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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Altmann, Steffen (IZA and University of Copenhagen); Cairo, Sofie (Harvard Business School); Mahlstedt, Robert (University of Copenhagen); Sebald, Alexander (University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | We study how job seekers' understanding of complex unemployment benefit rules affects their labor market performance. Combining data from a large-scale scale field experiment, detailed administrative records, and a survey of unemployed job seekers, we document three main results. First, job seekers exhibit pronounced knowledge gaps about the prevailing unemployment benefit rules and their personal benefit entitlements. Second, we show that a low-cost information strategy using a personalized online tool increases job seekers' understanding of the rules and their personal benefit situation. Finally, we document heterogeneous labor-market effects of the intervention depending on job seekers' baseline knowledge and beliefs, their personal employment prospects, and the timing of the intervention during the benefit spell. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefits, field experiments, information frictions, labor market policy, job search |
| JEL: | J68 J64 D83 C93 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15747&r=lab |
| By: | Rosenqvist, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data from Sweden, I study an internationally unique parental leave policy that rewarded parents with a financial bonus as a function of their division of paid parental leave. Results from a birthdate based regression discontinuity design show that the policy significantly reduced the absolute difference in days of paid leave between the parents. Since parents started earning bonus only after the exhaustion of the 60 reserved days for each parent, the response to the bonus was completely driven by the roughly 55 % of the couples who exhausted all reserved days. Within this group, the effect of the policy was particularly strong in the small group of parents where the father had the highest uptake, causing the effect on the mother-father difference in uptake to be insignificant. Labor market earnings and temporary parental leave (i.e., caring for the child when he/she is too sick to be in school/daycare center), which has been argued to be a good proxy for a parent’s general childcare involvement beyond the first years after childbirth, were not significantly affected by the bonus. However, mothers who lowered (increased) their uptake of parental leave in response to the bonus policy displayed negative (positive) point estimates for temporary parental leave and positive (negative) point estimates for labor earnings. While a corresponding pattern for fathers could not be observed, for mothers, the results suggest a potentially important link between the length of the early parental leave and later allocation of time between home and market production. |
| Keywords: | Parental leave; gender equality bonus; home production; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2022_022&r=lab |
| By: | Afridi, Farzana (Indian Statistical Institute); Dhillon, Amrita (King's College London); Roy, Sanchari (King's College London); Sangwan, Nikita (Indian Statistical Institute) |
| Abstract: | Using a cluster randomized control trial, we study the role of women's social networks in improving female labor force participation. In the first treatment arm, a hyper-local digital job search platform service was offered to a randomly selected group of married couples (non-network treatment) in low-income neighborhoods of Delhi, India. In the second treatment arm, the service was offered to married couples and the wife's social network (network treatment), to disentangle the network effect. Neither couples nor their networks were offered the service in the control group. Approximately one year after the intervention, we find no increase in the wife's likelihood of working in either treatment group relative to the control group. Instead, there is a significant improvement in their husbands' labor market outcomes, including the likelihood of working, work hours, and monthly earnings, while in contrast home-based self-employment increased among wives – both in the network treatment group. We argue that our findings can be explained by the gendered structure of social networks in our setting, which reinforces (conservative) social norms about women's (outside) work. |
| Keywords: | social networks, social norms, gender, job-matching platforms, employment |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15767&r=lab |
| By: | Boneva, Teodora (University of Bonn); Golin, Marta (University of Zurich); Kaufmann, Katja Maria (University of Bayreuth); Rauh, Christopher (University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides representative evidence on the perceived returns to maternal labor supply. We design a novel survey to elicit subjective expectations, and show that a mother's decision to work is perceived to have sizable impacts on child skills, family outcomes, and the future labor market outcomes of the mother. Examining the channels through which the impacts are perceived to operate, we document that beliefs about the impact of additional household income can account for some, but not all, of the perceived positive effects. Beliefs about returns substantially vary across the population and are predictive of labor supply intentions under different policy scenarios related to childcare availability and quality, two factors that are also perceived as important. Consistent with socialization playing a role in the formation of beliefs, we show that respondents whose own mother worked perceive the returns to maternal labor supply as higher. |
