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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Guertzgen, Nicole |
| Abstract: | Using a large linked employer-employee data set, this paper studies the relationship between job reallocation, worker reallocation and the flexibility of wages in western German manufacturing. Using the plant-specific residual wage dispersion as a proxy for wage flexibility, we find that more flexible wages are associated with less job reallocation due to demand shocks being absorbed by wage rather than by quantity adjustments. As to excess worker reallocation, our results provide evidence of a significant positive relationship between excess worker flows and residual wage dispersion. Consistent with the hypothesis that more flexible wages should help employers in dissolving bad matches, this relationship is found to be most pronounced for low-quality workers. In interacting our measure of wage flexibility with the degree of plantspecific employment protection we find that less stringent firing practices may considerably reduce the need for more flexible wages in order to attain optimal worker-firm matches. |
| Keywords: | Job Reallocation, Worker Reallocation, Wage Dispersion |
| JEL: | J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7008&r=lab |
| By: | Øivind A. Nilsen, Arvid Raknerud, Marina Rybalka and Terje Skjerpen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Most studies of heterogeneous labor inputs use classifications of high skilled and low skilled based on workers' educational attainment. In this study we explore a wage-based skill measure using information from a wage equation. Evidence from matched employer--employee data show that skill is attributable to many variables other than educational length, for instance experience and type of education. Applying our wage-based skill measure to a TFP growth analysis, we find that the TFP residual decreases, indicating that more of the change in value-added is picked up by our skill measure than when using a purely education-based measure of skill |
| Keywords: | Skill composition; wages; TFP |
| JEL: | J31 D24 C23 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:531&r=lab |
| By: | Anna M. Falzoni; Alessandra Venturini; Claudia Villosio |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use individual micro data on workers combined with industry and regional data to study the wage dynamics of skilled and unskilled workers in Italy in the period 1991-1998. Being different to previous empirical studies, our data allow us to explore in a unique framework the role of many of the factors indicated in the literature as possible causes of the widening of the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers: changes in the individual characteristics of workers, changes in the institutions of the labour market, increasing international integration and skill-biased technological progress. Our results show that international integration, both in terms of trade in goods and in terms of international labour mobility, plays a role in determining the wage dynamics of skilled (white collar) and of unskilled (blue collar) workers. In addition, in line with the research in labour economics, our findings show that the individual characteristics of workers, and the institutional variables matter more in explaining skilled and unskilled wage dynamics than differential wage one. |
| Keywords: | Skilled and unskilled wages, individual characteristics, labour market institutions, international trade. |
| JEL: | J31 F16 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:61&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Serti |
| Abstract: | Administrative data from INPS (Italian Institute for Social Security) on Italian high tenure workers job-histories (15 years, from 1985 to 1999) is used to quantify the temporal pattern of the effect of displacement on workers’ earnings, employment and wages. Moreover, I distinguish different groups of displaced workers (with respect the timing of displacement and its cause) and I also propose a picture of the consequences of displacement with respect to workers’ personal and firm-related characteristics. I take into account unobserved heterogeneity by using an unobserved effects linear panel data model. |
| Keywords: | Displacements, mass-layoffs, earnings, employment, wages. |
| JEL: | J65 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:66&r=lab |
| By: | Seamus McGuinness (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)); Frances McGinnity (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)); Philip J. O'Connell (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)) |
