nep-lab New Economics Papers
on Labour Economics
Issue of 2022‒10‒03
nineteen papers chosen by
Joseph Marchand
University of Alberta

  1. The German Model of Industrial Relations: Balancing Flexibility and Collective Action By Jäger, Simon; Noy, Shakked; Schoefer, Benjamin
  2. Couples, Careers, and Spatial Mobility By Lea Nassal; Marie Paul
  3. Internal Migration in the United States: Rates, Selection, and Destination Choice, 1850-1940 By Ariell Zimran
  4. Scared Straight? Threat and Assimilation of Refugees in Germany By Philipp Jaschke; Sulin Sardoschau; Marco Tabellini
  5. Temporary Replacement Workers in a Matching Model with Employment at Will By Garibaldi, Pietro; Gomes, Pedro Maia
  6. Bargaining for Trade: When Exporting Becomes Detrimental for Female Wages By Halvarsson, Daniel; Lark, Olga; Tingvall, Patrik; Videnord, Josefin
  7. Boomerang College Kids: Unemployment, Job Mismatch and Coresidence By Albanesi, Stefania; Gihleb, Rania; Zhang, Ning
  8. Refugee Migration and the Labor Market: Lessons from 40 Years of Post-arrival Policies in Denmark By Arendt, Jacob Nielsen; Dustmann, Christian; Ku, Hyejin
  9. Danish Flexicurity: Rights and Duties By Claus Thustrup Kreiner; Michael Svarer
  10. Molecular genetics and mid-career economic mobility By Paul Minard
  11. Intergenerational mobility of economic well-being in Latin America By Guido Neidhöfer; Leonardo Gasparini; Matias Ciaschi
  12. Race, Gender and Poverty: Evidence from Brazilian Data By Yeutseyeva, Sasha; Deguilhem, Thibaud
  13. Political Selection When Uncertainty Is High By Baskaran, Thushyanthan; Hessami, Zohal; Khasanboev, Temurbek
  14. From Plantations to Prisons: The Race Gap in Incarceration After the Abolition of Slavery in the U.S. By Melissa Rubio-Ramos
  15. Early Labor Market Origins of Long-Term Mental Health and its Intergenerational Correlation By De Vera, Micole; Garcia-Brazales, Javier; Lin, Jiayi
  16. Place-Based Productivity and Costs in Science By Jonathan Gruber; Simon Johnson; Enrico Moretti
  17. Lady Justice: The impact of female judges on trials' verdicts in US By Alessandra Foresta
  18. Job Displacement Costs of Phasing Out Coal By Juan-Pablo Rud; Michael Simmons; Gerhard Toews; Fernando Aragon
  19. Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Social Choice: The Impact of Deliberation in the context of two different Aggregation Rules By Mariam Sy; Charles Figuières; Hélène Rey-Valette; Richard Howarth; Rutger De Wit

  1. By: Jäger, Simon (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Noy, Shakked (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Schoefer, Benjamin (University of California, Berkeley)
    Abstract: We give an overview of the "German model" of industrial relations. We organize our review by focusing on the two pillars of the model: sectoral collective bargaining and firm-level codetermination. Relative to the United States, Germany outsources collective bargaining to the sectoral level, resulting in higher coverage and the avoidance of firm-level distributional conflict. Relative to other European countries, Germany makes it easy for employers to avoid coverage or use flexibility provisions to deviate downwards from collective agreements. The greater flexibility of the German system may reduce unemployment, but may also erode bargaining coverage and increase inequality. Meanwhile, firm-level codetermination through worker board representation and works councils creates cooperative dialogue between employers and workers. Board representation has few direct impacts owing to worker representatives' minority vote share, but works councils, which hold a range of substantive powers, may be more impactful. Overall, the German model highlights tensions between efficiency-enhancing flexibility and equity-enhancing collective action.