| Keywords: | subjective expectations, maternal labor supply, childcare, child penalties |
| JEL: | J22 J13 I26 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15788&r=lab |
| By: | Pineda-Hernández, Kevin (Université Libre de Bruxelles); Rycx, François (Free University of Brussels); Volral, Mélanie (University of Mons) |
| Abstract: | As immigrants born in developing countries and their descendants represent a growing share of the working-age population in the developed world, their labour market integration constitutes a key factor for fostering economic development and social cohesion. Using a granular, matched employer-employee database of 1.3 million observations between 1999 and 2016, our weighted multilevel log-linear regressions first indicate that in Belgium, the overall wage gap between workers born in developed countries and workers originating from developing countries remains substantial: it reaches 15.7% and 13.5% for first- and second-generation immigrants, respectively. However, controlling for a wide range of observables (e.g. age, tenure, education, type of contract, occupation, firm-level collective agreement, firm fixed effects), we find that, whereas first-generation immigrants born in developing countries still experience a sizeable adjusted wage gap (2.7%), there is no evidence of an adjusted wage gap for their second-generation peers. Moreover, our reweighted, recentered influence function Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions agree with these findings. Indeed, while the overall wage gap for first-generation immigrants born in developing countries is driven by unfavourable human capital, low-paying occupational/sectoral characteristics, and a wage structure effect (e.g. wage discrimination), the wage gap for their second-generation peers is essentially explained by the fact that they are younger and have less tenure than workers born in developed countries. Furthermore, our results emphasize the significant moderating role of geographical origin, gender, and position in the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, intergenerational studies, labour market integration, wage decompositions, unconditional quantile regressions, employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J21 J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15770&r=lab |
| By: | Bredtmann, Julia (RWI); Otten, Sebastian (RWI) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of source-country culture on the labor supply of female immigrants in Europe. We find that the labor supply of immigrant women is positively associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio in their source country, which serves as a proxy for the country's preferences and beliefs regarding women's roles. This suggests that the culture and norms of their source country play an important role for immigrant women's labor supply. However, contradicting previous evidence for the U.S., we do not find evidence that the cultural effect persists through the second generation. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation, immigration, integration, cultural transmission, epidemiological approach |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15789&r=lab |
| By: | Antman, Francisca M. (University of Colorado, Boulder); Duncan, Brian (University of Colorado Denver); Trejo, Stephen (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | This article reviews evidence on the labor market performance of Hispanics in the United States, with a particular focus on the US-born segment of this population. After discussing critical issues that arise in the US data sources commonly used to study Hispanics, we document how Hispanics currently compare with other Americans in terms of education, earnings, and labor supply, and then we discuss long-term trends in these outcomes. Relative to non-Hispanic Whites, US-born Hispanics from most national origin groups possess sizeable deficits in earnings, which in large part reflect corresponding educational deficits. Over time, rates of high school completion by US-born Hispanics have almost converged to those of non-Hispanic Whites, but the large Hispanic deficits in college completion have instead widened. Finally, from the perspective of immigrant generations, Hispanics experience substantial improvements in education and earnings between first-generation immigrants and the second-generation consisting of the US-born children of immigrants. Continued progress beyond the second generation is obscured by measurement issues arising from high rates of Hispanic intermarriage and the fact that later-generation descendants of Hispanic immigrants often do not self-identify as Hispanic when they come from families with mixed ethnic origins. |
| Keywords: | education, earnings, assimilation, immigrant, Hispanic |
| JEL: | J15 J31 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15802&r=lab |
