The 2011 Industrial Relations Reform and Nominal Wage Adjustments in Greece

This study investigates nominal contractual base-wage adjustments in Greece associated with the 2011 industrial relations reform which re-defined the limits within which base wages could oscillate and allowed workers’ associations to negotiate for wages at the firm level. The assessment covers the period 2010-2013 and is based on information extracted from the universe of firm-level contracts signed in this period. We found that firm-level contracts increased dramatically shortly after the reform, now covering a larger pool of workers, especially in larger firms, and are associated with higher base-wage reductions in the post-reform period. At the firm level, wage reductions are higher when workers are represented by a workers’ association rather than a typical trade union. In addition, a heterogeneous effect is uncovered regarding the factors that shape base-wage adjustments (firm size, profitability, structure of bargaining body and aggregate unemployment) between new and traditional forms of workers’ representation in collective bargaining

Retirement and Household Expenditure in Turbulent Times

We examine the impact of own and spousal retirement on household expenditure during a period of financial deterioration. We use detailed household data covering the period 2009-2016 in Greece, during which the country experienced a severe financial crisis that affected retirees in ways that were not anticipated. Similar to Moreau and Stancanelli (2015) our empirical strategy allows for the household expenditure to depend on both own and spousal retirement status. We employ an instrumental variable identification strategy by exploiting variation coming from the early retirement age threshold. Our Two-Stage Least Squares estimates show that, even after controlling for income, total expenditure drops significantly when the husband retires and as he becomes older. The reduction is stronger in 2010, when the first wave of austerity plans, including measures affecting pensioners were announced, and after 2014 when horizontal pension cuts were implemented. Expenditure does not change significantly when the wife retires neither the older she gets. A drop-in expenditure for clothing, transport, housing and communication drives the overall reduction in expenditure. Overall, our results can have significant policy implications in the design of structural pension reforms in a period of financial hardship

Crises and mortality: Does the level of unemployment matter?

The relationship between mortality and economic fluctuations has been a topic of long interest, which intensified following the 2008 global financial crisis. We study whether mortality responds non-linearly and asymmetrically to unemployment in the context of national economic crises. Although these assumptions have been challenged in other domains, they have been neglected in the mortality literature. Greece offers an ideal setting as unemployment was decreasing until mid-2008, but then it was sharply increased as a result of a severe economic crisis. We use quarterly data on regional unemployment and mortality from 1999 to 2013, giving a balanced panel of 780 observations. We find evidence of a countercyclical total mortality, especially for the older groups, and a further deteriorating crisis effect. We provide evidence that the relationship is non-linear and asymmetric, suggesting that the effect on death rates changes for very high values of unemployment and depends on its direction. Both non-linearity and asymmetry are mainly driven by those above 65 years old. The results suggest that the mechanisms explaining these effects are likely to vary across age groups. Our findings have important methodological implications and suggest that empirical investigations on fluctuations, recessions and mortality should not ignore possible non-linear and asymmetric behaviours, especially during turbulent times

Spreading the Disease: The Role of Culture

This paper investigates the \cultural" transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Using West Germany data we observe that in predominantly Catholic regions with stronger social and family ties, the spread and the resulting deaths per capita were much higher compared to non-Catholic ones at the NUTS-3 level. This finding could help explain the rapid spread and high death toll of the virus in some European countries compared to others. Looking at differences within a specific country in a well identified setting eliminates biases due to different social structures, health care systems, specific policies and measures, and testing procedures for the virus that can confound estimates and hinder comparability across countries. Further, we use individual level data as well as Apple mobility data to investigate potential mechanisms. The results highlight the cultural dimension of the spread and could suggest the implementation of targeted mitigation measures in light of disease outbreaks

Summertime and the drivin’ is easy? Daylight Saving Time and Vehicle Accidents

Although is commonly understood that light conditions affect driving behaviour, detailed evidence is scarce especially for EU countries. In this paper we use the exogenous variation in daylight caused by Daylight Saving Time (DST) shifts to examine the role of light conditions on vehicle accidents. We use a rich dataset from Greek administrative data covering the universe of all types of recorded vehicle accidents over the period between 01 January 2006 to 31 December 2016. Relying on a regression discontinuity design we attempt to provide a causal evaluation regarding the impact of exogenous time shifts on the number of vehicle crashes. Our results are supportive of an ambient light mechanism that reduces the counts of serious vehicle accidents during the Spring transitions and increases the count of minor ones during the Fall transition, especially during the most impacted hours within the day. We discuss the implications of our study both for the importance of light ambience conditions for car accidents and for the particular case of the adoption and preservation of DST policies

Uneven geographies of economic recovery and the stickiness of individual displacement

How far do economic recoveries help those whose employment potential was most affected in times of crisis to clamber back—and under what regional conditions? We examine this issue drawing on individuals’ employment histories from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We find that—with the notable exception of the London economy—loss of occupational status is ‘sticky’, with evidence of limited ‘bouncing back’ for those ‘bumped down’ the occupational ladder during the crisis. London’s exceptionalism is consistent with expected metropolitan advantages (denser/larger labour markets), but we find no evidence of a broader North–South divide, while comparisons across regions outside London reveal no significant associations with general indicators of the form/intensity of economic recovery

Religion, social interactions, and COVID-19 incidence in Western Germany

This paper investigates how social interactions, as shaped by religious denomination, are related to COVID-19 incidence and associated mortality in Western Germany. We observe that the number of infections and deaths during the early pandemic phase were much higher in predominantly Catholic counties with arguably stronger family and social ties. The relationship was confirmed at the county level through numerous robustness checks, and after controlling for a series of characteristics and county fixed effects. At the individual level, we confirmed that Catholics, relative to non-Catholics, have tighter and more frequent interactions with their family and friends. Moreover, the intensity of social interaction was able to partially explain the relationship between COVID-19 incidence and share of Catholics at the county level. Our results highlight the number of dimensions that have to be taken into account when designing and implementing mitigation measures in the early stages of disease outbreaks

Industrial Relations Reform, Firm-Level Bargaining and Nominal Wage Floors

We investigate the impact of the 2011 industrial relations reform in Greece that made firms with less than 50 employees eligible to participate to firm-level bargaining. Matching administrative contractual data with longitudinal firm-level data we identify firms affected and not affected by the reform. We find that during the first post-reform year, affected firms with less than 50 employees experienced a 4.8 per cent increase in the probability of firm-level contracting and a 12 per cent drop in wage floors relative to not affected firms. We also report estimates regarding the post-reform employment effect of firm-level bargaining

Mend the Gap: The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England

The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England was commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care in 2017. It is the largest and most comprehensive review of its kind ever completed in the public sector. Chaired by Professor Dame Jane Dacre and led by Professor Carol Woodhams, the review takes a comprehensive approach to understanding the structural and cultural barriers affecting the female medical workforce