Klaus F. Zimmermann

A new GLO Discussion Paper confirms a strong relationship between exposure to technological risk and support for social safety nets among men but not for women.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 833, 2021

Technology, risk and social policy. An empirical investigation – Download PDF
by Guarascio, Dario & Sacchi, Stefano

GLO Fellow Dario Guarascio

Author Abstract: This paper investigates the role of exposure to technological risk in shaping social policy preferences, specifically on support for universal basic income and means-tested generalised minimum income. Evidence is provided for Italy, to exploit the availability of high-quality data, allowing measures of two dimensions of technological risk. Objective risk hinges upon the degree of substitutability of one’s occupation by machines, while subjective risk concerns a worker’s perception of their substitutability. We posit that exposure to technological risk induces individuals to ask for protection, and thus increases support for social policy. We test two hypotheses: first, that exposure to objective risk of replacement by machines is correlated with support for both safety nets; second, that such effect is increased by high perception of risk. On the whole, results confirm a strong relationship between exposure to technological risk and support for social safety nets, once objective risk is disentangled from subjective perceptions. However, we find that such relationship only holds for men, while it cannot be confirmed for women.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper highlights that the level of parental education is more relevant than the level of parental occupational skill in individuals’ educational and social opportunities.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 832, 2021

Sometimes you cannot make it on your own. How household background influences chances of success in Italy – Download PDF
by Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio

GLO Fellows Luca Bonacini, Giovanni Gallo & Sergio Scicchitano

Author Abstract: In this paper, we explore channels by which household background determines an individual’s educational and social opportunities in Italy. Our analysis relies on a rich dataset that contains data both on individuals and their real parents, as well as information on individuals’ non-cognitive skills. This paper also represents the first attempt to evaluate if and to what extent personality traits affect educational and occupational opportunities in Italy and how they interact with household background. The results highlight that the level of parental education is more relevant than the level of parental occupational skill in individuals’ educational and social opportunities. The inclusion of ‘Big-5’ variables in the model helps control for omitted variables and reduces the unobserved heterogeneity in intergenerational social mobility among individuals with the same level of education and skills. Our results depict a dual and unequal labour market.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper finds that Italian firms managed by a CEO that belongs to a family with past emigration experience tend to perform better and to be more productive.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 830, 2021
Ancestors, inter-generational transmission of attitudes, and corporate performance: Evidence from the Italian Mass Migration – Download PDF
by Florio, Erminia & Manfredonia, Stefano

GLO Affiliate Erminia Florio

Author Abstract: We study the effect of the attitudes of a CEO’s ancestors on firm performance. To do so, we collect detailed information on emigrants from Italian municipalities during the Age of Mass Migration (1892-1924) from Ellis Island ships lists and use emigration experience as a proxy for ancestors’ risk propensity. We adopt an epidemiological approach complemented with an instrumental variables strategy and find that Italian firms managed by a CEO that belongs to a family with past emigration experience tend to perform better and to be more productive. In line with an inter-generational transmission of attitudes hypothesis, we show a positive relationship between the emigration experience of a CEO’s ancestors and alternative measures of corporate risk-taking. The attitudes of a CEO’s ancestors have as well consequences on firm solvency and on the cost of capital.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper provides long-term evidence that sentiment analysis of Tweets can provide reliable and timely information on well-being.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 831, 2021

A year of pandemic: levels, changes and validity of well-being data from Twitter. Evidence from ten countries – Download PDF
by Sarracino, Francesco & Greyling, Talita & O’Connor , Kelsey & Peroni, Chiara & Rossouw, Stephanie

GLO Fellows Francesco Sarracino & Talita Greyling & Kelsey J. O’Connor & Stephanie Rossouw

Author Abstract: In this article we describe how well-being changed during 2020 in ten countries, namely Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain. Our measure of well-being is the Gross National Happiness (GNH), a country-level index built applying sentiment analysis to data from Twitter. Our aim is to describe how GNH changed during the pandemic within countries, to assess its validity as a measure of well-being, and to analyse its correlates. We take advantage of a unique data-set made of daily observations about GNH, generalized trust and trust in national institutions, fear concerning the economy, loneliness, infection rate, policy stringency and distancing. To assess the validity of data sourced from Twitter, we exploit various sources of survey data, such as Eurobarometer and consumer satisfaction, and big data, such as Google Trends. Results indicate that sentiment analysis of Tweets can provide reliable and timely information on well-being. This can be particularly useful to timely inform decision-making.

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper details what happened to the wage distribution in Italy during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 829, 2021

Who lost the most? Distributive effects of COVID-19 pandemic – Download PDF
by Ainaa, Carmen & Brunetti, Irene & Mussida, Chiara & Scicchitano, Sergio

GLO Fellows Chiara Mussida & Sergio Scicchitano

Author Abstract: This paper investigates what happened to the wage distribution in Italy during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows which categories of workers and economic sectors have suffered more than others and to what extent both the actual level of smart-working and the ability to Working From-Home can influence the wage distribution. We use a unique dataset relying on the merging of two sample surveys: the Italian Labor Force Survey set up by National Institute of Statistics and the Italian Survey of Professions conducted by the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis. We estimate quantile regression models accounting for selection. First, the findings reveal that the pandemic has affected the wages of the whole workers, but the effect is higher at the bottom of the wage distribution. Second, the actual working from home mitigates the negative distributional consequences of the COVID-19 observed for those at the bottom of the wage distribution. However, the advantage of workers at the bottom tail of the wage distribution seems to lessen in the long term once the health emergency is passed. Third, looking at sectoral heterogeneity, retail and the restaurant are the most hit sectors in terms of wage loss. Fourth, separating by gender, men have been mostly hit by the pandemic, particularly at lowest deciles, though they benefited more from working at home at higher deciles. Finally, women appear as the one that in the long run would benefit more from increasing working from home possibility.

