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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Dodini, Samuel (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Willén, Alexander (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Zhu, Li (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | We combine exogenous variation in union membership with detailed administrative data and a novel field survey to estimate the career effects of labor union membership. In the survey, we show how workers perceive the role of unions in setting wages and determining work amenities. In the administrative data, we causally examine through which channels unions influence worker outcomes, whether unions influence workers differently across their careers, and what the overall long-run effects of individual union membership are. Our results highlight that the career effect of union membership differs greatly depending on the age at which workers enroll. In addition, we show that focusing on a restricted set of outcomes, such as wages and employment, generates a fractionalized understanding of the multidimensional career effect that union membership has on workers. |
| Keywords: | Unions; Wage Premiums; Job Protection; Work Environment |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J32 J51 J63 J65 J81 |
| Date: | 2023–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2023_012&r=lab |
| By: | Ubaldi, Michele (Marche Polytechnic University); Picchio, Matteo (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona) |
| 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: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16103&r=lab |
| By: | Bütikofer, Aline (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Karadakic, René (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Willén, Alexander (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Childbirth increases the opportunity cost of commuting and makes it difficult for both parents to work far away from home. Using detailed Norwegian register data, we show that the commuting patterns of men and women diverge immediately after childbirth and that those differences persist for at least a decade. We show that this divergence in commuting exposes mothers to more concentrated labor markets with fewer job opportunities and establishments of lower quality. These findings help explain the child penalty documented in the prior literature and have important implications for the design of policies seeking to address the remaining gender wage gap. |
| Keywords: | Commuting; Gender Wage Gap; Parenthood |
| JEL: | J16 J22 J42 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2023_011&r=lab |
| By: | Neffke, Frank; Nedelkoska, Ljubica; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | When workers are displaced from their jobs in mass layoffs or firm closures, they experience lasting adverse labor market consequences. We study how these consequences vary with the amount of skill mismatch that workers experience when returning to the labor market. Using novel measures of skill redundancy and skill shortage, we analyze individuals' work histories in Germany between 1975 and 2010. We estimate difference-in-differences models, using a sample in which we match displaced workers to statistically similar non-displaced workers. We find that displacements increase the probability of occupational change eleven fold, and that the type of skill mismatch after displacement is strongly associated with the magnitude of post-displacement earnings losses. Whereas skill shortages are associated with relatively quick returns to the counterfactual earnings trajectories that displaced workers would have experienced absent displacement, skill redundancy sets displaced workers on paths with permanently lower earnings. |
| Keywords: | difference-in-differences, job displacement, occupational change, skill mismatch |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J63 O33 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:112023&r=lab |
| By: | Jose Garcia-Louzao; Marta Silva |
| Abstract: | The use of social contacts in the labor market is widespread. This paper investigates the impact of personal connections on hiring probabilities and re-employment outcomes of displaced workers in Portugal. We rely on rich matched employer-employee data to define personal connections that arise from interactions at the workplace. Our empirical strategy exploits firm closures to select workers who are exogenously forced to search for a new job and leverages variation across displaced workers with direct connections to prospective employers. The hiring analysis indicates that displaced workers with a direct link to a firm through a former coworker are three times more likely to be hired compared to workers displaced from the same closing event who lack such a tie. However, we find that the effect varies according to the type of connection as well as firms’ similarity. Finally, we show that successful displaced workers with a connection in the hiring firm have higher entry-level wages and enjoy greater job security although these advantages disappear over time. |
| Keywords: | job displacement, coworker networks, re-employment |
| JEL: | J23 J63 L14 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10442&r=lab |
