|
on Labour Economics |
|
Issue of 2024‒08‒19
thirty-two papers chosen by |
| By: | Baertsch, Laurenz (OECD); Sandner, Malte (Technische Hochschule Nürnberg) |
| Abstract: | Worldwide governments discuss how to increase maternal labor market participation and to reduce the child penalty, i.e. labor market earnings losses after child birth. This study analyses the long run effects of a German paid parental leave reform, which aims to increase maternal labour market participation and to reduce the child penalty by financially incentivizing maternal part-time work during the two years following child birth. Using German social security records, we exploit the fact that only mothers whose child is born in or after July 2015 are eligible for the new part-time PL option in a Difference-in-Differences strategy. We find that the policy increased the probability that high income mothers return to work during the first year after child birth by 2.1 - 2.8pp (≈ 15 - 20%). However, the policy does not impact maternal employment along the intensive margin (part-time or full-time work) in the long run, leaving maternal labor market participation and the child penalty unaffected. |
| Keywords: | paid parental leave, child penalty, part-time incentives, public child care |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J18 J22 J48 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17109 |
| By: | Silliman, Mikko (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Willén, Alexander (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how worker power shapes the allocation of immigrants across firms, and the subsequent consequences of such sorting on firm performance and the careers of incumbent workers. Our analysis highlights several key results. First, unions push immigrants to enter less unionized, lower-paying, and lower-quality firms. Second, the less unionized firms are able to utilize the access to cheaper immigrant labor to scale up production, thereby outcompeting the more unionized firms and capturing market share. Third, incumbent workers in less unionized firms benefit by shifting into management positions and capturing some of the firm’s increased rents. Fourth, despite benefiting incumbent workers in less unionized firms, these workers are more likely to become union members themselves in response to greater contact with new immigrants. Broadly, our results cut across nearly all sectors, but are heightened in labor intensive firms, and muted in competitive markets. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Worker Power; Unions; Firms |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2024_013 |
| By: | Martin Halla (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Andrea Weber (Department of Economics, Central European University) |
| Abstract: | Overall, income inequality in Austria is moderate and has been stable in recent years. However, a look at employment statistics reveals important inequality trends in the labor market. This paper highlights five important shifts in the composition of the labor force: (i) a massive increase in female labor force participation, (ii) large shifts in the distribution of education, (iii) trends toward part-time work among women as well as men, (iv) persistent gender gaps in market and non-market work of parents, and (v) an increase in labor migration with a substantial share of cross-border commuters. |
| Keywords: | Austria, inequality, labor force, gender, education, child care, immigration, cross-border workers |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J16 J13 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp367 |
| By: | Mathias Jensen; Abigail Adams; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | We use rich population-level administrative data from Denmark to develop new facts about the relationship between the timing and spacing of births and labor market outcomes. We show that there is substantial heterogeneity in the age at first birth across maternal skill levels. The spacing of pregnancies is also tighter on average for highly skilled mothers, resulting in them experiencing higher levels of fertility and time on parental leave in the years immediately after first birth. We estimate event studies by skill level and find that much of the child penalties in earnings and participation in the 5 years following first birth can be explained by incapacitation effects from parental leave around subsequent births, especially for the highly educated. |
| Date: | 2024–07–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:1048 |
| By: | D'hert, Liam (Ghent University); Baert, Stijn (Ghent University); Lippens, Louis (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | Policymakers' push for higher employment rates requires the activation of long-term unemployed jobseekers and inactive persons. However, stigma related to unemployment or inactivity can hinder their hiring chances when applying for a job. This systematic literature review investigates whether, when, and why periods of not working are penalised in hiring. Our review confirms that employers generally treat the unemployed and inactive less favourably than their employed counterparts. A meta-regression analysis of transnational experimental data points to heterogeneity by the duration of being out of work: short-term unemployment of up to six months positively affects hiring prospects, while the adverse effects of unemployment scarring become noticeable after about twelve months. We highlight evidence for signalling mechanisms underlying this pattern: immediate availability offsets the negative signals in short spells, whereas expectations about reduced productivity primarily drive the negative impact of longer spells. The latter negative signal is more pronounced when unemployment rates are low. |
