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on Education |
| By: | Damon Clark (University of Florida and IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I consider the impact of attending a selective high school in the UK. Students are assigned to these schools on the basis of a test taken in primary school and, using data on these assignment test scores for a particular district, I exploit this rule to estimate the causal effects of selective schools on test scores, high school course taking and university enrollment. Despite the huge peer advantage enjoyed by selective school students, I show that four years of selective school attendance generates at best small effects on test scores. Selective schools do however have positive effects on course-taking and university enrollment, evidence suggesting they may have important longer run impacts. |
| Keywords: | selective schools, education, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | C21 I21 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3182&r=edu |
| By: | Joanne Lindley (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Keywords: | Education; over-education, earnings, immigrants, ethnic minorities |
| JEL: | J24 J7 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2007013&r=edu |
| By: | Thomas Cornelißen (Leibniz University Hannover); Christian Pfeifer (Leibniz University Hannover and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of exercising sports during childhood and adolescence on educational attainment. The theoretical framework is based on models of allocation of time and educational productivity. Using the rich information from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we apply generalized ordered probit models to estimate the effect of participation in sport activities on secondary school degrees and professional degrees. Even after controlling for important variables and selection into sport, we find strong evidence that the effect of sport on educational attainment is statistically significant and positive. |
| Keywords: | allocation of time, education, human capital, sport |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3160&r=edu |
| By: | Philip A. Trostel |
| Abstract: | This study quantifies one important part of the economic return to public investment in college education, namely, the fiscal benefits associated with greater college attainment. College graduates generally pay much more in taxes than those not going to college. Government expenditures are also generally much less for college graduates than for those without a college education. Indeed, over an average lifetime, total government spending per college degree is negative. That is, direct savings in post-college government expenditures are greater than government expenditures on higher education. Further, the direct extra tax revenues from college graduates alone are more than six times the gross government cost per college degree. Thus, in addition to the many other benefits from higher education, public financial support of college education pays for itself many times over. On average, government funding for higher education is a sound public investment, even if governments had no other reasons to promote and encourage college education and if the higher-education sector produced nothing but college-educated taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | Income tax ; Education - Economic aspects ; College graduates |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbcw:07-2&r=edu |
| By: | Vito Peragine (University of Bari); Laura Serlenga (University of Bari and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a definition of equality of educational opportunities. Then, it develops a comprehensive model that allows to test for the existence of equality of opportunity in a given distribution and to rank distributions according to equality of opportunity. Finally, it provides an empirical analysis of equality of opportunity for higher education in Italy. |
| Keywords: | equality of opportunity, higher education, stochastic dominance |
| JEL: | D63 I2 C14 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3163&r=edu |
| By: | Muhammad Akram (International Institute of Islamic Economics, International Islamic University, Islamabad.); Faheem Jehangir Khan (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad) |
| Abstract: | The study has been carried out to measure the incidence of government spending on education in Pakistan at the provincial (both rural and urban) level, using the primary data of the Pakistan Social Standard Living Measures Survey (PSLM), 2004-2005, and by employing the three-step Benefit Incidence Approach methodology. The paper reviews the national policies emphasising provision of education in Pakistan, as well as the trend in coverage and public sector spending on education facilities in Pakistan. The study examines the inequalities in resource distribution and service provision in relation to the government education expenditure. The rural areas of Pakistan are the more disadvantaged in the provision of the education facilities. Overall, the expenditure on the education sector is progressive, both at the regional and the provincial levels. However, variation exists in the shares of different income groups’ benefit from the provision of educational facilities created by public expenditure. |
| Keywords: | Education, Public Expenditure, Public Policy, Gini Coefficient, Concentration Coefficient, Benefit Incidence Approach |
| JEL: | H52 H53 I21 I22 I28 I38 O18 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2007:40&r=edu |