    Keywords: unions, bargaining, industrial relations, codetermination, Germany
    JEL: J5 J4
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15500&r=
  2. By: Lea Nassal (Lea Nassal); Marie Paul (Marie Paul)
    Abstract: We investigate the effects of long-distance moves of married couples on both spouses’ earnings, employment and job characteristics based on a new administrative dataset from Germany. Employing difference-in-difference propensity score matching and accounting for spouses’ pre-move employment biographies, we show that men’s earnings increase significantly after the move, whereas women suffer large losses in the first years. Men’s earnings increases are mainly driven by increasing wages and switches to slightly larger and better paying firms. Investigating effect heterogeneity with respect to pre-move relative earnings or for whose job opportunity couples move, confirms strong gender asymmetries in gains to moving.
    Keywords: Long-distance moves, labour market careers, gender gap
    JEL: J61 J16 R23
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2220&r=
  3. By: Ariell Zimran
    Abstract: I study the internal migration of native-born white men in the United States using linked census data covering all possible 10- and 20-year periods 1850--1940. Inter-county migration rates were stable over time. Selection into migration on the basis of occupational status was also largely stable and was neutral or slightly negative. But the orientation of internal migration changed, declining in distance, becoming more directed towards the west, and increasingly driving urbanization. These patterns changed in the 1930s as migration became less common and less urban oriented. These results provide a clearer understanding of historic US internal migration than previously possible.
    JEL: J61 N31 N32 O15
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30384&r=
  4. By: Philipp Jaschke; Sulin Sardoschau; Marco Tabellini
    Abstract: This paper studies the effects of threat on convergence to local culture and economic assimilation of refugees, exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in their allocation across German regions between 2013 and 2016. We combine novel survey data on cultural preferences and economic outcomes of refugees with corresponding information on locals, and construct a threat index that integrates contemporaneous and historical variables. On average, refugees assimilate both culturally and economically. However, while refugees assigned to more hostile regions converge to local culture more quickly, they do not exhibit faster economic assimilation. Our evidence suggests that refugees exert more assimilation effort in response to local threat, but do not integrate faster because of higher discrimination in more hostile regions.
    JEL: F22 J15 Z10
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30381&r=
  5. By: Garibaldi, Pietro (University of Turin); Gomes, Pedro Maia (Birkbeck, University of London)
    Abstract: In the US almost 3 per cent of employees are absent from their job for reasons other than vacation, but are still technically employed. We argue that firms may find optimal to use temporary replacement workers to fill these vacant positions. We set up a matching model with directed search and double-sided heterogeneity. When a workers is temporarily forced out of the labour market, firms can freely destroy the job, put it in "mothball", or look for a temporary worker to "keep the seat warm". When the latter option is optimal, a market for temporary replacement workers emerges in equilibrium. In a quantitative application to the US labor market, replacement workers represent 2.7 per cent of total employment.
    Keywords: replacement workers, short-duration jobs, temporary jobs, worker heterogeneity, firm heterogeneity, employment at will
    JEL: J22 J40 J15 J60
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15503&r=
  6. By: Halvarsson, Daniel (The Ratio Institute); Lark, Olga (Lund University); Tingvall, Patrik (Stockholm School of Economics); Videnord, Josefin (Uppsala University)
    Abstract: In this paper we study the link between globalization of firms and gender inequality. Specifically, we examine how the need for interpersonal contacts in trade and gender-specific differences in negotiations are related to the gender wage gap. Our key finding is that export of goods that are intensive in interpersonal contacts widens the gender wage gap. The effect is robust across various specifications and is most pronounced for domestic exporting firms, which do not trade within multinational corporations but with external foreign partners, where the contracting problem is most distinct. We ascribe this result to a male comparative advantage in bargaining.
    Keywords: Export; Gender wage gap; Gender inequality; Contract intensity; Interpersonal contacts; International trade
    JEL: F16 F66 J16 J31
    Date: 2022–08–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0361&r=
  7. By: Albanesi, Stefania (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Gihleb, Rania (University of Pittsburgh); Zhang, Ning (University of Pittsburgh)
    Abstract: Labor market outcomes for young college graduates have deteriorated substantially in the last twenty five years, and more of them are residing with their parents. The unemployment rate at 23-27 years old for the 1996 college graduation cohort was 9%, whereas it rose to 12% for the 2013 graduation cohort. While only 25% of the 1996 cohort lived with their parents, 31% for the 2013 cohort chose this option. Our hypothesis is that the declining availability of 'matched jobs' that require a college degree is a key factor behind these developments. Using a structurally estimated model of child-parent decisions, in which coresidence improves college graduates' quality of job matches, we find that lower matched job arrival rates explain two thirds of the rise in unemployment and coresidence between the 2013 and 1996 graduation cohorts. Rising wage dispersion is also important for the increase in unemployment, while declining parental income, rising student loan balances and higher rental costs only play a marginal role.
