Gil S Epstein

Bar-Ilan University, Economics, Faculty Member

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Gil S. Epstein in a Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Gil is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Population Economics and is an Associate Editor for economics. In addition, he is a Research Fellow in IZA (Bonn) and a Research Fellow in CReAM (London) and is the Dean of the Graduate Studies at Bar-Ilan University. Research interests: Political Economy, Public Choice, Labor Economics, Migration and Public Policy.

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Papers by Gil S Epstein

The Politics of Randomness

Social Science Research Network, 2002

The Impact of Worker Effort on Public Sentiment Towards Temporary Migrants

Social Science Research Network, 2011

The Impact of Worker Effort on Public Sentiment Towards Temporary Migrants * Temporary and circul... more The Impact of Worker Effort on Public Sentiment Towards Temporary Migrants * Temporary and circular migration programs have been devised by many destination countries and supported by the European Commission as a policy to reduce welfare and social costs of immigration in destination countries. In this paper we present an additional reason for proposing temporary migration policies based on the characteristics of the foreign labor-effort supply. The level of effort exerted by migrants, which decreases over their duration in the host country, positively affects production, real wages and capital owners' profits. We show that the acceptance of job offers by migrants result in the displacement in employment of national workers. However it increases the workers' exertion, decreases prices and thus can counter anti-immigrant voter sentiment. Therefore, the favorable sentiment of the capital owners and the local population towards migrants may rise when temporary migration policies are adopted.

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Family Social Norms and Child Labor

Social Science Research Network, 2022

Child labor is a widespread phenomenon and therefore is of interest to both researchers and polic... more Child labor is a widespread phenomenon and therefore is of interest to both researchers and policy makers. Various reasons for the existence of child labor have been proposed with the goal of designing appropriate solutions. While household poverty is viewed as the main reason for child labor, we choose to focus on the phenomenon that parents who worked during own childhood are more likely to send their children to work. We also look at the effect of social norms on the parents’ child labor decision and analyze both these effects on the supply of labor and equilibrium in the labor market. Finally, we suggest an explanation for the phenomenon of poor societies with similar income levels that differ significantly in literacy rates and propose policy improvements.

Immigrant Examination Behavior

Social Science Research Network, 2019

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research pu... more Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.

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The Impact of Woker Effort on Public Sentiment towards temporary migration

Assimilation Through Marriage

Social Science Research Network, 2012

Assimilation through Marriage 1 During the last few decades cultural changes have been taking pla... more Assimilation through Marriage 1 During the last few decades cultural changes have been taking place in many countries due to migration. The degree to which the foreign culture influences the local culture, differs across countries. This paper shows how the willingness of locals and immigrants to intermarry influences the culture and the national identity of the host country. We use a search-theoretic approach to show that, even in situations where migrants and natives prefer to marry within their own community, the search process may lead to intermarriage. The exogamy can take on two forms: either migrants and natives each hold on to their own culture or the immigrants take on the natives' culture. In the first case we will see new cultures developing and the local culture will not survive over time. In the second case the local culture will survive. We show the conditions for assimilation versus no assimilation between the groups.

format_quote35% of French male immigrants intermarry; 46% of European immigrants have the highest intermarriage rates, revealing cultural assimilation trends.format_quote

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Interactions Between Local and Migrant Workers at the Workplace

Social Science Research Network, 2010

In this paper we consider the interaction between local workers and migrants in the production pr... more In this paper we consider the interaction between local workers and migrants in the production process of a firm. Both local workers and migrants can invest effort in assimilation activities in order to increase the assimilation of the migrants into the firm and so by increase their interaction and production activities. We consider the effect, the relative size (in the firm) of each group and the cost of activities, has on the assimilation process of the migrants.

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Unemployed Immigrants and Voter Sentiment in the Welfare State

Springer eBooks, 2004

Adverse voter sentiment can arise when immigrants are unemployed and receive tax-financed income ... more Adverse voter sentiment can arise when immigrants are unemployed and receive tax-financed income transfers. The explanation for unemployment however determines the consequences for the local population, and an efficiency-wage explanation for unemployment is consistent with mutual benefit to national workers and employers from the presence of unemployed immigrants receiving tax-financed income transfers. The mutual benefit requires credible labor-market disciplining through job offers to immigrants and willingness of immigrants to accept job offers. Acceptance of job offers results in displacement in employment of national workers by immigrants, which can compromise the effectiveness of efficiency wages as a counter to anti-immigrant voter sentiment in the welfare state.

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A Downside to the Brain Gain Story

Economics (Bijeljina), Dec 1, 2020

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Even education has its limits: closing the wage gap

Journal of Economic Studies, Oct 12, 2015

Purpose– Economic outcomes are compared for university graduates in Israel belonging to four diff... more Purpose– Economic outcomes are compared for university graduates in Israel belonging to four different ethnic groups. A unique data set is used that includes all individuals who graduated with a first degree from universities and colleges in Israel between the years 1995 and 2008 and which tracks them for up to ten years from the year they graduated. The main finding is that education and experience appear to have a strong effect on earnings in the long run and that an ethnic group can improve its position relative to certain groups while there is no effect relative to other groups. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– The authors consider three of the main factors determining the success of assimilation: size of the ethnic group; cultural differences between groups and skin color; and examine how these factors affect economic outcomes. The authors use a unique data set that includes all individuals who graduated with a first degree from universities and colleges in Israel between the years 1995 and 2008.Findings– The results obtained in this study show that on average native Jews attain the best economic outcomes, followed by FSU immigrants, Israeli Arabs and finally Ethiopian immigrants. Education and experience appear to have a strong effect on earnings in the long run. An ethnic group can improve its position relative to other groups as they accumulate work experience.Originality/value– This is the first time that the Ethiopian immigrants where taken into account.

