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on Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, and Wages |
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Issue of 2024‒04‒29
24 papers chosen by |
| By: | Yun taek Oh; Morris M. Kleiner |
| Abstract: | Ways of leaving the labor force has been an understudied aspect of labor market outcomes. Labor market institutions such as occupational licensing may influence how individuals transition to retirement. When and how workers transition from career jobs to full retirement may contribute to pre- and post-retirement well-being. Previous investigations of retirement pathways focused on the patterns and outcomes of retirement transitions, yet the influence of occupational licensing on retirement transition has not been analyzed. In this study, we use the Current Population Survey and Survey of Income and Program Participation to investigate how occupational licensing influences American later-career workers’ choice of retirement pathways. Our results show that licensed workers are less likely to choose to change careers but more likely to reduce work hours in transitioning out of the workforce. These results are consistent with the findings that licensed workers receive more benefits in the form of preferable retirement options, suggesting that these workers tend to have higher wages, benefits, and flexibility even toward the end of their careers. |
| JEL: | J0 J26 J3 J30 J32 J33 J40 J44 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32292&r=lma |
| By: | Kovalenko, Tim; Sauerbier, Timo; Schröpf, Benedikt |
| Abstract: | In West Germany, the average size of establishments declined during the 1990s and started to increase again in the late 2000s, while the employer size wage premium followed the opposite trajectory. In this paper, we show that these two developments are interrelated. More precisely, our results suggest that variations in the employer size wage premiums induced establishments to vary their employment level, consistent with monopsony power on the labor market. Moreover, our regional analyses show that average establishment size correlates positively with GDP per capita. We rationalize these findings with a heterogeneous firms model with monopsonistic competition in the labor market, stemming from the household's love-of-variety preferences for employers. Both empirics and theory reveal that higher size wage premiums decrease average establishment size by downsizing incumbent establishments and triggering the entry of small establishments, thus also negatively affecting aggregate productivity. |
| Keywords: | Establishment Size, Size Wage Premium, Productivity, Labor MarketPower, Germany |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J42 L25 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:287762&r=lma |
| By: | Bortnikova, Kseniya; Havranek, Tomas; Irsova, Zuzana |
| Abstract: | Common wisdom suggests that beauty helps in the labor market. We show that two factors combine to explain away the mean beauty premium reported in the literature. First, correcting for publication bias reduces the premium by at least a third. Second, controlling for cognitive ability negates the premium for all occupations except sex workers, a point further underscored by the similarity of the beauty effect on earnings and productivity. The second factor implies a positive link, perhaps genetic, between beauty and intelligence. We find little evidence of substantial attenuation bias that could offset publication and omitted-variable biases. The empirical literature is inconsistent with discrimination based solely on tastes for beauty. To obtain these results we collect 1, 159 estimates of the effect of beauty on earnings or productivity reported in 67 studies and codify 33 aspects that reflect estimation context, including the potential intensity of attenuation bias. We employ recently developed techniques to account for publication bias and model uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Beauty premium, productivity, meta-analysis, model uncertainty, publication bias, p-hacking |
| JEL: | C83 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:289435&r=lma |
| By: | Mallory Avery; Andreas Leibbrandt; Joseph Vecci |
| Abstract: | The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruitment is rapidly increasing and drastically changing how people apply to jobs and how applications are reviewed. In this paper, we use two field experiments to study how AI recruitment tools can impact gender diversity in the male-dominated technology sector, both overall and separately for labor supply and demand. We find that the use of AI in recruitment changes the gender distribution of potential hires, in some cases more than doubling the fraction of top applicants that are women. This change is generated by better outcomes for women in both supply and demand. On the supply side, we observe that the use of AI reduces the gender gap in application completion rates. Complementary survey evidence suggests that anticipated bias is a driver of increased female application completion when assessed by AI instead of human evaluators. On the demand side, we find that providing evaluators with applicants’ AI scores closes the gender gap in assessments that otherwise disadvantage female applicants. Finally, we show that the AI tool would have to be substantially biased against women to result in a lower level of gender diversity than found without AI. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, gender, diversity, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J23 J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10996&r=lma |
