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There is widespread concern that major cities and their inhabitants are highly vulnerable to transit strikes. Governments in many countries have addressed this concern by limiting the right of transit workers to strike. Whether or not this can be justified depends, in turn, on whether strikes by transit workers implicate the safety or health of urban populations and impose disproportionate costs on non-involved third parties. We use time series and cross-sectional variation in powerful registry data in order to quantify the effects of public transit strikes in five population-relevant domains: traffic volumes, travel times, accident risk, pollution emissions, and health. The context of our study are the five largest cities in Germany, allowing us to exploit 71 public transit strikes over the period from 2002 to 2011. Generalized difference-in-differences models suggest that strikes lead to a significant increase in car traffic, congestion, accident risk and air pollution. There is also evidence for a substantial increase in accident-related injuries and pollution-related health problems. The third party congestion costs of public transit strikes exceed the private costs of struck employers by at least a factor of four.

In den Jahren 2015 und 2016 sind etwa 1,2 Millionen Flüchtlinge nach Deutschland gekommen. Die kurz- bis mittelfristigen Effekte der Flüchtlingsaufnahme auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung werden anhand eines makroökonome­trischen Modells geschätzt. Auf der einen Seite sind die Effekte auf das Pro-Kopf-Einkommen und die fiskalische Bilanz leicht negativ. Auch die Erwerbslosigkeit wird durch die Flüchtlingsmigration ansteigen. Auf der anderen Seite steigern die höheren Staatsausgaben verbunden mit einer zunehmenden Anzahl erwerbstätiger Flüchtlinge das Wirtschaftswachstum. Die kumulierte Zunahme des realen Bruttoinlandsprodukts in Deutschland kann sich im Zeitraum 2016 bis 2020 auf bis zu 95 Milliarden Euro belaufen. Der Effekt hängt dabei entscheidend von der Arbeitsmarktintegration und der Bildungspolitik ab.

The flexicurity concept – a combination of flexibility and security strategies, specific to each country – is a successful outcome[1] of the 2010 Lisbon Strategy. Ever since 2000, this concept has been implemented for continuing the European labour markets reform. The conclusion of the Mission for Flexicurity[2] is that the European labour markets challenges have not changed, therefore flexicurity is the strategy to be further implemented in order to align to the new competition requirements, providing also the necessary social protection, especially on the current economic crisis background. The paper addresses the flexicurity concept development, the implications of the flexicurity strategies and of the steps taken on the European Union Member States labour markets, on the economic crisis background.

This paper studies how social pressure affects the behavior of soccer referees. We make use of an attractive source of exogenous variation in the number of spectators at matches. Due to recent hooligan violence, the Italian government has implemented a regulation that forces some soccer teams to temporarily play home matches in empty stadiums. We find that referees punish away players more harshly and home players more lightly when the games are played in front of spectators compared to when they are not. This indicates that referees exhibit home bias caused by social pressure from the spectators.

A common problem of regional policy is the distribution of funds to regional units. To follow the specific purpose of this budgeting process in a rational way this is often done in a formula allocation on the basis of official statistics. In the paper this is shown with the example of funds for active labour market policy. In Germany, measures of active labour market policy - e.g. training measures, integration subsidies and job creation schemes - are paid from a common budget. For the allocation of these budgetary funds (amounting to EURO 0,194 billion in 2004) to the regions of the Federal Republic of Germany, a formula was developed which was to be based essentially on a labour market indicator. The criteria for the development of a formula allocation were: most accurate fit to the legal guidelines of the Social Code, transparency of the procedure, openness for necessary policy decisions, scientific correctness in implementation, efficiency of the whole process. Here the procedure used in constructing the distribution process is explained and the distribution result is set out. Both were finally passed by the Supervisory Board of the Federal Employment Agency in Germany.

