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301. The Path Through: Early COVID-19 Job Loss and Labour Market Trajectories in Austria

Author:
Stefan Jestl and Maryna Tverdostup
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper examines the socio-demographic disparities evident in the early labour market response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria, relying on the register-based labour market career dataset from the Austrian Micro Data Center (AMDC) for the 2018-2021 period. The analysis focuses on the divergences in out-of-unemployment transitions and medium-term employment stability among those who lost their jobs early in the pandemic in contrast to the group of the longer-term unemployed. We document that individuals affected by job loss during the initial phases of the pandemic did not exhibit enduring scarring effects. Unlike their longer-term unemployed counterparts, they did not demonstrate persistent labour market detachment, prolonged periods of unemployment or a diminished success rate in re-employment. However, certain socio-demographic cohorts – notably, women, parents with two or more young children, and individuals with lower levels of education – faced disproportionate challenges during the pandemic. They were more inclined to transition into precarious employment arrangements and experienced lower levels of employment stability in the months following re-employment.
Topic:
Employment, Inequality, Unemployment, COVID-19, Labor Market, and Gender
Political Geography:
Europe and Austria

302. The Factors Driving Migration Intentions and Destination Preferences in Central, East and Southeast European Countries

Author:
Antea Barišić, Mahdi Ghodsi, Alireza Sabouniha, and Robert Stehrer
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper analyses the determinants of outward migration decisions while focusing on CESEE countries and using data from the OeNB Euro Survey conducted by the Oesterrichische Nationalbank (OeNB), a data source that has yet to be exploited at the individual level. Applying a two-stage Heckman procedure, we identify the determinants of the intention to migrate, including age, gender, ties at home, household characteristics and income. In the second stage, we analyse the characteristics of those who expressed a desire to migrate and investigate the determinants of the choice of the respective destination, distinguishing between EU15, EU-CEE and extra-EU countries. The insights in this paper might help to inform fact-based migration and public policies in addition to laying some groundwork for further research (a) concerning the impact of new technologies and demographic trends on the intentions to migrate as well as (b) establishing a firmer link between the intention to migrate and actual migration.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, Pull Factor, and Choice Model
Political Geography:
Europe

303. The Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) Database

Author:
Sebastien Bradley, Javier Flórez Mendoza, Mario Larch, and Yoto V. Yotov
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper introduces the Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) database, which covers international trade flows for 3,124 products and 247 countries over the period 1995-2019 as well as domestic trade flows and production data for the same number of products and years for a subset of 35 European economies. The original data sources that we employ are Eurostat’s Comext and Prodcom databases. A gravity application delivers a large set of product-level ‘home bias’ estimates, which cannot be obtained without domestic trade flows. The average estimates on the standard gravity variables in our model (e.g., distance) are comparable to those from the related literature. However, our disaggregated estimates are very heterogeneous across products, thus highlighting the importance of our new database.
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, European Union, Trade, Production, Gravity Data, Structural Gravity, Home Bias Estimates, and Disaggregated Gravity Estimates
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Norway, Serbia, Iceland, Montenegro, and North Macedonia

304. Full Employment: A Survey of Theory, Empirics and Policies

Author:
Aleksandr Arsenev, Meryem Gökten, Philipp Heimberger, and Andreas Lichtenberger
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
The concept of full employment is associated with diverse economic, political and social aspects. We provide a survey of theory, empirics and policy issues related to full employment. We make a novel contribution by tying together multi-dimensional aspects of full employment regarding definitions, theoretical perspectives, empirical measurements, policy debates and real-world policy programs. We distinguish: concepts of full employment that provide systematic links to price stability; minimum unemployment and maximum employment approaches; and the unfilled vacancies perspective. Furthermore, we provide and discuss different empirical measures of full employment for selected economies, and we propose a new full employment typology. Based on our survey findings, we argue that conceptualising and measuring full employment is not merely a technical task, but inevitably involves normative judgments. Finally, we discuss avenues for future research.
Topic:
Labor Issues, European Union, Employment, Macroeconomics, OECD, Welfare State, and Jobs
Political Geography:
Europe