| By: | Federica Braccioli (IAE-CSIC and Barcelona School of Economics); Paolo Ghinetti (Università del Piemonte Orientale); Simone Moriconi (IESEG School of Management (LEM-CNRS 92218), CESifo and ICM); Costanza Naguib (University of Bern); Michele Pellizzari (University of Geneva, CEPR and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We study the choice of acquiring STEM college education using variation induced by the proximity to universities offering different types of programs. We adopt the methodologybyHeckmanandPinto(2018)allowingtheidentificationofthedistribution of response types and treatment effects with multiple unordered choices. We combine survey data for Italy with historical information about the founding dates of all universities and faculties. Wefindthat most compliers are women at the margin of choosing STEM education versus not going to college. Expanding the supply of STEM education could reduce the gender gap in STEM by 20%. |
| Keywords: | Monotonicity, Returns to Education, STEM, Instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I23 I26 I28 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e202409&r=lma |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The Autonomous Province of Trento (Trentino) is among the most productive regions in Europe, but over the past two decades its productivity growth has stagnated. As a result, the productivity gap of Trentino widened by over 20% compared to regions with the same productivity level in 2000. The benchmarking of productivity drivers in Trentino with those of “peer” regions points to several policy priorities, including: reviving productivity in tradeable sectors, also through increased internationalisation; increasing the share of the labour force with a tertiary education; and getting more out of public R&D while boosting private sector R&D. |
| Keywords: | drivers of productivity, international comparison, sectoral analysis, subnational productivity |
| JEL: | D24 J21 J24 L11 O3 O47 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2024/03-en&r=lma |
| By: | Doorley, Karina; Gromadzki, Jan; Lewandowski, Piotr; Tuda, Dora; Van Kerm, Philippe |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of robot penetration on household income inequality in 14 European countries between 2006-2018, a period of rapid adoption of industrial robots. Automation reduced relative hourly wages and employment of more exposed demographic groups, similarly to the results for the US. Using robot-driven wage and employment shocks as input to the EUROMOD microsimulation model, we find that automation had minor effects on income inequality. Household labour income diversification and tax and welfare policies largely absorbed labour market shocks caused by automation. Transfers played a key role in cushioning the transmission of these shocks to household incomes. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen die Auswirkungen der Roboterdurchdringung auf die Ungleichheit der Haushaltseinkommen in 14 europäischen Ländern zwischen 2006 und 2018, einer Zeit der schnellen Einführung von Industrierobotern. Ähnlich wie in den USA hat die Automatisierung die relativen Stundenlöhne und die Beschäftigung von stärker belasteten demografischen Gruppen reduziert. Unter Verwendung von roboterbedingten Lohn- und Beschäftigungsschocks als Input für das Mikrosimulationsmodell EUROMOD finden wir, dass die Automatisierung nur geringe Auswirkungen auf die Einkommensungleichheit hatte. Die Diversifizierung des Arbeitseinkommens der Haushalte und Steuer- und Sozialpolitik fingen die durch die Automatisierung verursachten Arbeitsmarktschocks weitgehend ab. Transfers spielten eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Abfederung der Übertragung dieser Schocks auf die Haushaltseinkommen. |
| Keywords: | Robots, automation, tasks, income inequality, wage inequality, microsimulation |
| JEL: | J24 O33 J23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:287766&r=lma |
| By: | Lehner, Lukas (University of Oxford); Parolin, Zachary (Bocconi University); Wilmers, Nathan (MIT) |
| Abstract: | From 2010 to 2019, personal earnings inequality declined in the United States (U.S.) for the first time in decades, yet household income inequality continued to increase. Discordance between trends in personal earnings inequality and household income inequality was greater than in any other decade in recent U.S. history. We introduce a framework to decompose differences in inequality trends. We find that 46% of the 2010-2019 discordance is due to the changing household composition of workers. Specifically, a larger share of young workers are living with their parents, thus combining low personal earnings with high household incomes. The remaining 54% of discordance stems from inequality-increasing shifts in non-labor income (private income, taxes, and transfers). Despite the rare decline in U.S. earnings inequality, household income inequality increased due to changes in workers' household composition, increases in private income among higher-earning households, and the declining redistributive effect of government income transfers. |
