A new GLO Discussion Papersuggests that government size has reduced inequality in European countries over the period 2004-2015.
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: Expansion of the public sector and redistributive policies may reduce income inequality, but formal tests suffer from the problem of endogeneity of government size with respect to the distribution of income. Studying 30 European countries over the period 2004-2015, we apply instrumental variable estimation techniques to identify a causal relationship between income inequality and government size, measured as the government expenditure share in GDP. Using a novel instrument – the number of political parties in the ruling coalition – we find that accounting for the possible endogeneity of government size increases the magnitude of the estimated negative effects. Our findings thus suggest that much of the literature underestimates the true role of the government in attenuating income inequality. The estimated relationship between income inequality and government size persists in a series of robustness checks.
A new GLO Discussion Papersuggests that the periods of yen appreciation over the last decades had more than just transitory negative effects on Japanese manufacturing.
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: Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system, the yen has seen several episodes of strong appreciation, including in the late 1970s, after the 1985 Plaza Agreement, the early and late 1990s and after 2008. These appreciations have not only been associated with “expensive yen recessions” resulting from negative effects on exports; since the late 1980s, the strong yen has also raised concerns about a de-industrialisation of the Japanese economy. Against this backdrop, the paper investigates the effects of changes to the yen exchange rate on the hollowing out of the Japanese industrial sector. To this end, the paper uses both aggregate and industry-specific data to gauge the effects of yen fluctuations on the output and exports of different Japanese industries, exploiting new data for industry-specific real effective exchange rates. Our findings support the view that the periods of yen appreciation had more than just transitory effects on Japanese manufacturing. The results also provide indication of hysteresis effects on manufacturing. While there are certainly also other factors that have contributed to a hollowing out of Japanese industry, a strong yen played a role, too.
Using data for Morocco, the paper provides further evidence that international migration fosters the transfer of political and social norms (social remittances).
Author Abstract: This paper focuses on the impact of international migration on the transfer of political and social norms. Exploiting recent and unique data on Morocco, this paper explores whether households with return and current migrants bear different political preferences and behaviours than non-migrant families. Once controlling for the double selection into emigration and return migration, the findings suggest that having a returnee in the household increases the demand for political and social change. This result is driven by returnees mostly from Western European countries, who were exposed to more democratic norms in the destination. However, we find a negative impact of having a current migrant on the willingness of the left-behind households to change. This result is driven by migrants to non-Western countries, where the quality of political and social institutions is lower. Our results are robust to also controlling for destination selectivity.
Read also the Lead Article of issue 4 (2019): Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar & Sudipta Sarangi: “Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women“ Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1101-1123 Journal Website, complete issue 4. Paper PDF – OPEN ACCESS. GLO Fellows Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on August 24, 2019. Social remittances by international migrants induce political and social change: Now published in the Journal of Population Economics.
The article finds that girls living in localities with return migrants in Mali are less likely to be circumcised. This effect is driven mainly by the returnees from Côte d’Ivoire, suggesting that, in addition to punitive action against those who practice Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or information campaigns, having lived in an African country where FGM practice is not customary is equally influential. This is evidence for the relevance of social remittances through return migration here by improving social norms.
Author Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the power of migration as a mechanism in the transmission of social norms, taking Mali and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a case study. Mali has a strong FGM culture and a long-standing history of migration. We use an original household-level database coupled with census data to analyze the extent to which girls living in localities with high rates of return migrants are less prone to FGM. Malians migrate predominantly to other African countries where female circumcision is uncommon (e.g., Côte d’Ivoire) and to countries where FGM is totally banned (France and other developed countries) and where anti-FGM information campaigns frequently target African migrants. Taking a two-step instrumental variable approach to control for the endogeneity of migration and return decisions, we show that return migrants have a negative and significant influence on FGM practices. More precisely, we show that this result is primarily driven by the flow of returnees from Cote d’Ivoire. We also show that adults living in localities with return migrants are more informed about FGM and in favor of legislation. The impact of returnees may occur through several channels, including compositional effects, changes in return migrants’ attitudes toward FGM, and return migrants convincing stayers to change their FGM practices.
Read also the Lead Article of issue 4 (2019): Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar & Sudipta Sarangi: “Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women“ Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1101-1123 Journal Website, complete issue 4. Paper PDF – OPEN ACCESS. GLO Fellows Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on August 23, 2019. ‘Female genital mutilation: Do return migrants transfer social norms?: Now published in the Journal of Population Economics.
A new GLO Discussion Paperstudying the experiences from the last European Union enlargement rounds suggests that immigration restrictions just lead to the use of alternative channels of entry.
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: The paper contributes to the on-going debates concerning the effectiveness of immigration policies, by investigating the case of the transitional arrangements implemented during the European Union enlargement rounds of 2004 and 2007. It has been argued that instead of deterring immigration, the arrangements rather altered the channels of entry. The hypothesis is that, as self-employed workers were not subjected to the transitional arrangements, these migrants used self-employment as a strategy to circumvent restrictions. Our results suggest that this might indeed have been the case post-2007, but not post-2004. We argue that in the latter case, migrants did not need to use self-employment as a strategy, because of alternative, restrictions-free destinations like Ireland and the UK. Our results point to the importance of immigration policies in shaping destination choices and have implications for future EU enlargement rounds.