    Keywords: coresidence, job mismatch, unemployment, student loans
    JEL: E24 J24 J12 E21
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15507&r=
  8. By: Arendt, Jacob Nielsen (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Ku, Hyejin (University College London)
    Abstract: Denmark has accepted refugees from a large variety of countries and for more than four decades. Denmark has also frequently changed policies and regulations concerning integration programs, transfer payments, and conditions for permanent residency. Such policy variation in conjunction with excellent administrative data provides an ideal laboratory to evaluate the effects of different immigration and integration policies on the outcomes of refugee immigrants. In this article, we first describe the Danish experience with refugee immigration over the past four decades. We then review different post-arrival refugee policies and summarize studies that evaluate their effects on the labor market performance of refugees. Lastly, we discuss and contrast these findings in the context of international studies of similar policies and draw conclusions for policy.
    Keywords: refugee integration, immigration policies, labor supply, employment, language
    JEL: J22 J24 J61
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15497&r=
  9. By: Claus Thustrup Kreiner (CEBI, University of Copenhagen, Public Economics in the CESifo network, Münich, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London,); Michael Svarer (Economics, Aarhus University, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn,)
    Abstract: Denmark is one of the richest countries in the world and achieves this in combination with low inequality, low unemployment, and high income security. This performance is often attributed to the Danish labor market model characterized by what has become known as flexicurity. This essay describes and evaluates Danish flexicurity. The Danish experience shows that flexicurity in itself, i.e., flexible hiring and firing rules for firms combined with high income security for workers, is insufficient for successful outcomes. The flexicurity policy also needs to include comprehensive active labor market programs (ALMPs) with compulsory participation for recipients of unemployment compensation. Denmark spends more on active labor market programs than any other OECD country. We review theory showing how ALMPs can mitigate adverse selection and moral hazard problems associated with high income security and review empirical evidence on the effectiveness of ALMPs from the ongoing Danish policy evaluation, which includes a systematic use of randomized experiments. We also discuss the aptness of flexicurity to meet challenges from globalization, automation, and immigration and the trade-offs that the United States (or other countries) would face in adopting a flexicurity policy.
    Keywords: Labor Market Policy, Employment
    JEL: J08
    Date: 2022–09–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2216&r=
  10. By: Paul Minard
    Abstract: Reductions in the cost of genetic sequencing have enabled the construction of large datasets including both genetic and phenotypic data. Based on these datasets, polygenic scores (PGSs) summarizing an individual's genetic propensity for educational attainment have been constructed. It is by now well established that this PGS predicts wages, income, and occupational prestige and occupational mobility across generations. It is unknown whether a PGS for educational attainment can predict upward income and occupational mobility even within the peak earning years of an individual. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), I show that: (i) a PGS for educational attainment predicts wage, income and occupational prestige mobility between 1974 (when respondents were about 36 years of age) and 1992 (when respondents were about 53 years of age), conditional on 1974 values of these variables and a range of covariates; (ii) the effect is not mediated by parental socioeconomic status, is driven primarily by respondents with only a high school education, and is replicated in a within sibling-pair design; (iii) conditional on 1974 outcomes, higher PGS individuals surveyed in 1975 aspired to higher incomes and more prestigious jobs 10 years hence, an effect driven primarily by respondents with more than a high school education; (iv) throughout their employment history, high PGS individuals were more likely to undertake on the job training, and more likely to change job duties during tenure with an employer; and (v) though no more likely to change employers or industries during their careers, high PGS individuals were more likely in 1974 to be working in industries which would experience high wage growth in subsequent decades. These results contribute to our understanding of longitudinal inequality and shed light on the sources of heterogeneity in responses to economic shocks and policy.