305. On Within-couple Time Allocation: Gendered Disparities in Paid Work and Housework in Europe

Author:
Alireza Sabouniha and Maryna Tverdostup
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper aims to pursue a deeper understanding of gendered within-couple allocation of time into paid work and housework in heterosexual dual-earner couples. Relying on the second wave of Harmonised European Time Use Survey (HETUS) data for 10 European countries, we estimate spousal relative worktime and housework to analyse within-couple time-use arrangements. The results show that the disparity between a wife’s and a husband’s workhours is gradually narrowing, yet housework remains firmly gendered even in couples in which the wife works more hours than the husband. We document strong inertia in the wife’s share of housework. Although it decreases as her labour market commitment increases, the decline is slow. In addition, even if it is approaching a gender-equal split, the within-couple division of housework barely passes the point at which the husband’s contribution to housework surpasses that of his wife. These results suggest that gendered time division aligns broadly with traditional theories of the household, yet the role of the ‘doing-gender’ hypothesis is non-negligible.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, European Union, Income Inequality, Labor Market, Decision-Making, Gender, Income Distribution, and Unpaid Work
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

306. Gender and Education Gaps in Employment: New Evidence for the EU

Author:
Aleksandr Arsenev, Meryem Gökten, Philipp Heimberger, Andreas Lichtenberger, and Torben Schütz
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper analyses (age-adjusted) employment rates by gender and education. We find that male female gender gaps and high-low education gaps in employment vary markedly across European Union (EU) countries and regions, with larger gaps existing in Eastern and Southern Europe than in Nordic and Continental EU countries. We estimate that closing existing education gaps in employment between high and lower education levels would raise the employment rate in the EU for the year 2022 by 10.6 percentage points, whereas closing the gender gaps between men and women would lead to an increase of 2.5 percentage points. At the same time, closing both the gender and education gaps would raise the EU employment rate from 76% to 89% of the population. Furthermore, we provide new evidence on the cyclical behaviour of employment gaps, finding that gender gaps are procyclical. While female employment rates tend to be more resilient than male employment rates during economic downturns, male employment rates tend to grow at a faster pace than female employment rates during upswings. In contrast, education gaps are more countercyclical, as employment risks are more strongly concentrated where education is low.
Topic:
Education, Labor Issues, European Union, Employment, Inequality, Macroeconomics, Unemployment, Gender, and Income Distribution
Political Geography:
Europe

307. Foreign Lobbying in the U.S.

Author:
Ben Freeman and Nick Cleveland-Stout
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Abstract:
This brief takes a deep dive into a newly available tranche of data tracking foreign influence in the U.S. political process. The new data was released in early 2024 following reforms to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which made access to all foreign registrants’ political activities and campaign contributions publicly available. The brief unearths a complex web of foreign influence in the United States — with countries like Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Azerbaijan reaping the benefits of massive political influence campaigns. Influence operations today often follow a standard playbook: outside countries use firms based in Washington to lobby active members of Congress in pursuit of various aims — such as receiving U.S. weapons, currying American favor in regional conflicts, and more general reputation laundering. In 2022 and 2023, FARA registrants reported $14.3 million in political contributions and nearly 130,000 political activities. This relationship between lobbyists representing foreign countries and U.S. policymakers in itself is concerning, raising questions of whether politicians are really prioritizing the interests of their constituents, and of all Americans. To make matters worse, authoritarian regimes represent a majority of the most active countries — including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which placed first and fourth, respectively, among the countries most engaged in political activities under FARA from 2022–23. Greater FARA transparency is certainly a welcome development, but still more can be done to help Americans understand the who, what, and how of the foreign lobbying industry. For one, FARA registrants should be required to report a unique identifier for each office contacted, making it easier to determine lobbyists’ contacts. Greater language specificity in the descriptions of political activities is also needed. In addition, Congress could pass legislation that would introduce civil fines on the underreporting of political activities, although such a step should be accompanied by protections against the abuse of the FARA process.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Conflict, and Military-Industrial Complex
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and United Arab Emirates

