Spillovers of Equal Treatment in Wage Offers

We analyse a labour matching model with wage posting, where re flecting institutional constraints firms cannot differentiate their wage offers within certain subsets of workers. Inter alia, we find that the presence of impersonal wage offers leads to wage compression, which propagates to the wages for high productivity workers who receive personalised offers.

Evidence-based Economic Policy - Three Essays in Applied Microeconometrics

Over thirty years ago, Leamer (1983) - among many others - expressed doubts about the quality and usefulness of empirical analyses for the economic profession by stating that "hardly anyone takes data analyses seriously. Or perhaps more accurately, hardly anyone takes anyone else's data analyses seriously" (p.37). Improvements in data quality, more robust estimation methods and the evolution of better research designs seem to make that assertion no longer justifiable (see Angrist and Pischke (2010) for a recent response to Leamer's essay). The economic profes- sion and policy makers alike often rely on empirical evidence as a means to investigate policy relevant questions. The approach of using scientifically rigorous and systematic evidence to identify policies and programs that are capable of improving policy-relevant outcomes is known under the increasingly popular notion of evidence-based policy. Evidence-based economic policy often relies on randomized or quasi-natural experiments in order to identify causal effects of policies. These can require relatively strong assumptions or raise concerns of external validity. In the context of this thesis, potential concerns are for example endogeneity of policy reforms with respect to the business cycle in the first chapter, the trade-off between precision and bias in the regression-discontinuity setting in chapter 2 or non-representativeness of the sample due to self-selection in chapter 3. While the identification strategies are very useful to gain insights into the causal effects of specific policy questions, transforming the evidence into concrete policy conclusions can be challenging. Policy develop- ment should therefore rely on the systematic evidence of a whole body of research on a specific policy question rather than on a single analysis. In this sense, this thesis cannot and should not be viewed as a comprehensive analysis of specific policy issues but rather as a first step towards a better understanding of certain aspects of a policy question. The thesis applies new and innovative identification strategies to policy-relevant and topical questions in the fields of labor economics and behavioral environmental economics. Each chapter relies on a different identification strategy. In the first chapter, we employ a difference- in-differences approach to exploit the quasi-experimental change in the entitlement of the max- imum unemployment benefit duration to identify the medium-run effects of reduced benefit durations on post-unemployment outcomes. Shortening benefit duration carries a double- dividend: It generates fiscal benefits without deteriorating the quality of job-matches. On the contrary, shortened benefit durations improve medium-run earnings and employment possibly through containing the negative effects of skill depreciation or stigmatization. While the first chapter provides only indirect evidence on the underlying behavioral channels, in the second chapter I develop a novel approach that allows to learn about the relative impor- tance of the two key margins of job search - reservation wage choice and search effort. In the framework of a standard non-stationary job search model, I show how the exit rate from un- employment can be decomposed in a way that is informative on reservation wage movements over the unemployment spell. The empirical analysis relies on a sharp discontinuity in unem- ployment benefit entitlement, which can be exploited in a regression-discontinuity approach to identify the effects of extended benefit durations on unemployment and survivor functions. I find evidence that calls for an important role of reservation wage choices for job search be- havior. This can have direct implications for the optimal design of unemployment insurance policies. The third chapter - while thematically detached from the other chapters - addresses one of the major policy challenges of the 21st century: climate change and resource consumption. Many governments have recently put energy efficiency on top of their agendas. While pricing instru- ments aimed at regulating the energy demand have often been found to be short-lived and difficult to enforce politically, the focus of energy conservation programs has shifted towards behavioral approaches - such as provision of information or social norm feedback. The third chapter describes a randomized controlled field experiment in which we discuss the effective- ness of different types of feedback on residential electricity consumption. We find that detailed and real-time feedback caused persistent electricity reductions on the order of 3 to 5 % of daily electricity consumption. Also social norm information can generate substantial electricity sav- ings when designed appropriately. The findings suggest that behavioral approaches constitute effective and relatively cheap way of improving residential energy-efficiency.

