Development of Survey Questions on Robotics Expenditures and Use in U.S. Manufacturing Establishments
Catherine Buffington, Javier Miranda, Robert Seamans
Center for Economic Studies (CES) Working Paper Series,
No. 44,
2018
Abstract
The U.S. Census Bureau in partnership with a team of external researchers developed a series of questions on the use of robotics in U.S. manufacturing establishments. The questions include: (1) capital expenditures for new and used industrial robotic equipment in 2018, (2) number of industrial robots in operation in 2018, and (3) number of industrial robots purchased in 2018. These questions are to be included in the 2018 Annual Survey of Manufactures. This paper documents the background and cognitive testing process used for the development of these questions.
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Housing Consumption and Macroprudential Policies in Europe: An Ex Ante Evaluation
Antonios Mavropoulos, Qizhou Xiong
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 17,
2018
Abstract
In this paper, we use the panel of the first two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey by the European Central Bank to study housing demand of European households and evaluate potential housing market regulations in the post-crisis era. We provide a comprehensive account of the housing decisions of European households between 2010 and 2014, and structurally estimate the housing preference of a simple life-cycle housing choice model. We then evaluate the effect of a tighter LTV/LTI regulation via counter-factual simulations. We find that those regulations limit homeownership and wealth accumulation, reduces housing consumption but may be welfare improving for the young households.
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Auswirkungen des gesetzlichen Mindestlohns im Handwerk in Sachsen-Anhalt
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Birgit Schultz
Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik,
No. 2,
2018
Abstract
This paper examines the effects of the minimum wage introduction in Germany in 2015 on the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt.
Using novel survey data on the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt, we examine three questions: (1) How many employees are affected by the minimum wage introduction in the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt? (2) What are the effects of the minimum wage introduction? (3) How did firms react to wage increase?
We find that about 8 % of all employees in the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt are directly affected by the minimum wage introduction. A difference-in-difference estimation reveals no significant employment effects of the minimum wage introduction. We test for alternative adjustment strategies and observe a significant increase of output prices.
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The Minimum Wage Effects on Skilled Crafts Sector in Saxony-Anhalt
Hans-Ulrich Brautzsch, Birgit Schultz
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 31,
2017
Abstract
This paper examines the effects of the minimum wage introduction in Germany in 2015 on the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt. Using novel survey data on the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt, we examine three questions: (1) How many employees are affected by the minimum wage introduction in the skilled crafts sector in Saxony- Anhalt? (2) What are the effects of the minimum wage introduction? (3) How have firms reacted to wage increase? We find that about 8% of all employees in the skilled crafts sector in Saxony-Anhalt are directly affected by the minimum wage introduction. A difference-in-difference estimation reveals no significant employment effects of the minimum wage introduction. We test for alternative adjustment strategies and observe a significant increase of output prices.
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Measuring Indirect Effects of Unfair Employer Behavior on Worker Productivity – A Field Experiment
Matthias Heinz, Sabrina Jeworrek, Vanessa Mertins, Heiner Schumacher, Matthias Sutter
Abstract
We present a field experiment in which we set up a call-center to study how the productivity of workers is affected if managers treat their co-workers in an unfair way. This question cannot be studied in long-lived organizations since workers may change their career expectations (and hence effort) when managers behave unfairly towards co-workers. In order to rule out such confounds and to measure productivity changes of unaffected workers in a clean way, we create an environment where employees work for two shifts. In one treatment, we lay off parts of the workforce before the second shift. Compared to two different control treatments, we find that, in the layoff treatment, the productivity of the remaining, unaffected workers drops by 12 percent. We show that this result is not driven by peer effects or altered beliefs about the job or the managers’ competence, but rather related to the workers’ perception of unfair behavior of employers towards co-workers. The latter interpretation is confirmed in a survey among professional HR managers. We also show that the effect of unfair behavior on the productivity of unaffected workers is close to the upper bound of the direct effects of wage cuts on the productivity of affected workers. This suggests that the price of an employer’s unfair behavior goes well beyond the potential tit-for-tat of directly affected workers.