| Abstract: | Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” years saw GDP per capita rise from 60% of the EU average to 120% of the average over the course of the 1990s, with a growth in employment of about 40% over the period 1994-2001. What were the consequences of the boom for returns to education and wage inequality? This paper uses data from the Living in Ireland Survey for 1994, 1997 and 2001 to examine wage inequality, the returns to education and the relative demand for labour for men and women. Theories of skilled-biased technical change suggest that the rapid period of economic growth experienced in Ireland will have been accompanied by a rise in the relative demand for skilled labour that will, in turn, have led to rising wage inequality. However, this is not the case for this period. We find fairly stable returns to education and falling wage inequality for men throughout the period, partly explained by a rapid growth in demand for unskilled labour, which helped maintain low-skilled wages. For women we find some fall in the wage premium to a university degree and falling wage inequality in the period 1997-2001. We argue that for women, low-skilled wages were kept up by the introduction of the minimum wage in 2000, and high skilled wages fell due to a rapid rise in the supply of highly qualified women. The Irish example shows that skill-biased technical change theory needs to take account of both the specific changes in the nature of labour demand and the nature and extent of concomitant changes in labour supply. |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp227&r=lab |
| By: | Inés Terra (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Marisa Bucheli (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Carmen Estrades (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the gender differentiated impacts of trade openness in Uruguay using a gender aware CGE model with endogenous labor supply and a home production function. We simulate complete trade liberalization and an increase in tariffs to the level of 1994. Trade liberalization increases female employment and wages, reducing the gender wage gap. These findings are consistent with Çagatay (2001) and Fofana et al (2003). The effect of trade openness on time distribution of workers is different by skills. Skilled workers, mainly women, reduce time spent in leisure and domestic work increasing labor supply. In contrast, unskilled workers increase leisure time, especially men. Trade openness leads to a more equitable distribution of time spent in domestic work. When there is a more imperfect substitution among genders in the home production function, women reduce more leisure time. The increase in tariff to the level of 1994 has the opposite results. |
| Keywords: | trade openness, gender, general equilibrium model, home production, leisure, wage curve |
| JEL: | D13 J16 J22 F16 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:2407&r=lab |
| By: | Fabio Berton; Francesco Devicienti; Lia Pacelli |
| Abstract: | We use a 1998 - 2004 sample from WHIP in order to study the labor market transitions of young entrants. We consider seven labor market tates: permanent and temporary employment, apprenticeship, training pogrammes, self employment, quasi subordinate jobs and unemployment. After controlling for individual ?xed e¤ects in a dynamic multinomial logit framework, we ?nd that heterogeneity partially explains workers' sorting among the contracts. State dependence exists in all the labor market states, but CFLs, apprenticeship and temporary jobs also represent a port of entry towards permanent employment. Length: 22 pages |
| Keywords: | temporary jobs, port of entry, state dependence |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:68&r=lab |
| By: | Monica Galizzi |
| Abstract: | The correlation between real wages and aggregate employment growth has beenthe object of several empirical studies conducted with both aggregate and micro data.Despite the new availability of linked employer-employee data, however, we still havelimited empirical evidence [Belzil, 2000] to describe how real wage cyclicality can beexplained by what happens between workers and employers at the firm level. Thispaper makes a contribution by making use of Italian data to explore whether a posi-tive relationship between wage growth and employment growth is induced mainly byan establishment effect or by an industry effect, at least as long as these effects aremeasured in terms of employment changes.As in the case of wage cyclicality studies, this research takes into account theconsequences that a composition effect can have on the factors that affect the employeeearnings in each establishment. When a firm is growing, as well as in the growthphase of a cycle, new workers enter the job market. They are traditionally low-skillemployees or young people or previously “discouraged” workers. They earn low wages,and so lower the average wage in the firm. This can explain the negative or insignifi-cant correlation between real wages and employment level that has been found inseveral studies conducted at the aggregate level. For the first time, this study teststhe existence of a composition bias with firm-level data where both employment andwage growth can be measured for each establishment. Checking whether employ-ment growth, within firms and within sectors, differently affects the change in thefirm’s average wage or the mean of the individual wage changes does this.This research makes use of 1981-83 records for a sample of Italian firms. Informa-tion about each establishment is combined with information about its employees. Thestudy explores cases in which firms are experiencing an employment decline, an employ-ment increase, or no more than the national rate of labor turnover. The same analy-sis is conducted for categories of workers that, within the same firm, differ because ofjob qualifications or gender.The paper is organized as follows: part 2 presents some of the theories concerningthe relationship between wage changes and employment growth. It also illustratesthe problem of a possible composition bias. Part 3 presents the empirical framework.Part 4 describes the data set used for the estimations. Part 5 discusses the results.The conclusions summarize the major findings. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:64&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Disney (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Nottingham); Amanda Gosling (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | <p>The paper estimates public sector wage differentials and their changes over time for men and women in the United Kingdom using panel data from the New Earnings Survey/Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for the period 1975 to 2006. It presents estimates that are robust to unobserved workforce characteristics and that also show the impact of policy changes and cyclical factors, by allowing the average measured public sector 'premium' or 'penalty' to be time-varying. The methodology also allows us to examine the extent to which discrepancies in public and private sector pay induce changing relative qualities of the sectoral workforces. </p><p> </p><p>Results are given for men and women comparing mean wages in the public and private sectors as a whole. There is, on average, a very small positive premium over the whole period for public sector women and a very small penalty for men; however the variability of the differential is much more striking than the average difference. </p><p> </p><p>The method can also be applied to sub-groups in the labour market, and we illustrate the case of female public sector nurses and midwives, where the comparison group are private sector workers who have ever been, or will be, public sector nurses or midwives. Measured variations in this nurses' differential reflects the various changes in pay structure and government pay policies over the period; it is striking however that in the last decade, the 'raw' differential accruing to public sector nurses and midwives has declined almost continuously, whereas the composition and quality-adjusted differential shows no overall trend. </p> |
| JEL: | J31 J58 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:08/02&r=lab |
| By: | Hallberg, Daniel (Institute for Future Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the way in which labor market fluctuations affect the transition to early retirement among older employees in Sweden via the practice of negotiated pensions. The results indicate that downturns (upturns) in aggregated industry employment increases (decreases) the probability of early retirement. This result is driven by the public sector; in general the evidence is much weaker in the private sector. The results also suggest that the replacement levels immediately after early retirement are higher during declining as well as expanding industry employment. The results support an interpretation that 1) the employer and employee agreed on special early retirement pensions, and 2) that these were used in order to persuade older employees to quit voluntarily, but also that they worked to reward older employees. |
| Keywords: | Retirement; fluctuating markets; buy-outs; demand for old workers |
| JEL: | J14 J21 J23 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–01–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_002&r=lab |
| By: | Thierry Debrand (IRDES institut for research and information in health economics); Pascale Lengagne (IRDES institut for research and information in health economics) |
| Abstract: | Working conditions have greatly evolved in recent decades in developed countries. This evolution has been accompanied with the appearance of new forms of work organisation that may be sources of stress and health risk for older workers. As populations are ageing, these issues are particularly worrying in terms of the health, labour force participation and Social Security expenditure. This paper focuses on the links between quality of employment and the health of older workers, using the Share 2004 survey. Our research is based on two classical models: the Demand-Control model of Karasek and Theorell (1991) and the Effort-Reward Imbalance model of Siegrist (1996), which highlight three main dimensions: Demand that reflects perceived physical pressure and stress due to a heavy work load; Control that refers to decision latitude at work and the possibilities to develop new skills; and Reward that corresponds to the feeling of receiving a correct salary relatively to efforts made, of having prospects for personal progress and receiving deserved recognition. These models also take into account the notion of support in difficult situations at work and the feeling of job security. Our estimations show that the health status of older workers is related to these factors. Fairly low demand levels and a good level of reward are associated with a good health status, for both men and women. Control only influences the health status of women. Lastly, the results reveal the importance on health of a lack of support at work and the feeling of job insecurity; regardless of gender; these two factors are particularly related to the risk of depression. Thus health status and working conditions are important determinants of the labour force participation of older workers. |
| Keywords: | Working conditions, Health, Older Workers |
| JEL: | I10 J28 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irh:wpaper:dt8&r=lab |