| By: | Sherrilyn M. Billger (Illinois State University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Increasing interest in voucher programs and privatizing public schools reveals a commonlyheld belief that private schools are better able to produce a quality education. While state and national standards do not directly affect these schools, their private control yields strong student performance. To contribute to the general discovery about private schools, I use SASS and Census data to investigate accountability and outcomes at private secondary schools, focusing on principals, student outcomes, and administrator effectiveness. I find that principals are not rewarded for facing accountability or for exercising autonomy. OLS and quantile regression results also suggest no direct benefit for strong students at high quality schools. However, accountability does improve student outcomes at the (conditionally) weakest schools. |
| Keywords: | principal pay, accountability, private schools |
| JEL: | J3 I2 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3162&r=edu |
| By: | Shapiro, Bradley |
| Abstract: | Ability tracking and class size have become two of the most hotly debated issues in education policy in the United States in recent years. Most current studies examine the effects of each policy in isolation. In this paper, I review the literature on class size, ability tracking, and school choice, and then make a case for separate classes of different sizes for students with different levels of ability. The proposal is designed as a compromise that could please many on all sides of the class size and ability tracking debates. A game theoretical analysis of the proposal shows that it produces a stable equilibrium when parents can move their children between classes of different sizes. |
| Keywords: | Educational Economics; Efficiency; Resource Allocation; School Choice |
| JEL: | I2 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5841&r=edu |
| By: | Lena Nekby (Stockholm University, SULCIS and IZA); Magnus Rödin (Stockholm University, SULCIS); Gülay Özcan (Stockholm University, SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the identity formation of a cohort of students with immigrant backgrounds in Sweden and the consequences of identity for subsequent educational attainment. Unique for this study is that identity is defined according to a two-dimensional acculturation framework based on both strength of identity to the (ethnic) minority and to the (Swedish) majority culture. Results indicate that integrated men are associated with significantly higher levels of education than assimilated men. No differences in educational attainment are found between the assimilated and the integrated for women. These results put into question the premise of oppositional identities, i.e., a trade-off between ethnic identity and educational achievement, among immigrants in Sweden. |
| Keywords: | ethnic identity, acculturation, ethnic minorities, education |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3172&r=edu |
| By: | Bridget Terry Long |
| Abstract: | The returns to college are substantial, including increased earnings and public benefits, such as better health and increased involvement in public service and giving. As a result, since the introduction of the Guaranteed Student Loan program in 1965 and the Pell Grant in 1972, the federal government has experimented with using financial aid to increase college access, choice, and affordability. ; Although years of research support the notion that financial aid can influence students' post-secondary decisions, questions remain about the best ways to design such programs and the relative effectiveness of different types of aid. Due to the fact that an overwhelming proportion of the research on financial aid focuses on grants, little is known about how a recent shift to loans has affected student access to higher education and their choice of institutions. Because loans are a much more complicated form of financial aid than grants, there is reason to suspect that their effectiveness differs from other aid. ; This paper attempts to provide additional information on the impact of loans on college decisions by focusing on the period during which college loans were made available to all families, regardless of financial need. The major shift in aid policy occurred due to the 1992 Higher Education Reauthorization Act (HEA92). By exploiting this 1992 policy change as a natural experiment, this paper examines the impact of introducing a student loan program on college enrollment and choice. The analysis uses the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) to detail how the number of students in college (e.g., the access question) and the amount of money spent on higher education and related expenses (e.g., the choice question or "how much" education was bought) changed after the policy change. |
| Keywords: | Student loans ; Education - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbcw:07-1&r=edu |
| By: | Adriaan Van Zon (Maastricht University); Roberto Antonietti (Università di Padova) |
| Abstract: | How does the rate at which firms adopt new technologies affect the level of education and training of a country’s workforce? If technological change makes knowledge obsolete and tends to foster general rather than firm-specific skills, what would be the optimum level of education spending in front of a faster arrival of new technologies? This paper tries to answer these questions by developing an endogenous growth model with creative ’wear and tear’ in which general education enhances innovation through R&D and lowers adjustment costs to new technologies, while on-the-job training is necessary for firms to realise their profit potentials by implementing the new technologies and reap all the related future quasi-rents. The paper reproduces some stylized facts on the technology-training relationship and shows how the optimum amount of time devoted to education and job training is affected by the rate of technical change itself. In particular, we find that a faster arrival of innovations shifts the private knowledge portfolio towards general human capital. We also find that households tend to under invest in education, thus leading to lower growth rates than technically feasible, and higher training costs than absolutely necessary. This suggests that there is room for education policy reducing private education fees. |