Bargaining, coalitions and competition

We study a decentralized matching model in a large exchange economy,in which trade takes place through non--cooperative bargaining in coalitionsof finite size. Under essentially the same conditions of core equivalence, we show that the strategic equilibrium outcomes of our model coincide with theWalrasian allocations of the economy. Our method of proof exploits equivalenceresults between the core and Walrasian equilibria. Our model relaxes differentiability and convexity of preferences thereby covering the caseof indivisible goods.

Are changes in education important for the wage premium and unemployment?

A generalized rise in unemployment rates for both college and high-schoolgraduates, a widening education wage premium, and a sharp increase incollege education participation are characteristic features of thetransformations of the U.S. labor market between 1970 and 1990. This paperinvestigates the interactions between these changes in the labor marketand in educational attainment. First, it develops an equilibrium searchand matching model of the labor market where education is endogenouslydetermined. Second, calibrated versions of the model are used to studyquantitatively whether either a skill-biased change in technology or amismatch shock can explain the above facts. The skill-biased shock accountsfor a considerable part of the changes but fails to produce the increasein unemployment for the educated labor force. The mismatch shock explainsinstead much of the change in the four variables, including the wage premium.

El desempleo español : factores estructurales

El paro es uno de los problemas más importantes de la economía española y del resto de economías europeas. Un posible análisis, ampliamente extendido en la literatura reciente, considera el desajuste existente entre la oferta y la demanda de trabajo como posible causante de esta situación. En este sentido, la relación empírica entre la tasa de paro y la tasa de vacantes, la denominada curva UV o de Beveridge, ofrece un instrumento para caracterizar el paro d'una economía determinada. Diferentes estudios, como por ejemplo, Jackman et. al. (1983) o Pissarides (1985) entre otros, consideran que los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge pueden interpretarse como variaciones del paro estructural. La identificación de estos desplazamientos puede dar información relevante para diseñar políticas económicas adecuadas. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es el de identificar los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge para la economía española durante el período 1978-96 utilizando datos anuales de la Encuesta de Población Activa (INE) y de Estadística de Empleo (INEM). Dado que ambas fuentes facilitan la información desagregada territorialmente, se puede construir un panel de datos regionales que permite analizar un amplio conjunto de factores que pueden explicar el desplazamiento de la curva, un posible cambio en la elasticidad de la tasa de paro respeto a la tasa de vacantes, así como también valorar la existencia de diferentes comportamientos regionales en el proceso de emparejamiento de trabajos con trabajadores

El desempleo español : factores estructurales

El paro es uno de los problemas más importantes de la economía española y del resto de economías europeas. Un posible análisis, ampliamente extendido en la literatura reciente, considera el desajuste existente entre la oferta y la demanda de trabajo como posible causante de esta situación. En este sentido, la relación empírica entre la tasa de paro y la tasa de vacantes, la denominada curva UV o de Beveridge, ofrece un instrumento para caracterizar el paro d'una economía determinada. Diferentes estudios, como por ejemplo, Jackman et. al. (1983) o Pissarides (1985) entre otros, consideran que los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge pueden interpretarse como variaciones del paro estructural. La identificación de estos desplazamientos puede dar información relevante para diseñar políticas económicas adecuadas. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es el de identificar los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge para la economía española durante el período 1978-96 utilizando datos anuales de la Encuesta de Población Activa (INE) y de Estadística de Empleo (INEM). Dado que ambas fuentes facilitan la información desagregada territorialmente, se puede construir un panel de datos regionales que permite analizar un amplio conjunto de factores que pueden explicar el desplazamiento de la curva, un posible cambio en la elasticidad de la tasa de paro respeto a la tasa de vacantes, así como también valorar la existencia de diferentes comportamientos regionales en el proceso de emparejamiento de trabajos con trabajadores

Influência do comprometimento organizacional na estratégia comportamental voz mediada pela satisfação global com o trabalho

