A new GLO Discussion Paperprovides a state-of-the-art literature review about research that aims to explain the return, repeat, circular and onward migration of the highly-skilled migrants around the world.
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.
Author Abstract: This chapter provides a state-of-the-art literature review about research that aims to explain the return, repeat, circular and onward migration of the highly-skilled migrants around the world. After it describes the status quo in the knowledge economy and the international race for talent, it presents the relevant theories and concepts of migration in the social sciences and how these theories accommodate the phenomena of return, repeat and onward migration. A special section is devoted to selection. The chapter then summarizes, evaluates, and juxtaposes existing empirical evidence related to theoretical predictions. Observables such as education, income, gender and home country as well as unobservables such as ability, social capital and negotiating skills play a strong role in influencing return, repeat and onward migration decisions. Yet, there is no consensus on the direction of the effect. The chapter discusses shortcomings and limitations along with policy lessons. It concludes by highlighting holes in the literature and the need for better data.
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on October 18, 2019. New GLO Discussion Paper on ‘Return, Circular, and Onward Migration Decisions in a Knowledge Society’
Impressions from a visit on October 16, 2019. #Tatort; Saša Stanišić – Winner of the Novel of the year 2019 Award for “Herkunft”; Robert Habeck – German writer and politician, co-chairperson of Alliance ’90/The Greens, a potential candidate for chancellor, spoke about “The human-animal relationship in industrial livestock production”.
Saša Stanišić: Winner of the Novel of the year 2019 Award for “Herkunft”
Robert Habeck, German writer and politician of the Green Party on human-animal relationships
March 30-31, 2020 in Pisa, Italy. The GLO supported workshop on “Migrations, Populism and the Crisis of Globalization” will take place at the Department of Economics of the University of Pisa. Submission deadline is 15 January 2020. For a detailed conference announcement see below.
Please send an abstract of approx. 300 words to the editorial board of the academic journal Scienza e Pace/Science and Peace (redazione@cisp.unipi.it) and to the AISSEC secretariat (aissec.org@gmail.com) by 15 January 2020. Acceptance will be notified around mid-February. A first draft of the paper would be expected by mid-March.
An issue of Scienza e Pace/Science and Peace will be devoted to the themes addressed in the workshop and will include the articles that will be submitted by April 30, 2020. Conference participants are particularly encouraged to submit their papers. The articles submitted for publication in the journal will be subject to peer review refereeing.
Francesco Pastore, GLO Country Lead Italy, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, is representing GLO.
Posted inEvents, News, Policy|Comments Off on October 15, 2019. Migration, Populism and the Crisis of Globalization. Call for contributions for a March 2020 event in Pisa/Italy.
A new GLO Discussion Paperreviews gender identity and workplace legislation at national and international levels across Europe.
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.
Author Abstract: It is a fact that transgender people experience severe discrimination in various forms not only in their everyday lives but also in their working lives, especially when transitioning. It seems that Europe is slowly changing over the years as there are constant calls to tackle this complex issue by considering the inclusion of a third gender option, the abolition of any abusive practices, recommendations for legal redress in cases of violation, and a more transparent and self-determined legal recognition procedure. There are national laws which offer protection on the basis of gender identity at national and international levels. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of uniformity due to a number of unresolved matters such as uncertainty about who is covered, whether gender identity should be covered as a protected ground, what is required to gain a legal change of name and gender marker in official documents, who is responsible for authorization and uncertainty over the stages, nature and duration of the actual procedure. Fewer distressed transgender employees and transphobic incidents are observed when there is greater social acceptability, organizational effort and national intervention. Research and collective actions by movements, political leaders, academics, medical experts and non-governmental organizations are further required to minimize societal and employment exclusions of transgender people.
In his new book, GLO Research Director Danny Blanchflower has explained us why the job market is not as healthy as we think, in particular he promotes to look at underemployment instead of unemployment. glabor.org had announced the book earlier this year and published in the summer an interview with the author. In her book review for theLSE Review of Books website, GLO Fellow Hélène Syed Zwick provides more details and insights, but also formulates questions and challenges.
GLO Research Director David G. Blanchflower.GLO bio. He is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, Professor of Economics at the University of Stirling, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
GLO Fellow Hélène Syed Zwick. GLO bio. She is Executive Director of the ESLSCA Research Center and Associate Professor in Economics at ESLSCA University (Egypt).
“In Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?, David Blanchflower contributes to the already substantial stream of scholarship on job quality, happiness and economic downturns. The author, a prominent economist and former external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) between 2006 and 2009, offers a praiseworthy, didactic and anticipated analysis ‘on well-paying [or good] jobs and the failure of policymakers to deliver them’ (11).