| Keywords: | education, on-the-job training, R&D, schooling, technology, wear-and-tear |
| JEL: | I22 J24 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pad:wpaper:0057&r=edu |
| By: | Das, Maitreyi Bordia; Blunch, Niels-Hugo |
| Abstract: | Using a recent household survey for two cohorts of married women, this paper examines norms about gender equality in education for children and adults. Among the main findings are that gender education gap norms have changed: younger generations of women are more positive about female vs. male education, both as pertaining to child and adult education outcomes. Perhaps the strongest result is that Bangladeshi women are more likely to espouse attitudes of gender equalit y in education for their children and less so about gender equality among spouses. It is also easier to explain norms regarding children ' s education and more difficult to explain norms about equality in marriages. The authors believe that question on relative education of boys and girls captures the value of education per se, while the question on educational equality in marriage captures the norms regarding marriage and the relative worth of husbands and wives. The effect of education in determining norms is significant though complex, and spans own and spousal education, as well as that of older females in the household. This indicates sharing of education norms effects or externalities arising from spousal education in the production of gender education gap norms within marriage as well as arising from the presence of older educated females in the household. Lastly, the authors also find associations between gender education gap norms and household poverty, information processing and religion, though the evidence here is more mixed. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Development,Population Policies,Primary Education,Gender and Law,Access & Equity in Basic Education |
| Date: | 2007–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4404&r=edu |
| By: | Lilla, Marco (Università Politecnica delle Marche) |
| Abstract: | The paper attempts to measure income inequality and its changes over the period 1993-2000 for a set of 13 Countries in ECHP. Focusing on wages and incomes of workers in general, inequality is mainly analyzed with respect to educational levels as proxy of individual abilities. Estimation of education premia is performed by quantile regressions to stress differences in income distribution and questioning the true impact of education. The same estimates are used to decompose income inequality and show the rise in residual inequality. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Education Premium ; Quantile Regression |
| JEL: | D31 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2007-11&r=edu |
| By: | Maria Knoth Humlum (University of Aarhus); Kristin J. Kleinjans (University of Aarhus); Helena Skyt Nielsen (University of Aarhus and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Standard economic models which focus on pecuniary payoffs cannot explain why there are highly able individuals who choose careers with low pecuniary returns. Therefore, financial incentives are unlikely to be effective in influencing career choices of these individuals. Based on Akerlof and Kranton (2000), we consider a model of career choice and identity where individuals derive non-pecuniary identity payoffs. Using factor analysis on a range of attitude questions, we find two factors related to identity (career orientation and social orientation), which are important for educational choices. The implication is that policymakers and institutions of higher education need to focus on identity related issues rather than just improved financial incentives if they aim at attracting the high ability youth to occupations with excess demand for labor. |
| Keywords: | career choice, choice of higher education, identity, self-image |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3120&r=edu |
| By: | Joshua Angrist (MIT, NBER and IZA); Daniel Lang (University of Toronto); Philip Oreopoulos (University of Toronto and NBER) |
| Abstract: | Many North American college students have trouble satisfying degree requirements in a timely manner. This paper reports on a randomized field experiment involving two strategies designed to improve academic performance among entering full-time undergraduates at a large Canadian university. One treatment group ("services") was offered peer advising and organized study groups. Another ("incentives") was offered substantial merit-scholarships for solid, but not necessarily top, first year grades. A third treatment group combined both interventions. Service take-up rates were much higher for women than for men and for students offered both services and incentives than for those offered services alone. No program had an effect on men’s grades or other measures of academic performance. However, the Fall and first-year grades of women in the combined group were significantly higher than those of women in the control group, and women in this group earned more course credits and were less likely than controls to be on academic probation. These differentials persisted through the end of the second year, in spite of the fact that incentives were given in the first year only. The results suggest that the study skills acquired in response to a combination of services and incentives can have a lasting effect, and that the combination of services and incentives is more promising than either alone. |