Author Abstract: Existing studies have established a positive correlation between a married woman’s work behavior and her mother-in-law’s. Such linkage is attributable to the profound influence of maternal employment on son’s gender role preferences or household productivity. This paper systematically investigates the relative importance of the two potential mechanisms using the Chinese survey data. We show that a substantive part of the intergenerational correlation is left unexplained even if we control for the husband’s gender role attitudes. Instead, we find that the husband’s household productivity is more crucial in the wife’s work decision, suggesting the dominance of the endowment channel over the preference channel.
Read also the Lead Article of issue 4 (2019): Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar & Sudipta Sarangi: “Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women“ Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1101-1123 Journal Website, complete issue 4. Paper PDF – OPEN ACCESS. GLO Fellows Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on August 22, 2019. Endowment dominates preferences: Women’s work behavior across generations. Study published in the Journal of Population Economics.
Global Labor Organization (GLO) invites
interested young scholars to apply for participation in the
2019-20 GLO Virtual Young
Scholars Program (GLO VirtYS)
Application deadline: September 20, 2019, 5 pm GMT
About
GLO: The Global Labor Organization
(GLO) is a global, independent, non-partisan and
non-governmental organization that has no institutional position. The GLO
functions as an international network and
virtual platform for researchers, policy makers, practitioners
and the general public interested in scientific research and its
policy and societal implications on global labor markets,
demographic challenges and human resources. These topics are defined broadly in
line with its Mission to embrace the global diversity of labor markets,
institutions, and policy challenges, covering advanced economies as well as
transition and less developed countries.
Program’s
Goal: In the spirit of
the GLO Mission, the GLO VirtYS program’s goal is to contribute to the
development of the future generation of researchers, who are committed to the creation
of policy-relevant research, are well equipped to work in collaboration with
policy makers and other stakeholders, and adhere to the highest standards of
academic integrity. This goal is achieved through the process of working on a
specific research paper within the duration of the program, which is 9 months.
Program’s
Advisory Board:
Jan van Ours, Professor of Applied Economics, Erasmus School of Economics Rotterdam, Netherlands, & Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia
Marco Vivarelli, Professor at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano and Director of the Department of Economic Policy
Le Wang, Chong K. Liew Chair and Professor & President’s Associates Presidential Professor, University of Oklahoma, USA
Klaus F. Zimmermann, Professor Emeritus, Bonn University, UNU-MERIT & President of GLO
GLO VirtYS Program Director:
Dr Olena Nizalova, Senior Research Fellow (Associate Professor) in Health Economics at the University of Kent and Director of the Q-StepProgram.
Program’s
Activities:
Virtual kick-off meeting of all
the participants and Thematic Cluster advisors, who will be appointed by the participating
Cluster leads to match closely participants’ research interests.
One-to-one activities with the
Thematic Cluster Advisor will be agreed upon at the beginning of the
scholarship period in an Individual Research Plan. These activities at a
minimum shall include 2-3 virtual consultations, 1 review round of the
completed research work and a discussion of the amendments (if needed) to
follow up.
Provide
a virtual platform for the GLO VirtYS program participants to present their findings and receive feedback
from their peers and the GLO wider community.
The scholarship will conclude in
June 2020,
when the GLO Management Board will make a decision on whether to extend an
invitation to the graduate of the GLO Virtual Scholar Program to join the
organization
as a GLO Fellow,
based on the recommendation from their Thematic Cluster Advisors and evaluation of the GLO VirtYS
Advisory Board.
Research
proposals are invited within one of the following GLO thematic clusters:
All GLO VirtYS program participants will be appointed GLO Affiliates, if they are not already, and receive a GLO Bio page.
GLO VirtYS program participants will be listed with pictures on the glabor.org website of the program.
Feedback on their research from leading researchers in the area of their interest.
Networking opportunities with researchers from other countries within the same area and beyond.
(Priority) access to GLO activities.
Interactions with the scholars of the cohort, program’s alumni, and the future cohorts.
Opportunity to promote own research via GLO channels.
Completed research paper ready for submission to the GLO Discussion Paper series.
Possibility of promotion to GLO Fellow after exceptional performance.
Eligibility
criteria:
Applicant must be either currently enrolled in a doctoral program or be within 3 years after graduation as evidenced by the letter from the degree awarding institution or a degree certificate.
Applicant must be at an advanced stage of the analysis of a specific research question within the corresponding GLO Thematic Cluster to which he/she is applying as evidenced by the submitted draft.
Applicant must be supported by a letter of endorsement from either one of the GLO Fellows or from the administration of one of the GLO supporting institutions.
Selection procedure:
The GLO Virtual Young Scholars will be selected by a Scientific Selection Committee consisting of the GLO VirtYS Program Director, GLO thematic cluster leads participating in the current year, and a member of the GLO Management Board.
