Suchergebnisse

This thesis consists of three self-contained papers. In the first paper I analyze the labor supply behavior of Bologna Pizza Delivery Vendors. Recent influential papers analyze labor supply behavior of taxi drivers (Camerer et al., 1997; and Crawford and Meng, 2011) and suggest that reference-dependence preferences have an important influence on drivers' labor-supply decisions. Unlike previous papers, I am able to identify an exogenous and transitory change in labor demand. Using high frequency data on orders and rainfall as an exogenous demand shifter, I invariably find that reference-dependent preferences play no role in their labor' supply decisions and the behavior of pizza vendors is perfectly consistent with the predictions of the standard model of labor' supply. In the second paper, I investigate how the voting behavior of Members of Parliament is influenced by the Members seating nearby. By exploiting the random seating arrangements in the Icelandic Parliament, I show that being seated next to Members of a different party increases the probability of not being aligned with one's own party. Using the exact spatial orientation of the peers, I provide evidence that supports the hypothesis that interaction is the main channel that explain these results. In the third paper, I provide an estimate of the trade flows that there would have been between the UK and Europe if the UK had joined the Euro. As an alternative approach to the standard log-linear gravity equation I employ the synthetic control method. I show that the aggregate trade flows between Britain and Europe would have been 13% higher if the UK had adopted the Euro.

Diese Dissertation untersucht die Rolle einzelner Aspekte menschlichen Verhaltens und deren Auswirkungen auf Arbeitsmarktergebnisse unter Zuhilfenahme von Experimental- und Sekundär- daten. Das erste Kapitel stellt die Relevanz des Themas heraus und zeigt mögliche politische Implikationen auf. Im zweiten Kapitel wird untersucht, ob sich Männer und Frauen in Wettbewerbsverhalten und Leistungsfähikeit unter Druck im Freizeitsport voneinander unterscheiden. Unter Verwendung von Daten aus dem Kegelsport, der sich durch gemischtgeschlechtlichen und direkten Wettbe- werb auszeichnet, finden sich keine Unterschiede im Wettbewerbsverhalten gegen das andere Geschlecht, sobald individuelle Fähigkeiten berücksichtigt werden. Die Leistungsfähikeit von Männern und Frauen unter Druck unterscheidet sich ebenfalls nicht. Das dritte Kapitel behandelt die Determinanten von Verteilungspräferenzen und deren Beziehung zu Löhnen. Im ersten Schritt werden in einem anreizkonformen Experiment offenbarte Verteilungs- präferenzen in Bezug zu Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen gesetzt. Im zweiten Schritt werden indikative Belege aufgezeigt, dass Ungleichheitsaversion und Boshaftigkeit die Einkommen in Deutschland verringern und teilweise geschlechtsspezifische Lohnunterschiede erklären können. Das vierte Kapitel untersucht unter Verwendung von Daten aus einem Laborexperiment, ob Aussehen und Religionsausübung von Bewerbern Einfluss auf Einstellungsentscheidungen haben. Es finden sich, je nach Berufsbild und Charakteristiken der Entscheider, heterogene Effekte von Verschleierung auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit, zum Vorstellungsgespräch eingeladen zu werden. Bessere Arbeitsmarktcharakteristiken der Bewerber können Diskriminierung aufgrund des Kopftuches überkompensieren. Das fünfte Kapitel analysiert, wie sowohl das eigene Erscheinungsbild als auch die Attraktivität von Mitbewerber die eigenen Chancen beeinflussen, zu einem Vorstellungsgespräch eingeladen zu werden. Basierend auf einem Laborexperiment mit randomisierten Lebensläufen zeigt sich, dass das Erscheinungsbild der gleichgeschlechtlichen Mitbewerber zusätzlich zum eigenen Schrönheitsbonus einen inkrementellen Erklärungsbeitrag liefert.

Presenting a complete survey of labor economics from the search point of view, this is the first book to coordinate a vast and scattered literature, making an increasingly important and sophisticated area in modern applied economics readily accessible. Completely comprehensive, Empirical Labor Economics covers not only sequential and random search, but all stochastic models of the labor market, and treats underlying economic theory and econometric methods as needed. It examines structural search models, studies directed at particular policy questions--such as the effect of unemployment benefit.

The Handbook brings together a systematic review of the research topics, empirical findings, and methods that comprise modern labor economics. It serves as an introduction to what has been done in this field, while at the same time indicating possible future trends which will be important in both spheres of public and private decision-making. Part I is concerned with the classic topics of labor supply and demand, the size and nature of the elasticities between the two, and their impact on the wage structure. This analysis touches on two fundamental questions: what are the sources of income inequality, and what are the disincentive effects of attempts to produce a more equal income distribution? The papers in Part II proceed from the common observation that the dissimilarity in worker skills and employer demands often tempers the outcomes that would be expected in frictionless labor markets. And the last section of the Handbook deals explicitly with the role of institutional structures (e.g. trade unions) that now form an important part of modern labor economics

The Handbook brings together a systematic review of the research topics, empirical findings, and methods that comprise modern labor economics. It serves as an introduction to what has been done in this field, while at the same time indicating possible future trends which will be important in both spheres of public and private decision-making. Part 1 is concerned with the classic topics of labor supply and demand, the size and nature of the elasticities between the two, and their impact on the wage structure. This analysis touches on two fundamental questions: what are the sources of income inequality, and what are the disincentive effects of attempts to produce a more equal income distribution? The papers in Part II proceed from the common observation that the dissimilarity in worker skills and employer demands often tempers the outcomes that would be expected in frictionless labor markets. And the last section of the Handbook deals explicitly with the role of institutional structures (e.g. trade unions) that now form an important part of modern labor economics

This dissertation is the collection of three papers on environmental and labor economics. The First chapter is on environmental economics. The main objective of this chapter is to explore the effect of local community pressure on the corporate environmental management effort expended by factories regulated under the Clean Water Act. Many factors influence corporate environmental management, which I interpret to include the full spectrum of pollution control techniques from reactive end-of-pipe treatment techniques to proactive pollution prevention protocols. The analysis of this chapter empirically exploits to two survey-based measures of local community pressure. One captures the perceived need to respond to local concerns over the natural environment. The other measure captures the economic importance of the polluting facility in the local community. These two measures capture countervailing forces. While the first reflects greater local environmental pressure, the second reflects less local environmental pressure. Our results reveal that local community pressure positively influences corporate environmental management in general; however, in certain cases, the two local dimensions reveal distinctions between a community's desire for environmental protection and economic activity. The second chapter is also on environmental economics, which serves as an extension to the first chapter. Here, I explore the effect of spatially defined local community characteristics on the wastewater management environmental choice by constricting rings of community characteristics within 1,5,10 and 15 miles of the regulated facility location. The study includes not only economic characteristics of the community, but also socioeconomic, demographic and political community characteristic that serve as proxies of local community pressure. In addition, to empirically answer the question whether local communities promote water pollution control, this study assesses whether the communities are environmentally discriminated against on ...