Calendrier du 25 septembre 2024
Du 25/09/2024 de 16:30 à 18:00
R2-01
SENNE Jean-Noël (Université Paris Saclay)
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Development Economics Seminar
Du 25/09/2024 de 16:30 à 18:00
R2-01
GROSSET-TOUBA Florian (CREST-ENSAE)
Complementarities in Labor Supply: How Joint Commuting Shapes Work Decisions
écrit avec Aletheia Donald
Commuting is notoriously challenging in lower-income country cities, limiting firms’ ability to attract workers from different neighborhoods and reducing the economic benefits of urban agglomeration. This paper examines whether decreasing the non-financial cost of commuting—by commuting with peers rather than alone—reduces this friction and increases labor supply. We conduct two field experiments in urban Côte d’Ivoire. In the first experiment, job seekers are 16pp more likely to accept a formal full-time factory job if their peers also receive a job offer, and 15pp more likely to remain in that job four months later—but only if they will be employed in the same shift (rather than different shifts). These effects are driven by workers with long commute times, who can commute to work together. Consistent with this channel, workers’ own attendance and turnover are predicted by the attendance and quits of co-commuting peers. In a second field experiment with a different firm, we again randomize whether a worker’s peers are offered a job and whether they could commute together. We also randomize job location—inducing exogenous variation in commute time. We replicate the finding of complementarities in labor supply, but only in the case of long assigned commute times. These findings indicate that commuting together serves as an important job amenity with large impacts on labor supply. Our results provide a novel explanation for key features of urban labor markets, including firms’ widespread use of referrals for hiring and persistent gaps in employment across social groups.
Economic History Seminar
Du 25/09/2024 de 12:30 à 14:00
R1-09
XUE Mélanie (LSE)
British Industrialization and Cultural Change: Evidence From the Use of Proverbs
Our study explores the cultural dimension of the Industrial Revolution through a pioneering analysis of proverbs. Using a dataset of 25,000 proverbs prevalent in early modern England, we apply advanced data analytics techniques, including large language models and BERTopic clustering, to uncover the cultural narratives embedded in these sayings. Our findings highlight the interplay between pre-industrial economic activities and the development of pro-market cultural norms, providing partial evidence of culture’s independent role in facilitating industrialization. Additionally, we trace the transformation of cultural values in response to industrialization, revealing shifts in themes like practical knowledge, time management, and bravery. These results emphasize the dynamic relationship between economic growth and cultural change, offering a novel method for studying the historical evolution of cultural attitudes.