC) phase in with income and that the provision of unemployment insurance justifies a positive marginal tax rate even without income heterogeneity. A calibration exercise to the US economy suggests that optimal transfers for low-income individuals are larger if unemployment risk is taken into account. |
| Keywords: | directed search, optimal taxation, unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | H21 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9177&r= |
| By: | Dorn, David (University of Zurich); Zweimüller, Josef (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | The European labor market allows for the border-free mobility of workers across 31 countries that cover most of the continent's population. However, rates of migration across European countries remain considerably lower than interstate migration in the United States, and spatial variation in terms of unemployment or income levels is larger. We document patterns of migration in Europe, which include a sizable migration from east to west in the last twenty years. An analysis of worker-level microdata provides some evidence for an international convergence in wage rates, and for modest static gains from migration. We conclude by discussing obstacles to migration that reduce the potential for further labor market integration in Europe. |
| Keywords: | labor migration, wages, Europe, European Union single market |
| JEL: | F22 F53 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14538&r= |
| By: | Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Warwick); Britto, Diogo (Bocconi University); Pinotti, Paolo (Bocconi University); Sampaio, Breno (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) |
| Abstract: | We estimate impacts of male job loss, female job loss, and male unemployment benefits on domestic violence in Brazil. We merge employer-employee and social welfare registers with administrative data on domestic violence cases brought to criminal courts, use of public shelters by victims and mandatory notifications of domestic violence by health providers. Leveraging mass layoffs for identification, we find that both male and female job loss, independently, lead to large and pervasive increases in domestic violence. Exploiting a discontinuity in unemployment insurance eligibility, we find that eligible men are not less likely to commit domestic violence while benefits are being paid, and more likely to commit it once benefits expire. Our findings are consistent with job loss increasing domestic violence on account of a negative income shock and an increase in exposure of victims to perpetrators, with unemployment benefits partially offsetting the income shock while reinforcing the exposure shock. |
| Keywords: | domestic violence, unemployment, mass layoffs, unemployment insurance, income shock, exposure, Brazil |
| JEL: | J16 J08 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14543&r= |
| By: | Pineda-Hernández, Kevin (Université Libre de Bruxelles); Rycx, Francois (Free University of Brussels); Volral, Mélanie (University of Mons) |
| Abstract: | Although many studies point to the significant influence of collective bargaining institutions on earnings inequalities, evidence on how these institutions shape poverty rates across developed economies remains surprisingly scarce. It would be a mistake, though, to believe that the relationship between earnings inequalities and poverty is straightforward. Indeed, whereas earnings inequalities are measured at the individual level, poverty is calculated at the household level using equivalised (disposable) incomes. Accordingly, in most developed countries poverty is not primarily an issue of the working poor. This paper explicitly addresses the relationship between collective bargaining systems and working-age poverty rates in 24 developed countries over the period 1990-2015. Using an up-to-date and fine-grained taxonomy of bargaining systems and relying on state-of-the-art panel data estimation techniques, we find that countries with more centralised and/or coordinated bargaining systems display significantly lower working-age poverty rates than countries with largely or fully decentralised systems. However, this result only holds in a post-tax benefit scenario. Controlling for country-fixed effects and endogeneity, our estimates indeed suggest that the poverty-reducing effect of collective bargaining institutions stems from the political strength of trade unions in promoting public social spending rather than from any direct effect on earnings inequalities. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining systems, poverty rates, social security expenditures, panel data, advanced economies |
| JEL: | C23 C26 I32 I38 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14555&r= |
| By: | Dan Andrews; Andrew Charlton; Angus Moore |
| Abstract: | The longer run consequences of the pandemic will partly hinge on its impact on high productivity firms, and the ongoing process of labour reallocation from low to high productivity firms. While Schumpeter (1939) proposed that recessions can accelerate this process, the nature of the COVID-19 shock coupled with a policy response that prioritised preservation (over reallocation) raises questions about whether job reallocation remained productivity-enhancing. Using novel, near-real-time data for Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, this paper shows that while labour turnover fell in response to the pandemic, job reallocation remained connected to firm productivity – that is, high productivity firms were more likely to expand and low productivity firms were more likely to contract. The pandemic coincided with a temporary strengthening of the reallocation-productivity link in Australia – but a weakening in New Zealand – which appears related to the design of job retention schemes. Finally, firms that intensively used Apps to manage their business were more resilient, even after controlling for productivity. Thus, while policy partly suppressed creative destruction, the nature of the shock – i.e. one where being online and able to operate remotely were key – favoured high productivity and tech-savvy firms, resulting in a reallocation of labour to such firms. The use of timely, novel data to investigate the allocative effects of the pandemic marks a significant advance, given that the seminal paper on productivity-enhancing reallocation during the Great Recession arrived some six years after Lehman Brothers collapsed. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, productivity, reallocation, recessions |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 O4 |
