CAGE Working Papers November 2025
CAGE Working Papers November 2025
Friday 28 Nov 2025CAGE research papers draw on our global academic network of research associates and address topics aligned to our four core themes.
Contact cage.centre@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window for more information on submitting research to our working paper series or to be added to our mailing list.
783 Division of Labor in the Global EconomyLink opens in a new window
Authors: Sascha O. Becker, Hartmut Egger, Michael Koch, Marc-Andreas Muendler
Theme: Global Economic History
Summary: This paper examines how globalization shapes worker efficiency and wage inequality through internal labor market organization. Using German plant–worker data, it shows that larger plants employ more occupations, assign fewer tasks per occupation, and display greater wage dispersion. A model in which plants bundle tasks to improve worker–task matching predicts that trade raises efficiency and inequality in exporting plants but lowers both in non-exporters. Structural estimation and simulations support these non-monotonic, economy-wide effects.
782 AI Images, Labels and News DemandLink opens in a new window
Authors: Maja Adena, Eleonora Alabrese, Francesco Capozza, Isabelle Leader
Theme: Designing and Building Institutions
Summary: This paper examines how AI-generated news images influence audience demand and trust using a pre-registered experiment with 2,870 UK adults. Participants viewed the same article paired with either a real wire photo or a matched AI image, with or without labels. Average demand changes little, but beliefs matter: thinking an image is AI - even when authentic - reduces demand and perceived outlet quality by about 10 percentage points. Labels slightly mitigate penalties yet fail to correct widespread misattribution.
Authors: Alexander Bertermann, Wolfgang Dauth, Jens Suedekum, and Ludger Woessmann
Theme: Responsive Public Policy
Summary: This paper examines how firms and workers adjust to trade and technology shocks, focusing on training and early retirement as overlooked mechanisms. Using new data from German local labor markets combined with measures of import competition and robot adoption, the study finds that trade shocks reduce training—especially in manufacturing—while robot exposure increases training, particularly in related services. Both shocks raise early retirement among manufacturing workers. The results show that structural change triggers both productivity-enhancing and productivity-reducing responses, underscoring the need for supportive adjustment policies.
780 Gender and Religion: A SurveyLink opens in a new window
Authors: Sascha O. Becker, Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, Chun Chee Kok
Theme: Global Economic History
Summary: This paper surveys research on gender differences in religiosity and the effects of religion on gender-related economic and social outcomes. It first reviews leading explanations for why women are more religious than men, then examines how individual religiosity and denominational identity shape norms, education, labor participation, fertility, health, and legal institutions. Synthesizing causal and correlational evidence, the survey finds that religion often reinforces traditional gender roles, while some reforms shift outcomes. It highlights data, methods, gaps, and priorities for future research.
779 Industrialization and the return to labor: Evidence from PrussiaLink opens in a new window
Authors: Ann-Kristin Becker, Erik Hornung
Theme: Global Economic History
Summary: This paper examines how coal-driven industrialization affected unskilled labor incomes in Prussia using panel wage data from 667 localities between 1800 and 1879, extended to 1914. Leveraging spatial variation in coal proximity, the study shows that wage gains in coal-rich areas emerged after the 1850s and continued through WWI. Household accounts reveal that benefits were concentrated among low-skilled workers, reducing wage inequality. Mediation analysis indicates that technology adoption and rising demand for unskilled labor drove these gains.
Authors: Aniket Baksy, Daniel Chandler, Peter John Lambert
Theme: Designing and Building Institutions
Summary: This paper examines how two major automation technologies - CNC machine tools and industrial robots - affect employment using a proprietary survey of UK manufacturing sites. It documents the rising adoption of both technologies across industries from 2005 to 2023. Using a local-projection difference-in-differences design, the study shows that first-time adopters increase employment by 6–9 percent. Automation also raises employment at competitor plants, yielding a positive overall impact on industry-wide employment.
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