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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Hirsch, Boris (Leuphana University Lüneburg); Lentge, Philipp (Leuphana University Lüneburg); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, employers used to pay union members and non-members in a plant the same union wage in order to prevent workers from joining unions. Using recent administrative data, we investigate which workers in firms covered by collective bargaining agreements still individually benefit from these union agreements, which workers are not covered anymore, and what this means for their wages. We show that about 9 percent of workers in plants with collective agreements do not enjoy individual coverage (and thus the union wage) anymore. Econometric analyses with unconditional quantile regressions and firm-fixed-effects estimations demonstrate that not being individually covered by a collective agreement has serious wage implications for most workers. Low-wage non-union workers and those at low hierarchy levels particularly suffer since employers abstain from extending union wages to them in order to pay lower wages. This jeopardizes unions' goal of protecting all disadvantaged workers. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, union wage, uncovered workers, Germany |
| JEL: | J31 J53 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15112&r= |
| By: | Raute, Anna (Queen Mary, University of London); Weber, Andrea (Central European University); Zudenkova, Galina (TU Dortmund) |
| Abstract: | A child's family structure is a fundamental determinant of future well-being, making it essential to understand how public policies affect the involvement of fathers. In this paper, we exploit a reform of the German parental leave system—which increased mother's income and reduced legal father's financial support burden—to measure the impact on the relationship contract choices of parents who were unmarried at conception. Based on detailed birth record data, we demonstrate that short-run reform incentives during the first period after birth nudge unmarried fathers into the long-term commitment of acknowledging paternity. This shift reduces single motherhood by 6% but leaves the share of marriages at birth constant. Moreover, the change in relationship contract choices is mostly driven by parents of boys. These findings are compatible with predictions from a model where parents choose between three types of relationship contracts based on the mother's and father's incomes and support obligations. Our results highlight the necessity of studying intermediate relationship contracts (i.e., between the extremes of marriage and single motherhood) to improve our understanding of potential risk groups among the rising number of children growing up outside of marriage. |
| Keywords: | paid parental leave, family structure, paternity establishment |
| JEL: | H42 I38 J12 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15113&r= |
| By: | Brandily, Paul (Paris School of Economics); Hémet, Camille (Paris School of Economics); Malgouyres, Clément (Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study job displacement in France. In the medium run, losses in firm-specific wage premium account for a substantial share of the overall cost of displacement. However, and despite the positive correlation between premium and productivity in the cross-section of firms, we find that workers are reemployed by high productivity, low labor share firms. The observed reallocation is therefore productivity-enhancing, yet costly for workers. We show that destination firms are less likely to conclude collective wage agreements and have lower participation rates at professional elections. Overall, our results point to a loss in bargaining power. |
| Keywords: | displaced workers, wage, reallocation, productivity, labor share |
| JEL: | J63 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15105&r= |
| By: | Schlosser, Analia (Tel Aviv University); Shanan, Yannay (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | The long-term unemployed sometimes lack basic soft skills needed to enter and succeed in the labor market. We examine whether it is possible to develop or enhance these skills among adults by using a large-scale randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of an Active Labor Market Program (ALMP) that targets income-support claimants in Israel. In this program, participants receive personalized treatment composed of weekly sessions with occupational trainers and motivational group workshops. We find that the program increased participants' employment rate by 8 percentage points (a 24% increase) and decreased income support recipiency by 11 percentage points (a 26% decline) relative to the control group. The effects are larger among individuals with a lower attachment to the labor market and lower likelihood of employment such as high-school dropouts and those with a longer history of welfare dependence. Income from work increased both for treated individuals and for their untreated spouses suggesting that the program had positive spillovers within the household. There is no evidence of displacement effects on the control group. The analysis of the mechanisms at work shows that the program had positive and significant effects on participants' soft skills, mainly among those with no recent employment spell, who gradually joined the labor market after participation in the program. In contrast, it induced individuals who had a recent employment spell to go back to employment soon after their allocation to the program. The program effects persist in the long run, even during the Covid-19 crisis, about five to six years after its implementation. We conclude that unemployed income-support claimants with no recent employment spells can benefit considerably from interventions that aim to improve their soft skills. |
