|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Kristy Buzard; Laura K. Gee; Olga B. Stoddard |
| Abstract: | Gender imbalance in time spent on child rearing causes gender inequalities in labor market outcomes, human capital accumulation, and economic mobility. We conduct a large-scale field experiment with a near-universe of US schools to investigate a potential source of inequality: external demands for parental involvement. Schools receive an email from a fictitious two-parent household and are asked to call one of the parents back. Mothers are 1.4 times more likely than fathers to be contacted. We decompose this inequality and demonstrate that the gender gap in external demands is associated with various measures of gender norms. We also show that signaling a father’s availability substantially changes the gender pattern of callbacks. Our findings underscore a process through which agents outside the household contribute to within-household gender inequalities. |
| JEL: | J01 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33775 |
| By: | Maczulskij, Terhi (ETLA - The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy); Kanninen, Ohto (LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research); Karhunen, Hannu (LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research); Tahvonen, Ossi (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | Using linked employer-employee data combined with administrative data on debt enforcement, we analyze the impact of job loss on debt problems in Finland, where even 50% of income may be subject to wage garnishment for up to 25 years. Our results show that job loss, defined by plant closures and mass layoffs, increases the incidence of enforced debt by approximately 10%, with the effect persisting for at least a decade. The impact is particularly large for unpaid taxes and various private debts, such as installment purchase payments. Moreover, the effects are stronger among individuals who were already burdened with excessive overall debt, such as mortgages, before displacement. We also document spillover effects on spouses and children, indicating that job loss can have far-reaching consequences for household indebtedness. However, we find no significant effect on filing for personal bankruptcy. |
| Keywords: | employer-employee data, involuntary job loss, debt enforcement, default, personal bankruptcy |
| JEL: | D14 G51 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17940 |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Lavinia Kinne; Michele Battisti |
| Abstract: | Child penalties in labour market outcomes are well-documented: after childbirth, employment and earnings of mothers drop persistently compared to fathers. Beyond gender norms, a potential driver could be the loss in labour market skills due to mothers' longer employment interruptions. This paper estimates child penalties in adult cognitive skills by adapting the pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section of 29 countries in the PIAAC dataset. We find a long-term drop in numeracy skills after childbirth of 0.12 standard deviations for fathers and a 0.06 standard deviations larger drop for mothers with the difference being marginally significant. Estimates of child penalties in skills strongly depend on controlling for pre-determined characteristics, especially education. Additionally, there is no evidence for worse occupational skill matches for mothers after childbirth. Our findings suggest that changes in general labour market skills can at best explain a small fraction of child penalties in labour market outcomes, and that a cross-sectional estimation of child penalties can be sensitive to characteristics of the outcome variable. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, cognitive skills, gender inequality, PIAAC |
| JEL: | I20 J13 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11874 |
| By: | C. Kirabo Jackson; Julia A. Turner; Jacob Bastian |
| Abstract: | While Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) is often proposed as an economic stimulus, its market effects remain uncertain. We analyze UPK programs implemented across nine states and cities from 1995 to 2020, leveraging their staggered adoption for identification. UPK increased Pre-K enrollment and led to a 1.2% rise in labor force participation, a 1.5% increase in employment, and a 1.6% growth in hours worked, resulting in higher aggregate earnings. Employment effects were strongest for mothers but extended to other groups, primarily women. Impacts varied, with the largest effects observed in areas with high public Pre-K enrollment. Notably, each dollar spent on UPK generated between 3 to over 20 dollars in aggregate earnings – enough that tax revenues might fully cover costs. |
| JEL: | H0 I0 J0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33767 |
| By: | Arun Advani; David Burgherr; Andy Summers |
| Abstract: | We study international migration responses of the super-rich to taxes using UK administrative data and a difference-in-differences design. We exploit a reform that removes access to a tax break on foreign income for foreigners based on their number of years in the UK, allowing us to compare individuals with similar incomes and wealth. The reform reduces the net-of-tax rate of affected taxpayers by 19%. Emigration flows increase significantly in response, but only temporarily. Overall, the number of affected super-rich in the UK decreases by 0.26% for a 1% decline in the net-of-tax rate. Those who remain UK-resident increase reported income and income tax by around 50%, driven by foreign income coming into scope of UK tax, rather than investments being onshored. Emigrants induced to leave by the reform pay substantially less tax, but more than half still report non-zero UK income three years after leaving. By contrast, emigrants unaffected by tax changes retain a much smaller economic and fiscal footprint in the UK. |