| By: | Davidson, Carl (Michigan State University); Heyman, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Matusz, Steven (Michigan State University); Sjöholm, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Chun Zhu, Susan (Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how experience from working in a foreign-owned firm affects worker mobility. International experience can be expected to provide a worker with knowledge about foreign operations, thereby making them more attractive to other employers who are also engaged in international business. We follow workers in local Swedish firms where some experience an internationalization shock when their firm is acquired by a foreign multinational firm. Matching acquired firms with a group of similar control firms and applying a stacked difference-in-differences estimation approach, we find that international experience increases the likelihood of job switching to a multinational firm by around 4 percentage points and decreases the likelihood of job switching to a local firm by around 5 percentage points. Moreover, the post-acquisition wage growth rate is 10 percentage points higher for workers moving to MNEs as compared to stayers at acquired firms, leading to a steeper wage growth trajectory for movers to MNEs. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; Multinational firms; FDI; Job mobility |
| JEL: | F16 F66 J60 |
| Date: | 2022–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1453&r=lab |
| By: | Dora Costa; CoraLee Lewis; Noelle Yetter |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces four new intergenerational and multigenerational datasets which follow both sons and daughters and which can be used to study the persistence of longevity, socioeconomic status, family structure, and geographic mobility across generations. The data follow the children of Black and White Union Army veterans from birth to death, linking them to the available censuses. The White samples include an over-sample of children of ex-POWs. A separate collection links grandchildren of White Union Army veterans to their death records. The data were created with high quality manual linkage procedures utilizing a wide variety of records to establish links. |
| JEL: | I14 J01 J10 N01 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30747&r=lab |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (University of Potsdam); Kritikos, Alexander S. (DIW Berlin); Stier, Claudia (University of Potsdam) |
| Abstract: | Predicting entrepreneurial development based on individual and business-related characteristics is a key objective of entrepreneurship research. In this context, we investigate whether the motives of becoming an entrepreneur influence the subsequent entrepreneurial development. In our analysis, we examine a broad range of business outcomes including survival and income, as well as job creation, expansion and innovation activities for up to 40 months after business formation. Using self-determination theory as conceptual background, we aggregate the start-up motives into a continuous motivational index. We show – based on a unique dataset of German start-ups from unemployment and non-unemployment – that the later business performance is better, the higher they score on this index. Effects are particularly strong for growth oriented outcomes like innovation and expansion activities. In a next step, we examine three underlying motivational categories that we term opportunity, career ambition, and necessity. We show that individuals driven by opportunity motives perform better in terms of innovation and business expansion activities, while career ambition is positively associated with survival, income, and the probability of hiring employees. All effects are robust to the inclusion of a large battery of covariates that are proven to be important determinants of entrepreneurial performance. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, push and pull theories, start-up motivation, survival, job creation, firm growth, innovation |
| JEL: | L26 C14 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15793&r=lab |
| By: | Majlesi, Kaveh (Monash University); Prina, Silvia (Northeastern University); Sullivan, Paul (American University) |
| Abstract: | The effect of negative shifts in public opinion on the economic lives of minorities is unknown. We study the role of racial bias in the U.S. labor market by investigating sudden changes in public opinion about Asians following the anti-Chinese rhetoric that emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated changes in employment status and earnings. Using Current Population Survey (CPS) data from January 2019 to May 2021, we find that, unlike other minorities, Asians who worked in occupations or industries with a higher likelihood of face-to-face interactions before the pandemic were more likely to become unemployed afterwards. Consistent with a role for public opinion affecting labor market outcomes, we find that the effects are larger in magnitude in strongly Republican states, where anti-Asian rhetoric might have had more influence. Additionally, we show that, while widespread along the political spectrum, negative shifts in views of Asians were much stronger among those who voted for President Trump in 2016 and those who report watching Fox News channel. |
| Keywords: | racial bias, public opinion, minorities, unemployment, earnings |
| JEL: | D70 D91 J15 P16 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15753&r=lab |
