The Predictive Value of Subjective Labour Supply Data: A Dynamic Panel Data Model with Measurement Error

This paper tests the predictive value of subjective labour supply data for adjustments in working hours over time. The idea is that if subjective labour supply data help to predict next year's working hours, such data must contain at least some information on individual labour supply preferences. This informational content can be crucial to identify models of labour supply. Furthermore, it can be crucial to investigate the need for, or, alternatively, the support for laws and collective agreements on working hours flexibility. In this paper I apply dynamic panel data models that allow for measurement error. I find evidence for the predictive power of subjective labour supply data concerning desired working hours in the German Socio-Economic Panel 1988-1996.Labour Supply, Subjective Data, Measurement Error, Dynamic Panel Data Models

Participation Behavior of East German Women after German Unification

The paper studies the determinants of labor force participation by East German women after unification. To isolate the role of preferences on labor force participation from individual characteristics, we develop a panel data model that simultaneously explains participation, employment, and wages. The model, estimated for East and West Germany on the basis of the German Socio-Economic Panel, indicates that distinct preferences could explain the regional difference in participation rates at unification. Afterward East German women became less willing to participate, but the negative participation trend was offset on the aggregate level by changes in characteristics and wages promoting participation.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39862/3/wp477.pd

Training Intensity and First Labor Market Outcomes of Apprenticeship Graduates

The apprenticeship system is the most important source of formal post-secondary training in Germany. Using German register data - the IAB Employment Sample - we find that apprentices staying with their training firm after graduation have longer first-job durations but not higher wages than apprentices leaving the training firm. Retention rates, first job durations, and post-apprenticeship wages are all increasing functions of training intensity. Some implications for the ongoing debate as to why firms are willing to invest in general training are discussed.Training, wages, job-duration

Participation Behavior of East German Women after German Unification

The paper studies the determinants of labor force participation by East German women after unification. To isolate the role of preferences on labor force participation from individual characteristics, we develop a panel data model that simultaneously explains participation, employment, and wages. The model, estimated for East and West Germany on the basis of the German Socio-Economic Panel, indicates that distinct preferences could explain the regional difference in participation rates at unification. Afterward East German women became less willing to participate, but the negative participation trend was offset on the aggregate level by changes in characteristics and wages promoting participation.Transitional Economies, Labor Force Participation, Panel Data

A Note on the Redistributive Effect of Immigration

In this paper, we study gains and losses that accrue to natives because of immigration. The gain on the aggregated level is called the 'immigration surplus', which can be seen as analogous to a consumer surplus. We derive changes in the earnings of native owners of production factors by employing a stylized model with capital and two types of labour. We claim that the changes in earnings are larger than reported by previous studies, and we propose a new method to tally them up to the immigration surplus.

Female Labour Supply, Flexibility of Working Hours, and Job Mobility in the Netherlands

In the empirical literature on labour supply, several static models are developed to incorporate constraints on working hours. These models do not address to what extent working hours are constrained within jobs, and to what extent working hours can be adjusted by means of changing employer. The aim of this paper is to measure the flexibility of working hours within and between jobs by utilizing subjective information on individual preferences to adjustments in working hours. The potential endogeneity of both the subjective information and job mobility will be taken into account. Furthermore, we argue that the Netherlands is an interesting country for the study of working hour flexibility, as part-time employment is fairly common. Empirical analysis based on a sample of employed women in the Dutch Socio- Economic Panel (1987-1989) shows, however, that the flexibility of working hours within jobs is low. Job mobility is a means of adjustment in working hours mainly for women who want to work more hours

The Predictive Value of Subjective Labour Supply Data: A Dynamic Panel Data Model with Measurement Error

This paper tests the predictive value of subjective labour supply data for adjustments in working hours over time. The idea is that if subjective labour supply data help to predict next year?s working hours, such data must contain at least some information on individual labour supply preferences. This informational content can be crucial to identify models of labour supply. Furthermore, it can be crucial to investigate the need for, or, alternatively, the support for laws and collective agreements on working hours flexibility. In this paper I apply dynamic panel data models that allow for measurement error. I find evidence for the predictive power of subjective labour supply data concerning desired working hours in the German Socio- Economic Panel 1988-1996

Early Retirement and Financial Incentives: Differences Between High and Low Wage Earners

This paper investigates the impact of financial incentives on early-retirement behaviour for high and low wage earners. Using a stylized life-cycle model, we derive hypotheses on the behaviour of the two types. We use administrative data and employ two identification strategies to test the predictions. First, we exploit exogenous variation in the replacement rate over birth cohorts of workers who are eligible to a transitional early retirement scheme. Second, we employ a regression discontinuity design by comparing workers who are eligible and non-eligible to the transitional scheme. The empirical results show that low wage earners are, as predicted by the model, more sensitive to financial incentives. The results imply that low wage earners will experience a stronger incentive to continue working in an optimal early retirement scheme.

Evaluation of a tax reform: a model with measurement error

Parts of the Dutch tax reform 2001 are directed towards fiscal partners in a household and aim at lowering the marginal tax burden of the partner with the lowest (potential) labour income. An important goal of the reform is to increase the employment rate of these partners, which are in majority women. The Dutch Labour Force Survey 1992-2003 shows that the growth of the employment rate of married women after 2001 was larger than for a comparable group of single women. A statistical analysis using a model that accounts for measurement error shows that the growth of the employment rates of women without young children is in line with the predicted effect of the tax reform