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Institut
- VWL (15) (entfernen)
While it is a stylized fact that exporting firms pay higher wages than nonexporting firms, the direction of the link between exporting and wages is less clear. Using a rich set of German linked employer-employee panel data we follow over time plants that start to export. We show that the exporter wage premium does already exist in the years before firms start to export, and that it does not increase in the following years. Higher wages in exporting firms are thus due to self-selection of more productive, better paying firms into export markets; they are not caused by export activities.
The European Union’s Council Regulation on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development has introduced auctioning as a new instrument for granting agri-environmental payments and awarding conservation contracts for the recent multi-annual budgetary plan. This paper therefore deals with the conception and results of two case study auctions for conservation contracts. Results of two field experiments show much differentiated bid prices in the model-region and budgetary cost-effectiveness gains of up to 21% in the first auction and up to 36% in the repeated auction. Besides these promising results, some critical aspects as well as lessons to be learned will also be discussed in this paper to improve the design and performance of upcoming conservation auctions.
Managing increasing environmental risks through agro-biodiversity and agri-environmental policies
(2008)
Agro-biodiversity can provide natural insurance to risk-averse farmers by reducing the variance of crop yield, and to society at large by reducing the uncertainty in the provision of public-good ecosystem services such as e.g. CO2 storage. We analyze the choice of agro-biodiversity by risk-averse farmers who have access to financial insurance, and study the implications for agri-environmental policy design when on-farm agro-biodiversity generates a positive risk externality. While increasing environmental risk leads private farmers to increase their level of on-farm agro-biodiversity, the level of agro-biodiversity in the laissez-faire equilibrium remains inefficiently low. We show how either one of two agri-environmental policy instruments can cure this risk-related market failure: an ex-ante Pigouvian subsidy on on-farm agro-biodiversity and an ex-post compensation payment for the actual provision of public environmental benefits. In the absence of regulation, welfare may increase rather than decrease with increasing environmental risk, if the agroecosystems is characterized by a high natural insurance function, low costs and large external benefits of agro-biodiversity.
We develop a comprehensive multi-level approach to ecological economics (CML-approach) which integrates philosophical considerations on the foundations of ecological economics with an adequate operationalization. We argue that the subject matter and aims of ecological economics require a specific combination of inter- and transdisciplinary research, and discuss the epistemological position on which this approach is based. In accordance with this understanding of inter- and transdisciplinarity and the underlying epistemological position, we develop an operationalization which comprises simultaneous analysis on three levels of abstraction: concepts, models and case studies. We explain these levels in detail, and, in particular, deduce our way of generic modeling in this context. Finally, we illustrate the CML-approach and demonstrate its fruitfulness by the example of the sustainable management of semi-arid rangelands.
Economic theory suggests both positive and negative relationships between intra-firm wage inequality and productivity. This paper contributes to the growing empirical literature on this subject. We combine German employer-employee-data for the years 1995-2005 with inequality measures using the whole wage distribution of a firm and rely on dynamic panel-data estimators to control for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity problems and possible state dependence. Our results indicate a relative minor influence of intra-firm wage inequality on firm productivity. If anything, they provide some support for a view suggesting that some inequality may be beneficial, while too much leads to a detrimental effect on productivity.
The majority of empirical studies that centre on exporter performance and the determinants of export performance have focused mainly on the manufacturing sector, largely because there are very few datasets that facilitate a detailed investigation into the service sector. In 2008, however, the German Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the Federal States released the German business services statistics panel (this dataset is described in more details in Chapter 2). Thus, for the first time, appropriate panel analyses of the export behaviour of German business services firms became possible. This thesis uses this panel dataset and contributes to the literature on the microeconometrics of international trade by providing evidence concerning the German business services sector. Overall, the results noted for exporter performance in the German business services sector correspond with those from the manufacturing sector. Chapter 3 shows that, similar to the manufacturing sector, exporting German business services firms are more productive and clearly larger (in terms of turnover and number of employed persons) than non-exporters, even when it is controlled for size and industry. Further, business services enterprises that export pay higher average wages (even when controlling for size and industry). When controlling for unobserved, time-invariant characteristics, the significant differences between exporters and non-exporters relative to productivity or average wages disappear, while significant export premia associated with the size variables continue to exist, but on a much smaller scale. Concerning the hypothesis that better performing enterprises self-select into export markets, the results indicate that in the business services sector as in the manufacturing sector, enterprises that begin to export are larger than