| By: | Osea Giuntella; Yi Lu; Tianyi Wang |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of exposure to industrial robots on labor markets and household behaviors, exploring longitudinal household data from China. We find that a one standard deviation increase in robot exposure led to a decline in labor force participation (-1%), employment (-7.5%), and hourly wages (-9%) of Chinese workers. At the same time, among those who kept working, robot exposure increased the number of hours worked by 14%. These effects were concentrated among the less educated and larger among men, prime-age, and older workers. We then explore how individuals and families responded to increased exposure to robots. We find that more exposed workers increased their participation in technical training and were significantly more likely to retire earlier. Despite the negative impact on wages and employment, we find no evidence of an effect on consumption or savings, which is explained by an increase in borrowing (+10%). While there is no evidence of an effect on marital behavior, we document that robot exposure led to a small decline in the number of children (-1%). Finally, we find that robot exposure increased family time investment in the education of children (+10%) as well as the investment in children’s after-school academic and extra-curricular activities (+24%). |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30707&r=lab |
| By: | Hermes, Henning; Krauß, Marina; Lergetporer, Philipp; Peter, Frauke; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | We present experimental evidence that enabling access to universal early child care for families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) increases maternal labor supply. Our intervention provides families with customized help for child care applications, resulting in a large increase in enrollment among lower-SES families. The treatment increases lower-SES mothers' full-time employment rates by 9 percentage points (+160%), household income by 10%, and mothers' earnings by 22%. The effect on full-time employment is largely driven by increased care hours provided by child care centers and fathers. Overall, the treatment substantially improves intra-household gender equality in terms of child care duties and earnings. |
| Keywords: | child care, maternal employment, gender equality, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | D90 J13 J18 J22 C93 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:394&r=lab |
| By: | Chakraborty, Pavel (Lancaster University); Singh, Rahul (Ahmedabad University); Soundararajan, Vidhya (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay) |
| Abstract: | Does higher import competition increase formalization and aggregate productivity? Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation from Chinese imports, we provide empirical causal evidence that higher imports increases the share of formal manufacturing enterprise employment in India. This formal share increase is both due to the rise in formal-enterprise employment driven by the high productivity firms, and a fall in informal-enterprise employment. The labor reallocation is enabled by the formal firms' hiring of contract workers, who do not carry stringent string costs. Overall, Chinese import competition increased formal sector employment share by 3.7 percentage points, and aggregate labor productivity by 2.87%, between 2000-2001 and 2005-2006. |
| Keywords: | import competition, formal sector employment, informality, contract workers, Chinese imports, reallocation, misallocation |
| JEL: | F14 F16 O17 O47 F66 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15760&r=lab |
| By: | Jon Ellingsen; Caroline Espegren |
| Abstract: | We estimate the earnings losses of displaced petroleum workers using a matched employer-employee longitudinal data set from Norway, coupled with an event-study framework of the oil price drop in 2014. Displacement leads to sizable and persistent earnings losses, and the magnitudes are particularly large for petroleum workers moving to other industries. More importantly, we document that almost 70 percent of the earnings losses can be attributed to lost industry-specific earnings premiums caused by workers moving from an industry characterized by large resource rents. In contrast, worker-industry match effects are negligible. |
| Keywords: | Dutch disease, Resource Movements, Difference-in-Differences, Labor mobility, Displaced |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bny:wpaper:0109&r=lab |
| By: | Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics); Flèche, Sarah (CNRS); Pagan, Ricardo (University of Malaga) |
| Abstract: | The proportion of people sleeping less than the daily-recommended hours has increased. Yet, we know little about the labour market returns to sleep. We use longitudinal data from Germany and exploit exogenous variation in sleep duration induced by time and local variations in sunset time. We find that a 1-hour increase in weekly sleep increases employment by 1.6 percentage points and weekly earnings by 3.4%. Most of this earnings effect comes from productivity improvements, while the number of working hours decreases with sleep time. We identify one mechanism driving these effects, namely the better mental health workers experience from sleeping more hours. |
| Keywords: | sleep, employment, productivity, mental health, sunset times |
| JEL: | I18 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15741&r=lab |
| By: | Kyyrä, Tomi; Tuomala, Juha |
