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.

The Brain Drain: Curse or Boon?

Abstract: The migration of skilled individuals from developing countries has typically been considered to be costly for the sending country, due to lost investments in education, high fiscal costs and labour market distortions. Economic theory, however, raises the possibility of a beneficial brain drain primarily through improved incentives to acquire human capital. Our survey of empirical and theoretical work shows under what circumstances a developing country can benefit from skilled migration. It argues that the sectoral aspects of migration and screening of migrants in the receiving country are of major importance in determining the welfare implications of the brain drain. These issues, as well as the size of the sending country, duration of migration and the effect of diaspora populations, should be addressed in future empirical work on skilled migration. JEL

Social Interaction and Sickness Absence

Abstract: Does the average level of sickness absence in a neighborhood affect individual sickness absence through social interaction on the neighborhood level? To answer this question, we consider evidence of local benefit-dependency cultures. Well-known methodological problems in this type of analysis include avoiding the so-called reflection problem and disentangling the causal effects of group behavior on individual behavior from the effects of individual sorting on neighborhoods. Based on data from Sweden, we adopt several different approaches to deal with these problems. The results are robust in the sense that regardless of approach and identifying assumptions, we obtain statistically significant estimates indicating group effects.

The Effects of Vocational Training Programmes on the Duration of Unemployment in Eastern Germany

Abstract: This paper focuses on the effects of vocational training programmes on the duration of unemployment in Eastern Germany. We use information from administrative data of the Federal Employment Office. To allow for observable and possible unobservable influences we apply a multivariate mixed proportional hazard model. Furthermore, particular interest is spent on possible locking-in effects by separate estimation of in- and after-programme effects. Regarding several different programme durations our results show insignificant in- and after-programme effects for short-term programmes, insignificant in-programme and negative after-programme effects for mid-term programmes and negative in- and after-programme effects for long-term programmes.

Testing Theories of Fairness - Intentions Matter

Abstract: Recently developed models of fairness can explain a wide variety of seemingly contradictory facts. The most controversial and yet unresolved issue in the modeling of fairness preferences concerns the behavioral relevance of fairness intentions. Intuitively, fairness intentions seem to play an important role in economic relations, political struggles and legal disputes. Yet, so far there is little rigorous evidence supporting this intuition. In this paper we provide clear and unambiguous experimental evidence for the behavioral relevance of fairness intentions. Our results indicate that the attribution of fairness intentions is important both in the domain of negatively reciprocal behavior and in the domain of positively reciprocal behavior. This means that reciprocal behavior cannot be fully captured by equity models that are exclusively based on preferences over the distribution of material payoffs. Models that take into account players' fairness intentions and distributional preferences are consistent with our data while models that focus exclusively on intentions or on the distribution of material payoffs are not.

The Costs of Hiring and Separations

Abstract: In this article, we estimate the costs of hiring, separation, and retirement of employees for a representative sample of French establishments in 1992. The estimates are computed using data from three sources: the Wage Structure Survey (ESS), the Workforce Movement Questionnaire (DMMO), and the Occupational Structure Survey (ESE). We show that the estimated costs are generally asymmetric (hiring is cheaper than terminations), increasing, and concave functions of the number of entries or exits (either retirements or terminations). There is a fixed component to each of these costs that is related to the structure of the firm's personnel department. Our estimates imply that firms should not adjust gradually to the desired level of employment.