Category Archives: Research

First Webinar in the GLO Virtual Young Scholar (GLO-VirtYS) Program, Cohort 2019-20

Events, Research, Teaching

First webinar in the GLO Virtual Young Scholar (GLO-VirtYS) Program, Cohort 2019-20

All the presentation in this series are based on the projects that GLO-VirtYS program scholars completed as part of their program participation.

This seminar is GLO internal, special invitation needed.

September 10th Program

Sydney (10pm), Beijing (8pm), Istanbul (3pm), Berlin (2pm), London (1pm), Cape Town (2pm), Washington DC (8am), Santiago de Chile (8am)

  1. Yannis Galanakis, University of Kent and GLO affiliate
    Female Human Capital Mismatch: An extension for the British public sector (GLO VirtYS program advisor Professor Nick Drydakis). VIDEO of this presentation.
  2. Samuel Mann, Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods and GLO affiliate
    Gender Identity, Employment, Self-Employment and Trans Legislation (GLO VirtYS program advisor Professor Nick Drydakis). VIDEO of this presentation.

Chaired by GLO VirtYS Program Director Olena Nizalova.
Full video of the event.

 Yannis Galanakis

Yannis Galanakis is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Economics at the University of Kent (UK). His research centres around Labour Economics and Applied Microeconomics. Yannis’ recent empirical and theoretical work regards the Human Capital Mismatch (HCM) in the labour market accounting for differences across workers in more than one dimension of skill. His contribution argues that the mismatch might come from market frictions; hence, he proposes an alternative method to estimate its extent. Part of his analysis focuses on the female labour market highlighting not only the magnitude of their HCM, but also the discrimination they face even before entering the market. Furthermore, Yannis is a network research affiliate of the GLO. He participated in the VirtYS program for 2019/20. His project – advised by Prof. Nick Drydakis – intersects the female employees’ HCM and the public-sector affiliation. For more information, please visit https://ygalanak.github.io/.

GLO VirtYS Project

Female Human Capital Mismatch: An extension for the British public sector

This paper looks at the extent of labour market mismatch of public-sector female employees. It contributes to earlier findings for the British labour market by accounting for the endogenous self-selection into jobs. Estimates are based on data from the British Household Panel Study and the ‘Understanding Society’ covering the years 1991-2016. The analysis verifies that the public sector offers a few low-skilled jobs and employs, mostly, highly-educated (female) workers. Regarding the market flows, findings show the greater mobility of the female workforce, which moves proportionately between sectors. Greater in-/out-flows to/from private sector are observed regardless the gender of the employee. Once comparing women to the median employee, a sizeable incidence of mismatch arises due to negative selection. Specifications using the selection model for the public sector illustrate a systematically higher magnitude of mismatch. Pooled results seem to dominate when women seen in the male labour market or in a restricted subsample. Finally, the map of occupations in mismatch supports that the public sector is more attractive as a waiting room for highly-qualified graduates. They queue less time until they find a good job. Hence, policy implications regarding the allocation of jobs for women may arise.

Samuel Mann

Samuel Mann is an applied labour economist with expertise in the areas of LGBT+ economics, wellbeing, inequality, and political economy. His (ESRC funded) PhD thesis was titled “Sexual Orientation and Wellbeing”. Since completing his PhD, he has worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Welsh Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERD) at Swansea University. His postdoctoral research explores the wellbeing, labour market outcomes, and trust of sexual minorities, and evaluates the impact of different policies on these measures. Samuel has previously published in journals such as Work, Employment, and Society, and Economic Letters. As a GLO virtual young scholar Samuel has worked under the supervision of Prof. Nick Drydakis on a project analysing the labour market outcomes of transgender people in the US and evaluating the impact of several trans policies.

GLO VirtYS Project

Gender Identity, Employment, Self-Employment and Trans Legislation

This paper uses data from the BRFSS over the period 2014-2018 to document the incidence of employment and self-employment of trans individuals compared to their cisgender counterparts. Additionally, the effects of employment non-discrimination acts, credit non-discrimination acts, and restrictions on changing gender identity on ID documents are analysed for the first time. Results demonstrate that FtM and gender nonconforming trans people are less likely to be employed than their cisgender counterparts in the US, while MtF trans people are more likely than their cisgender counterparts to be employed. FtM trans people are less likely to be self-employed than their cisgender counterparts, while MtF trans people are more likely to be self-employed. On the surface our policy analysis suggests that all three policies have little impact on the employment and self-employment of trans people, however, further analysis highlights that these policies do have positive impacts on certain trans populations, namely, older and non-college educated transgender people. ENDA’s and removing the requirement of surgical procedures to reassign the gender on birth certificates have the greatest traction in improving the employment outcomes of trans people, while credit non-discrimination acts have the greatest traction in increasing the self-employment incidence of trans people. The findings highlight the important role that trans legislation has on the labour market outcomes of trans people, and the detrimental economic impact of surgical requirements to reassign gender on birth certificates.

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October 2020 Issue of the Journal of Population Economics Now Published. SSCI Impact Factor has improved from 1.3 to 1.8.

News, Post, Post-20, Research

The last issue 4 (October) 2020, Volume 33, of the Journal of Population Economics is now published. Access the Table of Content and the papers.

Clarivate Analytics Social Sciences Citation Index Factor released July 2020:
IMPACT FACTOR 1.840 (2019) from 1.253 (2018); 5-YEAR IF 2.353 (2019) from 2.072 (2018)

International Research on the Economics of Population, Household, and Human Resources

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Decomposing poverty in hard times: Greece 2007-2016. A new GLO Discussion Paper.

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-20, Research

A new GLO Discussion Paper reveals that in the Greek economic crisis the relative position of households with unemployed members deteriorated sharply, while their contribution to aggregate poverty skyrocketed.

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. 572, 2020

Decomposing poverty in hard times: Greece 2007-2016 – Download PDF
by Andriopoulou, Eirini & Kanavitsa, Eleni & Tsakloglou, Panos

GLO Fellows Eirini Andriopoulou & Panos Tsakloglou

Panos Tsakloglou

Greek Policy Advisor Panos Tsakloglou on the Greek Story in the COVID-19 Crisis. An Interview.

Author Abstract: The Greek economic crisis resulted in a decline in household disposable income by more than 40%. Even though all population groups lost income in absolute terms, some were substantially more severely hit by the crisis. The paper examines the effect of the crisis on the population shares, the mean incomes and the level of poverty of various population groups using SILC data for the period 2007-2016. The population is partitioned according to four criteria: socioeconomic group of the household head, presence of unemployed individuals in the household, age of the population member and household type. When “anchored” poverty lines and distribution-sensitive poverty indices are employed the level of poverty rises to incredibly high levels. When the poverty lines used are “relative”, the poverty rate does not change substantially but when distribution-sensitive indices are used the increase in poverty is very substantial. The most interesting results are related to the changes in the structure of poverty. The crisis was associated with a very substantial increase in unemployment. Unemployment protection in Greece was inadequate while there was no “benefit of last resort”. As a result, the relative position of households with unemployed members (and, especially, with unemployed heads) deteriorated sharply, while their contribution to aggregate poverty skyrocketed. Unlike what is often claimed in the Greek public discourse, the relative position of pensioner-headed households improved, although they also experienced a considerable decline in their living standards.

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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COVID-19 Lockdown plays havoc with emotions and “Happiness Index” stays under pressure in South Africa

News, Post, Post-20, Research

“COVID-19 Lockdown plays havoc with emotions and our “Happiness Index” stays under pressure“, GLO Fellows Talita Greyling and Stephanié Rossouw find in a new study. The lockdown strategy shows immediate negative consequences for wellbeing in South Africa. The Gross National Happiness data set used (a real-time Happiness Index) is an ongoing project, the two researchers launched in April 2019 in South- Africa, New-Zealand and Australia.  See the detailed analysis below.

The authors

Talita Greyling: School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and GLO; email: talitag@uj.ac.za
Stephanié Rossouw: Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand,and GLO; email: stephanie.rossouw@aut.ac.nz

  • Stephanie Rossouw
  • Talita Greyling

The analysis

South Africans are “angry” after their first weekend under lockdown. COVID-19 has been playing havoc with South African’s emotions over the last month.  We have made 180 degrees turn in our emotional state; from being joyful, anticipating good things to happen and showing trust, to being angry, anticipating the worst and showing disgust and fear.  Over the period, the most significant gainers, among the emotions, were anger, up with almost 10%, followed by disgust (+8%) (see figure 1, indicated by the black arrows). In contrast, the biggest losers were trust (-13%) and joy (-6%) (see figure 1 indicated by grey arrows) (Greyling & Rossouw 2020). 

These are the results of Prof Talita Greyling (University of Johannesburg) and Dr Stephanie Rossouw (Auckland University of Technology) who in collaboration with Afstereo launched South Africa’s Happiness Index in April 2019 and recently expanded their study to include the analysis of the emotions of South Africans.  

Why are South Africans so angry?  From the analyses of the Tweets (see www.gnh.today) the team (Greyling & Rossouw, 2020) found the following:

  • Mad at police and military, because of the aggressive and violent manner the COVID – regulations are enforced.
  • Angry about people being greedy and making money out of COVID-19, when the country is suffering.
  • Angry at government playing politics in a time of fear, and uncertainty about the future.
  • Mad about Moody’s downgrade to junk status, “kicking the country when it is already down”.
  • Angry about being isolated, cut-off and no way to release stress or alleviate depression and anxiety.
  • Concerned about the increase in domestic violence, interesting not only men towards women, but among all members of the household.
  • Mad at not being able to buy alcohol (previously also cigarettes).
  • Being stuck at home and then also having to endure loadshedding
  • Lack of groceries after the rich has bought everything
  • God is mad, this is a sign of His wrath

Is there anything that South Africans are positive about at the moment? Well, it seems that in true South African spirit we cling to the silver lining in this storm that threatens to swallow us. “Family time” seems to be one of the few positives. In this never-ending rat race, being able to spend quality time with our loved ones seems to be our saving grace.  Other positives mentioned are “time for self-reflection” and “time to turn to God”.

If we turn to the Happiness Index itself, which measures the sentiment  levels of South Africans on a scale from zero  to 10 J, with 5 being neutral (neither happy or unhappy) (see www.gnh.today), we note that the  index stays under pressure. After the significant lows on the days before-, on- and after the announcement of the lockdown (23 March 2020), there was a short lived increase in happiness levels, as people rushed to shops and their home towns/steads (migrating out of the cities), in anticipation of the lockdown.  However, the happiness levels soon returned to the “new lows” we have been experiencing since the announcement of the first COVID-19 patient in South Africa (see figure 2).

As reality sinks in and the health and livelihoods of South Africans’ come under threat, it becomes clear that “Twenty Plenty” has made a 180-degree turnaround to “Twenty Catastrophe”.  

Reference
Greyling T. & Rossouw S. 2020. Gross National Happiness Project. Afstereo (IT partner). University of Johannesburg (funding agency). Pretoria, South Africa.  www.gnh.today.

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Life with Corona Study: ISDC invites survey participation.

News, Policy, Post, Post-20, Research

The Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the COVID-19 disease continue to spread across the world. A new Life with Corona study will provide valuable information for researchers studying the social and economic implications of the Coronavirus pandemic.
LINK to the survey website.

The project is led by GLO Fellow Tilman Brück and his International Security and Development Center (ISDC) in Berlin. ISDC and its Director Tilman Brück are long-term partners of the GLO. GLO congratulates ISDC and Director Brück for this important new initiative at difficult times.

  • Tilman Brück

Life with Corona Study 

Have you heard of the new Life with Corona Study?

It is an innovative citizen science project that will help us understand how the Corona crisis is changing our lives. The findings will deliver important insights for policy-makers and researchers into how to better manage and mitigate the crisis.

Based on cutting-edge methodologies, the survey captures the voices and sentiments of citizens around the world.

Be part of the survey now! Just fill in the questionnaire and please forward this call in your networks. The more people participate, the more we know!

#sharethesurveynotthevirus #lifewithcorona

LINK to the survey website.

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CORONA Work Life Survey announced by WageIndicator Foundation

News, Policy, Post, Post-20, Research

Amsterdam, 29 March, 2020. The WageIndicator Foundation announces the Continuous Global Online Survey ‘Living and Working in Corona Times’! Press Release.

The WageIndicator Foundation led by GLO Fellow Paulien Osse as the Director, is a long-term partner of the GLO. GLO congratulates the WageIndicator Foundation for this important new initiative at difficult times.

  • Share and Compare Wages, Labor Laws and Career

Continuous Global Online Survey ‘Living and Working in Corona Times’ 

WageIndicator shows coronavirus-induced changes in living and working conditions in 110 countries. The changes are visualized in maps and graphs. These infographics show, from day to day, the consequences the large majority of the working population of the world experiences, on the basis of answers on the following questions in the Corona survey:

– Is your work affected by the corona crisis?
– Are precautionary measures taken at the workplace?
– Do you have to work from home?
– Has your workload increased/decreased?
– Have you lost your job/work/assignments?

First results show an enormous impact of the coronavirus on work in general. In the Netherlands for instance, a country severely hit, 95 percent of participants in the survey state that their work is impacted by the corona-crisis.

The survey contains questions about the home situation of respondents as well as about the possible manifestation of the corona disease in members of the household. Also the effect of having a pet in the house in corona-crisis times is included.

WageIndicator – a respected partner of GLO –  is a non-profit foundation, which aims to share and compare wages and labour law on a global scale through its national websites in 140 countries with millions of web visitors. WageIndicator’s web visitors are invited to complete the survey on Living and Working in Corona Times. The survey reaches out to all people in working age, contracted, self-employed and unemployed alike.

WageIndicator’s online infrastructure is built up over the past two decades and consists of online and offline surveys and data collection. For this particular survey, the international WageIndicator team cooperates with academic research institutes from half a dozen countries. The survey asks the same questions across countries. Therefore WageIndicator is able to closely monitor the development of the corona crisis and its impact on the world of work.

WageIndicator has rolled out its survey on March 26, 2020. From March 31 onwards WageIndicator maps changes in 110 countries, shown permanently online and updated each day.

