Are Union Members Happy Workers after All? Evidence from Eastern and Western European Labor Markets

Based on data from the European Values Study (EVS), we compare the determinants of job satisfaction and the impact of union membership in Eastern and Western European labor markets. Correcting our regressions for union endogeneity and controlling for individual characteristics, values and beliefs, and important aspects of a job, we find a positive association between unionization and job satisfaction. This is contrary to the dominant view of the impact of unionization on job satisfaction suggesting that there is a strong, negative relationship between the two variables. We also uncover distinct attitudinal differences between Eastern and Western European employees, highlighting persistent influences of former communist labor relations.Unions; job satisfaction; EVS

Gender differences in self-employment

This paper examines the factors that influence transitions into self-employment, paying particular attention to gender differences. We find that: (i) men are more responsive to the wage differential between wage/salaried employment and self-employment; (ii) liquidity constraints are more important for men; and (iii) the link between father’s self-employment status and the probability of self-employment is stronger for men. Taken together, these results suggest that, for women, self-employment is a closer substitute for part-time work and labour market inactivity than it is for men. We attribute such differences to the different labour market opportunities and occupational strategies of women.Employment (Economic theory) ; Labor market ; Germany

Entrepreneurship and the policy environment

This paper uses a spatial panel approach to examine the effect of the government-policy environment on the level of entrepreneurship. Specifically, we investigate whether marginal income tax rates and bankruptcy exemptions influence rates of entrepreneurship. Whereas previous work in the literature finds that both policies are positively related to entrepreneurship, we find non-monotonic relationships: a U-shaped relationship between marginal tax rates and entrepreneurship and an S-shaped relationship between bankruptcy exemptions and entrepreneurship.Business enterprises ; Taxation ; Bankruptcy

Back to baseline in Britain: Adaptation in the BHPS

We look for evidence of adaptation of well-being to major life events in sixteen waves of British panel data. We find that, with the exception of unemployment, adaptation to other life events including marriage, divorce, birth of a child and widowhood is rapid and complete. These findings are remarkably similar to those found in previous analysis of German panel data. Equally, the time profiles of well-being as measured by life satisfaction data are very close to those from the analysis of a twelve-item scale of psychological functioning. As such, the phenomenon of adaptation may be a general one, rather than being only found in German data or using single-item measures. Last, we uncover some systematic differences in adaptation profiles according to "Big Five" personality measures.Life Satisfaction ; anticipation ; adaptation ; baseline satisfaction ; labour market and life events

What makes a region entrepreneurial? evidence from Britain

There is a great deal of variation in the levels of entrepreneurship, or rates of self-employment, across the regions of Britain. Over the period 1983-95, average self-employment in the North, Scotland, and the West Midlands was respectively 25%, 15%, and 15% lower than the national average, whereas in the South West, East Anglia, and Wales it was respectively 28%, 23%, and 21% higher. We develop a theoretical model of regional self-employment, and estimate the roles of labour market conditions, labour force characteristics, industry composition, and region-specific factors such as entrepreneurial human capital. Our results suggest that all of these factors are important, and that regional heterogeneity and regionally correlated disturbances must be accounted for when estimating regional self-employment relationshipsEconomic development ; Great Britain

Crowding Out Public Service Motivation

Employing workers with Public Service Motivation (PSM) has been proposed as a means of improving performance in the public sector. There is, however, no conclusive evidence showing PSM among individuals. In this paper we attempt to firstly find evidence of PSM by investigating why people change jobs from the private to the public sector. Secondly we attempt to identify factors that crowd out PSM and thus hinder individuals with PSM from joining the public sector.

Reference-dependent preferences in the public and private sectors: A nonlinear perspective

Although existing studies in the strategic management literature examine the importance of reference points in the context of managerial decisions vis-à-vis organizational performance, there is surprisingly little evidence on how reference earnings affect employees' wellbeing and behavior. The present study closes this gap by investigating adaptation dynamics towards reference earnings in the context of employees’ behavioral responses to social comparisons. We argue that a wedge between actual and aspiration-level earnings causes discontent that spurs employees into action to materialize their aspirations. The robustness of such action depends on the size of the wedge in a nonlinear fashion, a hypothesis supported by our findings. Nevertheless, heterogeneity in behavioral responses is evident across the public and private sectors and across gender and educational attainment. Such heterogeneity could be partially attributed to differences in public service motivation among public and private sector employees, to the different weights that employees place on pecuniary vs. non-pecuniary rewards, and whether reference earnings are likely to trigger behavioral responses through a 'jealousy' or through an 'ambition' channel. These findings have implications for the design of strategic human resource management policies to establish reward structures encouraging employees to adopt risk attitudes that are consistent with an overall business strategic plan.adaptation; reference earnings; comparison income; reference-dependent preferences; ESTAR models

Back to baseline in Britain: Adaptation in the BHPS

We look for evidence of adaptation in well-being to major life events using eighteen waves of British panel data. Adaptation to marriage, divorce, birth of a child and widowhood appears to be rapid and complete, whereas this is not the case for unemployment. These findings are remarkably similar to those in previous work on German panel data. Equally, the time profiles with life satisfaction as the well-being measure are very close to those using a twelve-item scale of psychological functioning. As such, the phenomenon of adaptation may be a general one, rather than being only found in German data or using single-item well-being measures

Back to baseline in Britain: Adaptation in the BHPS

We look for evidence of adaptation of well-being to major life events in sixteen waves of British panel data. We find that, with the exception of unemployment, adaptation to other life events including marriage, divorce, birth of a child and widowhood is rapid and complete. These findings are remarkably similar to those found in previous analysis of German panel data. Equally, the time profiles of well-being as measured by life satisfaction data are very close to those from the analysis of a twelve-item scale of psychological functioning. As such, the phenomenon of adaptation may be a general one, rather than being only found in German data or using single-item measures. Last, we uncover some systematic differences in adaptation profiles according to "Big Five" personality measures.Ce papier utilise seize vagues de données de panel britanniques afin d'examiner le phénomène de l'accoutumance du bien-être aux événements majeurs de la vie. A l'exception du chômage, l'accoutumance aux autres événements (mariage, divorce, veuvage et naissance d'un enfant) est rapide et totale. Ces résultats britanniques sont très semblables aux résultats antérieurs obtenus sur données de panel allemandes. Le profil temporel du bien-être est très stable, que l'on mesure ce dernier par la "satisfaction dans la vie" ou par le stress psychologique. Le phénomène d'accoutumance semble avoir une portée générale, non spécifique aux données allemandes ou aux mesures simples de bien-être. Nous montrons également que le processus d'accoutumance n'est pas le même selon que les individus sont extravertis ou intravertis

Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment

This paper provides some of the first empirical evidence on the psychological impact of past unemployment. Using eleven waves of the German socio-economic panel (GSOEP) data set, we show, as is now standard, that those currently unemployed have far lower life satisfaction scores than do the currently employed. We also show that, over the whole sample, well-being is lower the greater has been the past experience of unemployment. In this sense, unemployment scars. However, an interaction term between current and past unemployment attracts a positive coefficient. This suggests a habituation effect whereby the negative well-being effect of unemployment is much lower for those who have been unemployed more often in the past. We also use the panel aspect of our data to present some evidence that those who suffer greater falls in well-being on entering unemployment are less likely to remain unemployed one year later. Together these findings offer a psychological explanation of persistent unemployment