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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Ubaldi, Michele; Picchio, Matteo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether individuals that experienced parental unemployment during their childhood/early adolescence have poorer health once they reach the adulthood. We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2002 until 2018. Our identification strategy of the causal effect of parental unemployment relied on plant closures as exogenous variation of the individual labor market condition. We combined matching methods and parametric estimation to strengthen the causal interpretation of the estimates. On the one hand, we found a nil effect for parental unemployment on mental health. On the other hand, we detected a negative effect on physical health. The latter is stronger if parental unemployment occurred in early periods of the childhood, and it is heterogeneous across gender. The negative effect of parental unemployment on physical health may be explained by a higher alcohol and tobacco consumption later in life. |
| Keywords: | Parental unemployment, plant closure, mental health, physical health, health behaviors |
| JEL: | I14 J13 J62 J65 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1271&r=lab |
| By: | Maximilian Kasy; Lukas Lehner |
| Abstract: | We evaluate a guaranteed job program launched in 2020 in Austria. Our evaluation is based on three approaches, pairwise matched randomization, a pre-registered synthetic control at the municipality level, and a comparison to individuals in control municipalities. This allows us to estimate direct effects, anticipation effects, and spillover effects. We find positive impacts of program participation on economic and non-economic well-being, but not on physical health or preferences. At the municipality level, we find a large reduction of long-term unemployment, and no negative employment spillovers. There are positive anticipation effects on subjective well-being, status, and social inclusion for future participants. |
| Keywords: | job guarantee, pairwise matched randomization, synthetic control |
| JEL: | I38 J08 J45 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10394&r=lab |
| By: | Sofoklis Goulas (Hoover Institution, Stanford University); Rigissa Megalokonomou (Department of Economics, Monash University); Yi Zhang (School of Economics, University of Queensland) |
| 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. 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: | neighbor gender peer effects, cohort-to-cohort random variat, birth gender composition, geodata, STEM university degrees |
| JEL: | J16 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2023-06&r=lab |
| By: | Hazarika, Gautam (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley); Khraiche, Maroula (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley); Kutlu, Levent (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) |
| Abstract: | This study applies a panel data stochastic frontier analysis to country data towards examining the effect of gender equity in labor market opportunities upon efficiency in the production of GDP. It finds that aggregate technical efficiency is improved by a widening of women's labor market opportunities as indicated by a rise in their share of employment, but that this effect is dampened by patriarchal cultural norms whose strength is measured by the proportion of the population tracing its ancestry to ethnic groups who adopted the plough as an agricultural implement. That aggregate technical efficiency rises in women's share of employment is consistent with improvement in the average quality of the workforce when talented women's entry to it is eased. That this effect is dampened by patriarchal cultural norms is consistent with their promoting a misallocation of employed women. Additionally, aggregate technical efficiency appears improved by democracy, the control of corruption, and trade-openness. |
| Keywords: | technical efficiency, aggregate productivity, patriarchy, gender equity, stochastic frontier model |
| JEL: | J16 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16096&r=lab |
| By: | Nandwani, Bharti; Roychowdhury, Punarjit |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term link between British colonialism and women empowerment in India. We compare women's contemporary economic outcomes across areas that were under direct British colonial rule with areas that were under indirect colonial rule. Controlling for selective annexation using a specific policy, we find that women who live in areas that were under direct British rule, compared to their counterparts, are better off in terms of almost all measures of women empowerment including employment, within-household decision-making, mobility, etc. We also document positive impacts of British colonialism on several drivers of women empowerment including education, fertility, marital age, gender norms, etc. While our study of the underlying transmission channels is challenged by data limitations, we argue that legal and institutional changes brought in by the British in favor of women and the West-inspired social reformation movement of the 19th century may be relevant to explaining this long-term link. |
| Keywords: | Colonialism, Gender Inequality, India, Intimate Partner Violence, Women Empowerment |
| JEL: | J12 J16 N35 O12 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1275&r=lab |
| By: | Mohammed Ait Lahcen; Garth Baughman; Hugo van Buggenum |