| Keywords: | ALMP, program evaluation, soft skills, non-cognitive skills |
| JEL: | J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15104&r= |
| By: | Hannah Van Borm; Stijn Baert (-) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the drivers of gender differentials in hiring chances. More concretely, we test (i) whether recruiters perceive job applicants in gender stereotypical terms when making hiring decisions and (ii) whether the activation of these gender stereotypes in recruiters’ minds varies by the salience of gender in a particular hiring context and the gender prototypicality of a job applicant, as hypothesised in Ridgeway and Kricheli-Katz (2013). To this end, we conduct an innovative vignette experiment in the United States with 290 genuine recruiters who evaluate fictitious job applicants regarding their hireability and 21 statements related to specific gender stereotypes. Moreover, we experimentally manipulate both the gender prototypicality of a job applicant and the salience of gender in the hiring context. We find that employers perceive women in gender stereotypical terms when making hiring decisions. In particular, women are perceived to be more social and supportive than men, but also as less assertive and physically strong. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gender prototypicality of job applicants moderates these perceptions: the less prototypical group of African American women, who are assumed to be less prototypical, are perceived in less stereotypical terms than white women, while some stereotypes are more outspoken when female résumés reveal family responsibilities. |
| Keywords: | hiring, gender discrimination, stereotypes, race, motherhood |
| JEL: | J71 J16 J15 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:22/1043&r= |
| By: | Canaan, Serena (Simon Fraser University); Lassen, Anne Sophie (Copenhagen Business School); Rosenbaum, Philip (Copenhagen Business School); Steingrimsdottir, Herdis (Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | Labor market policies for expecting and new mothers emerged at the turn of the nineteenth century. The main motivation for these policies was to ensure the health of mothers and their newborn children. With increased female labor market participation, the focus has gradually shifted to the effects that parental leave policies have on women’s labor market outcomes and gender equality. Proponents of extending parental leave rights for mothers in terms of duration, benefits, and job protection have argued that this will support mothers‘ labor market attachment and allow them to take time off from work after childbirth and then safely return to their pre-birth job. Others have pointed out that extended maternity leave can work as a double-edged sword for mothers: If young women are likely to spend months, or even years, on leave, employers are likely to take that into consideration when hiring and promoting their employees. These policies may therefore end up adversely affecting women’s labor market outcomes. This has led to an increased focus on activating fathers to take parental leave, and in 2019, the European Parliament approved a directive requiring member states to ensure at least two months of earmarked paternity leave. The literature on parental leave has proliferated over the last couple of decades. The increased number of studies on the topic has brought forth some consistent findings. First, the introduction of short maternity leave is found to be beneficial for both maternal and child health and for mothers’ labor market outcomes. Second, there appear to be negligible benefits from a leave extending beyond six months in terms of health out-comes and children’s long-run outcomes. Furthermore, longer leaves have little, or even adverse, influence on mothers’ labor market outcomes. However, some evidence suggests that there may be underlying heterogeneous effects from extended leaves among different socioeconomic groups. The literature on the effect of earmarked paternity leave indicates that these policies prove effective in increasing fathers’ leave-taking and involvement in childcare. However, the evidence on the influence of paternity leave on gender equality in the labor market remains scarce, and somewhat mixed. Finally, recent studies that focus on the effect of parental leave policies for a firm find that in general, firms are able to compensate for lost labor when their employees go on leave. However, if firms face constraints when replacing employees, it could negatively influence their performance. |
| Keywords: | parents, children, family, gender, parental leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, health, income, employment, demography |
| JEL: | J08 J12 J13 J22 J23 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15129&r= |
| By: | Brian McCaig; Minh Nguyen; Robert Kaestner |
