Labor Market Challenges in Europe With Respect to the Migrant Crisis

Advocates and opponents of European refugee policy have disagreed often over the economic impact of new asylum seekers. This paper analyzes characteristic qualities of the European labor market and how they relate to the recent changes in migration from the Middle East and Africa. Within is analysis of the impacts to gross domestic product, unemployment, and the welfare state that the arrival of additional persons to the low-wage market will bring. The paper also argues that a plan to distribute asylum seekers across the European Union is an equitable solution to the issue

A Theory of North-South Trade and Globalization

This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model of North-South trade. Northern firms devote resources to innovative R&D to discover higher quality products and Southern firms devote resources to imitative R&D to copy state-of-the-art quality products. Both innovation and imitation rates are endogenously determined as well as the degree of wage inequality between Northern and Southern workers. The steady-state effects of globalization and stronger protection of intellectual property are analyzedEconomic Growth, North-South Trade, Globalization

The Growth and Welfare Effects of International Mass Migration

We analyse the effects of immigration quotas on growth and discounted welfare in a North-South version of the quality ladders growth model. Immigration quotas in the North increase the growth rate of utility for all consumers. However, they lower the static utility level and discounted welfare of Northern workers. Also the discounted welfare of asset owners drops. Hence, unlike in the static migration model where the representative agent in the host country benefits from immigration, in our dynamic migration model, the representative agent loses despite a positive growth effect of immigration. In general, the winners of a liberal immigration policy in the North are the immigrants and the remaining workers in the south.migration; growth; welfare

A Schumpeterian Growth Model with Heterogenous Firms

A common assumption in the Schumpeterian growth literature is that the innovation size is constant and identical across industries. This is in contrast with the empirical evidence which shows that: (i) the innovation size is far from being identical across industries; and (ii) the size distribution of profit returns from innovation is highly skewed toward the low value side, with a long tail on the high value side. In the present paper, we develop a Schumpeterian growth model that is consistent with this evidence. In particular, we assume that when a firm innovates, the size of its quality improvement is the result of a random draw from a Pareto distribution. This enables us to extend the class of quality-ladder growth models to encompass firm heterogeneity. We study the policy implications of this new set-up numerically and find that it is optimal to heavily subsidize R&D for plausible parameter values. Although it is optimal to tax R&D for some parameter values, this case only occurs when the steady-state rate of economic growth is very low.Schumpeterian Growth, R&D, optimal policy

Global Climate Change, Fair Trade, and Coffee Price Volatility

Fair Trade coffee sales have grown exponentially over the past fifteen years amidst a volatile and shaky coffee commodity market. This paper incorporates the prior research that global climate change will lead to more climate shocks with research on the coffee market’s volatility and farmer welfare. In accordance with prior research on commodity volatility, I develop an OLS estimator of the volatility of prices received by growers and evaluate the effect of climate shocks on it. I find that, when control variables are introduced, the volatility of the coffee price does increase at a statistically significant level with a climate shock. I evaluate the claim made by the Fair Trade movement that their program is a way to mitigate climate change, and I incorporate qualitative research that confirms the concerns observed in relation to climate change and farmer welfare

RESOURCES AND WELL-BEING IN AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS: A LONGITUDINAL, DYADIC ANALYSIS

Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that as the end of life approaches, resources that provide immediate, hedonic reward become more important and resources that provide delayed rewards become less important. The present study tested the theory in the context of marital dyads in which one partner had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal disease. ALS patients (N = 102) and their spouses (N = 100) reported their loneliness, financial worry, and psychological health every 3 months for up to 18 months. In multilevel dyadic models, patients and spouses had similar levels of financial worry and loneliness, but spouses’ psychological health was more affected than patients’ by financial worry. In actor-partner models, patients’ and spouses’ loneliness was associated with the other’s psychological health. Finally, patient psychological health predicted mortality risk. In conclusion, the present study provides good support for the predictions of socioemotional selectivity theory in a strong test of the theory

Learning how to export

Abstract: In this paper, we present a standard quality ladders endogenous growth model with one signi…cant new assumption, that it takes time for …rms to learn how to export. We show that this model without Melitz-type assumptions can account for all the evidence that the Melitz (2003) model was designed to explain plus much evidence that the Melitz model can not account for. In particular, consistent with the empirical evidence, we …nd that trade liberalization leads to a higher exit rate of …rms, that exporters charge higher prices for their products as well as higher markups, and that many large …rms do not export. JEL classi…cation: F12, F13, F43, O31, O41

A Schumpeterian Growth Model with Heterogenous Firms

A common assumption in the Schumpeterian growth literature is that the innovation size is constant and identical across industries. This is in contrast with the empirical evidence which shows that: (i) the innovation size is far from being identical across industries; a (ii) the size distribution of profit returns from innovation is highly skewed toward the low value side, with a long tail on the high value side. In the present paper, we develop a Schumpeterian growth model that is consistent with this evidence. In particular, we assume that when a firm innovates, the size of its quality improvement is the result of a random draw from a Pareto distribution. This enables us to extend the class of quality-ladder growth models to encompass firm heterogeneity. We study the policy implications of this new set-up numerically and find that it is optimal to heavily subsidize R&D for plausible parameter values. Although it is optimal to tax R&D for some parameter values,this case only occurs when the steady-state rate of economic growth is very low

Beliefs About Savoring in Older Adulthood: Aging and Perceived Health Affect Temporal Components of Perceived Savoring Ability

The ability to savor positive life events is associated with higher emotional well-being; however, few studies have examined savoring ability in older adults. The present study used a longitudinal design to examine changes in perceived savoring abilities and associations with perceived health in older adulthood. Older adults (N=131) reported on beliefs about savoring and perceived health at baseline and 2½ years later. Perceived anticipation (savoring the future) and reminiscing (savoring the past) abilities declined from baseline to follow-up. Better perceived health at baseline predicted greater perceived reminiscing and anticipation abilities at follow-up. Greater perceived ability to savor the present moment at baseline predicted better perceived health at follow-up. Aging and poorer health focus older adults’ thoughts on present-moment pleasures, which may benefit health, but may also lead to reductions in perceived anticipation and reminiscing abilities