| Keywords: | earnings inequality, income inequality, household composition, secondary earners, government transfers |
| JEL: | D31 E01 H24 I38 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16874&r=lma |
| By: | Mario Bossler; Ying Liang; Thorsten Schank |
| Abstract: | In 2015, Germany introduced a national minimum wage. While the literature agrees on at most limited negative effects on the overall employment level, we go into detail and analyze the impact on the working hours dimension and on the subset of minijobs. Using data from the German Structure of Earnings Survey in 2010, 2014, and 2018, we find empirical evidence that the minimum wage significantly reduces inequality in hourly and monthly wages. While various theoretical mechanisms suggest a reduction in working hours, these remain unchanged on average. However, minijobbers experience a notable reduction in working hours which can be linked to the specific institutional framework. Regarding employment, the results show no effects for regular jobs, but there is a noteworthy decline in minijobs, driven by transitions to regular employment and non-employment. The transitions in non-employment imply a wage elasticity of employment of $-0.1$ for minijobs. Our findings highlight that the institutional setting leads to heterogeneous effects of the minimum wage. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.17206&r=lma |
| By: | Kathryn Bonney; Cory Breaux; Catherine Buffington; Emin Dinlersoz; Lucia Foster; Nathan Goldschlag; John Haltiwanger; Zachary Kroff; Keith Savage |
| Abstract: | Timely and accurate measurement of AI use by firms is both challenging and crucial for understanding the impacts of AI on the U.S. economy. We provide new, real-time estimates of current and expected future use of AI for business purposes based on the Business Trends and Outlook Survey for September 2023 to February 2024. During this period, bi-weekly estimates of AI use rate rose from 3.7% to 5.4%, with an expected rate of about 6.6% by early Fall 2024. The fraction of workers at businesses that use AI is higher, especially for large businesses and in the Information sector. AI use is higher in large firms but the relationship between AI use and firm size is non-monotonic. In contrast, AI use is higher in young firms although, on an employment-weighted basis, is U-shaped in firm age. Common uses of AI include marketing automation, virtual agents, and data/text analytics. AI users often utilize AI to substitute for worker tasks and equipment/software, but few report reductions in employment due to AI use. Many firms undergo organizational changes to accommodate AI, particularly by training staff, developing new workflows, and purchasing cloud services/storage. AI users also exhibit better overall performance and higher incidence of employment expansion compared to other businesses. The most common reason for non-adoption is the inapplicability of AI to the business. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-16&r=lma |
| By: | Rahi Abouk; John S. Earle; Johanna Catherine Maclean; Sungbin Park |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of mandates requiring COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare industry workers adopted in 2021 in the United States. There are long-standing worker shortages in the U.S. healthcare industry, pre-dating the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 vaccine mandates on shortages is ex ante ambiguous. If mandates increase perceived safety of the healthcare industry, marginal workers may be drawn to healthcare, relaxing shortages. On the other hand, if marginal workers are vaccine hesitant or averse, then mandates may push workers away from the industry and exacerbate shortages. We combine monthly data from the Current Population Survey 2021 to 2022 with difference-in-differences methods to study the effects of state vaccine mandates on the probability of working in healthcare, and of employment transitions into and out of the industry. Our findings suggest that vaccine mandates may have worsened healthcare workforce shortages: following adoption of a state-level mandate, the probability of working in the healthcare industry declines by 6%. Effects are larger among workers in healthcare-specific occupations, who leave the industry at higher rates in response to mandates and are slower to be replaced than workers in non-healthcare occupations. Findings suggest trade-offs faced by health policymakers seeking to achieve multiple health objectives. |
| JEL: | H70 I1 I11 J20 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32286&r=lma |
| By: | Bronwyn H. Hall; Jacques Mairesse |