| By: | Nils Hesse (Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg); Fernanda Rivas (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | In times of increasing international competition firms demand concessions from employees to carry out necessary restructuring measures, which can partly be resisted by workers, whose behavior at work can not be fully contracted upon. At the same time, management compensations are perceived as too high by the majority of the population. In our paper we explore to what extent these two observations are related. In a two-level gift-exchange experiment it is asked if the managerial compensation influences workers' effort decisions and workers' willingness to accept wage cuts. We compare sessions in which the managerial compensation is public information with private information sessions. Our data suggests that the managerial compensations in public wage sessions are signiffcantly negatively correlated with the workers' effort choices -in particular after wage cuts. The profit-maximizing strategy for the firm is to compress wages when the managerial compensation is public information. |
| Keywords: | managerial compensation, social preferences, laboratory experiment, gift-exchange, e¤ort, downsizing |
| JEL: | C92 J33 M12 M52 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:2307&r=lab |
| By: | Leila Maron (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Danièle Meulders (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we aim to study the impact of the presence of young children in the home on mother's and father's employment patterns. The results show that motherhood has an important and negative impact on labour market participation both in terms of part-time and inactivity and the child effect decreases with the age of the youngest child. As far as men are concerned, regression results show that the link between fatherhood and men's hours worked tends to be reversed in comparison with women (fathers work more hours than their childless counterparts) and suggest that men assume their good-provider role. |
| Keywords: | parenthood, female participation, labour market conditionsdual-earner couples, work effort |
| JEL: | J13 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:08-05rs&r=lab |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of business registration regulation on economic activity using micro-level data. The identification strategy exploits the fact that a recent business registration reform in Mexico wa s introduced in different municipalities at different points in time. Using panel data from the Mexican employment survey, I find that the reform increased the number of registered businesses by 5 percent in eligible industries. This increase was due to former wage earners opening businesses. Former unregistered business owners were not more likely to register their business after the reform. Moreover, employment in eligible industries went up by 2.8 percent, and people who were previously unemployed or out of the labor force were more likely to work as wage earners after the reform. Finally, the results imply that the competition from new entrants lowered prices by 0.6 percent and decreased the income of incumbent businesses by 3.2 percent. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,,Labor Policies,Competitiveness and Competition Policy,Business Environment |
| Date: | 2008–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4538&r=lab |
| By: | Monica Costa Dias (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Hidehiko Ichimura (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Tokyo); Gerard J.van den Berg |
| Abstract: | <p><p><p>The matching method for treatment evaluation does not balance selective unobserved differences between treated and non-treated. We derive a simple correction term if there is an instrument that shifts the treatment probability to zero in specific cases. Policies with eligibility restrictions,where treatment is impossible if some variable exceeds a certain value, provide a natural application. In an empirical analysis, we first examine the performance of matching versus regression-discontinuity estimation in the sharp age-discontinuity design of the NDYP job search assistance program for young unemployed in the UK. Next, we exploit the age eligibility restriction in the Swedish Youth Practice subsidized work program for young unemployed, where compliance is imperfect among the young. Adjusting the matching estimator for selectivity changes the results towards ineffectiveness of subsidized work in moving individuals into employment.</p></p></p> |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:33/07&r=lab |
| By: | Samuel Mühlemann (Institute of Economics, University of Berne); Marc Blatter (Institute of Economics, University of Berne); Samuel Schenker (Institute of Economics, University of Berne) |
| Abstract: | The shape of adjustment costs in factor demand has been a matter of controversy for quiet some time. While some researchers assume quadratic adjustment costs, i.e. that it becomes increasingly expensive to recruit workers in a given time period, others believe that there are economies of scale in recruitment. Surprisingly, there is hardly any evidence so far on the shape of hiring costs based on microeconomic data. In this paper we estimate the functional form of hiring costs in the theoretical framework of a generalized model of monopsony, using both parametric and nonparametric estimation techniques. We find strong evidence in favor of diseconomies of scale in recruiting skilled workers. Our results indicate that the labor market is monopsonistic. |
