TY - RPRT A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Künn, Steffen A1 - Mahlstedt, Robert T1 - The Intended and Unintended Effects of Promoting Labor Market Mobility T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - Subsidizing the geographical mobility of unemployed workers may improve welfare by relaxing their financial constraints and allowing them to find jobs in more prosperous regions. We exploit regional variation in the promotion of mobility programs along administrative borders of German employment agency districts to investigate the causal effect of offering such financial incentives on the job search behavior and labor market integration of unemployed workers. We show that promoting mobility – as intended – causes job seekers to increase their search radius, apply for and accept distant jobs. At the same time, local job search is reduced with adverse consequences for reemployment and earnings. These unintended negative effects are provoked by spatial search frictions. Overall, the unconditional provision of mobility programs harms the welfare of unemployed job seekers. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 42 KW - Job Search KW - Active Labor Market Policy KW - Labor Market Mobility KW - Unintended Consequence KW - Search Frictions Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-535229 SN - 2628-653X ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. A1 - Pfeifer, Harald A1 - Uhlendorff, Arne A1 - Wehner, Caroline T1 - Managers’ Risk Preferences and Firm Training Investments T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - We provide the first estimates of the impact of managers’ risk preferences on their training allocation decisions. Our conceptual framework links managers’ risk preferences to firms’ training decisions through the bonuses they expect to receive. Risk-averse managers are expected to select workers with low turnover risk and invest in specific rather than general training. Empirical evidence supporting these predictions is provided using a novel vignette study embedded in a nationally representative survey of firm managers. Risk-tolerant and risk-averse decision makers have significantly different training preferences. Risk aversion results in increased sensitivity to turnover risk. Managers who are risk-averse offer significantly less general training and, in some cases, are more reluctant to train workers with a history of job mobility. All managers, irrespective of their risk preferences, are sensitive to the investment risk associated with training, avoiding training that is more costly or targets those with less occupational expertise or nearing retirement. This suggests the risks of training are primarily due to the risk that trained workers will leave the firm (turnover risk) rather than the risk that the benefits of training do not outweigh the costs (investment risk). T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 44 KW - Manager Decisions KW - Employee Training KW - Risk Attitudes KW - Human Capital Investments Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-538439 SN - 2628-653X IS - 44 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Graeber, Daniel A1 - Kritikos, Alexander A1 - Seebauer, Johannes T1 - Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 46 KW - self-employment KW - COVID-19 KW - mental health KW - gender KW - representative longitudinal survey data KW - PHQ-4 score KW - resilience Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-548999 SN - 2628-653X IS - 46 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Kritikos, Alexander A1 - Stier, Claudia T1 - The influence of start-up motivation on entrepreneurial performance JF - Small business economics N2 - Predicting entrepreneurial development based on individual and business-related characteristics is a key objective of entrepreneurship research. In this context, we investigate whether the motives of becoming an entrepreneur influence the subsequent entrepreneurial development. In our analysis, we examine a broad range of business outcomes including survival and income, as well as job creation, and expansion and innovation activities for up to 40 months after business formation. Using the self-determination theory as conceptual background, we aggregate the start-up motives into a continuous motivational index. We show – based on a unique dataset of German start-ups from unemployment and non-unemployment – that the later business performance is better, the higher they score on this index. Effects are particularly strong for growth-oriented outcomes like innovation and expansion activities. In a next step, we examine three underlying motivational categories that we term opportunity, career ambition, and necessity. We show that individuals driven by opportunity motives perform better in terms of innovation and business expansion activities, while career ambition is positively associated with survival, income, and the probability of hiring employees. All effects are robust to the inclusion of a large battery of covariates that are proven to be important determinants of entrepreneurial performance. KW - entrepreneurship KW - push and pull theories KW - start-up motivation KW - survival KW - job creation KW - firm growth KW - innovation Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-022-00722-6 SN - 0921-898X SN - 1573-0913 VL - 61 SP - 869 EP - 889 PB - Springer Science+Business Media CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. A1 - Silva-Goncalves, Juliana A1 - Uhlendorff, Arne T1 - Locus of control and the preference for agency JF - European economic review N2 - We conduct a laboratory experiment to study how locus of control operates through people’s preferences and beliefs to influence their decisions. Using the principal–agent setting of the delegation game, we test four key channels that conceptually link locus of control to decision-making: (i) preference for agency, (ii) optimism and (iii) confidence regarding the return to effort, and (iv) illusion of control. Knowing the return and cost of stated effort, principals either retain or delegate the right to make an investment decision that generates payoffs for themselves and their agents. Extending the game to the context in which the return to stated effort is unknown allows us to explicitly study the relationship between locus of control and beliefs about the return to effort. We find that internal locus of control is linked to the preference for agency, an effect that is driven by women. We find no evidence that locus of control influences optimism and confidence about the return to stated effort, or that it operates through an illusion of control. KW - locus of control KW - preference for agency KW - decision-making KW - beliefs KW - optimism KW - confidence KW - illusion of control Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104737 SN - 0014-2921 SN - 1873-572X VL - 165 IS - 104737 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Caliendo, Marco A1 - Mahlstedt, Robert A1 - van den Berg, Gerard J. A1 - Vikström, Johan T1 - Side effects of labor market policies JF - The Scandinavian journal of economics N2 - Labor market policies, such as training and sanctions, are commonly used to bring workers back to work. By analogy to medical treatments, exposure to these tools can have side effects. We study the effects on health using individual-level population registers on labor market outcomes, drug prescriptions, and sickness absence, comparing outcomes before and after exposure to training and sanctions. Training improves cardiovascular and mental health, and lowers sickness absence. This is likely to be the result of the instantaneous features of participation, such as the adoption of a more rigorous daily routine, rather than improved employment prospects. Benefits sanctions cause a short-run deterioration of mental health. KW - Cardiovascular disease KW - depression KW - drugs KW - health KW - mental health KW - prescriptions KW - sanctions KW - sickness KW - training KW - unemployment Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/sjoe.12514 SN - 0347-0520 SN - 1467-9442 VL - 125 IS - 2 SP - 339 EP - 375 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER -