The Effects of Flat Tax on Inequality and Informal Employment: The Case of Albania

In this study we perform the first econometric attempt to estimate the trade-off between equity and efficiency of tax systems counting for the tax evasion option in a developing country such as Albania. Using the Albanian Living Srandard Measurement Survey (2005, 2008) we estimate a micro-econometric model of labour supply and incorporate the option of participation in regular and irregular labour markets. Swapping the tax rules of 2005 with 2008, we find that the flat tax has not contributed in the reduction of labour informality but rather the increases in regular wages have played an important role in convincing the individuals to move to regular market. Furthermore, we find that controls and audits are more efficient than fines in inducing people to switch from the informal to formal labour market. A similar effect is achieved also when “honest” individuals are endowed with a universal benefit. In distributional terms, calculations of Gini inequality index and Sen’s welfare index demonstrate that the only scenario that would improve welfare index is a progressive tax rule as before 2007. Finally, these results suggest that a kind of progressivity should be reinserted to the taxation system without affecting the attractiveness of the simplicity exercised by the flat tax.

Auswirkungen der Arbeitsmarktöffnung am 1. Jänner 2014 auf den Wirtschafts- und Arbeitsstandort Österreich

aus dem Inhaltsverzeichnis: Zusammenfassung; Einleitung und Hintergrund; Rumänische und bulgarische Staatsangehörige in Österreich; Internationale Vergleiche; Migrationspotenzial rumänischer und bulgarischer Staatsangehöriger nach Österreich; Modellsimulation; Glossar; Anhang; Beschreibung von TaxLab - ein Makromodell für Österreich; Statistischer Annex

From Refugees to Workers: Mapping Labour-Market Integration Support Measures for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in EU Member States - Volume II: Literature Review and Country Case Studies

This study intends to provide a better understanding of the challenges with regard to the integration of refugees into the labour-markets. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access to employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study includes detailed case studies for the following nine EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The research points to the need for increased coordination at all levels, the conditions for successful public-private partnerships, and the adequate sequence of work integration and language learning, for example. Not least, it makes clear that finding effective ways to bring refugees to work will prove key for Europe's future.It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.Search also for: Volume I of the report "Comparative Analysis and Policy Findings"

From Refugees to Workers : Mapping Labour-Market Integration Support Measures for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Eu Member States - Volume I: Comparative Analysis and Policy Findings

This study intends to provide a better understanding of the challenges with regard to the integration of refugees into the labour-markets. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access to employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study includes detailed case studies for the following nine EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The research points to the need for increased coordination at all levels, the conditions for successful public-private partnerships, and the adequate sequence of work integration and language learning, for example. Not least, it makes clear that finding effective ways to bring refugees to work will prove key for Europe's future.It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.Search also for: Volume II "Literature Review and Country Case Studies"

From refugees to workers : mapping labour market integration support measures for asylum-seekers and refugees in EU member states. Volume II : Literature review and country case studies

The study sets out to provide a better understanding of the emerging challenges in policy targeting the labour-market integration of refugees. What are the strategies and practices implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate access into employment? What do we know about their effectiveness? What are good practices and lessons learned in different countries? The study is based on nine detailed country case studies of the following EU Member States: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It has been produced by the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) at the European University Institute in Florence.This study has been funded by Bertelsmann Stiftung and produced by the Migration Policy Centre at the EUI

The New Face of Slavery in the Balkans

The paper studies the individuals from the Balkans, who attempted to migrate illegally and fell victims of trafficking and exploitation at the destination country. The paper aims to analyse and explore the relationship between personal characteristics, previous economic status of the victims and the implications of being trafficked and sexually exploited, in wellbeing terms. In order to examine the deprivation of the victims of trafficking and exploitation we use Sen´s capability approach whereas to estimate the latent state of well-being we make use of MIMIC approach (Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes). The probability of being trafficked and exploited out of the region and its main determinants are analysed by counting for demographic, social, economic and political factors. We find that improving the political and economic situation in the origin country, concurrently with law enforcement intervention in the destination country, reduces the victims` deprivation by the trafficking and exploitation

Health Professionals Wanted: The Case of Health Professionals from Western Balkan Countries to Europe

The Western Balkan countries have been faced with a rising outward mobility of health professionals, driven by the increasing demand for this category of worker, especially in European countries. Labour-market imbalances are pushing many health professionals to leave the Western Balkan region. As a consequence, shortages of health professionals are looming and access to health services in the region is put under strain. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the recent pattern of mobility of health professionals from Western Balkan (WB) countries. A gravity model is implemented to analyse the push-and-pull factors of mobility during 2000–2019 and towards European countries. The analysis finds that income differentials between WB and European countries are strong pull factors. Additionally, policy changes in the destination countries shape the mobility patterns and several European countries, especially Germany, have benefited from the mobility of health professionals from WB countries

Health professionals wanted: Chain mobility across European countries

This study analyses recent trends in the mobility of health professionals in Europe. It first identifies the drivers of this mobility, then analysis its main push-and-pull factors, and finally shows how different European countries are affected by these recent movements of health professionals. Our analysis focuses specifically on the patterns of mobility among medical doctors and nurses between 2010 and 2017. A number of indicators have been collected that provide a comprehensive picture of how the pattern of supply and demand for health professionals has changed over the past decade, illustrating the role that the mobility of health professionals across European countries plays in these developments. We find that a number of European countries have benefited from the mobility of health professionals, but this has accentuated imbalances in a number of other countries. Furthermore, a gravity model is used to identify the push-and-pull factors of mobility in a sample of 32 European countries over 2000-2017. Wage differentials in the health sector across the European countries certainly make some of the countries more successful at attracting health professionals than other countries that are failing to retain them. Consequently, the latter group of countries are facing huge challenges to provide health assistance to their own rapidly ageing populations

Labour market integration programmes for refugees in Austria: Do they really work and for whom?

In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of the participation of refugees in integration programmes intended to help them gain employment. The specific programmes considered are the Competence Check programme and the Integration Year programme that were introduced in Austria around the time of the 2015 crisis, when refugees poured from the Middle East into the EU. The study is based on the fourth and fifth waves of a survey (FIMAS) of refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria in Austria, and it uses matching models to evaluate the effects on employment of participation in those two programmes. More specifically, it applies multivariate matching methods that ensure better balancing properties between the control and the treated groups. We find especially positive effects of the programmes on the employability of women, the poorly educated, younger and older age cohorts. These programmes thus seem to work specifically for those that find themselves in a more vulnerable labour market situation

Do I Stay because I am Happy or am I Happy because I Stay? Life Satisfaction in Migration, and the Decision to Stay Permanently, Return and Out-migrate

Mobility in the form of permanent migration, return or out-migration can provide individuals with gainful employment, better jobs and a higher level of earnings. But as a growing number of studies are suggesting, the gains from migration should not be strictly evaluated from the utilitarian approach but subjective well-being indicators should be taken into consideration. The purpose of this study is to test how life satisfaction during the migration experience determines the preference to stay, return or out-migrate by controlling not only for economic but also for social and subjective well-being determinants. We aim to address this analysis by combining two streams of research the one on migration and return decisions and the one on life satisfaction and subjective well-being, so as to broaden the analytical framework by adding some of the main findings from other social sciences. The results of the study confirm that, once in the destination country, migration intentions such as to stay permanently, to move to another country or to return home are strongly linked to the assessment of life satisfaction through diverse social and economic drivers. For women, life satisfaction is not only a good predictor of migration preferences but also a mediator, whereas for men this is not confirmed. Determinants that appear to be positively linked with life satisfaction are civic participation and housing which correlate with migrants reporting high levels of life satisfaction