Effect of type 1 diabetes on school performance in a dynamic world: new analysis exploring Swedish register data

This paper investigates if the effect of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) on school performance, documented in prior research, has changed in more recent birth cohorts of children using national Swedish population register data. The issue is of interest because management and treatment of the disease have improved over the last decades and, furthermore, because of changes in the educational grading system. Despite these changes, data indicate a persistent negative effect of T1DM on compulsory and upper secondary school grades with a standardized effect size of ?0.109 and ?0.070, respectively, and the results appear only marginally smaller compared to earlier findings in cohorts completing school under the previous grading system. Moreover, the results are consistent for alternative model specifications and econometric estimation strategies. Whereas access to new treatment technologies and improved diabetes management strategies has reduced the burden of diabetes in daily life, the results from this study indicate that continued efforts are needed to improve the situation in school for children with T1DM to prevent potential long-term socio-economic consequences.     

The effectiveness of Public Employment Service workers in the Netherlands

In this paper, we measure the effectiveness of the Dutch Public Employment Service (PES) workers for various performance indicators. Using unique administrative monthly data from local PES offices during 2004, we exploit the fact that the number of PES workers per job seeker varies substantially between offices and over time. We find additional PES workers to significantly increase outflow rates for short term unemployed (i.e. the first half year of unemployment), whereas no effects are obtained for the outflow rates of long term unemployed. PES workers are also found to reduce the inflow into the schemes and to increase the number of vacancies that are registered by offices. Although the effectiveness of PES workers is limited, we conclude that changes in the number of PES workers per client are cost-effective—that is, the extra costs are compensated for by the resulting reduction in benefit expenses.     

基于DEA方法的大学生公共就业服务政策有效性分析

本文运用数据包络分析(DEA)方法,建立了C2R模型及相应投影模型和评价指标体系,对1999—2006年中国实行的大学生公共就业服务政策的有效性进行了实证分析。分析结果表明,2003年以后,大学生公共就业服务政策在解决大学生就业问题上存在效率损失,其中高校师资、公共就业服务机构的数量及对大学毕业生创业的财政补贴等指标对大学生公共就业服务政策有效性的影响较大,同时存在改进的空间。     

PPP: Further evidence from Japanese regional data

This paper empirically analyzes Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) among Japanese municipalities from 1990 to 2003. Using panel unit root tests including one that considers cross-sectional dependence in the data (e.g., [Moon, H. R. and Perron, B. (2004). Testing for a unit root in panels with dynamic factors. Journal of Econometrics, 112, 81–126.]), we find evidence in favor of PPP, confirming the stationarity of relative prices in Japan and thus the long-run co-movement of municipal prices. Furthermore, the half-life of a shock is found to be about 2 years, which is faster than that of the international PPP. As in the European and US studies, short-term deviations from PPP can be explained by income differentials and distance between cities.     

Housing deprivation and health status: evidence from Spain

Living in inadequate housing conditions not only supposes a failure of a basic functioning. It also has effects on other essential aspects of well-being such as health. This study questions to what extent living in poor housing conditions can determine individuals’ health status once the possible influence of other factors is controlled for. By estimating a logistic model with individual effects and a housing deprivation index based on a latent variable model, we reach a number of relevant conclusions concerning the relationship between these two different dimensions of multidimensional well-being. We find a negative effect of housing deprivation on the individuals’ health, both when housing conditions are introduced in a disaggregated manner in the model and when they are combined in a latent variable.     

Factors affecting trade in services: evidence from panel data

In the course of economic development, nations have typically progressed through stages in which agriculture, then manufacturing and, finally, services predominate. Concerns around the sustainability of manufacturing and goods export-led growth raise the importance of trade in services. In the context of a panel model, controlling for the factors that determine trade in general, we examine the determinants of trade in services in a sample of 46 countries over the decade 2004–2015. We find an ambiguous pattern of effects from institutional quality but strong evidence of the importance of trade in goods for trade in services.     

Moral hazard among the sick and unemployed: evidence from a Swedish social insurance reform

This paper studies a specific type of moral hazard that arises in the interplay between two large public social insurance systems in Sweden, namely the sickness insurance (SI) and the unemployment insurance (UI). Moral hazard can arise from the structure of the benefit levels as for some unemployed persons benefits from the SI are higher than benefits from the UI. We use a reform of the SI system that came into force on 1 July 2003 to identify the effect of economic incentives arising from the different benefit levels. The purpose of the reform was to eliminate the difference in benefits between the two social insurance systems. Our results from a duration analysis show clearly that the higher the sickness benefits, the higher the probability of reporting sick.     