| Keywords: | taxation, migration, super-rich, capital income, inequality, mobility |
| JEL: | F22 H24 H31 J61 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11870 |
| By: | Sadhika Bagga; Lukas Friedrich Mann; Ayşegül Şahin; Giovanni L. Violante |
| Abstract: | We introduce aggregate shocks to workers' value of job amenities in a frictional equilibrium model of the labor market with on-the-job search, where the job creation cost is sunk and quits trigger vacancies. We examine how key labor market indicators respond to this shock: when the valuation of the amenity is heterogeneous in the population, labor reallocation ensues. A calibrated version of the model can quantitatively account for many distinct traits of the post-pandemic labor market recovery through three aggregate shocks: a temporary fall in productivity to account for the short, but sharp, downturn; a decline in the willingness to work; and, crucially, a persistent increase in workers' evaluation of job amenities. Cross-sectoral patterns of vacancies, quit rates, job-filling rates, and wages—where sectors are ranked by their share of teleworkable jobs—provide support to the view that the key amenity in question is the ability to work remotely. |
| JEL: | J01 J2 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33787 |
| By: | Pauline Carry; Benny Kleinman; Elio Nimier-David |
| Abstract: | Why are wages in cities like New York or Paris higher than in others? This paper uses firm mobility to separate the role of “location effects” (e.g., local geography, infrastructure, and agglomeration) from the spatial sorting of workers and firms. Using French administrative records and U.S. commercial data, we first document that firm mobility is widespread: 4% of establishments relocate annually. Establishments retain their main activity and structure as they move, but adjust their workforce and wages. Combining firm and worker mobility, we then decompose wage disparities across French commuting zones. We find that spatial wage differences are largely driven by the sorting and co-location of workers and firms: location effects account for only 2–5% of disparities, while differences in the composition of workers and establishments account for around 30% and 15%, respectively. The remaining half is accounted for by the co-location of high-wage workers and firms, especially in cities with high location effects. Revisiting the elasticity of local wages to population density, we find a significant coefficient of 0.007 - two to three times lower than estimates not controlling for firm composition. |
| JEL: | F0 J0 R0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33779 |
| By: | Elisa Brini (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' di Firenze); Raffaele Guetto (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' di Firenze); Daniele Vignoli (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti", Universita' di Firenze) |
| Abstract: | Traditional economic theories link male income to higher fertility and female income to increased opportunity costs. However, shifting gender roles and socio-economic changes challenge these assumptions, with evidence suggesting rising income prerequisites of parenthood in high-income countries. This research note examines the role of income in first childbirth for men and women from 2006 to 2020 across 16 Western European countries based on longitudinal data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and discrete-time logistic regressions. Results show that higher income consistently increases the transition to parenthood in all countries, with stronger effects for women. Over time, income has become a stronger predictor of parenthood. Widening fertility differentials across income groups are primarily driven by declining first-birth probabilities among lower-income men and women, supporting the hypothesis of increasing income prerequisites of parenthood. In four countries, the positive income effect for men weakens, which we interpret as a signal of changing gender roles. In one country, widening fertility differentials are driven by increasing fertility among high-income women, consistent with the argument of declining opportunity costs. Overall, findings suggest that the income prerequisites of parenthood have risen in high-income countries, strongly contributing to increasing income inequalities in fertility. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Income, Gender roles, Opportunity costs, EU-SILC. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 D31 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fir:econom:wp2025_05 |
