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Employment and Wage Insurance within Firms: Worldwide Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Ellul

    (Indiana University)

  • Marco Pagano

    (Università di Napoli Federico II CSEF, EEIF, CEPR and ECGI)

  • Fabiano Schivardi

    (LUISS, EIEF and CEPR)

Abstract

Using a firm-level international panel dataset, we study if unemployment insurance offered by the government and by firms are substitutes. We exploit cross-country and time-series variation in public unemployment insurance as a shifter of workers’ demand for insurance within firms, and family vs. non-family ownership as a shifter of firms’ supply of insurance. Our evidence supports the substitutability hypothesis: employment stability in family firms is greater, and the wage discount larger, in countries and periods with less generous public unemployment insurance, while no such substitutability emerges for non-family firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Ellul & Marco Pagano & Fabiano Schivardi, 2014. "Employment and Wage Insurance within Firms: Worldwide Evidence," CSEF Working Papers 369, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 16 Sep 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:sef:csefwp:369
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    risk-sharing; insurance; social security; unemployment; wages; family firms.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

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