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on Labour Economics |
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Issue of 2024‒07‒08
twenty papers chosen by |
| By: | Kiser, Jimena Villanueva (Brigham Young University); Wilson, Riley (Brigham Young University) |
| Abstract: | Exploiting variation created by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), we document the effects of immigrant legalization on mobility investments and economic outcomes. DACA increased both geographic and job mobility of young immigrants, leading them to high paying labor markets and licensed occupations. Employing these shifts, we examine whether these gains to immigrants are offset by losses among U.S.- born workers. Employment of U.S.-born workers grows in the occupations that DACA recipients shifted into after DACA is implemented, even when controlling for local demand. Spillover estimates are consistent with worker complementarities and suggest that immigrant legalization generates broader economic benefits. |
| Keywords: | legal status, DACA, immigration, geographic mobility, job mobility, occupational licensing, local labor markets |
| JEL: | J15 K37 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16968&r= |
| By: | Fitzenberger, Bernd (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Seidlitz, Arnim (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Using a semiparametric event study approach with a control group, we estimate the effect of motherhood on labor market outcomes in Germany, the child penalty. We further investigate how the 2007 parental benefits reform changed the child penalty while accounting for fertility effects. A large novel data set linking data from two administrative sources provides information on all births. Our estimation approach accounts for motherhood being a staggered treatment. The reform has small positive medium-run effects employment outcomes. It changes the selection into fertility and shows heterogeneous effects. However, the reform did little to reduce the average child penalty. |
| Keywords: | parental benefit reform, child penalty, semiparametric event study approach |
| JEL: | J08 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16966&r= |
| By: | Yutong Chen; Kerem Coşar; Devaki Ghose; Shirish Mahendru; Sheetal Sekhri |
| Abstract: | Reducing gender-specific commuting barriers in developing countries has complex and diverse effects on women’s labor dynamics. We study a program that offers free bus rides for women in several Indian states (the Pink Slip program) using a synthetic difference-in-differences approach to shed light on labor supply and time use decisions of women. We observe decreased bus expenses and time saved on travel. Skilled employed women increase labor supply, while low-skill married women shift focus to household chores. Unemployed women intensify job searches, yet overall employment rates remain unchanged. Our findings highlight that alleviating commuting costs does not uniformly boost women’s labor participation, as gender roles and societal norms continue to shape outcomes. |
| JEL: | J16 J22 R41 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32508&r= |
| By: | Luis Guirola (Banco de España); Laura Hospido (Banco de España, CEMFI and IZA); Andrea Weber (Central European University) |
| Abstract: | Using data for 17 countries in Europe and North America, we compare the career trajectories of mothers and fathers and of women and men without children across cohorts and at different points in their life cycle. There is wide cross-country variation in employment and earnings gaps at age 30. At age 50, however, employment gaps between mothers and non-mothers have closed in most countries. We also observe convergence in employment gaps between mothers and fathers by age 50, but these gaps do not close altogether. Motherhood gaps in earnings also close by age 50 between mothers and non-mothers, particularly among the highly educated. But there is strong persistence in earnings gaps between mothers and fathers even among highly educated parents. The main reasons for the remaining gaps at later stages in the life-cycle are part-time work among women and fatherhood premia as fathers’ earnings outperform non-fathers’ over their life-cycle. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, employment, earnings, children |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2415&r= |
| By: | Michela Carlana; Enrico Miglino; Michela M. Tincani |
| Abstract: | Affirmative action and preferential admission policies play a crucial role in fostering social mobility by bolstering the prospects of disadvantaged groups. In this paper, we analyze the long-term effects of a Chilean policy (PACE) that targets students in underprivileged schools, offering guaranteed admission to selective colleges to those graduating in the top 15 percent of their high school class. Leveraging both the randomized expansion of PACE and the admission discontinuity, our analysis reveals that PACE yields positive labor market effects for the average targeted student, especially women, driven by the selectivity of the attended colleges. However, for marginally eligible students, higher dropout rates and negative labor market outcomes emerge, suggesting PACE may induce a mismatch between their skills and the academic rigor of selective programs. Finally, we find that students in the bottom 85 percent of their schools experience positive effects on labor market outcomes. We identify equilibrium effects on local labor markets as a potential mechanism. The results suggest that there is a limit to how far preferential admissions can go while delivering on their promises. |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32525&r= |