Crucial links:
For the list of participating countries. Do the survey and find the results!
Link project page and team.
Contact:  office@wageindicator.org 
+31 6 539 77 695

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Workplace Positive Actions, Trans People’s Self-Esteem and Human Resources’ Evaluations: results provided in a new GLO Discussion Paper.

Discussion Paper, Post, Post-19, Research

A new GLO Discussion Paper surveys evidence in the literature that trans people’s self-esteem and self-respect can be enhanced by policy makers’ positive actions to promote inclusivity at the workplace.

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. 417, 2019

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

GLO Fellows Nick Drydakis, Katerina Sidiropoulou and Anna Paraskevopoulou

Author Abstract: This study provides empirical patterns regarding trans people’s self-esteem-oriented reflections during observations of positive workplace actions. The case of a 2015 UK workplace guide is utilized to fulfill our aims. We adopt Rawls’ political philosophy framework in order to evaluate whether trans people’s self-esteem-oriented concepts might be enhanced by policy makers’ positive actions. The study does find that trans people’s self-esteem and self-respect are enhanced by policy makers’ positive actions to promote inclusivity in the workplace. Due to these actions trans people feel more accepted, valued and trusted by the government. We suggest that if a workplace policy is perceived to be recognizing trans people’s worth this may be internalized, resulting in positive self-evaluations by trans people. In addition, we present empirical patterns from HR departments which have been aware of the workplace guide. HR officers suggest that the workplace guide informs their strategies, and positively affects the creation of a more inclusive workplace culture, the corporate profiles of their firms and staff organizational behaviours (such as, achieving results, fostering collegiality, reducing complaints) and addresses LGBT business and trans staff-members’ needs. We suggest that if employers adopt policy makers’ positive workplace policies aiming to increase inclusivity, they may be able to realize positive organizational outcomes in their firms.

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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Now ONLINE & OPEN ACCESS in the Journal of Population Economics: International migration as a driver of political & social change

Article, Post, Post-19, Research, ,

Using data for Morocco, the paper provides further evidence that international migration fosters the transfer of political and social norms.

Read more in:


Michele Tuccio, Jackline Wahba and Bachir Hamdouch: “International migration as a driver of political and social change: evidence from Morocco”
Journal of Population Economics, online, issue forthcoming.

Journal Website. Download PDF of article for free – OPEN ACCESS

GLO Fellows Michele Tuccio, Jackline Wahba and Bachir Hamdouch

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 behaviors 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.

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Now Online in the Journal of Population Economics: Mortality inequality in France & the United States

Article, Post, Post-19, Research

Despite a measured strong cross-sectional relationship between income and health, the study finds no necessary connection between changes in income inequality and changes in health inequality.

Read more in:

Janet Currie, Hannes Schwandt & Josselin Thuilliez: “Pauvreté, Egalité, Mortalité: mortality (in)equality in France and the United States”
Journal of Population Economics, online, in print.

Journal Website. Paper Access.

GLO Fellow Hannes Schwandt

Author Abstract: We develop a method for comparing levels and trends in inequality in mortality in the United States and France between 1990 and 2010 in a similar framework. The comparison shows that while income inequality has increased in both the United States and France, inequality in mortality in France remained remarkably low and stable. In the United States, inequality in mortality increased for older groups (especially women) while it decreased for children and young adults. These patterns highlight the fact that despite the strong cross-sectional relationship between income and health, there is no necessary connection between changes in income inequality and changes in health inequality.

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Now ONLINE & OPEN ACCESS in the Journal of Population Economics: The nativity wealth gap – what is it & what drives it?

Article, Post, Post-19, Research,

The paper studies the migrant-native differences in wealth among older households in Europe which is significant and to the advantage of the natives. The importance of origin country, age at migration, and citizenship status in reducing the gap is shown.

Read more in:

Irene Ferrari: “The nativity wealth gap in Europe: a matching approach “
Journal of Population Economics, online, issue forthcoming.

Journal Website. Download PDF of article for free – OPEN ACCESS

GLO Fellow Irene Ferrari

Author Abstract: This study uses a matching method to provide an estimate of the nativity wealth gap among older households in Europe. This approach does not require imposing any functional form on wealth and avoids validity-out-of-the-support assumptions; furthermore, it allows estimation not only of the mean of the wealth gap but also of its distribution for the common-support sub-population. The results show that on average there is a positive and significant wealth gap between natives and migrants. However, the average gap may be misleading as the distribution of the gap reveals that immigrant households in the upper part of the wealth distribution are better off, and those in the lower part of the wealth distribution are worse off, than comparable native households. A heterogeneity analysis shows the importance of origin, age at migration, and citizenship status in reducing the gap. Indeed, households who migrated within Europe, those who moved at younger ages rather than as adults, and those who are citizens of the destination country display a wealth gap that is consistently smaller over the entire distribution.

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How dreams matter for migration: Now Published in the Journal of Population Economics

Article, Post, Post-19, Research, , ,

The article provides evidence that countries with stronger beliefs that hard work leads to a higher social status (the ‘American Dream’) attract a higher proportion of high-skilled immigrants.

Read more in:

Claudia Lumpe: “Public beliefs in social mobility and high-skilled migration”
Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 3, pp. 981–1008.

Journal Website Issue. Paper Access.

GLO Fellow Claudia Lumpe

Author Abstract: This paper investigates how beliefs of the destination country’s population in social mobility may influence the location choice of high-skilled migrants. We pool macro data from the IAB brain-drain dataset with population survey data from the ISSP for the period 1987–2010 to identify the effect of public beliefs in social mobility on the share of high-skilled immigrants (stocks) in the main OECD immigration countries. The empirical results suggest that countries with higher “American Dream” beliefs, i.e., with stronger beliefs that climbing the social ladder can be realized by own hard work, attracted a higher proportion of high-skilled immigrants over time. This pattern even holds against the fact that existing social mobility in these countries is relatively lower.

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Now ONLINE & OPEN ACCESS in the Journal of Population Economics: Marriage, dowry, and women’s status in rural Punjab

Article, Post, Post-19, Research, ,

Dowry is a common custom in South Asia with rising use and increasing amounts. The paper shows that a higher dowry amount, especially in terms of furniture, electronics, and kitchenware, is positively associated with women’s status in the marital household.

Read more in:
Momoe Makino: “Marriage, dowry, and women’s status in rural Punjab, Pakistan”
Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 32 (2019), Issue 3, pp. 769-797.

Journal Website. Download PDF of article for free – OPEN ACCESS

GLO Fellow Momoe Makino

Author Abstract: Dowry is a common custom observed in South Asian countries. Despite alleged negative consequences caused by dowry and the legal ban or restrictions on its practice, the custom has been extended, and recently, dowry amounts seem to be increasing. Compared with public interest in and theoretical studies on dowry, empirical studies are relatively scarce mainly due to data unavailability and inadequacy. We conducted a household survey specifically designed to empirically investigate how dowry is associated with women’s status in the marital household in rural Punjab, Pakistan. The dataset is unique because it gathers information on disaggregated marriage expenses, which enables us to examine the relation between each itemized component of dowry and women’s status. Results show that a higher dowry amount, especially in terms of furniture, electronics, and kitchenware, is positively associated with women’s status in the marital household. The positive association of these illiquid items adds suggestive evidence that in rural Punjab, Pakistan, dowry serves as a trousseau that the bride’s parents voluntarily offer to their daughter.

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Now Published in the Journal of Population Economics: Migrants Reduce the Work Health Risks of Natives

Article, Post, Post-19, Research

The value of immigrants for the UK has played an important role in the Brexit debate. A recent GLO Discussion Paper explores the effects of immigration on the allocation of occupational physical burden and work injury risk using data for England and Wales.
Migrants seem to reduce the risks for UK-born workers and they report report lower injury rates than natives. The paper is now published in the Journal of Population Economics and available online. See also below.

GLO Discussion Paper now published in the Journal of Population Economics, July 2019, Volume 32, Issue 3, pp 1009–1042; already 2.4k downloads on July 5, 2019! OPEN ACCESS….

See online on the Journal website.

Download PDF of the Journal of Population Economics article for free.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 215, 2018.

Immigration and the Reallocation of Work Health Risks – Download PDF
by Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio & Nicodemo, Catia & Vargas-Silva, Carlos

GLO Fellows Osea Giuntella, Fabrizio Mazzonna, Catia Nicodemo & Carlos Vargas-Silva

Author Abstract: This paper studies the effects of immigration on the allocation of occupational physical burden and work injury risks. Using data for England and Wales from the Labour Force Survey (2003–2013), we find that, on average, immigration leads to a reallocation of UK-born workers towards jobs characterized by lower physical burden and injury risk. The results also show important differences across skill groups. Immigration reduces the average physical burden of UK-born workers with medium levels of education, but has no significant effect on those with low levels. We also find that that immigration led to an improvement self-reported measures of native workers’ health. These findings, together with the evidence that immigrants report lower injury rates than natives, suggest that the reallocation of tasks could reduce overall health care costs and the human and financial costs typically associated with workplace injuries.

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Now published in the Journal of Population Economics: Return migrants transfer social norms; evidence on female genital mutilation in Mali.

Article, Post, Post-19, Research

A recent GLO Discussion Paper found 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. The paper is now accepted for publication in the Journal of Population Economics and already available online. See the detailed discussion (in French) in a newsletter.

See also below.

GLO Discussion Paper of the Month of March 2019 now forthcoming in the Journal of Population Economics!

See online on the Journal website.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 329, 2019.

Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali. Do return migrants transfer social norms? – Download PDF
by Diabate, Idrissa & Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine

GLO Fellow Sandrine Mesplé-Somps.

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.

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28th EBES conference takes place at Coventry/UK on May 29-31, 2019.

News, Post, Post-19, Research, Uncategorized

May 29-31: Coventry, UK. 28th EBES conference. The Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) meets with support of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) at the Coventry Business School. For the full program see here.

EBES President Klaus F. Zimmermann, who is also the President of GLO, will open the EBES congress on Wednesday. GLO members are involved in two important conference panel sessions, among others, on Wednesday May 29:

EBES & GLO Panel on “The Future of Europe and Brexit after the EU Election”:

09:30-10:30
Chair & Introduction: Klaus F. Zimmermann, President, EBES & GLO & Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin, EBES, GLO, & Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey
Matloob Piracha, Director GLO & University of Kent, United Kingdom
Dorothea Schäfer, DIW Berlin, GLO, & Jönköping University, Sweden
Marco Vivarelli, GLO& Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano, Italy

JOURNAL EDITORS SPECIAL SESSION: How to Publish in WOS Journals?

14:30-15:50
Klaus F. Zimmermann, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Population Economics (SSCI)
David B. Audretsch, Editor-in-Chief, Small Business Economics (SSCI)
Marco Vivarelli, Editor-in-Chief, Eurasian Business Review (SSCI)
Dorothea Schäfer, Editor-in-Chief, Eurasian Economic Review (Scopus & ESCI)

  • Global Labor Organization
  • Eurasia Business and Economics Society

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The long shadow of Stalin: Mistrust across former USSR countries. GLO Discussion Paper of the Month April and other GLO DP’s of April.

Discussion Paper, Post, Post-19, Research

The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month of April 2019 provides a historical explanation on within-country differences in levels of trust. Specifically, the paper finds that the lower trust levels present in former USSR countries can be traced back to the system of forced prison labor present during Stalin’s regime, which created terror and mass repression, causing individuals to lose trust in neighbors, institutions and society at large.

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: April

GLO Discussion Paper No. 344, 2019. Stalin and the origins of mistrust – Download PDF

by Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga & Otrachshenko, Vladimir 

GLO Fellows Milena Nikolova and Olga Popova 

Abstract:   We show that current differences in trust levels within former Soviet Union countries can be traced back to the system of forced prison labor during Stalin’s rule, which was marked by high incarceration rates, repression, and harsh punishments. We argue that those exposed to forced labor camps (gulags) became less trusting and transferred this social norm to their descendants. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with historical information on the location of forced labor camps, we find that individuals who live near former gulags have low levels of social and institutional trust. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity checks, which suggests that the relationship we document is causal. We outline several causal mechanisms and test whether the social norm of mistrust near gulags developed because of political repression or due to fear that inmates bring criminality. As such, we provide novel evidence on the channels through which history matters for current socio-economic outcomes today.

GLO Discussion Papers of April 2019

344 Stalin and the origins of mistrust – Download PDF
by Nikolova, Milena & Popova, Olga & Otrachshenko, Vladimir

343 Intergenerational Mobility: An Assessment for Latin American Countries – Download PDF
by Doruk, Ömer Tuğsal & Yavuz, Hasan Bilgehan & Pastore, Francesco

342 The impact of Brexit on International Students’ Return Intentions – Download PDF
by Falkingham, Jane & Giulietti, Corrado & Wahba, Jackline & Wang, Chuhong

341 Labour mobility and interprovincial trade in Canada – Download PDF
by Aziz, Nusrate & Mahar, Gerry

340 Should I stay or should I go? Migration and job-skills mismatch among Italian doctoral recipients –Download PDF
by Alfano, Vincenzo & D’Uva, Marcella & De Simone, Elina & Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio

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  

Ends;

GLO Director Matloob Piracha speakes on May 6, 2019 at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia on Ethnic Identity and the Labor Market

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research

Invitation to the next seminar in the Centre for Workforce Futures Seminar Series, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, on May 6, 2019.

Topic:                   Ethnic Identity and Immigrants’ Labour Market Outcomes

Speaker:            Dr Matloob Piracha
Venue:                120 Lend Lease Room, 1 Management Drive, Macquarie University NSW 2109
When:                 Monday 6th May 2019
Time:                   2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Abstract:

In this seminar, Dr. Piracha will address the following questions: i) what are the determinants of ethnic identity, and (ii) whether those who identify with the host country culture have a higher probability of getting a job as well as better wages than those who identify more with the culture of their country of origin. The paper will use the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA), which consists of data collected for two cohorts of immigrants. The first cohort entered the country in 1993–1995 while the second cohort entered in 2000–2001. The paper will consider what role ethnic identity plays in the labour market integration of immigrants. It will then compare the determinants of ethnic identity of the cohort that entered before the immigration policy change in 1995, when the level of English required in the selective (points-based) system increased, with the one that entered after the change.

