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.

Migration in an Enlarged EU: A Challenging Solution?

Abstract: The 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union were unprecedented in a number of economic and policy aspects This essay provides a broad and in-depth account of the effects of the post-enlargement migration flows on the receiving as well as sending countries in three broader areas: labour markets, welfare systems, and growth and competitiveness Our analysis of the available literature and empirical evidence shows that (i) EU enlargement had a significant impact on migration flows from new to old member states, (ii) restrictions applied in some of the countries did not stop migrants from coming but changed the composition of the immigrants, (iii) any negative effects in the labour market on wages or employment are hard to detect, (iv) post-enlargement migration contributes to growth prospects of the EU, (v) these immigrants are strongly attached to the labour market, and (vi) they are quite unlikely to be among welfare recipients These findings point out the difficulties that restrictions on the free movement of workers bring about

Inflation dynamics with labour market matching : assessing alternative specifications

Abstract: This paper reviews recent approaches to modeling the labour market and assesses their implications for in‡ation dynamics through both their eect on marginal cost and on price-setting behavior. In a search and matching environment, we consider the following modeling setups: right-to-manage bargaining vs. e¢ cient bargaining, wage stickiness in new and existing matches, interactions at the …rm level between price and wage-setting, alternative forms of hiring frictions, search on-the-job and endogenous job separation. We …nd that most speci…cations imply too little real rigidity and, so, too volatile in‡ation. Models with wage stickiness and right-to-manage bargaining or with …rm-speci…c labour emerge as the most promising candidates.

Can Risk Aversion Explain Schooling Attainments? Evidence from Italy

Abstract: Using unique Italian panel data, in which individual differences in behavior toward risk are measured from answers to a lottery question, we investigate if (and to what extent) risk aversion can explain differences in schooling attainments. We formulate the schooling decision process as a reduced-form dynamic discrete choice. The model is estimated with a degree of flexibility virtually compatible with semiparametric likelihood techniques. We analyze how grade transition from one level to the next varies with preference heterogeneity (risk aversion), parental human capital, socioeconomic variables and persistent unobserved (to the econometrician) heterogeneity. We present evidence that schooling attainments decrease with risk aversion, but despite a statistically significant effect, differences in attitudes toward risk account for a modest portion of the probability of entering higher education. Differences in ability(ies) and in parental human capital are much more important. in the most general version of the model, the likelihood function is the joint probability of schooling attainments, and post-schooling wealth and risk aversion.

Estimating the Firm's Labor Supply Curve in a 'New Monopsony' Framework: School Teachers in Missouri

Abstract: In the context of certain dynamic models, it is possible to infer the elasticity of labor supply to the firm from the elasticity of the quit rate with respect to the wage. Using this property, we estimate the average labor supply elasticity to public school districts in Missouri. We take advantage of the plausibly exogenous variation in pre-negotiated district salary schedules to instrument for actual salary. Instrumental variables estimates lead to a labor supply elasticity estimate of about 3.7, suggesting the presence of significant market power for school districts, especially over more experienced teachers. The presence of monopsony power in this labor market may be partially explained by institutional features of the teacher labor market.

Reefer Madness: Broken Windows Policing and Misdemeanor Marijuana Arrests in New York City, 1989-2000

Abstract: The pattern of misdemeanor marijuana arrests in New York City since the introduction of "broken windows" policing in 1994 is remarkable. By the year 2000, arrests on misdemeanor charges of smoking marijuana in public view (MPV) had reached 51,267 for the city, up 2,670 percent from 1,851 arrests in 1994. In 2000, misdemeanor MPV arrests accounted for 15 percent of all felony and misdemeanor arrests in New York City and 92 percent of total marijuana-related arrests in the State of New York. In addition, the pattern of arrests disproportionately targeted African-Americans and Hispanics. In this paper, we analyze the MPV arrest data. Building on our previous research on broken windows policing and, using a number of different statistical approaches on the MPV arrest data, we find no good evidence that the MPV arrests are associated with reductions in serious violent or property crimes in the city. As a result New York City's marijuana policing strategy seems likely to simply divert scarce police resources away from more effective approaches that research suggests is capable of reducing real crime. One reform that we discuss concerns the legal standard of review in cases involving such pronounced racial or ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system: Courts reviewing claims of racial or ethnic discrimination in policing, where the prima facie evidence of discrimination cuts across several layers of outcomes (arrest, detention, conviction, and additional incarceration) should relax the requirement that the complainant prove actual discriminatory intent on the part of a particular actor, and instead allow for an inference of intent where the government has failed to justify or explain a number of those disparities. This change would effectively shift the burden of explaining gross disparities on the party with the most complete information.