Potential Unemployment Benefit Duration and Spell Length: Lessons from a Quasi-Experiment in Austria

The paper studies the effect of potential unemployment benefit duration on the length of unemployment spells in Austria. It takes advantage of a quasi-experimental situation, where potential benefit duration was extended in 1988 for elderly workers living in specific regions of the country. The empirical analysis shows that men react significantly to benefit duration whereas women generally do not. The quantitative impact is smaller than in comparable studies for the US and Germany. Furthermore, the impact of extended benefit duration is differentiated for short and long spells. Whereas for long spells higher impacts for men as well as for women are found, no unemployment-prolonging effects for short spells could be detected.     

Gender Wage Inequality and Economic Growth: Is There Really a Puzzle?-A Comment

Seguino (2000) shows that gender wage discrimination in export-oriented semi-industrialized countries might be fostering investment and growth in general. While the original analysis does not have internationally comparable wage discrimination data, we replicate the analysis using data from a meta-study on gender wage discrimination and do not find any evidence that more discrimination might further economic growth-on the contrary: if anything the impact of gender inequality is negative for growth. Standing up for more gender equality-also in terms of wages-is good for equity considerations and at least not negative for growth.     

Do Austrian men and women become more equal? At least in terms of labour supply!

We study the development of wage elasticity of labour supply for Austrian men and women over time using comparable and representative survey data for the 1980s and 1990s. The elasticity of men is relatively low and constant over time, similar to the behaviour of single women. Most remarkable is the almost continuous reduction in the labour supply reactions of married women: while their elasticity was still several times larger at the beginning of the 1980s, they approached rapidly the much less elastic behaviour of men. These developments are important for the analysis of deadweight losses of taxation as well as the effects of tax reforms and wage subsidy programs.     

Dringend gebraucht — aktive Wirtschaftspolitik,um Außenhandelsüberschüsse abzubauen

What can Germany do to reduce its high current account and trade surpluses? The article uses a macroeconometric model to simulate how a more expansionary fiscal policy as well as a combination of such a fiscal policy and higher wage growth would affect the trade balance, the fiscal balance and the public debt ratio. A much more expansionary fiscal policy than in the past would reduce the trade surplus only a little but would lead to a deterioration of the fiscal deficit and the public debt-to-GDP ratio. However, combined with higher wage growth, such a fiscal policy would reduce the trade surplus more effectively, would lead to higher tax growth and inflation and thus would also decrease the public debt ratio.     

The effect of matching on perceived export barriers and performance in an era of globalization discontents: Empirical evidence from UK SMEs

In this study we examine the effect of matching, a comprehensive networking concept, on the perceived export barriers and export performance of small exporting firms. We introduce matching as a moderating variable affecting the link of perceived internal/external export barriers to export performance. Using a sample of 106 UK-based exporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), we find that matching alleviates the negative impact of perceived internal export barriers on export performance. Furthermore, the empirical results show that export experience and export commitment reduce managers' perceived internal and external export barriers. The study shows that matching, as a networking-tool at multiple levels, can help to overcome export barriers, thus providing a mechanism to offset challenges opened up through nationalistic policies.     

Why did he do that? Using counterfactuals to study the effect of intentions in extensive form games

We investigate the role of intentions in two-player two-stage games. For this purpose we systematically vary the set of opportunity sets the first mover can choose from and study how the second mover reacts not only to opportunities of gains but also of losses created by the choice of the first mover. We find that the possibility of gains for the second mover (generosity) and the risk of losses for the first mover (vulnerability) are important drivers for second mover behavior. On the other hand, efficiency concerns and an aversion against violating trust seem to be far less important motivations. We also find that second movers compare the actual choice of the first mover and the alternative choices that would have been available to him to allocations that involve equal material payoffs.     

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