| Abstract: | We examine how export expansion induced by the U.S-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) affected migration, school enrollment, work and healthcare use of young children and adolescents in Vietnam. To do so, we exploit variation in tariff reductions across industries associated with the BTA and differences in industry employment shares across Vietnamese provinces prior to the policy change. We find that the BTA led to migration to the most affected provinces, particularly by adolescents (15 to 18) and young adults (19 to 29). The BTA also increased household expenditures, slightly decreased employment among nonmigrant adults and increased employment among migrant adults. Among adolescents, enrolment increased among non-migrants, but fell among migrants, with the opposite pattern for working. For children (7 to 14), enrolment did not change among non-migrants, but fell for migrants, who typically moved with their family. Conditional on being enrolled, education expenditures increased for both children and adolescents. We find evidence that healthcare utilization decreased for both children and adolescents. |
| JEL: | F16 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29830&r= |
| By: | Fiaschi, Davide (University of Pisa); Tealdi, Cristina (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic raised the share of inactive individuals in 2020 in Italy, mostly at the expense of permanent and fix-term employment. We document sizable asymmetric effects across categories of individuals, defined on the basis of gender, age and geographical area. In particular, the pandemic disproportionately affected females and, among those, more severely the ones living in large households in the North and Center of Italy. These findings find a rationale both in the presence of young children, which imposes strong constraints to the female labour force participation, and in the worse labour market opportunities in the South, which lead to a strong self-selection of women in the labour market. Despite the short period of observation after the burst of COVID-19 pandemic (four quarters of 2020), the identified effects appear large and persistent, rising awareness about the likely long-lasting scarring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market choices and opportunities of Italian women. |
| Keywords: | labour market flows, transition probabilities, labour market shares, female inactivity rate |
| JEL: | C18 C53 E32 E24 J6 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15102&r= |
| By: | Meier, Dennis H. (Leibniz University of Hannover); Thomsen, Stephan L. (Leibniz University of Hannover); Trunzer, Johannes (Leibniz University of Hannover) |
| Abstract: | Many university students depend on employment during their studies. The closing of universities and the loss of many typical student jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected their situation. Based on survey data from a major German university, we analyze changes in students' income and its composition throughout the different phases of the pandemic. Students' job income declined by 66% (total income by 19%), on average, during the first lockdown. There was a quick recovery during the reopening. Job income fell again in the second lockdown, but this decrease was only half as large as that in the first lockdown. Women and students from non-academic backgrounds were particularly affected by job income loss, which widened pre-existing financial inequalities. Students compensated for income losses by increasing loan financing and by reducing their leisure expenses. Although dropout intentions increased for all students, there are no differences across socio-economic groups thus far. |
| Keywords: | higher education, student earnings, student employment, inequality, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15110&r= |
| By: | Berger, Johannes; Strohner, Ludwig |
| Abstract: | Labour market developments in the Euro area diverged significantly since 2008. Economic literature frequently refers to labour mobility as pillar for the functioning of currency areas. Applying the CGE model PuMA, we quantitatively analyse to what extent labour mobility can contribute to reducing imbalances within the Euro area. Our results indicate that it can temporarily reduce unemployment and increase wages in periphery countries at the cost of somewhat higher unemployment in receiving countries. Overall, economic outcomes improve slightly. Although labour mobility has a positive effect on labour market imbalances, it cannot be seen as substitute for structural reforms. |
| Keywords: | international migration,wage level and structure,unemployment,general equilibrium models,Euro area |
| JEL: | F22 D58 J11 J31 J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ecoarp:20&r= |
| By: | Santamaria, J. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of open-door immigration policies on local labor markets. Using the sharp and unprecedented surge of Venezuelan refugees into Colombia, I study the impact on wages and employment in a context where work permits were granted at scale. To identify which labor markets immigrants are entering, I overcome limitations in offcial records and generate novel evidence of refugee settlement patterns by tracking the geographical distribution of Internet search terms that Venezuelans but not Colombians use. While offcial records suggest migrants are concentrated in a few cities, the Internet search index shows migrants are located across the country. Using this index, high-frequency labor market data, and a difference-in-differences design, I find precise null effects on employment and wages in the formal and informal sectors. A machine learning approach that compares counterfactual cities with locations most impacted by immigration yields similar results. All in all, the results suggest that open-door policies do not harm labor markets in the host community. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Employment; Wages; Google searches |
| JEL: | J61 J68 C81 |
| Date: | 2022–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000561:020046&r= |
| By: | Elizabeth Ananat; Anna Gassman-Pines; John Fitz-Henley II |