| By: | Alessia Matano (Dipartimento di Economia e Diritto, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy. AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.); Paolo Naticchioni (Roma Tre University and IZA, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between China’s import competition and the innovation strategies of domestic firms. Using firm level data from Italy spanning 2005-2010 and employing IV fixed effects estimation techniques, we find that the impact of China’s import competition on innovation varies depending on the type of goods imported (intermediate vs. final). Specifically, imports of final goods boost both product and process innovation, while imports of intermediate goods reduce both. Additionally, we extend the analysis to consider the role of unions in moderating these responses. We find that, in unionized firms, imports' impact on innovation is mitigated, specifically to protect workers' employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | China’s Import Competition; Final and Intermediate Goods; Product and Process Innovation; Unions; IV Fixed effects estimations. JEL classification: C33, L25, F14, F60, O30, J50. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202502 |
| By: | Jon H. Fiva; Jo Thori Lind; Bjørn-Atle Reme; Henning Øien |
| Abstract: | Political office involves stress, long hours, and media scrutiny, which may harm politicians' health. However, winning prestigious positions can increase social status, income, and connections, potentially offsetting these harms. We investigate the health effects of political promotions using comprehensive Norwegian administrative data on public health care utilization. Using an event study framework, we assess health outcomes by comparing newly elected mayors to controls matched by gender, age group, and education within the same municipality. While securing full-time office results in a substantial income boost, we find no evidence of adverse health effects. On the contrary, winning office leads to a sustained modest reduction in both general doctor visits and mental health consultations. This evidence runs counter to common concerns about the toll of political careers, pointing to potential health benefits associated with political advancement. |
| Keywords: | political selection, returns from office, health consequences, event study, administrative data |
| JEL: | D72 I12 J81 M51 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11881 |
| By: | Anastasia Litina (University of Macedonia, GR); Georgios Mavropoulos (University of Macedonia, GR); Skerdilajda Zanaj (DEM, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | The movie industry provides a unique setting to analyze consumer-driven gender biases, as it allows clear identification of how the gender of leading actors, directors and producers influences movie performance outcomes. Using a hand-collected dataset of over 5, 000 globally produced movies from 1998 to 2008, we document a distinct non-linear relationship between female representation in leading roles and audience ratings. Specifically, ratings initially decline significantly as the number of female leads increases, reaching a turning point at approximately two female leads, beyond which ratings stabilize or slightly improve (convex pattern). This negative impact on audience ratings is primarily driven by male viewers, whose proportional presence diminishes as female representation grows. In contrast, professional film awards exhibit an opposite, concave pattern, peaking significantly at two female leads. Employing a Heckman- like selection test, we further reveal that audience gender biases persist even after accounting for the selective attrition of male viewers from movies featuring female leads. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, gender biases, movie industry. |
| JEL: | J16 L82 Z1 M31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:25-12 |
| By: | Artecona, Raquel; Velloso, Helvia |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the multifaceted challenges of achieving work-life balance in the United States as the country navigates the policy challenges of a growing care economy, particularly focusing on the persistent gender disparities, economic policies, and societal expectations that shape this issue. Women's participation in the labour force has been a major driver of economic growth, yet the absence of supportive policies like paid parental leave and affordable childcare hinders their full engagement and limits national economic potential. The United Sates continues to lag other developed nations in offering comprehensive family-friendly policies, which has far-reaching economic implications. The paper underscores the need for targeted interventions and comprehensive policy reforms to create an equitable and supportive environment for all workers, including women and marginalized groups, as the nation navigates the future of work. |
| Date: | 2025–06–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col034:81696 |
| By: | Chen, Natalie (University of Warwick, CAGE, CESifo, and CEPR); Novy, Dennis (University of Warwick, CAGE, CESifo, CEP/LSE, and CEPR); Solórzano, Diego (Banco de México) |
| Abstract: | In 2018 and 2019, the US administration increased tariffs on imports from China. Did these tariffs lead to more US imports from other countries such as Mexico? Using highly disaggregated data on the universe of Mexican firm-level exports, we find evidence of trade diversion from China to Mexico. We then combine the export data with detailed longitudinal employer-employee data to investigate the impact of trade diversion on labor market outcomes for workers employed by Mexican exporters. We find that trade diversion increased the labor demand of exporters exposed to US tariffs against China, resulting in more employment and higher wages, especially for low-wage workers such as female, unskilled, younger, and non-permanently insured employees. The effects were concentrated in technology and skill-intensive manufacturing industries. |
