Klaus F. Zimmermann

A new GLO Discussion Paper studies female entrepreneurship as a possible growth driver. It finds that tertiary education makes entrepreneurial training of females effective. 

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. 424, 2019

Training, Human Capital, and Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurial Performance –  Download PDF
by Brixiová, Zuzana & Kangoye, Thierry

GLO Fellow Zuzana Brixiová

Author Abstract: In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, policymakers have been increasingly striving to support female entrepreneurship as a possible growth driver. This paper contributes to reconciling mixed findings in the literature on the effectiveness of entrepreneurial training with an analysis that links training and human capital, including tertiary education and non-cognitive skills, with gender gaps in entrepreneurial performance in Africa. We have found that while financial literacy training directly benefits men, it does not raise the sales level of women entrepreneurs. Instead, tertiary education has a direct positive link with the performance of women. Consistent with our theoretical model where different skills are complements, tertiary education can act as a channel that makes training effective. Regarding non-cognitive skills, evidence shows that women entrepreneurs who are tenacious achieve stronger sales performance. Our results underscore the importance of incorporating tertiary education and entrepreneurial training programs focused on a balanced set of skills, including non-cognitive skills, among policies for women entrepreneurs.

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.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper finds in line with the literature on vocational education programs that internship experience has a positive effect on labor market outcomes.

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. 425, 2019

The Impact of Internship Experience During Secondary Education on Schooling and Labour Market Outcomes –  Download PDF
by Neyt, Brecht & Verhaest, Dieter & Baert, Stijn

GLO Fellows Dieter Verhaest & Stijn Baert

Author Abstract: The literature on workplace learning in secondary education has mainly focused on vocational education programs. In this study, we examine the impact of internship experience in secondary education on a student’s schooling and early labor market outcomes, by analyzing unique, longitudinal data from Belgium. To control for unobserved heterogeneity, we model sequential outcomes by means of a dynamic discrete choice model. In line with the literature on vocational education programs, we find that internship experience has a positive effect on labor market outcomes that diminishes over time, although within the time window of our study, we find no evidence for a null or negative effect over time.

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.

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In traditional couple formation males seem to attach more value to attractiveness and women seem to focus on earnings potentials. A new GLO Discussion Paper finds in an online dating field experiment that job status or job prestige does not play a role for initial contact interest for both sexes.

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. 422, 2019

Job Prestige and Mobile Dating Success: A Field Experiment –  Download PDF
by Neyt, Brecht & Baert, Stijn & Vynckier, Jana

GLO Fellow Stijn Baert

Author Abstract: Research exploiting data on classic (offline) couple formation has confirmed predictions from evolutionary psychology in a sense that males attach more value to attractiveness and women attach more value to earnings potential. We examine whether these human partner preferences survive in a context of fewer search and social frictions. We do this by means of a field experiment on the mobile dating app Tinder, which takes a central place in contemporary couple formation. Thirty-two fictitious Tinder profiles that randomly differ in job status and job prestige are evaluated by 4,800 other, real users. We find that both males and females do not use job status or job prestige as a determinant of whom to show initial interest in on Tinder. However, we do see evidence that, after this initial phase, males less frequently begin a conversation with females when those females are unemployed but also then do not care about the particular job prestige of employed females.

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.

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Former communist party members often become successful entrepreneurs. A new GLO Discussion Paper is the first study to separate the causal effect of former Communist party membership from self-selection.

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. 423, 2019

Former Communist party membership and present-day entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe –  Download PDF
by Ivlevs, Artjoms & Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga

GLO Fellows Milena Nikolova & Olga Popova. Nikolova is also the GLO Cluster Lead “Economics of Happiness”.

Author Abstract: After the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, former party members were particularly likely to start businesses and become entrepreneurs. However, it remains unclear whether this entrepreneurial activity was driven by the resources, information and opportunities provided by former party membership or because people with specific individual attributes were more likely to become party members (self-selection). This study is the first to separate the causal effect of former Communist party membership from self-selection. Using individual-level Life in Transition–III survey and instrumental variables analysis, we find that, in Central and Eastern European countries, membership of former Communist party has facilitated business set-up but not business longevity. Our results also suggest evidence of negative self-selection, meaning that people who joined the former ruling party tended have fewer of the traits associated with entrepreneurship such as motivation, risk tolerance, and entrepreneurial spirit. We show that former Communist party membership still matters for business practices, business ethics, and the nature of doing business in transition economies.

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.

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The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month of October investigates the economic effects of sector-wide bargaining agreements in Portugal, finding that extensions may contribute to unemployment and firm closure.

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.

GLO Discussion Paper of the Month: October

GLO Discussion Paper No.  413, 2019

30,000 minimum wages: The economic effects of collective bargaining extensions – Download PDF
by Martins, Pedro S.