308. "Inventing Eastern Europe" Thirty Years Later: A Conversation with Larry Wolff and Guests

Author:
Malgorzata Mazurek, Larry Wolff, Suzanne Marchand, Emile Greble, and Jan Kubik
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
When Larry Wolff’s book Inventing Eastern Europe was published in 1994, it gave the world a new set of tools for understanding the half of Europe that had recently emerged from behind the Iron Curtain. Most notably, Wolff’s book showed how the conceptual division of the European continent into two distinct civilizations, East and West, although reinforced by the Realpolitik of the Cold War, actually originated in the discourse of philosophes and travelers in the 18th century. Inventing Eastern Europe was revelatory in the mid-1990s, and it has been required reading for serious students of Eastern European history and culture ever since. Please join the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute for a conversation with Larry Wolff, Suzanne Marchand, Emily Greble and Jan Kubik, moderated by Malgorzata Mazurek, about the genesis, initial impact and continued relevance of this seminal work on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication.
Topic:
Cold War, History, and Philosophy
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

309. A Global History of Hungary: Concept, Implementation, Reflection

Author:
Ferenc Laczó
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
The recently released volumes of Magyarország globális története (A Global History of Hungary) are the joint product of 159 scholars from a host of disciplines. Together, they explore the history of an East Central European country in a truly global perspective for the first time. The two volumes cover developments from the formation of the Pannonian Plain and the early spread of human settlement and agriculture, through the emergence of world religions and the era of European colonialism and imperialism, all the way to key issues in the multipolar and contested globalization of our days. This narrative arc already suggests why such a global history of Hungary may be urgently needed today: to reinterpret in a substantial and nuanced manner, for our age of manifold interconnections, the place and various roles of Hungary and Hungarians in the history of the world. More specifically, the 203 chapters included in A Global History of Hungary capitalize on four key insights. First, East Central Europe has tended to be a semi-peripheral area in the global scheme of things, and it has thus been much closer to the global average than some of the parts of the world on which much of recent global historiography has focused. East Central European countries have also developed numerous and still underexplored intercontinental connections outside the Western core that should be of special interest in our age of global multipolarity. At the same time, it can be assumed that this diverse area, as a rather peripheral part of Europe in a formerly largely Eurocentric world, has played the role of a “secondary colonialist” for significant parts of modern history – a topic that needs to be researched in detail and critically scrutinized. Moreover, the predominant transnational orientation of this suburb of Europe has shifted repeatedly and sometimes dramatically, creating a complex pattern of legacies – or “continuities in discontinuity” – that can only be properly analysed through a transnational history on the longue durée. In this presentation, co-editor Ferenc Laczó will reflect on the agenda to embed Hungarian history comprehensively in global frameworks. He will discuss the specific ways in which this agenda has been implemented, not least to explain how the contributing authors have taken up and adapted a recent Western European approach to historiography, what challenges this has entailed, and what opportunities such a process of adaptation to East Central Europe offers.
Topic:
History and Historiography
Political Geography:
Europe and Hungary

310. Fashionable Politics: How Italian Leaders Transform into Successful Brands in Contemporary Communication

Author:
Daniele Battista
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
Institution:
Institute for Research and European Studies (IRES)
Abstract:
Political communication is inherently intertwined with social dynamics and cannot be considered a separate field of study. Symbolic elements, slogans, and the leadership of political figures have permeated human history, influencing and often determining political action. This study has analyzed the phenomenon of personalization as compelling evidence in the field of contemporary political communication. The analysis is based on a study of Italian cases, aiming to provide an in-depth insight into the strategies adopted by political parties to personalize their leaders’ image and engage voters. In particular, the focus has primarily been on party symbols incorporating the leader’s name. The research was conducted to identify party personalization mechanisms and their impact on public opinion. The result highlighted the role of political communication in asserting the individual as a brand at the expense of the party organization, with significant implications for democracy and political participation.
Topic:
Politics, Communications, Identity, Marketing, and Personal Brand
Political Geography:
Europe and Italy