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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | de Luna, Xavier (Dept. of Statistics, Umeå University); Stenberg, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Westerlund, Olle (Dept. of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | Several studies have suggested that education is associated with later retirement from the labour market. In this paper, we examine whether adult education, involving enrolees aged 42 or above, delays retirement to potentially increase labour force participation among the elderly. With Swedish register data of transcripts from adult education and annual earnings, which encompasses 1979-2004 and 1982-2004 respectively, we exploit the fact that adult education is a large-scale phenomenon in Sweden and construct a measure of the timing of the transition from being self-supported by productive work to being supported by pension transfers. We match samples of treated and controls on the propensity score and use non-parametric estimation of survival rates. The results indicate that adult education has no effect on the timing of the retirement from the labour force. This can be contrasted with the fact that adult education is one of the cornerstones of the OECD strategy for “active ageing” and the European Union’s “Lisbon strategy” for growth and jobs. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; Pensions; Elderly; Adult schooling |
| JEL: | H52 H55 H75 I28 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2008_006&r=hrm |
| By: | THARAKAN, Jo (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); TROPEANO, Jean-Philippe |
| Abstract: | We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market. |
| Keywords: | economic geography, local labor market, regional disparities, human capital. |
| JEL: | J61 J42 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvco:2008046&r=hrm |
| By: | Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy, Regional Economic Research Staff, Bologna Branch) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the selection process at work before and after compulsory schooling by assessing the determinants of school failures, dropouts and upper secondary school decisions of young Italians. The dataset is built combining individual data by the Labor Force Survey and aggregate data on local labor markets and school supply by the Italian National Statistic Institute and the Minister of Public Education, respectively. Our results show that school failure (i.e., repetition of a year) is highly correlated with the family background, and it strongly affects later choices. Early school leaving and the upper secondary school choice are mainly a reflection of the parents’ socioeconomic status. The effectiveness of the educational system when narrowing the failure risk and the scholastic outflow relies on the widespread adoption of full-time attendance in compulsory school, the quality of the school infrastructures and the fewer teachers with temporary contracts. |
| Keywords: | School failures, early dropout, school choice, social mobility, Italian education system |
| JEL: | I20 C35 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_691_08&r=hrm |
| By: | Ronald Caldwell Jr. (Department of Economics, The University of Kansas) |
| Abstract: | Research shows that minority children enter the labor market with lower levels of acquired skill than do white children. This paper attempts to analyze one possible cause: the impact of a perceived lack of future opportunities on the human capital development of minority children. I take advantage of changes in affirmative action laws in California and Texas as a natural experiment and employ both difference-in-difference-in-difference and fixed effects methodologies to test for changes in achievement test scores among minority children. The results show a significant negative impact among black children of all ages in the affected states. |
| Keywords: | skill gaps, race, discrimination, affirmative action |
| JEL: | J01 J15 J24 J7 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kan:wpaper:200812&r=hrm |
| By: | Dhaval M. Dave; Nancy E. Reichman; Hope Corman |
| Abstract: | Education beyond traditional ages for schooling is an important source of human capital accumulation among adult women. Welfare reform, which began in the early 1990s and culminated in the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, has promoted work rather than educational acquisition for this group. Exploiting variation in welfare reform across states and over time and using relevant comparison groups, we undertake a comprehensive study of the effects of welfare reform on adult women's human capital acquisition. We first estimate effects of welfare reform on high school dropout of teenage girls, both to improve on past research on this issue and to explore compositional changes that may be relevant for our primary analyses of the effects of welfare reform on the educational acquisition of adult women. We conduct numerous specification checks and explore the mediating role of work. We find robust and convincing evidence that welfare reform has significantly decreased the probability of both high school and college attendance among young adult women—by 20-25 percent. This result indicates that the gains from welfare reform in terms of increases in employment and reductions in caseloads have come at a cost in terms of lower educational attainment among adult women at risk for relying on welfare. |
| JEL: | H52 H53 I21 I28 I38 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14466&r=hrm |