| Abstract: | We study the nonlinearities present in a standard monetary labor search model modified to have two groups of workers facing exogenous differences in the job finding and separation rates. We use our setting to study the racial unemployment gap between Black and white workers in the United States. A calibrated version of the model is able to replicate the difference between the two groups both in the level and volatility of unemployment. We show that the racial unemployment gap rises during downturns, and that its reaction to shocks is state-dependent. In particular, following a negative productivity shock, when aggregate unemployment is above average the gap increases by 0.6pp more than when aggregate unemployment is below average. In terms of policy, we study the implications of different inflation regimes on the racial unemployment gap. Higher trend inflation increases both the level of the racial unemployment gap and the magnitude of its response to shocks. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; Discrimination; Racial inequality; Monetary policy; Inflation |
| JEL: | E31 E32 E52 J64 |
| Date: | 2023–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2023-17&r=lab |
| By: | Marta Lachowska; Alexandre Mas; Raffaele Saggio; Stephen A. Woodbury |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a revealed preference approach applied to administrative data from Washington to document and characterize work-hour constraints. Workers have limited discretion over hours at a given employer, and there is substantial mismatch between workers who prefer long hours and employers that provide short hours. Voluntary job transitions suggest that the ratio of the marginal rate of substitution of earnings for hours (MRS) to the wage rate is on the order of 0.5-0.6 for prime-age workers. The average absolute deviation between observed hours and optimal hours is about 15%, and constraints on hours are particularly acute among low-wage workers. On average, observed hours tend to be less than preferred levels, and workers would require a 12% higher wage with their current employer to be as well off as they would be after moving to an employer offering ideal hours. These findings suggest that hours constraints are an equilibrium feature of the labor market because long-hour jobs are costly to employers, and that employers offer high-wage/long-hour packages to increase their overall value of employment. |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31205&r=lab |
| By: | Diaz, Antonia; Dolado, Juan J. (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Jáñez, Álvaro (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Wellschmied, Felix (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies short-time work arrangements (ERTEs) when aggregate risk is partially sector-specific. In Spain, the Great Recession and the pandemic recession (aka the Great Contagion) can both be understood as being driven partially by large sector-specific shocks. However, the latter shows much less labor reallocation because ERTEs were available to firms. We show that ERTEs stabilize unemployment rates by allowing workers to remain with their employers in highly affected sectors. However, they crowd-out labor hoarding of employers, increase the volatility of the rate of people working and, consequently, of output, and slow-down worker reallocation away from the sectors badly hit by the recession. |
| Keywords: | worker turnover, sector diversification, short-time work, Great Recession, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | J11 J18 J21 J64 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16095&r=lab |
| By: | Bernd Frick (Paderborn University); Clarissa Laura Maria Spiess Bru (Paderborn University); Daniel Kaimann (Paderborn University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether women are more lenient in evaluating the performance of others. We examine the gender-specific behavior of female and male critics in expert evaluations, considering their allocated level of experience by using data from high-prestige wine assessments. We demonstrate that women rate, on average, less generously than men, even in direct comparison. In addition, we show that women with advanced experience levels are less generous than the most experienced same-sex reviewer, whereas this effect is not observed for men. Finally, controlling for self-selection into a particular field (i.e., wine critics), this study confirms previous findings using data, e.g., from professional sports: unobserved heterogeneity drives results generated in lab experiments. |
| Keywords: | Gender Differences, Information Asymmetry, Competitiveness, Overconfidence, Gender Bias, Reviews and Ratings |
| JEL: | J16 C33 L66 J2 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:dispap:106&r=lab |
| By: | Amanda M. Michaud |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a quantitative framework to study the impact of Unemployment Insurance (UI) expansions to workers earning below eligibility thresholds. A model of how UI affects welfare and labor supply is developed and calibrated with microeconomic data, including consumption. The model predicts that the current ineligible would choose to stay on UI longer than the current eligible and the margins of why this is the case are quantified. The model is applied to the Great Recession by identifying ineligible workers in the data using machine learning and to an actual expansion during COVID-19 using administrative data. The UI duration for newly eligible under the expansion was 1.7 times longer than the previous eligible but is one-third shorter than the model's economic incentives predict. This suggests caution in extrapolating from the COVID-19 data and the model is used to predict impacts of smaller scale expansions during non-pandemic times. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply; Business cycles; Unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | J65 E32 E24 J20 |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmoi:95879&r=lab |
