Who promotes a value‐in‐diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics

Diversity perspectives are philosophies of or approaches to diversity held by organizations, groups, or executives. They are important for organizations because they can determine the success or failure of diversity in the workforce. However, little is known about the predictors of diversity perspectives among executives. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, we analyzed 50 interviews with top executives in Germany to identify individual and organizational characteristics that predict executives' adoption of a diversity perspective, in particular of a value‐in‐diversity perspective. Specifically, we analyzed gender, age, education level, vocational background, and tenure (individual characteristics), as well as size, sector of organization, and competitive environment (organizational characteristics), as potential predictors. We found single characteristics did not predict adoption, but configurations of characteristics did. Drawing on the person‐situation‐interactionist perspective, we developed specific profiles of executives likely to foster a value‐in‐diversity perspective and identified characteristics of their work environments that support such an approach. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Recent trends in co-authorship in economics: evidence from RePEc

This article investigates the recent trends in co-authorship in economics. Using data from more than 700 000 journal articles we show that the average number of authors per article has increased over the last years. This process is likely to be continued in the future. In a regression analysis, we present evidence how the authorship of papers is related to the number of citations, the JEL classification, the number of journal pages and the length of the title.     

Corporate taxation and the quality of research and development

This paper examines the impact of tax incentives on corporate research and development (R&D) activity. R&D tax incentives are commonly provided as special tax allowances or tax credits. In recent years, several countries also reduced their income tax rates on R&D output with the purpose to foster R&D activity. Previous papers have shown that all three tax instruments are effective in raising the quantity of R&D related activity. We in turn assess the impact of corporate tax incentives on the quality of R&D projects, i.e., their innovativeness and earnings potential. Using rich data on corporate patent applications to the European patent office, we find that a low tax rate on patent income raises the average profitability and innovation level of the projects undertaken in a country. The effect is statistically significant and economically relevant and prevails in a number of sensitivity checks. Generous R&D tax credits and tax allowances are in contrast found to exert a negative impact on project quality.     

The economic costs of sleaze or how replacing samurai with bureaucrats boosted regional growth in Meiji Japan

The notion that professional, efficient and non-corrupt bureaucracies foster economic growth is virtually uncontested. In spite of this wide consensus, central questions remain unanswered. Thus, while the harmful effects of dysfunctional administrations are extensively covered in the theoretical literature, little is known about the empirical relevance and the expected costs of insufficient administrative rationalization. And while efficient bureaucracies are considered a key ingredient to institutional performance, the existing research rarely investigates how desirable administrative structures have been implemented in history or which concrete policy measures constitute feasible reform strategies for present-day development countries. The present paper therefore aims at providing empirical evidence to dose this lacuna; to do so, it relies on the case of administrative reforms in the last three decades of the nineteenth century in Meiji Japan. Building on an exceptionally detailed set of official statistics and documentary sources, it constructs a panel of 45 Japanese prefectures and assesses the impact of heterogeneous reform implementation on canonical indicators of economic performance including measures of regional GDP, business activity and financial market development. The central results of the econometric analysis are that delayed administrative rationalization came along with a statistically significant and robust penalty on all development indicators. Moreover, this effect was remarkably persistent over time, as the data show that late-reforming prefectures performed systematically worse than the administrative forerunners until well into the twentieth century.     

Financial Student Aid and Enrollment in Higher Education: New Evidence from Germany*

Means‐tested student aid might affect enrollment in higher education. To derive the potential influence of student aid, we use a tax‐benefit microsimulation model. The effect is a non‐linear function of parental income, with variation as a result of bracket creeping and various reforms. Therefore, the effect of student aid on enrollment can be separated from the effects of income and other family characteristics. Using the German Socio‐Economic Panel, we find a small but significant positive effect, similar in size to the effects reported in previous studies for European countries but smaller than in the US.     

Work Incentives and Labor Supply Effects of the ‘Mini-Jobs Reform’ in Germany

We analyze the work incentives and labor supply effects of the so-called mini-jobs reform (subsidies of social security contributions to people with low-earnings jobs) introduced in Germany in April 2003. The analysis is based on a structural labor supply model embedded in a detailed tax-benefit microsimulation model for which we use the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). Our simulation results show that the likely employment effects of the mini-jobs reform will be small. The small positive participation effect is outweighed by a negative hours effect among already employed workers. The fiscal effects of the reform are also likely to be negative. We conclude that the analyzed mini-jobs reform is not an effective policy to increase employment of people with low earnings capacity.*We thank the German Science Foundation (DFG) for financial support under the research program Flexibilisierungspotenziale bei heterogenen Arbeitsmärkten (project STE 681/5-1).     

Why Are Mothers Working Longer Hours in Austria than in Germany? A Comparative Microsimulation Analysis*

Labour force participation rates of mothers in Austria and Germany are similar; however, full‐time employment rates are much higher among Austrian mothers. In order to find out to what extent these differences can be attributed to differences in the tax‐transfer system, we perform a comparative microsimulation exercise. After estimating structural labour supply models for both countries, we interchange two important institutional characteristics of the two countries ‐ namely, (i) the definition of the tax unit within the personal income tax and (ii) the parental leave benefit scheme. As our analysis shows, differences in mothers’employment patterns can partly be explained by the different tax systems: while Germany has a system of joint taxation with income splitting for married couples, Austria taxes everyone individually, which leads to lower marginal tax rates for secondary earners than in the German system.