|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Marek Ignaszak; Philip Jung; Keith Kuester |
| Abstract: | Consider a union of atomistic member states. Idiosyncratic business-cycle shocks cause persistent differences in unemployment. Private cross-border risk-sharing is limited. A federal unemployment-based reinsurance scheme can provide transfers to member states in recession, which helps stabilize local unemployment. Limits to federal generosity arise because member states control local labor-market policies. Calibrating the economy to a stylized European Monetary Union, we find that moral hazard puts notable constraints on the effectiveness of federal reinsurance. This is so even if payouts are indexed to member state’s usual unemployment rate or if the federal level pays only in severe-enough recessions. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment reinsurance, fiscal risk sharing, labor-market policy, fiscal federalism, search and matching |
| JEL: | E32 E24 E62 H77 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_419&r=lab |
| By: | Lark, Olga (Department of Economics, Lund University); Videnord, Josefin (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether exposure to gender inequality at export destinations affects the gender wage gap in exporting firms. We motivate the analysis through a stylized model where wages depend on worker productivity, and men have a comparative advantage when trading with gender-unequal countries due to customer discrimination. Empirically, we use high-quality matched employer-employee data from Sweden and calculate how exposed firms are to country-level gender inequality through their export destinations. Although increased export intensity on average leads to a wider within-firm gender wage gap, the effect is entirely driven by trade with gender-unequal countries; we find no impact on the gender wage gap when firms increase their exports to countries with gender-equality levels close to that of Sweden. Female managers, who are most likely to interact with foreign customers, experience the most pronounced negative relative wage effects. |
| Keywords: | Export; International trade; Gender wage gap; Gender inequality; Customer discrimination; Gender inequality index |
| JEL: | F14 F16 F66 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2023–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2023_006&r=lab |
| By: | Chiswick, Barry R. (George Washington University); Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with analyzing the occupational status of American Jewish men compared to other free men in the mid-19th century to help fill a gap in the literature. It does this by using the 1/100 microdata sample from the 1850 Census of Population, the first census to ask occupation. Two independent lists of surnames are used to identify men with a higher probability of being Jewish. The men identified as Jews had a higher probability of being professionals, managers, and craft workers, and were less likely to be in farm occupations or in operative jobs. Using the Duncan Socioeconomic Index (SEI), the Jewish men have a higher SEI overall. In the multiple regression analysis, it is found that among Jewish and other free men occupational status increases with age (up to about age 44 for all men), literacy, being married, being native born, living in the South, and living in an urban area. Controlling for a set of these variables, Jews have a significantly higher SEI, which is the equivalent of about half the size of the effect of being literate. This higher occupational status is consistent with patterns found elsewhere for American Jews throughout the 20th century. |
| Keywords: | Jews, occupational status, Duncan Socioeconomic Index, 1850 Census of Population, Antebellum America, labor market analysis, human capital |
| JEL: | N31 J62 J15 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16063&r=lab |
| By: | Dustmann, Christian (University College London); Landerso, Rasmus (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Andersen, Lars Højsgaard (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of Denmark's Start Aid welfare reform that targets refugees. Implemented in 2002, it enables us to study not only the reform's immediate effects, but also its longerterm consequences, and its repeal a decade later. The reform-induced large transfer cuts led to an increase in employment rates, but only in the short run. Overall, the reform increased poverty rates and led to a rise in subsistence crime. Moreover, local demand conditions generate substantial heterogeneity in the reform's effects on immediate and longer-term employment. |
| Keywords: | labor market outcomes, welfare state, social assistance, labor demand, migration |
| JEL: | E64 I30 J60 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16077&r=lab |
| By: | Lisa Cameron (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Diana Contreras Suarez (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Yi-Ping Tseng (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | Although it is well established that women’s labour force participation drops markedly with marriage and childbearing, surprisingly little is known about women’s labour market transitions, especially in developing countries. This paper uses the Indonesian Family Life Survey to track the employment histories of over 9, 000 women across a period of more than 20 years, observing them as they get married and have children. The data show that large numbers of Indonesian women drop out of the labour market as a result of marriage and childbearing. The difficulty of maintaining formal sector employment emerges as a key problem. Having worked in the formal sector prior to the birth of a first child reduces the probability of working in the year following the birth by 20 percentage points and reduces the probability of returning to the labour market thereafter by 3.6 percentage points. Further, to the extent that women do return to work, formal sector employment is associated with greater delays in returning - women are more likely to return to work in the formal sector only once their child starts primary school, while in the informal sector they return earlier. We find little evidence of women switching from the formal to the informal sector. Formal sector labour market policies such as flexible work hours; compressed work weeks; part-time work (with the same career opportunities and benefits as full-time work); the ability to work from home; and work-based childcare are likely to boost women’s labour force participation, with consequent boosts to economic productivity and prosperity. |