| Keywords: | Hiring costs, generalized monopsony |
| JEL: | J32 J42 J63 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0015&r=lab |
| By: | Elie Appelbaum (York University, Canada) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an efficient union-firm bargaining solution within the right to manage framework, by separating efficiency and distribution considerations through bargaining over wage and fringe benefits. We show that without insurance considerations, efficiency is achieved by equating the wage and workers’ opportunity cost and providing the union with a surplus share in accordance with its bargaining power. We also show that with insurance considerations, the optimal contract, again, equates the wage and workers’ opportunity cost, but it also provides full insurance. There is empirical evidence that fringe benefits are, indeed, common and play an important role in union contracts. |
| Keywords: | Price Union Contracts, Efficient Bargaining, Right to Manage |
| JEL: | J5 C78 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yca:wpaper:2008_04&r=lab |
| By: | Patrick Kline (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the response of employment and wages in the US oil and gas field services industry to changes in the price of crude petroleum using a time series of quarterly data spanning the period 1972-2002. I find that labor quickly reallocates across sectors in response to price shocks but that substantial wage premia are necessary to induce such reallocation. The timing of these premia is at odds with the predictions of standard models-wage premia emerge quite slowly, peaking only as labor adjustment ends and then slowly dissipating. After considering alternative explanations, I argue that a dynamic market clearing model with sluggish movements in industry wide labor demand is capable of rationalizing these findings. I proceed to structurally estimate the parameters of the model by minimum distance and find that simulated impulse responses match key features of the estimated dynamics. I also provide auxiliary evidence corroborating the implied dynamics of some important unobserved variables. I conclude with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the model and implications for future research. |
| Keywords: | Labor market dynamics, Labor market equilibrium |
| JEL: | J20 J40 J60 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1645&r=lab |
| By: | Eduardo Zepeda (International Poverty Centre) |
| Keywords: | Latin America?s Progress on Gender Equality: Poor Women Workers Are Still Left Behind |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:49&r=lab |
| By: | Javier Diaz-Jimenez; Eugenio P. Giolito |
| Abstract: | In this article we provide a simple model of the marriage market where singles search for spouses. In our model economy men and women live for many years and they differ in their survival probabilities, in their fecundity, and in their earnings. We show that modelling the marriage decision in a very simple model economy is sufficient to account for much of the observed marriage behavior in the United States in the year 2000. We conclude that gender differences in fecundity are all important in accounting for marriage behavior, and that differences in earnings matter little. We also conclude that, even though they are in short supply, the market power of fecund women is not enough for them to demand compensation in all cases. And that studying the marriage decision without modelling explicitly the roles played by age and by fecundity, as has been typically done by the previous literature, makes little sense. |
| Keywords: | Marriage, Search, Sex ratio |
| JEL: | J12 D83 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we080804&r=lab |
| By: | Morissette, René; Ostrovsky, Yuri |
| Abstract: | Using data from a large Canadian longitudinal dataset, we examine whether earnings of wives and teenagers increase in response to layoffs experienced by husbands. We find virtually no evidence of an "added worker effect" for the earnings of teenagers. However, we find that among families with no children of working age, wives' earnings offset about one fifth of the earnings losses experienced by husbands five years after the layoff. We also contrast the long-term earnings losses experienced by husbands and unattached males. Even though the former group might be less mobile geographically than the latter, we find that both groups experience roughly the same earnings losses in the long run. Furthermore, the income losses (before tax and after tax) of both groups are also very similar. However, because unattached males have much lower pre-layoff income, they experience much greater relative income shocks than (families of) laid-off husbands. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Employment and unemployment, Wages, salaries and other earnings, Employment insurance, social assistance and other transfers |
| Date: | 2008–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2008304e&r=lab |
