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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Vincenzo Caponi (Department of Economics Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada and The Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, Rimini, Italy.); Miana Plesca (University of Guelph, Canada) |
| Abstract: | Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Can Ability Bias Explain the Earnings Gap Between College and University Graduates? Using the Canadian General Social Survey we compute returns to post-secondary education relative to high-school. Unlike previous research using Canadian data, our dataset allows us to control for ability selection into higher education. We find strong evidence of positive ability selection into all levels of post-secondary education for men and weaker positive selection for women. Since the ability selection is stronger for higher levels of education, particularly for university, the difference in returns between university and college or trades education decreases slightly after accounting for ability bias. However, a puzzling large gap persists, with university-educated men still earning over 20% more than men with college or trades education. Moreover, contrary to previous Canadian literature that reports higher returns for women, we document that the OLS hourly wage returns to university education are the same for men and women. OLS returns are higher for women only if weekly or yearly wages are considered instead, because university-educated women work more hours than the average. Nevertheless, once we account for ability selection into post-secondary education, we generally find higher returns for women than for men for all wage measures as a result of the stronger ability selection for men. |
| Keywords: | returns to university, returns to college, returns to trades, unobserved ability, selection bias |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I2 C3 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:14-07&r=lab |
| By: | John T. Addison (Department of Economics, Moore School of Business University of South Carolina, USA and The Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, Rimini, Italy.); Paulino Teixeira (Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra, Potugal); Thomas Zwick (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW),Mannheim, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first comprehensive examination of the effect of German works councils on wages, using matched employer-employee data from the German LIAB for 2001. We find that works councils are associated with higher earnings: the wage premium is around 11 percent, and is higher under formal collective bargaining. This result persists after taking account of worker and establishment heterogeneity and the endogeneity of works council presence. Using quantile regressions, we further report that the works council premium is decreasing in the position of the worker in the wage distribution; and is higher for women than for men. Finally, the works council wage premium is associated with longer job tenure, which suggests that some of the premium is a noncompetitive rent. That said, it remains entirely possible that works council ÔvoiceÕ may dominate its distributive effects, at least insofar as the tenure result is concerned. |
| Keywords: | matched employer-employee data, rent seeking, tenure, wages, wage distribution, works councils, collective bargaining. |
| JEL: | J31 J50 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:13-07&r=lab |
| By: | Lundborg, Per (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | While differences in days in unemployment even out after some time after immigration, wage differences between immigrants and natives remain in the long run. Employment assimilation is more or less immediate for labour immigrants, while it takes approximately twenty years for non-labour immigrants to obtain the same employment status as natives and labour immigrants. We also find that the high educated non-labour immigrants’ income of work lag behind those of high educated natives more than wages of low educated non-labour immigrants do to low educated natives. Thus, low educated immigrants assimilate faster than high educated. Similarly, male non-labour immigrants’ work income lag behind male natives’ income more than female non-labour immigrants’ income do to female natives’ income. Thus, female immigrants assimilate faster than male immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants; earnings assimilation; integration |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2007_005&r=lab |
| By: | Mehtabul Azam (SMU) |
| Abstract: | The tertiary (college)-secondary (high school) wage premium has been increasing in India over the past decade, but this increase differs across age groups. The increase in wage premium has been driven mostly by younger age groups, while older age groups have not experienced any significant increase. This paper uses the demand and supply model with imperfect substitution across age groups developed by Card and Lemieux (2001) to explain the uneven increase in the wage premium across age groups in India. The findings of this paper are that the increase in the wage premium has come mostly from demand shifts in favor of workers with a tertiary education. More importantly, the demand shifts occurred in both the 1980s and 1990s. The relative supply has played an important role not only determining the extent of increase in wage premium, but also its timing. The increase in relative supply of tertiary workers during 1983-1993 negated the demand shift; as a result, the wage premium did not increase much. But during 1993-1999, the growth rate of the relative supply of tertiary workers decelerated, while relative supply became virtually stagnant during 1999-2004. Both these periods saw an increase in the wage premium as the countervailing supply shift was weak. |
| Keywords: | India, wage premium, tertiary (college), secondary (high school) |
| JEL: | J20 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:710&r=lab |
| By: | Godfrey Keller; Kevin Roberts; Margaret Stevens |
| Abstract: | We construct an equilibrium random matching model of the labour market, with endogenous market participation and a general matching technology that allows for market size effects: the job-finding rate for workers and the incentives for participation change with the level of unemployment. In comparison to standard models with constant returns to scale in matching, agent behaviour is more complex - the model generates plausible joint dynamics of employment, unemployment and participation with heterogeneity in search behaviour for workers with different degrees of attachment to the labour market. Techniques are developed to reduce the dimensionality of the problem to establish local and global stability; a complicating factor is the possibility of multiple equilibria, welfare-ranked by market size. A Hosios-type condition internalises search externalities. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Participation, Job Search, Matching Function, Returns to Scale, Multiple Equilibria, Stability, Coordination, Search Externalities |
| JEL: | J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:362&r=lab |
| By: | Andreas Knabe (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg); Ronnie Schöb (School of Business & Economics, Free University Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We study the subsidization of extra jobs in a general equilibrium framework. While the previous literature focuses on symmetric marginal employment subsidies where firms are rewarded when they increase employment but punished when they reduce their workforce, we consider an asymmetric scheme that only rewards employment expansion. This changes the incidence substantially. In the asymmetric case without punishment, it becomes less costly for firms to lay off a substantial fraction of their workforce when trade unions raise wages. This tames the unions, which causes wage moderation and raises aggregate employment and welfare. For moderate subsidy rates, all unions prefer to restrain their wage claims. At sufficiently high subsidy rates, labor market conditions improve so much that some unions enforce higher wages and let their firms shrink. This displacement of firms might have a negative impact on employment and welfare. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, marginal employment subsidies, general equilibrium |
