Ambiguous effects of minimum wage tool of labour markets regulation – key study of V4 countries

In this paper we analyze the effect of minimum wage change on selected labour market indicators such as duration of employment, hours worked, unemployment by education or profession or long-term unemployment. Our research is based on Eurostat and OECD data for V4 countries. The hypothesis discussed is whether the effect of minimum wage increase is positive or negative and we discuss the issue of economic regulation more generally. The output values of the regressions coefficients of all the V4 countries showed that the effects are more positive than negative. Mapping the overall intensity of effects of the minimum wage on selected indicator of the labour market in the Czech Republic and Hungary indicated a low sensitivity. The effects were very weak in Slovakia and Poland. The results of the analysis complied with the results of the domestic and international research in 13 cases and the results were different in 6 cases. Slightly more often they confirmed more positive effects of the minimum wage on selected indicators of the labour market than negative effects.

Questions on notice to Falinksi Inquiry

A response to questions on notice for Australia's 2021 Inquiry into housing affordability and supply in Australia. First, is a negative relationship between change in housing stock and real price from OECD data (1990-2015) solid evidence? Second, what do developers actually say about how they manage undeveloped land? Third, what questions should be asked to developers in this Inquiry.

Economic Poverty: Does the Break-Up of Families Matter?

In this paper we investigate the relationship between family structure and poverty for European countries using Eurostat and OECD data. In particular, we focus on the change in living arrangements, with the traditional type of household—couple with children—being partially replaced by single and extended families. The results of our econometric analysis show that the decline in the traditional family type affects individual poverty: the marriage rate and the share of couples, both with and without children, are inversely related to poverty; the divorce rate, the shares of extended families and singles with children are, instead, positively related to poverty.

The Impact of Pandemics on Workforce Joblessness in Central Europe in pre-Covid Era and during Pandemic

Unemployment affects individuals socially, personally, and economically. The impact of being jobless can be long-lasting. Five different generations participate in the workplace today. As countries throughout the world went into lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19, unemployment numbers rose rapidly. This study aimed to examine the effects of unemployment in three-generation groups in V4 and Austria in the pre-Covid-19 era and during Covid-19. Descriptive statistics were used to present the collected data. OECD data were used for the analysis. Based on the data collected, unemployment decreases with age. The group aged 15-24 shows significantly higher unemployment than the other two groups. A gender difference in unemployment was confirmed only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Unemployment has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. The unemployment gap for females before and during Covid-19 was not confirmed. The T-Test confirmed the difference in unemployment before and during the crisis in the age categories 15-24 and 25-54. In Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, the number of people with a duration of employment of up to one year differs in all age categories. In the Czech Republic, there is a significant difference only between the youngest group and the other two. In all countries, the largest number of people with the employment of up to one year is in the age group 25-54. In none of the examined countries was a gender unemployment gap proved before Covid-19.

Making Old People Work: Three False Assumptions Supporting the “Working Longer Consensus”

Pensions and social insurance—key parts of the welfare state—redistribute income and wealth across class by providing, or not providing, practical and legitimate access to basic income without requiring work for pay. Mistaken attention to generational equity and austerity economics creates a set of beliefs that older people should work more, forming what the article calls an emerging “Working Longer Consensus,” which is supported by three false doctrines. Using OECD data and secondary sources, the article counters each false doctrine by showing that healthy longevity gains are not distributed equally; there is no demonstrated trade-off between public spending for the elderly and children; and a greater supply of elder labor does not necessarily mean economic prosperity. The Working Longer Consensus, like the Washington Consensus, promises that pension austerity will yield economic prosperity.

IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ON WORKERS’ INCOMES

The article presents the impact of the level of education of employees on their income in various terms. One of them is a study based on the OECD data from 2004–2005, which shows the differentiation of incomes of employees with different levels of education on the basis of the relative differentiation between them, assuming the income level of employees with upper secondary education as 100 and referring to it respectively the income level of employees with higher education and the level of income of employees with lower secondary education. The article then presents a more elaborate study of the impact of the level of education of employees on their incomes in the European Union, included in the Report “The European Higher Education Area in 2015”. This survey shows the impact of the education level of employees on the median of their gross annual income in the European Union and in the individual Member States. The article also compares the income differentiation depending on the level of education, based on the OECD data for 2004–2005, with the results of surveys on European Union Member States in 2010 and 2013.

Do environmental taxes impede economic growth? A comparison between China and India

The aim of this study is to determine the direction of causality between economic growth and environmentally oriented taxes between two countries, China and India. Further, it investigates which country is leading in environmental protection race by imposing and collecting more environmental taxes. The novel element of this study is that this is the first study comparing two economic rivals by environment taxes. The dataset consists of environmental taxes and its proportion to GDP and total taxes, transportation taxes, GDP and adjusted net savings for China and India. The data are taken from the organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data bank from 2009 to 2018. The study utilizes the Granger causality to test the causal relationship between environment taxes and economic growth. The findings of the study posit that the imposition of environmental taxes will not only make the big economies environmental friendly but with sustainable economic growth.

Key features of intra-EU labour mobility and its impact from a sending country perspective: Addressing the consequences in Hungary

The main characteristics of intra-EU labour mobility are well documented. There is less focus, however, on the pattern of mobility of the East European (EU-13) EU-mobile citizens. This group constitutes more than half (57%) of all the EU movers and show, to some extent, other features than the rest of the EU mobile citizens (EU-15). The first part of this paper gives a brief overview of some key demographic and labour market characteristics of the East European mobile citizens in the most important destination countries. The perspectives of the sending countries are not analysed frequently enough, and thus the second part of the paper focuses on this issue in the case of Hungary, by asking to what extent the serious labour shortages, ensuing from the outflow of Hungarians, could be compensated by the recent increase of immigration of third country nationals. Using OECD data, the paper quantifies the balance of labour gains and losses for Hungary and compares this with Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. The analysis concludes that despite the substantial recent inflow of third country nationals into Hungary, it remains to be seen whether this has a real substitution effect for the lost domestic labour force.