| By: | Verheul, I.; Thurik, A.R.; Grilo, I. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates why self-employment rates of women are consistently lower than those of men. It has three focal points: it discriminates between the preference for self-employment and actual involvement in self-employment for women and men. It uses a huge data set from about 8,000 individuals across 26 countries while probit equations are estimated explaining (the preference for) self-employment. And a systematic distinction is made between different ways in which gender can influence the preference for and actual involvement in self-employment, including moderation, mediation and direct effects. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour we investigate effects of risk attitude, social norms, locus of control, perceptions of the entrepreneurial environment as well as that of an individual’s age and educational attainment. Findings show that the lower preference of women to become self-employed largely explains their relatively low involvement in self-employment and that – other things equal – women and men who express a preference for it, have equal chances of becoming self-employed. |
| Keywords: | determinants of entrepreneurship;gender;latent & nascent entrepreneurship |
| Date: | 2008–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765010979&r=lab |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti (University of Padua); Davide Antonioli (University of Ferrara) |
| Abstract: | This work explores the effects of cross-border relocation of production on the skill composition of Italian manufacturing firms. Its aim is to assess if the firms’ strategy to offshore production activities towards cheap labor countries determines a bias in the relative employment of skilled versus unskilled workers. Using a balanced panel of firm-based data across the period 1995-2003, we test this skill-bias hypothesis by means of a counterfactual experiment in which we employ a difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator in order to control for selectivity bias without relying on a specific functional form of the relations of interest. In line with the literature, our results point to confirm a general, although weak, skill bias effect of production offshoring on the labor-force composition of Italian manufacturing: in particular, we find that firms farming out production stages in 1998-2000 show an upward shift in the skill ratio with respect to the counterfactual of firms not moving their production abroad. However, when we look at the single components of the skill ratio, we find that the skill bias effect is primarily driven by a fall in the employment of production workers, while a weak or not significant effect is found with respect to the employment of skilled personnel. |
| Keywords: | Production Offshoring, Skill Bias, Difference-in-Differences, Propensity |
| JEL: | J24 F16 L24 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.97&r=lab |
| By: | Hörisch, Hannah |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether there exists a causal relationship between parental employment and children's educational attainment. We address potential endogeneity problems due to (i) selection of parents in the labor market by estimating a model on sibling differences and (ii) reverse causality by focusing on parents' employment when children are aged 0-3. We use data from the German Socioeconomic Panel. Overall, we find little support that parental employment affects children's educational attainment. We can rule out that having a mother who works one hour more per week lowers the probability of high secondary track attendance by more than 0.1%. |
| Keywords: | sibling differences; educational attainment; child care |
| JEL: | C20 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:2140&r=lab |
| By: | Christoph Ernst (International Labour Office, Economic and Labour Market Analysis Department) |
| Keywords: | employment creation / labour supply / economic development / Brazil |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:empelm:2007-10&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Blundell (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Andrew Shephard (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p><p>This paper examines the optimal schedule of marginal tax rates and the design of earned income tax credits. The analysis is based on a structural labour supply model which incorporates unobserved heterogeneity, fixed costs of work and the detailed non-convexities of the tax and welfare system. An analytical framework is developed that allows explicitly for an extensive margin in work choices and also the partial observability of hours of work. This is contrasted to the standard case in which only earnings (and non-labour income) are observable to the government. The empirical motivation is the earned income tax credit reforms in Britain which include a minimum hours requirement at 16 hours per week and a further bonus at 30 hours. Our analysis examines the case for the use of hours-contingent payments and lends support for the overall structure of the tax credit reforms. However, we also provide a strong case for a further reduction of marginal rates for lower earners but only those with school age children.</p></p> |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:08/01&r=lab |
| By: | Jörn Hendrich Block |
| Abstract: | Little is known about the relationship between family firms and their employees. This paper aims to close this gap. We distinguish between family management and family ownership as two dimensions of family firms and analyze their respective influence on downsizing. Our findings show that family management decreases the likelihood of downsizing, whereas the extent of family ownership decreases the likelihood of downsizing only with regard to deep job cuts (above 6%). We conclude that family managers have a strong long-term perspective, which is in line with both agency and stewardship theory. Yet, the idea that reputation concerns lead family owners to shy away from downsizing is only partially supported. |