| Date: | 2021–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1676-en&r= |
| By: | Carlo Lombardo (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP and Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of a massive skilled labor supply shock on Colombian manufacturing firms’ exports, the Venezuelan exodus. We exploit crosssectional and time variability of Venezuelan forced migrants’ settlements in Colombian sub-national areas through an enclave instrumental variables approach to account for the selection of immigrants’ location. Using yearly customs data from 2013 to 2019, we find that the Venezuelan migration improved Colombian manufacturing firms’ export performance, particularly to high-income countries of the OECD located in North America and low-income countries. This effect was stronger for firms that exported less prior to the exodus (2012). Furthermore, using a detailed yearly panel of manufacturing firms from 2013 to 2019 we identify the potential labor market driving mechanism of the trade-creation effect: immigrants lowered exporting firms’ blue-collar wages, and allowed them to upgrade their labor force skill composition, namely firms were able to hire workers more compatible with exports to developed destinations. |
| JEL: | F22 F16 F14 J61 J31 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0283&r= |
| By: | Cristina Bratu; Matz Dahlberg; Madhinee Valeyatheepillay |
| Abstract: | We study residential integration patterns in adulthood for children of refugees who arrive in Sweden before the age of 16. Using geo-coded information on the residential location of each individual in Sweden, we take a novel, data-driven approach in defining neighborhoods and construct individualized k-nearest neighborhoods, for k = 100 or k = 1000. Exploiting a siblings design, we find that, at age 30, refugee children arriving later live in neighborhoods with lower shares of natives, high-educated individuals, and high-income earners, and higher share of welfare receivers, regardless of the level of k. We also provide evidence that refugee children arriving later experience worse labor market outcomes in terms of earnings, lower educational outcomes and likelihood to marry Swedish-born partners at age 30 as compared to children arriving earlier to the host country. Using a decomposition analysis, we show that the mean effects of age at arrival on neighborhood integration are only partly explained by economic integration, educational integration and intermarriage. Our findings indicate that a large part of the estimated mean age at arrival effects remains unaccounted for, particularly for k = 100, which suggests a role for Swedish housing policies, housing discrimination and taste-based preferences in fully explaining the effects of age at arrival. |
| Keywords: | refugees, residential integration, age at arrival |
| JEL: | R23 J15 J12 J01 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9181&r= |
| By: | Robert E. Hall; Marianna Kudlyak |
| Abstract: | Potential workers are classified as unemployed if they seek work but are not working. The unemployed population contains two groups---those with jobs and those without jobs. Those with jobs are on furlough or temporary layoff. This group expanded tremendously in April 2020. They wait out periods of non-work with the understanding that their jobs still exist and that they will be recalled. We show that the resulting temporary-layoff unemployment dissipates quickly following a spike. Potential workers without jobs constitute what we call jobless unemployment. Shocks that elevate jobless unemployment have much more persistent effects. Historical major adverse shocks, such as the financial crisis in 2008, created mostly jobless unemployment and consequently caused extended periods of elevated unemployment. The pandemic of 2020 created a large volume of temporary-layoff unemployment, mostly starting in April. It was mostly dissipated by the end of 2020. It also created a bulge in jobless unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Business cycle; Recovery; Unemployment; Recession; Layoffs; Recall |
| JEL: | E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2021–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:92905&r= |
| By: | Fernández-Kranz, Daniel (IE Business School, Madrid); Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (Queens College, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | We use a difference-in-differences model with individual fixed effects to evaluate a 1999 Spanish law granting employment protection to workers with children younger than 6 who had asked for a shorter workweek due to family responsibilities. Our analysis shows that well- intended policies can potentially backfire and aggravate labor market inequalities between men and women, since there is a very gendered take-up, with only women typically requesting part-time work. After the law was enacted, employers were 49% less likely to hire women of childbearing age, 40% more likely to separate from them, and 37% less likely to promote them to permanent contracts, increasing female non-employment by 4% to 8% relative to men of similar age. The results are similar using older women unaffected by the law as a comparison group. Moreover, the law penalized all women of childbearing age, even those who did not have children. These effects were largest in low-skill jobs, at firms with less than 10 employees, and in industries with few part-time workers. These findings are robust to several sensitivity analyses and placebo tests. |
| Keywords: | female employment transitions and wages, compositional bias, fixed-term and permanent contract employment |