Perante a conjuntura atual, de crescente complexidade e mutação organizacional, a compreensão do comprometimento organizacional tem-se tornado fundamental na gestão de recursos humanos. Na presente investigação procura-se saber qual a influência do “Modelo das Três-Componentes”, proposto por Meyer e Allen (1991) na Estratégia Comportamental Voz do Modelo EVLN, proposto por Farrell e Rusbult (Farrell, 1983; Rusbult et al., 1982). Procura-se ainda saber se esta relação é mediada pela Satisfação Global com o Trabalho, conforme Hackman e Oldham (1980). Foi aplicado um questionário a uma amostra probabilística de 144 colaboradores na empresa EGEAC, composto pela escala de comprometimento organizacional de Meyer e Allen (1997), a escala voz do modelo de estratégias comportamentais EVLN de Farrell e Rusbult (Farrell, 1983; Rusbult et al., 1982) e a escala de satisfação global com o trabalho, de Hackman e Oldham (1980). Perante os resultados obtidos pode-se constatar que a componente organizacional afetiva e normativa determinam a estratégia comportamental voz, e que esta relação é positivamente mediada pela satisfação global com o trabalho. Como contributo para a gestão de recursos humanos o presente estudo demonstra a importância da gestão dos afetos e responsabilidades, visto a preponderância apresentada por estas componentes.

Determination of eddy-diffusivity in the lowermost stratosphere

We present a 2D-advection-diffusion model that simulates the main transport pathways influencing tracer distributions in the lowermost stratosphere (LMS). The model describes slow diabatic descent of aged stratospheric air, vertical (cross-isentropic) and horizontal (along isentropes) diffusion within the LMS and across the tropopause using equivalent latitude and potential temperature coordinates. Eddy diffusion coefficients parameterize the integral effect of dynamical processes leading to small scale turbulence and mixing. They were specified by matching model simulations to observed CO distributions. Interestingly, the model suggests mixing across isentropes to be more important than horizontal mixing across surfaces of constant equivalent latitude, shining new light on the interplay between various transport mechanisms in the LMS. The model achieves a good description of the small scale tracer features at the tropopause with squared correlation coefficients R2 = 0.72…0.94.

Towards a measure of income inequality freed from the volatility caused by variations in the rate of unemployment

By mixing together inequalities based on cyclical variables, such as unemployment, and on structural variables, such as education, usual measurements of income inequality add objects of a di§erent economic nature. Since jobs are not acquired or lost as fast as education or skills, this aggreagation leads to a loss of relavant economic information. Here I propose a di§erent procedure for the calculation of inequality. The procedure uses economic theory to construct an inequality measure of a long-run character, the calculation of which can be performed, though, with just one set of cross-sectional observations. Technically, the procedure is based on the uniqueness of the invariant distribution of wage o§ers in a job-search model. Workers should be pre-grouped by the distribution of wage o§ers they see, and only between-group inequalities should be considered. This construction incorporates the fact that the average wages of all workers in the same group tend to be equalized by the continuous turnover in the job market.

A search-theoretic explanation for the negative correlation between labor income and impatience

Lawrance (1991) has shown, through the estimation of consumption Euler equations, that subjective rates of impatience (time preference) in the U.S. are three to Öve percentage points higher for households with lower average labor incomes than for those with higher labor income. From a theoretical perspective, the sign of this correlation in a job-search model seems at Örst to be undetermined, since more impatient workers tend to accept wage o§ers that less impatient workers would not, thereby remaining less time unemployed. The main result of this paper is showing that, regardless of the existence of e§ects of opposite sign, and independently of the particular speciÖcations of the givens of the model, less impatient workers always end up, in the long run, with a higher average income. The result is based on the (unique) invariant Markov distribution of wages associated with the dynamic optimization problem solved by the consumers. An example is provided to illustrate the method.

Some benefits of cyclical monetary policy

In this paper, we present a simple random-matching model of seasons, where di§erent seasons translate into di§erent propensities to consume and produce. We Önd that the cyclical creation and destruction of money is beneÖcial for welfare under a wide variety of circumstances. Our model of seasons can be interpreted as providing support for the creation of the Federal Reserve System, with its mandate of supplying an elastic currency for the nation.

