Mario Liebensteiner

Short-term Labour Migration from the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation

Abstract We explore the determinants of short-term labour migration from Armenia to Russia based on a unique panel dataset. A dynamic switching regression model with endogenous switching is applied. Our evidence pinpoints migration experience, the expected individual income gap from migration, low job opportunities in Armenia and the possibility of diversifying income risks as the most important determinants. Family ties turn out to be insignificant. The hypothetical income gap is about 280 per cent. Several explanations are provided for the fact that some individuals do not migrate in spite of a large income gap.

Estimating the Income Gain of Seasonal Labor Migration

Male seasonal labor migration has become an increasing phenomenon globally and particularly for Armenia. This study finds that the monthly income gains for seasonal migrants from Armenia to Russia are about US

Non-sequential search, competition and price dispersion in retail electricity

480 relative to only US

Direct Taxation of Business in South East European Countries

50 in the case of non-migration. Individual panel data based on a novel household survey allow controlling for a variety of socio-economic characteristics. Propensity score matching combined with difference-in-differences addresses potential endogenous self-selection into migration. This paper finds negative selection based on education, employment, and pre-migration income. This is reflected by a low premium for skills in Russia relative to Armenia, luring seasonal migrants into low-skill jobs, mainly in the construction sector. The results identify seasonal labor migration as an attractive opportunity to escape unemployment, especially for the unskilled labor force. Therefore, seasonal migration has become an increasingly important source of income for households (through remittances) from low-income countries and helps eradicate poverty.

The Transport and IT Infrastructure in South East European Countries

We investigate the impact of consumer search and competition on pricing strategies in Germany’s electricity retail. We utilize a unique panel dataset on spatially varying search requests at major online price comparison websites to construct a direct measure of search intensity and combine this information with zip code level data on electricity tariffs between 2011 and 2014. The paper stands out by explaining price dispersion by differing pricing strategies of former incumbents and entrant firms, which are distinct in their attributable shares in informed versus uninformed consumers. Our empirical results suggest causal evidence for an inverted U-shape effect of consumer search intensity on price dispersion in a clearinghouse environment as in Stahl (1989). The dispersion is caused by opposite pricing strategies of incumbents and entrants, with incumbents initially increasing and entrants initially decreasing tariffs as a reaction to more consumer search. We also find an inverted U-shape effect of competition on price dispersion, consistent with theoretical findings by Janssen and Moraga-Gonzalez (2004). Again, the effect can be explained by opposing pricing strategies of incumbents and entrants.

Attracting foreign direct investment: the public policy scope for South East European countries

This chapter sets out to assess changes in the direct taxation of business and tax policy in South East European Countries (SEECs), and its role in the location choice of foreign firms in particular. The role of direct business taxation for investment and location choice is twofold. First, direct taxation may be a limiting factor or a stimulating factor for investment and location choice. Second, direct taxation may interact with other location factors and thus either amplify or reduce their effects on investment and location choice. This explains why direct taxation is an important policy variable.

Vertical Disintegration in the European Electricity Sector: Empirical Evidence on Lost Synergies

A well-established infrastructure endowment is frequently seen to be an important prerequisite for the catching up of emerging and transition economies. Broadly speaking, infrastructure can be defined as the ‘social overhead capital’ of an economy (Hirschman, 1958), which is necessary for economic agents, for example firms, to start and conduct their activities (Frey, 1988). With a focus on the catching up of emerging and transition economies, and thus on the growth performance of such countries, it is especially important that infrastructure can be seen as ‘the economic growth framework of the market economy’ (Buhr, 2009, p. 1). Thus, inter alia, the growth potential of an economy crucially hinges upon its infrastructure endowment. From an (international) business viewpoint, infrastructure matters insofar as it impacts on production costs and, hence, on the profitability of an investment. Moreover, as infrastructure may induce higher economic growth rates, increases in the infrastructure endowment lead, ceteris paribus, to the larger market size of an economy. The market size of an economy is among the most important determinants in the investments of foreign firms (Bellak and Leibrecht, 2009).