TheGLO Virtual Seminar is a monthly internal GLO research event chaired by GLO Director Matloob Piracha and hosted by the GLO partner institution University of Kent. The results are available on the GLO website and the GLO News section, where also the video of the presentation is posted. All GLO related videos are also available in the GLO YouTube channel. (To subscribe go there.)
The last seminar was given by Kompal Sinha on Paid Parental Leave and Maternal Mental Health. Below find a report, the video of the seminar and the presentation slides.
Announcement/forthcoming seminar: October 1, 2020:London/UKat 1-2 pm —Alfonso Flores-Lagunes (Syracuse University and GLO) Topic: To be announced. Registration details will be provided in time.
Report
Paid Parental Leave and Maternal Mental Health
GLO Virtual Seminar on September 3, 2020: Kompal Sinha Macquarie University and GLO Associate Editor of the Journal of Population Economics GLO Cluster Lead “Development, Health, Inequality and Behavior” Presentation Slides. Video of Seminar.
Related paper: The presentation of Kompal Sinha is based on a joint paper with Anam Bilgrami and Henry Cutler of the Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University, on “The impact of introducing a national scheme for Paid Parental Leave on maternal mental health outcomes“, forthcoming Health Economics.
Abstract
Paid maternity leave is an essential component of a progressive society. It can enhance postnatal health, improve mother and child wellbeing, and deliver better labour market outcomes for mothers. We evaluate the impact of the introduction of Australia’s Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme in 2011 and complementary Dad and Partner Pay (DAPP) in 2013 on maternal mental health. Using a sample of 1,480 births to eligible, partnered women between 2004-2016 and a range of mental health outcomes from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, we find depression likelihood reduced significantly in post-reform years. When focusing on post-DAPP years and women whose partners had concurrent access to DAPP, significant mental health improvements were found across a wider range of measures including the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score and specific SF-36 items that have a high sensitivity for detecting major depression. Subgroup analysis suggests significant improvements applied specifically to first-time mothers and mothers with employer-paid maternity leave and unpaid leave entitlements. These results suggest that an increase in PPL and DAPP entitlements for mothers without access to employer-paid and unpaid leave entitlements, particularly those in less secure employment, may further reduce postnatal depression and improve health equity in Australia.
TheGLO Virtual Seminar is a monthly internal GLO research event chaired by GLO Director Matloob Piracha and hosted by the GLO partner institution University of Kent. The results are available on the GLO website and the GLO News section, where also the video of the presentation is posted. All GLO related videos are also available in the GLO YouTube channel. (To subscribe go there.)
The last seminar was given by Sergei Guriev on The Political Economy of Populism. Below find a report, the video of the seminar and the background paper.
Announcement/forthcoming seminar: September 3, 2020:London/UKat 1-2 pm —Kompal Sinha, Macquarie University and GLO Topic: To be announced. Registration details will be provided in time.
Report
The Political Economy of Populism
GLO Virtual Seminar on August 6, 2020 with Sergei Guriev (Sciences Po & GLO). Video !!!
Related paper: Sergei Guriev and Elias Papaioannou, The Political Economy of Populism.PDF Draft prepared for the Journal of Economic Literature.
Third IESR-GLO Joint Conference. The Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR) at Jinan University and the Global Labor Organization (GLO) were jointly organizing a virtual conference on economic issues related to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The conference was held from June 5 (Friday) to June 7 (Sunday) through Zoom Webinar. Full Program.Over 300 participants worldwide.
Keynote addresses by Daron Acemoglu (MIT) and Charles Manski (Northwestern University). Links lead to the videos of the keynote lectures. – June 5, 2020. Daron Acemoglu (MIT): A Multi-risk SIR Model with Optimally Targeted Lockdown Large gains from targeted policy! – June 6, 2020. Charles Manski (Northwestern University): Coping with COVID Uncertainties We must take care when performing!
The conference is supported by theJournal of Population Economics. The Journal welcomes submissions dealing with the demographic aspects of the coronavirus crisis.
Quo Vadis Europe after the European elections? Martin Kahanec and Klaus F. Zimmermann (both Budapest) debated on June 5, 2019 with Elsa Fornero (Turin) and Jonathan Portes (London) the consequences and perspectives for Europe in front of a larger audience assembled at the Central European University in Budapest. Zimmermann, President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), was chairing and moderating the event; Fornero, Kahanec and Portes are GLO Fellows.
The common economic and political development in Europe, in particular labor mobility, labor market reforms, evidence-based policy making and the role of scientists have been key elements of the public debate about the future of Europe. EU-pessimism has become stronger and stronger, and the recent EU elections provide guidance about the potentials for a recovery of the European idea in the face of Brexit and a possible dismantling of European institutions. The panel brought together experienced academic exponents combing research with policy for debate at this critical point of European history.
