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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Isaac Ehrlich; William A. Hamlen Jr.; Yong Yin |
| Abstract: | Risky-asset prices are conventionally modeled as "fully (information-) revealing". Much less work has been done on how prices get to reveal information. Following the "noisy-prices", rational-expectations approach, our answer focuses on the micro-foundations of information acquisition and the role of human capital in asset, or risk, management. We derive testable propositions on how education and other determinants of asset management affect its intensity, risky-asset demand, and portfolio returns. We derive related insights concerning determinants of the level and volatility of asset prices and equity premiums. Using micro-level data on portfolio choices, we find that education raises both the portfolio share of risky assets and overall portfolio returns, while a measure of the opportunity cost of asset management has the opposite effects. Our results indicate a non-trivial return to education in generating non-wage income. They suggest that educational attainments directly affect the distribution of income as well as earnings. |
| JEL: | G00 G11 G12 I0 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14340&r=hrm |
| By: | Pierre Lefebvre; Philip Merrigan; Matthieu Verstraete |
| Abstract: | This paper tries to disentangle the relative importance of family and school inputs on a child's cognitive achievement as measured by her percentile score on a mathematics test. We replicate a study by Todd and Wolpin (2007) in the United States with Canadian data. In contrast to their work that uses state-level indicators of school quality, we estimate our model with data from Statistics Canada's National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) which provides micro-level information on the family and school history of the child. The sample used for the analysis is based on the 7- to 15-year-old longitudinal children who have completed at least two consecutive math tests. As in Todd and Wolpin, we conclude that cognitive outcomes are determined by current and past family inputs. Contrary to them, who find no impact of school inputs, we find that the quality of schools has a positive impact on achievement in mathematics. |
| Keywords: | Math scores, human capital, child development, school and family inputs, panel data |
| JEL: | I21 J13 C23 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0822&r=hrm |
| By: | Monojit Chatterji |
| Abstract: | This brief survey examines the returns to education in India , and then examines the role of education on both economic growth and economic development with particular reference to India. Throughout, the objective is to draw out the implications of the empirical results for education policy. The results suggest that female education is of particular importance in India. They also suggest that perhaps because of the externalities it generates, primary education is more important than might be deduced from its relatively low private rate of return. |
| Keywords: | education, economic growth, economic development |
| JEL: | I2 O53 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dun:dpaper:210&r=hrm |
| By: | Sumon Kumar Bhaumik; Manisha Chakrabarty |
| Abstract: | Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multi-religious societies likethe one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average (log) earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987-2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average (log) earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average (log) earnings. Citing other evidence about persistence of educational achievements across generations, however, we argue that attempts to narrow this gap using quotas for Muslim households at educational institutions might be counterproductive from the point of view of conflict avoidance. |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edb:cedidp:08-02&r=hrm |
| By: | Edvard Johansson |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT : This paper examines the trends in immigration to and emigration from Finland during the period 1987-2006. The focus is on the “human capital content” of the migration flows, the key question being : Is Finland losing out in the international competition for highly educated individuals? International comparisons presented by the OECD give the impression that Finland perform very weakly in the global competition for talent, as the share of highly-skilled immigrants is very low. However, these comparisons are distorted by the lack of information with regard to the level of education of immigrants into Finland. It would be desirable that the Central Statistical Office could provide better information on this issue. The results of this paper indicate that Finland’s emigrants are indeed better educated than its immigrants, and that brain-drain exists to a certain degree. However, the magnitude of the brain-drain phenomenon is not very large, and there is no statistical evidence of the well-educated to emigrate would have increased over time. Although Finland’s immigrants are more poorly educated than the Finnish population at large, they are apparently better educated than immigrants to, for instance, Sweden or Denmark, owing to the disproportionately large share of immigrants from Estonia and Russia to Finland. Nevertheless, the labour market performance of Finnish immigrants is as bad as for immigrants in most Western European countries, i.e. their unemployment rate is about twice as high as that of the native population. This amounts to a serious failure of assimilation policies. |
| Date: | 2008–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1153&r=hrm |
| By: | Claudio Michelacci (CEMFI and CEPR, Spain and The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy); Josep Pijoan-Mas (CEMFI and CEPR, Spain) |