| Abstract: | Emeryville, CA’s Fair Workweek Ordinance (FWO) aimed to reduce service workers’ schedule unpredictability by requiring large retail and food service employers to provide advanced notice of schedules and to compensate workers for last-minute schedule changes. From a 1-in-6 sample of Emeryville retail and food service workers with young children (58 percent working in regulated businesses at baseline, the rest in the same industries in firms below the size cutoff for regulation), this study gathered daily reports of work schedule unpredictability and worker and family well-being over three waves before and after FWO implementation (N=6,059 observations). The FWO decreased working parents’ schedule unpredictability relative to those in similar jobs at unregulated establishments. The FWO also decreased parents’ days worked while increasing hours per work day, leaving total hours roughly unchanged. Finally, parent well-being improved, with significant declines in sleep difficulty. |
| JEL: | I18 J08 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29792&r= |
| By: | Borowczyk-Martins, Daniel (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | I measure time series of the probabilities that an individual changes employer, sep-arates from employment, and joins employment during the month, using cross-sectional data from the European Union Labor Force Survey covering 13 countries during the past two decades. Employer-to-employer mobility is large and accounts for a sizable fraction of worker mobility in all countries; its levels, both absolute and relative to nonemploy-ment reallocation, vary considerably across countries. In most countries, the employer-to-employer probability exhibits large and procyclical variation. By contrast, there are no systematic cross-country patterns in the low-frequency evolution of employer-to-employer mobility. |
| Keywords: | Employer-to-employer mobility; Labor market flows; Business cycles |
| JEL: | E24 J63 |
| Date: | 2022–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2022_004&r= |
| By: | Patrick Agte; Arielle Bernhardt; Erica M. Field; Rohini Pande; Natalia Rigol |
| Abstract: | How do poor entrepreneurs trade off investments in business enterprises versus children's human capital, and how do these choices influence intergenerational socio-economic mobility? To examine this, we exploit experimental variation in household income resulting from a one-time relaxation of household liquidity constraints (Field et al., 2013), and track schooling and business outcomes over the subsequent 11 years. On average, treatment households, who were made wealthier through the experiment, increase human capital investment such that their children are 35% more likely to attend college. However, schooling gains only accrue to children with literate parents, among whom college attendance nearly doubles. In contrast, treatment effects on investment among the illiterate accrue only on the business margin and are accompanied by adverse educational outcomes for children. As a result, treatment lowers relative educational mobility. In a forecasting exercise, we find that earnings gains for literate households are four times larger than the earnings gains for illiterate households, raising earnings inequality. Our findings highlight how parental investment choices can contribute to a growth in intergenerational earnings inequality despite reductions in urban poverty. |
| JEL: | G32 I24 I25 I26 I32 L26 O1 O15 O16 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29816&r= |
| By: | Moscelli, Giuseppe (University of Surrey); Sayli, Melisa (University of Surrey); Mello, Marco (University of Surrey) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship among staff engagement, job complementarities and labour supply in the hospital sector, where excessive turnover of the clinical staff (doctors and nurses) can be detrimental for quality of care. We exploit a unique and rich panel dataset constructed by combining employee-level payroll and survey records from the universe of English NHS hospitals. System-GMM estimates remove the endogeneity bias due to reverse causality, revealing nurses' elasticities of retention with respect to engagement of 0.1 and 0.85, and doctors' elasticities of retention with respect to nurses' retention of 0.16 and 0.2, respectively within the hospital and the NHS. Estimates of unconditional quantile regressions confirm these findings, with nurses' engagement-elasticities as large as 1.4 for providers with low retention. Higher engagement is also beneficial to reduce staff absences. Our work is informative on the role played by staff engagement and labour supply complementarities in the workforce planning and management of large organizations. |
| Keywords: | labour supply, workforce retention, staff engagement, job complementarities, healthcare organization, endogeneity |
| JEL: | C33 C36 I11 J22 J28 J63 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15126&r= |
| By: | Clark, Ken (University of Manchester); Ochmann, Nico (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Ethnic minority men find it harder to obtain good jobs in the UK labour market than White British men. Over time, while the very high unemployment rates experienced by some non-white ethnic groups have significantly declined and their share of good jobs has grown, their share of bad jobs has grown by more. Bad jobs have replaced no jobs for these groups with Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean, and Black African men doing worst. In economic downturns access to good jobs gets relatively harder for some non-white ethnic minority groups compared to the White British majority. The second (UK-born) generation fares better in access to good jobs compared to their foreign-born counterparts. In particular second-generation Bangladeshis and Black Africans experience a higher probability of being in good jobs than the previous generation. |
