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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Anne Busch; Elke Holst |
| Abstract: | The study analyses the gender pay gap in private-sector management positions in Germany based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) for the years 2001-2008. It focuses in particular on gender segregation in the labor market, that is, on the unequal distribution of women and men across different occupations and on the effects of this inequality on earnings levels and gender wage differentials in management positions. Our paper is, to our knowledge, the first in Germany to use time-constant unobserved heterogeneity and gender-specific promotion probabilities to estimate wages and wage differentials for persons in managerial positions. The results of the fixed effects model show that working in a more "female" job, as opposed to a more "male" job, affects only women's wages negatively. This result remains stable after controlling for human capital endowments and other effects. Mechanisms of the devaluation of jobs not primarily held by men also negatively affect pay in management positions (evaluative discrimination) and are even more severe for women (allocative discrimination). However, the effect is not linear; the wage penalties for women occur only in "integrated" (more equally male/female) jobs as opposed to typically male jobs, and not in typically female jobs. The devaluation of occupations that are not primarily held by men becomes even more evident when promotion probabilities are taken into account. An Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition of the wage differential between men and women in management positions shows that the full model explains 65 percent of the gender pay gap. In other words: Thirty-five percent remain unexplained; this portion reflects, for example, time-varying social and cultural conditions, such as discriminatory policies and practices in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Gender pay gap, managerial positions, gender segregation, glass-ceiling effects, Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition, fixed effects, selection bias |
| JEL: | J31 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1101&r=hme |
| By: | Eileen Trzcinski; Elke Holst |
| Abstract: | This study used data from the German Socio-economic Panel to examine gender differences in the extent to which self-reported subjective well-being was associated with occupying a high-level managerial position in the labour market, compared with employment in non-leadership, non-high-level managerial positions, unemployment, and non-labour market participation. Our results indicated that a clear hierarchy exists for men in term of how status within the labour market was associated with subjective life satisfaction. Unemployed men were the least satisfied, followed by men who were not in the labour market, while men in leadership positions reported the highest level of subjective life satisfaction. For women, no statistically significant differences were observed among women in high-level managerial positions, women who worked in non-high-level positions, and women who specialized in household production, with no market work. Only women who were unemployed reported lower levels of life satisfaction, compared with women in other labour-market statuses. Our results lend evidence to the contention that men can "have it all", but women must still choose between career and family in Germany. We argue that interventions need to address how the non-pecuniary rewards associated with high-level managerial and leadership positions can be increased for women. Such policies would also likely serve to mitigate the "pipeline" problem concerning the number of women who are available to move into high positions in the private sector. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp356&r=hme |
| By: | Marie-Agnès Barrère-Maurisson (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay (TELUQ - Télé-Université - Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)) |
| Abstract: | La recherche avait pour objectif d'analyser le rôle des acteurs sociaux, en France et au Québec, dans la gouvernance de la conciliation. Au terme de la recherche, nous proposons la piste d'une stratégie renouvelée autour de la notion de flexi-sécurité, dans une acception nouvelle et élargie. Ainsi, tandis que la flex-sécurité de l'emploi vise à protéger les personnes malgré des structures de plus en plus flexibles, on peut penser que la "flexi-sécurité familiale" pourrait s'attacher à protéger la parentalité et les solidarités familiales dans un contexte d'évolutions fortes concernant les structures de la vie en famille. Ainsi, gouvernance et gouvernements seraient amenés à se conjuger afin de promouvoir la participation harmonisée de tous les acteurs et à tous les niveaux, que ce soit dans la sphère du travail ou celle de la famille. |
| Keywords: | Travail/famille, régulation sociale, comparaison internationale, gouvernance/gouvernement, acteurs sociaux. |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00560369&r=hme |
| By: | Kassenböhmer, Sonja C. (RWI); Schmidt, Christoph M. (RWI) |
| Abstract: | Recently, building on the highly polarizing Stiglitz report, a growing literature suggests that statistical offices and applied researchers explore other aspects of human welfare apart from material well-being, such as job security, crime, health, environmental factors and subjective perceptions. To explore the additional information of these indicators, we analyze data on the macro level from the German Federal Statistical Office combined with micro level data from the German SOEP (1991-2008) on the personal work situation and subjective feelings concerning several aspects of life. Employing the indicators suggested by the Stiglitz Report, we find that much of the variation in many well-being measures can indeed be captured well by the hard economic indicators as used in the literature, especially by GDP and the unemployment rate. This suggests that the hard indicators are still a reasonable and quite robust gauge of well-being of a country. And yet, we also see that these correlations are far from perfect, thus giving considerable hope that there is room for a broader statistical reporting. |
| Keywords: | Stiglitz Commission, Stiglitz Report, Beyond GDP, welfare measurement, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | D6 I3 E01 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5453&r=hme |
| By: | Hector Perez-Saiz |