| Abstract: | In Finland, large firms are partially liable for the costs of disability and unemployment benefits paid to their former workers. To estimate the effects of such costs, we exploit a reform that extended this cost-sharing to cover a new group of blue-collar workers. We show that experience rating in disability insurance reduces inflows to sickness and disability benefits and increases participation in vocational rehabilitation programs, whereas employers' unemployment insurance costs reduce excess layoffs of older workers who are eligible for extended unemployment benefits until retirement age. We find no evidence of spillover effects: employers' costs in one benefit type do not affect inflows to other types of the benefits. |
| Keywords: | experience rating, coinsurance, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, Sosiaaliturva, verotus ja tulonjako, J14, J26, H32, fi=Sosiaaliturva|sv=Social trygghet|en=Social security|, fi=Työmarkkinat|sv=Arbetsmarknad|en=Labour markets|, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:152&r=lab |
| By: | Sofoklis Goulas; Rigissa Megalokonomou; Yi Zhang |
| Abstract: | How much does your neighbor impact your test scores and career? In this paper, we examine how an observable characteristic of same-age neighbors—their gender—affects a variety of high school and university outcomes. We exploit randomness in the gender composition of local cohorts at birth from one year to the next. In a setting in which school assignment is based on proximity to residential address, we define as neighbors all same-cohort peers who attend neighboring schools. Using new administrative data for the universe of students in consecutive cohorts in Greece, we find that a higher share of female neighbors improves both male and female students’ high school and university outcomes. We also find that female students are more likely to enroll in STEM degrees and target more lucrative occupations when they are exposed to a higher share of female neighbors. We collect rich qualitative geographic data on communal spaces (e.g., churches, libraries, parks, Scouts and sports fields) to understand whether access to spaces of social interaction drives neighbor effects. We find that communal facilities amplify neighbor effects among females. |
| Keywords: | neighbour gender peer effects, cohort-to-cohort random variation, birth gender composition, geodata, STEM university degrees |
| JEL: | J16 J24 I24 I26 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10112&r=lab |
| By: | Agnieszka Kasperska (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Science) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between work from home and perceived career prospects for employees from 29 European countries, considering gender and family perspectives. The indicators of career prospects pertain to advancement prospects, job visibility, and rapport with a supervisor and colleagues. Multilevel modelling was applied to the cross-sectional data of the European Working Conditions Survey which was merged with the country-level Family Policies Sub-Index to grasp the potential moderating effect of national contexts. The findings indicate positive relationships between work from home and career prospects for men both fathers and non-fathers, and rather negative relationships for women, especially for mothers. Higher provision of work-family reconciliation measures and the prevalence of work from home are associated with better career prospects reported by both men and women. Varying relationships for different work from home frequencies are observed, with workers who work from home less frequently reporting better career prospects. |
| Keywords: | career prospects, family, gender, promotion, remote work, working from home |
| JEL: | J16 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2022-31&r=lab |
| By: | Afridi, Farzana (Indian Statistical Institute); Dhillon, Amrita (King's College London) |
| Abstract: | This chapter surveys recent literature on social networks and labour markets, with a specific focus on developing countries. It reviews existing research, in particular, on the use of social networks for hiring and the consequences of networks for on-the-job outcomes, including emerging literature on gender and networks. While there is consensus on the prevalence of social networks in job search there is as yet no consensus on the mechanisms for why referrals are so important: an open question is to uncover systematically the conditions under which different mechanisms are relevant. Second, the literature has documented network effects on labour productivity - mostly when there are no externalities between workers. The findings are that the effects of social ties depend very much on the type of production function assumed. An emerging literature examines whether women benefit from referrals as much as men: gender homophily might play a part in some contexts while in others women confront a bias in referrals. Finally, the literature has moved from use of observational data into lab and field experiments to confront better the challenges of identification. |
| Keywords: | social networks, labor market, search, screening, matching, productivity |
| JEL: | J16 J41 J31 D82 D83 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15774&r=lab |
| By: | Porras-Arena, M. Sylvina; Martín-Román, Ángel L.; Dueñas Fernández, Diego; Llorente Heras, Raquel |
| Abstract: | Official statistics indicated a break in Okun’s law in all the Spanish regions due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, herein, evidence of the validity of the law is shown. The temporary layoff procedures (ERTE) allowed many workers to maintain their jobs. From the productive point of view, the law remained in effect in the regions, showing a strong relationship between idle labour resources and economic activity, and from the social point of view, the apparent breakdown of the law can be interpreted as the implementation of a policy that mitigated the dramatic impact of the economic crisis. |