贸易自由化对就业的影响——来自第三产业和个体私营企业的数据

大部分研究贸易对就业影响的中文文献关注的均是制造业行业,忽视了贸易对第三产业就业的影响,同时所采用的制造业行业数据中也没有包含私营和个体企业的就业人数,因此也忽略了贸易对私营和个体企业就业的影响。本文利用1998-2007年中国的省际分行业数据,采用联立方程组模型,研究了贸易自由化对第三产业就业和个体、私营企业就业的影响。研究结果显示,虽然服务业贸易占贸易和服务业产值的比重很小,对就业的直接影响不大,但是贸易自由化可以通过拉动经济增长有效促进第三产业就业,特别是对零售、仓储、建筑、居民服务、餐饮、住宿、电力煤气和水的供应这些行业的作用尤为明显。同时,贸易自由化程度的加深对制造业行业和第三产业的个体、私营性质企业的就业促进作用也很显著。     

Determinants of ICT adoption: evidence from firm-level data

We analyse factors driving inter- and intra-firm diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) using data from Irish manufacturing firms over the period 2001 to 2004. We find that the path of ICT diffusion has been uneven across firms, industries and space, which is consistent with the theory of new technology adoption. Our results suggest that firms that are larger, younger, fast growing, skill-intensive, export-intensive and firms located in the capital city region have been relatively more successful in adopting and using ICT. We find positive technology spillovers from firms that have adopted ICT located in the same industry and region.     

Preference shocks from aggregation: time series data evidence

Abstract.  We investigate the impact of preference shocks on the aggregate dynamics of the U.S. economy in the context of a neoclassical growth model derived from aggregation. The aggregation result we use is as follows: if markets are complete and if agents have identical preferences of the addilog type, then the heterogeneous‐agent economy where agents are subject to idiosyncratic productivity shocks behaves as if there was a representative consumer who faces shocks to preferences and technology. We estimate the parameters in the aggregation‐based model from the aggregate time‐series data and compute the numerical solution. We find that the preference shocks play an important role in the aggregate labour‐market fluctuations. JEL classification: C73, D90, E21     

政府在解决就业问题中能做什么?——瑞典的经验及启示

瑞典政府对就业问题的解决在于其实施积极的劳动力市场政策,它主要包括劳动力的供应和需求两个方面的内容.瑞典的经验对我们具有很大的启发:我们应发挥劳动力市场配置劳动力资源的基础性作用;理顺劳动力参与率.均衡劳动力市场供求;完善社会保障,强化社会功能;打破体制障碍,全面开放劳动力市场;完善劳动力市场的法律体系.     

Temporary layoff unemployment in Austria: empirical evidence from administrative data

Temporary layoffs (rehires, recalls) have been widely recognized as an important feature of North America's labour markets. For Europe, however, several observers have suggested that tighter regulatory impediments to the recruitment and dismissal of employees are responsible for temporary layoff unemployment being virtually non-existent. Against this background this paper uses administrative data to evaluate the quantitative importance of temporary separations among the unemployed in Austria and to track its composition by industries. The main finding of our empirical analysis is that about one-third of all unemployment spells in Austria in 1985 ended with the individual returning to the former employer. Since temporary layoff unemployment was found to be on average of shoter duration, it comprised a somewhat lower fraction of total weeks of unemployment. However, temporary layoff unemployment thus accounts for the same proportion of unemployment in Austria as in the US or Canada.     

Saving and habit formation: evidence from Dutch panel data

This paper focuses on the role of habit formation in individual preferences. In this study, the model of Alessie and Lusardi (Econ Lett 55:103–108, 1997) and its extension by Guariglia and Rossi (Oxf Econ Pap 54:1–19, 2002) are considered. Our empirical specifications are based on their closed-form solutions, where current saving is expressed as a function of lagged saving and other regressors. In our study, we use a longitudinal data set from the Netherlands that allows us to disentangle the role of habit formation from unobserved heterogeneity. Contrary to most other studies using survey data, we find evidence in favor of habit formation. However, the magnitude of the habit formation coefficient is rather small. Income uncertainty seems to affect saving behavior of Dutch households.     

