Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

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Number of Results 7

WP(24/2026)518. The impact of public transport accessibility on the Polish labour market – an econometric approach

Authors: Pakier Grzegorz, Zabarina Kateryna
This paper uses geographically weighted regression to examine the impact of transport accessibility on the registered unemployment rate. It utilises a transport accessibility index that was previously developed for municipalities in Poland. Analysis …

WP518. The impact of public transport accessibility on the Polish labour market – an econometric approach

This paper uses geographically weighted regression to examine the impact of transport accessibility on the registered unemployment rate. It utilises a transport accessibility index that was previously developed for municipalities in Poland. Analysis of three econometric models revealed that transport accessibility has a significant negative impact on the unemployment rate, which varies across the regions studied. The model using the average transport accessibility of municipalities within a given county showed a stronger relationship with the unemployment rate. This suggests that accessibility at the county level is more important than local accessibility. Furthermore, it was found that the type of municipality had no impact on the strength or direction of the examined relationship. The research confirms that public transport availability significantly influences unemployment levels in Poland, with considerable spatial variation in this relationship. The results emphasise the importance of considering the regional context of transport accessibility when devising anti-unemployment policies.


Pakier Grzegorz, Zabarina Kateryna
transport accessibility unemployment rate geographically weighted regression transport exclusion spatial mismatch

WP(24/2023)431. Two possible reasons behind the reluctance of low-skilled workers to migrate to generous welfare states

Authors: Byra Łukasz
This paper provides two possible explanations for the mixed evidence regarding migration by low-skilled workers to generous welfare states. Using a model of unrestricted migration to a developed, destination country, which provides a direct and equal…

WP431. Two possible reasons behind the reluctance of low-skilled workers to migrate to generous welfare states

This paper provides two possible explanations for the mixed evidence regarding migration by low-skilled workers to generous welfare states. Using a model of unrestricted migration to a developed, destination country, which provides a direct and equal social benefit to all its residents, we study the impact of the benefit in a country on the size of its low-skilled immigrant population under the assumption that migration is driven by an international difference in returns to skills, employment opportunities in the destination country, and by the generosity of the benefit in that country. We find that the social benefit affects the size of the country’s low-skilled immigrant population not only directly, via the difference between the benefit and its cost in the form of taxation, but also via two indirect channels. The benefit incentivizes taking up low-skilled jobs among the destination country’s native residents, which adversely affects wages of low-skilled workers in that country, and it increases the risk of unemployment of low-skilled workers therein. Prospective low-skilled migrants view these side effects of the benefit as “stay away” factors. Simulation of the model based on 2018 data for EU-15 economies without Luxembourg highlights the importance of indirect channels in curtailing the inflow of low-skilled migrants to a generous welfare state. When only direct channels are accounted for, semi-elasticities of the size of the low-skilled immigrant population with respect to the social benefit are between 0.2 and 0.54. When indirect channels are allowed to play their roles, the positive relationship between the social benefit and low-skilled immigration is significantly reduced; the semi-elasticities range from 0.13 to 0.4. At the level of the model’s fundamentals, the variation in semi-elasticities between EU-15 countries is largely explained by differences in the size of the welfare state and in efficiency of the labor market across these countries.


Byra Łukasz
Welfare migration Migration by low-skilled workers Skill formation in a destination country Unemployment in a destination country

WP(16/2018)275. What accounts for the rise of low self-rated health during the recent economic crisis in Europe?

Authors: Brzeziński Michał
This study examines how different economic mechanisms affected low self-rated health (SRH) in Europe over the recent crisis period (2008−2011). We use balanced panel data for covering 26 European countries and 43 456 participants coming from th…

WP275. What accounts for the rise of low self-rated health during the recent economic crisis in Europe?

This study examines how different economic mechanisms affected low self-rated health (SRH) in Europe over the recent crisis period (2008−2011). We use balanced panel data for covering 26 European countries and 43 456 participants coming from the longitudinal 2011 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database. Over-time increases in low SRH incidence are decomposed into the contributions of changes in the distribution of covariates and changes in returns to the covariates. Results show that low SRH incidence increased in Europe during the crisis by almost 2 percentage points (3.7 percentage points in case of the Baltic countries). Decomposition analysis shows that: 1) decreasing household incomes and changing income distribution had no impact on low SRH incidence, 2) rise of material deprivation accounts for 12% of the overall growth in low SRH rates (27% for the Baltic countries), 3) decreasing levels of full-time and part-time employment as well as transitions to unemployment, economic inactivity, disability, or retirement account jointly for about 21% of the rise in low SRH in Europe (73% for Baltic countries).


