Liliana Winkelmann

Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy? Evidence from Panel Data

This paper tests for the importance of non-pecuniary costs of unemployment using a longitudinal data-set on life-satisfaction of working-age men in Germany. We show that unemployment has a large detrimental effect on satisfaction after individual specific fixed effects are controlled for. The non-pecuniary effect is much larger than the effect that stems from the associated loss of income.

Does Inequality Harm the Middle Class

The paper provides estimates of the effect of economic inequality on middle class well being in Switzerland. Economic well being is proxied by a persons satisfaction with his/her income. Two inequality indicators are used, one standard (the Gini coefficient of the pre-tax income distribution) and one novel (the number of luxury car registrations per 1000 population). Identification is through cross-sectional variation of these indicators at various levels of spatial aggregation. Results using data from the Swiss Household Panel confirm the existence of a robust inverse relationship between inequality and satisfaction among the middle class.

Personality, work, and satisfaction: evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Previous studies in positive psychology have indicated that work satisfaction is an important determinant of individual well-being. Research has suggested that people are most satisfied with their work when they are doing what they are drawn to naturally. We provide further evidence on this issue from a large representative data set, the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The 2005 wave of the SOEP contains a battery of personality questions as well as detailed information on personal life and work life. We extract the Big Five personality factors and one character strength: vitality. The main results are based on regression analysis. The analysis supports the hypothesis that certain personality clusters are more predominant in some occupations than in others. Furthermore, an alignment between personal profile and occupational profile tends to be related positively to satisfaction. These results indicate that ignoring mental aspects of work has its price in terms of well-being. They also highlight the importance of studying the way we structure work and harness personality and individual strengths within positive psychology.    To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it is the key to happiness. John Dewey    The fixed person for the fixed duties who in older societies was such a godsend, in the future will be a public danger. Alfred North Whitehead

Tariffs, quotas and terms-of-trade: The case of New Zealand

Abstract This paper reports quantitative information on the effects of tariffs and quotas on prices of individual goods. The analyses uses the natural experiment provided by a comprehensive unilateral trade policy reform in New Zealand to examine the response of foreign exporters to an incident of liberalisation that is unique in the developed world. The price effects of tariffs and quotas are estimated using a multidestination 7-digit longitudinal product-level dataset on export values and quantities. The effects are found to be by no means equivalent: Whereas tariffs display no significant effect, the impact that quantitative restrictions have on the terms-of-trade of the country that imposes them are unequivocally detrimental and quantitatively important.

The Costs of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade: Evidence from New Zealand

The Costs of Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade: Evidence from New Zealand. — Recent work on trade policy with imperfect competition indicates that the adverse effects of non-tariff barriers to trade exceed those suggested by traditional theory. With market power in foreign supply, setting a restrictive non-tariff barrier will induce foreign exporters to raise their supply prices. The authors use the experiment provided by the comprehensive New Zealand economic reforms of the mid-1980s. Using panel data on export unit values from Germany and the United States to several destinations including New Zealand, they find some evidence for decreased export prices to New Zealand as a result of the dismantling of non-tariff barriers to trade.ZusammenfassungDie Kosten nichttarifärer Handelshemmnisse. Evidenz aus Neuseeland. — Neuere Arbeiten über die Handelspolitik bei unvollständiger Konkurrenz deuten darauf hin, daß die nachteiligen Wirkungen nichttarifärer Handelsschranken größer sind als von der traditionellen Theorie angegeben. Wenn die ausländischen Anbieter Marktmacht besitzen, wird die Errichtung eines nichttarifären Handelshemmnisses sie veranlassen, ihre Angebotspreise zu erhöhen. Die Verfasser nutzen das Experiment, das die umfassenden Wirtschaftsreformen Neuseelands in der Mitte der achtziger Jahre boten. Sie ermitteln unter Verwendung von Panel-Daten über Durch-schnittswerte für die Exporte aus Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten in mehrere Länder einschließlich Neuseelands einige Belege dafür, daß Exportpreise nach Neuseeland als Folge des Abbaus von Handelsschranken gesunken sind.