non-exporters, even two years before they commence exporting operations. Regarding productivity (in terms of turnover per employed person) and average wages, the results were statistically significant only for business services enterprises in Germany’s western region. Aside from these similarities with the manufacturing sector, Chapter 4 presents evidence which suggests that, contrary to firms in the manufacturing industries, German business services firms do not benefit from exporting in terms of higher rates of profit. Chapter 4 documents a negative profitability differential of services exporters compared to non-exporters, and finds that export-starters in the business services sector are less profitable than non-exporters, even two years before they begin to export. Further, the estimated dose-response function, which is used to investigate the causal impact of exports on profits, shows an s-shaped relationship between profitability and firms’ export-sales ratio. Enterprises with a very small share of exports in total sales have a lower rate of profit than non-exporting firms. Then, with an increase in export intensity, the rate of profit increases as well. However, even at the maximum, the average profitability of the exporters is not, or is only slightly, higher than the average rate of profit of the non-exporting firms. Chapter 5 investigates the question which factors determine the export performance of German business services firms by estimating a model of the firms’ export intensity decision. Overall, the results support most of the explanations of export behaviour found in the literature for both service firms and manufacturing firms, such as the positive effects of size, human capital, and productivity. Yet when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, the picture changes; notably, in the model with fixed effects, the significance of productivity and human capital disappears. This indicates that these variables are not positively related to the export performance per se, but are related instead to unobserved time-constant characteristics. Size still has a significant positive effect on exporting when controlling for unobserved effects. Finally, Chapter 6 considers the impact of the 2004 EU enlargement on service enterprises close to Germany’s eastern border by using regression-adjusted difference-in-differences estimators. The results suggest a small negative impact associated with the EU enlargement on export intensity and the turnover of large enterprises with an annual turnover of €250,000 or more, and no effect on the share of exporters and the turnover profitability of these enterprises. For small enterprises close to Germany’s eastern border, an increase in turnover and a decrease in profitability relative to other small enterprises are noted.
All of the papers contained in this thesis deal with some aspect of labor market inequality. The impact of September 11th, 2001 on the employment prospects of Arabs and Muslims in the German labor market (chapter 2) examines whether the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001 have influenced the job prospects of persons from predominantly Muslim countries in the German labor market. Using a large, representative database of the German working population, evidence from regression-adjusted difference-in-differences-estimates indicates that 9/11 did not cause a severe decline in job prospects. This result, which is in line with prior evidence from Sweden and England, is robust over a wide range of control groups. Islamistic terror and the job prospects of Arab men in Britain: Does a country's direct involvement matter? (chapter 3) examines whether the labor market prospects of Arab men in England are influenced by recent Islamistic terrorist attacks. We use data from the British Labour Force Survey from Spring 1999 to Winter 2006 and treat the terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11th, 2001, the Madrid train bombings on March 11th, 2004 and the London bombings on July 7th, 2005 as quasi-experimental events that may have changed the attitudes towards Arab or Muslim men. Using treatment group definitions based on ethnicity, country of birth and religion, evidence from difference-in-differences-estimators combined with matching indicates that the real wages, hours worked and employment probabilities of Arab men were unchanged by the attacks. This finding is in line with prior evidence from Europe. Effects of the obligation to employ severely disabled workers - findings from the introduction of the Law to Combat Unemployment among Severely Disabled People'' (chapter 4) uses new administrative data from the German Federal Employment Agency -- the Integrated Employment Biographies Sample IEBS -- to assess the impact of a mandatory employment quota for disabled workers in Germany. We use an exogenous change, introduced through the Law to Combat Unemployment among Severely Disabled People'' (Gesetz zur Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit Schwerbehinderter''), as a natural experiment and measure the change in the reemployment probability of the unemployed disabled by means of regression-adjusted difference-in-differences estimators. Our results indicate that the change in the employment quota neither enhanced nor worsened the employment prospects of the disabled. Finally, Intra-firm wage inequality and firm performance -- First evidence from German linked employer-employee-data (chapter 6) deals with the impact of wage inequality on firm performance. Economic theory suggests both positive and negative relationships between intra-firm wage inequality and productivity. This paper contributes to the growing empirical literature on this subject. We combine German employer-employee-data for the years 1995-2005 with inequality measures using the whole wage distribution of a firm and rely on panel-instrumental variable estimators to control for unobserved heterogeneity and simultaneity problems. Our results indicate a relatively small impact of wage inequality on firm performance in West Germany, while there seems to be a relationship for some inequality measures in East Germany. Further analysis shows that the relationship varies strongly with industrial relations in East Germany.
