Differential Overeducation in East and West Germany: Extending Frank's Theory on Economic Returns Changes the Picture of Disadvantaged Women

We test the theory of differential overeducation which predicts that women and particularly partnered women are more affected by overeducation than men. Our OLS and FE estimations based on German SOEP data confirm that women indeed exhibit more years of excess education in both regions. Women's higher educational mismatch accounts for 5 pp of the West German pay gap. However, women suffer lower wage penalties from overeducation than men in both regions and, for partnered people, higher female wage penalties vanish in the FE estimations. Hence, women are more rationed than men concerning overeducation magnitude, confirming Frank's theory, but rather less disadvantaged with respect to economic returns.     

Belastungs- und Preiswirkungen der Missbrauchsbesteuerung bei Anteilsveräußerung nach Sacheinlage in eine Kapitalgesellschaft

In cases of contribution of assets into a corporation and subsequent sale of the participation by the shareholder within a retention period of seven years, the anti-abuse provision of article 22 paragraph 1 UmwStG is applied. Underlying the effects of the anti-abuse regulation on marginal share prices, the analysis shows no tax induced disadvantage in comparison with conventional law, provided that the present value of tax savings resulting from the increase in depreciation caused by the anti-abuse regulation is high enough and compensated in the purchase price. In terms of transparency and tax-law simplification, rejection of this anti-abuse provision is required.     

On the prevalence of framing effects across subject-pools in a two-person cooperation game

In this experimental study, involving subjects from Abu-Dis (West Bank), Chengdu (China), Helsinki (Finland), and Jerusalem (Israel), we test for a presentation bias in a two-person cooperation game. In the positive frame of the game, a transfer creates a positive externality for the opposite player, and in the negative frame, a negative one. Subjects in Abu-Dis and Chengdu show a substantially higher cooperation level in the positive externality treatment. In Helsinki and Jerusalem, no framing effect is observed. These findings are also reflected in associated first-order beliefs. We argue that comparisons across subject-pools might lead to only partially meaningful and opposed conclusions if only one treatment condition is evaluated. We therefore suggest a complementary application and consideration of different presentations of identical decision problems within (cross-cultural) research on subject-pool differences.     

Trajectories of Employment Gaps of Refugees and Other Migrants: Evidence from Austria

This paper analyzes the labor market integration of non-European refugees originating from middle- and low-income countries for the period of 2009–2018 in Austria. We assess their probability of being employed relative to Austrian natives and compare it with that of other non-European migrants and European refugees and other immigrants from low- and middle-income non-EU countries. We draw on a register-based panel dataset covering the complete labor market careers of all individuals residing in Austria. We control for macrolevel explanatory variables (e.g., the labor market situation at the time and the place of settlement) and individual characteristics. The analysis shows that initial refugee employment gaps relative to natives are large in the first years, when labor market access is difficult. After a period of 7 years, the unconditional gap between refugees and natives declines to 30 percentage points, similar to that of other migrants, but the gap is still decreasing. After controlling for a set of explanatory variables, the conditional gap amounts to only 10 percentage points at that time. Moreover, our analysis provides insights into differences in employment gaps across population subgroups of immigrant groups and natives by gender, age, education level, and types of employment.

     

Spatial Analysis of the Causes of Fertility Decline in Prussia

This article contributes to the geographic analysis of fertility decline in the demographic transition in Europe. We reanalyze Galloway, Hammel, and Lee's (1994) Prussian data with spatial analysis methods. Our multivariate analysis provides evidence of the predictive effect of both economic and cultural variables. Furthermore, even after all of the observable economic, social, and cultural variables have been controlled for, our findings show that a significant unexplained geographic clustering of fertility decline remains. We then specify spatial econometric models, which show that in addition to economic and cultural factors, socio‐geographic factors such as being adjacent to areas of sharp fertility decline are also needed to understand the pattern of fertility decline. These results provide new support for the role of social diffusion in the process, while allowing for the direct structural effects of economic change.     

Sequence Matters: Shelf‐Space Allocation under Dynamic Customer‐Driven Substitution

Customers who face a stockout situation often decide to purchase a different product in the same category. We analyze the resulting dynamic substitution problem in a retail environment, where customers serve themselves from the store shelves, such that the sequence of customer arrivals affects how scarce products are allocated to customers. We consider a setting with constrained shelf space, and we study how a retailer should optimally allocate such space between substitute products. We characterize environments where the sequence of customer arrivals can have a substantial impact on profitability.     

Spatial Aspects of the Rise of Nonmarital Fertility Across Europe Since 1960: The Role of States and Regions in Shaping Patterns of Change

This article investigates the role of states and regions in shaping spatial patterns of nonmarital fertility in Europe since 1960 using a dataset of 497 European subnational regions and smaller countries. Almost all regions registered substantial nonmarital fertility increases over the last 50 years. Prior research has shown that in the first half of the twentieth century states played a dominant role in drawing the demographic map of Europe (Watkins, From provinces into nations: demographic integration in Western Europe 1870–1960. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1991). As a result, subnational regional variation decreased, while differences between countries increased. In this article, we investigate whether states continue to play such a dominant role in delineating patterns of nonmarital fertility between 1960 and 2007. We find that variation in nonmarital fertility levels increased as a whole across Europe, and states continued to be important for determining these patterns. However, the role of states relative to regions declined in the latest period examined (1990 and 2007). Possible explanations for the changes include increased supranational integration, for example, within the European Union, and decentralisation within states leading to increases in variation in subnational contextual conditions.