| Abstract: | We use a large dataset of approximately 1500 physicists employed by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France to investigate the role of cumulative advantage in their publication career. Measuring output by time series of the number of publications and the number of cite-weighted publications for each physicist, we find that the simple stylized facts predicted by cumulative advantage hold only weakly for these physicists. However, regressions with fixed effects, life cycle effects, and past productivity provide strong evidence that cumulative advantage matters for future productivity. In future work, we plan to compare this sample with those from other countries that have different systems for the conduct of scientific research. |
| JEL: | J24 M5 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32285&r=lma |
| By: | Xavier Cirera; Diego A. Comin; Marcio Cruz |
| Abstract: | We construct a grid that covers the key business functions of an establishment and the main technologies used in each of them. We populate this grid with data from over 20, 000 establishments in 15 countries. We use this dataset to document novel “facts” about how establishments use technology, the sourcing of business functions, the specialization of establishments from a task perspective, the measurement of technology, and the relationship between technology sophistication and productivity across establishments. We find that differences in technology sophistication account for 31% of cross-establishment dispersion in productivity and for more than half of the agricultural productivity gap. |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32281&r=lma |
| By: | Nwaobi, Godwin |
| Abstract: | Notably, Africa countries have enjoyed relatively strong economic growth for the past years (decade) mainly because of impressive global demand for primary commodities. Unfortunately, Africa’s economic growth had failed to generate many good jobs and thus postponing the benefits of the demographic divided of a large working-age population. Consequently, digital (online) gig work is rapidly increasing new form of work that poses tough challenges and tradeoffs for African governments. Essentially, these gig jobs could be a stepping stone to better-quality jobs for young or low-skilled workers by way of assisting them to learn critical digital skills that closes the digital divide. However, gig workers are not usually protected by labor regulations against unfair practices or abuse or injuries at work. Therefore, this paper argues that given the low levels of implementation of labor laws in African countries, future polices should consider various stakeholders in the gig ecosystem (from both supply and demand sides) as well as digital platforms operation. In other words, as several continents have made the transition to technology-enabled platforms for services; Africa should not be left out of the digital boom for the sake of prosperity and sustainable development |
| Keywords: | Gig Work, Digital Work, Africa, Digital Platforms, Microtask, Labour Policies, Regulations, African Governments, Labour Market, Digital Currency, Gig Supply, Gig Demand Gig Services, Policy Makers, Labour Laws Development, Economic Growth, Online Work |
| JEL: | E20 E24 E26 E61 E62 G23 H24 H55 I30 I31 J45 J65 J80 K31 M13 O15 O30 O38 |
| Date: | 2024–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120532&r=lma |
| By: | Emre Oral; Simon Rabaté; Arthur Seibold |
| Abstract: | We study the influence of family members, neighbors and coworkers on retirement behavior. To estimate causal retirement spillovers between individuals, we exploit a pension reform in the Netherlands that creates exogenous variation in peers’ retirement ages, and we use administrative data on the full Dutch population. We find large spillovers in couples, primarily due to women reacting to their husband’s retirement choices. Consistent with homophily in social interactions, the influence of the average sibling, neighbor and coworker is modest, but sizable spillovers emerge between similar individuals in these groups. Additional evidence suggests both leisure complementarities and the transmission of social norms as mechanisms behind retirement spillovers. Our findings imply that pension reforms have a large social multiplier, amplifying their overall impact on retirement behavior by 40%. |
| Keywords: | retirement, pension reform, social networks, spillover, peer effects |
| JEL: | D91 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10999&r=lma |
| By: | Carreño Bustos, José Gabo (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Huizinga, Harry (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Uras, Burak (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research) |
| Keywords: | job discplacement; flexible contracts; alternative work arrangements; earning losses; firm-specific wage premiums; income disparities; labor market |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:d5a55842-bcf3-42bf-9859-890e353436f5&r=lma |
| By: | Shun Yiu; Rob Seamans; Manav Raj; Ted Liu |