| JEL: | C23 J16 J18 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14548&r= |
| By: | Rodríguez-Planas, Núria (Queens College, CUNY); Tanaka, Ryuichi (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | Using individual-level data from the National Family Research of Japan Survey (1999, 2004 and 2009) and exploiting variation in the share of individuals with non-traditional gender norms across birth-cohorts, survey year, education, and prefecture, we find that an increase in the share of individuals with non-traditional beliefs by one standard deviation is associated with an increase in Japanese women's decision to work by 0.016 percentage points, the equivalent of an increase of 3.4% standard deviation. Our measure of non-traditional gender norms is the share of women who disagree with the statement "men should work outside and women should look after the family". As we conduct a battery of sensitivity analyses and placebo tests, our findings suggest an impact of non- traditional norms on Japanese women's decision to work full-time. |
| Keywords: | gender norms, women's decision to work, culture |
| JEL: | J16 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14549&r= |
| By: | Del Bono, Emilia (ISER, University of Essex); Morando, Greta (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses variation in unemployment caused by the 2008 recession to analyse socio- economic gaps in graduate outcomes. Our data comes from a survey which collects information on several cohorts of students from all English universities and reports their destinations at 6 months after graduation. The results show that when students from less advantaged family backgrounds graduate during a recession they are more likely to become unemployed, to work part-time, and to earn less than students from more advantaged families. There is evidence that professional networks established while at university are important in explaining some of these socio-economic gaps in outcomes. |
| Keywords: | graduate employment, socio-economic gap, recession |
| JEL: | E32 I23 I24 I26 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14540&r= |
| By: | Oliver Krebs; Michael Pflüger |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a quantitative spatial general equilibrium model for the German economy to address two issues. First, we explore the role of commuting for local labor markets and their capacity to absorb productivity shocks. Second, we address the role of housing markets for quantitative analyses. Germany is an exciting laboratory because commuting across local labor markets is pervasive, unique data are available, and because Germany’s high degree of trade openness poses a thrilling counterpoint to the United States. Our key findings for German counties are that the employment and resident elasticities associated with local productivity shocks are much above unity, yet disparate (the former larger than the latter), very heterogeneous, and only poorly predicted by simple labor market statistics. Allowing the supply of land/housing to be price elastic increases the elasticities and reinforces our conclusions. The regional heterogeneity of the land/housing shares in Germany turns out to be inessential for our findings, the level of the land/housing share plays an important role, however. We perform a plethora of robustness checks which allow us to gain perspective on extant findings for the United States. |
| Keywords: | quantitative spatial analysis, commuting, migration, employment and resident elasticities |
| JEL: | F12 F14 R13 R23 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9190&r= |
| By: | Esteban García-Miralles; Jonathan M. Leganza |
| Abstract: | We study how social security influences the retirement behavior of couples. First, we exploit over two decades of full-population data and a discontinuity design to document sizable retirement spillovers to spouses when individuals reach pension eligibility age. Next, we explore underlying mechanisms. We find age differences within couples to be a fundamental determinant of joint retirement, which is driven by older spouses working longer. Accounting for these age differences reveals a strong gender gap, which prevails after controlling for relative earnings. Finally, in a complementary analysis we show that a reform increasing eligibility ages induces similar spillovers to spouses. |
| Keywords: | joint retirement, pension eligibility age, couples labor supply |
| JEL: | J14 J26 D10 H55 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9191&r= |
| By: | de la Fuente Stevens, Diego (University of Sussex); Pelkonen, Panu (University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | This study demonstrates a series of links between minority language skills, their economic return and their transmission across generations. Using a detailed matching procedure and different data sources, we estimate the likelihood of being employed for bilingual versus monolingual men for a large number of Mexican indigenous groups. We find that for indigenous groups, retaining the minority language along with Spanish increases employment opportunities. Furthermore, we show that the languages that are associated with larger labour market benefits are more likely to be passed on from parents to children, controlling for other factors. Overall, this study shows that the continuity of minority languages across generations is linked to concrete economic benefits, labour market specialisation, and insurance value, along with the usual social factors within the family and the community. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission, language skills, bilingualism, return to skills, minority languages, indigenous group |
| JEL: | J4 J15 J31 O54 Z1 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14539&r= |