| Keywords: | ethnic groups, job quality, business cycles, labour markets |
| JEL: | J62 J71 J81 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15099&r= |
| By: | Marco Del Angel; Gregory D. Hess; Marc D. Weidenmier |
| Abstract: | We investigate the extent to which conflicts between Native American tribes and U.S. Army troops were caused by poor economic conditions in Europe from 1869 to 1890. We hypothesize that contractions in economic activity pushed many Europeans to move to the western United States in search of better economic opportunity. The empirical analysis demonstrates that immigration, interacted with US railroad access, caused the probability of a Native American conflict to increase by approximately 46 percent. |
| JEL: | N10 N4 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29812&r= |
| By: | Jensen, Bjarne S. (University of Southern Denmark); Pedersen, Peder J. (Aarhus University); Guest, Ross (Griffith University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact on age group wage differentials in a setting of imperfect labor substitution at different ages (years) of working life. We examine the wage prospect of assuming medium, high, and low levels of fertility during the population projection period (2020-2090). Main focus is on comparisons of selected Calendar year Age wage profiles and the comparisons of selected Cohort Lifetime wage profiles. The analytical results come from applying a CRESH Labor Aggregator to Age-group Labor supplies with a parametric calibration to register based micro data for Denmark. The results show Calendar year wage effects and Cohort wage effects from ageing that will not exist without non-zero Labor Complementarity elasticities, and are new contributions demonstrating the economic effects of large/small generations and cohort sizes. The impact of cohort size on the lifetime wage profile of its own cohort does depend on sizes of other cohorts, which are affected by the fertility rates underlying many cohorts. Hence, economic advantages of being a small cohort depend on fertilities and the sizes of many other existing cohorts. |
| Keywords: | labor substitution, CRESH, demographic cohorts, lifetime wage incomes |
| JEL: | J1 O4 E2 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15127&r= |
| By: | Carpenter, Christopher S. (Vanderbilt University); Lee, Maxine J. (University of San Francisco); Nettuno, Laura (Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: | We provide the literature's first estimates of economic outcomes for transgender people and other gender minorities in the United States using nationally representative data from the Household Pulse Survey. We find that transgender women – individuals who were assigned male at birth but who identify as female – are significantly less likely to be employed, have higher poverty rates, are more likely to have public health insurance, and report greater food insecurity compared to otherwise similar cisgender men. Differences between non-cisgender individuals who were assigned female at birth and cisgender women are smaller. Non-cisgender Black individuals fare significantly worse than non-cisgender white individuals, regardless of sex assigned at birth. Our results demonstrate the precarious economic position of gender minority populations in America. |
| Keywords: | transgender, gender minority, economic outcomes, Household Pulse Survey |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15116&r= |
| By: | Salamone, Alberto; Lordan, Grace |
| Abstract: | We conducted a field experiment in a small electronics manufacturing firm in the US with the specific aim to improve minutes worked, punctuality, tardiness and safety checks. Our intervention was to put posters on the production floor on a random day, which made salient to the blue-collar employees the meaning and importance of their job, which comprised of routine repetitive tasks, in a before and after design. Overall, the intervention was a success with positive and significant effects consistently found for the outcomes both immediately after the experiment finished (+3 days) and also more than two weeks after (+15 days). Our study highlights it is possible to motivate blue collar manual workers intrinsically by drawing attention to the meaning of their work. |
| Keywords: | meaning; motivation; blue collar; manufacturing; field experiment |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114540&r= |
| By: | Josten, Cecily; Lordan, Grace |
| Abstract: | This study identifies the job attributes, and in particular skills and abilities, which predict the likelihood a job is recently automatable drawing on the Josten and Lordan (2020) classification of automatability, EU labour force survey data and a machine learning regression approach. We find that skills and abilities which relate to non-linear abstract thinking are those that are the safest from automation. We also find that jobs that require ‘people’ engagement interacted with ‘brains’ are also less likely to be automated. The skills that are required for these jobs include soft skills. Finally, we find that jobs that require physically making objects or physicality more generally are most likely to be automated unless they involve interaction with ‘brains’ and/or ‘people’. |