| Keywords: | systematic review, hiring chances, inactivity, unemployment, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | E24 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17141 |
| By: | Ashraf, Nava (London School of Economics); Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Minni, Virginia (University of Chicago Booth School of Business); Quintas-Martínez, Víctor (MIT) |
| Abstract: | We ask whether the gendered division of work affects firm productivity across the spectrum of economic development. Personnel records of over 100, 000 individuals hired by a global firm that operates in 100 countries reveal that the performance of female employees is higher where women are underrepresented in the candidate pool. This implies productivity gains from hiring more women, but realizing them would require increasing women's pay relative to men. The findings highlight how unequal gender norms in local labor markets create an equity-efficiency trade-off inside the firm, particularly in low-income countries with conservative gender norms. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation, multinationals, local labor markets, gender pay gap, firm productivity |
| JEL: | O12 O15 M5 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17103 |
| By: | Bogusz, Honorata (University of Warsaw); Gromadzki, Jan (Vienna University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | We study the labor market outcomes of same-sex couples using data from large household surveys that represent more than two-thirds of the world's population with access to same-sex marriage on three continents. Same-sex couples are less likely to be inactive and work more hours than different-sex couples, largely due to the differences in the probability of having a child. Men in same-sex couples are up to 60 percent more likely to be unemployed than men in different-sex couples. These unemployment gaps cannot be explained by occupational sorting or other observable characteristics. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, unemployment, same-sex couples, discrimination, LGBTQ, parenthood |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J22 J23 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17107 |
| By: | Cozzi, Guido (University of St. Gallen); Mantovan, Noemi (University of Liverpool); Sauer, Robert M. (Royal Holloway, University of London) |
| Abstract: | We present a dynamic life-cycle model of women's labor supply, marriage, and fertility choices that explicitly incorporates mental and physical health. Correlated mental and physical health production functions are simultaneously estimated, including the endogenous decisions to seek psychotherapy and smoke cigarettes as health accumulation factors. The model is estimated by the Simulated Method of Moments with Indirect Inference using data from the British Household Panel Study. Results indicate that mental health has a stronger impact on labor supply than physical health. At the same time, estimates show that working part-time and full-time aect both mental and physical health. Moreover, we nd dierences in the interaction of the two forms of health on other life dynamics, with better mental health having stronger impacts on marriage and fertility outcomes than physical health. Counterfactual simulations reveal that not only permanent, but also temporary shocks to health and employment have long-lasting eects on life decisions, life satisfaction, and income due to their interaction with fertility. Finally, policy experiments show that lower costs for psychotherapy and increased costs of cigarettes would substantially increase fertility but decrease employment, while a decrease in childcare costs for employed women would increase both fertility and labor supply, supporting women's overall health. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply, marriage, fertility, career, family, mental health, physical health, psychotherapy, smoking, discrete choice dynamic programming models, structural estimation, simulated method of moments, indirect inference |
| JEL: | I12 J12 J13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17143 |
| By: | Audrey Guo |
| Abstract: | Economic models assume that payroll tax burdens fall fully on workers, but where does tax incidence fall when taxes are firm-specific and time-varying? Unemployment insurance in the United States has the key feature of varying both across employers and over time, creating the potential for labor demand responses if tax costs cannot be fully passed through to worker wages. Using state policy changes and administrative data of matched employer-employee job spells, I study how employment and earnings respond to unexpected payroll tax increases for highly exposed employers. I find significant drops in employment growth driven by lower hiring, and minimal evidence of passthrough to earnings. The negative employment effects are strongest for young workers and single-establishment firms. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, labor demand, payroll taxation |