Klaus F. Zimmermann, George Soros Chair Professor, School of Public Policy, Central
European University (CEU), President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), frequent
advisor to the EU Commission and European governments and Former President of
the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); Chair & Panelist
Populism and anti-globalism is on the rise.
Evidence-based policymaking is losing weight.
The value of migration and international institutions is questioned.
The freedom of academic institutions gets under threat.
Scientist are challenged to analyze and to respond to this development when also their insights are ignored.
Voters move away from centrist parties, who lose majority.
Pro-European liberals and greens become stronger and are now a third force.
Anti-parties (anti-Europe, anti-migration) are stronger, but not dramatically.
This is all a vote for a revival of the European idea.
Facing strong global challenges from Asia, Africa and the USA, Europe needs to stick together and develop from its strength.
More Europe not less is needed in the interest of the European nations and its people.
This implies re-inventing the European idea and export some of its great institutions: social institutions, education and training and labor mobility.
Elsa Fornero, Professor of Economics, University of Turin, Department of
Business and Economics, Scientific Coordinator of CeRP – Center for Research on
Pensions and Welfare Policies and Former Minister of Labor, Social Policies and
Gender Equality in Italy; Panelist
Reforms must live in society with the people – workers, politicians, pensioners, etc. It is not a purely technical problem.
We, technocrats, believed in reforms but the society did not accept them. The society misunderstood the policies as austerity measures.
Economic models are dealing with prosperity, but real policymaking is about elections, which are always around the corner.
The populists saw the weak points of reformists and the discontent of people and exploited them.
Labor mobility and work in Europe should be reestablished as a right of the individuals and this should be in the center of the new Europe.
We should strengthen the civil society –politicians and the elites should go out and talk to the people.
Martin Kahanec, Professor and Dean of the School of Public Policy, Central European University (CEU), Budapest, and frequent advisor to the EU Commission; Panelist
These elections showed the discontent between East and West, South and North, globalists and localists
In the 90s the region had a dream – get rid of the Soviets, which unified the societies. And move back to Europe – Schengen, EU, Eurozone, etc. However, after they joined the EU there is a vacuum of dreams. What is our next mission?
Although the lowest election participation was in Slovakia, it is a EU positive country.
Elites and workers feared migration from outside of Europe. But not internal labor mobility.
Internal mobility helps build bridges over the old cleavages, but is also beneficial economically.
Europe should have a policy for external migration which tackles the aging population challenge. The EU needs a migration framework, which is economically profitable, but also needs to have control and be predictable.
Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Senior Fellow, UK in a
Changing Europe, Department of Political Economy, King’s College London, Former
Chief Economist of the UK government, Former Director of the National Institute
of Economic and Social Research; Panelist
The long term forces behind Brexit were not migration, but that the EU is not only an economic but also a political project. And the British felt that their positions in the world were threatened. Sentiments in this direction grew after the world economic crisis.
The Britishattitude towards migration has changed after the referendum, becoming more positive. It has to do with a drop in the migration from the EU, and an increase from the outside. The gaps created were filled with workers from outside of the EU, and the need was better understood.
The lack of control scared people because they wanted the “right” immigration
If one provides a sense of control and of the existing trade-offs, the situation will approve.
Thanks to the failure of May we are likely to have a hard Brexit or to reverse the results and stay in the EU. There is no middle ground anymore. Even if in a second vote the result would be “remain” – the issue would not be settled.
People thought that Brexit would be easy and not painful; they now realize how wrong they were.
If Germany turns into success its refugee immigration, then Germans would send to Europe a tremendously positive example.
From the left during the panel:Klaus F. Zimmermann, Chair, Budapest and Bonn; Jonathan Portes, London; Elsa Fornero, Turin; and Martin Kahanec, Budapest and Vienna.
After the panel during a joint dinner from the left: The Honorable Tanya Cook, USA; CEU Professor Anil Duman and GLO Fellow; Turin Professor and Former Labor Minister Elsa Fornero; CEU Dean and Professor Martin Kahanec; and Klaus F. Zimmermann, George Soros Chair, CEU, and GLO President.
The joint FOM-GLO-KAS Conference about “Climate Change and Human Responses” co-organized by the Global Labor Organization (GLO), FOM University of Applied Sciences and Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) took place on October 31 – November 2 in Hong Kong. (See for detailed reports: DAY ONE, DAY TWO, DAY THREE ) Here are some further impressions (courtesy of KAS):
Conference participants at Day 2 after lunch.
Conference organizers (from the left): GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann, Peter Hefele, Director of the Hong Kong branch of the German Konrad-Adenauer Foundation and Andreas Oberheitmann (FOM, RWI and GLO).
RECENT GLO Discussion Papers on the issue of the conference (freely downloadable):