| Keywords: | female labour force participation, labour market transitions, economic development, childbearing |
| JEL: | J20 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2023n06&r=lab |
| By: | Kim, Jinyoung (Korea University); Kwak, Eunhye (Korea Labor Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study identifies a new mechanism to account for the persistent gender differences in earnings after childbirth. Aside from women's voluntary wage cuts in pursuit of family-friendly job amenities, we claim that adverse labor market conditions at the time of childbearing widen the gender gap among parents. Employing the instrumental variable (IV) method against a large cross-sectional dataset from the US, we find that giving birth during a recession reduces mothers' earnings, whereas fathers remain mostly unaffected. The asymmetric impact of a recession at the time of childbirth persists for a long time and accounts for 30–40 percent of the after-childbirth gender gap in earnings. Unintended impacts of recession on parenthood gender gap leaves room for government intervention on women's career breaks. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, recession, long-term effects, fertility, child penalty |
| JEL: | E32 J13 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16055&r=lab |
| By: | Sara Lamboglia (Bank of Italy); Massimiliano Stacchini (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Individual characteristics, such as educational background, are important but insufficient to explain variation in financial skills among people. Using repeated cross-sectional survey data on over 145, 000 individuals aged 50+ and resident in 20 European countries and Israel combined with historical country-level data, we explore the role that selected country characteristics play in stimulating financial awareness. We find a lasting effect of social mobility on financial skills: individuals who spent early adulthood in countries characterized by high intergenerational mobility proved to be more financially literate than their peers as they age. The effect is economically sizable, especially among women and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. The results hold in models that use country-specific cohort effects to absorb context confounders and common shocks. Our findings suggest that promoting equality of opportunities across generations is not only ethically desirable but can also enhance socially valuable spillovers such as the accumulation of skills among vulnerable citizens. |
| Keywords: | financial literacy, intergenerational mobility, gender gap |
| JEL: | G53 J62 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_766_23&r=lab |
| By: | Hirokuni Iiboshi; Daikuke Ozaki; Yui Yoshii |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of the time and financial costs of parenting on the lifespan of married couples to explore the origins of the child penalty. Using Japanese aggregate data from the "Basic Survey of Social Life, " which includes a sample of over two hundred thousand Japanese people, the study extends the family model introduced by Blundell et al.(2018) to a life cycle model of heterogeneous married couples with idiosyncratic labor productivity shocks. We then quantitatively analyze the time allocation preferences, including child care. After fitting the model's calculated values to the data, we conduct policy simulations for married couples based on their educational background. The calculations demonstrate that an increase in assets leads to a decrease in female work hours and an increase in childcare hours. Additionally, a 25 % increase in the income replacement rate for parental leave increases the take-up of parental leave by 20 %, while a permanent 10 % increase in wages increases it by 4%. |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2304.11531&r=lab |
| By: | Giorgos Gouzoulis (University of Bristol, School of Magagement); Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos (KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business); Giorgos Galanis (Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management) |
| Abstract: | Recent contributions within the disconnected capitalism literature argue that personal financial insecurity related to household indebtedness and pension fund financialisation is positively associated with underemployment. This is because financially insecure workers are more likely to accept worsening working conditions on the fear of losing their job and defaulting. Using quarterly data from the Eurostat for the period 2008Q3-2020Q4, this paper shows that the persistent rise of underemployment rates in post-crisis Greece is robustly associated with the household debt ratio and pension fund investments in financial derivatives. We also demonstrate that while the effects of financialisation are similar for men and women, the employment-tied and gendered nature of social benefits in the country has disproportionately induced underemployment for women in the context of austerity. The paper concludes that personal financial insecurity is a key missing factor behind rising employment precariousness in Greece since 2008 |