| JEL: | H25 H71 J23 J65 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-35 |
| By: | Budde, Julian (IZA); Dohmen, Thomas (University of Bonn and IZA); Jäger, Simon (Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Trenkle, Simon (IZA and IAB) |
| Abstract: | We study the descriptive and substantive representation of workers through worker representatives, focusing on the selection of German works council representatives and their impact on worker outcomes. Becoming a professional representative leads to substantial wage gains for the elected, concentrated among blue-collar workers. Representatives are positively selected in terms of pre-election earnings and person fixed effects. They are more likely to have undergone vocational training, show greater interest in politics, and lean left politically compared to the employees they represent; blue-collar workers are close to proportionally represented among works councilors. Drawing on a retirement-IV strategy and event-study designs around council elections, we find that blue-collar representatives reduce involuntary separations, consistent with blue-collar workers placing stronger emphasis on job security. |
| Keywords: | representation, works-councils, unions, blue-collar worker |
| JEL: | J51 J53 P16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17152 |
| By: | Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Sauer, Irakli (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the wage assimilation of East Germans who migrated to West Germany after reunification (1990-1999). We compare their wage assimilation to that of ethnic German immigrants from Eastern Bloc countries and international immigrants to West Germany who arrived at the same time. The analysis uses administrative as well as survey data. The results suggest that East Germans faced significant initial earnings disadvantages in West Germany, even conditional on age and education. However, these disadvantages were smaller than those of international immigrants, supporting the beneficial role of cultural similarity. The earnings gap relative to West German natives narrowed over time for all immigrants. These findings are robust to controlling for potentially endogenous return migration and labor force participation. Controls for fixed effects reveal that positive assimilation for East German and international immigrants was concentrated among highly educated immigrants. |
| Keywords: | cultural similarity, labor market integration, internal migration, earnings assimilation, migration, Germany, reunification |
| JEL: | F15 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17148 |
| By: | Elsayed, Mona |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of both the quantity and quality of employment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s labour market. It first presents a review of employment regulation, covering legislation that apply to Emirati and migrant workers, as well as to the public and private sectors and details how particular subgroups of workers are treated differently by the existing employment legislation. The discussion shows that employment regulations are significantly more favourable in the public sector. While new labour laws introduced in the private sector are considered a crucial step in the right direction, they are not sufficient to level the playing field between different groups of workers. Second, the paper examines available data from the UAE’s labour force survey and discusses findings from relevant studies, while highlighting problems with data availability and gathering. It identifies key challenges in the UAE labour market. While the UAE performs well in terms of overall employment levels, there are considerable disparities between groups, particularly when data is disaggregated by nationality. Unemployment rates among Emiratis are much higher and participation rates are lower. Yet, employment conditions among Emirati workers are significantly better than those of migrant workers, mainly because they are more likely to work in the public sector. Conversely, non-Emiratis have higher participation rates and lower levels of unemployment, yet their working conditions are significantly worse than those of Emiratis. The paper concludes by discussing the policy implications of these findings. |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2024–07–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:124359 |
| By: | Joyce P. Jacobsen (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Wesleyan University); Sooyoung A. Lee (Department of Economics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges) |
| Abstract: | A literature has developed in labor economics regarding employer discrimination and how it may be detrimental to firms, particularly firms operating in more competitive sectors. A second literature in international trade considers the effects of import competition and export orientation on gender employment and earnings gaps. Finally, factors affecting firm survival have been increasingly studied as more panel data have become available for firms. We unite these diverse literatures and test several pertinent hypotheses from them using a 2005-2018 panel of Vietnamese firms. We find that firms with higher proportions of female labor are more likely to survive, controlling for other firm-level and industry-level characteristics, and that exporting and foreign- owned firms have higher proportions of female labor. We also examine earnings and women-run firms to consider other dimensions of firm gendering and their effects on firm survival. |