| Abstract: | AI technologies have the potential to affect labor market outcomes by both increasing worker productivity and reducing the demand for certain skills or tasks. Such changes may have important implications for the ways in which workers seek jobs and position themselves. In this project, we examine how exposure to generative AI technologies affects the strategic behavior of freelancer workers on an online work platform following the launch of ChatGPT in December 2022. Relative to their less exposed counterparts, we show that freelancers that are more exposed to language modeling technologies apply for more job posts on the platform following the launch of ChatGPT and increase the concentration of these applications across specializations. We document heterogeneity in this effect across freelancer characteristics and consider how such behaviors shape whether and to what extent the technological shock affects freelancer performance on the platform. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.15262&r=lma |
| By: | Yang, Yu (Alan) |
| Abstract: | How to allocate college seats across regions is an important yet largely neglected issue. It may imply a policy tradeoff between efficiency in aggregate human capital production and equality of opportunities for people growing up in different places. Furthermore, the flow of college attendance, resulting from the geography of college seats, also impacts the spatial distribution of skilled workers through post-college migration and regional inequality in future development. This paper studies this tradeoff between efficiency and multidimensional inequality in the spatial allocation of college seats by focusing on the province-based college admission quotas in China, the largest college market in the world. Combining national administrative data and surveys, I estimate a structural model of college and migration choice under quota constraints, together with a measurement model that can recover the nationally comparable distribution of pre-college human capital in each province. There are substantial skill gaps between college applicants across provinces, but this disparity is not well reflected in the allocated admission quotas. A purely merit-based nationwide admission increases aggregate human capital at the cost of worse college opportunities and substantially more severe brain drain in less developed regions, while equalized admission leads to the opposite outcome. Comparing the current quota system against the efficiency-equality frontier suggests that China places a larger policy weight toward a more equalized spatial supply of skilled labor. |
| Keywords: | Place-based college admission, human capital, spatial sorting, regional inequality |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120498&r=lma |
| By: | Fabian Scheifele; David Popp |
| Abstract: | Support from local citizens is important for the scale-up of renewable energy. We investigate the impact of utility-scale wind and solar parks on employment, GDP and public finances in Brazilian municipalities using a difference-in-differences design with matching. We find a positive employment impact of 1-1.5 jobs/MW in the 15 months preceding the commissioning of a solar park, when the park is under construction, but no impacts thereafter. For wind, we find no employment impacts during the construction phase and potentially a small impact of 0.2-0.25 jobs/MW in the 12 months following commissioning. In the year after commissioning, GDP increases 23% for an average sized solar park and 12% for an average sized wind project. The impacts only decrease slightly in the following years. We also find significant persistent fiscal revenue impacts in wind compared to only a one-time tax revenue increase in solar at the time of construction. Our results provide different implications for policymakers that want to advocate for renewable energy in their towns. While for solar, the main benefit constitutes a short-term increase in low-skilled employment and public revenues, wind energy provides more long-term financial benefits but less local employment opportunities. |
| JEL: | E24 H71 J21 O13 O14 Q52 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32274&r=lma |
| By: | Heikkuri, Suvi (Unit for Economic History, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the evolution of wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers in Sweden throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Using newly digitized data on income taxes, this paper demonstrates that the skill premium decreased throughout 1900–1950, and most rapidly from 1930 onward. This is similar to the fall in skill premium documented by Goldin and Katz for the United States. However, unlike in the United States, the fall in skill premia in Sweden cannot be attributed to a supply shock of high school graduates. Rather, this paper shows that incomes of the low- and unskilled increased faster than those for more-skilled. Despite of similar technological change and rapid economic development, Sweden did not exhibit a comparable rise in high school education as the United States. The paper suggests other mechanisms for the falling skill premium in Sweden, such as informal schooling, emigration, and trade union activity. |
| Keywords: | Skill premium; industrialization; Sweden; income inequality |
| JEL: | J24 J30 N34 |
| Date: | 2024–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunhis:0040&r=lma |
| By: | Daniel Aaronson; Mark Borgschulte; Sunny Liu; Bhashkar Mazumder |
| Abstract: | Does education lead to political engagement? The empirical literature is mixed. Theory suggests economic context matters. Individuals unable to take advantage of education in the labor market are more likely to engage in political activity. We find support for this channel during the rapid expansion of NAACP branches in the South around WWII. Branch growth was stronger where Black workers were denied returns to schooling due to Jim Crow occupational discrimination. We further show that a pre-1931 large-scale school construction program caused greater NAACP activity during the 1940s and 1950s when many former students were in their prime working years. |
| Keywords: | Education; Human capital |
| JEL: | I26 J7 N32 |
| Date: | 2024–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:97997&r=lma |
| By: | François Cohen (UB Department of Economics, Energy Sustainability Chair & IEB); Victor Kahn (Mines Paris PSL); Guillaume Wald (Mines Paris PSL) |
| Abstract: | Vast amounts are being invested in the energy transition worldwide, with optimistic expectations of economic growth and green job creation. Yet, we crucially lack ex-post validations of the multiplier effects widely used to quantify new green jobs. Focusing on the French Energy Efficiency Obligations scheme, this paper provides the first ex-post estimate of the employment effect of a large energy-retrofit investment program. We exploit a discontinuity in the provision of subsidies and use a novel synthetic control method on disaggregated data to estimate regional-level employment effects. We estimate that the scheme created 1.4 jobs per million euros invested. |
| Keywords: | Energy Efficiency, Green Jobs, Employment, Energy Transition, Subsidies, Certificates |
| JEL: | J21 H23 Q43 Q48 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2024-01&r=lma |
| By: | Matthieu Crozet (RITM - Réseaux Innovation Territoires et Mondialisation - Université Paris-Saclay); Laura Hering (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Sandra Poncet (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Export growth affects individuals through numerous and contradictory channels. In China, the development of exports has promoted economic development and income growth, but it has also disrupted social structures and work environments. This paper explores the overall effect of exports on perceived well-being by combining responses from a large longitudinal survey covering over 45, 000 Chinese with a shift-share measure of local export opportunities. Results show that individuals' perceived life satisfaction increases significantly in prefectures that benefited from greater export opportunities, despite a negative effect on self-reported health. The positive well-being gains go beyond a simple income effect. These non-monetary gains are related to the individuals' professional life: export-related well-being gains are stronger for working-age individuals (especially men and low-skilled workers), are largest for workers in the manufacturing sector (which produces the vast majority of China's exports), and are found when the satisfaction indicator focuses on work but not on other aspects of daily life. |
| Keywords: | Happiness Export opportunities Globalization China. JEL codes: F61 F66 I31 J28, Happiness, Export opportunities, Globalization, China. JEL codes: F61, F66, I31, J28 |
| Date: | 2024–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04505684&r=lma |
| By: | Zhu, Ge |
| Abstract: | In the context of an increasingly aging population, this paper examines the economic incentives of long-term care insurance policies for women to disengage from informal care responsibilities within the household. Through constructing both theoretical analytical frameworks and empirical identification strategies, we seek to comprehend the causal relationship between women benefiting from long-term care insurance policy pilot programs and their entry or re-entry into the labor market. Our findings indicate that long-term care insurance policies significantly stimulate female employment. This discovery implies that aiding women in shifting family responsibilities to the market contributes to enhancing female labor participation. Robustness checks corroborate our findings, and the outcomes of competitive hypotheses demonstrate that alleviating family care burdens is more conducive to promoting female employment than providing care job opportunities. Further analysis suggests that long-term care insurance policies may also potentially undermine China's "raising children to support old age" mechanism and the preference for sons over daughters. However, there exist heterogeneities concerning enhancing women's bargaining power in both the household and society. |
| Keywords: | Long-term Care insurance policy; Women employment; Informal care; China; Competing hypotheses; Bargaining power of women |
| JEL: | I1 J2 |
| Date: | 2024–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120472&r=lma |