| By: | Bjørkheim, Julie Brun (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Nygård, Odd E. (Research Dept., Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Using the expenditure approach and administrative data on third-party reported donations, we estimate tax evasion by gender. While men are more prone to risk taking, we find no evidence of this transferring to income underreporting among the self-employed in Norway. Instead, self-employed women evade more than men. This tendency holds when controlling for sector affiliation and using household fixed effects and event study equivalents. We find that self-employed women face lower chances of penalty taxes and lighter penalties when caught, possibly due to biased predictive models, which may explain their higher evasion rates. |
| Keywords: | Tax Evasion and Avoidance; Gender; Tax Enforcement; Charity |
| JEL: | H25 H26 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–06–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2024_008&r= |
| By: | Chan, See-Yu (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | What contributed to the decline in employment-to-employment (EE) transition rate in the UK in recent decades? This paper empirically examines potential channels that caused the sluggish EE mobility from 2000-2019. First, I break down the observed fall in EE mobility relative to unemployed-to-employment (UE) transition into changes in relative search intensity and worker’s acceptance rate. I find the vast majority of the persistent decline after 2010 was due to fall in job acceptance. Second, I estimate a dynamic job ladder model using UK survey data to examine the relative importance of changes in employment and job offer distribution in reducing job acceptance. Results reveal that the falling job acceptance in the 2000s was attributed to workers moving up the job ladder; while acceptance remained low in the 2010s as a result of deterioration in offer qualities. Counterfactual exercise shows that if the attractiveness of poaching offers did not deteriorate after 2010, the EE mobility would have returned to levels in early 2000s. Finally, I test the contribution of composition changes to the fall in EE rate by implementing a between-within decomposition using a structural framework, which accounts for both worker heterogeneity and sectoral compositions. Results rule out demographic changes or structural transformation as main drivers of the fall in EE rates. |
| Keywords: | employment-to-employment transition ; job ladder ; offer acceptance rate ; job offer distribution JEL Codes: E20 ; E24 ; J62 ; J63 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1496&r= |
| By: | Umang Khetan; Jetson Leder-Luis; Jialan Wang; Yunrong Zhou |
| Abstract: | We study fraud in the unemployment insurance (UI) system using a dataset of 35 million debit card transactions. We apply machine learning techniques to cluster cards corresponding to varying levels of suspicious or potentially fraudulent activity. We then conduct a difference-in-differences analysis based on the staggered adoption of state-level identity verification systems between 2020 and 2021 to assess the effectiveness of screening for reducing fraud. Our findings suggest that identity verification reduced payouts to suspicious cards by 27%, while non-suspicious cards were largely unaffected by these technologies. Our results indicate that identity screening may be an effective mechanism for mitigating fraud in the UI system and for benefits programs more broadly. |
| JEL: | G51 H53 J65 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32527&r= |
| By: | Benton Wishart; Trevon D. Logan |
| Abstract: | The traditional historical narrative claims that White women were rarely involved in market transactions for enslaved people in the antebellum United States. Using transaction records, notary statements, and runaway advertisements, we provide the first quantitative estimates of the extent of White women’s involvement in antebellum slave transactions as owners of record. Contrary to the narrative, we find that White women were quite frequently noted as owners of record in transactions as both buyers and sellers. White women participated in more than 30% of the transactions in the largest market for enslaved people in the antebellum era. We also find that White women were especially likely to be owners involved in transactions with enslaved women, where they were listed as owners in nearly 40% of transactions. Linking transaction participants to the census, we find that White women owners were not more likely to be widows nor were they older than women in the general population. Overall, our results are consistent with the new historical narrative that White women were ubiquitous in enslavement transactions and this was a critical part of White women’s economic activity in the antebellum era. |
| JEL: | J1 N31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32529&r= |
| By: | Mons Chan; Kory Kroft; Elena Mattana; Ismael Mourifié |
| Abstract: | This paper builds, identifies and estimates a model of the labor market that features strategic interactions in wage setting and two-sided heterogeneity in order to shed light on the sources of wage inequality. We provide a tractable characterization of the model equilibrium and demonstrate its existence and uniqueness. This characterization of the equilibrium allows us to derive a rich set of comparative statics and to gauge the relative contributions of worker skill, preference for amenities and strategic interactions to equilibrium wage inequality. Using instrumental variables, we establish identification of labor demand and supply parameters and estimate them using matched employer-employee data from Denmark. Using our estimated structural model, we perform a series of counterfactual analyses in order to provide a quantitative evaluation of the main sources of wage inequality in Denmark. |
