nep-ltv New Economics Papers
on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty
Issue of 2023‒01‒23
five papers chosen by



  1. Another Brick on the Wall: On the Effects of Non-Contributory Pensions on Material and Subjective Well Being By Bando, Rosangela; Galiani, Sebastián; Gertler, Paul
  2. How Much Should we Trust Estimates of Firm Effects and Worker Sorting? By Stephane Bonhomme; Kerstin Holzheu; Thibaut Lamadon; Elena Manresa; Magne Mogstad; Bradley Setzler
  3. The Difficult School-to-Work Transition of High School Dropouts: Evidence from a Field Experiment By Pierre Cahuc; Stéphane Carcillo; Andreea Minea
  4. Workplace Presenteeism, Job Substitutability and Gender Inequality By Ghazala Azmat; Lena Hensvik; Olof Rosenqvist
  5. Labor Market Insurance Policies in the XXI Century By Tito Boeri; Pierre Cahuc

  1. By: Bando, Rosangela; Galiani, Sebastián; Gertler, Paul
    Abstract: Public expenditures on non-contributory pensions are equivalent to at least 1 percent of GDP in several countries in Latin America and is expected to increase. We explore the effect of non-contributory pensions on the well-being of the beneficiary population by studying the "Pensiones Alimentarias" program established by law in Paraguay, which targets older adults living in poverty. Households with a beneficiary increased their level of consumption by 44 percent. The program improved subjective well-being in 0.48 standard deviations. These effects are consistent with the findings of Bando, Galiani and Gertler (2020) and Galiani, Gertler and Bando (2016) in their studies on the non-contributory pension schemes in Peru and Mexico. Thus, we conclude that the effects of non-contributory pensions on well-being in Paraguay are comparable to those found for Peru and Mexico and add to the construction of external validity.
    Keywords: Poverty;Non-contributory pensions;Mental health;Well-being
    JEL: I1 I3 H3 H4
    Date: 2021–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:11095&r=ltv
  2. By: Stephane Bonhomme (University of Chicago); Kerstin Holzheu (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Thibaut Lamadon (University of Chicago, NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research [New York] - NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research, IFS - Laboratory of the Institute for Fiscal Studies - Institute for Fiscal Studies); Elena Manresa (NYU - New York University [New York] - NYU - NYU System); Magne Mogstad (University of Chicago, NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research [New York] - NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research, IFS - Laboratory of the Institute for Fiscal Studies - Institute for Fiscal Studies); Bradley Setzler (Penn State - Pennsylvania State University - Penn State System)
    Abstract: Many studies use matched employer-employee data to estimate a statistical model of earnings determination with worker and firm fixed effects. Estimates based on this model have produced influential yet controversial conclusions. The objective of this paper is to assess the sensitivity of these conclusions to the biases that arise because of limited mobility of workers across firms. We use employer-employee data from the US and several European countries while taking advantage of both fixed-effects and random-effects methods for biascorrection. We find that limited mobility bias is severe and that bias-correction is important.
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03882713&r=ltv
  3. By: Pierre Cahuc (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Stéphane Carcillo (Sciences Po - Sciences Po, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics); Andreea Minea (Sciences Po - Sciences Po, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: We investigate the effects of the labor market experience of high school dropouts four years after leaving school by sending fictitious résumés to real job postings in France. Compared to those who have stayed unemployed since leaving school, the callback rate is not raised for those with employment experience, whether it is subsidized or nonsubsidized, if there is no training accompanied by skill certification. We find no stigma effect associated with subsidized work experience. Moreover, training accompanied by skill certification improves youth prospects only when the local unemployment rate is sufficiently low, which occurs in one-fifth of the commuting zones only.
    Date: 2021–01–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03878721&r=ltv
  4. By: Ghazala Azmat (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEP - LSE - Centre for Economic Performance - LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science); Lena Hensvik (Uppsala University); Olof Rosenqvist (IFAU - The Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)
    Abstract: Following the arrival of the first child, women's absence rates soar and become less predictable. This fall in workplace presenteeism harms women's wages, especially in jobs with low substitutability. Although both presenteeism and job uniqueness are rewarded, we document that women's likelihood of holding jobs with low substitutability decreases relative to men's after childbearing. This gap persists, with important long-run wage implications. We highlight that the parenthood wage penalty for women could be reduced by organizing work so that more employees have tasks that can be performed satisfactorily by other employees in the workplace.
    Keywords: Work absence, Job substitutability, Gender wage inequality
    Date: 2021–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03812822&r=ltv
  5. By: Tito Boeri (Bocconi University [Milan, Italy], CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics, CEP - LSE - Centre for Economic Performance - LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science); Pierre Cahuc (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics)
    Abstract: The recovery from the Covid-19 crisis will force governments to accelerate transformation in their menu of labor market policy tools. The crisis was a stress test for unemployment insurance schemes as it involved a sudden and unexpected shutdown of a very large set of activities. This forced countries to introduce, often from scratch, income support schemes for workers under new forms of employment, and the self-employed. There was also a considerable expansion of short-time work schemes notably towards the small business. The challenge ahead of us is perhaps even harder as post-Covid19 labor markets are likely to be characterized by substantial labor reallocation. Major innovations in labor market policy are required to smooth consumption of workers involved in this reallocation. We survey the large body of research on schemes reducing the costs of reallocation complementary to unemployment insurance. Our attention is on short-time work (preventing layoffs by subsidizing hors reductions), partial unemployment insurance (enabling workers to combine unemployment benefits with low income jobs), and wage insurance (offering a temporary wage subsidy to workers changing jobs). The properties of these new schemes are first presented and compared to those of standard unemployment benefits. Next the main results of the empirical literature on the effects of wage insurance, partial unemployment insurance and short-time work are presented. A final section is devoted to discussing directions for further research.
    Keywords: Partial unemployment insurance, Wage insurance, Short-time work, COVID-19
    Date: 2022
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03878719&r=ltv

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