|
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder; George Davey Smith; Debbie A. Lawlor; Carol Propper; Frank Windmeijer |
| Abstract: | Height has long been recognised as associated with better outcomes: the question is whether this association is causal. We use children’s genetic variants as instrumental variables (IV) to deal with possible unobserved confounders and examine the effect of child and adolescent height on a wide range of outcomes: academic performance, IQ, self-esteem, symptoms related to depression and behavioural problems, including hyperactivity, emotional, conduct and peer problems. OLS findings show that taller children have higher IQ scores, perform better in school tests, and are less likely to have emotional or peer problems. The IV results differ. They show that taller children have better cognitive performance but, in contrast to the OLS, indicate that taller children are more likely to have behavioural problems. The magnitude of these IV estimates is large. For example, the effect of one standard deviation increase in height on IQ is comparable to the IQ difference for children born approximately 6 months apart within the same school year, while the increase in hyperactivity is comparable to the raw difference in hyperactivity between boys and girls. |
| Keywords: | Child and adolescent height; human capital; mental health; behavioural outcomes; instrumental variables; Mendelian randomization; genetic variants; ALSPAC |
| JEL: | I1 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/245&r=hrm |
| By: | Maija Halonen |
| Abstract: | Besley and Ghatak (2001) show that public good should be owned by the agent who values the public good most — irrespective of technological factors. In this paper we relax their assumptions in a natural way by allowing the agents to be indispensable and show that relative valuations are not the sole determinant of optimal ownership structure but also nature of human capital and technology matter. |
| Keywords: | property rights, public goods, indispensability, technology |
| JEL: | D23 H41 L33 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:10/243&r=hrm |
| By: | Joachim Merz; Eva Österbacka; Cathleen D. Zick (LEUPHANA University Lüneburg,Department of Economic, Behaviour and Law Sciences, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB))) |
| Abstract: | Parents invest in their children’s human capital in several ways. We investigate the extent to which the levels and composition of parent-child time varies across countries with different welfare regimes: Finland, Germany and the United States. We test the hypothesis of parentchild time as a form of human capital investment in children using a propensity score treatment effects approach that accounts for the possible endogenous nature of time use and human capital investment. Result: There is considerable evidence of welfare regime effects on parent-child shared time. Our results provide mixed support for the hypothesis that non-care related parent-child time is human capital enriching. The strongest support is found in the case of leisure time and eating time. |
| Keywords: | parent-child time, comparative research, welfare regimes, Finland, Germany, USA, treatment effects, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | D1 J24 J22 H43 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:leu:wpaper:83&r=hrm |
| By: | Perales F (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Research has consistently demonstrated a negative and significant relationship between occupational feminization and wages. This has traditionally been attributed to societal mechanisms undervaluing the work mainly performed by women. More recently, empirical evidence from the US and Europe has supported theories based on the concept of specialized human capital. We examine whether lower wages in female-dominated occupations in Britain are explained by differences in specialized human capital, allowing for other potentially mediating factors. We also explore the functional form of the relationship between occupational feminization and wages and estimate the contribution of occupational sex-segregation to the gender pay-gap. |
| Date: | 2010–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2010-31&r=hrm |
| By: | Jerome Adda (Institute for Fiscal Studies and European University Institute); Christian Dustmann (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and EUREQua, University of Paris 1) |
| Abstract: | <p><p>We evaluate the German apprenticeship system, which combines on-the-job training with classroom teaching, by modelling individual careers from the choice to join such a scheme and followed by their employment, job to job transitions and wages over the lifecycle. Our data is drawn from administrative records that report accurately job transitions and pay. We find that apprenticeships increase wages, and change wage profiles with more growth upfront, while wages in the non-apprenticeship sector grow at a lower rate but for longer. Non-apprentices face a much higher variance to the shocks of their match specific effects and a substantially larger variance in initial level of the offered wages. We find no evidence that qualified apprentices are harder to reallocate following job loss. The average life-cycle return to an apprenticeship career is about 14% and the return is mainly driven by the differences in the wage profile.</p></p> |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship Training, Job Mobility, Labour Supply, Wages, Wage Determination, Matching, Wage Growth, Dynamic Discrete Choice, In-work Benefits, EITC, Education |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/13&r=hrm |