| By: | Nora Fingado; Steven Poelhekke |
| Abstract: | How costly are droughts to individuals’ nutrition in Africa? We measure severe droughts using a detailed satellite-based vegetation index observed bi-monthly for 0.08° grids between 1982 and 2015. Across 32 African countries, conditional on individual characteristics, timing relative to growing seasons, irrigation, climate, and country-year effects, we show that, unlike recurring droughts, a first-time exposure to a three-month severe drought reduces individuals’ body mass index by 2.5%. Droughts are worse for underweight and uneducated individuals. The uneducated are more likely to become unemployed during first-time droughts, whereas both labor reallocation across occupations and migration mitigate the effect of recurring droughts. |
| Keywords: | drought, nutrition, body-mass index, education, labor reallocation |
| JEL: | Q54 I10 I24 O13 J60 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10385&r=lab |
| By: | Barbara Downs; Lucia Foster; Rachel Nesbit; Danielle H. Sandler |
| Abstract: | Existing work has shown that the entry of a child into a household results in a large and sustained increase in the earnings gap between male and female partners in opposite-sex couples. Potential reasons for this include work-life preferences, comparative advantage over earnings, and gender norms. We expand this analysis of the child penalty to examine earnings of individuals in same sex couples in the U.S. around the time their first child enters the household. Using linked survey and administrative data and event-study methodology, we confirm earlier work finding a child penalty for women in opposite-sex couples. We find this is true even when the female partner is the primary earner pre-parenthood, lending support to the importance of gender norms in opposite-sex couples. By contrast, in both female and male same-sex couples, earnings changes associated with child entry differ by the relative pre-parenthood earnings of the partners: secondary earners see an increase in earnings, while on average the earnings of primary and equal earners remain relatively constant. While this finding seems supportive of a norm related to equality within same-sex couples, transition analysis suggests a more complicated story. |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-25&r=lab |
| By: | José J. Domínguez (Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, University of Granada.); Giulio Ecchia (Department of Economics, University of Bologna.); Natalia Montinari (Department of Economics, University of Bologna.); Raimondello Orsini (Department of Economics, University of Bologna.) |
| Abstract: | Democracy in the workplace often involves employee participation in decision-making and financial matters, both of which have been shown to increase employee effort. However, it is unclear whether these forms of participation also affect other important attitudes that are correlated with the spirit of democratic workplaces such as honesty and cooperation. To address this question, we conducted a laboratory experiment to examine the effects of employee participation on these attitudes. Our results show that both employees’ participation in decision-making and profit-sharing decrease honesty. This effect is stronger for employees involved in financial participation. Additionally, we found that the different treatments also affect productivity in the first and third tertiles of the productivity distribution. On the one side, employees in the first tertile are more productive and more cooperative when they are allowed to choose the type of organization compared to the one who are assigned to the no-participation treatment. On the other side, employees in the third tertile of the productivity distribution are more likely to free ride and reduce cooperation in settings with participation compared to the no-participation. Our study sheds light on the complex effects that participatory practices may have in modern workplaces. |
| Keywords: | Employee Participation, Attitudes, Honesty, Cooperation, Lab Experiment. |
| Date: | 2023–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:wpaper:23/02&r=lab |
| By: | Stratton, Leslie S. (Virginia Commonwealth University) |
| Abstract: | Relationships have changed dramatically in the last fifty years. Fewer couples are marrying, more are cohabiting. Reasons for this shift abound, but the shift may have consequences of its own. A number of models predict that those cohabiting will specialize less than those marrying. Panel data on time use – particularly housework time – as well as on the degree of specialization in more narrowly defined household tasks from the 2001-2019 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey are used to test this prediction. Panel analysis of reported time use data for men provides limited evidence of specialization in any type of relationship. The results for women are much stronger. Women who marry without first cohabiting increase their reported housework time more than those who enter cohabitations (by 3.7 hours versus 1.2 hours). The latter generally make up the difference if they marry. Expanding the analysis to other time uses yields some further evidence of specialization. Survey responses on the degree of specialization are more informative. The raw data show substantial intrahousehold specialization. Even controlling for a broad array of covariates, on average married couples specialize more than cohabiting couples. Furthermore, specialization increases when cohabiting couples marry. Interestingly, there does not appear to be a substantial tradeoff between tasks; partners who report specializing more on one task are more likely to report specializing on other tasks as well. Given the role couples have in family formation and the labor market, it is important to understand this intrahousehold behavior. |