| Keywords: | Family firms, family management, family ownership, job cuts, downsizing; layoffs |
| JEL: | G34 L21 M12 M13 M14 M51 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-023&r=lab |
| By: | René Böheim (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Alfred Stiglbauer (Oesterreichische Nationalbank (National Bank of Austria)); Rudolf Winter-Ebmer (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | We suggest a new method to analyze the success of firm creation by looking at the persistence of new jobs created in old and in new firms. Compared to survival rates of new versus old firms, this measure has the advantage that the sustainability of job creation in different circumstances is investigated. We analyze 21 years of job creation in Austria and find that new jobs last significantly longer in new than in old firms. Moreover, the survival of new jobs depends upon the state of the business cycle at the time of job creation, on the number of jobs created, and, for existing firms, on firm age. |
| Keywords: | job creation, new firms, reallocation, persistence |
| JEL: | J23 J63 E24 E32 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2008_04&r=lab |
| By: | Hielke Buddelmeyer (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and IZA, Contact address: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Alan Gilbert Building, 7th fl oor, 161 Barry Street, Carlton 3053 VIC, Australia.); Gilles Mourre (Corresponding author: European Commission, DG Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) and Free University of Brussels (ULB, SBS, CEB), Contact address: BU-1 4/168, European Commission, Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium.); Melanie Ward (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | This empirical paper seeks to determine the relative contribution of the business cycle and structural factors to the development of part-time employment in the EU-15 countries over the 1980s and 1990s, exploiting a panel of EU countries. In the short-run, the business cycle is found to exert a short-term negative effect on part-time employment developments, which is consistent with firms utilising part-time work to adjust their labour force to changing economic conditions. Institutions and other structural factors such as changes in legislation affecting part-time employment are found to be key drivers of the rate of part-time employment, significant in the longer run. Overall, although the role of individual factors differs in the 1980s and 1990s, a contribution analysis considering the most significant factors shows that the main structural and institutional variables generally well explain the development in the part-time employment rate in the EU countries, which is not the case in the United States. JEL Classification: J21, J22, J28, J68. |
| Keywords: | Part-time employment, working time organisation, the business cycle, labour supply, labour market policies, institutions, regulations. |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080872&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan, Gesine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper estimates the effects of several German labor market programs - starting in March 2003 - on the employment outcomes of participants using propensity score matching. The main objective is to compare estimated average treatment effects for treatment and comparison groups, which vary in the choice of the classification window that defines treatment and non-treatment. The first approach does not put any restrictions on the future of the treated as well as of the comparison group. This approach has become more and more common in the evaluation of European labor market policies. In contrast, the second approach considers only potential comparison group members, who have not entered any labor market program during the entire observation period of 3 1/2 years. The third approach additionally restricts itself to participants, who have not participated in further labor market programs during the observation period. The results differ considerably; program effectiveness is estimated to be much lower using the second approach. The paper highlights the fact that program careers are a non-trivial issue that deserves more attention in future research." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Date: | 2008–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200812&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Devicienti; Valentina Gualtieri |
| Abstract: | This article studies the dynamics and persistence of poverty in Italy during the nineties, using the ECHP, 1994-2001. Various definitions of poverty are analyzed in parallel, income poverty, subjective poverty and a multidimensional index of life-style deprivation. For each poverty definition, the hazard rates of leaving poverty and re-entering into it are estimated and combined to compute a measure of poverty persistence that takes account of individuals’ repeated spells in poverty. The estimates provide a picture of high poverty turnover for the majority of the Italian population, which is true for any of the alternative definitions of poverty considered. Thus movements in and out of poverty cannot be simply related to spurious transitions due to measurement errors in household income. Multivariate exit and re-entry rate regressions are then estimated jointly to allow for correlated unobserved heterogeneity. The results highlight the role of demographic characteristics, the insufficiencies of the existing social security system and, above all, the weaknesses of the Italian labor market in generating persistent poverty for certain subgroups of the population. |