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Losing Work, Moving Away? Regional Mobility After Job Loss
Daniel Fackler, Lisa Rippe
LABOUR: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations,
No. 4,
2017
Abstract
Using German survey data, we investigate the relationship between involuntary job loss and regional mobility. Our results show that job loss has a strong positive effect on the propensity to relocate. We also analyse whether displaced workers who relocate to a different region after job loss are better able to catch up with non-displaced workers in terms of labour market performance than those staying in the same region. Our findings do not support this conjecture as we find substantial long-lasting earnings losses for movers and stayers and even slightly but not significantly higher losses for movers.
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Business Surveys By the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Halle-Dessau and the Economic Development in the Region
Udo Ludwig
T. Brockmeier und U. Ludwig (Hrsg.), Konjunktur. Relevanz von Unternehmensumfragen für Diagnose und Analyse. Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale),
2017
Abstract
Vermitteln subjektive Unternehmensurteile zum Geschäftsklima nur Stimmungsbilder oder sind sie auch ein verlässlicher Konjunkturindikator? Anhand einer Korrelationsanalyse wird der Nachweis geführt, dass ein statistisch signifikanter, positiver Zusammenhang zwischen den Unternehmensantworten und dem Konjunkturverlauf in der Region für die Gesamtheit der Unternehmen und für das produzierende Gewerbe besteht, nicht aber für die einzelnen Dienstleistungsbereiche.
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IWH-Industrieumfrage im ersten Quartal 2017:
Ostdeutsche Industrie ausgesprochen optimistisch
Birgit Schultz
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2017
Abstract
Das Geschäftsklima im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe Ostdeutschlands hat sich zum Jahresbeginn 2017 weiter aufgehellt, wie die Ergebnisse der IWH-Industrieumfrage unter rund 300 Unternehmen zeigen. Die Geschäftslage wird per saldo sechs Punkte besser als im Vorquartal bewertet. Auch der Saldo aus positiven und negativen Meldungen über die Geschäftsaussichten ist nochmals günstiger ausgefallen (vgl. Abbildung 1 und Tabelle).
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IWH-Bauumfrage im ersten Quartal 2017:
Lage anhaltend gut, Aussichten etwas gedämpft
Brigitte Loose
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 2,
2017
Abstract
Das Geschäftsklima im Baugewerbe Ostdeutschlands trübt sich laut Umfrage des IWH zu Beginn des Jahres 2017 geringfügig ein. Ausschlaggebend sind die Geschäftsaussichten, die sich über alle Sparten etwas weniger günstig darstellen als zuvor, freilich ausgehend von einem hohen Niveau. Damit scheint sich für die Zukunft eine Normalisierung der Stimmung am Bau anzudeuten. Die Auftragslage und die finanziellen Indikatoren wie Erträge, Preise und Liquidität sind zurzeit allerdings immer noch ausgezeichnet. Auch die Geschäftslage, die schon zum Jahresende 2016 den Höchststand seit Beginn der Umfrage im Jahr 1993 erreichte, wird zu Jahresbeginn nochmals besser als zuvor bewertet (vgl. Abbildung 1 und Tabelle).
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Skills, Earnings, and Employment: Exploring Causality in the Estimation of Returns to Skills
Franziska Hampf, Simon Wiederhold, Ludger Woessmann
Large-scale Assessments in Education,
No. 12,
2017
Abstract
Ample evidence indicates that a person’s human capital is important for success on the labor market in terms of both wages and employment prospects. However, unlike the efforts to identify the impact of school attainment on labor-market outcomes, the literature on returns to cognitive skills has not yet provided convincing evidence that the estimated returns can be causally interpreted. Using the PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills, this paper explores several approaches that aim to address potential threats to causal identification of returns to skills, in terms of both higher wages and better employment chances. We address measurement error by exploiting the fact that PIAAC measures skills in several domains. Furthermore, we estimate instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment and parental education to circumvent reverse causation. Results show a strikingly similar pattern across the diverse set of countries in our sample. In fact, the instrumental-variable estimates are consistently larger than those found in standard least-squares estimations. The same is true in two “natural experiments,” one of which exploits variation in skills from changes in compulsory-schooling laws across U.S. states. The other one identifies technologically induced variation in broadband Internet availability that gives rise to variation in ICT skills across German municipalities. Together, the results suggest that least-squares estimates may provide a lower bound of the true returns to skills in the labor market.
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