Dr Matloob Piracha:

Dr Matloob Piracha is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the University of Kent, UK. He has extensive experience of working on migration and related issues and has published a number of papers on the impact of migration on sending and receiving countries as well as on migrants and their left-behind families. Matloob has acted as a consultant or a collaborator for a number of international organisations including the OECD, UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the World Bank. He is also Director of the Global Labour Organisation (GLO), a virtual network connecting eminent scholars and policymakers from around the world.

Ends;

GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann is George Soros Chair Professor at the School of Public Policy of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest since April 1, 2019.

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research, Teaching

The Central European University (CEU) has appointed Klaus F. Zimmermann, who is also President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), the George Soros Chair Professor at the School of Public Policy of CEU for April-June (Spring Term) 2019. He took residence in Budapest on April 1, 2019 and teaches since then a class in “Global Labor Economics“. He will provide the public George Soros Lecture on “Global Labor Economics: Challenges and Benefits” on May 8, 2019 (see special announcement).

GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann (on the morning walk to work)

Budapest has played a particular role in the academic career of Klaus F. Zimmermann. Already early 1984, he received as academic youngster the honor of an invitation to the small-scale Winter Symposium of the Econometric Society, which took place in Budapest guided by Martin Hellwig, Janos Kornai and Jean-Jacques Laffont. In 1990 he came back as the then Secretary of the European Society for Population Economics (ESPE) to speak at the Workshop “Demographic Change and Social Policy” of the demographic institutes of the countries of the Eastern Socialist Block organized by the Hungarian Demographic Research Institute. Its then Director Istvan Monigl had invited Zimmermann and showed him also parts of Hungary in a personal tour. The ambitions of the two men was to initiate soon a big population economics congress in Budapest to foster change, which was achieved in 1993 when the annual ESPE congress took place in the city. Zimmermann came back regularly since then.

While 1984, 1990 and 1993 were visits in periods of change and transition with a high appreciation of freedom, mobility and collaboration, the current visit as a George Soros Chair Professor takes place in a period where free mobility, academic independence and European unity face declining popularity.

Half way to the office in Budapest: In the back the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Place of Work and Exchange

Ends;

GLO Malaysia Lead M. Niaz Asadullah Provides Public Lecture at University Malaysia Sabah in a Joint UMS-GLO Event on 17 April 2019.

Events, Post, Post-19, Research

The postgraduate section of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy (FBEA), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), organized the first UMS-GLO Joint Public Lecture on 17th April 2019 in East Malaysia. The objective of this event is to encourage research networking and exchange of ideas especially among labor economists in Malaysia.

Professor M Niaz Asadullah of the University of Malaya and the South East Asia Lead and the Malaysia Lead for the Global Labor Organization (GLO) presented the keynote paper entitled ‘The Changing Pattern of Wage Returns to Education in Post-Reform China’. In his lecture, Professor Asadullah emphasized the importance of human capital development in China’s post reform economy.

The keynote lecture was followed by two presentations: Dr. Borhan S Abdullah and Dr. James Alin, both UMS lecturers, spoke on migration and unemployment issues in Malaysia, respectively. A total of 30 postgraduate students and lecturers of FBEA UMS attended the event, including GLO Fellow and Head of the Human Resource Economics Program of the Faculty, Dr. Beatrice Lim.

Ends;

April 10, 2019. All GLO Discussion Papers of March 2019 & the Discussion Paper of the Month suggesting that return migration improves social norms in Mali.

Article, Discussion Paper, Post, Post-19, Research

The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month in March 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.

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: March

GLO Discussion Paper No. 329, 2019.

Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali. Do return migrants transfer social norms? – Download PDF
by Diabate, Idrissa & Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine  

GLO Fellow Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, Paris School of Economics.


Sandrine Mesplé-Somps

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.

GLO Discussion Papers of March 2019

339 Monopsony Power and Guest Worker Programs – Download PDF
by Gibbons, Eric M. & Greenman, Allie & Norlander, Peter & Sørensen, Todd

338 Personality Traits and Performance in Online Labour Markets – Download PDF
by Mourelatos, Evangelos & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas & Tzagarakis, Manolis

337 Out-of-Partnership Births in East and West Germany – Download PDF
by Jirjahn, Uwe & Struewing, Cornelia

336 What Is the Value Added by Using Causal Machine Learning Methods in a Welfare Experiment Evaluation? – Download PDF
by Strittmatter, Anthony

335 Returns to Investment in Education: The Case of Turkey – Download PDF
by Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Psacharopoulos, George & Tansel, Aysit

334 Conflict Exposure and Economic Welfare in Nigeria – Download PDF
by Odozi, John Chiwuzulum & Oyelere, Ruth Uwaifo

333 Assessing the impact of off- and on-the-job training on employment outcomes. A counterfactual evaluation of the PIPOL program – Download PDF
by Pastore, Francesco & Pompili, Marco

332 Maternal Health, Children Education and Women Empowerment: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from India – Download PDF
by Chatterjee, Somdeep & Poddar, Prashant

331 Exchange rate, remittances and expenditure of foreign-born households: evidence from Australia – Download PDF
by Hasan, Syed & Ratna, Nazmun & Shakur, Shamim

330 Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics – Download PDF
by Vernon, Victoria & Zimmermann, Klaus F.

329 Female genital mutilation and migration in Mali. Do return migrants transfer social norms? – Download PDF
by Diabate, Idrissa & Mesplé-Somps, Sandrine

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  

Ends;

Paper submission to Brasov conference on 31 May to June 1, 2019 still possible until April 26.

Article, Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research

International Conference„Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Challenges, measures and solutions” (ISEG 2019).

Place: 31 May-June 1: Brasov, Romania, at the Transilvania University of Brasov.

Organizers: Transilvania University of Brasov; Romanian Academy, Institute of Economic Forecasting; Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Invited Speakers are Filomena Maggino and  Klaus F. Zimmermann.

To participate: Register until April 26 through the conference website and send an abstract asap. CONTACT.

GLO is interested in research papers for a special session related to the Labor Markets of Countries in South East Europe; GLO members who wish to contribute to this are invited to send an abstract by April 20 to Klaus F. Zimmermann. (klaus.f.zimmermann@gmail.com)

Ends;

March 18, 2019. All GLO Discussion Papers of February 2019 & the Discussion Paper of the Month

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-19, Research

Morocco, a North-African country that has become a major emigration hub to Europe, has seen many calls for political change over the last few years. The Discussion Paper of the Month of February is using micro data from that country to confirm that social remittances induced by international migrants are drivers of social and political change in the context of Morocco.

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: February

GLO DP 309 International Migration as Driver of Political and Social Change: Evidence from Morocco – Download PDF
by Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline & Hamdouch, Bachir

GLO Fellows Bachir Hamdouch, Michele Tuccio and Jackie Wahba.

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, it 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, findings suggest that having a returnee in the household increases the demand for political and social change, driven by returnees mostly from Western European countries, who have been exposed to more democratic norms at destination. However, we find a negative impact of having a current migrant on the willingness to change of the left-behind household, driven by migrants to non-West countries, where the quality of political and social institutions is lower. Our results are robust to also controlling for destination selectivity.  

GLO Discussion Papers of February 2019

328 Short-Run Health Consequences of Retirement and Pension Benefits: Evidence from China –Download PDF
by Nikolov, Plamen & Adelman, Alan

327 Tracking the Sustainable Development Goals: Emerging Measurement Challenges and Further Reflections – Download PDF
by Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Fu, Haishan & Serajuddin, Umar

326 Public Employment Decline in Developing Countries in the 21st Century: The Role of Globalization – Download PDF
by Gözgör, Giray & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin & Zimmermann, Klaus F.

325 The Nativity Wealth Gap in Europe: a Matching Approach – Download PDF
by Ferrari, Irene

324 The Evolution of Factor Shares: Evidence from Switzerland – Download PDF
by Baldi, Guido & Pons, Martina

323 Timed to Say Goodbye: Does Unemployment Benefit Eligibility Affect Worker Layoffs? – Download PDF
by Albanese, Andrea & Ghirelli, Corinna & Picchio, Matteo

322 Beyond the Average: Ethnic Capital Heterogeneity and Intergenerational Transmission of Education – Download PDF
by Chakrabortya, Tanika & Schüller, Simone & Zimmermann, Klaus F.

321 The Growing Divergence in U.S. Employee Relations: Individualism, Democracy, and Conflict – Download PDF
by Norlander, Peter

320Innovation, Automation, and Inequality: Policy Challenges in the Race against the Machine – Download PDF
by Prettner, Klaus & Strulik, Holger

319 English skills, labour market status and earnings of Turkish women – Download PDF
by Di Paolo, Antonio & Tansel, Aysit

318 Improving Access and Quality in Early Childhood Development Programs: Experimental Evidence from The Gambia – Download PDF
by Blimpo, Moussa P. & Carneiro, Pedro & Jervis, Pamela & Pugatch, Todd

317 Motherhood, Migration, and Self-Employment of College Graduates  – Download PDF
by  Cai, Zhengyu & Stephens, Heather M. & Winters, John V.

316 Whither the evolution of the contemporary social fabric? New technologies and old socio-economic trends – Download PDF
by  Dosi, Giovanni & Virgillito, Maria Enrica

315 Are there gains to joining a union? Evidence from Mexico – Download PDF
by  Gutiérrez Rufrancos & Héctor Elías

314 Home advantage in European international soccer: Which dimension of distance matters? – Download PDF
by  Van Damme, Nils & Baert, Stijn

313 Twelve eyes see more than eight. Referee bias and the introduction of additional assistant referees in soccer – Download PDF
by  Verstraeten, Olivier & Baert, Stijn

312 Works Councils and Workplace Health Promotion in Germany – Download PDF
by Jirjahn, Uwe & Mohrenweiser, Jens & Smith, Stephen C.

311 Does Society Influence the Gender Gap in Risk Attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany – Download PDF
by Chadi, Cornelia & Jirjahn, Uwe

310 Immigration and unemployment in Europe: does the core-periphery dualism matter?  – Download PDF
by Esposito, Piero & Collignon, Stefan & Scicchitano, Sergio

309 International Migration as Driver of Political and Social Change: Evidence from Morocco – Download PDF
by Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline & Hamdouch, Bachir

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  

Ends;

Call for papers: Urban & Territorial Themes (NESPUTT 2019) 21-22 of November 2019 in Milan/Italy

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research

Deadline for the submission of abstracts is 30 June 2019.

New Economic & Statistical Perspectives on Urban & Territorial Themes (NESPUTT 2019)

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Economics, Psychology and Social Sciences (CISEPS) and the Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) at the University of Milan-Bicocca in collaboration with the Regional Economic Modelling Team (REMO) of the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) are organizing an international workshop entitled New Economic & Statistical Perspectives on Urban and Territorial Themes (NESPUTT), which will take place in Milan on the 21st and 22nd of November 2019.

The workshop aims at fostering an interdisciplinary debate involving economists, statisticians, modellers and other social scientists towards a better understanding of contemporary regions and cities, viewed as complex socio-economic systems. The NESPUTT Workshop encourages contributions about new theoretical/methodological approaches and applied research from regional economics, behavioral economics, environmental economics, experimental economics, statistics and other quantitative disciplines.

The following list illustrates, but does not exhaust, possible topics applied to regional and urban themes:

  • Behavioral economics
  • Digital transformation
  • Environmental economics
  • Experimental economics
  • Inequality
  • Innovation and competitiveness
  • Migration
  • Nudging
  • Regional divide
  • Regional economic adjustment and development
  • Small areas
  • Social exclusion
  • Social mobility
  • Spatial modelling/statistics/econometric

Submissions of papers based on the application of behavioral, experimental and computational economics approaches to urban studies are also welcome. Special sessions devoted to particularly innovative approaches may be organized.

Participation of interested researchers and policy makers from all countries is welcome.

Proceedings: The NESPUTT2019 workshop will publish an electronic “Papers and Proceedings” edition with ISBN highlighting selected short papers (maximum 4 pages) from the meeting. You must indicate that your paper is to be included in the proceedings.

Location of the conference: University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, Milan.

Scientific Committee: Riccardo Borgoni (UnimiB), Andrea Caragliu (PoliMi), Andrea Conte (European Commission JRC), André De Palma (ENS Paris Saclays), Giacomo Degli Antoni (University of Parma), Marco Faillo (University of Trento), Patrizio Lecca (European Commission, JRC), Alessandra Michelangeli (UnimiB), Nathalie Picard (University of Cergy-Pontoise).

Organizing Committee: Riccardo Borgoni (UnimiB), Antonella Carcagnì (UnimiB); Andrea Gilardi (UnimiB), Alessandra Michelangeli (UnimiB).

The link to the abstract submission site is https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nesputt2019

Important dates:

  • 30 June 2019 – Deadline for abstract submission.
  • 20 July 2019 – Acceptance notification.
  • 20 September 2019 – Deadline for early registration.
  • 30 October 2019 – Standard registration deadline.
  • 21-22 November 2019 – Workshop at University of Milan-Bicocca.

Further information will be available from April 2019 on the workshop website http://www.nesputt2019.unimib.it/

Should you have any questions, please send an email to nesputt2019@unimib.it

Ends;

Call for Papers Kigali June 2019: 4th International Conference of Eastern Africa Business and Economic Watch (4th EABEW-2019)

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research,

Theme: “Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation”  
June 12-14, 2019, College of Business and Economics, University of Rwanda, Kigali  
 

  • NOTE: Deadline for paper submissions is APRIL 30!
  • June 12-14: Kigali, Rwanda. College of Business and Economics, University of Rwanda. 4th EABEW Conference (International Conference of Eastern Africa Business and Economic Watch) on “Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation” with GLO support. GLO Fellows Manfred Fischedick, Almas Heshmati and GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann are among the invited speakers. Call for Papers with deadline April 30, 2019. Almas Heshmati is the academic Lead of the GLO Research Cluster on “Labor Markets in Africa”. GLO Fellow Rama B. Rao is the Chair of the Organizing Committee of the conference.
  • Call for Papers. Original evidence based theoretical, methodological, empirical research, policy or practice oriented research papers on the theme are invited from researchers, academicians, industry practitioners for presentation at the conference. Submitted papers should be in the areas of economics and business management and any other interdisciplinary fields that contribute to socio-economic transformation that may fall in any of the tracks defined in the call.
  • For other GLO Events see the GLO event calendar.