| JEL: | J38 J68 H25 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mag:wpaper:07020&r=lab |
| By: | Strulik, Holger; Tyran, Jean-Robert; Vanini, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We develop a simple model of labor market participation, human capital degradation, and re-training. We focus on how non-participation, as a distinct state from unemployment and employment, is determined by the welfare system in interaction with labor market conditions and personal characteristics. We provide a tractable framework to analyze how the decisions to exit the labor force and to mitigate human capital degradation by re-training depend on a broad range of factors such as education, skill degradation, age, labor market shocks, labor taxes, unemployment insurance benefits and social assistance. We extend our framework by allowing for time-inconsistent choices and demonstrate the possibility of an unemployment trap. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Non-Participation, Skill Degradation, Re-training, Unemployment Benefits, Social Assistance, Present-Biased Preferences. |
| JEL: | J64 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-377&r=lab |
| By: | Hoyt Bleakley; Jeffrey Lin |
| Abstract: | Using U.S. Census microdata, the authors show that, on average, workers change occupation and industry less in more densely populated areas. The result is robust to standard demographic controls, as well as to including aggregate measures of human capital and sectoral mix. Analysis of the displaced worker surveys shows that this effect is present in cases of involuntary separation as well. On the other hand, the authors actually find the opposite result (higher rates of occupational and industrial switching) for the subsample of younger workers. These results provide evidence in favor of increasing-returns-to-scale matching in labor markets. Results from a back-of-the-envelope calibration suggest that this mechanism has an important role in raising both wages and returns to experience in denser areas. |
| Keywords: | Labor market |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:07-23&r=lab |
| By: | Andreas KUHN; Rafael LALIVE; Josef ZWEIMÜLLER |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how unemployment affects public health costs. We use plant closure as an instrument for unemployment because bankruptcy is unlikely to be caused by deteriorating health but has a strong impact on workers' subsequent employment. The empirical analysis is based on an extremely rich data set with comprehensive information on various types of health care costs and day-by-day work history of individual workers. Our central findings are (i) expenditures on medical treatments are not strongly affected by joblessness, (ii) lack of employment reduces mental health for men but not for women, and (iii) sickness benefit payments strongly increase due to job loss. Our results also show that OLS estimates strongly overestimate the causal effect of unemployment on public health costs. |
| Keywords: | social cost of unemployment; health; non-employment; plant closure |
| JEL: | I12 I19 J28 J65 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lau:crdeep:07.08&r=lab |
| By: | Sara Connolly; Mary Gregory |
| Abstract: | The UK`s Equal Opportunities Commission has recently drawn attention to the `hidden brain drain` when women working part-time are employed in occupations below those for which they are qualified. These inferences were based on self-reporting. We give an objective and quantitative analysis of the nature of occupational change as women make the transition between full-time and part-time work. We construct an occupational classification which supports a ranking of occupations based on the average level of qualification of those employed there on a full-time basis. Using the NESPD and the BHPS for the period 1991-2001 we show that perhaps one-quarter of women moving from full- to part-time work move to an occupation at a lower level of qualification. Over 20 percent of professional women downgrade, half of them moving to low-skill jobs; two-thirds of nurses leaving nursing become care assistants; women from managerial positions are particularly badly affected. Women remaining with their current employer are much less vulnerable to downgrading, and the availability of part-time opportunities within the occupation is far more important than the presence of a pre-school child in determining whether a woman moves to a lower-level occupation. These findings indicate a loss of economic efficiency through the underutilisation of the skills of many of the women who work part-time. |
| Keywords: | Female Employment, Part-time Work, Occupation, Life-cycle, Downgrade, Over-qualification. |
| JEL: | C23 C25 C33 C35 J16 J22 J62 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:359&r=lab |
| By: | Chung, Heejung |
| Abstract: | Do countries matter, especially compared to other aspects that affect the flexibility behaviours of companies? Many studies on the labour market assume that there are country differences, cross-national variances, and that it is a crucial factor in explaining the actual practices of the labour market by individuals and companies. The supposition is that although there are variations across countries, the behaviour of actors within the country is rather homogeneous. Thus, due to country level characteristics, the actors within the country are seen to act similarly. This is due to the fact that individuals and individual companies are restricted within the country due to their institutional frame, cultural and social boundaries. However, this does not necessarily mean that actors are completely restricted within these boundaries. This becomes more evident when we are dealing with labour market flexibility options, for this can be developed (in companies or perhaps by individuals) as a coping mechanism to overcome the restrictions of society. This paper asks the questions, do countries matter, and to what extent it does matter and how it matters. It addresses this issue by first comparing the variance of each level under examination, that is, the country, sector and company level, through the use of a multi-level random effects model. The examination of the variance of each level will allow us to see to which extent countries matter. Also this model allows us to see how factors that explain the flexibility behaviours of companies show different effects across countries to answer the question how countries matter in an exploratory manner. The issue of flexibility is addressed uniquely in this paper in two aspects. Unlike many of the previous studies on this issue, this paper uses a broader definition of flexibility, thus, it perceives labour market flexibility as a method used for the needs of workers as well as those of employers or companies. In other words, as companies facilitate their adaptation to business cycles through labour market flexibility, workers adapt to life cycles through it. Based on this definition, flexibility practices used within companies can be measured two dimensionally, on one side its overall level and another to whom it is (more) geared towards. Also, unlike studies that focus on one or few specific arrangements, this paper does not examine various flexibility options as separate entities. It examines the practices as a whole, i.e. the use and the combination of various arrangements in achieving numerical flexibility. The data used here is the European Survey of Working-Time and Work-life Balance (ESWT) from the European Foundation of the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. This