| Keywords: | Okun’s law; ERTE; expanded unemployment rate |
| JEL: | E23 E24 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115530&r=lab |
| By: | Bart Hobijn; Ayşegül Şahin |
| Abstract: | Since the start of the pandemic the U.S. labor market has been characterized as being plagued by missing jobs, i.e. payroll employment has fallen more than five million jobs short of its pre-pandemic trend, and missing workers, i.e. the participation rate has declined by 1.2 percentage points: A pandemic-induced shortage of workers has restrained job creation and, as a result, been a substantial drag on post-pandemic job growth. In this paper, we show that this is a misinterpretation of the data for two reasons. The first is that the number of missing jobs is inflated because it is based on the unrealistic assumption that the pre-pandemic tailwinds for job growth from the decline in the unemployment rate and cyclical upward pressures on participation would have continued in 2020 and beyond if the pandemic would not have occurred. Second, the number of workers missing due to COVID is overstated because the bulk of the 1.2 percentage-point decline in the participation rate since the start of the pandemic reflects a continuation of its long-run downward trend that was already part of projections before the pandemic broke out. Instead, our payroll jobs accounting yields an 810 thousand cyclical shortfall in payroll jobs in October 2022 compared to right before the pandemic. At the recent pace of job growth, even without monetary and fiscal tightening, we expect a substantial deceleration of payroll growth in the coming months. |
| JEL: | J20 J23 J6 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30717&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Hollingsworth; Krzysztof Karbownik; Melissa A. Thomasson; Anthony Wray |
| Abstract: | The past century witnessed a dramatic improvement in public health, the rise of modern medicine, and the transformation of the hospital from a fringe institution to one essential to the practice of medicine. Despite the central role of medicine in contemporary society, little is known about how hospitals and modern medicine contributed to this health transition. In this paper, we explore how access to the hospital and modern medicine affects mortality. We do so by leveraging a combination of novel data and a unique quasi-experiment: a large-scale hospital modernization program introduced by The Duke Endowment in the early twentieth century. The Endowment helped communities build and expand hospitals, obtain state-of-the-art medical technology, attract qualified medical personnel, and refine management practices. We find that access to a Duke-supported hospital reduced infant mortality by 10%, saving one life for every $20,000 (2017 dollars) spent. Effects were larger for Black infants (16%) than for White infants (7%), implying a reduction in the Black-White infant mortality gap by one-third. We show that the effect of Duke support persisted into later life with a 9% reduction in mortality between the ages of 56 and 65. We further provide evidence on the mechanisms that enabled these effects, finding that Endowment-supported hospitals attracted higher-quality physicians and were better able to take advantage of new medical innovations. |
| Keywords: | modern medicine, hospitals, mortality, infant health, hospital funding, physician labor supply, medical innovation, health care complementarities, charitable giving |
| JEL: | J13 N32 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10097&r=lab |
| By: | Coile, Courtney (Wellesley College); Rossin-Slater, Maya (Stanford University); Su, Amanda (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of paid family leave (PFL) policies in California, New Jersey, and New York on the labor market and mental health outcomes of individuals whose spouses or children experience health shocks. We use data from the 1996-2019 restricted-use version of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), which provides state of residence and the precise timing of hospitalizations and surgeries, our health shock measures. We use difference-in-difference and event-study models to compare the differences in post-healthshock labor market and mental health outcomes between spouses and parents before and after PFL implementation relative to analogous differences in states with no change in PFL access. We find that PFL access leads to a 7.0 percentage point decline in the likelihood that the (healthy) wives of individuals with medical conditions or limitations who experience a hospitalization or surgery report "leaving a job to care for home or family" in the post-healthshock rounds. Impacts of PFL access on women's mental health outcomes and on men whose spouses have health shocks are more mixed, and we find no effects on parents of children with health shocks. Lastly, we show that improvements in job continuity are concentrated among caregivers with 12 or fewer years of education, suggesting that government-provided PFL might reduce disparities in leave access. |
| Keywords: | paid family leave, family health shocks, mental health |
| JEL: | I18 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15783&r=lab |
