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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Lindo, Jason M. (Texas A&M University); Regmi, Krishna (University of Oklahoma); Swensen, Isaac D. (Montana State University) |
| Abstract: | We document the effect of unemployment insurance generosity on divorce and fertility using an identification strategy that leverages state-level changes in maximum benefits over time and comparisons across workers who have been laid off and those that have not been laid off. The results indicate that higher maximum benefit levels mitigate the effects of layoffs. In particular, they mitigate increases in divorce associated with men's layoffs; increases in separations associated with women's layoffs; reductions in fertility associated with men's layoffs; and increases in fertility associated with women's layoffs. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, job loss, marriage, divorce, fertility, gender, family |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J65 H53 I38 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15267&r= |
| By: | Schmutte, Ian M. (University of Georgia); Skira, Meghan (University of Georgia) |
| Abstract: | We study how firms respond to predictable, but uncertain, worker absences arising from maternity and non-work-related sickness leave. Using administrative data on over 1.5 million spells of leave in Brazil, we identify the short-run effects of a leave spell starting on firms' employment, hiring, and separations. Firms respond immediately by increasing hiring, but the increase is substantially less than one-for-one replacement. Hiring responses are more pronounced for absences arising in occupations with more transferable skills and in firms operating in thicker labor markets. Overall, our results imply that using external markets is costly and firms manage absences through other channels. |
| Keywords: | employment determination, hires, job turnover, maternity leave, sick leave |
| JEL: | J23 J21 J63 J68 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15336&r= |
| By: | Oreffice, Sonia (University of Exeter); Sansone, Dario (University of Exeter) |
| Abstract: | We assess the role of gender-conforming social norms in household decision-making and gender inequalities in the labor market with a parsimonious household model that endogenizes commuting time. Using the American Community Survey 2008-2019, we test the model predictions and find that women in same-sex couples have a longer commute to work than working women in different-sex couples, whereas the commute to work of men in same-sex couples is shorter than the one of working men in different-sex couples, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, partner’s characteristics, location, fertility, and marital status. These differences among men and women amount to 50%, and 100%, respectively, of the gender commuting gap estimated in the literature, and are particularly stark among married couples with children. Within-couple gaps in commuting time are also significantly smaller in same-sex couples, and labor supply disparities mimic the commuting ones. According to our model, these differences are interpreted as gender-conforming social norms leading women in different-sex couples into jobs with a shorter commute and fewer hours worked while their male partners/spouses hold jobs with a longer commute and more hours worked, thus reinforcing gender inequalities. |
| Keywords: | commute, household decisions, labor supply, LGBTQ+, specialization, travel time |
| JEL: | D10 J15 J16 J22 R20 R41 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15332&r= |
| By: | Franziska Braschke (braschke@wiwi.uni-hannover.de); Patrick Puhani |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Indian EUS-NSSO data on 32 states/union territories and 570 districts for a bi-annual panel with 5 waves to estimate how regional population reacts to asymmetric shocks. These shocks are measured by non-employment rates, unemployment rates, and wages in fixed-effects regressions which effectively use changes in these indicators over time within regions as identifying information. Because we include region and time effects, we interpret regression-adjusted population changes as proxies for regional migration. Comparing the results with those for the United States and the European Union, the most striking difference is that, in India, we do not find any significant reactions to asymmetric non-employment shocks at the state level, only at the district level, whereas the estimates are statistically significant and of similar size for the state/NUTS-1 and district level in both the United States and Europe. We find that Indian workers react to asymmetric regional shocks by adjusting up to a third of a regional non-employment shock through migration within two years. This is somewhat higher than the response to non-employment shocks in the United States and the European Union but somewhat lower than the response to unemployment shocks in these economies. In India, the unemployment rate does not seem to be a reliable measure of regional shocks, at least we find no significant effects for it. However, we find a significant population response to regional wage differentials in India at both the state and district level. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Population, Regional Convergence, Non-Employment,Unemployment, Wages |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2214&r= |
