Hate Is Too Great a Burden to Bear: Hate Crimes and the Mental Health of Refugees

By:	Daniel Graeber; Felicitas Schikora
Abstract:	Against a background of increasing violence against non-natives, we estimate the effect of hate crime on refugees’ mental health in Germany. For this purpose, we combine two datasets: administrative records on xenophobic crime against refugee shelters by the Federal Criminal Office and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees. We apply a regression discontinuity design in time to estimate the effect of interest. Our results indicate that hate crime has a substantial negative effect on several mental health indicators, including the Mental Component Summary score and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 score. The effects are stronger for refugees with closer geographic proximity to the focal hate crime and refugees with low country-specific human capital. While the estimated effect is only transitory, we argue that negative mental health shocks during the critical period after arrival have important long-term consequences.
Keywords:	Mental health, hate crime, migration, refugees, human capital
JEL:	I10 J15 J24 F22 O15
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1130&r=&r=ltv

The NEP-LTV Blog

This blog is an experiment to explore the feasibility of scientific discussion on an Economics blog. NEP-LTV disseminates every week new working papers in the field of Unemployment, Inequality & Poverty. Among them, the NEP-LTV editor selects one to be discussed. Everyone is invited to comment. Try to stay civil, or your comments will be removed. And encourage others to read or join in the discussion.

2022: A SUMMARY OF FRAMED FIELD EXPERIMENTS ON FIELDEXPERIMENTS.COM: THE WHO’S, WHAT’S, WHERE’S, AND WHEN’S
By: John List
Abstract: In 2019 I put together a summary of data from my field experiments website that pertained to framed field experiments. Several people have asked me if I have an update. In this document I update all figures and numbers to show the details for 2022. I also include the description from the 2019 paper below with appropriate additions
Date: 2023
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:framed:00768&r=ltv

The Effect of Education Policy on Crime: An Intergenerational Perspective

By: Costas Meghir (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); Marten Palme (Stockholm University); Marieke Schnabel (University College London)

Abstract: We study the intergenerational effect of education policy on crime. We use Swedish administrative data that links outcomes across generations with crime records and we show that the comprehensive school reform, gradually implemented between 1949 and 1962, reduced conviction rates both for the generation directly affected by the reform and for their sons. The reduction in conviction rates occurred across many types of crime. Key mediators for this reduction in the child generation are an increase in education and a decline in crime amongst their fathers.

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2356&r=ltv

Advances in the Economic Theory of Cultural Transmission
By: Alberto Bisin; Thierry Verdier

Abstract: In this paper we survey recent advances in the economic theory of cultural transmission. We highlight three main themes on which the literature has made great progress in the last ten years: the domain of traits subject to cultural transmission, the micro-foundations for the technology of transmission, and feedback effects between culture, institutions, and various socio-economic environments. We conclude suggesting interesting areas for future research.
JEL: O10 P16 P48

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30466&r=

Working from Home Around the World

By: Aksoy, Cevat Giray (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development); Barrero, Jose Maria (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Business School); Bloom, Nicholas (Stanford University); Davis, Steven J. (University of Chicago); Dolls, Mathias (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Zarate, Pablo (Princeton University)

Abstract: The pandemic triggered a large, lasting shift to work from home (WFH). To study this shift, we survey full-time workers who finished primary school in 27 countries as of mid 2021 and early 2022. Our cross-country comparisons control for age, gender, education, and industry and treat the U.S. mean as the baseline. We find, first, that WFH averages 1.5 days per week in our sample, ranging widely across countries. Second, employers plan an average of 0.7 WFH days per week after the pandemic, but workers want 1.7 days. Third, employees value the option to WFH 2-3 days per week at 5 percent of pay, on average, with higher valuations for women, people with children and those with longer commutes. Fourth, most employees were favorably surprised by their WFH productivity during the pandemic. Fifth, looking across individuals, employer plans for WFH levels after the pandemic rise strongly with WFH productivity surprises during the pandemic. Sixth, looking across countries, planned WFH levels rise with the cumulative stringency of government-mandated lockdowns during the pandemic. We draw on these results to explain the big shift to WFH and to consider some implications for workers, organization, cities, and the pace of innovation.

Keywords: work from home, preferences over working arrangements, commute times, COVID-19, productivity surprises, government lockdown effects, innovation, cities
JEL: J2 D22 E24 L23

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15540&r=

The Labour Market Returns to Sleep

By: Joan Costa-Font (LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, IZA – Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit – Institute of Labor Economics, CESifo – Center for Economic Studies and Ifo for Economic Research – CESifo Group Munich); Sarah Fleche (CES – Centre d’économie de la Sorbonne – UP1 – Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 – Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CEP – LSE – Centre for Economic Performance – LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Ricardo Pagan (University of Málaga)

Abstract: The proportion of people sleeping less than the daily-recommended hours has increased. Yet, we know little about the labour market returns to sleep. We use longitudinal data from Germany and exploit exogenous variation in sleep duration induced by time and local variations in sunset time. We find that a 1-hour increase in weekly sleep increases employment by 1.6 percentage points and weekly earnings by 3.4%. Most of this earnings effect comes from productivity improvements, while the number of working hours decreases with sleep time. We identify one mechanism driving these effects, namely the better mental health workers experience from sleeping more hours.