survey covers 21000 establishments in 21 EU member states for the years 2004/2005. The outcomes of this study show that being within a certain country is indeed an important factor in explaining the differences between companies in taking up flexibility options. However, the variance between companies within a country is much larger, especially when considering the flexibility options that are geared towards the needs of employers. Compared to country and company levels there are small differences between sectors within countries. Of the company level characteristics, size of the company, worker composition, industrial relation aspects, and variations in work loads were important determinants of the flexibility practices within companies. Also it seems that the effects of explanatory variables are different across the European countries. For flexibility options that are used for company’s production needs being within certain sectors have different implications across countries. For flexibility options that are used for worker’s work-life balance needs, industrial relations aspects of the company, thus the existence of working time agreements and employee representatives have different implications across countries. There seems to be a division with the EU 15 and the new accession countries in these effects where the relationship as well as the strength of the effect changes. There are some evidence that companies may use work-life balance options as incentives to recruit and maintain their skilled work force, as we can see the countries where labour force demand is strong the effect of proportion of skilled workers in the provision of flexibility options for workers is stronger, and visa versa. Also collective agreements on working time may help the use of various flexibility option for both worker’s needs as well as company’s needs, especially in countries where flexibility options are not widely and frequently used. |
| Keywords: | labour market flexibility; company level practice; multi-level model; random effects model; work-life balance; working time; numerical flexibility; cross-national comparative study; European Establishment Survey on Working Time (ESWT); public sector; working time agreements; country level variance |
| JEL: | J50 C30 P51 J20 J01 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5449&r=lab |
| By: | Robert C. Allen |
| Abstract: | The paper compares the standard of living of labourers in the Roman Empire in 301 AD with the standard of living of labourers in Europe and Asia from the middle ages to the industrial revolution. Roman data are drawn from Diocletian`s Price Edict. The real wage of Roman workers was like that of their counterparts in the lagging parts of Europe and much of Asia in the middle of the eighteenth century. Roman workers earned just enough to buy a minimal subsistence consumption basket. Real wages were considerably higher in the advanced parts of Europe in the eighteenth century, as they had been in Europe generally following the Black Death in 1348-9. |
| Keywords: | Standard of Living, Real Wage, Roman Empire, Long Run Economic Growth |
| JEL: | J31 N30 O47 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:363&r=lab |
| By: | Sara Connolly; Mary Gregory |
| Abstract: | Two particular features of the position of women in the British labour market are the extensive role of part-time work and the large part-time pay penalty. Part-time work features most prominently when women are in their 30s, the peak childcare years and, particularly for more educated women, a crucial period for career building. This makes it essential to understand its impact on women`s subsequent earnings trajectories. |
| Keywords: | Female Employment, Part-time Work, Occupation, Earnings Trajectories, Life-cycle, Downgrade, Over-qualification. |
| JEL: | C23 C25 C33 C35 J16 J22 J62 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:358&r=lab |
| By: | Aysan, Ahmet Faruk; Hacihasanoglu, Yavuz Selim |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causes of Turkish export-boom after 2000 in the manufacturing sector. We mainly concentrate on cost and productivity aspects of the production in the manufacturing sector. Effects of productivity, wage and exchange rate are analyzed in the framework of the augmented unit labor cost model. Following the Edwards and Golub (2004) paper we use the dynamic panel data techniques for the analysis. In addition, the importance of the above mentioned factors is examined for the rising and declining sectors. We find that manufacturing export is negatively related to the unit labor cost (ULC). Decomposition of ULC into its two components also shows that an improvement in productivity increases export while an increase in nominal wages decreases it. We also find that nominal wage is an important factor in the declining sectors while productivity is the stimulus in rising sectors. |
| Keywords: | Manufacturing export; unit labor cost; wage; productivity; real effective exchange rate |
| JEL: | F15 F14 F16 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5493&r=lab |
| By: | Jeffrey Grogger; Lynn A. Karoly |
| Abstract: | Transfer payments to poor families are increasingly conditioned on work, either via wage subsidies available only to workers or via work requirements in more traditional welfare programs. Although the effects of such programs on employment are fairly well understood, relatively little is known about their effects on marriage or child well-being. The authors review a small number of studies that provide such information here. Their discussion of marriage is couched in terms of a theoretical model that draws from the efficient-household literature. The model is consistent with the wide range of effects that they observe and suggests an explanation for some of the observed differences. The theoretical framework in which they couch their review of results on children is likewise consistent with the observed variation between programs and among children of different ages. |
| Keywords: | welfare programs, child development, marriage |
| JEL: | I38 J12 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:531&r=lab |
| By: | Natalia Mishagina (Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies career mobility of white male doctorates in natural sciences and engineering using the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (1973-2001). The paper focuses on two issues. First, it assesses the relevance of doctoral careers to sciences and engineering (S&E) in general, and research and development in particular. Second, it evaluates participation rates and mobility patterns of doctorates in careers of different types. To analyze how various factors affect mobility, a transition model with competing risks is specified and estimated. The paper finds that only half of doctorates have careers in R&D, and another 8% work in occupations outside the scope of S&E. Employment choices vary throughout a career. Mobility both within- and out of S&E is especially high during the first 16 years on the job. The effects of individual and job characteristics, research productivity, and labor market conditions on transitions are also assessed. |
| Keywords: | duration analysis, competing risks, science and technology workforce, high-skilled labor, occupational choices |
| JEL: | C41 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1137&r=lab |
| By: | Jeffrey Lin |
| Abstract: | Where does adaptation to innovation take place? The supply of educated workers and local industry structure matter for the subsequent location of new work–that is, new types of labor-market activities that closely follow innovation. Using census 2000 microdata, the author shows that regions with more college graduates and a more diverse industrial base in 1990 are more likely to attract these new activities. Across metropolitan areas, initial college share and industrial diversity account for 50% and 20%, respectively, of the variation in selection into new work unexplained by worker characteristics. He uses a novel measure of innovation output based on new activities identified in decennial revisions to the U.S. occupation classification system. New work follows innovation, but unlike patents, it also represents subsequent adaptations by production and labor to new technologies. Further, workers in new activities are more skilled, consistent with skill-biased technical change. |