| By: | Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel; Naci H. Mocan; Semih Tumen; Belgi Turan |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact on crime of 3.7 million refugees who entered and stayed in Turkey as a result of the civil war in Syria. Using a novel administrative data source on the flow of offense records to prosecutors’ offices in 81 provinces of the country each year, and utilizing the staggered movement of refugees across provinces over time, we estimate instrumental variables models that address potential endogeneity of the number of refugees and their location, and find that an increase in the number of refugees leads to more crime. We estimate that the influx of refugees between 2012 and 2016 generated additional 75,000 to 150,000 crimes per year, although it is not possible to identify the distribution of these crimes between refugees and natives. Additional analyses reveal that low-educated native population has a separate, but smaller, effect on crime. We also highlight the pitfalls of employing incorrect empirical procedures and using poor proxies of criminal activity which produce the wrong inference about the refugee-crime relationship. Our results underline the need to quickly strengthen the social safety systems, to take actions to dampen the impact on the labor market, and to provide support to the criminal justice system in order to mitigate the repercussions of massive influx of individuals into a country, and to counter the social and political backlash that typically emerges in the wake of such large-scale population movements. |
| JEL: | J08 J2 J3 J38 J61 J68 K14 K37 K42 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30070&r= |
| By: | Jim Been (Leiden University); Anne C. Gielen (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Marike Knoef (Leiden University); Gloria Moroni (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Recent policies aiming to prolong worklives have increased older males’ labor supply. Yet, little is known about their intergenerational effects. Using unique Dutch administrative data covering three consecutive generations, this paper studies the impact of increased grandfathers’ labor supply following a reform in unemployment insurance for persons aged 57.5+ on grandchildren’s educational performance. We find that increased grandfathers’ labor supply increases grandchildren’s test scores in 6th grade. The effect is driven by substitution of grandparents’ informal care by formal childcare. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational effects, labor supply, unemployment insurance, child care, child development |
| JEL: | J13 J14 J22 J26 J65 |
| Date: | 2022–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220033&r= |
| By: | Lindsey Macmillan; Abigail McKnight |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new estimates of recent social mobility in the UK by gender, education and ethnicity, and their intersections. We measure absolute social class mobility using data from the Labour Force Survey 2014-2018. Overall, little change in social mobility occurred over this short period but sub-group analysis using a pooled sample reveals some important new findings. Education is associated with greater chances for upward mobility and lower risk of downward mobility, particularly for men. There are also stark ethnic differences in social mobility prospects in the UK. Opportunities for upward absolute social mobility appear to be more limited for some ethnic groups; particularly Black African men and women, and Black Caribbean men, even after accounting for origin class and disadvantage associated with first generation immigrant status. By contrast, Indian men and women enjoy higher rates of upward social mobility. Risks of downward absolute social mobility are also higher for Black African men and women, and Black Caribbean men, as well as Pakistani/Bangladeshi men and women, even after accounting for origin class and first generation status. But similarities in patterns among those from Black African and Black Caribbean origins mask different initial conditions: much of the reason for the experience of Black African men and women comes down to higher social class origins and a large proportion of first-generation immigrants, whereas for Black Caribbean men, they have low (high) rates of upward (downward) mobility despite lower social class origins and being more settled in terms of immigration status. |
| Keywords: | social mobility, education, gender, ethnicity, intersectionality |
| Date: | 2022–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:spdorp:11&r= |
| By: | Fang, Tony (Memorial University of Newfoundland); Hartley, John (Memorial University of Newfoundland) |
| Abstract: | Labor unions, chiefly through collective organizing and bargaining, almost universally increase the wages of their members, even after controlling for individual, job, firm, and other characteristics that affect pay (Fang and Verma 2002). This earnings advantage of union workers is known as the union wage premium. The premium differs by country, industry, worker, and the estimated wage premium varies by study methodology, among other factors. This chapter explains the premium’s determinants and charts how they have changed over time, leading to a typically reduced wage effect in recent years relative to decades past. Such changes include globalization, technological change and a rise in the skill premium, a shift toward the service industry, less favorable labor law, and possibly increased opposition toward unions. Methodological challenges and empirical techniques are reviewed, and premium estimates by country/region are presented. An average union wage premium of 0-20% is found based on recent research, with considerable variation depending on the methodology and country under study. The literature focuses on several developed countries, and is limited in a number of developing nations, with data availability being the primary reason. Results from the developing world exhibit more variation, but often fall in line with those from developed countries such as the United States. |
| Keywords: | union, wage differential, determinants |
| JEL: | J31 J33 J51 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15333&r= |