| Keywords: | Employment, exports, …rms, tari¤s, trade costs, trade diversion, wages, workers JEL Classification: F12, F14, L11 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:755 |
| By: | Assaf Razin |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the two-way relationship between international migration and political regime change, emphasizing the potential for a feedback loop: political shifts influence migration patterns, and migration can, in turn, affect political developments. Using a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) approach and a dataset combining migration flows, regime quality indicators (CHRI), and measures of economic integration such as EU membership, the study identifies three key findings. First, substantial immigration into politically fragile democracies can further weaken their institutions. Second, democratic decline tends to increase emigration, undermining a country's ability to a democratic institutional recovery. Third, international economic integration, particularly in our study, through EU accession—shapes how emigration responds to political change. |
| JEL: | F02 H7 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33793 |
| By: | Marianne Simonsen; Lars Skipper; Jeffrey A. Smith |
| Abstract: | This paper uses register-based data to analyze the consequences of a recent major Danish welfare reform for children's academic performance and well-being. In addition to work requirements, the reform brought about considerable reductions in welfare transfers. We implement a comparative event study that contrasts outcomes for individuals on welfare at the time of reform announcement before and after the implementation of the reform with the parallel development in outcomes for an uncontaminated comparison group, namely those on welfare exactly one year prior. Our analysis documents that mothers' propensity to receive welfare decreased somewhat as a consequence of the reform, just as we observe a small increase in hours worked. At the same time, we do not detect negative effects on short-run child academic performance. We do find small negative effects on children's self-reported school well-being and document substantial upticks in reports to child protective services for children exposed to the reform. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.03927 |
| By: | Sprengholz, Maximilian (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, immigrants of different origins have higher income poverty rates than natives to varying but substantial degrees. In this study, I examine nativity gaps in income poverty among heterosexual couple households (with and without children) in Western Germany and pair-wise compare households of native couples with households in which at least one partner is an immigrant, distinguishing between immigrants from Turkey, Poland, and the former Soviet Union. Building on a theoretical model of household poverty, I analyze how the nativity and gender-specific labor market disadvantages of partners accumulate at the household level, where they constrain labor income sufficiency given household needs and available transfers. I decompose poverty gaps using matching and entropy balancing techniques with respect to nativity differences in partners' work intensities and wages; I also consider differences in household size, children's labor income, and non-labor income. While all of these channels are relevant, inequality in male partners' wages is the most important factor overall, accounting for 23-37 % of the observed nativity poverty gaps by immigrant origin. For Turkish immigrant households, however, nativity disadvantages in the work intensity of male (23 %) and especially female (41 %) partners are most consequential, which play a comparatively minor role for the other origins. Notably, substantial poverty gaps would remain for each comparison even if both partners in immigrant households had the same work intensities as their native counterparts. |
| Date: | 2025–05–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ms6jn_v1 |
| By: | Coskun Dalgic, Sena (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, IAB, CEPR); Sengul, Gonul (Ozyegin University) |
| Abstract: | "The surge in women’s participation in the workforce has been a defining feature of advanced economies in recent decades. This paper explores cross-country variations in the relationship between service sector expansion and female employment in Europe and the US. We estimate the elasticity of the female employment with respect to the services employment and uncover substantial differences across countries in how strongly the female share of working hours responds to service sector expansion. Our findings show that this elasticity is higher in countries experiencing stronger structural transformation and greater female employment intensity in business services. Furthermore, greater female employment intensity in business services is associated with a larger food and accommodation sector. These findings suggest that countries undergoing greater reallocation from industry to services experienced stronger increase in female employment as their expanding business service generated additional labour demand in the food and accommodation sector, thereby pulling women more strongly to market work." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Open-Access-Publikation |