| Keywords: | Human capital |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:07-25&r=lab |
| By: | Joachim R. Frick; Markus M. Grabka |
| Abstract: | Using data on annual individual labor income from three representative panel datasets (German SOEP, British BHPS, Australian HILDA) we investigate a) the selectivity of item non-response (INR) and b) the impact of imputation as a prominent post-survey means to cope with this type of measurement error on prototypical analyses (earnings inequality, mobility and wage regressions) in a cross-national setting. Given the considerable variation of INR across surveys as well as the varying degree of selectivity build into the missing process, there is substantive and methodological interest in an improved harmonization of (income) data production as well as of imputation strategies across surveys. All three panels make use of longitudinal information in their respective imputation procedures, however, there are marked differences in the implementation. Firstly, although the probability of INR is quantitatively similar across countries, our empirical investigation identifies cross-country differences with respect to the factors driving INR: survey-related aspects as well as indicators accounting for variability and complexity of labor income composition appear to be relevant. Secondly, longitudinal analyses yield a positive correlation of INR on labor income data over time and provide evidence of INR being a pre-dictor of subsequent unit-non-response, thus supporting the "cooperation continuum" hy-pothesis in all three panels. Thirdly, applying various mobility indicators there is a robust picture about earnings mobility being significantly understated using information from completely observed cases only. Finally, regression results for wage equations based on observed ("complete case analysis") vs. all cases and controlling for imputation status, indicate that individuals with imputed incomes, ceteris paribus, earn significantly above average in SOEP and HILDA, while this relationship is negative using BHPS data. However, once applying the very same imputation procedure used for HILDA and SOEP, namely the "row-and-column-imputation" approach suggested by Little & Su (1989), also to BHPS-data, this result is reversed, i.e., individuals in the BHPS whose income has been imputed earn above average as well. In our view, the reduction in cross-national variation resulting from sensitivity to the choice of imputation approaches underscores the importance of investing more in the improved cross-national harmonization of imputation techniques. |
| Keywords: | Item non-response, imputation, income inequality, income mobility, panel data, SOEP, BHPS, HILDA |
| JEL: | J31 C81 D33 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp736&r=lab |
| By: | Fatima Suleman (ISCTE - Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa - Universidade de Lisboa); Jean-Jacques Paul (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | The purpose is to provide some empirical evidence for promoting new insights into the economics of education. Particular attention is paid to the concept of competence and its influence on employee reward. The paper aims at comparing the impact on fixed earnings and flexible pay of the traditional human capital theory variables (education and experience) on the one hand and of specifically identified and assessed competences, on the other hand. <br />The objective is to test if the HCV (years of schooling, years of labour market experience) and competences substitute or complement each other in the definition of earnings. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital ; Remunerations ; Fixed earnings ; Flexible pay ; Education ; Professional Experience ; Competencies |
| Date: | 2007–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00181402_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Lopez-Pablos, Rodrigo A. |
| Abstract: | Exploring current literature which assess relations between cognitive ability and height, obesity, and its productivity-employability effect on women's labor market; we appraised the Argentine case to find these social-physical relations that involve anthropometric and traditional economic variables. Adapting an anthropometric Mincer approach by using probabilistic and censured econometric models which were developed for it. Have been found evidence that could be understood as existence of discriminative behavior on obese women to market entrance; besides, a good performance of women height as an unobserved approximation of cognitive ability measure to explain feminine productivity. |
| Keywords: | Height; Obesity; Anthropometric Mincer; Discrimination. |
| JEL: | I12 J24 C34 |
| Date: | 2007–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5385&r=lab |
| By: | Martine Rutten (Netherlands Ministry of Finance and Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to determine the macro-economic impacts of migration of skilled medical personnel from a receiving countryÕs perspective, taking the UK as an archetype OECD economy that imports medical services. The resource allocation issues have been explored in theory, by further developing the Rybczynski theorem and empirically, using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with an extended health component. The main finding is that importing foreign doctors and nurses into the UK yields higher overall welfare gains compared to a generic increase in the NHS budget. Welfare gains rise in the case of wage protection. |
| Keywords: | medical migration, immigrant health care workers, migrant nurses, migrant doctors |
| JEL: | F22 I1 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lnz:wpaper:20070804&r=lab |
| By: | Changhui Kang (Department of Economics, National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | The causal relationship between educational investments and student outcomes continues to attract attention. The majority of studies have examined the effectiveness of public school expenditures or private school attendance on student outcomes. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the effectiveness of an unexplored dimension of educational inputs—private tutoring expenditures of South Korean parents. In the face of difficulties in causal estimation, the paper employs a nonparametric bounding method that is recently gaining popularity. With the method we show that the true effect of private tutoring remains at most modest. The tightest bounds suggest that a 10 percent increase in expenditure raises a student's test score by 0.764 percent at the largest. Such a modest effect remains similar across male and female students, and across students of different ability levels. |
| Keywords: | Private Tutoring, Test Scores, Nonparametric Bounds, South Korea |
| JEL: | I20 C30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nus:nusewp:wp0707&r=lab |
| By: | Adriana Sánchez Hugalde (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB); Universitat de Barcelona (UB)) |
| Abstract: | This empirical work studies the influence of immigrant students on individuals’ school choice in one of the most populated regions in Spain: Catalonia. It has estimated, following the Poisson model, the probability that a certain school, which immigrant students are already attending, may be chosen by natives as well as by immigrants, respectively. The information provided by the Catalonia School Department presents school characteristics of all the primary and secondary schools in Catalonia during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 school years. The results obtained support the evidence that Catalonia native families avoid schools attended by immigrants. Natives certainly prefer not to interact with immigrants. Private schools are more successful in avoiding immigrants. Finally, the main reason for non-natives’ choice is the presence of other non-natives in the same school. |
