nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2011‒08‒02
four papers chosen by
Tommaso Reggiani
Universita' di Bologna

  1. The Portability of New Immigrants' Human Capital: Language, Education and Occupational Matching By Goldmann, Gustave; Sweetman, Arthur; Warman, Casey
  2. Human Capital Spillovers in Families: Do Parents Learn from or Lean on their Children? By Ilyana Kuziemko
  3. Urban Density, Human Capital, and Productivity: An empirical analysis using wage data By MORIKAWA Masayuki
  4. Management practices: Are not for profits different? By Delfgaauw, Josse; Dur, Robert; Propper, Carol; Smith, Sarah L.

  1. By: Goldmann, Gustave (University of Ottawa); Sweetman, Arthur (McMaster University); Warman, Casey (Queen's University)
    Abstract: The implications of human capital portability – including interactions between education, language skills and pre- and post-immigration occupational matching – for earnings are explored for new immigrants to Canada. Given the importance of occupation-specific skills, as a precursor we also investigate occupational mobility and observe convergence toward the occupational skill distribution of the domestic population, although four years after landing immigrants remain less likely have a high skilled job. Immigrants who are able to match their source and host country occupations obtain higher earnings. However, surprisingly, neither matching nor language skills have any impact on the return to pre-immigration work experience, which is observed to be statistically significantly negative. Crucially, English language skills are found to have an appreciable direct impact on earnings, and to mediate the return to pre-immigration education but not labour market experience.
    Keywords: immigration, human capital portability, occupation, language, education
    JEL: J24 J61 J62
    Date: 2011–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5851&r=hrm
  2. By: Ilyana Kuziemko
    Abstract: I develop a model in which a child's acquisition of a given form of human capital incentivizes adults in his household to either learn from him (if children act as teachers then adults' cost of learning the skill falls) or lean on him (if children's human capital substitutes for that of adults in household production then adults' benefit of learning the skill falls). I exploit regional variation in two shocks to children's human capital and examine the effect on adults. The rapid introduction of primary education for black children in the South during Reconstruction not only increased literacy of children but also of adults living in the same household ("learning" outweighs "leaning"). Conversely, the 1998 introduction of English immersion in California public schools appears to have increased the English skills of children but discouraged adults living with them from acquiring the language ("leaning" outweighs "learning"). Whether family members learn from or lean on each other has implications for the externalities associated with education policies.
    JEL: H23 I2 I28 J12 J13 J24
    Date: 2011–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17235&r=hrm
  3. By: MORIKAWA Masayuki
    Abstract: Numerous studies have indicated that densely populated cities enhance the productivity of workers through knowledge spillover and superior matching with employers in the labor market. This paper quantitatively analyzes the relationship among urban density, human capital, and wages by using micro data from the <i>Basic Survey on Wage Structure</i> for the years from 1990 to 2009. According to the estimation of standard wage functions augmented with population density, the agglomeration premium is larger for workers with higher observable skills such as education, tenure, and potential experience, which suggests rapid learning and superior matching in densely populated cities. Under structural changes such as a declining population and the trend toward a knowledge-based service economy, forming densely populated areas by facilitating the migration of workers has desirable effects throughout Japan on both individual wages and firm productivity.
    Date: 2011–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11060&r=hrm
  4. By: Delfgaauw, Josse; Dur, Robert; Propper, Carol; Smith, Sarah L.
    Abstract: Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of good management for firm performance. Here, we focus on management in not-for-profits (NFPs). We present a model predicting that management quality will be lower in NFPs compared to for-profits (FPs), but that outputs may not be worse if managers are altruistic. Using a tried and tested survey of management practices, we find that NFPs score lower than FPs but also that, while the relationship between management scores and outputs holds for FPs, the same is not true for NFPs. One implication is that management practices that work for FPs may be less effective in driving performance in NFPs.
    Keywords: impure altruism; management; not-for-profits
    JEL: H8 J24 J45 L33
    Date: 2011–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8498&r=hrm

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