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Abstract Background. Many cancer survivors experience late effects of cancer treatment and therefore struggle to return to work. Norway provides rehabilitation programs to increase labor force participation for cancer survivors after treatment. However, the extent to which such programs affect labor force participation has not been appropriately assessed. This study aims to investigate i) labor force participation, sick leave and disability rates among cancer survivors up to 10 years after being diagnosed with cancer and identify comorbidities contributing to long-term sick leave or disability pensioning; ii) how type of cancer, treatment modalities, employment sectors and financial- and sociodemographic factors may influence labor force participation; iii) how participation in rehabilitation programs among cancer survivor affect the longterm labor force participation, the number of rehospitalizations and incidence of comorbidities. Design and methods. Information from four medical, welfare and occupational registries in Norway will be linked to information from 163,279 cancer cases (15.68 years old) registered in the Norwegian Cancer Registry from 2004 to 2016. The registries provide detailed information on disease characteristics, comorbidities, medical and surgical treatments, occupation, national insurance benefits and demographics over a 10-year period following a diagnosis of cancer. Expected impact of the study for Public Health. The study will provide important information on how treatment, rehabilitation and sociodemographic factors influence labor force participation among cancer survivors. Greater understanding of work-related risk factors and the influence of rehabilitation on work-participation may encourage informed decisions among cancer patients, healthcare and work professionals and service planners.
Keywords HEALTH PROMOTION, Return to work, Sick leave, Social security, Disease
Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of remittances outflows on inflation for a panel of 14 OPEC countries during the period 1980-2018. Using bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable (CLSDV) estimator, empirical results reveal that remittance outflows have no effect on inflation rate. However, trade openness and current account deficits have a positive impact on inflation. Further, oil price appears to not have any effect on inflation in OPEC countries.
Keywords CLSDV, Inflation, OPEC, Remittances
Abstract The Great Recession has strongly influenced employment patterns across skill and gender groups in EU countries. We analyse how these changes in workforce composition might distort comparisons of conventional measures of gender wage gaps via non-random selection of workers into EU labour markets. We document that male selection (traditionally disregarded) has become positive during the recession, particularly in Southern Europe. As for female selection (traditionally positive), our findings are twofold. Following an increase in the labour-force participation of less-skilled women, due to an added-worker effect, these biases declined in some countries where new female entrants were able to find jobs, whereas they went up in other countries which suffered large female employment losses. Finally, we document that most of these changes in selection patterns were reversed during the subsequent recovery phase, confirming their cyclical nature.
Keywords Gender employment gaps, Gender wage gaps, Sample selection
Abstract The standard forms of bootstrap iteration are very computationally demanding. As a result, there have been several attempts to alleviate the computational burden by use of approximations. In this paper, we extend the fast double bootstrap of Davidson and MacKinnon (2007) to higher orders of iteration, and provide algorithms for their implementation. The new methods make computational demands that increase only linearly with the level of iteration, unlike standard procedures, whose demands increase exponentially. In a series of simulation experiments, we show that the fast triple bootstrap improves on both the standard and fast double bootstraps, in the sense that it suffers from less size distortion under the null with no accompanying loss of power.
Keywords Fast iterated bootstrap, Bootstrap iteration, Bootstrap iteration Fast iterated bootstrap
Abstract Measuring Economic Growth and Productivity is not only a book on an essential topic, namely that of "growth and productivity", it is also a fabulous ensemble, bringing together contributions from many top specialists. But, in addition, it is a tribute to Dale W. Jorgenson, who has for decades been an exceptional contributor to gaining a better knowledge of the mechanisms of growth and productivity. The volume is dedicated to him. I was present in January 2020 at the annual IPM dinner at the AEA conference, when a preprint of the book was presented to him by the editor, Barbara Fraumeni. I openly admit that it was a very emotional moment.
Abstract Background: Ageing populations and rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) increasingly contribute to the growing cost burden facing European healthcare systems. Few studies have attempted to quantify the future magnitude of this burden at the European level, and none of them consider the impact of potential changes in risk factor trajectories on future health expenditures. Methods: The new microsimulation model forecasts the impact of behavioural and metabolic risk factors on NCDs, longevity and direct healthcare costs, and shows how changes in epidemiological trends can modify those impacts. Economic burden of NCDs is modelled under three scenarios based on assumed future risk factors trends: business as usual (BAU); best case and worst case predictions (BCP and WCP). Findings: The direct costs of NCDs in the EU 27 countries and the UK (in constant 2014 prices) will grow under all scenarios. Between 2014 and 2050, the overall healthcare spending is expected to increase by 0.8% annually under BAU. In the all the countries, 605 billion Euros can be saved by 2050 if BCP is realized compared to the BAU, while excess spending under the WCP is forecast to be around 350 billion. Interpretation: Although the savings realised under the BCP can be substantial, population ageing is a stronger driver of rising total healthcare expenditures in Europe compared to scenario-based changes in risk factor prevalence.
Keywords Obesity, Cardiovascular disease risk, Cancer risk factors, Noncommunicable diseases, European union, Medical risk factors, Europe, Health economics
Abstract This study assesses the effect of an economy’s business environment on the ability of firms to be part of a global value chain (GVC). With the use of a comprehensive firm-level dataset from the World Bank Enterprise Survey—and with a special focus on the countries of the Middle East and North Africa and East Asia and Pacific regions—the contribution of the paper is threefold: First, it provides a range of measures of the characteristics of firms that would identify a firm as likely to be integrated into a GVC. Second, it examines the association between an array of business environment variables—infrastructure; access to finance; fiscal policy; enforcement of contracts; ease of obtaining permits; extent of the informal sector; trade procedures; and firm and investor security—and the likelihood of a firm’s being integrated into a GVC. Third, we examine these effects separately for small and large firms and for sectors with high and low tariffs. Our main findings show that, in general, the number of days that are required to pay taxes, the number of procedures that are necessary to register property, and the time to export and to import have a significantly negative association with the likelihood of a firm’s integration into a GVC. More heterogeneity is observed at the regional level, at the firm size level, and for sectors with high versus low tariffs.
Keywords Business environment, Firms, Global value chains
Abstract Around 50% of individuals obtain or hear about jobs through social networks. This hiring trend may become problematic when the labor market is tight and people need less social contacts to find a job. Using a one-period static model where network members may receive job offers directly from the firm or indirectly through employed members in the network we show that the share of new hires finding a job through social connections (ie network matching rate) decreases with the job finding rate. Using French data for the period 2003-2012, we test this prediction with immigrants, a population subgroup for whom networks play a major role in occupational decisions. We propose two network matching rate indicators, one based on direct recommendations and another one internalizing the positive externality on the employment probability induced by peers. We find a decreasing relationship between the network matching rate and the job finding rate. Social connections are less helpful for finding jobs during economic expansions.
Keywords Immigrant, Network matching rate, Economic cycle
Abstract Information provision is a relatively recent but steadily growing environmental policy tool. Its emergency and topicality are due to the current escalation of ecological threats. Meanwhile, its high complexity and flexibility require a comprehensive approach to its design, which has to be tailored for specific characteristics of production process, market structure, and regulatory goals. This work proposes such an approach and builds a framework based on a three-level mathematical program extending well-known two-level Stackelberg game by introducing one more economic agent and one extra level of this sequential game. This study provides simple and very intuitive algorithms to compute optimal multi-tier information provision policies, both mandatory and voluntary. The paper urges for the wide implementation of such efficient environmental policy design tools.
Keywords Eco-labelling, Eco-certification, Information provision, Environmental policy, Exact algorithms, Multi-level mathematical programming, Stackelberg game