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Essays in Regional Economics and European Integration
Kapanadze, Ketevani ; Pytliková, Mariola (advisor) ; Lessmann, Christian (referee) ; Mikula, Štěpán (referee)
The first chapter studies two major stages of European integration, the expansion of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and the Schengen Area in 2008, and their impacts on eco- nomic performance in subregions of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Using European regional data at the NUTS3 level and a disaggregated synthetic control method, I construct counterfactuals for sub-regions of CEE countries. This approach allows me to assess regional treatment effects (RTEs) and to study the heterogeneous effects of European integration. I find that the benefits of EU and Schengen memberships to annual GDP per capita are approximately 10% less in border regions relative to interior areas. The results expose regional economic disparities, as border regions lost out relative to interior regions since European integration. Furthermore, integration facilitators in border regions, such as fewer geographical barriers, more service employment, and positive attitudes toward the EU, did not reduce economic disparities. The results show that the gap persists regardless of some complementarities. Thus, the main implication of this paper is that sub-regions of CEE countries are far from being fully converged and that European integration instead seems to have spurred sub-regional divergence. The second chapter...
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Women's employment before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: The case of Armenia
Sargsyan, Lusine ; Münich, Daniel (advisor) ; Pytliková, Mariola (referee)
The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on female labor market outcomes in Armenia. This study uses Armenian Labor Force Surveys data from 2019, 2020, and 2021 to examine women's probability of working in the labor market during the Covid-19 pandemic that started in March 2020. Employing the linear probability model (LPM) approach, I find that 30-39 years old women with vocational education had a lower probability of working during specific quarters in 2020 and 2021 compared to tertiary education graduates. Additionally, the presence of a child under four years in the household gradually reduced the probability of working during 2020, and married women had the lowest probability of working during the first quarter of 2020. This research sheds light on the gender-specific impacts of the pandemic on the labor market in Armenia and provides insights for future policy considerations.
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Access to financial resources and environmental migration of the poor
Rakhmetova, Aizhamal ; Hoffmann, R. ; Pytliková, Mariola
Despite an increasing number of studies, there is no scientific consensus on the extent and conditions under which environmental factors influence migration. In particular, little is known about the role played by financial resources that may facilitate or hinder migration under environmental stress. Empirical evidence shows that some households migrate in response to environmental hazards while others remain in place, potentially being trapped due to lack of resources, i.e. poverty constraints. However, little is known about how access to financial resources influences the decision of a household to stay or migrate. On one hand, financial resources can help to alleviate poverty constraints and to cover migration costs, thereby increasing migration (climate-driver mechanism), on the other hand, financial resources can also improve the adaptation capacities of households at the place they reside, and thus reduce migration responses to environmental changes (climate-inhibitor mechanism). To shed light on households’ migration decisions in response to climate shocks depending on their access to financial resources, we utilize rich micro-data from Indonesia and exploit two sources of variation in climate and cash transfers. Our results suggest that better access to financial resources facilitates the climate-inhibitor mechanism for short-term rainfall shocks and natural disasters. At the same time, better accessibility to financial resources enhances the climate-driver mechanism for accumulated rainfall shocks and temperature anomalies.
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Air pollution and migration: exploiting a natural experiment from the Czech Republic
Mikula, Š. ; Pytliková, Mariola
This paper examines the causal effects of air pollution on migration by exploiting a natural experiment in which desulfurization technologies were rapidly implemented in coal-burning power plants in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. These technologies substantially decreased air pollution levels without per se affecting economic activity. The results based on a difference-in-differences estimator imply that improvements in air quality reduced emigration from previously heavily polluted municipalities by 24%. We find that the effect of air pollution on emigration tended to be larger in municipalities with weaker social capital and fewer man-made amenities. Thus, our results imply that strengthening social capital and investing in better facilities and public services could partially mitigate depopulation responses to air pollution. Finally, we look at heterogeneous migratory responses to air pollution by education and age and find some evidence that the more educated tend to be more sensitive to air pollution in their settlement behavior.
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Effect of Recession on Labor Market Outcomes of College Graduates in the Czech Republic
Pavlova, Margarita ; Jurajda, Štěpán (advisor) ; Pytliková, Mariola (referee)
Title: Effect of Recession on Labor Market Outcomes of College Graduates in the Czech Republic Author: Margarita Pavlova Abstract: This paper examines the effect of graduating from college during a re- cession on labor market outcomes in the Czech Republic, where tertiary education is mostly state-funded. I focus on workers who entered the labor market during 2006-2015, a period including the financial crisis and recession of 2008 and the subsequent recovery period. As an indicator of economic conditions, I use overall and youth unemployment rates. I find that an increase in the unemployment rate by 4 percentage points is associated with approximately a 8% reduction of annual earnings in the first year after graduation. Additionally, I study two channels of earnings' reduction: the probability of being employed and probability of being employed in a "college" occupation after graduation. Both probabilities diminish significantly with an increase in unemployment rates. Overall, my results demon- strate that graduation at the time of recession has a significant negative impact on labor market outcomes of workers. Keywords: Business Cycle, College Graduates, Cohort Effects
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Wage differences related to motherhood and children in the family
Pytliková, Mariola
Statistical data show a persistent gender wage gap. Currently, women earn on average 78 per cent of men’s average monthly wages. Women’s median monthly wages amount to 85 per cent of men’s median wage. The largest gender wage differences can be found for employees in age categories most likely to be affected by motherhood and parenthood duties. Specifically, for the 35–39 age group, the gender wage gap is 32 and 27 per cent, if measured by median monthly and hourly wages, respectively. Gender wage gap in the Czech Republic is also related to the number of children. For childless employees, the difference in median monthly wages equals to 15 percent, and the gender wage gap increases with each additional child in the family. The difference in median monthly wages between men and women with one child is 20 per cent, 32 per cent between men and women with two children, and 36 percent between men and women with three or more children.
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