Ends;

Journal of Population Economics: Issue 2/2019 Table of Content & Ten New Associate Editors

Article, News, Post, Post-19, Research

Journal of Population Economics. Volume 32 Number 2 is now available online.

Ten new articles in Population Economics are published, see listing and access below. Ten new Associate Editors have been appointed. Their names and pictures are below.

In this issue: TABLE OF CONTENT and article access
National identity under economic integration
Chun-Fang Chiang, Jin-Tan Liu & Tsai-Wei Wen
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
OPEN ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC for a limited time!
Concrete measures: the rise of public housing and changes in young single motherhood in the U.S.
Katharine L. Shester, Samuel K. Allen & Christopher Handy
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Does public insurance coverage for pregnant women affect prenatal health behaviors?
Dhaval M. Dave, Robert Kaestner & George L. Wehby
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Closing or reproducing the gender gap? Parental transmission, social norms and education choice
Maria Knoth Humlum, Anne Brink Nandrup & Nina Smith
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Intergenerational income mobility: access to top jobs, the low-pay no-pay cycle and the role of
education in a common framework
Paul Gregg, Lindsey Macmillan & Claudia Vitto
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF OPEN ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC
Family support or social support? The role of clan culture
Chuanchuan Zhang
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Revisiting the relationship between longevity and lifetime education: global evidence from
919 surveys
Mohammad Mainul Hoque, Elizabeth M. King, Claudio E. Montenegro & Peter F. Orazem
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Rising longevity, fertility dynamics, and R&D-based growth
Koichi Futagami & Kunihiko Konishi
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Premature mortality and poverty measurement in an OLG economy
Mathieu Lefèbvre, Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF
Unequal hopes and lives in the USA: optimism, race, place, and premature mortality
Carol Graham & Sergio Pinto
» Abstract   » Full text HTML   » Full text PDF

Newly appointed Associate Editors

  • Quamrul Ashraf, Williams College, USA
  • Andrew Clark, Paris School of Economics, France
  • Avraham Ebenstein, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
  • Shuaizhang Feng, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
  • Moshe Hazan, Tel Aviv University, Israel
  • Eliana La Ferrara, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
  • Terra McKinnish, University of Colorado, USA
  • Jessamyn Schaller, University of Arizon, USA
  • Kompal Sinha, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
  • Rainer Winkelmann, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • Quamrul Ashraf
  • Andrew Clark
  • Avraham Ebenstein
  • Kompal Sinha
  • Shuaizhang Feng
  • Moshe Hazan
  • Eliana La Ferrara
  • Terra McKinnish
  • Jessamyn Schaller
  • Rainer Winkelmann

Ends;

5 February 2019. GLO Discussion Papers January 2019 & Discussion Paper of the Month

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-19, Research, , ,

The discussion paper of the month explores the vote on the Swiss minaret initiative in 2009 as a natural experiment to identify the effect of newly revealed reservations towards immigrants on their location choices. The research finds that the probability of  immigrants to relocate to  a municipality that unexpectedly revealed stronger negative attitudes towards them is significantly reduced in the time after the vote. The effect seems to apply to all immigrant groups – Muslim, non-European and European -, and to be stronger for high-skilled immigrants.

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: January

305 The Deterrent Effect of an Anti-Minaret Vote on Foreigners’ Location Choices – Download PDF
by Slotwinski, Michaela & Stutzer, Alois

image.png

                      GLO Fellow Michaela Slotwinski

Abstract: In a national ballot in 2009, Swiss citizens surprisingly approved an amendment to the Swiss constitution to ban the further construction of minarets. The ballot outcome manifested reservations and anti-immigrant attitudes in regions of Switzerland which had previously been hidden. We exploit this fact as a natural experiment to identify the causal effect of negative attitudes towards immigrants on foreigners’ location choices and thus indirectly on their utility. Based on a regression discontinuity design with unknown discontinuity points and administrative data on the population of foreigners, we find that the probability of their moving to a municipality which unexpectedly expressed stronger reservations decreases initially by about 40 percent. The effect is accompanied by a drop of housing prices in these municipalities and levels off over a period of about 5 months. Moreover, foreigners in high-skill occupations react relatively more strongly highlighting a tension when countries try to attract well-educated professionals from abroad. 

GLO Discussion Papers of January 2019

308 Technological Unemployment Revisited: Automation in a Search and Matching Framework – Download PDF
by Cords, Dario & Prettner, Klaus

307 Gender, culture and STEM: Counter-intuitive patterns in Arab society– Download PDF
by Friedman-Sokuler, Naomi & Justman, Moshe

306 Time preferences and political regimes: Evidence from reunified Germany– Download PDF
by Friehe, Tim & Pannenberg, Markus

305 The Deterrent Effect of an Anti-Minaret Vote on Foreigners’ Location Choices – Download PDF
by Slotwinski, Michaela & Stutzer, Alois

304 Tropical Storms and Mortality under Climate Change – Download PDF
by Pugatch, Todd

303 The Post-Crisis Phillips Curve: A New Empirical Relationship between Wage and Inflation  – Download PDF
by Voinea, Liviu

302 Marshallian vs Jacobs effects: which one is stronger? Evidence for Russia unemployment dynamics  – Download PDF
by Demidova, Olga & Kolyagina, Alena & Pastore, Francesco

301 The World at the Crossroad. Demographic Polarization and Mass Migration. Global threat or global opportunity  – Download PDF
by Bruni, Michele

300 The Belt and Road Initiative. Demographic trends, labour markets and welfare systems of member countries  – Download PDF
by Bruni, Michele

299  The unprotecting effects of employment protection: the impact of the 2001 labor reform in Peru – Download PDF
by Jaramillo, Miguel

298  Measuring the Statistical Capacity of Nations  – Download PDF
by Cameron, Grant J. & Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Dinc, Mustafa & Foster, James & Lokshin, Michael M.

297  Inequality and Welfare Dynamics in the Russian Federation during 1994-2015  – Download PDF
by Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Lokshin, Michael M. & Abanokova, Kseniya & Bussolo, Maurizio

296  A Beveridge curve decomposition for Austria: what drives the unemployment rate?  – Download PDF
by Christl, Michael

295 Health, Cognition and Work Capacity Beyond the Age of 50   – Download PDF
by Vandenberghe, Vincent

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

Ends;

8 February 2019. GLO-MSUIIT Public Lecture by M Niaz Asadullah on “Education 4.0: Technology, Teachers and Learners” on the Philippines.

Events, Post, Post-19, Research

On 8 February 2019, M Niaz Asadullah, Professor at the University of Malaya, Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and GLO Lead for South-East Asia, gives the

GLO-MSUIIT Public Lecture on “Education 4.0: Technology, Teachers and Learners”.

The event takes place on 8.00 am to 12:00 pm at the Amphitheatre, College of Education, Mindanao State University, Iligan Institute of Technology (MSUIIT), Philippines.

Abstract

This lecture provides an overview of the challenges that developing country education systems face to prepare youths for Industry 4.0. I start with a critical overview of the global “learning crisis” and summarize the evidence on automation risks. I then discuss how teachers are responding to these two challenges by adopting new technologies to re-design the learning space in order to impart 21st Century skills and future-proof the labor force. The discussion also highlights some of the factors that limit the potential positive impact of technology on learners in developing countries. I conclude by discussing the importance of system-wide reforms and early interventions to deliver New Economy skills and achieve the SDG 4 target of quality education for all.

EVENT FLYER FOR MORE INFORMATION


M Niaz Asadullah

Ends;

Announcement: 28th EBES Conference in Coventry (UK) in May 29-31, 2019

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research

28th EBES Conference. May 29-31, 2019 in Coventry, United Kingdom
Hosted by the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity (CFCI), Coventry University

Interested researchers are cordially invited to submit abstracts or papers for presentation consideration at the 28th EBES Conference in Coventry. It will take place on May 29th, 30th, and 31st, 2019 at Coventry University in Coventry, United Kingdom. The conference will be organized with the support of the Istanbul Economic Research Association and will be hosted by the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity (CFCI) in collaboration with the Coventry Business School Trading Floor.

To support the event, the Global Labor Organization (GLO) will organize three invited paper sessions. If you are a GLO Fellow or Affiliate and interested to be be included, please submit the title of a potential contribution to office@glabor.org until February 20, 2019.

Invited Speakers are David B. Audretsch, Marco Vivarelli and  Klaus F. Zimmermann.

David B. Audretsch is a Distinguished Professor at Indiana University, where he also serves as Director of the Institute for Development Strategies. He is an Honorary Professor of Industrial Economics and Entrepreneurship at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany and a Research Fellow of the CEPR in London. He has also worked as a consultant to the UN, World Bank, OECD, EU Commission, and U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Prof. Audretsch’s research has focused on the links between entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development, and global competitiveness. He is co-author of The Seven Secrets of Germany (Oxford University Press) along with several other books. He is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal and many other journals. He was awarded the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research by the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum (Entreprenörskapsforum). He has received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Augsburg in Germany and Jonköping University in Sweden. Prof. Audretsch was also awarded the Schumpeter Prize from the University of Wuppertal in Germany. He has served as an advisory board member to a number of international research and policy institutes, including Chair of the Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Berlin(German Institute for Economic Analysis Berlin), Chair of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Foundation for the Promotion of German Science) in Berlin, Germany, and the Center for European Economic Research (Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung) in Mannheim, Germany etc. He has authored numerous papers which were published in prestigious journals such as American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, and Journal of Management and his researches have been cited more than 77,000 (Google Scholar). He holds a PhD in economics from University of Wisconsin, Madison in U.S.A.

Marco Vivarelli, Ph.D. in Economics and Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy, is full professor at the Catholic University of Milano, where he is also Director of the Institute of Economic Policy. He is Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht; Research Fellow at IZA, Bonn; Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). He is member of the Scientific Executive Board of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES, Istanbul); member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO, Vienna) and has been scientific consultant for the International Labour Office (ILO), World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the European Commission. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Eurasian Business Review, Editor of Small Business Economics, Associate Editor of Industrial and Corporate Change, Associate Editor of Economics E-Journal, member of the Editorial Board of Sustainability and he has served as referee for more than 70 international journals. He is author/editor of various books and his papers have been published in journals such as Cambridge Journal of Economics,  Canadian Journal of Economics, Economics Letters, Industrial and Corporate Change, International Journal of Industrial Organization,  Journal of Economics, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Journal of Productivity Analysis, Labour Economics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Regional Studies, Research Policy, Small Business Economics, Southern Economic Journal, World Bank Research Observer, World Development. His current research interests include the relationship between innovation, employment and skills; the labor market and income distribution impacts of globalization; the entry and post-entry performance of newborn firms.

Abstract/Paper Submission: Authors are invited to submit their abstracts or papers no later than February 28, 2018. For submission, please visit the EBES website at https://www.ebesweb.org/Conferences/28th-EBES-Conference-Coventry/Abstract-Submission.aspx. No submission fee is required. General inquiries regarding the call for papers should be directed to ebes@ebesweb.org.

Publication Opportunities: Qualified papers can be published (after refereeing) in the EBES journals (no submission and publication fees). EBES journals (Eurasian Business Review and Eurasian Economic Review) are published by Springer Nature and indexed by SCOPUS, EBSCO EconLit with Full Text, Google Scholar, ABI/INFORM, ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide, CNKI, EBSCO Business Source, EBSCO Discovery Service, EBSCO TOC Premier, Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), OCLC, ProQuest Business Premium Collection, ProQuest Central, ProQuest Turkey Database, Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), Summon by ProQuest, Cabell’s Directory, and Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory.

Furthermore, qualified papers after review will be recommended to be considered for publication in regular issues of the Journal of Corporate Finance after a review process. However, presentation at the EBES Conference does not guarantee publication in the Journal of Corporate Finance.

Also all accepted abstracts will be published electronically in the Conference Program and the Abstract Book (with an ISBN number). It will be distributed to all conference participants at the conference via USB. Although submitting full papers are not required, all the submitted full papers will also be included in the conference proceedings in the USB. After the conference, participants will also have the opportunity to send their paper to be published in the Springer’s series Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics (no submission and publication fees).

This will also be sent to Clarivate Analytics in order to be reviewed for coverage in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH). Please note that the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 19th EBES Conference Proceedings were accepted for inclusion in the Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH). 18th, 20th and subsequent conference proceedings are in progress.

Important Dates
Abstract Submission Deadline: February 28, 2019
Decision Communicated by: March 8, 2019*
Registration Deadline: April 19, 2019
Announcement of the Program: April 30, 2019
Paper Submission Deadline (Optional): April 19, 2019**
Paper Submission for the EBES journals: July 31, 2019
* The decision regarding the acceptance/rejection of each abstract/paper will be communicated with the corresponding author within a week of submission.
** Full paper submission is optional. If you want to be considered for the Best Paper Award or your full paper to be included in the conference proceedings in the USB, after submitting your abstract before February 28, 2018, you must also submit your completed (full) paper by April 19, 2019.

Contact: Ugur Can (ebes@ebesweb.org); Dr. Ender Demir (demir@ebesweb.org)

  • Eurasia Business and Economics Society
  • Global Labor Organization

Ends;

Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Call for papers for a conference in Brasov/Romania

Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research

The Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration within Transilvania University of Brasov, in collaboration with the Institute for Economic Forecasting of the Romanian Academy cordially invites you to submit research papers for presentation and discussions at the third edition of the International Conference „Inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Challenges, measures and solutions” (ISEG 2019). The 2019 event is supported by the Global Labor Organization (GLO).

The conference will be hosted by Transilvania University of Brasov and will be held 31 May-1 June 2019 in the Transilvania University Hall, Street Iuliu Maniu no. 47A, Brasov.