| By: | Kunze, Astrid (Norwegian School of Economics); Palczyńska, Marta (Institute for Structural Research (IBS)); Magda, Iga (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the employment effects of a large-scale wage subsidy programme for the young unemployed that was introduced in 2016, during a period of recovery in the Polish economy. The focus is on the question of whether the effects differed between men and women. The study employs a large population administrative data set from the unemployment register, and exploits for identification the fact that firms were only eligible to participate in the wage subsidy programme if the newly recruited worker was below age 30 and was previously unemployed. A challenge in this research is that before 2016, standard packages of active labour market programmes for all unemployed and specific programmes for unemployed below age 30 had been in place. Exploiting the long period and broad data coverage, we estimate the differential impact of the new programme using a difference-in-discontinuities design. The main finding is that over the medium term, the new wage subsidy programme was effective for low- and middle-skilled eligible young women, but not for men. We discuss the policy implications of such programmes targeting young unemployed people. |
| Keywords: | wage subsidy, youth unemployment, gender differences, difference-in-discontinuities, register data |
| JEL: | J08 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16196&r=lab |
| By: | Achyuta Adhvaryu; N. Meltem Daysal; Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson; Teresa Molina; Herdis Steingrimsdottir |
| Abstract: | How do parents contend with threats to the health and survival of their children? Can the social safety net mitigate negative economic effects through transfers to affected families? We study these questions by combining the universe of cancer diagnoses among Danish children with register data for affected and matched unaffected families. Parental income declines substantially for 3-4 years following a child’s cancer diagnosis. Fathers’ incomes recover fully, but mothers’ incomes remain 3% lower 12 years after diagnosis. Using a policy reform that introduced variation in the generosity of targeted safety net transfers to affected families, we show that such transfers play a crucial role in smoothing income for these households and, importantly, do not generate work disincentive effects. The pattern of results is most consistent with the idea that parents’ preferences to personally provide care for their children during the critical years following a severe health shock drive changes in labor supply and income. Mental health and fertility effects are also observed but are likely not mediators for impacts on economic outcomes. |
| Keywords: | child health, income, labor supply, safety net, cash transfers, disincentive effects, long-run effects, mental health, childhood cancers, Denmark |
| JEL: | I10 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10418&r=lab |
| By: | Leighton, Margaret (University of St. Andrews); Speer, Jamin D. (University of Memphis) |
| Abstract: | Expected earnings matter for college major choices, and majors differ in both their average earnings and the age profile of their earnings. We show that students' family background is strongly related to the earnings paths of the major they choose. Students with more educated parents, especially those who have graduate degrees, choose majors with lower early-career earnings but much faster earnings growth. They are also less likely to choose safe majors with little early-career earnings or unemployment downside. Parental income has a weaker relationship with major choice and operates mostly through the type of institution the student attends. |
| Keywords: | college major, family background |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16099&r=lab |
| By: | Arve, Malin (Department of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Valasek, Justin (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | The trade-off between increased representation and perceived quality is central to the debate on how to address underrepresentation in high-profile professions. We address this trade-off using a dynamic model of career selection where juniors value both the identity and perceived quality of their mentors (seniors). A preference for homophily results in the persistence of underrepresentation, suggesting intervention is needed. However, if an abrupt quota causes a large decrease in the perceived quality of underrepresented seniors, then underrepresented juniors of high talent will select out of the profession, causing a permanent (real) quality difference. Encouragingly, we show that gradual reform—while decreasing perceived quality in the short term—enables a transition to equal representation and equal quality in the long term. We discuss the implications of our analysis for commonly-used measures to increase representation. |
| Keywords: | Affirmative Action; Quotas; Mentorship; Identity; Gender; Adverse Selection. |
| JEL: | D62 E24 I20 J15 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2023_008&r=lab |
| By: | Jeremias Nieminen (Department of Economics, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku.); Salla Simola (Storytel); Janne Tukiainen (Department of Economics, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku.) |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term evolution of party demographics and the associated changes in parliamentary speech patterns of various within-party groups in Finland during 1907-2018. We find significant speech differences by gender and university education status, while other MP characteristics - age, white-collar job, first-term MP status, or urbanicity - do not predict speech patterns. We find that when female seat share began to rise in the late 1950s, there is a concurrent increase in speech differences by gender. As the representation of women increased, there was also a shift in speech topics female MPs specialized in. Additionally, we observe a sharp increase in speech differences by education when the seat share of university-educated increased in the 1960s. These results suggest that descriptive representation of these groups may play a role in changing speech patterns, and thus, in their substantive representation. |