The results of selection of the GLO VirtYS program will be posted on the GLO site www.glabor.org by October 1, 2019. Scholars will be notified via email. In the 2019-20 academic year we expect to select 3-5 scholars.
The final research paper should be submitted by May 31st, by 5 pm GMT.
Upon completion of the program and based on the quality of the produced research paper, some of the GLO VirtYS programme graduates may be invited to become GLO Fellows and their paper accepted as a GLO Discussion Paper.
Evaluation
criteria for applications:
Policy relevance of the research question in a local and/or global context.
Research excellence
Potential for capacity development (preference will be given to the applicants for which the GLO Young Scholars Program can bring the highest capacity development, compared to what the applicant would have achieved without being a GLO Young Scholar)
Many
applicants apply in the last days before the submission deadline. To avoid last
minute problems, we ask applicants to
apply in advance. Applications received after the deadline or applications that
do not meet the requirements set out below will not be accepted.
To apply
please complete the online application form with three attachments:
1. Research proposal (maximum 2 pages including references, single-spaced , font size 12) should include the following information:
Formulation of the problem/ research question.
Research methodology (data and empirical approach).
(Potential) Practical/Policy implications.
Reference list.
2. 2-page CV
3. Transcript from the doctoral program or doctoral degree certificate
4. Letter of endorsement for the candidate and the research proposal from either one of the GLO fellows or from the administration of one of the GLO supporting institutions reflecting on the potential of the candidate to benefit from the Program and the merits of the research proposal.
Posted inNews, Teaching|Comments Off on August 22, 2019. GLO Network Supports Young Scholars Through Its ‘Virtual Young Scholars Program (GLO VirtYS)’. Deadline for Applications: September 20, 2019
A new GLO Discussion Papersuggests that foreign aid may reduce asylum inflows from poor countries in the short run, but inflows from less poor economies show a positive but weak relation with aid.
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 measures the links between aid from 14 rich to 113 developing economies and bilateral asylum applications during years 1993 to 2013. Dynamic panel models and Sys-GMM are used. Results show that asylum applications are related to aid nonlinearly in the level of development of origin countries, in a U-shaped fashion, where only the downward segment proves to be robust to all specifications. Asylum inflows from poor countries are negatively, significantly and robustly associated with aid in the short run, with mixed evidence of more lasting effects, while inflows from less poor economies show a positive but weak relation with aid. Moreover, aid leads to negative cross-donor spillovers. Applications linearly decrease with humanitarian aid. Voluntary immigration is not linked to aid. Overall, the reduction in asylum inflows is stronger when aid disbursements are conditional on economic, institutional and political improvements in the recipient economy.
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on August 22, 2019. How foreign aid affects asylum inflows: It depends on the state of development in the origin countries!
The study using Canadian experiencesfinds that properly structured pro-natal policies can successfully increase fertility among different segments of the population.
Author Abstract: We examine the impact of the Allowance for Newborn Children, a universal baby bonus offered by the Canadian province of Quebec, on birth order, sibship sex composition, income, and education. We find a large response for third- and higher-order births for which the bonus was more generous. Interestingly, though, we find stronger response if there were two previous sons or a previous son and daughter rather than two previous daughters. We also find, in addition to a transitory effect, a permanent effect, with the greatest increase in one daughter-two son families among three-child households. Moreover, we find a hump shape response by income group, with the greatest response from middle-income families. Also, women with at least some post-secondary education respond more to the policy than those with less. These findings suggest that properly structured pro-natal policies can successfully increase fertility among different segments of the population while simultaneously diminishing the effect of gender preferences and fertility disparity related to women’s education.
Read also the Lead Article of issue 4 (2019): Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar & Sudipta Sarangi: “Ancestral ecological endowments and missing women“ Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 4 (October), pp. 1101-1123 Journal Website, complete issue 4. Paper PDF – OPEN ACCESS. GLO Fellows Gautam Hazarika, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi
Posted inNews, Research|Comments Off on August 21, 2019. Baby bonus as a successful pro-natalist policy? Now published in the Journal of Population Economics.
A new GLO Discussion Paperderives the exact shape of the “hysteretic” impact of changes in the interest rate on macroeconomic investment under scenarios of both certainty and uncertainty. Conclusions deal with the efficacy of central bank’s interest rate policy.
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: The interest rate is generally considered as an important driver of macroeconomic investment. As an innovation, this paper derives the exact shape of the “hysteretic” impact of changes in the interest rate on macroeconomic investment under the scenarios of both certainty and uncertainty. We capture the direct interest rate-hysteresis on the investments and the capital stock and, explicitly, of stochastic changes on the interest rate-investment hysteresis. Starting with hysteresis effects on a microeconomic level of a single firm, we apply an explicit aggregation procedure to derive the interest rate hysteresis effects on a macroeconomic level. Based on our simple model we are able to obtain some conclusions about the efficacy of a central bank’s interest rate policy, e.g. in times of low or even zero interest rates and high uncertainty, in terms of stimulating macroeconomic investment.
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