| Date: | 2025–06–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202508 |
| By: | Hack, Lukas (University of Mannheim); Rostam-Afschar, Davud (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We examine how macroeconomic news affects firms’ extensive-margin price-setting plans in a survey that we rolled out with randomized daily invitations. These plans predict future realized inflation. Using a high-frequency event study framework, we find that inflation and employment surprises imply significant and sizable revisions in firms’ pricing plans. There is a limited role for news about the trade balance, but no significant role for other commonly studied data releases, e.g., industrial production. We also study news coverage and agents’ news search behavior, finding that the intensive-margin response of media coverage and news search may partly drive our main results. |
| Keywords: | daily data, firms, price-setting, macroeconomic data releases |
| JEL: | E30 E31 E32 C83 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17935 |
| By: | Raffaella Sadun; Rachel J. Schuh; Jonathan S. Hartley; John Van Reenen; Nicholas Bloom |
| Abstract: | We show better-managed firms are more dynamic in plant acquisitions, disposals, openings and closings in U.S. Census and international data. Better-managed firms also birth better-managed plants and improve the performance of the plants they acquire. To explain these findings we build a model with two key elements. First, management is a combination of firm-level management ability (e.g. CEO quality), which can be transferred to all plants, and plant-level management practices, which can be changed through intangible investment (e.g. consulting or training). Second, management both raises productivity and also reduces the operational costs of dynamism: buying, selling, opening and closing plants. We structurally estimate the model on Census microdata, fitting our key dynamic moments, and then use it to establish three additional results. First, mergers and acquisitions raise economy-wide management and productivity by reallocating plants to firms with higher management ability. Banning M&A would depress GDP and management by about 15%. Second, greater product market competition improves both management and productivity by reallocating away from badly managed plants. Finally, management practices account for about 20% of the cross-country productivity differences with the US. |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33765 |
| By: | Wolfgang Stojetz; Tilman Brück; Carlo Azzarri; Erdgin Mane |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the impacts of armed conflict and climate change on individual labor intensity. Based on pooled labor force survey, climate, and conflict event data from 21 African countries, we document that climate change and armed conflict can create a polycrisis: the negative impacts of extreme climate events on labor intensity in and outside of agriculture are more severe in conflict environments. This interaction effect, driven by heat waves and floods, is concentrated among young people, and it is the result of violent conflict presence before a climate event occurs, not of conflict events that occur at the same time as the climate event. In addition, our results suggest that conflict contributes to gender-specific shifts in labor allocation in response to climate events exacerbating women’s work burden. Our findings emphasize the importance of concerted, evidence-based policies to tackle climate-conflict polycrises, taking into account the specific vulnerabilities shaped by individuals’ gender and age. |
| Keywords: | africa, agriculture, agrifood systems, climate, conflict, employment, gender, polycrisis, youth |
| JEL: | D74 J16 J22 O12 Q10 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:430 |
| By: | Inés Berniell (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Mariana Marchionni (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Julián Pedrazzi (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Mariana Viollaz (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how female political leaders impact environmental outcomes and climate change policy actions using data from mixed-gender mayoral races in Brazil. Using a Regression Discontinuity design we find that, compared to male mayors, female mayors significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This effect is driven by a reduction in emissions intensity (CO2e/GDP) in the Land Use sector, without changes in municipal economic activity. Part of the reduction in emissions in the Land Use sector is attributable to a decline in deforestation. We examine potential mechanisms that could explain the positive environmental impact of narrowly electing a female mayor over a male counterpart and find that in Amazon municipalities, female elected mayors allocate more space to the environment in their government proposals and are more likely to invest in environmental initiatives. Differences in the enforcement of environmental regulations do not explain the results. |
| JEL: | J16 D72 Q54 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2028–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0351 |