| By: | Kaeser, Aflatun (Utah State University); Tani, Massimiliano (University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses immigrants' views about immigration, filling an important void in the immigration literature. In particular, it explores the role of statistical discrimination as a cause of possible opposition to immigration in absence of stringent immigration policies and large volumes of undocumented immigration. We test this hypothesis using US data from the 7th wave of the World Value Survey finding that successful immigrants in the US – i.e. those in the highest socio-economic group – have negative views about immigration especially with respect to its contribution to unemployment, crime, and the risk of a terrorist attack. This effect does not arise in the case of host countries that apply stricter controls on immigration, like Australia, Canada and New Zealand, or do not attract large volumes of undocumented immigrants. We interpret these results as evidence that undocumented or uncontrolled immigration negatively affects the standing of existing high socio-economic status immigrants by lowering it in the eyes of US natives, hence triggering an anti-immigration view as a response. |
| Keywords: | immigration, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors |
| JEL: | D1 D89 D90 F22 J15 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15792&r=lab |
| By: | Conti, Gabriella (University College London); Giannola, Michele (University of Naples Federico II); Toppeta, Alessandro (University College London) |
| Abstract: | When deciding how to allocate their time among different types of investment in their children, parents weigh up the perceived benefits and costs of different activities. During the COVID-19 outbreak parents had to consider a new cost dimension when making this decision: the perceived health risks associated with contracting the virus. What role did parental beliefs about risks and returns play for the allocation of time with children during the pandemic? We answer this question by collecting rich data on a sample of first-time parents in England during the first lockdown, including elicitation of perceived risks and returns to different activities via hypothetical scenarios. We find that parents perceive their own time investment to be (i) more productive and (ii) less risky than the time spent by their children in formal childcare or with peers. Using open-ended questions about their pandemic experience and detailed time use data on children's daily activities, we then show that parental beliefs are predictive of actual investment choices, and are correlated with parental feelings derived from sentiment analysis. Lastly, we show that less educated parents perceive both lower returns and lower risks from investments, potentially causing a further widening of pre-existing inequalities in early years development, and suggesting the need for targeted informational interventions. |
| Keywords: | parental beliefs, health risks, time investments, childcare, text data, coronavirus, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | I12 I26 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15765&r=lab |
| By: | Bhuller, Manudeep (University of Oslo, Statistics Norway, IZA, CEPR, CReAM, CESifo); Dahl, Gordon B. (UC San Diego, Norwegian School of Economics, NBER, IZA, CEPR, CESifo); Løken, Katrine V. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Mogstad, Magne (University of Chicago, Statistics Norway, University of Bergen, University of Oslo, NBER, IZA, IFS, CESifo) |
| Abstract: | Almost one third of women worldwide report some form of physical or sexual violence by a partner in their lifetime, yet little is known about the mental health and well-being effects for either victims or their children. We study the costs associated with domestic violence (DV) in the context of Norway, where we can link offenders to victims and their children over time. Our difference-in-differences framework uses those who will be victimized in the future as controls. We find that a DV report involving the police is associated with large changes in the home environment, including marital dissolution and a corresponding decline in financial resources. A DV report increases mental health visits by 35% for victims and by 19% for their children in the year of the event, effects which taper off over time for the victim, but not for children. Victims also experience more doctor visits, lower employment, reduced earnings and a higher use of disability insurance while their children are more likely to receive child protective services and commit a crime. Using a complementary RD design, we find that a DV report results in declines both in children’s test scores and completion of the first year of high school. |
| Keywords: | mental health; domestic violence |
| JEL: | I10 J12 |
| Date: | 2022–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2022_021&r=lab |