Much of the theory in personnel economics relates to effects of monetary incentives on output, but the theory was untested because appropriate data were unavailable. A new data set for the Safelite Glass Corporation tests the predictions that average productivity will rise, the firm will attract a more able workforce, and variance in output across individuals at the firm will rise when it shifts to piece rates. In Safelite, productivity effects amount to a 44-percent increase in output per worker. This firm apparently had selected a suboptimal compensation system, as profits also increased with the change. (JEL J00, J22, J3)

We provide a simple explanation for the observation from the U.S. manufacturing sector that the job destruction rate fluctuates more than the job creation rate. In our model, proportional plant-level costs of creating and destroying jobs cause shrinking plants to be more sensitive to aggregate shocks than growing plants. We describe circumstances in which this microeconomic asymmetry is preserved in the aggregate and show that it can account for much of the observed asymmetries in gross job flows. This is so even though we abstract from job matching frictions, incomplete contracts, and aggregate congestion effects. (JEL E00, L00, J00)

We present a meta-analysis of impact estimates from over 200 recent econometric evaluations of active labor market programs from around the world. We classify estimates by program type and participant group, and distinguish between three different post-program time horizons. Using meta-analytic models for the effect size of a given estimate (for studies that model the probability of employment) and for the sign and significance of the estimate (for all the studies in our sample) we conclude that: (1) average impacts are close to zero in the short run, but become more positive 2-3 years after completion of the program; (2) the time profile of impacts varies by type of program, with larger gains for programs that emphasize human capital accumulation; (3) there is systematic heterogeneity across participant groups, with larger impacts for females and participants who enter from long term unemployment; (4) active labor market programs are more likely to show positive impacts in a recession. ; Diese Studie präsentiert eine Meta-Analyse von Effektschätzungen aus mehr als 200 ökonometrischen Evaluationen von Maßnahmen der aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik (AAMP) weltweit. Wir kategorisieren die Effektschätzungen nach Maßnahmetyp, Teilnahmegruppe und Zeithorizont (kurz-, mittel- und langfristige Schätzung der Programwirkungen). Auf Basis meta-analytischer Modelle für die Effektgröße (für jene Studien, welche die Beschäftigungswahrscheinlichkeit als Ergebnisgröße modellieren) sowie für die Richtung und Signifikanz der Effektschätzung (für alle Studien unserer Stichprobe) ergeben sich folgende Erkenntnisse: (1) Die durchschnittlichen Maßnahmeneffekte sind kurzfristig nahe Null, werden allerdings positiv 2-3 Jahre nach Beendigung der Maßnahme; (2) das zeitliche Profil der Effekte hängt vom Maßnahmetyp ab, mit stärkeren Zuwächsen für Maßnahmen, die Humankapitalbildung betonen; (3) es zeigt sich systematische Heterogenität nach Teilnahmegruppe, mit größeren Effekten für Frauen und Langzeitarbeitslose; (4) AAMP-Maßnahmen haben während einer Rezession eine höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit, positive Effekte aufzuweisen.

n.a. ; In this paper six authors propose guidelines for German labor market policy, to overcome current discouragement and lead to a new balance of social security and individual competetiveness. Crucial aspects in this regard should be a reformed tax system based on excise instead of income taxes, and a system of incentives (vouchers) to encourage further education and individual initiative in the event of unemployment. In addition the declaration pleads for economic regulation of immigration and demands more marketability of honorary work. The welfare state should not be shattered but has to stimulate the individual to take economic risks and chances. This paper has been forwarded to a broader German public in order to influence discussion on the future course of labor market policy.

This paper deals with a wide spread perception that foreign-born teaching assistants (FBTA) have an adverse effect on American undergraduate students. The maximum likelihood technique is used to arrive at an unbiased and efficient estimate of the grade function. It is demonstrated that while the FBTA appears to have an adverse effect on the academic performance of American students, the effect does not seem to be due to the lack of language proficiency of the FBTA. Furthermore, the adverse effect is not uniform among students with different performance levels in the course and is absent in more rigorous classes. (JEL A22, J00)

We study the effects of the cancellation of a sizeable child benefit in Spain on birth timing and neonatal health. In May 2010, the government announced that a 2,500-euro universal baby bonus would stop being paid to babies born on or after January 1st, 2011. We use detailed micro data from birth certificates from 2000 to 2011, and find that more than 2,000 families were able to anticipate the date of birth of their babies from (early) January 2011 to (late) December 2010 (for a total of about 9,000 births a week nationally). This shifting of deliveries led to a significant increase in the number of low birth weight babies, as well as a peak in neonatal mortality. These results suggest that announcement effects are important in shaping economic decisions and outcomes. They also provide new, credible evidence highlighting the negative health consequences of scheduling births for non-medical reasons.