| By: | Francesca Zanasi (Department of Political Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy); Bruno Arpino (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze); Elena Pirani (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università di Firenze); Valeria Bordone (Department of Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | While the literature has widely shown that the provision of childcare by grandparents is often crucial for young mothers’ participation in the labour market, this work investigates the link between grandmothers’ participation in the labour market during adult life (between ages 18-49) and their provision of grandparental childcare later in life. Two contrasting theoretical arguments are plausible in this respect. On the one hand, lifelong homemakers could be more family-oriented and more likely to provide grandchild care in later life. On the other hand, ever-employed grandmothers could be more likely to have employed daughters, and provide grandchild care to support their working careers. With data from the Multipurpose surveys on Families and Social Subjects (2003, 2009, 2016), we estimate logistic regression models, considering various specifications of grandparental childcare, and measuring labour market attachment in three different ways (having ever worked, length of working career, employment interruptions for family reasons). Results show a positive association between grandmothers’ labor market attachment and grandparental childcare provision. A strong dualism emerges between grandmothers who ever worked and those who never did, with the former more likely to provide grandparental childcare, especially when parents are at work. Grandmothers who worked only a few years are more similar, in terms of grandchild care provision, to those who worked throughout their life, than to lifelong homemakers. Comparing Italian macro-areas strengthens our conclusions: differences between ever- and never-employed grandmothers are present in whole the country, but this holds especially in Northern regions, where the higher female participation to the labour market amplifies the need for grandparental childcare. Overall, we showed that intergenerational family solidarity is activated throughout the country, but it is evident that in a context of growing female labour force participation, couples cannot continue to count only on grandmothers to juggle family and work. |
| Keywords: | grandparents; childcare; female labour force participation; work histories |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2021_13&r= |
| By: | Joshua Bernstein; Michael D. Plante; Alexander W. Richter; Nathaniel A. Throckmorton |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a battery of calibrated and estimated structural models to determine the causal drivers of the negative correlation between output and aggregate uncertainty. We find the transmission of uncertainty shocks to output is weak, while aggregate uncertainty endogenously responds to first moment shocks in the presence of labor market search frictions. This indicates that countercyclical movements in aggregate uncertainty are endogenous responses to changes in output, rather than exogenous impulses. A vector autoregression on simulated data shows recursive identification techniques do not robustly identify structural uncertainty shocks. |
| Keywords: | Uncertainty Shocks; Endogenous Uncertainty; Variance Decomposition; Nonlinear |
| JEL: | C13 D81 E32 E37 J64 |
| Date: | 2021–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:92899&r= |
| By: | Kugler, Maurice (Impaq International); Viollaz, Mariana (CEDLAS-UNLP); Duque, Daniel (Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil); Gaddis, Isis (World Bank); Newhouse, David (World Bank); Palacios-Lopez, Amparo (World Bank); Weber, Michael (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impacts of the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment of different types of workers in developing countries. Employment outcomes are taken from a set of high-frequency phone surveys conducted by the World Bank and National Statistics Offices in 40 countries. Larger shares of female, young, less educated, and urban workers stopped working. Gender gaps in work stoppage were particularly pronounced and stemmed mainly from differences within sectors rather than differential employment patterns across sectors. Differences in work stoppage between urban and rural workers were markedly smaller than those across gender, age, and education groups. Preliminary results from 10 countries suggest that following the initial shock at the start of the pandemic, employment rates partially recovered between April and August, with greater gains for those groups that had borne the brunt of the early jobs losses. Although the high-frequency phone surveys greatly over-represent household heads and therefore overestimate employment rates, case studies in five countries suggest that they provide a reasonably accurate measure of disparities in employment levels by gender, education, and urban/rural location following the onset of the crisis, although they perform less well in capturing disparities between age groups. These results shed new light on the labor market consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in developing countries, and suggest that real-time phone surveys, despite their lack of representativeness, are a valuable source of information to measure differential employment impacts across groups during a crisis. |
| Keywords: | post-shock differential employment evolution, coping mechanisms, worker displacement, unemployment, pandemic shock, COVID-19, heterogenous labor market impacts, high-frequency phone surveys |
| JEL: | E24 J15 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14519&r= |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Lagemann, Andreas |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of work experience in migrant mothers' current employment in Germany. Unlike previous papers, we focus on actual experience and add the motherhood aspect. To this end, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 2013-2018 including the IAB-SOEP Migration Sample. Having immigrated to Germany and female sex are the two treatments of our sample of 491 migrant mothers, with 7,077 native mothers and 1,383 migrant fathers serving as control groups. Running LPM with individual FE and testing the robustness of the work experience estimators against a range of covariates and unobserved time-varying confounders with Oster bounds, we show that years of domestic part-time experience yield higher returns for migrant mothers compared to migrant fathers and non-migrant mothers. We conclude that current employment is significantly fueled by former employment; thus policies should be designed such that they help women to 'get on the right track'. |
