IZA - What's New at IZA

How can we improve collaboration between businesses, politics and non-governmental organizations in view of sustainable goals? Is capitalism an obsolete model? What consequence does demographics shift have on our future world of employment? These and other issues were discussed by leading experts from business, politics and society, including IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann, at the Corporate Responsibility Day organized by Deutsche Post DHL (view webcast of the event). Zimmermann highlighted the manifold demographic challenges from an academic perspective and called for a comprehensive policy agenda to address the labor market needs of an aging society.

Read also his blog entry at Delivering Tomorrow:
"The labor market in an aging society"

IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann addressed the women&work congress, which took place in Bonn on May 5, 2012. His contributions were also published as IZA Standpunkte No. 48. Zimmermann stressed that the demographic challenge for the German labor market can only be met if both female labor market participation and fertility are increased. The key to achieving this dual goal is improving the availability and quality of childcare.

"That fact that many women are employed below their qualifications has a negative impact on economic growth. This is why IZA has always called for focusing the various family benefits in Germany, which amount to 200 billion euros annually, on providing childcare at early ages in order to substantially improve women's career prospects," said Zimmermann. IZA had an exhibition booth at the congress to inform the participants about relevant IZA activities and recent publications including a study on "Taxing Childcare" (IZA DP No. 6440), a report on the pilot project for anonymized job applications (IZA RR No. 44) and a study on the labor market potential of women and mothers in Germany (IZA RR No. 39). IZA also actively promotes women's careers in research, e.g. through a successful Workshop "Women and Research" recently held at IZA.

Participants of the 15th IZA Summer School

In 1998, IZA created the European Summer School in Labor Economics, which takes place once a year in the conference center of Deutsche Post at the lake of Ammersee in Bavaria/Germany. Its objective is to bring together a large number of Ph.D. students and senior researchers to study new areas in labor economics. The event provides students with the opportunity to discuss their own research ideas with established researchers in a relaxed and open atmosphere. Around 35 advanced European graduate students engaged in the preparation of a doctoral dissertation or approaching this stage are selected for participation each year.

This event series has set new standards for the promotion of junior academics around the world. More than 500 students have participated over the years. Most alumni have pursued successful careers in academia and research institutions while forming a particularly committed part of the IZA network.

This week the 15th event is celebrated at the conference center. In a speech to the participants [Download PDF] of the 2012 IZA Summer School, IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann outlined the vision of the event: "We intend to promote policy-oriented high-quality labor research and attract the very best young scholars to bring their ideas to bear for the IZA activities. We are grateful for the many stimulating contributions we have received over the years." He also thanked the committed organizers of the 15 events, Thomas Bauer (RWI, University of Bochum and IZA; 1998 -2003), Ana Rute Cardoso (IAE Barcelona and IZA; 2003 - 2008), Konstantinos Tatsiramos (University of Leicester and IZA; 2008 - 2011), and Anne Gielen (Rotterdam University and IZA; since 2011) for their devoted efforts which made this event series an outstanding IZA product.

IZA Director Zimmermann in ARD-Tagesthemen news program

Together with Christine Lüders, head of the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (ADS), IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann presented the results of the first pilot project for anonymized job applications. This ADS project was scientifically accompanied by IZA and KOWA (European University Viadrina). The analysis showed that anonymization of attributes such as name, photograph, gender, age and ethnic origin of the applicant is effective at creating equal opportunity for all groups to get a job interview.

"Empirical studies point to a serious extent of discrimination in the German labor market. Both hidden and open discrimination lead to an enormous waste of potential. Particularly the unequal treatment of women, migrants and older job applicants causes substantial economic damage. In view of the increasing shortage of skilled labor we can no longer afford this waste of resources – not to mention the social and ethical aspects of unequal opportunity", said Klaus F. Zimmermann.

Read more (mostly in German):
- IZA press release (April 17, 2012)
- Final report of the pilot project (PDF, 2.8 MB)
- Newspaper article in Süddeutsche Zeitung (April 17, 2012)
- IZA Research Report No. 27 "Anonymisierte Bewerbungsverfahren"
- IZA DP No. 6100 "Anonymous Job Applications of Fresh Ph.D. Economists"
- IZA DP No. 4741 "Ethnic Discrimination in Germany's Labour Market: A Field Experiment"

A high-ranking group of representatives from the fields of European politics, academics, and multinational firms calls for action to revitalize Europe and its socioeconomic structures. IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann is among the first signatories of a joint declaration of the "Vibrant Europe Forum (VEF)" which was initiated by IZA Senior Advisor Jo Ritzen, former Dutch minister and vice-president of the World Bank. The VEF aims at creating building blocks for an implementable vision for Europe most concretely for the period 2015-2020 with a perspective towards 2050. Labor market and social policies will be crucial to turn an increasingly weary Europe into a "vibrant" Europe.