| Keywords: | Financialisation, Labour Process, EU Integration, Underemployment, Greece |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgs:wpaper:112&r=lab |
| By: | Karin Mayr-Dorn (JKU Linz); Gaia Narciso (Trinity College Dublin); Duc Anh Dang (NCIF); Hien Phan (NCIF) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of the U.S.-China trade war on trade diversion and the labor market outcomes in a third country, Vietnam. We exploit variation in Vietnamese exports following the unexpected and exogenous U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese imports and find that Vietnamese workers and districts more exposed to the trade war display higher employment, longer working hours, and higher wages as a result of the U.S.-China trade war. The effects are mainly driven by women and non-college-educated individuals. Our findings reveal that bilateral trade policies can have substantial spillover effects on trade flows and labor markets in third countries. |
| Keywords: | trade diversion, trade war |
| JEL: | F14 F16 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0923&r=lab |
| By: | Yingying Zhang; Steve Bradley; Robert Crouchley |
| Abstract: | Mental health problems and severe cognitive decline can affect individual behaviours and physical health, cause adverse outcomes and generate significant economic costs for the society. In this paper we contribute to the existing literature by investigating long-term retirement effects on individual health outcomes for a developing country – China. Specifically, we examine the cumulative effect of years in retirement on cognitive functioning, measured by scores in cognitive tests such as word recall test and numeracy test, separately for men and women in China. Identifying such effects can be challenging due to endogeneity issues. To overcome this problem, we use different mandatory retirement ages as instruments for blue-collar and white-collar workers using three waves (2011-2015) of data from the national China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Bivariate random-effect Tobit models are estimated, which also allows us to account for the left censored nature of retirement duration. We find that retirement duration is endogenous to men’s scores in memory tests. After accounting for the observed and unobserved confounding factors, we find that one additional year in retirement reduces the number of words men recalled immediately and 10 minutes later by 0.9% and 1.7%, respectively. The effects for women are much smaller - only 25-35% of those for men. One more year in retirement reduces men’ scores in numeracy test by 0.5%, and scores in mental intactness test by 0.3%, but the effect on women’s scores are statistically insignificant. We also explore the underlying mechanisms for these effects by examining participation in various physical and social activities post-retirement. |
| Keywords: | Retirement Duration, Cognitive Decline, Gender Differences |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:379420912&r=lab |
| By: | James Alm (Tulane University); Sebastian Leguizamon (Western Kentucky University); Susane Leguizamon (Western Kentucky University) |
| Abstract: | Recent events have increased the focus on racial justice. One aspect of this attention is the realization that race interacts in important – but often not fully understood – ways with taxation, including taxation of the family. In this paper, we quantify the racial disparity in the magnitude of the “marriage penalty” or “marriage bonus”, using individual micro-level data from the Current Population Survey for the years 1992 to 2019. We find that Black married couples nearly always face a higher averaged marriage penalty (or a smaller averaged marriage bonus) compared to white married couples, even when we compare couples with similar family earnings. This occurs because the incomes of Black married couples tend to be more evenly split between spouses than the incomes of white married couples. The differences between white couples and Hispanic couples tend to be smaller, but nonetheless they are still present in many cases, with Hispanic couples also facing a marriage penalty. We conclude with suggestions for reform of the individual income tax that would reduce the disparate racial and ethnic treatments across families. |
| Keywords: | Marriage, individual income tax, taxable unit, marriage penalty and bonus, race, ethnicity. |
| JEL: | H24 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2304&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Akerlof (University of Warwick); Anik Ashraf (LMU Munich); Rocco Macchiavello (London School of Economics and Political Science); Atonu Rabbani (University of Dhaka) |
| Abstract: | Conflicts between management and workers are common and can have significant impacts on productivity. Combining ethnographic, survey and administrative records from a large Bangladeshi sweater factory, we study how workers responded to management’s decision to lay off about a quarter of the workers following a period of labor unrest. Our main finding is that the mass layoff resulted in a large and persistent reduction in the productivity of surviving workers. Moreover, it is specifically the firing of peers with whom workers likely had social connections - friends - that matters. Additional evidence on defect rates suggests a deliberate shading of performance by workers in order to punish the factory’s management. |
| Keywords: | layoffs; productivity; morale; relational contracts; |
| JEL: | J50 M50 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:393&r=lab |