| Keywords: | migrant employment,maternal employment,LPM with individual FE,Oster test,actual work experience |
| JEL: | J61 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:196&r= |
| By: | Maite Blázquez (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.); Ainhoa Herrarte (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.); Ana I. Moro Egido (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada.) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the within-household gender gap in relation to paid work hours in full-time employed heterosexual couples in Spain, one of the European countries hardest hit by the pandemic. Using the Spanish Labor Force Survey (2019-2020) and a Difference-in-Differences method, we analyze three stages of the pandemic; strict lockdown, de-escalation, and partial closures to study the short-term effects and potential medium-term effects on gender inequality in terms of paid work hours. Our results suggest that during the strict lockdown period there was a tendency to fall back on traditional family gendered patterns to manage the work-life balance, especially when young children are present in male-headed households. However, this phenomenon seems to be a short-term consequence of the pandemic. The sector of activity (essential or non-essential) has also played a key role given that during the period of partial recovery amid partial closures, the gender gap increased in maleheaded households with female partners employed in non-essential sectors. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, gender gap, division of labor, hours of work. |
| JEL: | D13 J22 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2021–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:21/05&r= |
| By: | Wanner, Philippe (University of Geneva); Pecoraro, Marco (University of Neuchatel); Tani, Massimiliano (University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses linked Swiss administrative and survey data to examine the relationship between educational mismatch in the labour market and emigration decisions, carrying out the analysis for both Swiss native and previous immigrant workers. In turn, migrants' decisions separate returning home from onward migration to a third country. We find that undereducation is positively associated with the probability of emigration and return to the country of origin. In contrast, the reverse relationship is found between overeducation and emigration, especially among non-European immigrant workers. According to the predictions of the traditional model of migration, based on self-selection, migrants returning home are positively selected relative to migrants emigrating to other countries. We also find that immigrants from a country outside the EU27/EFTA have little incentive to return home and generally accept jobs for which they are mismatched in Switzerland. These results highlight the relevance to understand emigration behaviours in relation to the type of migrant that is most integrated, and productive, in the Swiss market, hence enabling better migration and domestic labour market policy design. |
| Keywords: | emigration, return migration, onward migration, wages, occupation, educational mismatch |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14558&r= |
| By: | George M. Constantinides |
| Abstract: | I estimate welfare benefits of eliminating idiosyncratic consumption shocks unrelated to the business cycle as 47.3% of household utility and benefits of eliminating idiosyncratic shocks related to the business cycle as 3.4% of utility. Estimates of the former substantially exceed earlier ones because I distinguish between idiosyncratic shocks related/unrelated to the business cycle, estimate the negative skewness of shocks, target moments of idiosyncratic shocks from household-level CEX data, and target market moments. Benefits of eliminating aggregate shocks are 7.7% of utility. Policy should focus on insuring idiosyncratic shocks unrelated to the business cycle, such as the death of a household’s prime wage earner and job layoffs not necessarily related to recessions. |
| JEL: | D31 D52 E2 E21 E24 E32 E44 G01 G12 J6 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29009&r= |
| By: | Dan Andrews; Jonathan Hambur; Elif Bahar |
| Abstract: | The consequences of the pandemic for potential output will partly hinge on its impact on high productivity firms, and more generally the ongoing process of productivity-enhancing reallocation – the rate at which scarce resources are reallocated from less productive to more productive firms. While Schumpeter (1939) originally proposed that recessions can accelerate this process, the more ‘random’ nature of the COVID-19 shock coupled with a policy response that prioritised preservation (over reallocation) raises questions about whether job reallocation remained productivity-enhancing over the course of the pandemic. Despite these headwinds, our analysis based on novel high-frequency employment data for Australia shows that job reallocation (and firm exit) remained solidly connected to firm productivity over 2020. The greater resilience of high productivity firms is significant, given that an indiscriminate shakeout of such firms – and the associated destruction of firm-specific intangible capital – would have imparted significant scarring effects. As it turns out, the temporary nature of Australia’s job retention scheme (JobKeeper) made an important (and surprising) positive contribution to this process, with material consequences for aggregate productivity. But the scheme appears to have become more distortive over time, justifying its timely withdraw – on productivity grounds at least. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, productivity, reallocation, recessions |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 O4 |