| By: | Joop Hartog (University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, IZA); Mirjam van Praag (Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, IZA, Max Planck Institute of Economics); Justin van der Sluis (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | How valuable are cognitive and social abilities for entrepreneurs' incomes as compared to employees? We answer three questions: (1) To what extent does a composite measure of ability affect an entrepreneur's earnings relative to employees? (2) Do different cognitive abilities (e.g. math ability, language ability) and social ability affect earnings of entrepreneurs and employees differently?, and (3) Does the balance in these measured ability levels affect an individual's earnings? Our individual fixed-effects estimates of the differential returns to ability for spells in entrepreneurship versus wage employment account for selectivity into entrepreneurial positions as determined by fixed individual characteristics. General ability has a stronger impact on entrepreneurial incomes than on wages. Entrepreneurs and employees benefit from different sets of specific abilities: Language and clerical abilities have a stronger impact on wages, whereas mathematical, social and technical ability affect entrepreneurial incomes more strongly. The balance in the various kinds of ability also generates a higher income, but only for entrepreneurs: This finding supports Lazear's Jack-of-all- Trades theory. |
| Keywords: | (Non-)Cognitive abilities, intelligence, earnings, entrepreneur(ship), wage employment, income differentials |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 J44 M13 |
| Date: | 2008–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-084&r=hrm |
| By: | Davide, DOTTORI; I-Ling, SHEN |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of low-skilled immigration on the host countryÕs education system, which is characterized by sources of school funding, expenditres per pupil, and types of parents who are more likely to send children to publicly (privately) funded schools. When the size of low-skilled immigrants is large, it is found that wealthier natives are likely to opt out from public into private schools. Four main effects of immigration are taken into account : (1) greater congestion in public school; (2) lower average tax base for education funding; (3) reduced low-skilled wage and so more low-skilled natives to privately invest in their childrenÕs education and hence weakens their support to finance public school. The theoretical predictions are not at odds with cross-country stylized facts revealed in both micro and macro data. Moreover, with endogenous fertility, the opting-out decision taken by some native parents results in the empirically observed fertility differential between natives and immigrants |
| Keywords: | Voting, Taxes and Subsidies, Education, Fertility, Migration |
| JEL: | H42 H52 I21 D72 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2008023&r=hrm |
| By: | Simone Bertoli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Herbert Brücker (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB)) |
| Abstract: | The recent literature about the so called brain drain assumes that destination countries are characterized not only by higher wages than the source country, but also by a higher or at least not lower relative return to skill. As this assumption has a doubtful empirical validity, we assess whether the main prediction of this literature, namely the possibility of a beneficial brain gain, still holds under the reverse assumption. We show that there is still a case for a beneficial brain drain. Immigration policies that are biased against unskilled workers are not necessary for a beneficial brain drain to occur once one considers that agents face heterogeneous migration costs. |
| Keywords: | migration; brain drain; skill premium; heterogeneous agents; selective immigration policies |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2008_14.rdf&r=hrm |
| By: | Schwager, Robert |
| Abstract: | A model is presented where workers of differing abilities and from different social backgrounds are assigned to jobs based on grades received at school. It is examined how this matching is affected if good grades are granted to some low ability students. Such grade inflation is shown to reduce the aggregate wage of the lower class workers because employers use social origin as a signal for productivity if grades are less than fully informative. Moreover, the high-ability students from the higher class may benefit from grade inflation since this shields them from the competition on the part of able students from the lower classes. |
| Keywords: | education, grading, standards, assignment, social mobility, grading, standards, assignment, social mobility |
| JEL: | C78 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7393&r=hrm |
| By: | de la CROIX, David (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)) |
| Abstract: | We propose four arguments favoring the idea that medical effectiveness, adult longevity and height started to increase in Europe before the industrial revolution. This may have prompted households to increase their investment in human skills as a response to longer lives and initiated the transition from stagnation to growth. |
| Keywords: | life expectancy, height, industrial revolution, human capital, adult mortality. |
| JEL: | J11 I12 N30 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvco:2008048&r=hrm |
| By: | Davide, DOTTORI (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Department of Economics); I. Ling, SHEN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of low-skilled immigration on the host countryÕs education policy, which is formulated by the natives via voting and refers to both school funding sources and resources in the public funded schools. When the size of low-skilled immigrants is large, it is found that wealthier natives are likely to opt out from public into private school. Four main effects of immigration are taken into account : (1) greater congestion in public school; (2) lower average tax base for education funding; (3) reduced low-skilled wage and so more low-skilled nativesÕ dependence on public education; (4) higher skill premium, which induces high-skilled natives to privately invest in their childrenÕ s education and hence weakens their support to finance public school. The theoretical predictions are not at odds with cross-country stylized facts revealed in both micro and macro data. Moreover, with endogenous fertility, the opting-out decision taken by some native parents results in the empirically observed fertility differential between natives and immigrants |
| Keywords: | voting, taxes and subsidies, education; fertitlity, migration |
| JEL: | H42 H52 I21 D72 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2008022&r=hrm |