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper finds that previous crises have typically lead not only to more unemployment but also to larger numbers of discouraged unemployed and thus more inactivity.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 828, 2021

What shifts did covid-19 year 2020 bring to the labour market in Europe?– Download PDF
by Baert, Stijn

GLO Fellow Stijn Baert

Author Abstract: This article discusses the evolution of key labour market indicators in the EU-27 countries between 2019 and 2020, i.e. between the year before the covid-19 crisis broke out and the year in which it impacted the economy heavily. Whereas earlier policy-oriented studies have dealt with the evolution of unemployment in 2020, often country by country, this article focuses on the evolution of unemployment as well as inactivity across European countries. Indeed, previous crises have typically lead not only to more unemployment but also to larger numbers of discouraged unemployed and thus more inactivity. It appears that the Southern European countries, in particular, recorded increases in inactivity, while the Baltic States experienced higher unemployment. In many other countries, unemployment and inactivity remained remarkably stable despite covid-19.

More from the GLO Coronavirus Cluster

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper provides a theoretical framework to show that offshoring to a different time zone is beneficial even when the complexity of stages of production varies.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 827, 2021

Variation in labour skills and offshoring across time zones – Download PDF
by Prasad, Alaka Shree & Mandal, Biswajit

GLO Fellow Biswajit Mandal

Author Abstract: The paper extends Dei (2010) to check the role of time zone difference on offshoring of service tasks when the quality of workers varies between the partner countries. We frame a model where partner countries are located in non-overlapping time zones, and the skill level of the partner country workers is lower than that of the domestic workers. In our model, service production is divided into two sequential stages, and output is a supermodular function of the skill of workers and time. The problem of the service producers is to choose between domestic production and offshoring. Domestic production employs high-quality skilled labours but the time management is inefficient. On the other hand, offshoring to a non-overlapping time zone helps a firm to work round the clock, but the low quality of skilled labour lowers the output, though they cost less. In such a framework, we check under what conditions offshoring is beneficial. The analysis provides a condition where firms decide to offshore through a tradeoff between time and skill. We observe that the lesser of 24 hours domestic production use, the lower will be the threshold of acceptable skill level. Results show that offshoring to a different time zone is beneficial even when the complexity of stages of production vary. However, it is observed that only the relatively less-critical task is offshored. We further observe that availability of domestic lowquality labour does not benefit the firm, but foreign low-quality labour can be beneficially utilized through time-zone exploitation.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new GLO Discussion Paper explains part of this success story not by differences in students’ and schools’ observed characteristics, but instead by Vietnam’s greater “productivity” of those characteristics in comparison to other countries.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 826, 2021

What Explains Vietnam’s Exceptional Performance in Education Relative to Other Countries? Analysis of the 2012 and 2015 PISA Data – Download PDF
by Dang, Hai-Anh & Glewwe, Paul & Vu, Khoa & Lee, Jongwook

GLO Fellow Hai-Anh Dang

Author Abstract: Despite being the poorest or second poorest participant, Vietnam performed much better than all other developing countries, and even ahead of wealthier countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., on the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments. We provide a rigorous investigation of Vietnam’s strong performance. After making various parametric and non-parametric corrections for potentially non-representative PISA samples, including bias due to Vietnam’s large out-of-school population, Vietnam still remains a large positive outlier conditional on its income. Possible higher motivation of, and coaching given to, Vietnamese students only partly explains Vietnam’s performance, and this is also the case for various observed household- and school-level variables. Finally, Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions indicate that the gap in average test scores between Vietnam and the other participating countries is due not to differences in students’ and schools’ observed characteristics, but instead to Vietnam’s greater “productivity” of those characteristics.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;

A new paper published ONLINE FIRST with free OPEN ACCESS finds for Denmark that women with a second-born brother acquire more traditional gender roles as measured through their choice of occupation and partner.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

Brothers increase women’s gender conformity

by Anne Ardila Brenøe

Published OPEN ACCESS ONLINE FIRST in the Journal of Population Economics.

Author Abstract: I examine how one central aspect of the family environment—sibling sex composition—affects women’s gender conformity. Using Danish administrative data, I causally estimate the effect of having a second-born brother relative to a sister for first-born women. I show that women with a brother acquire more traditional gender roles as measured through their choice of occupation and partner. This results in a stronger response to motherhood in labor market outcomes. As a relevant mechanism, I provide evidence of increased gender-specialized parenting in families with mixed-sex children. Finally, I find persistent effects on the next generation of girls.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

Ends;