| Date: | 2021–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1677-en&r= |
| By: | Aouad, Marion (University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | A negative shock to one household member can have consequences for other household members. This paper demonstrates the extent of job lock and health insurance plan stemming from the unanticipated health shock of a child family member. In response to the shock, I estimate a 7 – 14 percent decreased likelihood of all family members leaving the current health insurance network and health plan. This is plausibly driven by reduced rates of job switching by the plan's primary policyholder. Furthermore, switching frictions stemming from the non-portability of health insurance products may contribute to the observed job and "health plan lock." |
| Keywords: | household, health shock, health insurance, job lock |
| JEL: | I10 I12 J10 J20 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14541&r= |
| By: | Jorge Luis Garcia (Clemson University); James J. Heckman (The University of Chicago); Victor Ronda (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper demonstrates multiple beneficial impacts of a program promoting intergenerational mobility for disadvantaged African-American children and their children. The program improves outcomes of the first-generation treatment group across the life cycle, which translates into better family environments for the second generation leading to positive intergenerational gains. There are long-lasting beneficial program effects on cognition through age 54, contradicting claims of fadeout that have dominated popular discussions of early childhood programs. Children of the first-generation treatment group have higher levels of education and employment, lower levels of criminal activity, and better health than children of the first-generation control group. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, racial inequality, social mobility |
| JEL: | J13 I28 C93 H43 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-037&r= |
| By: | Majed Dodin (University of Mannheim); Sebastian Findeisen (University of Konstanz); Lukas Henkel (European Central Bank); Dominik Sachs (LMU Munich); Paul Schüle (ifo Munich and LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | We characterize intergenerational social mobility in Germany using census data on the educational attainment of 526,000 children and their parents’ earnings. Our measure of educational attainment is the A-Level degree, a requirement for access to university and the most important qualification in the German education sys-tem. On average, a 10 percentile increase in the parental income rank is associated with a 5.2 percentage point increase in the probability to obtain an A-Level. This parental income gradient has not changed for the birth cohorts from 1980 to 1996, despite a large-scale policy of expanding upper secondary education in Germany. At the regional level, there exists substantial variation in mobility estimates. Place effects, rather than sorting of households into different regions, seem to account for most of these geographical differences. Mobile regions are, among other as-pects, characterized by high school quality and enhanced possibilities to obtain an A-Level degree on vocational schools. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, Educational Attainment, Local Labor Markets |
| JEL: | I24 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2021–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:2101&r= |
| By: | Dickinson, David L. (Appalachian State University); McEvoy, David M. (Appalachian State University); Bruner, David (Appalachian State University) |
| Abstract: | Insufficient sleep is commonplace, and understanding how this affects interpersonal conflict holds implications for personal and workplace settings. We experimentally manipulated participant sleep state for a full week prior to administering a stylized bargaining task that models payoff uncertainty at impasse with a final-offer arbitration (FOA) procedure. FOA use in previous trials decreases the likelihood of voluntary settlements going forward—the narcotic effect. We also report a novel result that a significantly stronger narcotic effect is estimated for more sleepy bargaining pairs. One implication is that insufficient sleep predicts increased dependency on alternatives to voluntarily resolution of interpersonal conflict. |
| Keywords: | bargaining, sleep restriction, arbitration, dispute/conflict resolution, narcotic effect |
| JEL: | J52 D74 D90 C92 D83 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14536&r= |
| By: | Francisco Meneses (Duke University) |
| Abstract: | Intergenerational mobility has been linked to both the quality of neighborhoods and the quality of schools and schooling. Understanding the incremental value of investments in either domain is difficult because in many settings, including the U.S., school choices are coupled with neighborhood geography. I take advantage of student access to new subway lines built in Santiago, Chile, to measure the impact of education independent from neighborhood quality using a quasi-experimental design. In Santiago with an established open enrolments school system, the new subway lines substantially reduced transportation costs and increased access to educational opportunities among lower income students. With student level test score data linked with data on parent’s education and demographics, I use a Difference-In-Difference (DID) approach to shows that treated students increased their intergenerational income mobility, with students’ future income ranking increasing on average by 2 percental points above that of their parents, or a 5% of wage increase. Moreover, the paper finds that this is driven by changes in the field of higher education study, not improved test scores or graduation from higher education. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, quasi experiment, education, school choice, policy impact |
| JEL: | I24 J6 D64 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2021-586&r= |