This dissertation is based on three empirical studies on the thematic complex of the comparative advantages of self-employment and business start-ups out of unemployment. The first study examines the characteristics of persons who present a broad range of experience in terms of professional competencies. The extent to which self-reported entrepreneurial competence and the assessment of professionally self-employed activities correlate with the number of professional competencies acquired is examined in particular. It emerged from previous studies that the tendency to establish new businesses increases with the variety of experience. More recent studies show, however, that different causes may lie behind this correlation. The results of this study show that both entrepreneurial competence and the estimation of self-employment increase with the number of professional competencies. However, the analyses would indicate that entrepreneurial competence (self-assessment) is more strongly correlated and that an actual increase in qualifications lies behind the self-assessed entrepreneurial competence. Moreover, it emerges that self-assessed entrepreneurial competence increases at decreasing marginal rates with the number of professional competencies. The second study examines the extent to which professional background and, in particular, the professional and employment experience of an individual influence the duration he or she remains in self-employment. This is studied on the basis of data from a survey of founders who become self-employed out of unemployment. The study is based on the idea that individual characteristics can be used productively in different forms of employment and that specific competence and comparative characteristics affect the time-dependent exit from self-employment. The results initially confirm previous findings, in particular that firm characteristics do not play a very significant role in the decision to start up a business from a position of unemployment. Broad-based qualifications plus business skills, a high level of intrinsic motivation for self-employment and exploitable professional experience display a strong positive correlation with the duration in self-employment; this would suggest corresponding comparative advantages for self-employment. However, business skills alone reduce the time-dependent probability of survival in self-employment and accelerate exits into employment. The third study analyzes features of local labor markets in terms of their influence on the duration of self-employment. The basis of the study is provided by process-produced data generated by the German Federal Employment Agency on the employment biographies of individuals who received support in establishing businesses with a view to exiting unemployment. Individual characteristics were examined in addition to regional determinants. The idea behind the study is that local labor market conditions can have different comparative effects on income possibilities in both positions of employment and self-employment. The exit from self-employment is described as a change in work activity which arises following the evaluation of different income options. The results show that local labor market conditions have a considerable influence on the duration of self-employment and that the effect of local labor market conditions is very complex. The results would prompt the expectation that a one-dimensional perspective based on the local unemployment rate does not provide an adequate measure of general economic conditions. Increasing regional unemployment reduces the duration of self-employment while increasing uncertainty on the local labor market results in its extension. Moreover, all local characteristics display reducing to reversing marginal effects. Tests of individual characteristics show that persons from small businesses, master craftsmen and foremen, and persons with high income premiums remain longer in their last employment situation than the controls. These characteristics are clearly associated with comparative advantages for self-employment. The study also corroborates the impression that people with business backgrounds quickly leave self-employment for employed positions.
Against the background of the dependence of cultural institutions on public funding and the increasing pressure on public budgets, this thesis aims to make a contribution to the economic analysis of the German cultural sector. For this purpose, three empirical studies focusing on the German cultural sector are conducted, using different methods to quantify the analyzed effects. Chapter 2 describes an application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) for assessing public approval of the amount of subsidies spent on cultural facilities. For our analysis, we conducted a contingent valuation study to capture the willingness to pay (WTP) for the municipal cultural supply in Lüneburg, Germany. To identify the factors associated with the respondents’ WTP, we supplemented an ordinary least squares (OLS) and a Tobit regression model with a quantile regression (QR) model. The findings suggest the existence of non-use values. Since the QR analyzes the coefficients at different points of the distribution of the dependent variable, it accounts for the heterogeneity of preferences. Overall, the results indicate that the QR can provide useful information in deriving implications for cultural policy. In contrast to the consumption-oriented approach of chapter 2, chapters 3 and 4 focus on the production of performing arts in public theaters. Data were taken from the theater reports published by the German Stage Association (Deutscher Bühnenverein) from 1993 to 2007. Chapter 3 uses a stochastic frontier analysis approach to analyze the efficiency of German public theaters. Whether the assumption of cost-minimizing behavior is reliable in the case of public theaters is of particular interest. Thus, in addition to the input distance function model, we employ a cost function model in order to evaluate whether the cost-minimizing behavior can be maintained. We also applied several panel data models that differ in their ability to account for unobserved heterogeneity to evaluate the impact of unobserved heterogeneity on the efficiency estimates. The results indicate that the cost-minimizing assumption cannot be maintained. We also find a considerable unobserved heterogeneity across the theaters that causes a significant variation in the models’ efficiency estimates. Taken together, our results suggest that there is still space for improvement in the employment of resources in the area of performing arts production in Germany. The third study, presented in Chapter 4, discusses the development and sources of productivity in German public theaters. As labor costs increase, productivity decreases over time; this phenomenon is referred to as ”Baumol’s cost-disease”. However, productivity is not influenced only by technological change; technical efficiency and scale efficiency also play a role. Thus, which of the three factors are positive or negative drivers for productivity change in the case of German public theaters is of particular interest. Using a stochastic distance frontier approach to decompose the total factor productivity into the three different sources of productivity the findings indicate that there is no significant technological progress that can countervail the negative productivity trend caused by increasing wages and, thus, support the cost-disease hypothesis. Furthermore, increasing returns to scale for the majority of theatres were found. Chapter 5 summarizes the main results of the three empirical analyses. This is followed by concluding remarks on the need for further research.