| JEL: | J0 J20 J3 J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32493&r= |
| By: | Cl\'ement de Chaisemartin; Antoine Deeb |
| Abstract: | We consider multi-site randomized controlled trials with a large number of small sites and imperfect compliance, conducted in non-random convenience samples in each site. We show that an Empirical-Bayes (EB) estimator can be used to estimate a lower bound of the variance of intention-to-treat (ITT) effects across sites. We also propose bounds for the coefficient from a regression of site-level ITTs on sites' control-group outcome. Turning to local average treatment effects (LATEs), the EB estimator cannot be used to estimate their variance, because site-level LATE estimators are biased. Instead, we propose two testable assumptions under which the LATEs' variance can be written as a function of sites' ITT and first-stage (FS) effects, thus allowing us to use an EB estimator leveraging only unbiased ITT and FS estimators. We revisit Behaghel et al. (2014), who study the effect of counselling programs on job seekers job-finding rate, in more than 200 job placement agencies in France. We find considerable ITT heterogeneity, and even more LATE heterogeneity: our lower bounds on ITTs' (resp. LATEs') standard deviation are more than three (resp. four) times larger than the average ITT (resp. LATE) across sites. Sites with a lower job-finding rate in the control group have larger ITT effects. |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2405.17254&r= |
| By: | Shubhangi Agrawal; Sawan Rathi; Chirantan Chatterjee; Matthew J. Higgins |
| Abstract: | Do stronger intellectual property rights incentivize female participation in innovation? We provide new evidence on this question using a unique database of artificial intelligence patents publicly shared by the USPTO. Our identification strategy leverages China’s WTO TRIPs accession, which led to stronger intellectual property rights in 2002. We find a significant rise in the number of female inventors and an increase in the number of patents with females on inventor teams vis-a-vis a control group of countries. We also find that after stronger intellectual property rights, the quality of Chinese artificial intelligence patents with female inventors on the team improved. Results are robust controlling for unobserved heterogeneity at the country, technology class, and over time. Additional robustness tests with synthetic controls, coarsened exact matching, randomized inference and alternative control groups support our benchmark findings. Our results highlight that stronger intellectual property rights can be helpful in improving gender division of labor thereby benefiting society and innovation. |
| JEL: | J16 O34 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32547&r= |
| By: | Andrés Blanco; Andrés Drenik; Emilio Zaratiegui |
| Abstract: | We study the distribution of labor income during large devaluations. Across countries, inequality falls after large devaluations within the context of a surge in inflation and a fall and subsequent recovery of real labor income. To better understand inequality dynamics, we use a novel administrative dataset covering the 2002 Argentinean devaluation. We show that following a homogeneous fall in real labor income across workers, the bottom of the income distribution recovers faster than the top. Low labor mobility and lack of union coverage among high-income workers explain their slow recovery. |
| JEL: | F0 F31 F41 F44 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32494&r= |
| By: | Pedro Carneiro (Department of Economics, University College London); Kjell Salvanes (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Emma Tominey (Department of Economics, University of York) |
| Abstract: | Faced with income shocks, households may be unable to smooth their consumption, because of limited insurance possibilities. Likewise, it may also be difficult to smooth investments in children. This could have large consequences for their human capital if there are sensitive periods of learning, or if investments are not perfect substitutes over time. In this paper we estimate the impact of transitory and permanent shocks to household income in different periods of childhood on the human capital of their children, using administrative records from Norway. Across outcomes, the impacts of transitory and permanent shocks are largely similar regardless of the age at which they occur, with a few exceptions (small in magnitude). The impact of transitory shocks is larger for college enrolment and obesity if these shocks occur at earlier ages. The impacts of permanent shocks on high school graduation are larger the later in childhood they occur. |
| Keywords: | child human capital; insurance; income dynamics |
| JEL: | D12 J13 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:24-04&r= |
| By: | Simon J. Heiler |
| Abstract: | Incentives to search for employment vary systematically with age and idiosyncratic labor productivity. These variations should be accounted for when designing UI policy, yet conditioning on related factors can be difficult or infeasible in practice. Using a life cycle model with endogenous human capital accumulation, idiosyncratic labor risk, and permanent differences in worker productivity, I analyze optimal UI policies. I find that for the U.S. an age-and-type-dependent policy generates welfare gains equal to 0.3 percentage points of consumption in all states and periods relative to a constant a replacement rate. Moreover, I demonstrate that about 80% of the gains from conditioning replacement rates on age only and about 60% of the welfare gains from conditioning on age and productivity can be generated by the current U.S. UI system. This can be achieved by substantially raising the benefit floor, a feature of the U.S. UI system that is largely ineffective in its current implementation. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Insurance, Worker Heterogeneity, Lifecycle |