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.00057&r=
  11. By: Guido Neidhöfer (ZEW Mannheim); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS); Matias Ciaschi (CEDLAS)
    Abstract: We estimate, for the first time, long-run trends in intergenerational economic mobility for a multitude of countries in Latin America going beyond parent-child correlations in educational attainment. We use several indicators of well-being, such as the socio-economic situation of individuals, job stability, homeownership and assets. Unlike estimates based on education, which mostly show increasing social mobility trends, we find that opportunities to achieve a certain level of economic well-being and climb up the social ladder are rather unequally distributed and have not changed much over time in Latin America.
    Keywords: Inequality, Intergenerational Mobility, Equality of Opportunity, Well-being, Latin America
    JEL: D63 I24 J62 O15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2022-620&r=
  12. By: Yeutseyeva, Sasha; Deguilhem, Thibaud
    Abstract: Race and gender are commonly considerated as two of the most important structural factors associated with unequal socioeconomic systems. Previous research has found that these factors are significant for explaining the income inequality in Latin America and particularly in Brazil. This study aims to address whether both determinants predict an individual’s chances of being in poverty in Brazil, using national dataset and articulating different econometric strategies. Overall, being a woman had a small positive impact on an individual’s predicted chance of poverty and only in a probability linear specification. We think that this result does not align well with previous literature because of the selection bias affecting women labor market participation. However, evidence of strong and robust racial differenciation in Brazil was present. Discussing the representativeness of the sample, this study highlights the importance of data quality as well as the relevance of using various statistical methods.
    Keywords: Brazil, poverty, race, gender, inequality
    JEL: J15 J16 N96
    Date: 2022–08–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114411&r=
  13. By: Baskaran, Thushyanthan (University of Siegen); Hessami, Zohal (Ruhr University Bochum); Khasanboev, Temurbek (Ruhr University Bochum)
    Abstract: Do voters place their trust in tried and tested leaders when uncertainty is high or do they prefer a new slate of leaders who are arguably more competent? To study this question, we make use of hand-collected data on 402,385 candidates who competed in open-list local council elections (1996-2020) in Bavaria. The 2020 elections took place at the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, a time of high uncertainty about the future course of events. Using local heterogeneity in Covid-19 outbreaks and related school/daycare closures to proxy the degree of perceived uncertainty across Bavarian municipalities, we show with a difference-in-differences design that councilors' incumbency advantage declined more in exposed municipalities. This decrease in the incumbency advantage is limited to male and non- university educated incumbents, resulting in shifted patterns of political selection. Overall, we conclude that voters select more competent politicians when they face uncertainty about the future.
    Keywords: political selection, council elections, incumbency, Bavaria, COVID-19, uncertainty
    JEL: D72 D78 H70 J13 J16
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15509&r=
  14. By: Melissa Rubio-Ramos (University of Cologne)
    Abstract: This paper documents the emergence of a race gap in incarceration after the abolition of slavery in the U.S. Counties that relied more on slave labor incarcerated more African Americans, with no comparable effects for whites. An increase of slave reliance by 10% increases black incarceration rates by 1.8-per-1,000. This effect is associated with an increased use of prison labor. Consistent with this, I show that arrests increase before cotton harvesting and incarceration declines after exogenous shocks that decrease the demand for labor. I find no evidence for supply-side mechanisms, according to which former slaves commit more crimes.
    Keywords: Slavery, US, Incarceration
    JEL: J15 J47 K31 N31 N91 N92
    Date: 2022–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:195&r=
  15. By: De Vera, Micole; Garcia-Brazales, Javier; Lin, Jiayi
    Abstract: What drives long-term mental health and its intergenerational correlation? Exploiting variation in unemployment rates upon labor market entry across Australian states and cohorts, we provide novel evidence of persistent effects on mental health two decades after labor market entry. We find that individuals exposed to a one percentage point higher unemployment rate at labor market entry relative to trend have 14% of a standard deviation worse mental health at ages 36–40. We further document an intergenerational impact of labor market entry conditions. Along the extensive margin, females more impacted by labor market entry conditions in terms of mental health increase completed fertility. Along the intensive margin, daughters whose parents experienced a one percentage point higher unemployment rate at entry have 18% of a standard deviation worse mental health during adolescence. Sons’ mental health is not impacted.