| By: | Zhu,Yu; Xu, Lei |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews and evaluates progress in recent research on the graduate premium in general as well as the differential graduate premiums by discipline, accounting for higher-education choice by individuals under substantial uncertainty. The contribution of this review, relative to previous reviews, is the collection of a wider variety of evidence that all bears on a relatively narrow issue, namely the graduate and discipline premiums, allowing for selection into undergraduate degree and degree subjects which include the option value of undertaking postgraduate degrees. The issue of subject-job match quality after graduation is only treated as a sensitivity check to the main results, due to concerns with self-selection. To avoid overlap with the more thematic chapters in this handbook which focus on HE structures and student financing respectively, this review only emphasizes that the sizes of the graduate and discipline premiums are context-specific, especially regarding how HE is structured and financed in a country, without going into details. Much higher weight is placed on the most up-to-date research that sheds light on the causal effects of higher-education and subject choice, and the conclusions are heavily driven by the best evidence rather than by consensus built around correlations. The chapter ends with a short summary of the empirical evidence and a brief discussion of possible areas for future research. |
| Keywords: | graduate premium,discipline premiums,higher-education choice,subject-job match,causal effects |
| JEL: | I26 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1091&r= |
| By: | Christopher Blattman; Sebastian Chaskel; Julian C. Jamison; Margaret Sheridan |
| Abstract: | In most societies, a small number of people commit the most serious violence. Short-term studies have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can reduce such antisocial behaviors. These behavior changes may be temporary, however, especially from therapy on its own. This is unsettled, however, for there has been little randomized, long-term research. We follow 999 high-risk men in Liberia 10 years after randomization into either: 8 weeks of a therapy; a $200 grant; both; or a control group. A decade later, both therapy alone and therapy with economic assistance produce dramatic reductions in antisocial behaviors. Drug-selling and participation in thefts and robberies, for example, fall by about half. These impacts are greatest among the highest-risk men. The effects of therapy alone, however, are smaller and more fragile. The effects of therapy plus economic assistance are more sustained and precise. Since the cash did not increase earnings for more than a few months, we hypothesize that the grant, and the brief legitimate business activity, reinforced the habit formation embodied in CBT. Overall, results suggest that targeted CBT plus economic assistance is an inexpensive and effective way to prevent violence, especially when policymakers are searching for alternatives to aggressive policing and incarceration. |
| JEL: | D83 K42 O15 O17 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30049&r= |
| By: | Sterkens, Philippe; Dalle, Axana; Wuyts, Joey; Pauwels, Ines; Durinck, Hellen; Baertf, Stijn |
| Abstract: | To explain the mixed findings on hiring discrimination against homosexual applicants, we explore the perceptual drivers behind employers' evaluations of gay men and lesbian women. Therefore, we conduct an extensive vignette experiment among 404 genuine recruiters, for which we test systematically-selected perceptions theoretically associated with homosexual job candidates in earlier studies. We find causal evidence for distinct effects of sexual identities on candidate perceptions and interview probabilities. In particular, interview probabilities are positively (negatively) associated with the perception of lesbian women (gay men) as being more (less) pleasant to work with compared to heterosexual candidates. In addition, interview chances are negatively associated with the perception of gay men and lesbian women as being more outspoken. Furthermore, our data align well with the idea of a concentrated discrimination account, whereby a minority of employers who privately hold negative attitudes towards homosexual individuals are responsible for most instances of hiring discrimination. |
| Keywords: | homosexuality,signalling,statistical discrimination,taste-based discrimination,hiring experiment |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1090&r= |
| By: | Gunadi, Christian |
| Abstract: | As of 2021, 16 U.S. States and the District of Columbia have implemented laws allowing undocumented migrants to acquire a driver's license. In this paper, I hypothesize that lower barriers to work caused by the ability to obtain driving licenses can affect undocumented migrants' fertility decisions. Using a differencein- differences strategy based on temporal and geographical variation in the implementation of laws granting undocumented migrants access to driving licenses across U.S. states, I find that these laws were associated with about 9% decline in childbirth among likely undocumented married women. Exploring the mechanism, the results of the analysis indicate that granting undocumented migrants access to driving licenses increased the propensity to work along the intensive margin. Among those at work, their usual weekly hours rose by approximately 1.5%. |
| Keywords: | driving licenses,undocumented immigrants,fertility,labor market impacts |
| JEL: | J13 I38 J15 K37 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1094&r= |
| By: | Mattia Filomena (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University); Isabella Giorgetti (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University,- GLO Global Labor Organization, Essen); Matteo Picchio (Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University -Ghent University, Ghent - GLO Global Labor Organization, Essen) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of nonemployment experienced by Italian youth after leaving secondary school on subsequent labor market outcomes. We focus on the impact on earnings and labor market participation both in the short- and in the long-term, up to 25 years since school completion. By estimating a factor analytic model which controls for time-varying unobserved heterogeneity, we find that the negative effect of nonemployment on earnings is especially persistent, being sizeable and statistically significant up to 25 years after school completion, for both men and women. Penalties in terms of participation last instead shorter; they disappear by the 10th year after school completion. Hence, early nonemployment operates by persistently locking the youth who get off to a bad start into low-wage jobs. |
