Institute for the Study of Labor

About: Institute for the Study of Labor is a nonprofit organization based out in Bonn, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Wage & Unemployment. The organization has 2039 authors who have published 13475 publications receiving 439376 citations.

Current account imbalances and structural adjustment in the euro area : how to rebalance competitiveness

Abstract: Low international competitiveness of a set of euro area countries, which have become evident by large current account deficits and rising risk premiums on government bonds, is one of the most challenging economic policy issues for Europe. We analyse the role of private restructuring and public structural reforms for the urgently needed readjustment of intra-euro area imbalances. A panel regression reveals a significant impact of private restructuring and public structural reforms on intra-euro area competitiveness. This implies that private restructuring and public reforms are rather than public transfers the best way to preserve long-term economic stability in Europe.

Personality Characteristics and the Decision to Become and Stay Self-Employed

Abstract: This paper systematically investigates whether different kinds of personality characteristics influence entrepreneurial development. On the basis of a large, representative household panel survey, we examine the extent to which the Big Five traits and further personality characteristics, which are more specifically related to entrepreneurial tasks, influence entry into self-employment and survival of self-employed persons in Germany. The empirical analysis reveals that among the specific characteristics in particular risk attitudes and locus of control have strong effects on entry and survival. With respect to the Big Five approach, in particular the traits openness to experience and extraversion and to a lower extent agreeableness and neuroticism help to explain entrepreneurial development. The explanatory power of the Big Five is comparable to one of the most prominent determinants of entrepreneurship - education - and approximately three times larger than parental self-employment.

The Effect of Immigrant Concentration in Schools on Native and Immigrant Children's Reading and Math Skills

Abstract: Using a unique and very rich PISA dataset from Denmark, we show that the immigrant concentration in the school influences reading and math skills for both immigrant children and native children. Overall, children in schools with a high immigrant concentration score lower on reading and math test scores. The negative effects associated with attending a school with a high immigrant concentration are fairly robust across estimation methods. IV estimates, taking into consideration that parental sorting across neighborhoods might bias the OLS estimates, indicate that immigrant concentration in schools is still important in determining children’s math test scores. The estimates are less precise regarding the effect of immigrant concentration on reading test scores. The immigrant concentration in the school has a stronger effect for native children than for immigrant children, but the differences are more pronounced for the math test.

Like Father, Like Son? Intergenerational Education Mobility in India

Abstract: Using nationally representative and publicly available India Human Development Survey (IHDS), we create a unique son-father matched data that is representative of the entire adult male population (aged 20-65) in India. We use this data to document the evolution of intergenerational transmission of educational attainment in India over time, among different castes, and states for the birth cohorts of 1940-85. We find that educational persistence, as measured by the regression coefficient of fathers’ education as a predictor of schooling in the next generation, has declined over time. This implies increases in average educational attainment are driven primarily by increases among children of less educated fathers. However, we do not find such declining trend in the correlation between sons and fathers education, another commonly used measure of persistence. To understand the source of such a discrepancy between the two measures of educational persistence we decompose the intergenerational correlation and find that although persistence has declined at the lower end of fathers’ educational distribution, it has increased at the top end of the fathers’ educational distribution.

Foreign Direct Investment and Structural Reforms: Evidence from Eastern Europe and Latin America*

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of structural reforms - privatization, financial reform and trade liberalization- as determinants of FDI inflows based on newly constructed dataset on structural reforms for 19 Latin American and 25 Eastern European countries between 1989 and 2004. Our main finding is a strong empirical relationship from reforms to FDI, in particular, from financial liberalization and privatization. These results are robust to different measures of reforms, split samples, and potential endogeneity and omitted variables biases.