A Method to Pre-compile Numerical Integrals When Solving Stochastic Dynamic Problems

We show how the interpolation step of numerical integration can be pre-compiled in partial equilibrium stochastic dynamic problems. We display the pre-compilation’s sufficient conditions and document its speed gains using a consumption-savings model with a discrete labour choice, wage uncertainty and stochastic non-labour income.

A neoclassical perspective on Switzerland’s 1990s stagnation

We study Switzerland’s weak growth during the 1990s through the lens of the business cycle accounting framework of Chari et al. (Econometrica 75(3):781–836, 2007). Our main result is that weak productivity growth cannot account for the 1993–1996 stagnation episode. Rather, the stagnation is explained by factors that made labour and investment expensive. We show that increased labour income taxes and financial frictions are plausible causes. Holding these factors constant, the counterfactual annualized real output growth over the 1993Q1–1996Q4 period is 1.93% compared to realized growth of 0.35%.

Effects of Migration Experience on Labour Income in Turkey

A significant number of migrants return to their home country every year, and these returnees with migration experience join the labour force. This study investigates the effect of migration experience on labour income applying regression analysis to data from the Household Labour Force Surveys of Turkey from 2009 to 2018. The findings confirm that migration experience has a positive impact on labour income in Turkey. Furthermore, the returnees earn more than the overall wage earners with the same education and skill levels. Additional findings show that women in Turkey earn less than men across all wage earners in the average, but that migration experience does not close the earnings gap between female and male returnees. Nevertheless, highly-educated and upskilled returnees contribute more to the economic growth of Turkey; so, the returnees are labour capital gains to improve the home country economy.

Like father, like son? A comparison of absolute and relative intergenerational labour income mobility in Germany and the US

Are children better off than their parents? This highly debated question in politics and economics is investigated by analysing the trends in absolute and relative intergenerational labour income mobility for Germany and the US. High quality panel data is used for this purpose; the SOEP for Germany and the PSID for the US. In Germany, 67% of sons born between 1955 and 1975 earned a significantly higher real long-run labour income than their fathers. Those with fathers from the lowest earnings bracket were particularly mobile in absolute terms. In contrast, the fraction of US sons earning more than their fathers is 60% on average for the same cohorts. Their share decreased from 66% in the 1956–60 birth cohort to 48% in the 1971–75 birth cohort, while it changed very little in Germany. Overall, absolute as well as relative labour income mobility is larger in Germany than in the US. This indicates that economic growth has been distributed more broadly in Germany than in the US. While the majority of German males has been able to share in the country’s rising prosperity and are better off than their fathers, US males continue to lose ground. Hence, Chetty et al. (Science 356:398–406, 2017) seem to be right when they say that the American Dream is slowly fading away.