| Keywords: | Vietnam, gender discrimination, trade competition |
| JEL: | D22 F16 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wes:weswpa:2024-009 |
| By: | Brändle, Tobias |
| Abstract: | Unions and collective bargaining play a central role in shaping wages and influencing firms' employment decisions and firm survival, especially in industrialised countries, and where they are traditionally strong. Their impact depends on the institutional role unions (can) play in different countries, on the economic conditions, and it varies strongly between industries. Overall, the literature has analysed union wage effects quite extensively, and to a lesser degree also their effects on employment. Unions typically increase wages and other working conditions for their members and often all employees working in firms where collective bargaining applies. There is strong evidence for a union-non-union wage premium, even for individuals working similar jobs. At the same time, wages are higher in firms under collective bargaining, even in similar firms in the same industry. The size of these premiums can vary widely, however, between countries, time periods, and context. The union wage premium is typically stronger at the lower end of the wage distribution, such that strong unions are associated with lower wage inequality. This result is more or less undisputed in the literature. The union effect on employment is theoretically more ambiguous, but empirically labelled as 'the one constant' among the effects of unions: employment growth is two to four percent lower in firms with union bargaining. There may, however, also be positive effects of union bargaining on the quality of employment or employment duration from an individual perspective. A union effect on firm survival is the least well analysed among the three effects presented here. If unions redistribute rents to employees and if 'the one constant' holds, then firm survival might be negatively affected by union bargaining. The empirical evidence is, however, inconclusive. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining, trade unions, wages, employment, firm survival |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1457 |
| By: | Carla Rowold (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Gender Pension Gaps (GPG) represent crucial indicators of gender inequalities over the life course and reflect the value welfare states place on different types of work. Despite reaching higher levels, they receive less attention than other gender inequalities, such as gender wage gaps. More generally, research on gender inequalities typically focuses on selected sets of life course summary measures, predominantly the employment duration, to explain gender inequalities across the life course. Taking a life course perspective and using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) for the Netherlands and West Germany, I propose an innovative combination of machine learning, sequence analysis, and decomposition techniques, allowing for a new perspective on gender inequalities over the life course. The study contributes by disentangling which specific life course elements are most relevant for pension inequalities and quantifies the role of gender-exclusive life-course experiences for gender disparities. I find that the duration, timing, order of life-course states, and overall life course complexity matter for pension income inequalities in both pension systems. Specifically, the duration, timing, and order of care work experiences are more crucial pension predictors than employment duration, which has been the primary focus of previous research. The largest parts of the GPGs are attributable to gender-exclusive life course experiences: There is no male counterpart for the female engagement in care work, which is poorly rewarded in pension systems. Future research and policymakers likely benefit from considering such gender-specific combinations of life-course experiences and applications of the methodological approach to other inequalities. |
| Keywords: | Germany (Alte Bundesländer), Netherlands, family life, gender, inequality, life cycle, retirement pensions, working life |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-021 |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | The number of people entering the United States has increased sharply in recent years. Most of the increase comes from a surge in people whom CBO categorizes as other foreign nationals. On the basis of pre-2020 trends, CBO would have expected the net immigration of people in that category to average around 200, 000 per year. In the agency’s projections, the net immigration of other foreign nationals exceeds that rate by a total of 8.7 million people over the 2021–2026 period. |
| JEL: | F22 F66 J11 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–07–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:60165 |
| By: | Patrick Rey; Joseph E. Stiglitz |