| Keywords: | School Choice, Immigration |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2007/4/doc2007-4&r=lab |
| By: | Baranowska, Anna; Bukowski, Maciej; Bober, Magda; Lewandowski, Piotr; Magda, Iga; Sarzalska, Malgorzata; Szydlowski, Arkadiusz; Zawistowski, Julian |
| Abstract: | This book constitutes a follow-up and extension of Employment in Poland 2005. In this issue we analyse the influence of demand-side factors on Polish labour market and especially so from the macroeconomic and regional perspectives. We begin with macroeconomic look at the labour markets in eight – out of ten – states which joined the EU in 2004. We focus on identifying aggregate disturbances which had a crucial influence on the economic fluctuations within the CEE region in the period 1994-2005, and we assess to what extent these disturbances are responsible for different dynamics of unemployment and employment trends in the examined countries and to what extent different fiscal and monetary approaches adopted at that time contributed to remedy these disturbances. The key finding resulting is that the relatively most significant decrease in employment and increase in unemployment levels in Europe, which came about in Poland after the year 2000, are due to the idiosyncratic decrease in return on capital and total factor productivity [TFP] dynamics. We also find that, although the policy-mix adopted in the above period was not the direct cause for the slowdown, its role in accommodating the shock was probably moderately negative. Then we study regional differences in the labour market in Poland in the period 2000-2005. We analyse aggregate data and identify microeconomic factors affecting trends in job creation and destruction. We group the NUTS4 regions in Poland in six homogenous clusters and find that in the period 2000-2005 no significant changes in the labour market indicators occurred either between clusters or between voivodeships (NUTS2 regions). This is so because the direction and depth of fluctuations on the regional scale were generally shaped by aggregate shocks which affected the economy as a whole. Moreover, the above period saw a greater differentiation in terms of productivity and thus, in most parts of Poland, increasing employment and unemployment rates are due to the development of labour-intensive manufacturing. We argue that only the largest urban conglomerations in Poland have adopted the development model which supports high economic growth in medium and long term. In third part of the study we focus on spatial mobility of Polish workers. In case of both internal and international migrations we demonstrate that economic factors determine significantly decisions about changing place of residence and that the key incentive to migrate is higher wages in the destination location and a relatively worse situation in the labour market in the region of origin. We also estimate the scale of international migration from Poland, which indicate that the number of people who stayed abroad for more than two months in the year 2005 was higher by approximately 165,000-379,000 people than before EU accession, due to one-time increase in migration flows. Moreover, we point out that international migration is mostly seasonal and that emigrants retain strong ties with their homeland. As for internal migration, we argue that its aggregate intensity is relatively modest and we emphasise that although in general the population moves from smaller to larger conglomerates, the limited scale of these movements makes the progress in urbanisation being slow and agglomerations less numerous than in other EU member states. In the long run, this may constitute an obstacle for real convergence to the most developed EU countries. Finally we scrutinize work in the non-observed economy (NOE) in Poland. According to various methodologies we asses the NOE output at 15-30 per cent of the GDP, and we find that the main reasons behind the existence of the grey economy in Poland are overly burdensome fiscal policy and excessively restrictive economic regulations. We close the report with demonstrating links between areas we studied and implications for labour market and economic policy in Poland. |
| Keywords: | Poland; unemployment; employment; transition countries; labour market shocks; unemployment persistance; regional disparities; labour migration; informal employment |
| JEL: | J23 E24 R23 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5524&r=lab |
| By: | Tom Mwebaze |
| Abstract: | Despite the prevalence and the many dangers associated with child labour, the phenomenon has received the attention of researchers, academicians and policy makers only recently, and not until International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates showed a large and increasing number of working children worldwide. It is now recognized that in order to combat child labour effectively, policies should be grounded in an informed understanding of its causes, roles and implications. This study uses data from the 1992, 1999 and 2002 Uganda National Household Surveys to explore the extent, determinants and forms of child labour in a poor but growing economy. Of note here is that over this period Uganda introduced universal and compulsory primary education. The study highlights the extent, characteristics and determinants of child labour in Uganda and their evolution over the decade. The theoretical framework is a standard household production model that analyses the allocation of time within the household. Using probit and tobit models, we estimate the determinants of child labour for the individual child worker. The results indicate that child labour is still common, widespread and starts at an early age in Uganda, although it has reduced significantly over the years. Education and formal employment of the household head significantly decrease the probability that a child will work. Household welfare is another indicator of child labour, as poor households are more likely to have working children. A comparison of the three data sets reveals an increase in the percentage of children combining work and study over time. Nevertheless, the likelihood of child labour increases with the age of the child. The findings provide important results for informing policies to reduce, and possibly eliminate, child labour in the country. |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:rpaper:rp_167&r=lab |
| By: | John M. Maheu (University of Toronto, Canada and The Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, Rimini, Italy.); Thomas H. McCurdy (University of Toronto, Canada) |
| Abstract: | We provide an approach to forecasting the long-run (unconditional) distribution of equity returns making optimal use of historical data in the presence of structural breaks. Our focus is on learning about breaks in real time and assessing their impact on out-of-sample density forecasts. Forecasts use a probability-weighted average of submodels, each of which is estimated over a different historyof data. The paper illustrates the importance of uncertainty about structural breaks and the value of modeling higher-order moments of excess returns when forecasting the return distribution and its moments. The shape of the long-run distribution and the dynamics of the higher-order moments are quite different from those generated by forecasts which cannot capture structural breaks. The empirical results strongly reject ignoring structural change in favor of our forecasts which weight historical data to accommodate uncertainty about structural breaks. We also strongly reject the common practice of using a fixed-length moving window. These differences in long-run forecasts have implications for many financial decisions, particularly for risk management and long-run investment decisions. |