Read more:

- VEF Press Release
- VEF Declaration "A Vibrant Europe for People"
- VEF Homepage

Outstanding students from Ph.D. programs outside of the U.S. now have an excellent opportunity to get in close touch with IZA Research Fellows from the Washington DC metro area. Under the annual IZA@DC Young Scholar Program, a joint initiative with the Georgetown University Economics Department and its Georgetown Center of Economic Research (GCER), selected students will attend lectures presented by some of the world's leading labor economists. During the one-week program directed by Georgetown University economics professor Francis Vella, they will also be able to meet with the speakers and discuss their own research in a very personal atmosphere.

"IZA has always been dedicated to promoting talented junior researchers. This new program gives young scholars a unique opportunity to create valuable networks and start collaborating on joint research projects," said IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann.

The First IZA@DC Young Scholar Program takes place from October 22-26, 2012, hosted by Georgetown University.
For details on the selection process see the call for nominations at: www.iza.org/conference_files/YSP2012

Daniel S. Hamermesh

IZA Visiting Research Fellow Daniel S. Hamermesh (University of Texas at Austin) recently received a Humboldt Research Award from the Germany-based Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The prestigious award honors eminent foreign researchers at the peak of their academic careers whose fundamental discoveries, new theories or insights have had a significant impact on their discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future.

Daniel Hamermesh has been closely affiliated with IZA since its foundation in 1998 and has contributed a great deal to the institute's success. He coordinated IZA's research activities on The Future of Labor as Program Director for a decade before serving as Director of Research for two years. He has organized numerous conferences and workshops, above all the highly successful IZA/SOLE Transatlantic Meetings. Over the past years he has continued to spend extended periods at IZA as a Visiting Research Fellow.

Hamermesh specializes in labor demand, social programs, academic labor markets and unusual applications in everyday life. Most recently he has focused his research on the economic benefits of beauty. His new book "Beauty Pays" demonstrates how society favors the beautiful – and how better-looking people experience higher salaries and benefits in all aspects of life. Hamermesh teaches theory in a way that makes economics useful in everyday life. He applies economic principles to various topics in his contribution to the Freakonomics blog.

IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann took Hamermesh's recent stay in Bonn as an opportunity to congratulate him on receiving the award: "I can hardly think of anyone more deserving of this honor. With his boundless creative energy and uplifting spirit, Dan Hamermesh is a constant source of inspiration for our young researchers. We are deeply grateful to Dan for his invaluable contributions to IZA, and we look forward to many more years of fruitful collaboration."

In February 2012, IZA's Acting Research Director Andrew J. Oswald gave a series of lectures in Australia and Asia. In addition to talks at Melbourne University and Monash University, he gave the 9th SER Distinguished Public Lecture at NTU University in Singapore (photo) and the Gruen Public Lecture on "Herd Behaviour and Keeping up with the Joneses" [download slides] at Australian National University in Canberra. Other research topics he spoke about included biomarkers and well-being, as well as happiness and labor productivity.

IZA Program Director Hartmut Lehmann has been voted President-elect of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES) for the year 2012. He will be President of ACES in 2013, when he will organize the eight sessions of the association at the ASSA meetings in Philadelphia (January 3-5, 2014). ACES is the leading scholarly organization for the support of comparative economic studies. Its world-wide membership includes academics, economists and political scientists employed by international agencies, governments and banks as well as policy makers.

IZA Fellow Gary Fields (Cornell University) recently published the book "Working Hard, Working Poor: A Global Journey". Based on decades of experience studying labor markets in developing nations, Gary takes a long, measured look at the world's three billion who live on less than 2.50 dollars per day, and shows how employment and self-employment prospects can be improved. Acknowledging the surfeit of literature on ending poverty, this book goes beyond foreign aid and government intervention to look at the labor force itself and how it can be helped to earn its own way out of poverty.

Nobel laureate George Akerlof: "Working Hard, Working Poor addresses the world's greatest economic problem.... There is not enough wage employment for those who want to work. Gary Fields, with great sensitivity, puts us in their shoes (insofar as they have them) and shows how we can increase and improve employment to alleviate their suffering. We all have a moral responsibility to read and to understand his message."

[more information at Oxford University Press]