| Abstract: | In many industries, firms usually have two choices when expanding into new markets: They can either build a new plant (greenfield entry) or they can acquire an existing incumbent. In the U.S. cement industry, the comparative advantage (e.g., TFP or size) of entrants versus incumbents and regulatory entry barriers are important factors that determine the means of expansion. Using a rich database of the U.S. Census of Manufactures (1963-2002), an entry game is proposed to model this decision and estimate the supply and demand primitives to determine the importance of these factors. Two policies that affect the entry behavior and industry equilibrium are considered: An asymmetric environmental policy that creates barriers to greenfield entry and a policy that creates barriers to entry by acquisition. In the counterfactual analysis it is found that a less favorable environment for acquisitions during the Reagan-Bush administration would decrease the acquired plants by 90% and increase greenfield entry by 21%. Also, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 increased the number of acquisitions by 3.5%. Furthermore, my simulations suggest that regulations that create barriers to greenfield entry are less favorable in terms of welfare than regulations that create barriers to entry by acquisition. Finally, it is shown how the parameter estimates change with the traditional approach in the entry literature where entry by acquisition is not considered, and when using a simple OLS estimation. |
| Keywords: | Productivity; Market structure and pricing; Econometric and statistical methods |
| JEL: | L13 L40 L61 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:11-1&r=hme |
| By: | Bos Jaap W.B.; Ling Chan Yee; Kolari James W; Yuan Jiang (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | Empirical literature and related legal practice using concentration as a proxy for competition measurement are prone to a fallacy of division, as concentration measures are appropriate for perfect competition and perfect collusion but not intermediate levels of competition. Extending the classic Cournot-type competition model of Cowling and Waterson (1976) and Cowling (1976) used to derive the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI) of market concentration, we propose an adaptation of this model that allows collusive rents for all, none, or some of the firms in a market. Application of our model and new critical mass measures to data for U.S. commercial banks in the period 1984-2004 confirms that concentration measures are unreliable competition metrics. Our results lead us to conclude that critical mass is a promising new market power metric for competition analyses. Policy and future research implications are briefly discussed. |
| Keywords: | microeconomics ; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2010063&r=hme |
| By: | Risse, Mathias (Harvard Kennedy School) |
| Abstract: | Increasing political and economic interconnectedness draws much philosophical attention to the question of the conditions under which such stringent claims arise. Do claims of justice arise only among those who share membership in a state? Alternatively, do they arise among all those who are jointly subject to the global political and economic order? Or do they apply among all human beings simply because they are human? Inquiries into global justice differ from those into international justice precisely by not limiting inquiry to what states should do. They may well also question the very moral acceptability of states, and explore alternative arrangements. This article surveys the recent philosophical debate on global justice. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp11-001&r=hme |
| By: | Heise, Arne |
| Abstract: | -- |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:uhhafs:36&r=hme |
| By: | Juan Pablo Painceira |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rmf:dpaper:17&r=hme |
| By: | Alfredo Marvão Pereira (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary); Jorge M. Andraz (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve) |
| Abstract: | The empirical results in this note are based on state-level VAR estimates using private output, employment, and investment, as well as different measures of highway investment to capture, for each state, both the direct effects of highway investment in the state itself and spillover effects of highway investment in other states. Empirical results suggest that the largest states tend to also be the biggest beneficiaries of highway investments which means that highway investment has not only contributed to regional concentration of economic activity in the country but has done so in many of the largest states thereby contributing to regional asymmetries in the country. |
| Date: | 2011–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:107&r=hme |
| By: | Anca Gheorghiu; Ion Spanulescu; Anda Gheorghiu |
| Abstract: | In this paper will be applied some principles and methods from econophysics in the case of the direct foreign investitions (D.F.I.), particularised for the Greenfield type, and mixed firms of trade and industrial production (Joint Ventures). To this aim will be used some similarities and parallelisms between the mentioned economic domains and some phenomena and processes from physics, especially from thermodynamics, solid state physics (the grow of crystals and thin policrystalline layers etc.), electromagnetism etc. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1101.4675&r=hme |
| By: | Ion Spanulescu; Ion Popescu; Victor Stoica; Anca Gheorghiu; Victor Velter |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present an econophysic model for the description of shares transactions in a capital market. For introducing the fundamentals of this model we used an analogy between the electrical field produced by a system of charges and the overall of economic and financial information of the shares transactions from the stock-markets. An energetic approach of the rate variation for the shares traded on the financial markets was proposed and studied. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1101.4680&r=hme |
| By: | Marco, Passarella; Hervé, Baron |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to supply both a description and an interpretation-key of the recent developments in the Austrian Economics, with particular attention for the role played by the concept of «entrepreneurial discovery». Without knowing exactly «what» he is looking for and without using a particular research method, the Austrian entre-preneur, like a modern buccaneer, peers at the horizon, waiting for new money profit opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Austrian Economics; Entrepreneurial Discovery Approach; Methodological Individualism |
| JEL: | D21 D81 D41 B53 B25 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28505&r=hme |