The keynote speakers of the 2019 ISEG conference are:

Klaus F. Zimmermann, President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO); Co-Director of POP at UNU-MERIT; Full Professor of Economics at Bonn University; Honorary Professor, Maastricht University, Free University of Berlin and Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Filomena Maggino, Full Professor at Sapienza University of Rome; Editor-in-Chief of Social Indicators Research (Springer); Counsellor – Prime Minister Office – Italian Government (Conte’s cabinet); Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-being Research; Past-President of the International Society for Quality Of Life Studies; President of the Italian Association for Quality of Life Studies.

The meeting will be an excellent opportunity for academics, researchers and doctoral students to present new research results and to discuss challenging issues on the topics of conference. The aim of this new series of conferences is to gather research interests and to stimulate collaborative research around actual macro- and microeconomic topics (as suggested below).

Topics:

We are inviting submissions of both empirical and theoretical work that fits into the conference topics. Being a multi- and interdisciplinary conference, we encourage submission of papers in the following broad research areas: economics, finance, marketing and management. Examples of suitable topics:

  • Economic growth and convergence perspectives in the European Union: Measurement methods and new empirical evidence
  • Public and Private Finance Sustainability in the Context of Current Economic Challenges
  • Issues and challenges in the Romanian higher education
  • Challenges and prospects of economic growth in South Eastern Europe
  • New inequalities, multidimensionality and growth pro-poorness
  • Business for sustainable development
  • New approaches in marketing and management

Submission

Deadline for abstract submission is 1st of March, 2019, and for full paper submission is May 15th, 2019. Authors of accepted abstracts will be informed by the 1st of April, 2019.

Please submit your abstracts and full papers through the conference website!

Publication opportunities

All papers must be written and presented in English. A blind review process apply to all submissions. During the conference, one discussant will be assigned to each paper.

Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings volume, which will be sent for being indexed by ISI Proceedings volume (CPCI – Conference Proceedings Citation Index) under Clarivate Analytics (or former Thomson Reuters).

Selected papers from the conference may be subsequently published in one of the following journals, subject to the agreement and decision of editors:

Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting

Journal of Smart Economic Growth

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov

Registration

The conference fee is 100 euro for each paper. The conference fee must be paid until the 26th of April by bank transfer, according to the indications which will be posted on the conference website. The fee covers the book of abstracts, the attendance certificate, as well as the access to all conference sessions, coffee breaks, lunch and festive dinner.

Best paper award

The “Best Paper Award” is granted to the best paper in the conference. Junior researchers are particularly encouraged to submit papers.

Updated information about the conference program, the organizing and scientific committees, and other related information will be posted on the conference website: http://unitbv.ro/iseg/

For any information related to the conference, please contact us: monica.szeles@unitbv.ro

  • Global Labor Organization
  • Romanian Academy
  • Transilvanian University of Brasov

Immigration restrictions lead to cultural separation across generations!

Article, News, Post, Post-19, Research,

Issue 2019/1 of the Journal of Population Economics is published: Please see for the Table of Content: Volume 32, Issue 1, January 2019

The article in the new issue

Immigration restrictions and second-generation cultural assimilation: theory and quasi-experimental evidence

By Fausto Galli, Giuseppe Russo; pp. 23-51

Abstract

“We study the effects of immigration restrictions on the cultural assimilation of second-generation migrants. In our theoretical model, when mobility is free, individuals with a stronger taste for their native culture migrate temporarily. When immigration is restricted, however, these individuals are incentivized to relocate permanently. Permanent emigrants procreate in the destination country and convey their cultural traits to the second generation, who will therefore find assimilation harder. We test this prediction by using the 1973 immigration ban in Germany (Anwerbestopp) as a quasi-experiment. Since the ban only concerned immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Community, they act as a treatment group. According to our estimates, the Anwerbestopp has reduced the cultural assimilation of the second generation. This result demonstrated robustness to several checks. We conclude that restrictive immigration policies may have the unintended consequence of delaying the intergenerational process of cultural assimilation. “

Read further open access for a short period:

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson, Disease risk and fertility: evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Journal of Population Economics, 31 (2018), 429–451.

Kuznets Prize Winner 2019.
The paper is freely downloadable for a short period. The Award Study shows that a rise in the disease risk increases the total fertility rate and the number of surviving children, a finding which has important policy implications.

Ends;

Migration fosters economic adjustment after shocks. European flexibility has increased.

Article, News, Post, Post-19, Research, , ,

Issue 2019/1 of the Journal of Population Economics is published: Please see for the Table of Content: Volume 32, Issue 1, January 2019

The Lead Article is about:
Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006–2016

Authors: Julia Jauer, Thomas Liebig, John P. Martin, Patrick A. Puhani

Abstract

” We estimate whether migration can be an equilibrating force in the labour market by comparing pre- and post-crisis migration movements at the regional level in both Europe and the United States, and their association with asymmetric labour market shocks. Based on fixed-effects regressions using regional panel data, we find that Europe’s migratory response to unemployment shocks was almost identical to that recorded in the United States after the crisis. Our estimates suggest that, if all measured population changes in Europe were due to migration for employment purposes—i.e. an upper-bound estimate—up to about a quarter of the asymmetric labour market shock would be absorbed by migration within a year. However, in Europe and especially in the Eurozone, the reaction to a very large extent stems from migration of recent EU accession country citizens as well as of third-country nationals.”

Read also open access for a short period:

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson, Disease risk and fertility: evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Journal of Population Economics, 31 (2018), 429–451.

Kuznets Prize Winner 2019.
The paper is freely downloadable for a short period. The Award Study shows that a rise in the disease risk increases the total fertility rate and the number of surviving children, a finding which has important policy implications.

Ends;

Research on Africa shows: A rise in the disease risk increases fertility: Interview with Professor Yoo-Mi Chin

Events, Interview, Post, Post-19, Research, ,

The Kuznets Prize Paper of the Journal of Population Economics was announced and given at the #ASSA2019 meeting in Atlanta. The Award Study shows that a rise in the disease risk increases the total fertility rate and the number of surviving children, a finding which has important policy implications. In every year, the Prize is selected by the Editors of the Journal among the papers published in the previous year. List of Kuznets Prize winners.

The paper is freely downloadable for a short period.

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson, Disease risk and fertility: evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Journal of Population Economics, 31 (2018), 429–451.

Yoo-Mi Chin

Interview with Author Yoo-Mi Chin, Professor of Economics at Baylor University

GLO: Is a rise of fertility after a disaster not the expected proper Malthusian response?

Yoo-Mi Chin: It is ambiguous whether we can clearly expect a Malthusian response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is true that population might recover from a positive check like diseases by increasing fertility. But after all, HIV is a sexually transmitted disease, and proliferation of HIV may lower fertility by inducing the use of contraception for safe sex. Further, HIV takes a heavy toll on working age adults. Like we see in the case of Black Death, as large-scale mortality causes labor shortages and subsequent higher wages, more women participate in labor market, which would lead to lower fertility. On the other hand, it is also possible that higher wages generate an income effect on the number of children. A lower life expectancy may increase fertility through lower returns to education and the child quantity-quality trade-off. Given such theoretical ambiguity, we find that an empirical examination of the issue is warranted.

GLO: How is fertility affected by a rise in the disease risk?

Yoo-Mi Chin: We find that a doubling of HIV prevalence increased total fertility rate by approximately 1.37 births and increased surviving children by approximately 0.38 children, using distance to the origin of the pandemic as an instrument for HIV prevalence. Although HIV/AIDS likely has increased child mortality, our findings suggest that the increase in births exceeded the increase in child mortality.

GLO: What are the policy implications?

Yoo-Mi Chin: The rise of the HIV/AIDS pandemic appears to have increased total fertility and the number of surviving children. Although the net effect of the pandemic on GDP per capita needs to be more thoroughly examined in future research, the increases in total fertility and the number of surviving children coupled with high mortality of working age adults could potentially lead to increases in dependency ratios and decreases in GDP per capita. Our results suggest that positive externalities generated by HIV prevention efforts might be larger than previously thought in that they contribute not only to reductions in HIV prevalence but also to reductions in total fertility, which could potentially enhance future welfare. Therefore, more resources for HIV prevention efforts are warranted.

The Story

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson, Disease risk and fertility: evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Journal of Population Economics, 31 (2018), 429–451.

The paper is freely downloadable for a short period.

Abstract: A fundamental question about human behavior is whether fertility responds to disease risk. The standard economic theory of household fertility decision-making generates ambiguous predictions, and the response has large implications for human welfare. We examine the fertility response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic using national household survey data from 14 sub-Saharan African countries. Instrumental variable (IV) estimates using distance to the origin of the pandemic suggest that HIV/AIDS has increased the total fertility rate (TFR) and the number of surviving children. These results rekindle the debate about the fertility response to disease risk, particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and highlight the question of whether the HIV/AIDS pandemic has reduced GDP per capita.

The Author

Yoo-Mi Chin is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Baylor University with a Ph.D. from Brown University. She is also a Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). Most of her research focuses on the analysis of domestic violence. She has published her previous work in the Journal of Applied Statistics, the Journal of Health Economics, and World Development, among other outlets. Prior to joining Baylor University, she was an Assistant Professor at the Missouri University of Science & Technology.

YOO-Mi Chin and Editor-in-Chief Klaus F. Zimmermann during the award ceremony in Atlanta

2019 Journal of Population Economics: Issues

Issue 2019/1: Is already out! Please see Table of Content: Volume 32, Issue 1, January 2019

The Lead Article is about:
Migration as an adjustment mechanism in the crisis? A comparison of Europe and the United States 2006–2016

Issue 2019/2: Will be out in a few weeks. See forthcoming announcements.

Ends;

Kuznets Prize of the Journal of Population Economics given at the #ASSA2019 Reception of IESR in Atlanta.

Article, Events, News, Post, Post-19, Research, , ,

The awarded study receiving the Kuznets Prize shows that a rise in the disease risk increases the total fertility rate and the number of surviving children. This has important policy implications.

The Kuznets Prize Paper of the Journal of Population Economics in a particular year is selected by the Editors of the Journal among the papers published in the previous year. Then the winners will be presented in a prize ceremony. This time, the winners remained confidential until January 4, 2019. The prize committee for the 2019 award consisted out of Alessandro Cigno, Erdal Tekin, Junsen Zhang and Klaus F. Zimmermann selecting from the 2018 published articles they were in charge of as acting Editors.

Dean Shuaizhang Feng, Head of the Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR) of Jinan University, had invited the members of the Global Labor Organizations (GLO) and the Kuznets Prize Ceremony of the Journal of Population Economics as other ASSA 2019 participants to join the reception of the Institute. IESR and GLO are collaborating organizations, and Shuaizhang Feng is a GLO Fellow and Associate Editor of the Journal.

GLO President Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Maastricht University) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal had visited Jinan University and IESR in March 2018 for a longer period and a GLO-IESR workshop. He had also presented the Journal in 2018 to various academic events in Beijing, Xiamen and Hongkong to strengthen the already strong contacts to the Chinese research community. A larger number of economists participated, including many Editorial Board Members of the Journal of Population Economics and Kuznets Prize winners of previous years.

Shuaizhang Feng reported about the activities of IESR and the hiring interviews at the ASSA job market and explained the attractive research climate at the Institute. He also warmly welcomed the affiliates of GLO and the Journal of Population Economics. Klaus F. Zimmermann congratulated Feng for the successful development of IESR and the strong research climate and the attractive working conditions he had observed while visiting the Institute in 2018 and met with the very many strong and ambitious researchers.

Zimmermann also welcomed the 2018 Kuznets Prize Winner, Le Wang (University of Oklahoma), who received the award together with Chunbei Wang (University of Oklahoma) for their article:

Knot yet: Minimum marriage age law, marriage delay, and earnings, Journal of Population Economics (2017), 30(3), pp. 771-804.

Both authors had studied and graduated at Jinan University before they came to the United States. Le Wang expressed his gratitude for receiving the Kuznets Prize and explained how it created visibility for his work.

Then the 2019 Kuznets Prize paper was announced. Studying the HIV/AIDS pandemic using national household survey data from 14 sub-Saharan African countries, it suggests that a rise in the disease risk increases the total fertility rate and the number of surviving children. This has important policy implications.

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson, Disease risk and fertility: evidence from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Journal of Population Economics, 31 (2018), 429–451.

Abstract: A fundamental question about human behavior is whether fertility responds to disease risk. The standard economic theory of household fertility decision-making generates ambiguous predictions, and the response has large implications for human welfare. We examine the fertility response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic using national household survey data from 14 sub-Saharan African countries. Instrumental variable (IV) estimates using distance to the origin of the pandemic suggest that HIV/AIDS has increased the total fertility rate (TFR) and the number of surviving children. These results rekindle the debate about the fertility response to disease risk, particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and highlight the question of whether the HIV/AIDS pandemic has reduced GDP per capita.

Yoo-Mi Chin is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Baylor University with a Ph.D. from Brown University. She is also a Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). Most of her research focuses on the analysis of domestic violence. She has published her previous work in the Journal of Applied Statistics, the Journal of Health Economics, and World Development, among other outlets. Prior to joining Baylor University, she was an Assistant Professor at the Missouri University of Science & Technology.

Nicholas Wilson is a Fellow with the Office of Evaluation Sciences, an Associate Professor of Economics at Reed College and the Chair of the Department of Economics. He is also a Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). His research focuses on fundamental puzzles about human behavior in the context of health, development, and behavioral economics. Prior to joining Reed College, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and an Assistant Professor of Economics at Williams College. He has published a larger number of papers in journals including the American Economic Review, Demography, Economics & Human Biology, Journal of Development Economics and Journal of Health Economics.

Yoo-Mi Chin was present at the ceremony and happily took the prize. The large crowd of participants congratulated the prize winners and networked intensively within the remaining reception time.