Although age discrimination laws boost employment of older workers, some are exempt from age‐law protection and may be better protected by disability discrimination laws. Disability laws may raise the costs of employing the disabled, however, generating mixed predictions regarding employment effects of protection by both types of laws. This study finds that employment of older disabled workers with the coupled laws is lower than those with age‐law protection only; employment of the younger disabled is higher with the coupled laws. For older disabled workers, earnings of those with the coupled laws are lower than their counterparts with only age‐law protection. (JEL J78, K31, J00)

The aim of this article is to explore the influence of single agents on gender equity in organizations. In our qualitative study, we focus on works councillors as equal opportunity agents in large profit organizations in Austria, because of their unique institutional position regarding organizational change in the direction of gender equity. This study is based on the concept of social positioning within the theory of structuration (Giddens 1992). We organize our empirical material along Stones' (2005) conception of the 'quadripartite nature of structuration', including external and internal structures, activities and outcomes. In the discussion of reasons for the rather limited impact equal opportunity active works councillors have on gender equity, we emphasize the constitutive approach of co-determination and a liberal concept of equal opportunity policies. Accordingly, works councillors broadly accept gendered structures in organizations and mainly deal with obvious, unfair (formal) procedures or individual cases of discrimination as the outcomes of these structures. ; Zielsetzung dieses Artikels ist es, den Einfluss von Gleichstellungsakteur/innen auf Chancengleichheit der Geschlechter in Organisationen zu untersuchen. Grundlage dafür bilden qualitative Interviews mit gleichstellungsaktiven Betriebsrät/innen in großen privatwirtschaftlichen Unternehmen in Österreich. Wir konzentrieren uns auf Betriebsrät/innen, da diese Akteur/innen institutionalisierte Möglichkeiten der Förderung, Kontrolle und Initiierung von Gleichstellungsmaßnahmen in Organisationen haben. Den theoretischen Rahmen bildet das Konzept der sozialen Positionierung als Teil der Strukturationstheorie von Giddens (1992). Die Daten werden anhand der vier Dimensionen der 'quadripartite nature of structuration' (Stones 2005) organisiert: externe Strukturen, interne Strukturen, Aktivitäten und Ergebnisse. Die Gründe für den von uns konstatierten geringen Einfluss gleichstellungsaktiver Betriebsrät/innen auf betriebliche Chancengleichheit der Geschlechter liegen vor allem in den institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen betrieblicher Mitbestimmung sowie eines liberalen Konzepts von Gleichstellungspolitik. Betriebsrät/innen akzeptieren weitgehend vorhandene geschlechtsspezifische Strukturen in Organisationen und agieren in erster Linie bei offensichtlich diskriminierenden Verfahren oder in einzelnen Fällen von Diskriminierungen.

This study examines 147 banking crises in the period of 1976-2011 documented by the International Monetary Fund. The countries affected by crises are analysed in respect of publicly available World Bank indicators in the periods of three years before the crises. Machine learning methodology for subgroup discovery is used for the analysis. It enabled identification of five subsets of crises. Two of them are identified as especially useful for the characterization of EU countries affected by the banking crises in the year 2008. Fast growing credit activity is a characteristic for the first subgroup while socioeconomic problems recognized by non-increasing quality of public health are decisive for the second subgroup. Comparative analysis of the EU countries included into the second subgroup and the EU countries affected by the banking crises but not included into this subgroup demonstrated statistically significant differences in respect of World Bank good governance indicator values for the period before the crisis. Control of corruption, rule of law, and government effectiveness are the indicators that are statistically different for these sets of countries. The result is fully in accordance with the Francis's model connecting governance indicators and financial fragility. The significance of the result is in the segmentation of the corpus of countries with banking crises and recognition of connections between banking crises, socioeconomic problems, and governance effectiveness in some EU countries. The conclusions of the study might be useful for the policy makers in stressing that future banking crises prevention should also focus on governance effectiveness, more strict law implementation and especially on measures against corruption.