| Abstract: | Principal-agent models take outside options, determining participation and incentive constraints, as given. We construct a general equilibrium model where workers’ reservation wages and the maximum punishment acceptable before workers quit are instead determined endogenously. We simultaneously extend the standard effort efficiency-wage model by incorporating noisy signals, labor market frictions, and the possibility of performance-based pay, analyzing the equilibrium response to an adverse signal, and establishing conditions under which equilibrium entails lowering wages (performance contracting) rather than firing. We provide a complete analysis of the general equilibrium comparative statics, showing, for instance, that frictions (sand-in-the-wheels) may decrease unemployment and that the equilibrium is determined by two simple aggregates which depend on the parameters of the economy, interpretable as the intercept and slope of a pseudo-labor supply curve, embedding all the binding constraints (e.g., the no-shirking and labor market participation constraints). We also show that there may exist only a firing equilibrium, a no-firing equilibrium, multiple (firing and no-firing) equilibria, and no pure-strategy equilibrium. The economy is, in general, not efficient either in the selection of the form of equilibrium or the wages paid within any type of equilibrium. We discuss welfare enhancing government interventions, including publicly provided sand-in-the-wheels. |
| JEL: | D82 D86 E24 J31 J41 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32700 |
| By: | Naoki Aizawa (University of Wisconsin-Madison and NBER); Hanming Fang (University of Pennsylvania and NBER); Katsuhiro Komatsu (Tsinghua University); Zibo Zhao (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | The United States has experienced a significant decline in labor unions over the past half-century. We examine the aggregate labor market impact of labor unions, the causes of their decline, and their welfare and distributional consequences, accounting for unions’ effects on wages and employers’ insurance provisions. We first provide descriptive evidence that social insurance expansions contribute to the union’s decline. We then develop and estimate an equilibrium labor search model where unionization, wages, employers’ insurance provisions, and job security are endogenously determined. We find that, while skill-biased technological changes and Right-to-Work laws respectively explain 32% and 7% of the union decline from 1955 to 2019, social insurance expansions account for 15%. Our analysis also indicates that social insurance expansion can affect inequality through (de)unionization, and inequality may increase or decrease depending on how social insurance is targeted. Subsidizing unions lowers overall social welfare but increases the welfare of low-skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | Labor unions, Social insurance, Employer-provided insurance, Technological change |
| JEL: | J42 J51 J52 I13 |
| Date: | 2024–07–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:24-018 |
| By: | Renaud Bourlès (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Centrale Med., AMSE); Timothée Demont (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, AMSE); Sarah Vincent (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, AMSE); Roberta Ziparo (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, AMSE) |
| Abstract: | In developing countries, many policy interventions aim to enhance female entrepreneurship by giving access to cash inflows targeting women. However, important investment decisions are usually made at the household level and may be influenced by local cultural norms about female labour force participation. Using a standard collective household model, this paper studies spouses’ joint investment decisions. We show that the individual optimal investment levels are not necessarily aligned between spouses, though costly utility transfers can realign spouses’ incentives. The required transfer is increasing in the stringency of the gender norm against female labour participation, making investment potentially too costly. We test these predictions using two different empirical settings and strategies. First, we exploit original data from a field experiment in India, which gave access to new investment opportunities to women through microcredit. We find that treated women belonging to castes that are relatively more favourable to women investing are more likely to engage in home agricultural production and less likely to engage in casual low-wage jobs. Yet, they seem to enjoy lower utility levels in some dimensions such as health and freedom. To the contrary, we do not find any change in the occupation or independence of women belonging to castes that traditionally impose strong restrictions on women’s behaviour, suggesting that investment is then too costly. Second, we exploit India’s accession to the GATT in 2005 as a natural experiment and use Indian household surveys to study the effect of the termination of quotas imposed on textile exports, a female-dominated activity, on women’s well-being. We find that in districts that are more suitable for cotton growing, a feminine-oriented occupation, removing the quotas increases specialization in garments and decreases health indicators for women belonging to castes that are relatively more in favour of women working. Those empirical findings are consistent with our model, showing that, in the presence of gender norms, female entrepreneurship entails intra-household transfers that impact female well-being and can eventually prevent investment. |
| Keywords: | Female Entrepreneurship, gender norms, Intra-household allocation |