GLO Fellow Pedro Martins

Author Abstract:  Many governments extend the coverage of collective agreements to workers and employers that were not involved in their bargaining. These extensions may address coordination issues but may also distort competition by imposing sector-specific minimum wages and other work conditions that are not suitable for some firms and workers. In this paper, we analyse the impact of such extensions along several economic margins. Drawing on worker- and firm-level monthly data for Portugal, a country where extensions have been widespread, and the scattered timing of the extensions, we find that, while continuing workers experience wage increases following an extension, formal employment and wage bills in the relevant sectors fall, on average, by 2%. These results increase by about 25% across small firms and are driven by reduced hirings. In contrast, the employment and wage bills of independent contractors, who are not subject to labour law or collective bargaining, increases by over 1% following an extension.

GLO Discussion Papers of October 2019

420 Quantity and quality of work in the platform economy –  Download PDF
by  Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano & Cirillo, Valeria & Guarascio, Dario

419 Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands –  Download PDF
by  Chiswick, Barry R. & Wang, Zhiling

418 Anatomy of the Italian occupational structure: concentrated power and distributed knowledge –  Download PDF
by Cetrulo, A. & Guarascio, D. & Virgillito, M. E.

417 Workplace Positive Actions, Trans People’s Self-Esteem and Human Resources’ Evaluations –  Download PDF
by Bozani, Vasiliki & Drydakis, Nick & Sidiropoulou, Katerina & Harvey, Benjamin & Paraskevopoulou, Anna

416 Smartphone Use and Academic Performance: a Literature Review –  Download PDF
by Amez, Simon & Baert, Stijn

415 Gender Gaps in Education –  Download PDF
by Bertocchi, Graziella & Bozzano, Monica

414 Trans People, Transitioning, Mental Health, Life and Job Satisfaction –  Download PDF
by Drydakis, Nick

413 30,000 minimum wages: The economic effects of collective bargaining extensions –  Download PDF
by Martins, Pedro S.

412 Does Increased Teacher Accountability Decrease Leniency in Grading? –  Download PDF
by Puhani, Patrick A. & Yang, Philip

411 Return, Circular, and Onward Migration Decisions in a Knowledge Society –  Download PDF
by Constant, Amelie F.

410 Gender Identity Minorities and workplace legislation in Europe –  Download PDF
by Sidiropoulou, Katerina

409 Intergenerational Income Mobility and Income Taxation –  Download PDF
by Kurnaz, Musab & Soytas, Mehmet A

GLO DP Team
Senior Editors: Matloob Piracha (University of Kent) & GLO; Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and Bonn University).
Managing Editor: Magdalena Ulceluse, University of Groningen. DP@glabor.org  

A new GLO Discussion Paper discusses the US gun-related murder rate and places it in an international perspective, where the US rate is 27 times the average rate for 22 other developed countries; and the gun ownership rate is over five times higher so that the murder rate per gun is 5 times higher.

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. 421, 2019

Greater US Gun Ownership, Lethality and Murder Rates: Analysis and Policy Proposals –  Download PDF
by  Schiff, Maurice

GLO Fellow Maurice Schiff

Author Abstract: This paper examines the US gun-related murder (GM) rate and places it in an international perspective. The data show that the US GM rate is 27 times the average rate for 22 other developed countries (ODC). Its gun ownership rate is 5.4 times that of ODC and the murder rate per gun is 5 times that of ODC. Thus, as is done in the paper, an effective reduction of the US GM rate requires an analysis of both the high gun ownership rate and the high murder rate per gun. The paper examines about fifteen gun-policy reforms – including their impact, cost, structure for maximum benefit – and other reforms affecting the GM rate. It also looks at the GM impact of immigration and of programs that provide alternative life pursuits for young men at risk. It further presents a number of policy implications and some new proposals designed to reduce the GM rate. Four appendices provide 1) results from two recent opinion polls on gun-policy reforms, 2) a detailed analysis of the relationship between gun ownership and the GM rate, 3) calculations of gun buyback costs, and 4) a correction of existing results on the Brady Bill’s impact on gun ownership.

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.

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A new GLO Discussion Paper reveals that in the Netherlands good social contacts and a good mastery of the native language enhance immigrants’ economic performance.

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. 419, 2019

Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands –  Download PDF
by  Chiswick, Barry R. & Wang, Zhiling

GLO Fellows Barry Chiswick & Zhiling Wang

Author Abstract: Using longitudinal data on immigrants in the Netherlands from the survey ‘Social Position and Use of Public Facilities by Immigrants’ (SPVA) for the years 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, we examined the impacts of social contacts and Dutch language proficiency on adult foreign-born men’s earnings, employment and occupational status. On average, social contacts and a good mastery of the Dutch language enhance immigrants’ economic performances. The effects are much stronger for immigrants with low-skill-transferability than for immigrants with high-skill-transferability, are stronger for economic migrants than for non-economic migrants, and are stronger for white-collar workers than for blue-collar workers. Contact with Dutch people and Dutch organisations unambiguously enhances all aspects of immigrants’ economic performance, however, no evidence is found for a positive effect of co-ethnic contact on employment status. To deal with the endogeneity between Dutch language ability and earnings, an interaction term between age at migration and a dichotomous variable for a non-Dutch-speaking origin is used as the identifying instrument. The selectivity issue of survey respondents was tackled as well to validate the main findings. The study has a strong policy implication for integration policies in the Netherlands, or more broadly in the immigrant receiving countries.

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.

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