In the first part of the book, the author skillfully argues that most Western countries, especially the US and the UK, are far away from full employment, despite their respective low unemployment rates. Through a heavy reliance on data, he argues, and brilliantly demonstrates, that the unemployment rate is no longer an accurate signal of labour market slack. He repeats throughout his book that the main signal that confirms this hypothesis is the lack of sustained wage and price growths. Normally, Blanchflower explains, in a situation of full employment, there ‘would be so few people looking for jobs’ (25) that wages would grow rapidly and ‘workers would be able to climb the occupational ladder’ (140). Unfortunately, he writes, this is not happening either in the US or the UK. On the contrary, underemployment – which relates to ‘unstable, precarious, low-paying, and temporary jobs’ (35) and which expanded after the Great Recession in most rich Western countries – appears as a significant new predictor of wage and inflation growth. Here we reach the central argument of the book: underemployment associated with weak bargaining power on the part of workers leads to contained wage pressure. Blanchflower advises that we therefore rely on underemployment rather than unemployment to analyse the labour market situation, especially within this post-recession period characterised by ‘an extended semi-slump, of subnormal prosperity’ (80).
If such a proposal is quite orthodox, three elements transversal to
this first part capture the reader’s attention: the economics of walking about
(EWA); the societal consequences; and house-ownership and mobility. Firstly, thanks
to Blanchflower’s EWA approach which is ‘fundamental’ to the book (184), he is
in contact with what has been happening to ordinary people. As he explains,
Blanchflower believes in data from the real world. His thinking has been
‘driven mostly by observing how the world works and attempting to uncover
fundamental truths and patterns in the data’ (9). Discussions with London
cabbies or looking at jingle mails (the act of mailing the keys back to the
mortgage lender) are common ways for Blanchflower to feel what is going on in
societies. Secondly, he discusses the links between feelings of insecurity on
the labour market, happiness and societal outcomes like obesity, mental
disorders, depression and even suicide. Thirdly, he examines the negative impact
of house ownership on mobility. He evokes the fall in the homeownership rate,
especially in the US and the UK, and explains that an unconstrained housing
market leads to more efficient labour markets and to a fall in the equilibrium
unemployment rate thanks to higher mobility. These effects have too often been neglected
by researchers, he argues.
The second part of Not Working is composed of five chapters
and aims to study the response to the Great Recession. Blanchflower’s analysis
led him to anticipate the crisis in 2007, while most of his colleagues did not.
The author calls therefore for a ‘big rethink’ (11, 315), especially among
policymakers, central bankers and economists. Scathingly, he denounces their
obstinacy in relying on theoretical, mathematical-based models and
prescriptions from the 1970s. As he argues, ‘the elites were stuck in the past’
(171) and ‘the experts were looking in the wrong places’ (162). Policymakers
decided in 2009-10, under the recommendations of economists, to launch what
Blanchflower names a ‘reckless and unnecessary austerity’ (173) ‘attacking the
Keynesian school of thought from multiple directions’ (171). The author writes
that this was a ‘unique opportunity [for them] to decrease the size of the
state’ (173).
In this section of the book, Blanchflower’s efforts may appear overly
detailed to the less specialised reader and not especially innovative for the
specialists. Yet, he convincingly establishes the socio-economic, demographic
and geographic profile of the ‘left-behinds’ in the US, the UK and Eurozone
countries after 2010. Unsurprisingly, decreases in expenditure ‘hit the weak,
the disabled and vulnerable’ (214). Such fractures between the have-nots and
haves were already present before the Great Recession, which only ‘exacerbated
them’ (37). He notes that the left-behinds from the US, the UK, France and
Austria have been ‘strongly opposed to political and social developments they
see as threatening sovereignty, identity and continuity’ (258). He therefore indicates
that he was already expecting in 2010 a political ‘backlash’ (265) after all
the pain and suffering. Why should politics not therefore suffer? Few can have
ignored recent populist movements in the US with Donald Trump’s presidency, in
the UK with the Brexit vote and in France with Marine Le Pen. The author
establishes a direct relationship between the profile of the left-behinds and
those who voted for populist parties.
This inquiry leads us to the third part dedicated to prescriptions
and policy recommendations. Whilst the quality of analysis and richness of its
scholarly references impresses across two-thirds of the book, here the author
fails in making the reader optimistic or confident about the future. Why? First,
because the recommendations he formulates are unoriginal and lack ambition, and
second, because several dimensions elsewhere detailed in the book, like the
decline in unionism and bargaining power, are not even discussed. Strictly
speaking, the use of idioms and expressions in the titles and subtitles in this
third part appear by far insufficient to convince me. Most of the Keynesian recommendations
that he formulates are well-known and have been debated for decades. For
instance, he recommends reaching full employment by decreasing the interest
rate to boost wages and therefore living standards, investing more in infrastructure
to create jobs, subsidising childcare services and providing incentives for
low-skilled workers. From my point of view, such advice relies far too much on
the intervention of public authorities, which seems quite inconsistent with Blanchflower’s
lack of trust in policymakers and politicians that he claims throughout his
book: ‘Why believe them?’ he asks several times. ‘Why should we trust any of
them now? I don’t,’ he writes (211).