| Keywords: | post-secondary schooling, dropout, randomized trials |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3134&r=edu |
| By: | Alejandra Cattaneo (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich); Stefan C. Wolter (Institute of Economics, University of Berne) |
| Abstract: | Empirical research has given cause to fear that the demographic ageing in industrialized countries is likely to exert a negative impact on educational spending. These papers have linked the share of the elderly with the per capita or per pupil spending on education at the local, state-wide or national level, trying to control for other exogenous effects. Although this line of research shows in many cases a negative correlation between the shares of elderly people and educational expenditures, a causal link is difficult to prove. This paper uses a unique and representative survey of Swiss voters of all age groups. The analysis shows that elderly people present a clear tendency to be less willing to spend money on education. They would rather prefer to spend public resources on health and social security than on education. Furthermore the paper shows that much of the negative correlation between the shares of elderly and educational spending is the result of the elderly being politically more conservative and in general less inclined to pay for expenditures in the public sector as a whole. |
| Keywords: | public finance, education finance, demographics, survey, Switzerland |
| JEL: | H52 H72 I22 J18 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0003&r=edu |
| By: | Jocelyn A. Lehrer (University of California, San Francisco); Vivian L. Lehrer (Urban Justice Center); Evelyn L. Lehrer (University of Illinois at Chicago and IZA); Pamela Oyarzun (University of Chile) |
| Abstract: | Young women's experiences of sexual victimization can have far-reaching consequences, including unwanted pregnancy and increased risk of psychological, sexual, and reproductive health difficulties; these experiences can also limit young women's ability to achieve their educational potential. To date, no quantitative studies have examined sexual violence among college students in Chile. To address this gap, an anonymous survey was administered to students enrolled in General Education courses at a major public university in Santiago (n=455 female students). Rape, attempted rape, and other types of sexual victimization were reported by 9.4%, 6.2%, and 15.6% of respondents, respectively, as the most severe event experienced since age 14; 17.2% reported some form of sexual victimization in the past 12 months alone. Estimates based on ordered logit models show that low parental education, childhood sexual abuse, and witnessing inter-parental violence are associated with increased odds of sexual victimization since age 14; attendance to religious services and living with the parents while attending college have protective effects. The findings indicate a need to further investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for sexual violence in Chilean college students, and to begin to develop and evaluate theory-based programs to prevent and respond to this public health concern. |
| Keywords: | sexual victimization, gender based violence |
| JEL: | J4 J16 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3133&r=edu |
| By: | Akita, Takahiro; Miyata, Sachiko |
| Abstract: | "This paper considers urban-rural location and education as the main causes of expenditure inequality and attempts to examine inequality changes associated with urbanization and educational expansion in Indonesia from 1996 to 2002, using Indonesian monthly household consumption expenditure data. It introduces a hierarchical framework of inequality decomposition by population subgroups, which enables researchers to analyze inequality resulting from differences in educational attainment as well as inequality within each educational group, after the effects on inequality of urban–rural differences in the composition of educational attainments are removed. It finds that the urban sector's higher educational group contributes significantly to overall inequality. Inequality within the group increased significantly once Indonesia recovered from the financial crisis of 1998. This, together with educational expansion in urban areas, led to a conspicuous rise in urban inequality. Overall expenditure inequality has increased markedly, due not only to the rise in urban inequality but also a widening urban-rural disparity, accompanied by a population shift from the rural to the urban sector. Since more people will obtain higher education as the economy continues to develop, and more jobs requiring specialized skills become available in urban areas, urban inequality is likely to remain high. In order to mitigate urban inequality and thus overall inequality, the government needs to introduce policies that could reduce inequality among households whose heads have a tertiary education." from Authors' Abstract |
| Keywords: | Expenditure inequality, Urbanization, Educational expansion, Theil index, Two-stage nested inequality decomposition analysis, |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:00728&r=edu |
