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Bonn : IZA, 2021
Abstract: As the pandemic continues and countries experience a massive second wave, labor markets continue to be heavily affected. At the same time, countries have started to extend, but also adjust stabilization measures initially introduced at the outset of the crisis. As of today, three main elements of crisis response require particular attention: the further development of short-time work schemes, ad hoc income protection for the self-employed, and the specific difficulties labor markets ar ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: Italy has probably been one of the first ships to cross the storm of the pandemic, soon after Wuhan in China, and one of the worst performers with a GDP fall of -10% in 2020. The reason is that the pandemic recession has drawn on old structural problems, which already before the pandemic made the country one of the worst performers in terms of growth rates in Europe in the last 20 years. The evils of Italy are well known. It is the second biggest manufacturer in Europe, but also among ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: This study examines the initial impact of COVID-19 shutdowns on the employment and hours of unincorporated self-employed workers using data from the Current Population Survey. Although the shutdowns decreased employment and hours for all groups, differential effects by gender, couple status, and parental status exist. Coupled women were less likely to be working than coupled men, while single women were more likely to be working than single men. However, fathers of school-age children ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: The paper presents findings from a novel survey of Italian, British, and American families in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic of spring 2020. A high percentage report disruptions in the patterns of family life, manifesting in new work patterns, chore allocations and household tensions. Though men have taken a greater share of childcare and grocery shopping duties, reallocations are not nearly as stark as disruptions to work patterns might suggest, and families having to reallocat ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: Home office at full pay is not an option for all employees hit by the coronavirus crisis. To analyze changes in work arrangements during the pandemic, a team of economists from the University of Bonn, IZA and the University of Tilburg surveyed around 5,500 individuals in the Netherlands from March 20-31. The results show that high-skilled workers spend more time in the home office, while less-skilled workers are more likely to work reduced hours or lose their jobs. Education plays a ke ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of networks in the spatial diffusion of local economic shocks in Africa. We show that road and ethnic connectivity are particularly important factors for diffusing economic spillovers over longer distances. We then determine the key players, i.e., which districts are key in propagating local economic shocks across Africa. Using these results, we conduct counterfactual policy exercises to evaluate the potential gains from policies that increase economic acti ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: The social and the private returns to education differ when education can increase productivity, and also be used to signal productivity. We show how instrumental variables can be used to separately identify and estimate the social and private returns to education within the employer learning framework of Farber and Gibbons [1996] and Altonji and Pierret [2001]. What an instrumental variable identifies depends crucially on whether the instrument is hidden from, or observed by, the empl ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2020
Abstract: The added worker effect (AWE) measures the entry of individuals into the labor force due to their partners' job loss. We propose a new method to calculate the AWE, which allows us to estimate its effect on any labor market outcome. We show that the AWE reduces the fraction of households with two non-employed members. The AWE also accounts for why women's employment is less cyclical and more symmetric compared to men. In recessions, while some women lose their employment, others enter t ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2019
Abstract: TA common feature of public sector labor markets is the use of pay scales. This paper examines how the removal of pay scales impacts productivity, by exploiting a reform that compelled all schools in England to replace pay scales with school-designed performance related pay schemes. We find that schools in labor markets with better outside options for teachers saw relatively higher increases in teacher pay. Schools in these areas relatively increase their spending on teachers, have hig ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2019
Abstract: The paper examines recent policy reforms in Italy focusing on the impact of the 2012 Fornero reforms of employment protection legislation as well as the initial impact of the EU-wide Youth Guarantee scheme introduced in Italy in March 2014. The paper then examines how these two policy reforms interacted. The analysis first confirms the finding that the Fornero reform increased permanent hires particularly amongst the very youngest workers; it then goes on to find that the YG was indeed ...; [Read more...]