Yoo-Mi Chin & Nicholas Wilson

Yoo-Mi Chin & Klaus F. Zimmermann
Klaus F. Zimmermann & Shuaizhang Feng

Ends;

First Renmin – GLO Conference on the Chinese Labor Market 2018: Final Program and Event Pictures

Events, Post, Post-19, Research

The School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China (Beijing) and the Global Labor Organization (GLO) had organized their First Joint Conference on the Chinese labor market on 20 and 21 October 2018 at Renmin University of China, Beijing. The conference series provides a platform for researchers working on topics related to the Chinese labor market, including migration, discrimination, health and well-being, education, environment and labor market policies. The event is part of the Chinese Labor Market Cluster of GLO headed by GLO Cluster Lead Corrado Giulietti (University of Southampton & GLO), who is also a GLO Research Director.


GLO Cluster Lead Corrado Giulietti

Keynote speakers were
Xin Meng (Australian National University & GLO)
Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong & GLO )
Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University & GLO )

  • Xin Meng
  • Junsen Zhang
  • Klaus F. Zimmermann

The Program Committee consisted of
Sylvie Démurger (French National Centre for Scientific Research & GLO )
Shuaizhang Feng (Jinan University & GLO )
Corrado Giulietti (University of Southampton & GLO )
Jun  Han (Renmin University of China & GLO)


  • Sylvie Démurger

  • Shuaizhang Feng

  • Jun  Han

The Organizers were:
Corrado Giulietti (University of Southampton & GLO )
Jun  Han (Renmin University of China& GLO

The strong Final Program:
COPY

The well organized event brought a larger number of labor economists interested in the Chinese labor market together for intensive two days of high quality academic exchange and social interactions to foster future research. All participants were very satisfied with the outcomes and are grateful for the work of the local organizing team led by Jun Han and the strong support of GLO Fellow Dean Weiguo Yang of Remin University of China.

Day 1: 20 October 2018

  • Zhong Zhao, Klaus F. Zimmermann, Corrado Giulietti
  • Corrado Giulietti, Jun Han
  • Corrado Giulietti
  • Zimmermann, Meng
  • Jun Han

Keynote: Intergenerational Behavioural Consequences of a Socio-Political Upheaval
Xin Meng (Australian National University & GLO)

Session: “Labor Demand” Chair : Zhong Zhao (Renmin University of China & GLO)
Workers’ Valuation of Workplace Flexibility: A Field Experiment
Haoran He (Beijing Normal University), David Neumark (University of California at Irvine), Qian Weng
(Renmin University of China)
A Curse or a Blessing: Long-term Effects of the Soviet Union Aid Plants to China
Jingxuan Du (Renmin University of China), Zhong Zhao (Renmin University of China & GLO)
To Upgrade or To Relocate? Explaining Heterogeneous Responses of Chinese Light
Manufacturing Firms to Rising Labor Costs
Fei Wang (Renmin University of China & GLO), Junjie Xia (Peking University), Jiajun Xu (Peking
University)
  • Qian Weng
  • Fei Wang
  • Jingxuan Du
  • Zhong Zhao

Keynote: China’s One-Child Policy and Its Relaxation Effects on Fertility
Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong & GLO)

Session: “Family Economics” Chair : Rufei Guo(Wuhan University & GLO)
The Effects of Children’s Gender Composition on Filial Piety and Old-Age Support
Rufei Guo (Wuhan University & GLO), Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong & GLO)
Son Preference and Human Capital Investment Among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households Carl Lin (Bucknell University & GLO), Yan Sun (Beijing Normal University), Chunbing Xing (Beijing
Normal University & GLO)
  • Rufei Guo
  • Chunbing Xing


  • Liqiu Zhao & Corrado Giulietti
Session: “Productivity and Innovation” Chair : Teng Li(National University of Singapore)
From Tradition to Modern: The Impact of Knowledge Diffusion on Idea
Liu Xuke (Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences)
Non-linear Incentives and Worker Productivity: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment
Richard Freeman (Harvard University), Wei Huang (National University of Singapore), Teng Li
(National University of Singapore)
The Wage-productivity Nexus in the World Factory Economy
Giovanni Dosi (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna & GLO), Maria Enrica Virgillito (Catholic University of
Milan & GLO), Xiaodan Yu (University of Nottingham Ningbo China & GLO)
  • Teng Li
  • Xiaodan Yu
  • Liu Xuke

Day 2: 21 October 2018

Session: “Education” Chair : Haoran He (Beijing Normal University)
Labor Market Discrimination against Family Responsibilities: A Correspondence Study with
Policy Change in China
Haoran He (Beijing Normal University), Sherry Xin Li (University of Texas at Dallas), Yuling Han (Beijing Normal University)
Dynamics of Returns to Elite University Education: Evidence from Chinese Labor Market
Sylvie Démurger (French National Center for Scientific Research & GLO),  Eric A. Hanushek (Stanford
University),  Lei Zhang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Elite School Designation and House Prices: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Beijing, China
Bin Huang (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics), Xiaoyan He (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics), Lei Xu (National Institute of Economic and Social Research), Yu Zhu (University of
Dundee & GLO)
Air Pollution, Student Health, and School Absences: Evidence from China
Siyu Chen (National University of Singapore), Chongshan Guo (Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Xinfei Huang (International School of Business and Finance)  
  • Haoran He
  • Lei Zhang
  • Yu Zhu
  • Siyu Chen
  • Fei Wang
  • Chongshan Guo
Keynote: Recent Labor Market Research on China
Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Renmin University of China & GLO)
 
Conclusions and Farewell : The intention is to organize the next joint workshop in October 2019.

Ends;

GLO President Zimmermann is also EBES President

News, Post, Post-18, Research

As of 1 January 2019, the President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), Klaus F. Zimmermann also serves as the President of the Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES). EBES is a non-partisan, scholarly association dedicated to the discussion and publication of business and economics research and aims to advance the economic and business knowledge and the profession. EBES encourages plurality, freedom of expression and multidisciplinary. While the focus of EBES is the Eurasia region, the membership covers all parts of the world. MORE DETAILS.

Zimmermann had received the EBES Fellow Award 2018, was already a member of the Executive Board of EBES and a member of the Editorial Board of one of the EBES Journals, the Eurasian Economic Review (EAER, since 2017). In May 2018, EBES and GLO organized a very successful conference together in Berlin. In the summer, both organizations had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about establishing a long-term collaboration on educational and research activities. GLO will support paper sessions in the three conferences, EBES is organizing per year. This year, the events will be in Bali, Coventry and Lisbon.

EBES publishes two research journals, the Eurasian Economic Review (EAER) and the Eurasian Business Review (EABR). The EABR with GLO Fellow Marco Vivarelli as the Editor-in-Chief just got accepted for inclusion in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) starting with volume 6, issue 1 in 2016. The editorial team of EAER works with a similar ambition, since January 2019 under the leadership of Dorothea Schäfer as the Editor-in-Chief.

“EBES and GLO will both greatly benefit from the collaboration”, argues Zimmermann. “The motives of the two organizations are truly global and with a similar academic spirit, while their various strengths are complementary. I congratulate Vivarelli and his team to the great success and EBES for getting Schäfer for the new role with EAER.”

  • Bilgin, Zimmermann, Vivarelli
  • Participants in Berlin 2018
  • Participants in Berlin 2018

Mehmet Huseyin Bilgin is the long-term driving force of EBES and one of its Vice-Presidents, Marco Vivarelli the Editor-in-Chief of EABR. Bilgin and Vivarelli are also GLO Fellows; Bilgin is further the GLO Country Lead Turkey and Vivarelli the GLO Cluster Lead ‘Technological Change and the Labor Market’.

Ends;

Centre for Workforce Futures, Macquarie University, has joined GLO Network

News, Post, Post-18, Research, ,


The Centre for Workforce Futures at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, has joined the network of institutions of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) following intensified research collaborations. Prestigious ARC Discovery Research Grant of the Australian Research Council (ARC) won.

The Centre for Workforce Futures is a collaborative hub connecting researchers from a wide range of disciplines and universities with government, industry, not-for-profit organizations and the broader community to undertake problem-focused research and thought leadership that addresses current and future economic and social challenges relating to work, working people, work organization and employment. Directors are Lucy Taksa and Daryll Hull of Macquarie University.

In November 2017, Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & President of the Global Labor Organization, GLO) had been a Visiting Professor at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and he has recently affiliated with Macquarie University further by accepting to join the Centre for Workforce Futures as an Associate Member. The Co-Director of the Centre, Lucy Taksa is also a Professor of Management and Associate Dean for Research of the Faculty of Business & Economics at Macquarie University, and a GLO Fellow.

A team of GLO Fellows affiliated with the Centre for Workforce Futures consisting of Chief Investigators Fei Guo, Lucy Taksa, Zhiming Cheng, Massimiliano Tani and Partner Investigators Lihua Liu (University of Southern California) and Klaus F. Zimmermann have recently won a very prestigious ARC Discovery Research Grant of the Australian Research Council (ARC) on “Demographic and Social Dimensions of Migrant Ageing and Wellbeing in Australia”.

Ends;

GLO Discussion Papers December 2018 & Discussion Paper of the Month

Article, Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-18, Research

The discussion paper of the month examines the potentials multiple language skills have for employment and wages in a globalized world. The research finds in the context of an open and multilingual economy that language training improves employability, but the skills are not sufficiently rewarded by higher wages.

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: December

Discussion Paper No. 289 Evaluation of Language Training Programs in Luxembourg using Principal Stratification – Download PDF
by Bia, Michela & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Mercatanti, Andrea

GLO Fellow Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

Abstract: In a world increasingly globalized, multiple language skills can create more employment opportunities. Several countries include language training programs in active labor market programs for the unemployed. We analyze the effects of a language training program on the re-employment probability and hourly wages of the unemployed simultaneously, using high quality administrative data from Luxembourg. We address selection into training by exploiting the rich administrative information available, and account for the complication that wages are “truncated” by unemployment by adopting a principal stratification framework. Estimation is undertaken with a mixture model likelihood-based approach. To improve inference, we use the individual’s hours worked as a secondary outcome and a stochastic dominance assumption. These two features considerably ameliorate the multimodality problem commonly encountered in mixture models. We also conduct sensitivity analysis to assess the unconfoundedness assumption employed. Our results strongly suggest a positive effect (of up to 12.7 percent) of the language training programs on the re-employment probability, but no effects on wages for those who are observed employed regardless of training participation. It appears that, in the context of an open and multilingual economy, language training improve employability but the language skills acquired are not sufficiently rewarded to be reflected in higher wages.

GLO Discussion Papers of December 2018

Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers

289 Evaluation of Language Training Programs in Luxembourg using Principal Stratification – Download PDF
by Bia, Michela & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso & Mercatanti, Andrea

288 Bounds on Average and Quantile Treatment Effects on Duration Outcomes under Censoring, Selection, and Noncompliance – Download PDF
by Blanco, German & Chen, Xuan & Flores, Carlos A. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso

287 Anti-Migration as a Threat to Internationalization? A Review of the Migration-Internationalization Literature – Download PDF
by Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas & Lodefalk, Magnus

286 Some unpleasant consequences of testing at length – Download PDF
by Brunello, Giorgio & Crema, Angela & Rocco, Lorenzo

285 Does Money Relieve Depression? Evidence from Social Pension Expansions in China – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi & Wang, Tianyu & Busch, Susan H.

284 Media Attention and Choice of Major: Evidence from Anti-Doctor Violence in China – Download PDF
by Bo, Shiyu & Chen, Y. Joy & Song, Yan & Zhou, Sen

283 Elite School Designation and House Prices – Quasi-experimental Evidence from Beijing, China – Download PDF
by Huang, Bin & He, Xiaoyan & Xu, Lei & Zhu, Yu

282 Commuting Patterns, the Spatial Distribution of Jobs and the Gender Pay Gap in the U.S. – Download PDF
by Gutierrez, Federico H.

281 The Effect of Self-Employment on Income Inequality – Download PDF
by Schneck, Stefan

  • Magdalena Ulceluse
  • Matloob Piracha
  • Klaus F. Zimmermann

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

GLO Discussion Papers November 2018 & Discussion Paper of the Month

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-18, Research

The discussion paper of the month (see below) deals with the sources of inequality in East Africa. It concludes that promoting equity in education requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools.

Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers

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: November

Anand, Paul & Behrman, Jere R. & Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Jones, Sam: 2018. “Inequality of Opportunity in Education: Accounting for the Contributions of Sibs, Schools and Sorting across East Africa,” GLO Discussion Paper Series 270, Global Labor Organization (GLO). FREE – Download PDF

Abstract: Inequalities in the opportunity to obtain a good education in low-income countries are widely understood to be related to household resources and schooling quality. Yet, to date, most researchers have investigated the contributions of these two factors separately. This paper considers them jointly, paying special attention to their covariation, which indicates whether schools exacerbate or compensate for existing household-based inequalities. The paper develops a new variance decomposition framework and applies it to data on more than one million children in three low-income East African countries. The empirical results show that although household factors account for a significant share of total test score variation, variation in school quality and positive sorting between households and schools are, together, no less important. The analysis also finds evidence of substantial geographical heterogeneity in schooling quality. The paper concludes that promoting equity in education in East Africa requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools.

GLO Discussion Papers of November 2018

280 The Financial Decisions of Immigrant and Native Households: Evidence from Italy – Download PDF
by Bertocchi, Graziella & Brunetti, Marianna & Zaiceva, Anzelika

279 War and Social Attitudes – Download PDF
by Child, Travers Barclay & Nikolova, Elena

278 Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence – Download PDF
by Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn

277 Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network – Download PDF
by Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn

276 Work Hard or Play Hard? Degree Class, Student Leadership and Employment Opportunities – Download PDF
by Baert, Stijn & Verhaest, Diete

275 Industrial relations reform, firm-level bargaining and nominal wage floors – Download PDF
by Giannakopoulosa, Nicholas & Laliotis, Ioannis

274 Labor supply and the business cycle: The “Bandwagon Worker Effect” – Download PDF
by Martín Román, Ángel L. & Cuéllar-Martín, Jaime & Moral de Blas, Alfonso

273 Reaching the Top or Falling Behind? The Role of Occupational Segregation in Women’s Chances of Finding a High-Paying Job Over the Life-Cycle – Download PDF
by Gutierrez, Federico H.