| Keywords: | density forecasts, structural change, model risk, parameter uncertainty, Bayesian learning, market returns |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:19-07&r=lab |
| By: | Head, Charles Keith; Mayer, Thierry; Ries, John |
| Abstract: | Advances in communication technology make it possible for workers in India to supply business services to head offices located anywhere. This has the potential to put high-wage workers in direct competition with much lower paid Indian workers. Service trade, however, like goods trade, is subject to strong distance effects, implying that the remote supply of services remains limited. We investigate this proposition by deriving a gravity-like equation for service trade and estimating it for a large sample of countries and different categories of service trade. We find that distance costs are high but are declining over time. Our estimates suggest that delivery costs create a significant advantage for local workers relative to competing workers in distant countries. |
| Keywords: | distance; gravity; services; trade |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F15 F16 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6542&r=lab |
| By: | Craig A. Depken, II (Department of Economics, University of North Carolina - Charlotte); Lisa E. Haglund (Department of Economics, University of Texas at Arlington) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether disparity in team member quality impacts team production using NCAA 4x400m relay teams. The net peer effects are estimated to have both an absolute and relative negative effect on the team performance. Because NCAA relay teams are comprised of unpaid amateurs, we utilize a direct measure of team-member quality rather than indirect measures such as wages. The evidence suggests that a greater disparity in team member quality reduces team performance, that is, it increases a relay team’s running time. This suggests that net negative peer effects exist and support the “team cohesiveness hypothesis” for NCAA relay teams. |
| Keywords: | teamwork, shirking, track and field, sports |
| JEL: | J31 L20 L83 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:0729&r=lab |
| By: | Karlsson, Sune (Örebro University); Lundin, Nannan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Sjöholm, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); He, Ping (National Bureau of Statistics of China) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of FDI on job creation in the Chinese manufacturing sector. As one of the world’s largest recipients of FDI, China has arguably benefited from foreign multinational enterprises in various respects. However, one of the main challenges for China, and other developing countries, is job-creation, and the effect of FDI on job creation is uncertain. The effect depends on the amount of jobs created within foreign firms as well as the effect of FDI on job creation in domestic firms. We analyze FDI and job creation in China using a large sample of manufacturing firms for the period 1998-2004. Our results show that FDI has positive effects on employment growth. The positive effect of job creation in foreign firms is associated with their firm characteristics and, in particular, their access to export markets. There also seems to be a positive indirect effect on job creation in domestically owned firms, presumably caused by spillovers. |
| Keywords: | China; Employment; Foreign Direct Investment; Job Creation |
| JEL: | F23 J21 J23 |
| Date: | 2007–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0723&r=lab |
| By: | John Smith (Rutgers University-Camden) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we propose a theory of cognitive dissonance through imperfect memory. Cognitive dissonance is the tendency of a person to engage in self justification after a decision. We offer an interpretation of the single decision cognitive dissonance experiments: an agent has an unknown cost of effort and before the decision receives a private signal of the cost of effort, which is subsequently forgotten. Following the decision, the agent makes an inference regarding the content of this signal based on the publicly available information: the action taken and the wage paid. We explore the implications of this interpretation in a setting requiring a decision of effort in two periods. A preference for increasing payments naturally emerges from our model. With the auxiliary assumption that obtaining wage income requires an unknown cost of effort and obtaining rental income requires a known, zero cost of effort, our results provide an explanation for the experimental findings of Loewenstein and Sicherman (1991). These authors find evidence of stronger preferences for increasing "income from wages" rather than "income from rent." Our model makes the novel prediction that this preference for increasing payments will only occur when the contracts are neither very likely nor very unlikely to cover the cost of effort. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive Dissonance, Increasing Payments, Imperfect Memory, Imperfect Recall, Self-Perception Theory |
| JEL: | C73 D81 |
| Date: | 2007–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rut:rutres:200705&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Ksoll |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of orphanhood on health and education outcomes of children in Tanzania. Using an original dataset on members of the extended family networks of orphaned children, I assess by how much the effects of orphanhood are reduced due to a systematic placement of the orphans within the family network. I find that orphanhood has significant negative impacts on female orphans` welfare in terms of health and education, not however for male orphans. I then provide evidence that the selection of caretakers reduces the negative impact of orphanhood on years of education by one year relative to caretaking by the average family within the family network. |
| Keywords: | Orphans, Extended Family, Caregiving, Tanzania |
| JEL: | O15 D10 I3 J12 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:361&r=lab |
| By: | Samuel Berlinski (University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Sebastian Galiani (Washington University); Marco Manacorda (Queen Mary, University of London, CEP (LSE) and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of pre-primary education on children's subsequent school outcomes by exploiting a unique feature of the Uruguayan household survey (ECH) that collects retrospective information on preschool attendance in the context of a rapid expansion in the supply of pre-primary places. Using a within household estimator, we find small gains from preschool attendance at early ages that magnify as children grow up. By age 15, treated children have accumulated 0.8 extra years of education and are 27 percentage points more likely to be in school compared to their untreated siblings. Instrumental variables estimates that control for non random selection of siblings into pre-school lead to similar results. We speculate that early grade repetition harms subsequent school progression and that pre-primary education appears as a successful policy option to prevent early grade failure and its long lasting consequences. |
| Keywords: | Preschool, Pre-primary education, Primary school performance |
| JEL: | I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp618&r=lab |