| Keywords: | intra-party politics, parliamentary speech, descriptive representation, substantive representation |
| JEL: | D72 N44 J16 P00 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tkk:dpaper:dp161&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Haan; Victoria Prowse |
| Abstract: | We empirically analyze the heterogeneous welfare effects of unemployment insurance and social assistance. We estimate a structural life-cycle model of singles’ and married couples’ labor supply and savings decisions. The model includes heterogeneity by age, education, wealth, sex and household composition. In aggregate, social assistance dominates unemployment insurance; however, the opposite holds true for married men, whose leisure time declines more than that of their spouses when unemployment insurance is reduced. A revenue-neutral rebalancing of social support away from unemployment insurance and toward social assistance increases aggregate welfare. Income pooling in married households decreases the welfare value of social assistance. |
| Keywords: | Life-cycle labor supply, Family labor supply, Unemployment insurance, Social assistance, Household savings, Employment risk, Added worker effect, Intra-household insurance |
| JEL: | J18 J68 H21 I38 |
| Date: | 2023–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0020&r=lab |
| By: | Parolin, Zachary (Bocconi University); Schmitt, Rafael Pintro (Bocconi University); Esping-Andersen, Gøsta (Bocconi University); Fallesen, Peter (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Exposure to childhood poverty increases the likelihood of adult poverty. However, past research offers conflicting accounts of cross-national variation in the strength of the intergenerational persistence of poverty and the mechanisms through which it is channeled. This study investigates differences in intergenerational poverty in the United States (U.S.), Australia, Denmark, Germany, and United Kingdom (UK) using administrative- and survey-based panel datasets. We introduce a framework to decompose intergenerational poverty into family background effects, mediation effects, tax/transfer insurance effects, and a residual poverty penalty. Intergenerational poverty in the U.S. is four times stronger than in Denmark and Germany, and twice as strong as in Australia and the UK. Intergenerational poverty in Denmark is primarily channeled through family background effects, but persists in the UK and Germany through mediators such as adult education and employment. The U.S. disadvantage is not channeled through family background, mediators, neighborhood effects, or racial/ethnic discrimination. Instead, the U.S. has comparatively weak tax/transfer insurance effects and a more severe residual poverty penalty. Should the U.S. adopt the tax/transfer insurance effects of peer countries, its intergenerational poverty persistence could decline by more than one-third. The study offers a foundation for renewed research on the intergenerational persistence of poverty in high-income countries. |
| Keywords: | poverty, intergenerational mobility, stratification, social mobility |
| JEL: | I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16194&r=lab |
| By: | Duryea, Suzanne (Inter-American Development Bank); Ribas, Rafael Perez (Boise State University); Sampaio, Breno (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco); Sampaio, Gustavo R. (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco); Trevisan, Giuseppe (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the long-term impact on earnings of attending a tuition-free, top-quality university in Brazil. We identify the causal effect through a sharp discontinuity in an admission process based on test scores. If admitted, low-income students are found to increase their earnings by 26% ten years later. However, admission has a small and insignificant effect on high-income students. The difference between income groups is not explained by educational attainment, program choice, or selection into better-paying jobs. The evidence suggests that most low-income applicants, if not admitted, still graduate from college but with much lower returns to education. High-income applicants who just miss the cutoff, however, can find other opportunities such that earnings trajectories are unchanged. Our results underscore the role of affordable higher education in promoting social mobility. |
| Keywords: | college wage premium, affordability, school quality, income groups |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16192&r=lab |
| By: | Berger, Thor (Department of Economic History & Centre for Economic Demography, School of Economics and Management, Lund University); Prawitz, Erik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the identity and origins of Swedish inventors prior to World War I drawing on the universe of patent records linked to census data. We document that the rise of innovation during Sweden’s industrialization can largely be attributed to a small industrial elite belonging to the upper-tail of the economic, educational, and social status distribution. Analyzing children’s opportunities to become an inventor, we show that inventors were disproportionately drawn from privileged family backgrounds. However, among the middle- and working-class children that managed to overcome the barriers to entry, innovation was a path to upward mobility. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Inventors; Intergenerational mobility |
