Economics - Research Publications

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 22
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    Workplace Accidents and Workplace Safety: On Under-reporting and Temporary Jobs
    Palali, A ; van Ours, JC (WILEY, 2017-03)
    Abstract Statistics on workplace accidents do not always reflect workplace safety because workers under‐report for fear of job‐loss if they report having had an accident. Based on an analysis of fatal and non‐fatal workplace accidents and road accidents in 15 EU‐countries over the period 1995–2012, we conclude that there seems to be cyclical fluctuations in reporting of non‐fatal workplace accidents. Workers are less likely to report a workplace accident when unemployment is high. Furthermore, analyzing data from Italy and Spain on both workplace accidents and commuting accidents, we conclude that workers on temporary jobs are likely to under‐report accidents.
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    Quantile Peer Effects of Immigrant Children at Primary Schools
    Ohinata, A ; van Ours, JC (WILEY, 2016-06)
    Abstract We analyze how the share of immigrant children in the classroom affects the educational performance of native Dutch children in primary schools. Using quantile regressions, our paper studies these peer effects at different parts of the test score distribution of native children. After accounting for selectivity in the allocation of immigrant students across schools, we find no evidence for the existence of negative peer effects of immigrant children, either at the median or at other parts of the distribution.
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    Dutch Economists Top 40
    Abbring, JH ; Bronnenberg, BJ ; Gautier, PA ; van Ours, JC (SPRINGER, 2014-06)
    There is a tradition in the Netherlands to publish an annual ranking of economic and business researchers working in Dutch universities. The most recent such ranking, published in 2013, emphasizes research quantity over research quality. We propose an alternative ranking based on quality. Important information about a researcher’s quality and impact is lost when moulding it to fit a template of numbers. Our ranking is no exception. Nevertheless, we argue and demonstrate that our ranking fits international consensus on research prominence and that the 2013 ranking does not.
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    Unemployment of Non-Western Immigrants in the Great Recession
    Cerveny, J ; van Ours, JC (SPRINGER, 2013-12)
    This paper examines whether unemployment of non-western immigrant workers in the Netherlands was disproportionally affected by the Great Recession. We analyze unemployment data covering the period November 2007–February 2013 finding that the Great Recession affected unemployment rates of non-western immigrant workers in absolute terms more than unemployment rates of native workers. However, in relative terms there is not much of a difference. We also find that the sensitivity of individual job finding rates to the aggregate state of the labor market does not differ between natives and non-western immigrants. In combination our findings suggest that the Great Recession did not have a different impact on the unemployment of non-westerns immigrants and native Dutch.
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    When is the Price Cost Margin a Safe Way to Measure Changes in Competition?
    Boone, J ; van Ours, JC ; van der Wiel, H (SPRINGER, 2013-03)
    The price cost margin (PCM) is a popular way to measure competition. Although we know that this measure is not without problems, we actually do not know how often and under which conditions a change in PCM points in the wrong direction. We use a new competition measure, the profit elasticity, which is more robust than PCM. Our empirical analysis based on Dutch data shows that when competition changes the probability that PCM points in the wrong direction increases with industry concentration.
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    Cannabis prices on the dark web
    Červený, J ; van Ours, JC (Elsevier, 2019-11-01)
    This paper examines prices of cannabis sold over the anonymous internet marketplace AlphaBay. We analyze cannabis prices of 500 listings from about 140 sellers, originating from 18 countries. We find that both listing characteristics and country characteristics matter. Cannabis prices are lower if sold in larger quantities, so there is a clear quantity discount. Cannabis prices increase with perceived quality. Cannabis prices are also higher when the seller is from a country with a higher GDP per capita or higher electricity prices. The internet based cannabis market seems to be characterized by monopolistic competition where many sellers offer differentiated products with quality variation causing a dispersion of cannabis prices and sellers have some control over the cannabis prices.
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    The impact of tobacco control policies on smoking initiation in eleven European countries
    Palali, A ; van Ours, JC (Springer Verlag, 2019-12-01)
    We investigate the effect of tobacco control policies on smoking initiation in eleven European countries. Based on individual data about age of onset of smoking, we use hazard rate models to study smoking initiation. Thus, we are able to take into account observed and unobserved personal characteristics as well as the effect of the introduction of a variety of tobacco control policies including price and and non-price policies, i.e., bans on tobacco advertisements, smoke-free air regulation, health warnings on packages of cigarettes, and treatment programs to help smokers quit smoking. We find that higher tobacco prices have a negative effect on the initiation into smoking for males but not for females. We find no effect of non-price tobacco control policies on smoking initiation.
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    A Note on Artificial Pitches and Home Advantage in Dutch Professional Football
    van Ours, JC (SpringerLink, 2019-03-15)
    In professional football there is an advantage of playing at home. In the Netherlands, in the Eredivisie, the top tier of professional football the majority of teams play their home matches on natural grass but there are also quite a few teams playing on an artificial pitch. Analyzing match data from the seasons 2014/15 to 2017/18, this paper finds that Eredivisie teams who play on an artificial pitch have an additional home advantage.