| Abstract: | We consider a labor market search model where, by working longer hours, individuals acquire greater skills and thereby obtain better jobs. We show that job inequality, which leads to within-skill wage differences, gives incentives to work longer hours. By contrast, a higher probability of losing jobs, a longer duration of unemployment, and in general a less tight labor market discourage working time. We show that the different evolution of labor market conditions in the US and in Continental Europe over the last three decades can quantitatively explain the diverging evolution of the number of hours worked per employee across the two sides of the Atlantic. It can also explain why the fraction of prime age male workers working very long hours has increased substantially in the US, after reverting a trend of secular decline. |
| Keywords: | working hours, wage inequality, unemployment, search, human capital filtering |
| JEL: | G31 J31 E24 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:28-08&r=hrm |
| By: | Leslie S Stratton (Department of Economics, VCU School of Business); James N. Wetzel (Department of Economics, VCU School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Returns to college have increased, but graduation rates have changed relatively little. Modifying a human capital model of college enrollment to endogenize time-to-graduation, we predict that higher returns to education will both speed graduation and increase enrollment. Some of those new entrants may, however, take longer to graduate. Using the 1989 and 1995 Beginning Postsecondary Studies, we employ a multinomial logit to model the association between individual and family characteristics, and five-year college outcomes: graduation, continued enrollment, and non-enrollment. Between cohort differences arise either because the characteristics of those entering college are different or because the relations between characteristics and outcomes have changed. We utilize a Oaxaca-Blinder style decomposition to distinguish between these two alternatives, attributing differences in characteristics to newly attracted students and differences in the relations between characteristics and outcomes to historically attracted students behaving differently. It is changes in behavior that explain the increased progress we observe. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education, Graduation Rates, Persistence |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vcu:wpaper:0805&r=hrm |
| By: | Jones, Melanie K. (University of Wales, Swansea); Jones, Richard J. (University of Wales, Swansea); Latreille, Paul L. (University of Wales, Swansea); Sloane, Peter J. (University of Wales, Swansea) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between training, job satisfaction and workplace performance using the British 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS). Several measures of performance are analysed including absence, quits, financial performance, labour productivity and product quality. While there is clear evidence that training is positively associated with job satisfaction, and job satisfaction in turn is positively associated with most measures of performance, the relationship between training and performance is complex, depending on both the particular measures of training and of performance used in the analysis. |
| Keywords: | training, job satisfaction, absence, quits, financial performance, labour market, product quality |
| JEL: | J0 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3677&r=hrm |
| By: | Karlsson, Charlie (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Stough, Roger (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of entrepreneurship and innovations for economic development in functional regions and in doing that highlighting the different conditions offered for entrepreneurship and innovations in functional regions of various sizes. In conclusion, the conditions for entrepreneurship and innovations vary substantially between functional regions, since the necessary knowledge resources tend to be local and to cluster in certain regions and not others. Functional regions with a high capacity to generate new ideas, create knowledge, organizational learning and innovations are characterized as learning regions. Large functional regions offer a large market potential and a superior accessibility to knowledge and knowledge resources and they will further develop their creative capabilities due to an accumulation of innovative and entrepreneurial knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Innovations; Regional development; R&D; Knowledge Sources; Knowledge Flows; Knowledge Creation |
| JEL: | D21 M13 R10 |
| Date: | 2008–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0144&r=hrm |
| By: | Maria Thompson (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | The theoretical richness and variety of the new growth literature can make it difficult to capture the essence of groeth models. With this paper, we wish to provide one possible integrating view of the nature of the growth generating processes. Revisiting the models that constitute the core of growth theory, we expose analytically the main mechanisms through which long-run growth can be delivered. Models that contemplate physical capital accumulation generate long-run growth through the attainment of non-declining marginal productivity of capital. One mechanism for achieving this entails the introduction of technological progress; another mechanism involves the inclusion of human capital accumulation; and a third method relies on the elimination from the production function of the diminishing returns to capital feature. The foundational models that classically represent each of these mechanisms are reviewed in an analytical and integrating perspective. |
| Keywords: | Non-diminishing returns to capital, economic growth, research & development, human capital accumulation, inada conditions |