| By: | Arnaud Dupuy (ROA, Maastricht University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a general equilibrium assignment model of workers to tasks with endogenous human capital formation and multidimensionality of skills. The model has 2 key features. First, skills are endogenous and multidimensional. Second, two types of assignment occur, workers self-select their education and firms assign workers to tasks/machines. This assignment model yields two functions mapping skills of each type to tasks. Equilibrium is characterized by different wage functions for each type of skills, so that the wage distributions generally overlap. This model offers a unique framework to analyze changes in the wage structure within and between skills groups of workers and distinguishes between technological change that is related to machines (the technical factor) or related to workers (the human factor). I show both theoretically and through simulations that the model can reproduce simultaneously i) the overlap in the wage distributions of college and high-school graduates, ii) the rise in the college-premium, iii) the rise in within wage inequality iv) the differential behavior of the between and within wage inequality in the 60s and 70s and, v) the decline of the wage at the first decile of the overall wage distribution. A family of closed form solutions for the wage functions is proposed. In this family, the output of worker-task pairs is Cobb-Douglas, tasks are distributed according to a Beta distribution and the mapping functions have a logistic form. |
| Keywords: | endogenous human capital formation, tasks assignment, substitution, technical change and wage distribution |
| JEL: | D3 J21 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3154&r=edu |
| By: | Mario Calderini (DISPEA, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, Italy.); Chiara Franzoni (DISPEA, Polytechnic of Turin, Turin, Italy.); Andrea Vezzulli (CESPRI, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | We analyzed the scientific productivity of a sample of academic scientists that contribute to the field of Materials Science in the post-patenting period, by means of several econometric techniques suitable to treat unobserved heterogeneity, excess zeros and incidental truncation. Although patents do not alter the track of publications in the overall sample, we show this effect to be generated by two opposite effects: Materials Engineers increase their publications after patenting, whereas Materials Chemists experience a decrease. Besides, Materials Engineers who were academic inventors have a higher impact factor than their non-inventors colleagues, although the positive effect tends to vanish both for very basic publications and for serial inventions. Finally, a clearly negative effect is registered when we consider only very basic publications made by Materials Chemists. We interpret our findings as depending on different epistemologies of scientific and engineering research and discuss the implications for both university managers and policy makers. |
| Keywords: | Academic Patenting, Science and Engineering Research, Technology Transfer, Science Policy, University Management. |
| JEL: | O31 O33 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cri:cespri:wp203&r=edu |
| By: | Philippe Aghion (Harvard University); Philippe Askenazy (Paris School of Economics and IZA); Renaud Bourlès (Université de la Méditerranée (GREQAM)); Gilbert Cette (Banque de France (DAMEP) and Université de la Méditerranée (CEDERS)); Nicolas Dromel (CREST-INSEE and Université Cergy-Pontoise (THEMA)) |
| Abstract: | This note investigates the effects of the education level, product market rigidities and employment protection legislation on growth. It exploits macro-panel data for OECD countries. For countries close to the technological frontier, education and rigidities are significantly related to TFP growth. The contribution of the interaction between product market regulation and labour market rigidity seems particularly substantial. |
| Keywords: | productivity, growth, regulations, market rigidities, education |
| JEL: | O47 J24 J68 L40 O57 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3166&r=edu |
| By: | Donata Bessey (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents first empirical evidence on international student migration to Germany. I use a novel approach that analyzes student mobility using an augmented gravity equation and find evidence of strong network effects and of the importance of distance - results familiar from the empirical migration literature. However, the importance of disposable income in the home country does not seem to be too big for students, while the fact of being a politically unfree country decreases migration flows significantly. I also provide extensive sensitivity checks and estimates using both the usual log-linearized and a multiplicative specification. The results are quite stable. |
| Keywords: | Globalization of higher education, international migration, gravity equation |
| JEL: | F I |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0006&r=edu |
| By: | René N. Nielsen |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes with two new findings to the literature on how universities contribute to industrial development. First, it argues and substantiates quantitatively through logistic regression models that introduction of academically skilled graduates in small, know-how-based firms can be instrumental in spurring innovation and upgrading changes in the firms. Second, it argues and substantiates quantitatively that it is not just graduates with technical and natural scientific qualifications that can contribute positively. Graduates with other academic qualifications also hold potential for innovation and upgrading changes in the firms, especially when it comes to major organisational changes. Qua these findings the paper contributes to the literature in two ways. It is a contribution to and substantiation of the ‘broader’ view arguing that universities contribute to industrial development with more than directly applicable information and technologies. And, academically skilled graduates are not only relevant in technological R&D departments of science-based firms. |