| Keywords: | specialization, time use, marriage, cohabitation, housework |
| JEL: | J12 J16 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16097&r=lab |
| By: | Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti (Banco de España); Javier Quintana (Banco de España); Isabel Soler (EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE (EUI)); Rok Spruk (UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies for the first time the impact on various measures of economic efficiency of regulatory complexity by sector in Spain. We base our analysis on an innovative database that classifies 206, 777 regulations by economic sector and region, which highlights the growing volume of regulation, as well as its diversity by sector, region and business cycle stage. This analysis first looks at the aggregate impacts of sectoral regulatory complexity on the employment-to-population ratio, total working hours, sectoral GDP shares, labour intensity and capital intensity. Secondly it delves into the heterogeneous impacts observed across firms of different sizes and ages, drawing on the MCVL (Continuous Work History Sample), a rich database at the enterprise level. On the first front, we estimate a set of multiple fixed-effects model specifications across 13 economic sectors, 23 regulatory sectors and 17 Spanish regions over the period 1995-2020. Our results suggest that greater regulatory complexity has a negative impact on the employment rate and on value added. The effect on employment is consistent with previous findings for the United States. In particular, ceteris paribus, each additional increase in the regulatory complexity index is associated with a 0.7 percent drop in the sector-level employment share. Furthermore, our findings suggest that several distortionary sector-level effects of increasing regulatory complexity are taking place. For instance, markedly lower labour intensity and decreased sector-level investment rates, which confirm that greater regulatory complexity entails non-trivial sector-level costs. Distortionary effects of regulatory complexity materialise through compositional differences, mainly in the form of reduced wages and a lower investment rate. On the second front, using data on employment by firms’ characteristics, we show that the negative impact of regulatory complexity is concentrated on smaller and younger firms. This finding supports the hypothesis that greater regulatory complexity imposes a burden that small and less experienced firms are less able to handle. At the sector level, the manufacturing sectors are the most negatively affected. This may be related to the higher investment required by these sectors. |
| Keywords: | sectoral regulation, regulatory complexity, economic sectors, structural policies, employment |
| JEL: | K2 R11 J00 E02 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2312&r=lab |
| By: | Makoto Nakajima |
| Abstract: | I develop a heterogeneous-agent New-Keynesian model featuring racial inequality in income and wealth, and studies interactions between racial inequality and monetary policy. Black and Hispanic workers gain more from accommodative monetary policy than White workers mainly due to higher labor market risks. Their gains are larger also because of a larger proportion of them are hand-to-mouth, while wealthy White workers gain more from asset price appreciation. Monetary and fiscal policies are substitutes in providing insurance against cyclical labor market risks. Racial minorities gain even more from an accommodative monetary policy in the absence of income-dependent fiscal transfers. |
| Keywords: | Business cycle; Marginal Propensity to Consume; Monetary policy; Labor market; Heterogeneous agents; Hand-to-mouth; Unemployment; Wealth distribution; Racial inequality |
| JEL: | J64 J15 E52 E21 |
| Date: | 2023–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmoi:96021&r=lab |
| By: | Hiroshi Inokuma; Juan M. Sanchez |
| Abstract: | Using a firm-dynamics model that has been extended to include endogenous growth, we examine how population growth influences total factor productivity (TFP) growth. The most important theoretical result is that the shape of a business's productivity life-cycle profile determines the direction of the impact of population growth on TFP growth. Following that, the model is calibrated for Japan and the United States. The main finding of examining balanced growth paths (BGPs) with various rates of population growth is that the effect on TFP growth is sizable. Japan's expected decline in population growth from 1960 to 2060, for example, implies a 0.36-0.59 percentage point reduction in TFP growth over the long term. Finally, we compute transitions between BGPs and discover that changes in TFP growth are slow in reaction to population growth changes due to two short-run counterbalancing factors. |
| Keywords: | growth; firms dynamics; demographics; productivity; total factor productivity (TFP) |
| JEL: | J11 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:95866&r=lab |