| JEL: | O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:21/2008&r=hrm |
| By: | Johansson, Maria (SISTER) |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to provide a new perspective on current shifts in knowledge production through analysing the relationship between research and education. The study, based on interviews and questionnaires, focus on the interaction within applied research centres with a close industry co-operation. The results suggests that the interaction between research and education benefits from a collaborative environment since: researchers hold positive attitudes toward integrating research, education and collaboration, and students are given the opportunity to work within applied research projects. The findings are discussed in terms of researchers’ ability to handle their scholarly tasks of research, teaching, and collaboration, and the importance for acknowledging research collaborations from both research and teaching perspectives. |
| Keywords: | Research and teaching links; collaboration; applied research; undergraduate education |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2008–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0138&r=hrm |
| By: | Marcos Gallacher |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to understand the linkages between human capital and input choice in agricultural firms. The hypothesis to be tested is that better educated managers choose different input combinations than managers with a lower educational level. In particular, the hypothesis is that the ratio between non-land and land input increases as education increases. Non-land inputs include fertilizers, machinery services, herbicides, animal stocks and others. An increase in the non-land/land input ratio results in increased output (and costs) per unit of land. Given the fixity of land at the aggregate level, the non-land/land input ratio is an important determinant of total sector output. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo entender los vínculos que existen entre capital humano y uso de insumos en empresas agropecuarias. La hipótesis a ser sometida a prueba es que los productores con mayor nivel de educación eligen combinaciones de insumos distintas que las elegidas por aquellos que cuentan con un nivel de educación mas bajo. En particular, que el ratio entre insumos de capital y el insumo tierra aumenta a medida que la educación de los productores aumenta. Los insumos de capital incluyen fertilizantes, servicios de maquinaria, herbicidas, capital biológico (animales) y otros. Un aumento en el ratio entre insumos de capital por unidad de recurso tierra resulta en mayor producto (y costos) por unidad de tierra. Dado que a nivel agregado la tierra es un insumo fijo, el ratio entre capital y tierra es un importante determinante de la producción total lograda. El nivel educativo de los productores, al impactar sobre la intensidad de uso de la tierra, resulta entonces un importante determinante del nivel total de producción logrado. |
| Keywords: | human capital, agriculture, input use |
| JEL: | Q12 D24 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cem:doctra:380&r=hrm |
| By: | Nyström, Kristina (Division of Economics KTH and Ratio Institute) |
| Abstract: | During the last decades, enhancing entrepreneurship has emerged as commonly used policy- measure in order to improve economic growth. However, is it true that entrepreneurship unambiguously can be claimed to improve economic growth? This paper intends to review the empirical evidence on the relationship between entrepreneurship on three measures of economic growth, employment, productivity and aggregate economic growth. The review shows that the studies that find no positive relationship between entrepreneurship and productivity growth have studied a relatively short period. Most studies that have studied a longer period (about ten years) provide rather clear evidence on the positive relationship between entrepreneurship and growth. Regarding the relationship between entrepreneurship and employment growth, the empirical evidence to some extent point in different directions. However, it must be concluded that in the long run there seems to be a positive relationship. A majority of the studies on the relationship between entrepreneurship and aggregate economic growth find a positive relationship. Studies that find a negative relationship usually employ non-harmonised self-employment rates as the measure of entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; economic growth; productivity; employment |
| JEL: | L26 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0143&r=hrm |
| By: | Yanez-Pagans, Monica (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a policy quasi-experiment created by the introduction of an old-age unconditional cash transfer program in Bolivia to study the intra-household income allocation process towards children's educational expenditure by ethnicity and gender of the recipient. Taking advantage of a sharp discontinuity created by the program assignment mechanism, I investigate the heterogeneity in the patterns of allocation within indigenous, multiethnic, and non-indigenous families, conditional on having one elder and one school-age child living in the household. I find that cultural factors (proxied by ethnicity) count in the decision making process of human capital investments. In particular, the allocation of resources within indigenous families follows rules closely related to patriarchal family structures (in which women have limited decision-making power) and is consistent with unitary, dictatorial, and common preferences theoretical household models. Conversely, non-indigenous families follow decision rules more closely related to collective and bargaining behavior models. |
| Keywords: | Bolivia, culture, Bolivida, educational expenditure |
| JEL: | H55 O15 I12 D12 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3678&r=hrm |