272 Arrival of Young Talents: The Send-down Movement and Rural Education in China – Download PDF
by Chen, Yi & Fan, Ziying & Gu, Xiaomin & Zhou, Li-An

271 Family Unification, Siblings, and Skills – Download PDF
by Duleep, Harriet Orcutt & Regets, Mark

270 Inequality of Opportunity in Education: Accounting for the Contributions of Sibs, Schools and Sorting across East Africa – Download PDF
by Anand, Paul & Behrman, Jere R. & Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Jones, Sam

269 Trade and capital flows: Substitutes or complements? An empirical investigation – Download PDF
by Belke, Ansgar & Domnick, Clemens

268 Son Preference and Human Capital Investment Among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households – Download PDF
by Lin, Carl & Sun, Yan & Xing, Chunbing

M.M. (Magdalena) Ulceluse, PhD

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

Ends;

GLO Discussion Papers October 2018 & Discussion Paper of the Month

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-18, Research

The discussion paper of the month (see below) presents a remarkable review of the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision making. All by a leading expert of the field, GLO Fellow & GLO Cluster Lead Xi Chen. Further, the paper relates to an outstanding GLO workshop in Hong Kong on climate change and human resources consequences.

Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers

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

Chen, Xi: 2018. “Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making,” GLO Discussion Paper Series 266, Global Labor Organization (GLO). FREE – Download PDF

Abstract: Cognitive functioning is critical as in our daily life a host of real-world complex decisions in high-stakes markets have to be made. The decision-making process can be vulnerable to environmental stressors. Summarizing the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision making, we first illustrate key physiological and psychological pathways between air pollution and cognition. We then document the main patterns of air pollution affecting cognitive test performance by type of cognitive tests, gender, window of exposure, age profile, and educational attainment. We further extend to a review of real-world decision making that has been found to be affected by air pollution and the resulting cognitive impairments. Finally, rich implications on environmental health policies are drawn based on existing evaluations of social costs of air pollution.

GLO Discussion Papers of October 2018

267 New Education Models for the Future of Work Force – Download PDF
by Pastore, Francesco

266 Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi

265 Drivers of Labor Force Participation in Advanced Economies: Macro and Micro Evidence – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia

264 A Cohort-Based Analysis of Labor Force Participation for Advanced Economies – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia

263 Low, High and Super Congestion of an Open-Access Resource: Impact under Autarky and Trade, with Aquaculture as Illustration – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice

262 Brain Drain-Induced Brain Gain and the Bhagwati Tax: Are Early and Recent Paradigms Compatible? – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice

261 Labor Market and Institutional Drivers of Youth Irregular Migration: Evidence from the MENA Region – Download PDF
by Dibeh, Ghassan & Fakih, Ali & Marrouch, Walid

260 Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data – Download PDF
by Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin

259 Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable? – Download PDF
by Foster, Gigi & Stratton, Leslie S.

258 Marriage Market Signals and Homeownership for the Never Married – Download PDF
by Mundra, Kusum & Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth

257 Economic impact of STEM immigrant workers – Download PDF
by Baum, Christopher F. & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas

256 Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality? The Case of German Architects and Construction Engineers – Download PDF
by Rostam-Afschar, Davud & Strohmaier, Kristina

M.M. (Magdalena) Ulceluse, PhD

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

Ends;

GLO President Zimmermann visited Örebro University in Sweden

Events, Post, Post-18, Research

On the invitation of GLO Fellow Daniela Andren and Magnus Lodefalk, Klaus F. Zimmermann, (UNU-MERIT and President of the Global Labor Organization, GLO) was visiting Örebro University/Sweden on 19-20 November 2018 to attend a workshop on publishing in scientific journals. In his function as keynote speaker to the event, he was also reporting about his experience as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Population Economics and his role with many other journals in the profession. (MORE INFORMATION about the Journal of Population Economics.) The workshop discussed publication strategies and studied them on a selection of papers presented by the authors together with invited external reviewers, among them GLO Fellow Björn Gustafsson of Gothenburg University and Daniel Halvarsson of the Ratio Institute, Stockholm. Zimmermann and department members further discussed ways to intensify contacts with the GLO. He also enjoyed parts of Örebro, this wonderful Swedish city, which is very much worth visiting.

Workshop Co-Organizer and GLO Fellow Daniela Andren of Örebro University (left).


Dinner time for workshop participants

Also of potential interest for fans of the Journal: Brown, Alessio J.G. & Klaus F. Zimmermann, Three Decades of Publishing Research in Population Economics: Journal of Population Economics, 30 (2017), 11-27.

Ends;

GLO President visits government officials, business and the research community in Azerbaijan

Events, News, Policy, Post, Post-18, Research, Teaching

On the invitation of Natig Shirinzade, Chairman of the Institute of Global Economic Problems, the President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), Klaus F. Zimmermann, has visited Baku, Azerbaijan, on 10-13 November 2018 to discuss research and policy issues and to intensify contacts. Chairman Natig Shirinzade is also a GLO Fellow and the GLO Country Lead Azerbaijan representing GLO. MORE DETAILS.

Organized by Natig Shirinzade (right side of the picture), Zimmermann met with researchers and scientists, representatives from business and government including members from the office of the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Executive Director of the State Oil Fund and his staff, the Minister of Labor and the Minister of Education with their staff, the Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship Committee of the National Assembly, and the Deputy Foreign Minister and Founding Rector of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA University) with various administrators and professors from ADA University and the Azerbaijan State University of Economics.

The full program on November 12-13, 2018 included the following major program points in this sequence:

The joint initiative of Natig Shirinzade and Klaus F. Zimmermann was broadly covered by the Azerbaijani media:

Left picture: In the middle, Sahil Babayev, Minister of Labor and Social Protection. Right: Natig Shirinzade and Klaus F. Zimmermann

 

Excellent and deep discussions with key staff members of the office of the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva: Emin Huseynov (left) and Khalid Ahadov (right). Broad and common understanding about the global human challenges and the large potentials for deeper collaborations between Azerbaijan and Europe.

 

With Shahmar Movsumov as the Executive Director of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Fund prepares for the future of the country investing resources around the world and supporting the change of the country including activities strengthening infrastructure and human resources. Both Natig Shirinzade and Klaus F. Zimmermann were visiting Shahmar Movsumov and his staff in his headquarter to introduce the respective institutions and to discuss the research needs to deal with the major challenges of the country. Bellow: In the headquarter of the Fund.

 

 

In both ministries, labor and education, the exchange was about the political strategies to deal with the demand for effective government using the instruments of the digital age, establishing the physical and administrative infrastructure needed for the post oil age, the need to strengthen entrepreneurship and the development of skills and education. A particular need was identified in vocational training, where large efforts of both ministries are under way. Zimmermann agreed with ministers Sahil Babayev (labor) and Ceyhun Bayamon (education) that vocational training could be key for the development if combined with proper entrepreneurship and small business. He advertised for the German dual system, knowing the difficulties with an adaption of the model that requires long traditions and the strong support of the business community.

Shirinzade and Zimmermann further met with Ambassador Hafiz Pashayev, Deputy Foreign Minister and Founding Rector of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA University). At the ADA University, they met with him and Fariz Ismailzade (Vice Rector for External, Government and Student Affairs), Elkin Nurmammadov (Dean of the School of Business), Rahman Shahhuseynli (Director of the Office of International Affairs), Kavus Abushov (Assistant Professor, Political Sciences), all ADA University, and Anar Rzayev, Vice-Rector International Relations and Programs of UNEC, the Azerbaijan State University of Economics. Topics discussed included the mission of GLO, the natural role of the country as a geographic, economic and political meeting point between Europe and Asia, and potentials for academic exchange of the universities with Europe. The visit at ADA University ended with a lecture of Zimmermann for ADA students.

Zimmermann speaking at the ADA University Global Perspectives Lecture Series in front of a large audience of interested students.

 

REFERENCES:
Klaus F. Zimmermann et al. (2013). Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training. Foundations and Trends in Microeconomics, Vol. 9, 1-157. now publishers.

Luca Barbone, Martin Kahanec, Klaus F. Zimmermann and Lucia Kureková (2013), Migration from the Eastern Partnership Countries to the European Union — Options for a Better Future, IZA Research Report, No. 55, Bonn. (50 pages)

Martin Kahanec, Klaus F. Zimmermann, Lucia Kureková and Costanza Biavaschi (2013), Labour Migration from EaP Countries to the EU – Assessment of Costs and Benefits and Proposals for Better Labour Market Matching, IZA Research Report, No. 56, Bonn. (164 pages)

On the more touristic side, Zimmermann explored on November 11 and 12 the city of Baku and the environment directed by a strongly motivated team of tourist guide, interpreter and driver. These experiences provided him with deep insides into history, modern developments, challenges and potentials of the country. On November 10, he was visiting modern Baku and enjoyed some of the local culture. On November 10 in the afternoon, he has been in the old city of Baku, and on November 11, among others, in the Gobustan National Park, saw the Petroglyphs and investigated the Zoroastrian temple of Ateshgah (Part III). At the end, he inspected Yanardag, the burning mountain. (The links lead to the four individual reports on Zimmermann’s private website for those interested.)

Ends;

“Climate Change and Human Responses”: GLO conference in Hong Kong with FOM & KAS has started on Wednesday, 31 October 2018

Events, Policy, Post, Post-18, Research

The joint FOM-GLO-KAS Conference about “Climate Change and Human Responses”  scheduled  for 31 October – 2 November 2018 in Hong Kong has begun on Wednesday, 31 October 2018. The event is co-organized by the Global Labor Organization (GLO), FOM University of Applied Sciences and Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

See details on the following days, linked: DAY TWO, DAY THREE

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st Century. It does not only have severe consequences for eco-systems, but also directly and indirectly affects societies and economies. The consequences for global production chains, output, labor markets and well-being will be massive. Rising sea levels, floods and droughts, changing agricultural patterns – tremendous economic losses and migration of labor force will lead to unforeseeable consequences on human well-being, public health, labor performance and productivity. The innovative conference deals with the under-researched human consequences of climate change and brings together researchers, business, the policy community and civil society in a city which will be heavily affected by climate change, Hong Kong.

GLO has recently provided a number of Discussion Papers on the topic, see below.

Organizers are Peter Hefele (KAS RECAP, Hongkong), Andreas Oberheitmann (FOM, RWI and GLO) and Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and GLO). Participants are renowned researchers, politicians and entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Asia, Europe and the US.

THE PROGRAM: “Climate Change and Human Responses” 

WEDNESDAY, 31ST OCTOBER 2018
Venue: Meeting Room Whampoa 1&2, 1/F, Hotel Harbour Grand Kowloon, Hung Hom,
Hong Kong

16:00 Registration
16:15 Welcoming Remarks
– Peter HEFELE, KAS RECAP, Hong Kong
– Andreas OBERHEITMANN, FOM Hochschule, RWI and GLO
16:45 Keynote Speech
Klaus F. ZIMMERMANN, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and GLO
Climate Change: The Global Labor Challenge
17:15 Q&A
18:00 End of Discussion
19:00 Dinner
Keynote Speech: Ir Albert LAI, CEO of Carbon Care Asia, Hong Kong
Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Hong Kong´s Innovation System
Venue: Grand Salon, Hotel Harbour Grand Kowloon

THURSDAY, 1ST NOVEMBER 2018

9:00 Session 1: Impact of Climate Change on Regions and Industry Sectors
Chair: ZHANG Yifan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and GLO
– Manfred FISCHEDICK, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and Environment
Climate Change and (Basic) Industry: Options and Related Chances and Challenges
for a Green Transformation
– Andreas OBERHEITMANN, FOM, RWI and GLO
Challenges of Climate Change for Coastal Regions and Cities: the Case of China
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 Session 2: Impacts of Climate Change on Global Labor Force and Labour
Markets
Chair: GUO Chaoran, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and GLO
– FENG Shuaizhang, Jinan University and GLO (with CUI Xiaomeng, Jinan University)
Climate Variability, Agricultural Productivity and Migration
(video presentation)
– CHEN Xi, Yale University and GLO
Climate and Environmental Challenges to Health Capital
– Christopher PARSONS, The University of Western Australia and GLO
Climate Change and Migration, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: A Solution to the Immobility Paradox
13:00 Lunch
Venue: Restaurant Waterfront Bar & Terrace, G/F, Harbour Grand Kowloon

14.00 Session 3: Climate Change: Historical Lessons
Chair: Manfred FISCHEDICK, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and Environment
– Almas HESHMATI, Jönköping International Business School, Sogang University
and GLO, Sweden/South Korea
What Can We Learn from Environmental Disasters for the Climate Change Challenges?
– PEI Qing, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Mandate of Heaven – Climate change, migration and geopolitical cycles in imperial
China
15:30 Coffee Break
15:45 Session 4: Climate Change: How to React?
Chair: Anbumozhi VENKATACHALAM, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East
Asia (ERIA)
– Astghik MAVISAKALYAN, Curtin University and GLO
Gender and Climate Change: Do Female Parliamentarians Make a Difference?
Eileen GALLAGHER, BSR (Business for Social Responsibility), Hong Kong
How Business Can Manage Climate Risk in Southeast Asia
17:00 Coffee Break

17:20 KAS–CUHK Students Forum
(in cooperation with the Faculty of Law/Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
“Climate Change and Human Responses”
Chair: Peter HEFELE, KAS RECAP, Hong Kong / Anjle GUPTA, CUHK, Hong Kong
Welcoming Remarks:
– Anatole BOUTE, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Statements (each 5–10 mins)
– LL.M-Master Course Student, CUHK
Discussion
18:00 Wrap-up and Concluding Remarks
– Andreas OBERHEITMANN
– Peter HEFELE
18:30 Meet at Lobby and Transfer to Restaurant
19:00 Dinner