It could certainly be argued that this third part is disappointing as Blanchflower fails to provide sufficient depth in the formulation of his recommendations, which is essential once the analysis has been delivered. However, even with this limitation, this encyclopedic book is highly welcome and will be an unquestionably worthy addition to the bookshelves of a general readership as well as scholars in labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics and political science.”
Dr. Hélène Syed Zwick, Executive Director of ESLSCA Research Center, ESLSCA University, Egypt
Posted inNew Book, News|Comments Off on October 10, 2019. All the good jobs are gone. The rise in underemployment and the societal consequences. Hélène Syed Zwick on the new book of David G. Blanchflower.
A new GLO Discussion Paperstudies through counterfactual analysis how income taxation affects the correlation of income across generations. Introducing a flat tax regime reduces the correlation in comparison to no taxes, which is enforced through child benefits and a progressive scheme.
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.
Author Abstract: We study the impact of income taxation on intergenerational income correlation. We estimate a life cycle dynastic model and conduct counterfactual analysis to observe the effects of various tax regimes. Compared to a no tax environment, a flat tax regime reduces the correlation only by one percentage points. If the flat tax regime provides child benefits, the correlation additionally declines by four percentage points. Finally, if the taxes are progressive, the reduction, which is due to the increase in the fertility rate (quantity) and the decrease in the educational outcome of children (quality), is highly significant (seven percentage points).
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the University of Kent (UoK) affiliate. The two organizations will support each other in their common missions on research and educational issues. UoK will provide a local platform of GLO in the UK.
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.
The University of Kent (UoK), the UK’s European university, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. It has a rural campus in Canterbury as well as campuses in Kent and European postgraduate centers in various European cities. The University is committed to rigorous research and excellent education; it is international, with over 20,000 students from about 160 nationalities and about 40% of international academic staff. It provides GLO with a local platform in the UK.
GLO Director Matloob Piracha is Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent and Country Lead of GLO for the entire UK; he will act as Head of the local initiatives at Kent. A first joint research workshop is planned for April 2020 at Kent; a Call for Papers will appear in due course.
GLO’s Virtual Young Scholars (VirtYS) program for emerging young scholars is also headed from Kent, namely by GLO Fellow Olena Nizalova, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Kent.
The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month of September finds that inclusive labor market access regulations substantially increase the employment chances of asylum seekers, in particular if the language distance is short.
Author Abstract:In the face of recent refugee migration, early integration of asylum seekers into
the labor market has been proposed as an important mechanism for easing their
economic and social lot in the short as well as in the long term. However, little
is known about the policies that foster or hamper their participation in the labor
market, in particular during the important initial period of their stay in the host
country. In order to evaluate whether inclusive labor market policies increase the
labor market participation of asylum seekers, we exploit the variation in asylum
policies in Swiss cantons to which asylum seekers are as good as randomly allocated.
During our study period from 2011 to 2014, the employment rate among asylum
seekers varied between 0% and 30.2% across cantons. Our results indicate that
labor market access regulations are responsible for a substantial proportion of these
differences, in which an inclusive regime increases participation by 11 percentage
points. The marginal effects are larger for asylum seekers who speak a language
that is linguistically close to the one in their host canton.
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
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on October 7, 2019. Evidence from Switzerland: Asylum seekers are more likely to work with more inclusive labor market access regulations. GLO Discussion Paper of the Month: September & all GLO Discussion Papers from this month.
A new GLO Discussion Paperstudies the shortcomings and merits of the first experiment of establishing a quasi-market in the provision of employment services.
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.
Author Abstract: This paper aims to study the shortcomings and merits of the first experiment of quasi-market in the provision of employment services: the Lombardy DUL (Dote Unica Lavoro). This system, which has inspired the 2015 national reform within the Jobs Act, has reactivated and revitalized the sector by providing important job opportunities to jobless workers. The system has the typical problems of quasi-markets in the provision of public services (lion’s share of private organizations; cherry picking; gaming). However, different expedients are devised in the program to minimize these shortcomings. The empirical analysis suggest that such phenomena if existent are at a physiological level. Analysis of the determinants of completing successfully the program provides non-trivial results as to, among others, the role organizations of different ownership type and of services provided.
A new GLO Discussion Paperdocuments evidence on the impact of household air pollution on mental health in China.
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.
Author Abstract: While adverse health effects of ambient air pollution have been well documented, there is scarce evidence on the impact of household air pollution (HAP) on mental health. We investigated the causal link between HAP exposure from the use of solid fuel on depressive symptoms using a nationally representative dataset of middle-aged and older population in China. Employing the propensity match score method (PSM), matching and adjusting for potential confounders, we found significantly higher Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) score and risk of depressive symptoms among solid fuel users than clean fuel users. These associations were especially stronger for older females who were less educated, of lower income, of higher body mass index, or had chronic diseases.
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on October 5, 2019. New GLO Discussion Paper on ‘Depression from Household Air Pollution by Solid Fuel Use in China’
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