Who is in favor of immigration: the wealthy or the poor? the old or the young?

Economics Bulletin, 2019

Population ageing affects most countries, especially developed ones. The elderly have increased i... more Population ageing affects most countries, especially developed ones. The elderly have increased in number as a result of increased longevity and a parallel decline in fertility. This phenomenon is placing an increasing burden on the young to finance intergenerational transfers to the old, which is creating a threat to the stability of the pension system and the long-run viability of society as a whole. One possible solution is to permit more immigration, which will both increase the labor force and broaden the tax base. Increasing immigration has a variety of effects on the local population, which vary according to age and wealth. One of these is the threat to local social norms and culture since immigrants tend to maintain the culture of their country of origin. This effect increases with the number of immigrants and reduces the attractiveness of immigration as a solution to population ageing. This paper examines immigration as a solution to the problem of ageing population, while ...

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Migration and Forsaken Schooling in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2020

Large international earnings differentials negatively impact human capital investments in migrant... more Large international earnings differentials negatively impact human capital investments in migrant-origin countries. We find that three Central Asian migrant-sending countries—the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan—are facing a forsaken schooling phenomenon. Once completing their compulsory schooling, young people in these countries are forsaking additional schooling because of opportunities to migrate to high-paying low-skilled jobs in the Russian Federation. The countries face a loss in human capital formation.

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Even Education and Experience Has its Limits: Closing the Wage Gap

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

Even Education and Experience Has Its Limits: Closing the Wage Gap * Economic outcomes are compar... more Even Education and Experience Has Its Limits: Closing the Wage Gap * Economic outcomes are compared for university graduates in Israel belonging to four different ethnic groups. A unique dataset is used that includes all individuals who graduated with a first degree from universities and colleges in Israel between the years 1995 and 2008 and which tracks them for up to 10 years from the year they graduated. The main finding is that education and experience appear to have a strong effect on earnings in the long run and that an ethnic group can improve its position relative to specific groups while it has no effects relative to other groups.

format_quoteNative Jews have the highest earnings, followed by FSU immigrants, Israeli Arabs, and Ethiopian immigrants, with varying outcomes by gender.format_quote

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Chapter 8 Interactions between Local and Migrant Workers at the Workplace

Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, 2010

In this chapter, we consider the interaction between local workers and migrants in the production... more In this chapter, we consider the interaction between local workers and migrants in the production process of a firm. Both local workers and migrants can invest effort in assimilation activities to increase the assimilation of the migrants into the firm and so increase their interaction and production activities. We consider the effect the relative size (in the firm) of each group and the cost of activities has on the assimilation process of the migrants.

Productivity and Deferring Leisure

Research and Teaching in Higher Education: Complements or Substitutes?

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2013

Research and Teaching in Higher Education: Complements or Substitutes? In this note we use unique... more Research and Teaching in Higher Education: Complements or Substitutes? In this note we use unique data from Bar-Ilan University, over a period of four years (2005-2008), to estimate simultaneous equations with regard to the relationship between publications and teaching loads. The study shows that students studying for a bachelor's degree are a liability while PhD students are an asset in terms of publications. Those studying for a master's degree may be a liability or an asset depending on the department characteristics. Increasing the number of faculty members increases publications however it may not increase the publications per capita and is department specific.

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Personal productivity and the likelihood of electoral success of political candidates

European Journal of Political Economy, 2000

This paper investigates the relationship between productivities of members of a population and th... more This paper investigates the relationship between productivities of members of a population and the likelihood of success in political contests for elected office. The model reveals that the most and the least efficient individuals in the population have the greatest probabilities of being successful political candidates. This conclusion is robust to incumbency advantage and to extensions of the model to preference for working with like people, the introduction of a bureaucracy, and primaries.

Social norms and child labor

Review of Development Economics

A Service of zbw Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre for Economics Assimilation through Marriage Assimilation through Marriage

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwe... more Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit Institute for the Study The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is asso...

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Cultural Differences and the Economic Performance of Minorities and Immigrants

The economic outcomes of a minority group may be adversely affected by the cultural differences b... more The economic outcomes of a minority group may be adversely affected by the cultural differences between it and the majority group. On the other hand, cultural differences may lead a minority group to concentrate in enclaves, which can offset to some extent the negative effect of cultural discrimination. We examine how the relative size of a minority group and cultural differences between groups can affect economic outcomes. We begin by specifying a simple theoretical framework and then characterize an economy with four ethnic groups that differ culturally and in size. We then test the effect of these differences on economic outcomes. The results indicate that the difference in earnings between native Jews and Ethiopian immigrants and between native Jews and Israeli Arabs is due to taste-based discrimination.

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Gil S Epstein

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