    Keywords: Recession,Mental health,Well-being,Intergenerational correlation,Australia
    JEL: E32 I14 J13
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:264274&r=
  16. By: Jonathan Gruber; Simon Johnson; Enrico Moretti
    Abstract: Cities with a larger concentration of scientists have been shown to be more productive places for additional scientists to do Research and Development. At the same time, these urban areas tend to be associated with higher costs of doing research, in terms of both wages and land. While the literature on the benefits of agglomeration economies is extensive, it offers no direct evidence of how productivity gains from agglomeration compare with higher costs of production. This paper aims to shed light on the balance between local productivity and local costs in science. Using a novel dataset, we estimate place-based costs of carrying out R&D in each US metro area and assess how these place-based costs vary with the density of scientists in each area. We then compare these costs with estimates of the corresponding productivity benefits of more scientist density from Moretti (2021). Adding more scientists to a city increases both productivity and production costs, but the rise in productivity is larger than the rise in production costs. In particular, each 10% rise in the stock of scientists is associated with a 0.11% rise in costs and a 0.67% rise in productivity. This implies that firms moving from cities with a small agglomeration of scientists to cities with a large agglomeration of scientists experience productivity gains that are 6 times larger than the increase in production costs. This finding is consistent with the increased concentration of R&D activity observed over the past 30 years. However, while the productivity estimate has only modest non-linearities, the cost estimates suggest much larger non-linearities as the concentration of scientists increases. For the most concentrated R&D cities, the difference between productivity gains and cost increases is close to zero.
    JEL: H0 J0 R0
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30416&r=
  17. By: Alessandra Foresta
    Abstract: This work evaluates the role of judges' gender on jury trials verdicts in the US state of North Carolina. My identification strategy is based on judges' rotation across districts and fixed effects. The results indicate that, in trials presided by female judges, juries are more likely to express guilty verdicts. I implement a series of robustness checks (different models' specifications, defendants' characteristics, district sizes, judges' types, judges' experience and workloads) and a series of heterogeneity checks (judges' characteristics, types of crimes and jurors' gender). Finally, I discuss the possible mechanisms behind these findings and I explore the impact of the jury selection process, the role of judges' toughness and the attitudes of women towards courts and sentencing.
    Keywords: Gender, Judge, Trials behaviours
    JEL: K10 K40 J16
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:22/04&r=
  18. By: Juan-Pablo Rud (Royal Holloway, University of London); Michael Simmons (Umeå University); Gerhard Toews (New Economic School); Fernando Aragon (Simon Fraser University)
    Abstract: The reduction of carbon emissions will require a rapid phasing out of coal and the displacement of millions of coal miners. How much could this energy transition cost mining workers? We use the dramatic collapse of the UK coal industry to estimate the long-term impact on displaced miners. We find evidence of substantial losses: wages fall by 40% and earnings fall by 80% to 90% one year after job loss. The losses are persistent and remain significantly depressed fifteen years later, amounting to present discounted value earnings losses of between four and six times the miners pre-displacement earnings. (JEL J30, J63, J64, O4)
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp22-07&r=
  19. By: Mariam Sy (MARBEC); Charles Figuières (Axi-Marseille Université, AMSE); Hélène Rey-Valette (Université de Montpellier, CEE-M); Richard Howarth (Dartmouth College, Environmental Program); Rutger De Wit (CNRS, MARBEC)
    Abstract: This paper describes an empiric study of aggregation and deliberation – used during citizens' workshops – for the elicitation of collective preferences over 20 different ecosystem services (ESs) delivered by the Palavas coastal lagoons located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea close to Montpellier (S. France). The impact of deliberation is apprehended by comparing the collectives preferences constructed with and without deliberation. The same aggregation rules were used before and after deliberation. We compared two different aggregation methods, i.e. Rapid Ecosystem Services Participatory Appraisal (RESPA) and Majority Judgement (MJ). RESPA had been specifically tested for ESs, while MJ evaluates the merit of each item, an ES in our case, in a predefined ordinal scale of judgment. The impact of deliberation was strongest for the RESPA method. This new information acquired from application of social choice theory is particularly useful for ecological economics studying ES, and more practically for the development of deliberative approaches for public policies.
    Keywords: Services écosytémiques, Délibération, Agrégation, ,
    JEL: Q57
    Date: 2022–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2022.05&r=

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