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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, 2013
Abstract: Women are on average more absent from work for health reasons than men. At the same time, they live longer. This conflicting pattern suggests that part of the gender difference in health-related absenteeism arises from differences between the genders unrelated to actual health. An overlooked explanation could be that men and women's preferences for absenteeism differ, for example because of gender differences in risk preferences. These differences may originate from the utility-maximiz ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2013
Abstract: In the Great Recession most OECD countries used short-time work (publicly subsidized working time reductions) to counteract a steep increase in unemployment. We show that short-time work can actually save jobs. However, there is an important distinction to be made: while the rule-based component of short-time work is a cost-efficient job saver, the discretionary component appears to be completely ineffective. In a case study for Germany, we use the rich data available to combine micro- ...; [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, 2011
Abstract: The Bologna process inspired the Italian 3+2 reform of the university system which constitutes a big increase in the supply of college graduates. This paper is a preliminary attempt to identify the effects of the reform on the probability (relative to non-graduates) of employment of college graduates in the age range 25-34; their quality of employment measured with the relative probability of being employed with a temporary contract; the college wage premium. Using administrative data ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2011
Abstract: The main question addressed by this article is whether and how gender inequalities in wages have changed in Italy in the face of the important labour market developments of the last years. Specifically, the paper addresses gender wage inequalities in Italy in the mid-1990s and in the mid-2000s. In this period important labour market developments occurred: institutional changes have loosened the use of flexible and atypical contracts; the female employment rates and educational levels h ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2011
Abstract: Short-time work was the "German answer" to the economic crisis. The number of short-time workers strongly increased in the recession and peaked at more than 1.5 million. Without the extensive use of short-time work, unemployment would have risen by approximately twice as much as it actually did. Short-time work has certainly contributed to the mild response of the German labor market to the crisis, but this is likely due to the country-specific context. Although the crisis has been ove ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2011
Abstract: This policy analysis paper explores the implications for the host country population of alternative immigration policies. The two immigration options considered are a policy based on admitting primarily high-skilled workers and another that has the effect of admitting primarily low-skilled workers. The implications for the native-born population for their aggregate level of income, the distribution of their income by skill level, and the size of the income redistribution system are con ...; [Read more...]
Bonn : IZA, 2017
Abstract: Programs that increase the economic capacity of poor women can have cascading effects on children's participation in school and work that are theoretically undetermined. The research presents a simple model to describe the possible channels through which these programs may affect children's activities. Based on a cluster-randomized trial, we examine how a program providing capital and training to women in poor rural communities in Nicaragua affected children. Children in beneficiary ho ...; [Read more...]