Inflation when the planner wants less spending

I study optima in a random-matching model of outside money. The examples in this paper show a conflict between private and collective interests. While the planner worry about the extensive and intensive margin effects of trades in a steady state, people want the exhaust the gains from trades immediately, i.e., once in a meeting, consumers prefer spend more for a better output than take the risk of saving money and wait for good meetings in the future. Thus, the conflict can force the planner to choose allocations with a more disperse money distribution, mainly if people are im- patient. When the patient rate is low enough, the planner uses a expansionary policy to generate a better distribution of money for future trades.

Condições de trabalho e transtornos mentais comuns em trabalhadores da rede básica de saúde de Botucatu (SP)

Os transtornos mentais comuns (TMC) apresentam elevada prevalência em populações gerais e de trabalhadores, com consequências individuais e sociais importantes. Este estudo, transversal e descritivo, explora a relação entre demandas psicológicas, grau de controle e presença de suporte social no trabalho e prevalência de TMC em trabalhadores da rede básica de saúde de Botucatu (SP). A coleta de dados foi feita por meio de questionário autoaplicável, não identificado, com destaque para itens relativos à demanda-controle-suporte e presença de TMC (Self Reporting Questionnaire, SRQ-20). As informações foram inseridas em banco de dados construído com Excel/Office XP 2003 e a análise estatística, efetuada com o programa SAS. Constatou-se que 42,6% dos trabalhadores apresentavam TMC. A observação de associação - alta prevalência de TMC com elevado desgaste (classificação de Karasek) e baixa prevalência de TMC com baixo desgaste - indica que, no município estudado, as condições de trabalho na atenção básica constituem fator contributivo não negligenciável ao adoecimento dos trabalhadores. Revela-se a necessidade de intervenções direcionadas ao cuidado aos trabalhadores, melhoria das condições de trabalho e aumento do suporte social no trabalho.

Making the Most of EU Labour Mobility. Report of a CEPS Task Force in Cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation. CEPS Task Force Report, 7 October 2014

This Task Force report combines the most recent data from Eurostat with national sources to highlight the most significant labour mobility trends within the EU. Overall, the recent recession has not induced previously immobile workers to become more mobile, at least not in the larger member states. Mobility flows have moved away from crisis countries in response to the economic downturn but the desired increase in south-north mobility has not been observed so far. This leads the authors to conclude that successfully fostering mobility within EU15 countries requires tremendous effort. It is important that workers who are willing and able to move are not discouraged from doing so by unnecessary barriers to mobility. Improving the workings of the EURES system and its online job-matching platform; better cooperation of national employment agencies; streamlining the recognition of qualifications; and supporting language training within the EU are important contributions to labour mobility. The authors conclude that the EU is right to defend the free movement of workers. National governments should keep in mind that their ability to tap into an attractive foreign labour supply also hinges upon the perception of how mobile workers are treated in destination countries. If the political imperative requires regulations to be changed, such as the one guiding the coordination of social security, it is essential that no new mobility barriers are put in place.

Labour Mobility in Europe: An untapped resource? CEPS Policy Brief No. 327, March 2015

Despite public perceptions, labour mobility is low in the EU, particularly within the euro area. The authors of this Policy Brief make four main points: first, that the economic and financial crisis has affected mobility patterns by redirecting flows away from the periphery, thus showing the limits of labour mobility potential within the current eurozone - largely due to the negligible mobility of nationals from large countries hit by the crisis. Second, east-west mobility has not been fundamentally affected by the crisis, and ten years after the eastern enlargement the number of East Europeans living in EU15 should be of no overall concern. Third, the long-term economic effects of mobility are uncertain, but potential negative effects are more likely to show up in sending countries than in receiving ones. Finally, in view of the lessons learned from the economic crisis, the Commission and member states should adopt a longer-term view on labour mobility. The authors recommend a further upgrade of job-matching tools, namely the EURES system, and should foster better recognition of qualifications and the exchange of best practices among mobility networks. In order to improve mobility in the longer term, the Commission and member states should improve the mobility of third-country nationals – starting with those completing tertiary education at an EU institution and able to find employment. The aim of improving mobility gives new impetus to the ‘mother tongue + two foreign languages’ objective and the European Benchmark of Language Competences Initiative, in particular competence in the first foreign language taught at school.