| By: | Falilou Fall; Paul Cahu |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at quantifying the macroeconomic and distributional impacts of product market reforms and additional public investment using a DSGE model. The model reflects specific features of the South African economy. Tradable and non-tradable product markets are modelled separately, and a segmented labour market is designed to reproduce the labour market duality in South Africa between skilled and unskilled workers. The role of public investment on total factor productivity and its financing modality are taken into allowing the quantification of the net benefits of reforms.Our results show that enhancing competition in the non-tradable sector has a short run recessionary impact while deregulating the tradable sector is expansionary. Overall, the latter has a bigger impact on GDP. From a distributional perspective, a product market reform in both sectors benefits all income deciles. Finally, additional public infrastructure investment, either financed by raising VAT or capital income tax, increases GDP in the short-term less than product market reform in the tradable sector but is more expansionary in the long run, so a combination of both reforms would boost living standards. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, Product market, Productivity, Public investment, Structural reforms |
| JEL: | D24 E24 F13 F14 F41 J64 L11 L51 |
| Date: | 2022–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1747-en&r=lab |
| By: | Zhu, Ziming |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a linked sample of between 67,000 and 160,000 father-son pairs in 1851-1911 to provide revised estimates of intergenerational occupational mobility in England. After correcting for classical measurement errors using instrumental variables, I find that conventional estimates of intergenerational elasticities could severely underestimate the extent of father-son association in socioeconomic status. Instrumenting one measure of the father’s outcome with a second measure of the father’s outcome raises the intergenerational elasticities (β) of occupational status from 0.4 to 0.6-0.7. Victorian England was therefore a society of limited social mobility. The implications of my results for long-run evolution and international comparisons of social mobility in England are discussed. |
| Keywords: | social mobility; intergenerational mobility; nineteenth century; England |
| JEL: | J62 N33 |
| Date: | 2022–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:117588&r=lab |
| By: | Ryohei Mogi (The Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop), University of Southern Denmark); Ryota Mugiyama (Department of Political Studies, Gakushuin University); Giammarco Alderotti (Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Application, University of Florence) |
| Abstract: | Having a partner is the initial step of any further family formation. Several studies have reported that growing labour market uncertainty has negative effects on both union formation and fertility; however, less is known about the previous step, that is, having a partner. Our study fills this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between employment uncertainty and non-coresidential partnership status in two very-low fertility countries: Italy and Japan. We use two nationally representative surveys and examine the association between employment status and partnership status among 23–43-year-olds who have not had children and do not live with a partner (either cohabiting or married) based on logistic regression models. Our results show that employment status matters for having a non-coresidential partner only for Japanese women, particularly those unemployed/inactive, those who do not know their contract type and those with a fixed-term contract. We interpret our findings as indicating that in Italy, employment status does not matter for starting a relationship for both men and women because employment uncertainty prevails among young Italians. Regarding Japanese women, unemployed/inactive and fixed-term contractors may have difficulty finding a partner with their desired earning capacity. This study is one of few studies focusing on non-coresidential partnership as the initial step of further family formation. It demonstrates that the decision to have a partner is different from the decision to form a union, at least in terms of the association with employment status. |
| Keywords: | Non-coresidential partner; Employment uncertainty; Italy; Japan |
| JEL: | J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2022_07&r=lab |
| By: | Araba Sey (University of Washington Information School) |
| Abstract: | Gender-based cyber violence inhibits progress towards gender digital equality by discouraging women from participating in the digital economy. From the magnitude of the problem to its economic and social impacts, much remains to be understood about how women experience safety and security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) digital economy. Drawing on academic and grey literature, this paper reflects on the implications of gender-based cyber violence for digital equality and economic development. Overall, data are lacking on the prevalence, economic costs, and social impacts of gender-based cyber violence within ASEAN. Policy tends to focus more on measuring domestic and intimate partner violence, likely due to its designation as the main indicator for Sustainable Development Goal 5. Although a variety of national, regional, and global frameworks exist to address different dimensions of violence against women, cybersecurity, and workplace harassment, more work is needed to identify the scale and scope of gender-based cyber violence in the region, in order to target policy appropriately. |
| Keywords: | Cyber violence; Cybersecurity; Digital economy; Economic costs; Gender, women; ASEAN |
| JEL: | O53 J16 J18 J7 L86 |
| Date: | 2022–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2022-36&r=lab |