| Keywords: | Science; Academic research; Skilled graduates; Innovation; Technological change; Organisational change |
| JEL: | D83 I23 J24 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:07-21&r=edu |
| By: | Montizaan Raymond; Coervers Frank; Grip Andries de (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze how retirement behavior is affected by a worker’s firm-specific or general training history. Using US data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men and controlling for the effects of technological change and workers’ retirement preferences, we find that workers with a firm-specific training history retire earlier than workers with a general training background. This indicates that shared investments in firm-specific training are embedded in upward sloping earning profiles that create productivity-wage differentials for older workers. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2007002&r=edu |
| By: | Stepán Jurajda (CERGE-EI, CEPR and IZA); Katherine Terrell (University of Michigan, CEPR and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Differences in regional unemployment in post-communist economies are large and persistent. We show that inherited variation in human-capital endowment across the regions of four such economies explains the bulk of regional unemployment variation there and we explore potential explanations for this outcome through related capital and labor mobility patterns. The evidence suggests that regions with high inherited skill endowments attract skilled workers as well as FDI. This mobility pattern, which helps explain the lack of convergence in regional unemployment rates, is consistent with the presence of complementarities in skill and capital. Nevertheless, we find no supporting evidence of human capital wage spillovers implied by the complementarities story. Unemployment of the least-skilled workers appears lower in areas with a higher share of college-educated labor and future research is needed to see if this finding as well as the observed migration pattern arise from different adjustments to regional shocks by education level brought about in part by Central European labor-market institutions, such as guaranteed welfare income raising effective minimum wages. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, human capital, regional labor markets, transition economies, labor mobility, complementarities, spillovers, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine |
| JEL: | E24 J0 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3176&r=edu |
| By: | Carmen Pagés (Inter-American Development Bank and IZA); Marco Stampini (Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses labor market segmentation across formal and informal salaried jobs and self-employment in three Latin American and three transition countries. It looks separately at the markets for skilled and unskilled labor, inquiring if segmentation is an exclusive feature of the latter. Longitudinal data are used to assess wage differentials and mobility patterns across jobs. To study mobility, the paper compares observed transitions with a new benchmark measure of mobility under the assumption of no segmentation. It finds evidence of a formal wage premium relative to informal salaried jobs in the three Latin American countries, but not in transition economies. It also finds evidence of extensive mobility across these two types of jobs in all countries, particularly from informal salaried to formal jobs. These patterns are suggestive of a preference for formal over informal salaried jobs in all countries. In contrast, there is little mobility between self-employment and formal salaried jobs, suggesting the existence of barriers to this type of mobility or a strong assortative matching according to workers’ individual preferences. Lastly, for both wage differentials and mobility, there is no statistical difference across skill levels, indicating that the markets for skilled and unskilled labor are similarly affected by segmentation. |
| Keywords: | labor mobility, segmentation, barriers to entry, skills, informality, Latin America, transition economies |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3187&r=edu |
| By: | Dan Li (Indiana University, EUA); Manuel Portugal Ferreira (Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal); Fernando Serra (UNISUL Business School, Brasil) |
| Abstract: | Much theory and research that seeks to explain why and how technology transfers occur within multinational enterprises (MNEs) actually addresses the question of how these transfers occur among cooperative subsidiaries, and relies on the assumption of inter-subsidiary cooperation. However, subsidiaries do not always cooperate. We suggest that the success of technology transfer among subsidiaries depends on the extent to which the relationships among an MNE's subsidiaries (i.e. inter-subsidiary) are competitive or cooperative. Inter-subsidiary cooperation is determined by the MNE's international strategy, organizational structure, and the social relationships among subsidiaries. Both hierarchical and social relational factors drive the potential for inter-subsidiary multimarket competition that originates from the overlap on the subsidiaries' products, technologies, and market portfolios. |
| Keywords: | technology transfer, subsidiaries, competition and cooperation, international strategy |
| JEL: | M1 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pil:wpaper:1&r=edu |