| By: | Vincenzo Caponi (Ryerson University, Canada and IZA and The Rimini Centre for Economics Analysis, Rimini, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | Building on Borjas (1993) I develop an intergenerational model of self-selection of migration and education that allows for a more complex selection mechanism. In particular, it allows for the possibility that immigrants are selected differently depending on the schooling level they choose. As in Mayer (2005) I assume that agents are endowed with two abilities and use the intergenerational structure of the model to infer potential earnings of a person for different levels of education and in different countries. This makes it possible to quantify the ability or self selection bias of estimates of the return to education and migration. The model is estimated using data on Mexicans in the US from the CPS and on Mexicans residents in Mexico from the Mexican census. The findings are that there is a significant loss of human capital faced by immigrants that is not transmitted to their children. While immigrants are observed to earn less because they find it difficult to adapt their skills to the host country, their children earn more because they can inherit all the abilities of their parents, including that part that could not be used for producing earnings. Moreover, Mayer (2005) proves that the positive correlation between the two abilities creates a positive correlation between parentsÕ earnings and the probability that children attend college. In this paper, I find that this result is reinforced for migrants when they care about their children. In the case of immigrants, parents with larger amounts of intellectual ability tend to migrate more and tend to choose to remain high school educated. However, they migrate with the expectation of their children becoming college educated. Therefore, measures that rely on the earnings performance and educational attainment of immigrants underestimate the amount of human capital they bring into the host country. |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:20-07&r=lab |
| By: | Landvoigt, Tim; Muehler, Grit; Pfeiffer, Friedhelm |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between kindergarten attendance and secondary school track choice in West-Germany. Our analysis is based on a panel of 12 to 14-year olds with information from age two on, drawn from the German SocioEconomic Panel (GSOEP) 1984–2005. We estimate binary probit models to assess the impact of the duration (in years) and the intensity (half-day or full-day) of kindergarten attendance. Our results indicate that kindergarten non-attendance is associated with a significantly lower probability to attend the highest secondary school track (“Gymnasium”). Further, full-day attendance is associated with a decreasing probability of attending the highest secondary school track for every duration of preschool child care. Thus, intensity seems to matter more than duration. |
| Keywords: | kindergarten, preschool education, school placement |
| JEL: | I21 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:6354&r=lab |
| By: | Eklund, Jana (Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics); Karlsson, Sune (Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics) |
| Abstract: | Large scale Bayesian model averaging and variable selection exercises present, <p> despite the great increase in desktop computing power, considerable computational <p> challenges. Due to the large scale it is impossible to evaluate all possible models and <p> estimates of posterior probabilities are instead obtained from stochastic (MCMC) <p> schemes designed to converge on the posterior distribution over the model space. <p> While this frees us from the requirement of evaluating all possible models the computational <p> effort is still substantial and efficient implementation is vital. Efficient <p> implementation is concerned with two issues: the efficiency of the MCMC algorithm <p> itself and efficient computation of the quantities needed to obtain a draw from the <p> MCMC algorithm. We evaluate several different MCMC algorithms and find that <p> relatively simple algorithms with local moves perform competitively except possibly <p> when the data is highly collinear. For the second aspect, efficient computation <p> within the sampler, we focus on the important case of linear models where the computations <p> essentially reduce to least squares calculations. Least squares solvers that <p> update a previous model estimate are appealing when the MCMC algorithm makes <p> local moves and we find that the Cholesky update is both fast and accurate. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian Model Averaging; Sweep operator; Cholesky decomposition; QR decomposition; Swendsen-Wang algorithm |
| JEL: | C11 C15 C52 C63 |
| Date: | 2007–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2007_004&r=lab |
| By: | Branko Milanovic; Peter H. Lindert; Jeffrey G. Williamson |
| Abstract: | Is inequality largely the result of the Industrial Revolution? Or, were pre-industrial incomes and life expectancies as unequal as they are today? For want of sufficient data, these questions have not yet been answered. This paper infers inequality for 14 ancient, pre-industrial societies using what are known as social tables, stretching from the Roman Empire 14 AD, to Byzantium in 1000, to England in 1688, to Nueva España around 1790, to China in 1880 and to British India in 1947. It applies two new concepts in making those assessments -- what we call the inequality possibility frontier and the inequality extraction ratio. Rather than simply offering measures of actual inequality, we compare the latter with the maximum feasible inequality (or surplus) that could have been extracted by the elite. The results, especially when compared with modern poor countries, give new insights in to the connection between inequality and economic development in the very long run. |
| JEL: | D3 N3 O1 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13550&r=lab |
| By: | Faly Hery Rakotomanana (GED, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | Cette étude propose de contribuer au débat sur l’influence sur le bonheur individuel de l’exercice d’une activité dans le secteur informel. Ce thème est d’importance capital pour la mise en œuvre et le suivi du « Madagascar Action Plan », le programme quinquennal de développement de Madagascar, où le développement du secteur privé, en général, et la promotion des activités génératrices de revenus, en particulier, figurent parmi les principaux engagements à tenir. Les résultats de l’étude remettent en cause le fait stylisé avancé par la plupart de la littérature dans ce domaine quant à l’influence négative sur le bonheur individuel de l’exercice d’une activité dans le secteur informel. Les informations descriptives montrent que, malgré les difficultés rencontrées par les travailleurs informels, notamment le sous-emploi, l’installation dans ce secteur n’est pas subie mais largement volontaire, les travailleurs ayant un fort ancrage et un optimisme inébranlable quand à l’avenir de leurs activités. Les résultats économétriques confirment que l’exercice d’un travail dans le secteur informel ne diminue pas systématiquement le niveau de bonheur individuel. Si l’accès au secteur public fournit une forte satisfaction aux travailleurs, les situations entre le secteur privé formel et le secteur informel ne diffèrent pas de façon significative. Par contre, le passage de la situation d’inactivité vers le secteur informel s’accompagne d’une dégradation du niveau de bonheur individuel, en particulier chez les femmes. The present study examines the impact on happiness of the participation in informal sector activity. This topic is very important for the execution and the follow-up of « Madagascar Action Plan »: the national development policy, in which the private sector development, in general, and the promotion of income generating activities, in particular, represent among the mains commitments. The study results invalidate the stylized fact of the negative impact of the informal activity on happiness concluded by most of the literature. Descriptive statistics show that, in spite of difficulties incurred by informal workers, the installation in the informal sector is largely voluntary without constraints, and informal workers are optimist as for the future of their activities. The econometric results confirm that the informal job exercise doesn’t decrease systematically the happiness. If the access to the public sector gives more satisfaction to workers, significantly, there is no difference on happiness level between workers in private formal sector and informal sector. However, inactivity situation generates more happiness than a job in informal sector, particularly for women. (Full text in french) |
