nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2009‒06‒10
eight papers chosen by
Fabio Sabatini
University of Siena

  1. Compulsory Education and Jack-of-all-trades Entrepreneurs By Douhan, Robin
  2. Immigrant wages in the Spanish labour market: does the origin of human capital matter? By Esteban Sanromà; Raúl Ramos; Hipólito Simón
  3. Ability Bias, Skewness and the College Wage Premium By Naylor, Robin A.; Smith, Jeremy
  4. On The Possibility that American College Students Are Not Human Capitalists. By Gregory A. Lilly; Samuel K. Allen
  5. Why Pay Seniority Wages? By Zwick, Thomas
  6. Educational Returns, ability composition and cohort effects : theory and evidence for cohorts of early-career UK graduates By Ireland, Norman; Naylor, Robin A.; Smith, Jeremy; Telhaj, Shqiponja
  7. Impact of Land Reforms on Human Capital Formation: Household Level Evidence from West Bengal By Deininger, Klaus; Jin, Songqing; Yadav, Vandana
  8. Emerging through Technological Capability: An Overview of India's Technological Trajectory By Amit Shovon Ray

  1. By: Douhan, Robin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: Can educational institutions explain occupational choice between wage employment and entrepreneurship? This paper follows Lazear's (2005) Jack-of-all-trades hypothesis according to which an individual with a more balanced set of abilities is more likely to enter into entrepreneurship. In the theoretical model proposed, abilities are an outcome of talent and educational institutions. Institutions, in turn, differ with respect to mandatory time in school and the scope of the curriculum. Implications of the theory are tested using Swedish data for a school reform. Empirical results support the main theoretical predictions.
    Keywords: Human Capital; Occupational Choice; Entrepreneurship; Education Institutions
    JEL: I21 J24 L26
    Date: 2009–06–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0797&r=hrm
  2. By: Esteban Sanromà (Universitat de Barcelona); Raúl Ramos (Universitat de Barcelona); Hipólito Simón (Universitat de Alicante)
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by the different components of human capital in the wage determination of recent immigrants within the Spanish labour market. Using microdata from the Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes 2007, the paper examines returns to human capital of immigrants, distinguishing between human capital accumulated in their home countries and in Spain. It also examines the impact on wages of the legal status. The evidence shows that returns to host country sources of human capital are higher than returns to foreign human capital, reflecting the limited international transferability of the latter. The only exception occurs in the case of immigrants from developed countries and immigrants who have studied in Spain. Whatever their home country, they obtain relatively high wage returns to education, including the part not acquired in the host country. Having legal status in Spain is associated with a substantial wage premium of around 15%. Lastly, the overall evidence confirms the presence of a strong heterogeneity in wage returns to different kinds of human capital and in the wage premium associated to the legal status as a function of the immigrants’ area of origin.
    Keywords: Immigration, wages, human capital.
    JEL: J15 J24 J31 J61
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2009/6/doc2009-8&r=hrm
  3. By: Naylor, Robin A. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Smith, Jeremy (Department of Economics, University of Warwick)
    Abstract: Changes in educational participation rates across cohorts are likely to imply changes in the ability-education relationship and thereby to impact on estimated returns to education. We show that skewness in the underlying ability distribution is a key determinant of the impact of graduate expansion on the college wage premium. Calibrating the model against the increased proportion of university students in Britain, we find that changes in the average ability gap between university students and others are likely to have mitigated demand-side forces.
    Keywords: Ability Bias ; College Wage Premium ; Graduate Returns ; Cohort Effects
    JEL: J31 J24 I21 D82
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:907&r=hrm
  4. By: Gregory A. Lilly (Department of Economics, Elon University); Samuel K. Allen (Department of Economics, Virginia Military Institute)
    Abstract: We assess the likelihood that earnings premiums influence college students' behavior as human capital theory suggests. We highlight several key observable patterns of earnings by age, sex, and for numerous college majors in recent decades, and propose a model of heterogeneous human capital to explain the data. Next, we formulate and test the hypothesis that greater expected average annual earnings by college major will induce greater proportions of college students to select higher-paying majors. The evidence implies that - at least for the observed range of earnings premiums - monetary incentives are insufficient to fully explain behavior.
    JEL: I21 J24
    Date: 2009–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:elo:wpaper:2009-01&r=hrm
  5. By: Zwick, Thomas
    Abstract: This paper characterises establishments that pay higher seniority wages than their competitors. It tests whether seniority wages are paid on the basis of agency, human capital or efficiency wage considerations. A representative linked employeremployee panel and an innovative two-step estimation strategy are used to first calculate individual seniority wages taking into account that match quality biases tenure effects on wages. Then individual seniority wages are aggregated to the establishment level. Finally, the seniority wage indicator is explained by establishment characteristics. This contribution shows that large, profitable and establishments with a highly qualified workforce pay high seniority wages. Also collective bargaining coverage and works councils have a positive impact and the share of foreigners, training intensity and initial wage levels have a negative correlation with seniority wages. The results support an agency based motivation for seniority wages.
    Keywords: Seniority Wages, Establishment Characteristics, Linked Employer-Employee Data
    JEL: J14 J21 J31
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7531&r=hrm
  6. By: Ireland, Norman (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Naylor, Robin A. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Smith, Jeremy (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Telhaj, Shqiponja (CEP, London School of Economics)
    Abstract: An increase over time in the proportion of young people obtaining a degree is likely to impact on the relative ability compositions (i) of graduates and non-graduates and (ii) across graduates with different classes of degree award. In a signalling framework, we examine the implications of this on biases across cohorts in estimates of educational returns. In an empirical analysis, we exploit administrative data on whole populations of UK university students for ten graduate cohorts to investigate the extent to which early labour market outcomes vary with class of degree awarded. Consistent with our theoretical model, we find that returns by degree class increased across cohorts during a period of substantial graduate expansion. We also corroborate the empirical findings with evidence from complementary data on graduate sample surveys.
    Keywords: Educational Returns ; College Wage Premium ; Degree Class ; Ability Bias ; Statistical Discrimination
    JEL: J31 J24 I21 D82
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:906&r=hrm
  7. By: Deininger, Klaus; Jin, Songqing; Yadav, Vandana
    Abstract: Land reforms in India were aimed at securing access to land for poor rural households. We use data from West Bengal to highlight the impact of the stateâs 1978 land reform program on human capital accumulation within the beneficiary households. The results from the study indicate that reform positively impacted the decision to invest in education. We ascertain a highly significant positive effect on long-term accumulation of human capital, and find that the size of benefit was modest in first generation and much larger for second generation beneficiaries. The second generation also does not have a gender bias, allowing women to catch up in their levels of education.
    Keywords: Human Capital, Impact Evaluation, Land Reforms, International Development,
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49969&r=hrm
  8. By: Amit Shovon Ray (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Rela)
    Abstract: India's emergence in the world economy over the last decade, has often, in popular discourse, been attributed, at least to a large extent, to its sustained efforts towards technological learning and capacity building. In this paper we present an overview of India's technological trajectory with a view to understanding the nuances of India's technological capability and the role it has played in the process of India's economic progress. Our conclusion is that while India has successfully nurtured its high-end human capital for technological learning and is poised for a smooth transition to a knowledge economy, there has been a tragic neglect of low end human capital investment for productivity gains in mass manufacturing. This can not be ignored while carving out an appropriate technological strategy for India for a sustainable and "inclusive" growth process
    Keywords: India, Technological Capability, Learning, TFP, IPR
    JEL: O3 O31 O33 O34 O38
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:icrier:227&r=hrm

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