Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

In view of policy action to integrate ex-offenders into society, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms of the negative relationship between criminal record on the one hand and later employment and earnings on the other hand. In this study, we identify hiring discrimination against former juvenile delinquents in a direct way. To this end, we conduct a field experiment in the Belgian labour market. We find that labour market discrimination is indeed a major barrier in the transition to work for former juvenile delinquents. Labour market entrants disclosing a history of juvenile delinquency get about 22 percent less callback compared to their counterparts without a criminal record. This discrimination is heterogeneous by the occupation for which one applies

Wage subsidies and hiring chances for the disabled: some causal evidence

We evaluate the effectiveness of wage subsidies as a policy instrument to integrate disabled individuals into the labour market. To identify causal effects, we conduct a large-scale field experiment in Belgium. Our results show that the likelihood of a disabled candidate receiving a positive response to a job application is not positively influenced by revealing entitlement to the Flemish Supporting Subsidy

ETEC colonisation factors disrupt the antigen presenting capacity of porcine intestinal dendritic cells

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) are not only a major cause of diarrhoea in travellers to and children in developing countries, but also cause neonatal and postweaning diarrhoea in piglets, leading to a reduced feed conversion and a higher mortality rate. As a consequence ETEC infections result in severe economic losses in the swine production industry. This intestinal pathogen displays colonisation factors or fimbriae on its surface enabling the microorganism to adhere to the intestinal epithelium (Fig. 1). In pig, F4 and F18 fimbriae are the most frequently associated with ETEC-induced diarrhoea1. As opposed to F4 fimbriae, oral immunisation with F18 fimbriae doesn’t protect piglets from a subsequent challenge infection2. F18 fimbriae bind glycosphingolipids in the apical membrane of enterocytes, but no transcytosis occurs, resulting in lower sunepithelial antigen concentrations as compared to F4 fimbriae, which bind the transcytotic receptor aminopeptidase N3,4. However, M-cell mediated transport of F18 fimbriae should still occur. Hence, besides a lower antigen concentration, these fimbriae could affect the function of intestinal antigen presenting cells. Here, we investigated the influence of purified F18 fimbriae on the antigen presentation capacity of small intestinal lamina propria dendritic cells (LPDCs)

Does homeownership lead to longer unemployment spells? The role of mortgage payments

This paper examines the impact of housing tenure choice on unemployment duration in Belgium using EU-SILC micro data. We contribute to the literature in distinguishing homeowners with mortgage payments and outright homeowners. We simultaneously estimate unemployment duration by a mixed proportional hazard model, and the probability of being an outright homeowner, a homeowner with mortgage payments or a tenant by a mixed multinomial logit model. To be able to correctly identify the causal influence of different types of housing tenure on unemployment duration, we use instrumental variables. Our results show that homeowners with a mortgage exit unemployment first. Outright owners stay unemployed the longest. Tenants take an intermediate position. Moreover, our results reveal the different share of mortgage holders within the group of homeowners as a possible explanation for the discrepancy between former contributions to this literature

The Puzzle of Environmental Politics

In this report we study estimation of time-delays in linear dynamical systems with additive noise. Estimating time-delays is a common engineering problem, e.g. in automatic control, system identification and signal processing. The purpose with this work is to test and evaluate a certain class of methods for time-delay estimation, especially with automatic control applications in mind. Particularly interesting it is to determine the best method. Is one method best in all situations or should different methods be used for different situations? The tested class of methods consists essentially of thresholding the cross correlation between the output and input signals. This is a very common method for time-delay estimation. The methods are tested and evaluated experimentally with the aid of simulations and plots of RMS error, bias and confidence intervals. The results are: The methods often miss to detect because the threshold is too high. The threshold has nevertheless been selected to give the best result. All methods over-estimate the time-delay. Nearly the whole RMS error is due to the bias. None of the tested methods is always best. Which method is best depends on the system and what is done when missing detections. Some form of averaging of the cross correlation, e.g. integration to step response or CUSUM, is advantageous. Fast systems are easiest. White noise input signal is easiest and steps is hardest. The RMS-errors are high in average (approximately greater than 6 sampling intervals). The error is lower for fast system or for high SNR

Is ethnic discrimination due to distaste or statistics?

Employing a lab experiment, we directly test the empirical importance of key attitudes underlying the models of taste-based and statistical discrimination in explaining ethnic hiring discrimination. We find evidence that employer concern that co-workers and customers will prefer collaborating with native individuals drives unequal treatment

Bank Ownership, Firm Value and Firm Capital Structure in Europe

We investigate whether or not banks play a positive role in the ownership structure of European listed firms. We distinguish between banks and other institutional investors as shareholders and examine empirically the relationship between financial institution ownership and the performance of the firms in which they hold equity. Our main finding is that after controlling for the capital structure decision of the firms and the ownership decision of financial institutions in a simultaneous equations model, we find that there is a negative relationship between financial institution ownership and the market value of firms, measured as the Tobin's Q. This is in contradiction with the monitoring hypothesis.Financial institution ownership, Firm value, Capital structure

The Thomisidae and Philodromidae (Arachnida: Araneae) of the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador)

Two new species of Thomisidae are described (Mecaphesa reddelli sp. nov. and Tmarus galapagosensis sp. nov.). Of a third species, Mecaphesa inclusa (Banks, 1902), three colour variations are described. Tmarus specimens previously listed from the islands have always erroneously been called T. stolzmanni Keyserling, 1880. The Philodromidae are mentioned for the first time for the archipelago and are represented by two new species: Apollophanes fitzroyi sp. nov. and Apollophanes (?) lonesomegeorgei sp. nov