| JEL: | I31 O17 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mon:ceddtr:139&r=lab |
| By: | Maoz, Yishay |
| Abstract: | Since 1950, the quantity of working hours has been decreasing over time both in the U.S. and in the main European economies. The European economies have started this mutual decline process with longer working hours than in the U.S., but have ended it with less working hours than the U.S. This article presents a model in which this dynamic pattern for the joint dynamics of their working hours is shared by two economies that differ only in the weight that their individuals put on leisure in their utility function and are identical in every other respect. |
| Keywords: | Working hours; Economic Growth |
| JEL: | O40 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5467&r=lab |
| By: | Bert M. Balk (CEPA - School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | The measurement of productivity change (or difference) is usually based on models that make use of strong assumptions such as competitive behaviour and constant returns to scale. This survey discusses the basics of productivity measurement and shows that one can dispense with most if not all the usual, neoclassical assumptions. By virtue of its structural features, the measurement model is applicable to individual establishments and aggregates such as industries, sectors, or economies. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uqcepa:27&r=lab |
| By: | Karsten Hank; Stephanie Stuck |
| Abstract: | Objectives - Taking a cross-national comparative perspective, we investigate linkages between volunteer work, informal helping, and caring among Europeans aged 50 or older: Is the relationship between these activities characterized by complementarity or by substitution? Is there evidence for the existence of (unobserved) personality traits that foster engagement independent of a specific activity? Methods - Based on 27,305 personal interviews from the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we estimate univariate and multivariate probit models, which allow us to analyze the interrelationship between different productive activities and the derterminants of individuals' engagement therein. Results - There is substantial variation in the participation in volunteering, helping, and caring between countries and regions. Independent of the general level of activity in a country, we find evidence for a complementary and interdependent relationship between all three activities. Discussion - Our findings not only suggest an important role of societal opportunity structures in elders' productive engagement, but they also support recent notions of the existence of a general motivation for engagement in productive activities, independent of a specific domain of activity. Thus, the study of motivations should be an important aspect of future research on productive aging. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp733&r=lab |
| By: | Erin Kepler; Scott Shane |
| Abstract: | This report describes a statistical evaluation of the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs and their ventures. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the extent to which entrepreneurship by men and women is different. Using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, the sample included 685 new business people who indicated that they were in the process of starting a business in 1998 or 1999. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sba:wpaper:07ekss&r=lab |
| By: | Andres Hervas-Drane (Harvard Business School and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); ; |
| Abstract: | I present a model where consumers face a search problem within a pool of heterogeneous experience goods supplied by a monopolist. Consumers are endowed with a taste profile that determines their probability of matching with any given product, but arrive to the market uninformed and cannot identify which products are more likely to yield a match. Consumers may search for a match by drawing products from the assortment or by seeking recommendations from other consumers. Product evaluations prior to purchase and recommendations are both shown to arise endogenously, increasing consumer participation and the concentration of sales. Introducing taste heterogeneity reveals that such effects are more pronounced for consumers endowed with the prevalent taste in the population. Insights are derived on the mechanisms driving concentration in artistic markets, the impact of recommender systems such as those implemented by Amazon and other online retailers, and their implications for the Long Tail debate. The model is suited for markets where product choices are driven by taste, such as music, cinema, literature and video game entertainment. |
| Keywords: | Taste, Search, Product Recommendations, Sales Concentration, Long Tail |
| JEL: | C78 D42 D83 L15 M31 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:0741&r=lab |
| By: | Benoît, Jean-Pierre; Dubra, Juan |
| Abstract: | Many studies have shown that people display an apparent overconfidence. In particular, it is common for a majority of people to describe themselves as better-than-average. The literature takes for granted that this better-than-average is problematic. We argue, however, that, even accepting these studies on their own terms, there is nothing at all wrong with a strict majority of people rating themselves above the median. |
| Keywords: | Overconfidence; Irrationality; Signalling Models; Better than average. |
| JEL: | D83 D12 D11 |
| Date: | 2007–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5505&r=lab |
| By: | Bover, Olympia; Jimeno, Juan Francisco |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade house prices increased remarkably in many countries. However, while in several countries there was an employment boom in the construction sector, in others the share of employment in this sector did not significantly change. In this paper we estimate a model of labour demand in the construction sector, featuring building constraints, which explains many of the international differences in the response of sectoral reallocation of employment to house prices. Countries with more building possibilities (Spain, Sweden and the US) have a high sectoral reallocation of employment, and display larger elasticities of labour demand in the construction sector with respect to house prices than countries that seem to have fewer building possibilities (Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK). Nevertheless, our estimates imply that, for the whole economy, the elasticity of labour demand with respect to house prices is broadly similar across countries. |
| Keywords: | House prices; labour demand; sectoral reallocation of labour |
| JEL: | J23 R32 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6543&r=lab |
| By: | Meyer, Jenny |
| Abstract: | For the first time data of German ICT and knowledge intensive service providers are used to analyze the relation between the age structure of the workforce and the probability of adopting new technologies. The results show that firms with a higher share of younger employees are more likely to adopt new technologies and the older the workforce the less likely is the adoption of new technologies. Furthermore the results exhibit that the age structure of the workforce should be accompanied by appropriate workplace organization. A part of the firms which enhanced teamwork or flattened their hierarchies are actually more likely to adopt new technologies and software when they have a higher share of older employees whereas they are less likely to introduce new technologies if they have a higher share of younger employees. |
| Keywords: | age structure of the workforce, adoption of new technologies, ICT intensive services |
| JEL: | J14 O31 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:6353&r=lab |