DOI: https://doi.org.10.26405/WP/WNE/2018/275/016
Brzeziński Michał
self-rated health economic crisis decomposition Oaxaca-Blinder unemployment material deprivation

WP(11/2015)159. Productivity and Inequality Effects of Rapid Labor Reallocation – Insights from a Meta-Analysis of Studies on Transition

Authors: Svejnar Jan, Tyrowicz Joanna, van der Velde Lucas Augusto
From a theoretical perspective the link between the speed and scope of rapid labor reallocation and productivity growth or inequalities remains unclear. Do reallocations with more flows tend to produce higher productivity growth? Does such link appea…

WP159. Productivity and Inequality Effects of Rapid Labor Reallocation – Insights from a Meta-Analysis of Studies on Transition

From a theoretical perspective the link between the speed and scope of rapid labor reallocation and productivity growth or inequalities remains unclear. Do reallocations with more flows tend to produce higher productivity growth? Does such link appear at the expense of higher inequalities? We explore the rich evidence from earlier studies on worker flows in the period of massive and rapid labor reallocation, i.e. the economic transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy in Central and Eastern Europe. We apply the tools typical for a meta-analysis to verify the empirical regularities between labor flows and productivity growth as well as inequalities. We collected over 450 estimates of job flows from the literature and use these inputs to estimate the short-run and long-run relationship between job flows, labor productivity and inequalities. Our findings suggest relatively weak and short term links with productivity for job destruction/separations. On the other hand, data reveal a strong pattern for inequalities more churning during reallocation is associated with a permanent level efect towards increased Gini indexes.


Svejnar Jan, Tyrowicz Joanna, van der Velde Lucas Augusto
transition job creation job destruction worker flows unemployment

WP(18/2013)103. Polish high unemployment and spatial labor turnover. Insights from panel data analysis using unemployment registry data

Authors: Tyrowicz Joanna, Pastore Francesco
This paper uses the insights from the Optimal Speed of Transition literature to inquire the causes of relatively higher unemployment rate in a transition context. We study whether local variation in unemployment rates is related to labor turnover. In…

WP103. Polish high unemployment and spatial labor turnover. Insights from panel data analysis using unemployment registry data

This paper uses the insights from the Optimal Speed of Transition literature to inquire the causes of relatively higher unemployment rate in a transition context. We study whether local variation in unemployment rates is related to labor turnover. In addition, the paper aims to assess the relative impact of inflow and outflow from unemployment on the dynamics of the local unemployment rate. The empirical analysis is based on a newly available unique dataset from the employment registry of a transition economy (Poland), encompassing nine years of monthly data (from 2000 to 2008) at a county (poviat) level. We find that turnover, as well as inflows and outflows separately, are ceteris paribus positively related to the unemployment level. This general conclusion is robust to stratification, model specification as well as spatial effects. We find that elasticity is larger in the case of the inflow rate than for the outflow rate. Finally, we demonstrate that these effects are stronger in low unemployment regions.


Tyrowicz Joanna, Pastore Francesco
regional unemployment labor turnover panel data Poland

WP(4/2009)14. Nonlinear Stochastic Convergence Analysis of Regional Unemployment Rates in Poland

Authors: Tyrowicz Joanna, Wójcik Piotr
This paper analyses convergence of unemployment rates in Poland at NUTS4 level by testing nonlinear convergence, applying the modified KSS-CHLL for each pair of territorial units. The results suggest that actually the convergence is a rare phenomenon…

WP14. Nonlinear Stochastic Convergence Analysis of Regional Unemployment Rates in Poland

This paper analyses convergence of unemployment rates in Poland at NUTS4 level by testing nonlinear convergence, applying the modified KSS-CHLL for each pair of territorial units. The results suggest that actually the convergence is a rare phenomenon and occurs only in 1916 cases out of potential over 70 000 combinations. This paper inquires what systematic reasons contribute to this phenomenon.
There are some circumstances under which unemployment convergence should be more expected than in others. These include sharing a higher level territorial authority, experiencing similar labour market hardship or sharing the same structural characteristics. For each of these three criteria we analyse the frequency of the differential nonstationarity within groups (as evidence of convergence) and across groups (as evidence of "catching up").


Tyrowicz Joanna, Wójcik Piotr
nonlinear convergence stochastic convergence unemployment transition Poland

WP(/2008)7. Unemployment Convergence in Transition

Authors: Katrencik David, Tyrowicz Joanna, Wójcik Piotr
In this paper an attempt is made to inquire the dynamics of regional unemployment rates in transition economies. We use policy relevant NUTS4 unemployment rates for transition economies characterised by both relatively intense (Poland, Slovaka) and r…

WP7. Unemployment Convergence in Transition

In this paper an attempt is made to inquire the dynamics of regional unemployment rates in transition economies. We use policy relevant NUTS4 unemployment rates for transition economies characterised by both relatively intense (Poland, Slovaka) and relatively mild labour market hardships (namely Czech Republic). We apply diverse analytical techniques to seek traces of convergence, including beta - and sigma-convergence as well as time-series approach. Results in each of the countries suggest no support in favour of beta-type convergence, i.e. convergence of levels. Even controlling for nation-wide labour market outlooks (conditional convergence) does not provide any support to this hypothesis. Further, regions with both very high and very low unemployment show signs of high persistence and low mobility in the national distribution, while the middle ones tend to demonstrate higher mobility and essentially no regional unemployment differentials persistence. This diagnosis is confirmed by sigma-convergence analysis which indicates no general divergence or convergence patterns. Transitions seem to be more frequent, but at the same time less sustainable for middle range districts, while movements up and down the ladder occur frequently for the same districts. Findings allow to define the patterns of local labour market dynamics, pointing to differentiated divergence paths. Importantly, these tendencies persists despite cohesion policies financing schemes, which allocate relatively more resources to deprived regions in all these countries.


Katrencik David, Tyrowicz Joanna, Wójcik Piotr
unemployment beta-type convergence sigma-type convergence stochastic convergence social cohesion
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