Many countries suffer from skilled labor shortages in nursing. One way to increase the nurse labor supply is to raise their retention rates. Yet, though several studies exist on factors associated with the nurse labor supply at different levels, literature on factors associated with nurses’ decisions to leave their occupation is relatively scarce. Based on German administrative data, I analyze the determinants of nurses’ decisions to leave their profession. My results suggest that younger nurses, nurses in the social sector, and nurses working with smaller employers leave their occupation more often than their counterparts, irrespective of their specific nursing occupations and care settings (inpatient or outpatient care).
29. November 29, 2021: Bundesbank-IAW Lecture on European Economic Integration, Tübingen
The IAW-Bundesbank Lecture The United States of Europe: an evaluation of the four freedoms over six decades with Professor Thierry Mayer (Sciences Po, Paris) on 29.11.2021 will not take place.
Due to the current Corona situation, the lecture will be postponed to June or July 2022.
Improving Methods for Policy Analysis of Foreign Trade and Investment
It is of crucial importance that economic policies related to trade and investment are based on a solid understanding of the mechanisms through which enhanced internationalization of German firms affect the domestic economy.
Against this backdrop, this projectpursues four goals. First, it aims at taking stock of the relevant micro-data that are provided and maintained by the statistical offices on both the federal and the state level (DESTATIS) and by the central bank (Deutsche Bundesbank) and examining whether these data may – after suitable adjustment (merging, linking) – be used for model-based quantitative policy analysis in the areas of trade and foreign investment. Secondly, taking the new quantitative trade theory as a point of departure, it aims at developing and empirically implementing simulation models for trade and investment that allow for firm heterogeneity and dynamic adjustment. Thirdly, such models will be used to address, by means of numerical simulations, various policy scenarios regarding international trade and investment. These simulations will focus on heterogeneous effects among German firms. And finally, the project involves econometric estimation, using novel micro-panel-data, aimed at shedding light on topical issues related to trade and investment.
IAW is particularly concerned with the first and second project objectives.
Recent papers:
Fauth, M., B. Jung and W. Kohler, German Firms in International Trade: Evidence from Recent Transaction-level Data, accepted for presentation at the European Trade Study Group (ETSG) 2021 Ghent.
Graduates of a cooperative university have similiar returns than graduates of a university of applied sciences
This states a new study of the IAW with the title “Individual returns of a cooperative university degree”. The authors find that graduates of a cooperative university have higher returns than graduates from a vocational training and craftsmen/technicians. Additionally, graduates from a cooperative university earn less than graduates from a general university. A quantile regression shows that those results differ among wage distributions. The analyses are based on the starting cohort of adults of the National Educational Panel (NEPS-SC6).
Individual returns of a cooperative university degree (in German) In: Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft - ZfE 2021, https://rdcu.be/cnWOg
Wage expectation, information and the decision to become a nurse
Contrary to common perceptions, the expected wage plays a positive and statistically significant role in the decision to become a nurse. Further, understating a nurse’s wage decreases the probability of becoming one. The empirical results lead to two important policy implications. First, increasing the wage may help to overcome the shortage observed in many countries. Second, providing information on the (relative) wage may be a successful strategy to attract more individuals into this profession.
On the influence of job characteristics on the attractiveness of nursing jobs in Germany
We find that, first, attractiveness of care jobs is most strongly affected by rather “soft”characteristics such as atmosphere within the team and time for patients. “Hard” factors play a considerably smaller role. Second, one hard factor, contract duration, is estimated to be among the most important job factors, however. This is a remarkable finding given that nursing occupations suffer from severe skill shortages. Third, though wage has a statistically significant influence on attractiveness, enormous wage raises would be needed in order to yield higher attractiveness gains than the top-rated soft factors, or to compensate for less pleasant job characteristics with respect to those factors. Last, even after controlling for other job characteristics, hospital nursing is still rated as more attractive than geriatric nursing.
