This paper studies the rural-urban migration in China. The cause of the analysis was the increasing number of rural-urban migrants caused by the fast industrialization. It could lead some serious problems in urban areas, such as the shortage of urban resources like house, food, etc., the increasing of unemployment probabilities and so on. China is the most populous country in the world. And the rural population in China has been exceeded half of the total. Due to the special current situation of China is different from other developing countries, the factors impact the rural migration in China and how to perfect the policy institutions are what I want to research in the paper.

Submitted by Artur Bezerra de Carvalho (arturfgv@gmail.com) on 2011-04-05T15:07:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Artur Bezerra de Carvalho - Dissertation.pdf: 609670 bytes, checksum: 93564d7d95ef0bb338d1d1015dd5ec21 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Andrea Virginio Machado(andrea.machado@fgv.br) on 2011-04-05T19:45:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Artur Bezerra de Carvalho - Dissertation.pdf: 609670 bytes, checksum: 93564d7d95ef0bb338d1d1015dd5ec21 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-04-07T17:16:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Artur Bezerra de Carvalho - Dissertation.pdf: 609670 bytes, checksum: 93564d7d95ef0bb338d1d1015dd5ec21 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-05 / The purpose of this work is to provide a brief overview of the literature on the optimal design of unemployment insurance systems by analyzing some of the most influential articles published over the last three decades on the subject and extend the main results to a multiple aggregate shocks environment. The properties of optimal contracts are discussed in light of the key assumptions commonly made in theoretical publications on the area. Moreover, the implications of relaxing each of these hypothesis is reckoned as well. The analysis of models of only one unemployment spell starts from the seminal work of Shavell and Weiss (1979). In a simple and common setting, unemployment benefits policies, wage taxes and search effort assignments are covered. Further, the idea that the UI distortion of the relative price of leisure and consumption is the only explanation for the marginal incentives to search for a job is discussed, putting into question the reduction in labor supply caused by social insurance, usually interpreted as solely an evidence of a dynamic moral hazard caused by a substitution effect. In addition, the paper presents one characterization of optimal unemployment insurance contracts in environments in which workers experience multiple unemployment spells. Finally, an extension to multiple aggregate shocks environment is considered. The paper ends with a numerical analysis of the implications of i.i.d. shocks to the optimal unemployment insurance mechanism. / O objetivo deste trabalho é prover uma revisão sucinta da literatura sobre o desenho ótimo de programas de seguro-desemprego, por meio da análise de alguns dos artigos mais influentes publicados nas últimas três décadas, e estender os seus principais resultados para um ambiente econômico sujeito a choques agregados. As propriedades dos contratos ótimos são discutidas à luz das hipóteses-chave usualmente adotadas em publicações teóricas nessa área. Além disso, as implicações associadas ao relaxamento dessas hipóteses também são investigadas. A análise de modelos que contemplam apenas um ciclo de desemprego começa com o trabalho de Shavell e Weiss (1979). A partir de um ambiente econômico simples e comum à maioria dos trabalhos, estudam-se as políticas de benefícios, taxas sobre os salários e o nível ótimo de esforço a ser exercido na procura por emprego. Adicionalmente, questiona-se a idéia de que as distorções no preço relativo de consumo e lazer provocadas pelo seguro-desemprego são a única explicação para alterações marginais dos incentivos à procura por emprego. Usualmente interpretada como um problema de perigo-moral causado por um efeito-substtituição, a redução na oferta de trabalho causada por programas de seguro-social é discutida sob essa nova perspectiva. Apresenta-se ainda um estudo teórico sobre contratos de seguro-desemprego ótimo quando os agentes estão sujeitos a mais de um ciclo de desemprego. Finalmente, uma extensão dos modelos a um ambiente sujeito a múltiplos choques agregados é desenvolvida. O trabalho termina com um exercício numérico acerca das implicações de choques i.i.d. sobre o desenho de programas de seguro-desemprego.

The successful integration of refugees originating from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a crucial and important task for Sweden. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights regarding the importance of education attained prior to migration for refugee’s labour market outcomes. This thesis investigates the return on pre-migration education for refugees, focusing on employment probability on the Swedish labour market. Utilising quantitative analysis of cross-sectional survey data provided by the European Social Survey spanning between the years 2010-2022, this study finds that for an additional year of schooling, MENA refugees have on average a 1.1 percentage points higher probability of being employed compared to natives. This is most likely caused by a larger signalling value of education for refugees. Still, refugees have a lower probability of being employed upon arrival in Sweden compared to natives with the same years of schooling. Furthermore, the study highlights the vital role of host-specific human capital in improving employment probabilities for refugees. These findings underscore the importance for policy makers of validating pre-migration education and that domestic human capital programs, including language training and workplace practice, play an important role in the integration of MENA refugees into the Swedish labour market. This report contributes to the existing literature by increasing the knowledge.

Automation technologies such as industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics threaten to dislocate a large number of workers, given their ability to perform many work activities. This thesis aims to give a complete overview of the effects of automation on employment and consists of three papers. The first paper reviews prior studies investigating how automation technologies affect employment. Relevant publications are presented by distinguishing how the effects of automation technologies are estimated (i.e., estimation of the probability of automation or of the net impact on employment), the levels of analysis (i.e., global, international, continental, country, regional, labour market, industry, firm, occupational, worker, and work activities) and the type of automation technology (i.e., industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics). Research gaps and future research agenda are identified. The second paper investigates how the institutional context in terms of gender equality (in general and in the education and work components) affects the risk of substitution faced by women, i.e., their risk of being replaced by automation technologies in performing work activities. The study shows that in institutional contexts where gender equality is high, women face a lower risk of substitution as women do not face stereotypes and structural barriers and can thus acquire the skills that cannot be automated by machines (i.e., perception and manipulation, creative intelligence, and social intelligence). The third paper analyses how the invention of automation technologies affects the labour demand of the innovative firm. It emerges that innovating in automation technologies increases firm employment, with the largest impact found for industrial robots and big data. Jointly innovating in the three automation technologies also increases firm employment. However, innovating in industrial robots decreases firm employment in SMEs, while innovating in industrial robots and in artificial intelligence decreases firm employment in young firms. This thesis enhances knowledge about automation by providing a review of previous studies, by developing a gender perspective on automation by taking into account the influence of the institutional context in terms of gender equality, and by focusing on firm level effects of automation technologies. Policy and managerial implications can be derived from this thesis as the results provide an insight into how automation technologies impact employment. Policy makers can be informed for the design of policies promoting the invention and adoption of automation technologies and removing gender barriers in education and in the labour market. Firms can evaluate the effects of automation technologies on their workforce and help workers in protecting against the risk of substitution. The necessary interventions at the national and firm level can be planned to reap the benefits of automation while safeguarding workers.

This paper analyzes how the explained and unexplained part of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition has changed due to a shift in attitudes towards immigrants in Germany. We use the migration crisis in 2015 as an exogenous source of variation in attitudes towards immigrants. As many studies analyze labor market discrimination, there are very few studies examining discrimination in the German labor market by conducting a natural experiment. In contrast to previous empirics, this paper sets out to explain and decompose the differences between immigrants and natives using a rather unique method. This paper is based on data from the European Social Survey (ESS) conducted in 2014 and 2016 and is analyzed using measures of public attitudes, the linear probability model, and the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. The results indicate that there are rather great differences in employment probabilities, human capital and family constellations between immigrants and natives. Measuring public attitudes, it is evident that there has been a general decline in positive attitudes towards immigrants post the migration crisis in 2015. Analyzing the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, it is evident that the unexplained (discriminatory) part of the decomposition has decreased which is referred to as a decrease in discrimination in the labor market. Even though that a general decline in positive attitudes towards immigrants is present, an increase in the unexplained part of the decomposition is not observed. As no correlation between public attitudes and the unexplained part of the decomposition is apparent, it is most likely that employers base their employment decision on the extent of information provided. This indicating that discrimination in the labor market most likely is due to statistical discrimination and not due to the preferences of the employer.

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies Three Essays on Labor Market Institutional Environment Dissertation Thesis Kamila Fialová Prague 2012 Abstract This thesis consists of three papers about labor market institutional environment. The first paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Effect on Labor Market Performance in the New EU Member Countries" estimates the effects of labor market institutions on various performance indicators (unemployment, long-term unemployment, employment, activity rate) in European countries. The results confirm that high taxes increase unemployment, whereas active labor market policies tend to reduce it. The paper also shows that stricter employment protection, higher taxes, and a larger economic burden represented by the minimum wage decrease employment and activity rates. The second paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Impact on Shadow Economies in Europe" analyzes the role of labor market institutions in explaining developments of shadow economies in European countries using several alternative measures of the shadow sector. The results indicate that the one institution that unambiguously increases shadow production and employment is strict employment protection legislation. Other labor market institutions have less...