Unemployment Compensation and the Allocation of Labor in Developing Countries

This paper studies the effects of the introduction of unemployment compensation (UC) in countries characterized by pervasive informality. We provide a simple framework to analyze the impact of UC on the allocation of workers between formal and informal activities, as well as the allocation of workers between sectors featuring different incentives to go informal. We show that a reasonable amount of UC may reduce informality, while larger amounts of UC induce large disincentives to go formal because of the level of taxation involved. We also argue that the financing of UC should be part and parcel of a well‐conceived UC system. We show that UC finance based on payroll taxes is likely to entail an excess level of informality resulting from cross‐subsidies between heterogenous sectors. The introduction of a simple layoff tax meant to finance the UC system is then shown to reduce informality, hence highlighting how a well‐designed financing scheme may be used as a supplementary instrument to curb informality.     

Can public policies lower religiosity? Evidence from school choice in France, 1878–1902

This study analyses the effects of public policies on religiosity by focusing on the enrolment of pupils in French Catholic primary schools between 1878 and 1902. During this period, the government increased public spending and made school attendance free and mandatory until the age of 13. The empirical analysis presented here suggests that greater public spending had no substantial effect on the enrolment in Catholic schools. By contrast, mandatory schooling laws had a negative, but quantitatively limited, impact. The overall resilience of Catholic schooling is traced to the political divide created by the 1789 French Revolution.     

SALARY CAP REGULATION IN PROFESSIONAL TEAM SPORTS

This paper analyzes the effects of a percentage‐of‐revenue salary cap in a team sports league with win‐maximizing clubs and flexible talent supply. It shows that a percentage‐of‐revenue cap produces a more balanced league and decreases aggregate salary payments. Taking into account the idiosyncrasies of European football, our paper further highlights the potential conflicts between the league and society. From the perspective of a league governing body, a percentage‐of‐revenue cap always enhances financial stability of win‐maximizing clubs. A social planner, however, will not permit the introduction of such a cap if fans and players unduly suffer. This paper shows under which conditions the social planner accepts (rejects) a salary cap proposed by the league regulator. (JEL D02, D60, L83)     

COMMENT ‘A “NEWS” VIEW OF JAPAN'S LOST DECADE’: MONETARY POLICY DURING JAPAN'S LOST DECADE*

In this comment, I first propose a discussion of Braun and Waki's “Monetary Policy during Japan's Lost Decade” paper, by examining their model properties following a technological surprise. I then propose some empirical evidence suggesting that the Japanese lost decade could have been triggered by a downward revision of future TFP growth rather by an unexpected TFP slowdown. I show that a plain RBC model is unable to account for the effect of such a revision in expectation, while a sticky price model along the lines of Braun and Waki, or a flex‐price model with a rich sectorial structure, give more realistic predictions. These results favour a “News” view of the 1990s in Japan. Indeed, a downwards revision of future TFP growth expectations act as a demand shock in the short term, while the actual slowdown acts as a supply shock in the medium and long term.     

DO SOCCER ASSOCIATIONS REALLY SPEND ON A GOOD THING? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON HETEROGENEITY IN THE CONSUMER RESPONSE TO MATCH UNCERTAINTY OF OUTCOME

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether previous results describing the effect of uncertainty of outcome on match attendance in team sports have been driven by heterogeneity in fan demand. We apply censored quantile regression methods and place particular emphasis on the relationship between match uncertainty and attendance demand, as previous results are highly ambiguous. This is more surprising, as each season association and league officials continue to spend millions on enhancing this uncertainty. We also control for season ticket holders, who are unlikely to be influenced by match specificities. Based on data from German soccer, our results indicate that fan demand shows heterogeneity across quantiles and that increasing match uncertainty of outcome exclusively benefits teams who already face strong attendance demand. ( JEL D12, C14, C24, L83)