Are Public Sector Workers Different? Cross-European Evidence from Elderly Workers and Retirees

Mirco Tonin and Michael Vlassopoulos

No 5156, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We investigate whether public and private sector employees differ in terms of public service motivation using a representative sample of elderly workers from 12 European countries. We find that public sector workers, both those currently employed and those already retired, are significantly more prosocial; however, the difference in prosociality is explained by differences in the composition of the workforce across the two sectors, in terms of (former) workers’ education and occupation. We also investigate other dimensions and find no differences in terms of trust, while there is evidence of some differences in risk aversion, political preferences, life and job satisfaction.

Keywords: public sector; public service motivation; risk aversion; trust; life satisfaction; volunteering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 H83 J45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Are public sector workers different? Cross-European evidence from elderly workers and retirees (2015)
Working Paper: Are Public Sector Workers Different? Cross-European Evidence from Elderly Workers and Retirees (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5156

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