| Keywords: | work; automatability; job skills; job abilities; EU Labour Force Survey |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114539&r= |
| By: | Jones, Daniel (University of Pittsburgh); Shi, Ying (Syracuse University) |
| Abstract: | The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 removed barriers to voting for Black Americans in the South; existing work documents that this in turn led to shifts in the distribution of public funding towards areas with a higher share of Black residents and also reduced Black-White earnings disparities. We consider how expanded access to the ballot improved the well-being of children, and in doing so document that the immediate effects of expanded voting access last well into the next generation. Specifically, within a cohort-based differences-in-differences design, we test how early-life exposure to the VRA differentially impacted later-life outcomes of Black Americans. We find that increased exposure to the VRA before the age 18 leads to higher educational attainment and earnings in adulthood for Black Americans, with little or no impact on whites. |
| Keywords: | Voting Rights Act, racial inequality, voting, childhood exposure |
| JEL: | J15 N12 D72 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15095&r= |
| By: | Francesco Zezza; Gennaro Zezza |
| Abstract: | Starting from the seminal works of Wynne Godley (1999; Godley and Lavoie 2005, 2007a, 2007b), the literature adopting stock-flow consistent (SFC) models for two or more countries has been flourishing, showing that consistently taking into account real and financial markets of two open economies will generate different results with respect to more traditional open economy models. However, few contributions, if any, have modeled two regions in the same country, and our paper aims at filling this gap. When considering a regional context, most of the adjustment mechanisms at work in open economy models--such as exchange rate movements, or changes in interest on public debt--are simply not present, as they are in control of "external" authorities. So, what are the adjustment mechanisms at work? To answer this question, we adapt the framework suggested in Godley and Lavoie (2007a) to consider two regions that share the same monetary, fiscal, and exchange rate policies. We loosely calibrate our model to Italian data, where the South (Mezzogiorno) has both a lower level of real income per capita and a lower growth rate than the North. We also introduce a fragmented labor market, as discouraged workers in the South will move North in hopes of finding commuting jobs. Our model replicates some key features of the Italian economy and sheds light on the interactions between financial and real markets in regional economies with "current account" imbalances. |
| Keywords: | Stock-Flow Consistent; Regional Labor Mobility; Regional Economic Activity and Development |
| JEL: | E12 J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_1005&r= |
| By: | Green, Colin P. (Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)); Wilson, Luke B. (University of Sheffield); Zhang, Anwen (University of Glasgow) |
| Abstract: | Physically attractive individuals experience a range of advantages in adulthood including higher earnings; yet, how attractiveness influences earlier consequential decisions is not well understood. This paper estimates the effect of attractiveness on engagement in risky behaviours in adolescence. We find marked effects across a range of risky behaviours with notable contrasts. More attractive adolescents are more likely to engage in underage drink- ing; while they are less likely to smoke, use drugs, or practice unprotected sex. Investigation into the underlying channels reveals that popularity, self-esteem, and personality attractiveness have roles as mechanisms. Our findings suggest physical attractiveness in adolescence carries long-lasting consequences over the life course. |
| Keywords: | beauty, risky behaviours, adolescent development |
| JEL: | I12 J10 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15106&r= |
| By: | Manasi Deshpande; Michael G. Mueller-Smith |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of losing Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits at age 18 on criminal justice and employment outcomes over the next two decades. To estimate this effect, we use a regression discontinuity design in the likelihood of being reviewed for SSI eligibility at age 18 created by the 1996 welfare reform law. We evaluate this natural experiment with Social Security Administration data linked to records from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System. We find that SSI removal increases the number of criminal charges by a statistically significant 20% over the next two decades. The increase in charges is concentrated in offenses for which income generation is a primary motivation (60% increase), especially theft, burglary, fraud/forgery, and prostitution. The effect of SSI removal on criminal justice involvement persists more than two decades later, even as the effect of removal on contemporaneous SSI receipt diminishes. In response to SSI removal, youth are twice as likely to be charged with an illicit income-generating offense than they are to maintain steady employment at $15,000/year in the labor market. As a result of these charges, the annual likelihood of incarceration increases by a statistically significant 60% in the two decades following SSI removal. The costs to taxpayers of enforcement and incarceration from SSI removal are so high that they nearly eliminate the savings to taxpayers from reduced SSI benefits. |
| JEL: | I38 J14 K42 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29800&r= |