| JEL: | C71 D13 D81 J16 C93 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2422 |
| By: | Raquel Carrasco; Virginia Hernanz; Juan Francisco Jimeno |
| Abstract: | This article examines the effects of Job Retention Schemes (JRS) on the employment status and wages of permanent and temporary workers in the short and medium term during the COVID-19 crisis in Spain. Traditionally, labour market adjustments in Spain have relied on changes in temporary employment, while permanent workers have enjoyed greater job stability due to strict firing regulations. The main policy response to the COVID-19 crisis was the extension of JRS across sectors, occupations, and, for the first time, to temporary workers. Using data from administrative records, the analysis reveals that, while the protection offered by JRS did not entirely bridge the gap with permanent workers, it did provide temporary workers with higher employment probabilities and wage gains after the crisis compared to similar workers pushed into unemployment. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2024-25 |
| By: | Thibaut Lamadon (University of Chicago); Jeremy Lise (Cornell University); Costas Meghir (Yale University); Jean-Marc Robin (Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops the nonparametric identification of models with production complementarities, worker-firm specific disutility of labor and search frictions. Mobility in the model is subject to preference shocks, and we assume that firms can write wage contracts. We develop a constructive proof for the nonparametric identification of the model primitives from matched employer-employee data. We use the estimated model to decompose the sources of wage dispersion into worker heterogeneity, compensating differentials, and search frictions that generate between-firm and within-firm dispersion. We find that compensating differentials are substantial on average, but the contribution differs greatly between the lowest and highest types of workers. Finally, we use the model to provide an economic interpretation of several empirical regularities. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2396 |
| By: | Valeria Maggian (Department of Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Ludovica Spinola (Department of Economics, University of Milano-Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | A worker within a firm, or a researcher within the academia, is required to both cooperate with colleagues in team-projects and to compete with them for career progressions. Hence, within workplaces, individuals need to adapt when switching between tasks characterized by different levels of competitiveness and cooperativeness. We study experimentally whether males and females differently spill over their cooperative behaviour when playing indefinitely repeated Prisoner's Dilemmas, distinguished by two different levels of the competitiveness-cooperativeness index (CCI, Demuynck et al., 2022). Additionally, as the importance placed on competitiveness might differently impacts males and females' attitudes towards the task, in our Decomposition treatment we separately present its zero-sum component and its common interest component. Besides supporting the efficacy of the CCI, our results provide evidence that females are more likely than males to spill over their cooperative behaviour when switching from a low competitive environment to a high competitive one. |
| Keywords: | gender, spillover effects, competitiveness-cooperativeness, framing effects, choice architecture, laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | J16 C73 C92 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2024:09 |
| By: | Jolly, Nicholas A.; Propp, Margaret H. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to study the relationship between job displacement and the probability of arrest and incarceration among young adults. Results show that displacement is associated with increases in the probability of arrest and incarceration. The increase in arrest probabilities is associated with crimes related to robbery and alcohol and traffic violations. Access to financial resources from the government to cope with earnings losses associated with displacement does not mitigate the effect of job loss on the probability of arrest. Finally, we find that the increased probability of arrest is concentrated among male and non-white job losers. Results are robust to different sample selection criteria. |
| Keywords: | job displacement, young adults, criminal behavior |
| JEL: | J63 J65 K42 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1460 |
| By: | Elsner, Benjamin (University College Dublin); Jindal, Manvi (University College Dublin); Mascherini, Massimiliano (Eurofound - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions); Nivakoski, Sanna (Eurofound - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on the time allocated to paid and unpaid work within households. We use panel data from 27 EU countries and isolate the impact of school closures by comparing parents and non-parents. We find no evidence that school closures had a disproportionate impact on women or men. Women and men reduced the time spent on paid work and increased the amount of time spent on household chores and leisure in roughly equal amounts. These findings do not confirm the common concern that school closures increased the care burden for women. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, gender gaps, household production, paid work, time-use |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J16 J22 J30 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17151 |