FRIDAY, 2ND NOVEMBER 2018
8:30 Breakfast Discussion (in cooperation with the German Chamber of Commerce)
Climate Change and Human Responses: How to prepare for Change?
Venue: German Chamber of Commerce, 3601, Tower One, Lippo Centre,
89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Chair: Andreas OBERHEITMANN, FOM, RWI and GLO
Welcoming Remarks
– Wolfgang EHMANN, German Chamber of Commerce
– Klaus F. ZIMMERMANN, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and GLO
Keynote Speeches (10 min each)
– Manfred FISCHEDICK, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and Environment
– Eric CHONG, President and CEO of Siemens Ltd. Hong Kong; Member of the
Board of Directors of Business Environment Council (BEC), Hong Kong
Q&A
10:00 End of Event

 
From the left: GLO Fellows Andreas OBERHEITMANN, Christopher PARSONS &  Astghik MAVISAKALYAN
Andreas OBERHEITMANN &
Klaus F. ZIMMERMANN		 From the left: Almas HESHMATI, GLO Fellow and GLO Cluster Lead Africa, listening to Peter HEFELE who is introducing the Keynote Dinner Speaker: Ir Albert LAI Keynote Dinner Speaker
  Ir Albert LAI
CEO of Carbon Care Asia
Hong Kong

RECENT GLO Discussion Papers on the issue (freely downloadable):

DP 266 Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi
DP 221 Gender and climate change: Do female parliamentarians make a difference? – Download PDF
by Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Tarverdi, Yashar
DP 86 Do Environmental Regulations Effect FDI decisions? The Pollution Haven Hypothesis Revisited – Download PDF
by Yoon, Haeyeon & Heshmati, Almas
DP 78 Managing the Impact of Climate Change on Migration: Evidence from Mexico – Download PDF
by Chort, Isabelle & de la Rupelle, Maëlys
DP 56 Happiness in the Air: How Does a Dirty Sky Affect Mental Health and Subjective Well-being? – Download PDF
by Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi
DP 32 Smog in Our Brains: Gender Differences in the Impact of Exposure to Air Pollution on Cognitive Performance  – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi & Zhang, Xiaobo & Zhang, Xin

Ends;

 

Is female breadwinning unhealthy for partnerships? Not broadly, says new evidence for the US and Australia

Discussion Paper, Post, Post-18, Research

The GLO Discussion Paper of the Month (see below) from all GLO DP’s of October (see below) presents new evidence on the association between female breadwinning and the quality of US and Australian partnerships and their stability. The good news is that it is not widely negatively related.

Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers

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 2018

Foster, Gigi & Stratton, Leslie S., 2018. “Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable?,” GLO Discussion Paper Series 259, Global Labor Organization (GLO). FREE Download PDF

Abstract: Using Bertrand, Kamenica and Pan’s (2015) original data, we find that female breadwinning is significantly associated with partnership problems only for older women in cross sections, but for younger ones in fixed-effects specifications. In more recent US and Australian data, female breadwinning is associated with a modestly higher dissolution risk and a fall in some measures of reported relationship quality, but mainly for young people in cohabiting partnerships and men in less educated partnerships. We suggest our results reflect changing norms plus market dynamics arising from the ease of access to superior partnership alternatives for women who out-earn their partners.

GLO Discussion Papers of October 2018

267 New Education Models for the Future of Work Force – Download PDF
by Pastore, Francesco

266 Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi

265 Drivers of Labor Force Participation in Advanced Economies: Macro and Micro Evidence – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia

264 A Cohort-Based Analysis of Labor Force Participation for Advanced Economies – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia

263 Low, High and Super Congestion of an Open-Access Resource: Impact under Autarky and Trade, with Aquaculture as Illustration – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice

262 Brain Drain-Induced Brain Gain and the Bhagwati Tax: Are Early and Recent Paradigms Compatible? – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice

261 Labor Market and Institutional Drivers of Youth Irregular Migration: Evidence from the MENA Region – Download PDF
by Dibeh, Ghassan & Fakih, Ali & Marrouch, Walid

260 Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data – Download PDF
by Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin

259 Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable? – Download PDF
by Foster, Gigi & Stratton, Leslie S.

258 Marriage Market Signals and Homeownership for the Never Married – Download PDF
by Mundra, Kusum & Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth

257 Economic impact of STEM immigrant workers – Download PDF
by Baum, Christopher F. & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas

256 Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality? The Case of German Architects and Construction Engineers – Download PDF
by Rostam-Afschar, Davud & Strohmaier, Kristina

M.M. (Magdalena) Ulceluse, PhD

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

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Zimmermann gave a research seminar at Beijing Normal University last Friday on arsenic drinking water

Events, Post, Post-18, Research

In October 2018, Klaus F. Zimmermann, President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, had taken his office at Renmin University of China. On Friday October 26, he visited Beijing Normal University to provide a research seminar on “Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water and Mental Health”.

The seminar was invited and chaired by GLO Fellow & Professor Li Shi of Beijing Normal University, who also introduced Zimmermann to the very large audience. The presentation was based on a revised version of his recent Princeton University Discussion Paper (Working Paper #607, Princeton University, Industrial Relations Section). The discussion was lively and Zimmermann has received a number of useful comments.

Zimmermann during his lecture.
LAI Desheng (right), Professor & Dean of the Business School of Beijing Normal University.
AFTER THE HOUR. Zimmermann, left, with GLO Fellow Professor LI Shi of Beijing Normal University, one of the leading labor scholars of the country.

 

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Another GLO & University of Malaya Research Seminar took place in Kuala Lumpur on 19 October 2018

Events, Post, Post-18, Research

19 October 2018 at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the University of Malaya (UM) has organized again an event in this seminar series: The GLO-UM Joint Labor Economics Seminar. It is headed by GLO Fellow Professor Niaz Asadullah in his function as the GLO Lead for South-East Asia (GLO activities in South-East Asia). He is also the GLO Country Lead Malaysia.

The speaker has been Dr Rasyad  Parinduri, who is an Associate Professor at the Nottingham University Business School (NUBS), the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. He spoke about:

“The Effects of Mediums of Instruction on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Malaysia ”

Abstract of the lecture:
We examine the effects of having English as a medium of instruction on labor market outcomes later in life. We exploit an exogenous variation in mediums of instruction induced by the government of Malaysia’s decision to discontinue English-medium public schools and phase them out with Malay-medium public schools in 1970, which fits a fuzzy regression discontinuity design. We find some evidence that having English as a medium of instruction improves labor market outcomes. We explore some mechanisms through which mediums of instruction matter: We find having English as a medium of instruction improves English proficiency, especially reading and writing skills, and increases educational attainment, which in turn increase earnings and improve employability.

PDF Flyer of the event: GLO-Seminar-19-Oct-2018
Paper for the event.
Further details of the event schedule.

GLO Fellow Niaz Asadullah (left) & Rasyad  Parinduri
Associate Professor Yong Chen Chen commenting on the talk

Speaker bio:
Rasyad A. Parinduri is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Nottingham University Business School (NUBS), the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. Rasyad teaches industrial organization at the NUBS. He does research on the intersection of development economics and industrial organization using applied microeconometrics, analyzing the effects of policies and market changes on development, competition, labor outcomes, and trade. He has published in, among others, the Journal of Development Studies, Economics of Transition, Economics of Education Review, and World Development.

Seminar Speaker Rasyad A. Parinduri GLO Fellow Professor Niaz Asadullah
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Expert Michele Bruni says: African mass emigration is not an option, but unavoidable.

Interview, Policy, Post, Post-18, Research

In an interview with GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann in Beijing, Michele Bruni, Team Leader and Resident Expert of the EU-China Social Protection Reform Project, outlines that the world will see large, unstoppable demographic imbalances causing substantial challenges. It will in particular involve China, Europe and Africa. Only managed migration and educational efforts can help to deal with this.

GLO Fellow Michele Bruni, Team Leader and Resident Expert of the EU-China Social Protection Reform Project, Beijing.

Michele Bruni holds a Laurea in Political Sciences from the University of Florence and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at the Universities of Calabria, Bologna, and Modena. He is a Fellow of  the Global Labor Organization (GLO) and member of the Center for the Analysis of Public Policies of the Faculty of Economics “M. Biagi”, University of Modena (CAPP). At present, Bruni lives in Beijing where he is Team Leader and Resident Expert of the EU-China Social Protection Reform Project. For more than twenty five years he has participated as labor market expert in numerous EU, ADB and WB funded projects in Eastern Europe, Africa and South East Asia countries. In his research, Bruni has focused on the development of stock and flow models and their application to the analysis of labor market and migration.

QUESTION: Your research seems to suggest that the world will soon experience the largest demographic imbalances that mankind has ever seen. What do you mean by this?

During this century, the growth of working age population will level off as a consequence of the unstoppable demographic transition. But this will result from two opposite tendencies:  the working age population of (i) an increasing number of countries will sharply decline, and (ii) of an decreasing number of countries, the poorest ones, it will explode. This is an unprecedented demographic polarization due to the very different stages countries are currently in the demographic transition.

Over the next 40 years, the world’s working age population will increase from 4.85 billion to 6.21 billion, this is a rise of 1.36 billion people and 28%. This results from positive balances of 1.9 billion and negative balances of 524 million people. The shrinking areas are lead by China with a share of 48.1%, followed by Europe (25.6%), Asia excluding China (18.2%), Latin America (4.1%), and the new world countries (USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) with only 3.8%. The positive balances will be concentrated in Africa (56.8%) and in Asia (37.6 %).

QUESTION: Although both shrinking and aging, China and Europe plan to play the “fortress game”. Will this be sustainable?

In absence of migration the working age population of Europe will decline by 134 million and that of China by 252 million over the next 4 decades. Can Europe and China really continue on their path of economic growth and social development without migrants? Is technological change capable to increase productivity as then needed?

The idea that AI and robots will produce a dramatic decline of labor needs has been put forward by gurus of the new technologies, economists, and obviously politicians. However, this is not supported by empirical evidence, it is static and ignores second order effects. Computer-based technologies may destroy jobs, but may also create new ones. Furthermore, the human mind has what appears to be a limitless capacity and fantasy to “invent” new needs and a limitless capacity to invent and produce new goods to satisfy them. It seems therefore evident that for Europe, China – and other numerous countries like Japan and Korea that will experience an even more dramatic decline of working age population – mass immigration is not an option, but a necessity.

To play the “fortress game” by exploiting irrational fears and ignore how the labor market works and how strong the demographic trends are would be totally irrational. Moreover, this game would be undermined by the market itself that will find a way to satisfy its labor needs. At the same time it is difficult to believe that Africa, a continent plagued by war, endemic problems of corruption, and a low educational level will be able to outperform the Chinese economic miracle and create over a 40 year period the more than 700 million jobs necessary to satisfy its increase of labor supply. Therefore, African mass emigration is not an option, but unavoidable.

QUESTION:  Would global collaboration help, and could educational investments be part of a solution?

The demographic polarization contains the potential solution to the problems it generates: The structural need of labor of the countries in the last phase of the demographic transition will correspond a structural excess of labor in the countries in the first phase. However, it is unrealistic that in the present political context immigration countries will open their countries sufficiently allowing the market to do the matching. In my work, I have suggested a cooperative management of migration flows recognizing that arrival countries will almost only need migrants with a medium or high level of education. Hence, the necessary education and vocational training should be financed by the immigration countries and organized by a specialized international organization in the origin countries.

QUESTION: How can China and Europe cooperate, and could they absorb African excess supply of labor?

Europe and China cannot absorb the huge rise in the job-seeking African population, but significantly reduce the burden of job-creation there to less than 400 million. Still a large number, but together with the Chinese infrastructure initiatives the proposed educational activities could help to give the African continent a push. This analysis also suggest that Europe, China and other Asian countries could join forces to maximize the potential of demand-driven migrations, while given its location and rich experience in this field, Europe could take the role of the “training center” of the project.

QUESTION: So the face of migration in the future is “African”?

Human history has already recorded two “out of Africa” migrations. It is a matter of speculation whether those early migrations were due to economic reasons or, as I suspect, to one of the basic characteristic of primates, curiosity. This century will record the third out of Africa migration, but this time migrants will be pulled by the labor needs of Europe and Asia.

GLO Experts Bruni & Zimmermann debating the facts and the policy options in a Beijing coffee shop

References

Bruni, Michele (2017), Egypt Labour market report. Demographic trends, labour market evolution and scenarios for the period 2015-30, International Organization for Migration, Cairo.

Bruni, Michele (2017), Promoting a Common Understanding of Migration Trends. Analysis and Policies, International Organization for Migration, Cairo.

Bruni, Michele (2018), Ageing, the socioeconomic burden, labour market and migration. The Chinese case in an international perspective – Download PDF, GLO Discussion Paper No. 222.

Cervellati, Matteo, Uwe Sunde & Klaus F. Zimmermann, Demographic Dynamics and Long-Run Development: Insights for the Secular Stagnation Debate, Working Paper #604, Princeton University, Industrial Relations Section, UNU – MERIT Working Paper # 2016-049, ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy #226 & CEPR Discussion Paper DP 11569. Published:  Journal of Population Economics , Volume 30, Issue 2, pp 401–432; DOI: 10.1007/s00148-016-0626-8.

Zimmermann, Klaus F. et al. (2013), Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training, Foundations and Trends® in Microeconomics 9, 1-157.

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GLO Fellow Michele Bruni, Beijing, studies the long-term implications of demographic change for China

Discussion Paper, Policy, Post, Post-18, Research

China is much younger than Europe, but ages much faster reaching and passing Europe in due course. Michele Bruni, EU Expert resident in Beijing and Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO) analyzes the consequences of the significant demographic changes for the Chinese labor market and welfare.

GLO Fellow Michele Bruni, EU Expert, and  Resident in Beijing

GLO Discussion Paper No. 222 Ageing, the socioeconomic burden, labour market and migration. The Chinese case in an international perspective – Download PDF
by Bruni, Michele

Abstract

China still lags behind Europe along the path of the demographic transition and therefore is still much younger. However, due to the speed with which the fertility rate dropped and life expectancy increased, China ageing process will proceed at a very fast space and around the middle of the century the population of China is projected to be as old as that of France and the UK and older than that of the USA. The paper evaluates the labor market and welfare implications of this process, also by an economic indicator of dependency and socioeconomic burden.

Interested in other GLO Discussion Papers?  The GLO DP series for free.

Interested in other research on China? Recent Papers on the Chinese Labor Market

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