| JEL: | I25 J62 O31 |
| Date: | 2023–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1462&r=lab |
| By: | Cappelen, Alexander W. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Falch, Ranveig (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tungodden, Bertil (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, an increasing share of males struggle in the labor market and education. We show in a set of large-scale experimental studies involving more than 30, 000 Americans that people are more accepting of males falling behind than females falling behind and less supportive of government policies supporting males falling behind. We provide evidence of the underlying mechanism being statistical fairness discrimination: people consider males falling behind to be less deserving of support than females falling behind because they believe that males are more likely than females to fall behind due to lack of effort. The findings are important for understanding how society perceive and respond to the growing number of disadvantaged males. |
| Keywords: | inequality; statistical fairness discrimination; experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D63 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2023_013&r=lab |
| By: | Diane Alexander (The Wharton School, Philadelphia, PA, USA); Olga Gorelkina (University of Liverpool, UK); Erin Hengel (London School of Economics); Richard S.J. Tol (Department of Economics, University of Sussex, BN1 9SL Falmer, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate one factor that can directly contribute to—as well as indirectly shed light on the other causes of—the gender gap in academic publishing: length of peer review. Using detailed administrative data from an economics field journal, we find that, conditional on manuscript quality, referees spend longer reviewing female-authored papers, are slower to recommend accepting them, manuscripts by women go through more rounds of review and their authors spend longer revising them. Less disaggregated data from 32 economics and finance journals corroborate these results. We conclude by showing that all gender gaps decline—and eventually disappear—as the same referee reviews more papers. This pattern suggests novice referees initially statistically discriminate against female authors, but are less likely to do so as their information about and confidence in the peer review process improves. More generally, they also suggest that women may be particularly disadvantaged when evaluators are less familiar with the objectives and parameters of an assessment framework. |
| Keywords: | Gender Inequality, Statistical Discrimination, Research Productivity, Peer Review |
| JEL: | A11 D8 J16 J24 J7 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:0323&r=lab |
| By: | Maurer, Stephan; Schwerdt, Guido; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | It is well established that female students perform better when taught by female professors. However, little is known about the mechanisms explaining these gender match effects. Using administrative records from a German public university, which cover all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018, we show that gender match effects are sizable in smaller classes, but are absent in larger classes. These results suggest that direct and frequent interactions between students and professors are crucial for gender match effects to emerge. In contrast, the mere fact that one's professor is female is not sufficient to increase performance of female students. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, professors, role models, tertiary education |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:142023&r=lab |
| By: | Aliakbar Akbaritabar (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Andrés F. Castro Torres (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Vincent Larivière |
| Abstract: | We reconstruct the career-long productivity, impact, (inter)national collaboration, and (inter)national mobility trajectory of 8.2 million scientists worldwide. We study the interrelationships among four well-established bibliometric claims about academics’ productivity, collaboration, mobility, and visibility. Scrutinizing these claims is only possible with a global perspective simultaneously considering influential bibliometric variables alongside collaboration among scientists. We use Multiple Correspondence Analysis with a combination of 12 widely-used bibliometric variables. We further analyze the networks of collaboration among these authors in the form of a bipartite co-authorship network and detect densely collaborating communities using Constant Potts Model. We found that the claims of literature on increased productivity, collaboration, and mobility are principally driven by a small fraction of influential scientists (top 10%). We find a hierarchically clustered structure with a small top class, and large middle and bottom classes. Investigating the composition of communities of collaboration networks in terms of these top-to-bottom classes and the academic age distribution shows that those at the top succeed by collaborating with a varying group of authors from other classes and age groups. Nevertheless, they are benefiting disproportionately to a much higher degree from this collaboration and its outcome in form of impact and citations. |
| Keywords: | World, inequality, science |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2023-029&r=lab |