Keywords: sleep, employment, productivity, mental health, sunset times

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-04084107&r=ltv

Women’s transitions in the labour market as a result of childbearing: the challenges of formal sector employment in Indonesia

By: Lisa Cameron (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Diana Contreras Suarez (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Yi-Ping Tseng (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

Abstract: Although it is well established that women’s labour force participation drops markedly with marriage and childbearing, surprisingly little is known about women’s labour market transitions, especially in developing countries. This paper uses the Indonesian Family Life Survey to track the employment histories of over 9, 000 women across a period of more than 20 years, observing them as they get married and have children. The data show that large numbers of Indonesian women drop out of the labour market as a result of marriage and childbearing. The difficulty of maintaining formal sector employment emerges as a key problem. Having worked in the formal sector prior to the birth of a first child reduces the probability of working in the year following the birth by 20 percentage points and reduces the probability of returning to the labour market thereafter by 3.6 percentage points. Further, to the extent that women do return to work, formal sector employment is associated with greater delays in returning – women are more likely to return to work in the formal sector only once their child starts primary school, while in the informal sector they return earlier. We find little evidence of women switching from the formal to the informal sector. Formal sector labour market policies such as flexible work hours; compressed work weeks; part-time work (with the same career opportunities and benefits as full-time work); the ability to work from home; and work-based childcare are likely to boost women’s labour force participation, with consequent boosts to economic productivity and prosperity.

Keywords: female labour force participation, labour market transitions, economic development, childbearing
JEL: J20 J16 O15

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2023n06&r=ltv

Air pollution: a review of its economic effects and policies to mitigate them

By: Laura Hospido (Banco de España, CEMFI and IZA); Carlos Sanz (Banco de España and CEMFI); Ernesto Villanueva (Banco de España)

Abstract: Air pollution is an increasing cause of concern among the scientific community, policymakers and the general public. This interest has led to a sharp increase in the number of scientific papers on air pollution. This paper provides a summary of the most prominent recent economic literature on the effects of air pollution, the main policy lessons that can be drawn from it, and the areas in which more research would be especially valuable. The literature has found sizable negative effects of air pollution on health and mortality. There is also some evidence that air pollution may have negative non-health effects, reducing labour supply and productivity, although the evidence is more mixed on the latter aspect. The literature also suggests that effects on both health and non-health dimensions may be heterogeneous in a number of dimensions, most prominently age, with more negative effects for the elderly. Finally, more research is needed on which policies to tackle air pollution would be more cost-effective.

Keywords: air pollution, health, labour supply, productivity
JEL: I12 J22 J24 Q51 Q53

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:opaper:2301&r=res

Does School Choice Increase Crime?

By: Andrew Bibler; Stephen B. Billings; Stephen Ross

Abstract: School choice lotteries are an important tool for allocating access to high-quality and oversubscribed public schools. While prior evidence suggests that winning a school lottery decreases adult criminality, there is little evidence for how school choice lotteries impact non-lottery students who are left behind at their neighborhood school. We leverage variation in actual lottery winners conditional on expected lottery winners to link the displacement of middle school peers to adult criminal outcomes. We find that non-applicant boys are more likely to be arrested as adults when applicants from their neighborhood win the school choice lottery. These effects are concentrated among boys who are at low risk of being arrested based on observables. Finally, we confirm evidence in the literature that students who win the lottery decrease adult criminality but show that after accounting for the negative impact on the students who forego the lottery, lotteries increase overall arrests and days incarcerated for young men.
JEL: I24 I26 K42 R29

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30936&r=ltv

Paying Moms to Stay Home: Short and Long Run Effects on Parents and Children

By: Jonathan Gruber; Tuomas Kosonen; Kristiina Huttunen

Abstract: We study the impacts of a policy designed to reward mothers who stay at home rather than join the labor force when their children are under age three. We use regional and over time variation to show that the Finnish Home Care Allowance (HCA) decreases maternal employment in both the short and long term. The effects are large enough for the existence of home care benefit system to explain the higher short-term child penalty in Finland than comparable nations. Home care benefits also negatively affect the early childhood cognitive test results of children, decrease the likelihood of choosing academic high school, and increase youth crimes. We confirm that the mechanism of action is changing work/home care arrangements by studying a day care fee reform that had the opposite effect of raising incentives to work – with corresponding opposite effects on mothers and children compared to HCA. Our findings suggest that shifting child care from the home to the market increases labor force participation and improves child outcomes.
JEL: H31 J13

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30931&r=ltv

Labor market insurance policies in the XXI century
By: Boeri, Tito; Cahuc, Pierre

Abstract:
The recovery from the Covid-19 crisis will force governments to accelerate transformation in their menu of labor market policy tools. The crisis was a stress test for unemployment insurance schemes as it involved a sudden and unexpected shutdown of a very large set of activities. This forced countries to introduce, often from scratch, income support schemes for workers under new forms of employment, and the self-employed. There was also a considerable expansion of short-time work schemes notably towards the small business. The challenge ahead of us is perhaps even harder as post-Covid19 labor markets are likely to be characterized by substantial labor reallocation. Major innovations in labor market policy are required to smooth consumption of workers involved in this reallocation. We survey the large body of research on schemes reducing the costs of reallocation complementary to unemployment insurance. Our attention is on short-time work (preventing layoffs by subsidizing hours reductions), partial unemployment insurance (enabling workers to combine unemployment benefits with low-income jobs), and wage insurance (offering a temporary wage subsidy to workers changing jobs). The properties of these new schemes are first presented and compared to those of standard unemployment benefits. Next the main results of the empirical literature on the effects of wage insurance, partial unemployment insurance and short-time work are presented. A final section is devoted to discussing directions for further research.

Keywords: partial unemployment insurance; wage insurance; short-time work

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:118000&r=ltv