| By: | DEL REY, Elena (Universitat de Girona, Spain); LOPEZ-GARCIA, Miguel ANgel (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore the consequences for optimality of a social planner adopting two different welfare criteria. The framework of analysis is an OLG model with physical and human capital. We first show that, when the SWF is a discounted sum of individual utilities defined over consumption per unit of natural labour, the precise cardinalization of the individual utility function becomes crucial for the characterization of the social optimum. Also, decentralizing the social optimum requires an education subsidy. In contrast, when the SWF is a discounted sum of individual utilities defined over consumption per unit of efficient labour, the precise cardinalization of preferences becomes irrelevant. More strikingly, along the optimal growth path, education should be taxed. |
| Keywords: | endogenous growth, human capital, intergenerational transfers, education policy |
| JEL: | D90 H21 H52 H55 |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2010024&r=hrm |
| By: | Joshua C. Hall (Department of Economics and Management, Beloit College); Russell S. Sobel (Department of Economics, West Virginia University); George R. Crowley (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | The international development community has encouraged investment in physical and human capital as a precursor to economic progress. Recent evidence shows, however, that increases in capital do not always lead to increases in output. We develop a growth model where the allocation and productivity of capital depends on a country's institutions. We find that increases in physical and human capital lead to output growth only in countries with good institutions. In countries with bad institutions, increases in capital lead to negative growth rates because additions to the capital stock tend to be employed in rent-seeking and other socially unproductive activities. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, Capital, and Growth |
| JEL: | B53 O10 I2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:10-15&r=hrm |
| By: | Stephen C. Smith; M. Shahe Emran (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University); Fenohasina Maret (Department of Economics, George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Using household data from Vietnam, we provide evidence on the causal effects of education on freedom of spouse choice. We use war disruptions and spatial indicators of schooling supply as instruments. The point estimates indicate that a year of additional schooling reduces the probability of an arranged marriage by about 14 percentage points for an individual with 8 years of schooling. We also estimate bounds that do not rely on the exact exclusion restrictions (lower bound is 6-7 percentage points). The impact of education is strong for women, but much weaker for men. |
| Keywords: | Arranged Marriage, Education, Schooling, Freedom of choice, Development, Vietnam, Social Interactions |
| JEL: | I2 O12 D1 J12 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2009-15&r=hrm |
| By: | Angelo Antoci (Università di Sassari); Fabio Sabatini (Università di Siena); Mauro Sodini (Università di Pisa) |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. Starting from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods, we show that the best-case scenarios hold when technology and social capital both support just one of the two productions at the expenses of the other. However, trajectories are possible where technology and social interaction balance one another in fostering the growth of both the social and the private sector of the economy. Along such tracks, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a “socially sustainable” economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Technology, Economic Growth, Relational Goods, Social Participation, Social Capital |
| JEL: | O33 J22 O41 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.100&r=hrm |
| By: | Russell S. Sobel (Department of Economics, West Virginia University); Nabamita Dutta (Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse); Sanjukta Roy (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | In the economic development literature, cultural diversity (for example, ethnolinguistic fractionalization) has been shown to have a negative impact on economic outcomes in many underdeveloped countries. We hypothesize that the impact of diversity on economic performance depends on the quality of a country's institutions. Under bad institutions diversity leads to conflict and expropriation, while under good institutions diversity leads to economic progress. A culturally diverse society or interaction among different cultures encourages exchange of, and competition between ideas and different world views. Under good institutions, this amalgamation of ideas and views leads to greater entrepreneurial initiatives. We show that higher levels of cultural diversity increase the rate of entrepreneurship in the presence of good institutions using evidence from the United States. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Diversity; Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 P12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:10-12&r=hrm |