| JEL: | J65 E24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_545&r= |
| By: | Ylenia Curci; Nathalie Greenan; Silvia Napolitano |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tep:teppwp:wp24-02&r= |
| By: | Marx, Ive (University of Antwerp); Haapanala, Henri (University of Antwerp); Marchal, Sarah (University of Antwerp) |
| Abstract: | There has not been much progress on the poverty front in Europe over recent decades, at least if we take it as a relative phenomenon in affluent societies. There is a lot of pessimism about the possibility of making any real progress at all. Some argue that adequate poverty relief is simply too expensive or that it would put too much of a redistributive burden on the electorally powerful, making it politically difficult, if not infeasible. Another prominent argument is that wage floors and thus out-of-work benefit levels are inexorably under pressure, making poverty relief both harder to achieve and more expensive in budgetary terms. This paper sets out these accounts and focuses on what has been happening to statutory, absolute and effective wage floors in Europe over the past decades. We ask whether progress on the poverty front through pushing up wage floors and subsequently out-of-work benefits is a realistic prospect. We see reasons for optimism. |
| Keywords: | poverty, income distribution, Europe |
| JEL: | J01 I39 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16967&r= |
| By: | J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz; Juan-José Ganuza; Manuel García-Santana; Carlos Victoria |
| Abstract: | This article examines gender gaps in higher education in Spain from 1985 to 2023 in the context of technological advancements, particularly digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI). We identify significant disparities, with women over represented in health-related fields and underrepresented in STEM disciplines. This imbalance is concerning as STEM fields offer better employment prospects and higher salaries. We analyze university degrees' exposure to technological change through Routine Task Intensity (RTI) and AI exposure indices. Our findings show that women are more enrolled in degrees with high RTI, prone to automation, and less in degrees with high AI exposure, likely to benefit from technological advancements. This suggests technological change could widen existing labor market gender gaps. To address this, we recommend policies to boost female participation in STEM fields and adapt educational curricula to reduce routine tasks and enhance AI complementarities, ensuring equitable labor market outcomes amid technological change. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, artificial intelligence, higher education, STEM, technological change, self-actualization |
| JEL: | I23 I26 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1450&r= |
| By: | Selhausen, Felix Meier zu (Utrecht University); Weisdorf, Jacob (Sapienza University of Rome, CEPR AND CAGE) |
| Abstract: | We use Anglican marriage registers from six major cities in British Africa to examine how colonial educational and occupational opportunities affected gender inequality among the sampled couples in terms of access to schooling and the formal economy. The marriage registers concern more than 30, 000 Anglican converts making up a comparatively advantaged group of urban Africans aspiring to advance their economic and social status during British colonial rule through conversion to Christianity. We use the couple’s signature literacy and occupational descriptors to argue that mission schools and the colonial economy opened up a gender gap in access to formal employment during the early colonial period that declined again after the 1940s through the Africanization and feminization of the civil service. We discern that the gender gap among the sampled couples closed earlier and faster in our West African cities where women’s tradition of financial independence contested Christian missionary ideals of female domesticity more prevalent in our East African locations. Comparison with census data indicates that our sampled couples were forerunners for the educational and occupational developments of the average African in the sampled cities. |
| Keywords: | Africanization, Colonisation, Development, Feminization, Gender, Inequality, Labour, Missionaries, Schooling. JEL Classification: N37, O18, J16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:711&r= |
| By: | Robynn J.A. Cox; Jamein P. Cunningham; Alberto Ortega |
| Abstract: | Although research has shown that court-ordered hiring quotas increase the number of minority police officers in litigated cities, there has been little insight into how workforce diversity, or lack thereof, may impact police violence against civilians. Using an event study framework, we find that the threat of affirmative action litigation reduces police killings of non-White civilians in the long-run. In addition, we find evidence of lower arrest rates for non-White civilians and more diverse police departments 25 years after litigation. Our results highlight the vital role that federal interventions have in addressing police behavior and the use of lethal force. |
| JEL: | I28 J15 J78 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32502&r= |