| By: | Nawar, Hashem |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I examine the relationship between industry concentration and the cross-section of stock returns in the London Stock Exchange between 1985 and 2010. Using Multifactor asset pricing theory, I test whether industry concentration is a new asset pricing factor in addition to conventional risk factors such as beta, firm size, book-to-market ratio, momentum, and leverage. I find that industry concentration is negatively related to the expected stock returns in all Fama and MacBeth cross-sectional regressions. In addition, the negative relationship between industry concentration and expected stock returns remain significantly negative after beta, size, book-to-market, momentum, and leverage are included, while beta is never significant. The results are robust to firm- and industry-level regressions and the formation of firms into 100 size-beta portfolios. The findings indicate that competitive industries earn, on average, higher risk-adjusted returns compared to concentrated industries which is consistent with Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction. |
| Keywords: | Industry concentration; Stock returns; Multifactor asset pricing theory; Competitive industries; Concentrated industries; Creative destruction; London Stock Exchange |
| JEL: | G1 G12 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28440&r=hme |
| By: | Baafi Antwi, Joseph |
| Abstract: | The issue of Western guilt has enjoyed much attention after the independence of most colonized countries in the Third World (developing countries). Western guilt is defined here as the feeling that the West (developed countries) is responsible for the poverty of the Third World. For sometimes now, both the West and the developing countries have had some kind of agreement on the subject. But there has been an emergence of a new ideology championed mainly by Peter Bauer who has argued sternly against Western guilt. This ideology has caused many to sit up to reconsider the subject. The main of this paper is to provide the final verdict on this issue and bring the subject to a close. To do this, the paper identified four main factors of the proponents of Western guilt which includes Colonialism, Neo-colonialism, Slave trade and Trade Barriers. Part one of this work argued in favour of Western guilt using these four thematic areas. It was concluded that the West have been a major contributor of Third World poverty. Part two of this work will consider the otherwise of the situation and a verdict will be provided. |
| Keywords: | Western Guilt; Third World Countries; West; Development |
| JEL: | F02 |
| Date: | 2011–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28422&r=hme |
| By: | Ruiz-Porras, Antonio; Lopez-Mateo, Celina |
| Abstract: | We study how competition and corporate governance may explain investment decisions of Mexican manufacturing firms. We develop the study with indexes of market concentration and agency costs and OLS regressions. The analysis uses longitudinal census data. Our results suggest that investment is better explained by the Dominance Index, a Mexican measure of concentration, than by the Herfindahl-Hirschman one. They also suggest that agency costs (proxy for the degree of separation of ownership and control), and market competition may encourage investment decisions. Furthermore they suggest an inverse relationship between market competition and agency costs. We believe that our findings support the hypothesis that competition may be an alternative mechanism to encourage corporate practices in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | Corporate governance; competition; investment; Mexico; manufacturing; economic development |
| JEL: | G34 O16 L22 L60 |
| Date: | 2011–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28452&r=hme |
| By: | Hanappi, Hardy |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how the visions of a future global political economy might shape its actual emergence. The emergence of powerful visions themselves seems to follow a pattern of discrete steps in historical time; it follows a beat of emancipation. In Europe the fundamental note was provided by the vision of enlightenment after the Dark Ages, which were kept in an ideological stalemate by religions. The beat of Luther’s early protestant secularization, Smith’s paleo-liberalism, Marx’ communism, micro-theological marginalism (Walras, Menger, Jevons), and Keynes’ collection of singular outposts of a more global design – this succession of forceful visions enabled and accompanied the explosion of population, output, and thus of possible visions of the last 60 years. Indeed the most terrible drawback of the 20th century, Hitler’s 3rd Reich, was explicitly based on a vision too: It envisaged 1000 years of dominance of the Arian race. But Hitler failed, and a new step of emancipative evolution could start to unfold. After the bi-polar visions of the bi-polar US-SU world collapsed in 1990, the last 20 years were characterized by an accelerating divergence of contradictions between visions and realities they address. The dominating vision - a footloose, privately accumulating (i.e. capitalist) entity growing in a crudely specified market environment – rather produced less social glue, less integration. And that contradicted the enormously refined, increasing interdependence of socio-economic relations within and across all social strata. The current crisis indicates that the next discrete step towards a common consciousness, anticipated by common visions, knocks at the door. The paper highlights features of this next beat of visions, which are already visible. To name a few examples: • Take the essential features of large scale financial institutions back into the realm of democratically legitimized politics. • Design the proper places for well-specified (different) market-mechanism to do their job as scarcity indicating devices rather than to be misused as dubious element of an even more dubious religion. • Invent and implement advanced bureaucracy control mechanisms that meet the challenges of global administration. In the conclusion the dangers of constructing such a large ship at sea are discussed. The threat of fascist visions conquering considerable parts of populations is eminent – in a sense the forces of WW2 have not disappeared yet. So while the positive and creative side of vision building has to be expanded, the same intellectual project also has to defend what historically has already been achieved – to avoid the barbarism of ‘tabula rasa’, fascist visions. |
| Keywords: | Vision; global political economy; Europe |
| JEL: | O1 P00 N00 |
| Date: | 2010–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28398&r=hme |