| By: | Natalie Gubbay; Brandon Hawkins; Illenin O. Kondo; Kevin Rinz; John Voorheis; Abigail Wozniak |
| Abstract: | We explore the evolution of income inequality and mobility in the U.S. for a large number of subnational groups defined by race and ethnicity, using granular statistics describing income distributions, income mobility, and conditional income growth derived from the universe of tax filers and W-2 recipients that we observe over a two-decade period (1998–2019). We find that income inequality and income growth patterns identified from administrative tax records differ in important ways from those that one might identify in public survey sources. The full set of statistics that we construct is available publicly alongside this paper as the Income Distributions and Dynamics in America, or IDDA, dataset. Using two applications, we illustrate IDDA’s relevance for understanding income inequality trends. First, we extend Bayer and Charles (2018) beyond earnings gaps between Black and White men and document that, unlike those for other groups, earnings for both Black men and Black women fell behind earnings for White men following the Great Recession. This trend lasted through 2019, the end of the data period. Second, we document a significant reversal in the convergence of earnings for Native earners in Native areas. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality; Gender wage gap; Race and ethnicity; Granular income statistics |
| JEL: | D10 J16 D31 J15 E20 J31 E01 |
| Date: | 2024–07–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmoi:98595 |
| By: | Isabelle Sin (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Isabelle Sin (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper is an economic analysis of pathways through education leading to strong outcomes for Maori students, and how these differ by gender and for students with different interests and aptitudes (‘specialties’) in high school. The authors focus on labour market outcomes and also consider some non-labour market outcomes. This paper will help inform policy development and career advice to both school-aged Maori students and older Maori people considering returning to education. Key findings in the research: • Level 2 NCEA certificate subjects do not define careers. • Women gain more education, but men save more money. • Bachelor’s degrees benefit women more than men. • Vocational training yields strong outcomes for men and sometimes for women. • Some popular fields of tertiary study for Maori yield little financial benefit. • Not all STEM study leads to strong job prospects, but higher study in some fields is financially beneficial. • Connection to Maori culture is valuable. • Educational pathways to desirable outcomes for Maori may change in the future. |
| Keywords: | Maori; education; school; tertiary education; vocational training; qualifications; returns to education; New Zealand |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I23 I26 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:23_01 |
| By: | Bietenbeck, Jan (Lund University); Irmert, Natalie (Lund University); Nilsson, Therese (IFN - Research Institute of Industrial Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of individualism in explaining cross-country differences in working from home (WFH). Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) of the United States and the European Social Survey (ESS), we isolate the influence of individualism by comparing immigrants from different cultural backgrounds residing in the same location. We find that a 10-point increase in country-of-origin individualism, measured on a 0-100 scale, is associated with a 3.9 percentage point (pp) higher likelihood of WFH and 1.12 more weekly WFH hours in the CPS, and a 2 pp higher likelihood of frequent WFH in the ESS. Our analysis of potential mechanisms suggests that individualism influences WFH through higher educational attainment and occupational selection. |
| Keywords: | working from home, individualism, culture, epidemiological approach |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17102 |
| By: | Thomas Y. Mathä; Ana Montes-Viñas; Giuseppe Pulina; Michael Ziegelmeyer |
| Abstract: | This report presents the methodology and main descriptive results of the fourth wave of the Cross-border Household Finance and Consumption Survey (XB-HFCS) conducted in 2021. This is a household survey of employees in Luxembourg who live abroad and regularly commute across the border. We analyse the composition and level of their assets and liabilities, net wealth and income, and compare them to similar households (including at least one employee) that live and work in Luxembourg, Belgium, France or Germany. Compared to households who were employed in their country of residence, cross-border commuters were more likely to be homeowners and tended to enjoy higher gross income and net wealth. |
| Keywords: | Cross-border commuters, households, survey, assets, liabilities, wealth, income. |
| JEL: | G51 D31 D14 C81 C83 J61 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp188 |