Firm productivity and agglomeration economies: evidence from Egyptian data

This paper attempts to shed the light on the nexus between firms’ productivity and economies of agglomeration in Egypt. Using a large dataset of firms in 342 firms’ four-digit activities in 27 regions (62,108 firms), we introduce three measures of agglomeration which are urbanization or firm diversification measured by the number of firms by governorate, localization and specialization measured by the average productivity by governorate and sector (generating externalities and knowledge spillovers) and finally competition measured by the number of firm operating in the same governorate and the same sector. We find strong evidence for the existence of agglomeration in Egypt after controlling for firm age, location, economic activity and legal status. In the Egyptian context, productivity spillovers gained from agglomeration measures outweighed the negative effects of competition implied by congestion. The latter is chiefly due to the lack of good infrastructure. When regressions are run by firm size, location and activity, our main findings show first that micro and small firms are more likely to benefit from localization and diversification compared to medium and large firms. Service firms benefit more from high level of diversification while manufacturing firms gain more benefits from knowledge spillovers and specialization in Egypt.     

Productivity effects of international outsourcing: evidence from plant-level data

Abstract.  We investigate the impact of international outsourcing on productivity using plant-level data for Irish manufacturing. Specifically, we distinguish the effect of outsourcing of materials from services inputs. Moreover, we examine whether the impact on productivity is different for plants being more embedded in international markets through exporting or being part of a multinational. Our results show robust evidence for positive effects from outsourcing of services inputs for exporters, either domestic or foreign owned. By contrast, we find no statistically significant evidence of an impact of international outsourcing of services on productivity for firms not operating on the export market.     

The effect of professional sports on the earnings of individuals: evidence from microeconomic data

This article examines the impact of professional sports franchises in labour markets using data from the March Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) for workers employed in specific occupational groups in all large US cities from 1983 to 2002. Results from a standard wage model suggest that professional football franchises increase average hourly and weekly earnings of males employed in these occupations, but professional baseball franchises reduce them. These results support growing evidence that professional sports affect labour markets. However, the mixed nature of the association between sport and earnings provides little economic justification for government subsidies for professional sport.     

Conceptualization and measurement of disability in studies on subjective well-being: a critical review and evidence from the Italian Health Surveys

The main aim of this study is to assess, through a wide literature review, whether the concept of “disability,” as variously formulated, can be considered a good foundation for scientific research on happiness and subjective well-being, as well as the effect of some conceptualizations on the understanding of the relationship between happiness and disability. The literature review includes longitudinal population studies, cross-sectional surveys and longitudinal clinical researches. The empirical part of the study, based on the 2013 Italian Health Interview Survey, shows some examples of the impact of different definitions of disability on the subjective well-being variability. The Italian Health Interview Survey is conducted every 5 years and carried out on a sample of about 60,000 households and 162,000 respondents distributed in 1456 municipalities. Some suggestions for future research, based on a vision of the multifaceted nature of disability, are proposed.     

Monopoly regulation when customers need to make sunk investments: evidence from the Swedish district heating sector

Regulatory agencies routinely seek to promote price stability. A rationale for this practise might be that regulators seek to protect customers’ relationship-specific sunk investments. We develop a simple model which confirms that commitments to future rigid prices may increase welfare when customers need to make such investments. We use data from the Swedish district heating sector during the 1998–2007 period to explore the impact of monopoly pricing decisions on the take-up rate of district heating.     

Sequential teamwork in competitive environments: Theory and evidence from swimming data

Many tasks require the input by more than one person very often with members of the team contributing sequentially. However, team production is plagued by disincentive problems. We investigate individual incentives to team production with sequential contributions and competing teams. We show that earlier contributors free-ride on team members contributing later on. We test our predictions on sports data using an athlete's performance in the individual race as a natural control for his relay performance. Our empirical findings strongly support the theoretical claims.     

Price setting behaviour in Latvia: Econometric evidence from CPI micro data

This paper discovers the driving forces behind Latvian firms' decisions to adjust prices by using various panel logit models, which explain the probability of observing price change by a broad set of exogenous variables. The results show that the consumer price formation in Latvia is a combination of both state-dependent and time-dependent behaviours. On the one hand, frequency of price changes depends on inflation, demand conditions, and the size of last price changes. On the other hand, we observe some elements of time-dependent price setting like price truncation and strong seasonal pattern. We also find several important differences in the price setting behaviour in cases of price increases and decreases. The fact that frequency of price changes in Latvia depends on inflation as well as demand and supply conditions allows for faster price adjustment process in the event of high distortions in the economy.