| Keywords: | Youth nonemployment; scarring effects; earnings; labor market participation; factor analytic model. |
| JEL: | J01 J08 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:466&r= |
| By: | Fang, Tony (Memorial University of Newfoundland); Wells, Alex (Memorial University of Newfoundland) |
| Abstract: | Diasporas are global communities of migrants who retain a sense of connection with their homeland. The concept is ancient but has only recently become an important area of research in economics. Due to their unique transnational characteristics, diasporas can have significant influence over economic exchange in several ways. In this chapter, these economic implications are explored alongside the political involvement of diasporas. It is found that modern technological advancements in communication and transportation are emphasizing the importance of global connections, leading to diaspora populations gaining increased importance in areas such as international trade, foreign policy, and economic development. For many countries, remittances from their diaspora abroad are a key source of capital for development. Global talent mobility is also examined, including its impacts on brain drain, and the competing, more recently explored phenomenon of brain gain. There is evidence showing that members of diasporas are critical to the formation of international entrepreneurial and commercial networks, owing to their ability to help overcome linguistic or cultural barriers. Governments that are best able to effectively harness the economic potential of the diaspora are the biggest winners. Diasporas’ efforts to shape policy, both foreign and domestic, are prominent in modern research, and various examples are examined. Despite the wide body of research on diaspora economics, the subject is still recent and there are many avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | economic and political impacts, international migration, diaspora |
| JEL: | J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15334&r= |
| By: | Gonzalez Laxe, Fernando; Armesto Pina, José Francisco; Sanchez-Fernandez, Patricio |
| Abstract: | The world economic situation entails a review of the economic integration processes and, subsequently, a return to national economies that were based on a rebound in domestic demand (that is, very supportive of orthodox Keynesianism), inspired by the commitment to income redistribution policies, the reduction of social inequalities and the extension of the principles of subsidiarity and aid to social welfare policies. The aim of this text is to present a descriptive analysis of the main implications of the recent changes in the world economy on the economy of Galicia, with special attention to what happened in the year 2021. |
| Keywords: | Galicia, National Accounts, Economic integration, Value chains |
| JEL: | E01 E02 H00 J01 J08 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:113179&r= |
| By: | Nicholas-James Clavet; Réjean Hébert; Pierre-Carl Michaud; Julien Navaux |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to estimate the future long-term care needs and expenditures in Quebec while proposing and evaluating a reform package that could deliver increased coverage as well as be more financially sustainable than current policy. This reform package consists of a shift towards more intensive use of home care while increasing public coverage of care needs. A key feature of the proposed reform is to improve the ability of users to choose their provider with the creation of a senior’s care account, an account that grants individuals in need to purchase services from several providers, including both home and institutional care. To improve the neutrality of public support across care arrangements, we also propose to increase residents’ contribution in nursing homes while favoring the continued use of existing tax credits to help seniors with lower needs in terms of care. Using detailed dynamic modelling of care needs, living arrangements, and expenditures, we estimate that long-term care needs will grow rapidly in the next two decades and the costs will quickly become prohibitive under current policy. We show that substantial cost savings may exist. |
| Keywords: | long-term care, population aging, public finances, soins de longue durée, vieillissement démographique, finances publiques. |
| JEL: | H51 H68 J14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsi:creeic:2201&r= |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Vilaplana-Prieto, Cristina (Universidad de Murcia) |
| Abstract: | Balancing caregiving duties and work can be both financially and emotionally burdensome, especially when care is provided to a spouse at home. This paper documents that financial respite for caregivers can influence individuals' early retirement decisions. We examine the effect of a reform extending long-term care (LTC) benefits (in the form of subsidies and supports) in Spain after 2007 on caregiving spouse's early retirement intention. We subsequently examine the effect of austerity spending cuts in 2012 reducing such publicly funded benefits, and we subsequent compare the estimates to the effects of an early retirement reform among private sector workers in 2013. We document evidence of a 10pp reduction in the early retirement intentions after the LTC reform even though the effect is heterogeneous by type of benefit. Consistently, austerity spending cuts in benefits are found to weaken retirement intentions. Our estimates suggest that cuts in caregiving subsidies exert a much stronger effect on early retirement intentions than actual early retirement reforms. |
| Keywords: | informal care, retirement, employment, long-term care, caregiving subsidies, home care |
| JEL: | I18 J14 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15339&r= |