| By: | Nicole Kapelle; Carla Rowold (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Background: Capturing the complexity of family life courses as predictors of later-life outcomes like wealth is challenging. Previous research has either (a) assessed a few selective but potentially irrelevant summary indicators, or (b) examined entire life course clusters without identifying specific important aspects within and between them. Objective: To investigate which family life-course variables—encompassing variables that capture the order, duration, and timing of states and transitions—are key personal wealth predictors for Western Germans aged 50 to 59. And analyse the strength and direction of associations between relevant variables and personal wealth, and whether these differ by gender. Methods: We used German Socio-economic panel study (SOEP) data and combined feature selection, sequence analysis tools, and regression techniques. Results: We identified 23 family life-course variables as relevant predictors, with two—the time spent never-married, both without and with children—deemed most relevant. Most family life-course variables were negatively associated with personal wealth and characterised by single parenthood, marital separation or early marital transitions with or without fertility transitions. The prevalence and significance of associations between these variables and personal wealth differed partly across genders. Results highlight the importance of previously concealed family life-course variables for wealth inequalities in late working age. Contribution: We extend previous research on the nexus between family demography and wealth stratification by using a novel, data-driven approach that more effectively explores family life-course complexities by considering the ‘entire’ universe of variables that describe such life courses and identifying those life-course variables that are relevant wealth predictors. |
| Keywords: | Germany (Alte Bundesländer), family life, gender, inequality, wealth |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-023 |
| By: | Zuazu, Izaskun |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in political ideology transformed from traditional gaps (women showing more right-leaning than men) to modern gaps (women showing more left-leaning) in the last four decades in Western countries. However, Spain lagged behind in this transformation. This paper analyses how labour market status and the pandemic can affect gender differences in left-right self-placement using data on 600, 000 individuals during 2008-2021. Using various indicators of the incidence of COVID-19, the paper associates the pandemic with an increasing rightwing leaning for both women and men. However, this correlation is stronger for men. While the pandemic made men more moderate and less leftist, it made women less moderate. The estimates crucially account for labour market status and generational replacement: the results show greater polarization among younger generations. The results point to gender as a relevant political cleavage in Spain in the near future. |
| Keywords: | political ideology, COVID-19 pandemic, gender-generational gap, labour market status |
| JEL: | D72 J16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifsowp:300519 |
| By: | Carla Rowold (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Even though Gender Pension Gaps (GPG) surpass gender wage gaps in most European countries, we know less about how they emerge and relate to gendered life-course inequalities. This study contributes by applying a life-course-sensitive decomposition to linked survey-register data for Germany (SHARE-RV), decomposing gender gaps in public and private pensions based on common work-family life courses. It considers the interdependencies of employment, family life, and earning positions over the life course, relevant due to pension privatization in Europe. GPGs occur because privileged life courses (stable civil servant careers for public and high-income employment for private pensions) yield high pensions but are almost exclusively accessible by fathers. Gender differences in access to high-income careers for parents drive the GPG in private pensions more than the gap in public pensions. The study underscores the future risk of high GPGs given the persistently high Gender Wage Gap and pension privatization in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Germany (Alte Bundesländer), employment, family life cycle, gender, income, life cycle, pension schemes, retirement pensions |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2024-015 |
| By: | Millimet, Daniel L. (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | It is increasingly common in empirical research to merge data sets containing different units of observation. When the units are not nested, a crosswalk specifying how the units from one data source are allocated to the units of the other is needed. Unfortunately, most crosswalks are ad hoc, a fact that is often ignored by researchers and has not caught the attention of econometricians. Here, I show that use of an incorrect crosswalk induces measurement error that is necessarily nonclassical and can be consequential. I discuss and illustrate the ramifications of using a flawed crosswalk, present two specification tests, offer potential solutions, and provide an application to the effects of social media on political polarization. |
| Keywords: | crosswalk, nonclassical measurement error, social media, polarization |
| JEL: | C18 C81 D72 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17154 |