| Keywords: | Poverty dynamics, poverty persistence, repeated spells, duration models, Italy. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:63&r=lab |
| By: | Olga Rymkevitch; Claudia Villosio |
| Abstract: | The Framework Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation (2000/78/EC) included age as one of its prohibited grounds of discrimination. Member States were required to transpose this Directive by December 2003. In Italy age discrimination was explicitly regulated by means of Legislative Decree no. 216, 9 July 2003. The Decree introduced the new specific prohibition of discrimination, defining its application, exceptions and remedies. The purpose of this paper is to explore, in a contextual way, the implementation of the age aspects of the Framework Directive in Italy taking into account how age discrimination express itself in the Italian labour market. . |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:67&r=lab |
| By: | Otten, J.A.; Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | Contextual factors are typically neglected in both theorizing and empirical tests on executive pay. The fast majority of empirical investigations use data from U.S. based firms. Theoretical implications are typically developed, understood and tested on the basis of the U.S. context. However, the U.S. case is not the world wide standard. Pay in other countries is on average considerably lower and have a different pay mix. The puzzle that from the typical use of agency theory can’t be explained is the variance of pay practices that exist not only within countries but also across countries. This paper extends scholars renewed attention to managerial power theory on executive pay. It sets out how and why institutional theory must be included in explanations of executive pay. On the basis of a sample of executive pay packages from 17 different countries we test the theoretical extensions. Results indicate that institutions interact with firm level determinants of executive pay. Explanations for executive pay should therefore account for the variance of pay practices within and across countries. Highlighting that the institutional embeddedness of pay practices play an important role in finding conclusive explanations of current pay practices. |
| Keywords: | managerial power theory;executive pay;executive compensations |
| Date: | 2007–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765010884&r=lab |
| By: | Julia Nafziger |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the interplay of job assignments with the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of an agent. Job assignments influence the self confidence of the agent, and thereby his intrinsic motivation. Monetary reward allow the principal to complement intrinsic motivation with extrinsic incentives. The main result is that the principal chooses an inefficient job assignment rule to enhance the agent's intrinsic motivation even though she can motivate him with monetary rewards. This shows that, in the presence of intrinsically motivated agents, it is not possible to separate job assignment decisions from incentive provision. |
| Keywords: | Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, Job Assignments |
| JEL: | D82 J31 J33 M12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse5_2008&r=lab |
| By: | Aoki, Shuhei |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests that the difference in the Theil indices of inequality between two economies approximately measures the relative loss of aggregate productivity caused by distortions in labor allocation. Moreover, the Theil index itself can be interpreted approximately as the possible maximum loss of aggregate productivity caused by these distortions. |
| Keywords: | inequality; marginal productivity theory; misallocation; productivity; Theil index |
| JEL: | E25 D33 D61 D24 |
| Date: | 2008–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:7407&r=lab |
| By: | Jens Mohrenweiser (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Thomas Zwick (Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW) (Centre for European Economic Research)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the short-term costs and benefits of apprenticeship training in Germany. It calls into question the popular stylised fact that apprenticeship training always leads to net costs during the apprenticeship period. We analyse the impact of the proportion of different occupational groups of apprentices on firm performance. We use representative matched employer–employee panel data that allow us to correct for different sources of estimation bias. We show that the proportion of apprentices in trade, commercial, craft and construction occupations has a direct positive impact on firm performance: the companies cover their training costs immediately. In contrast, companies with apprentices in the manufacturing occupations face net training costs during the apprenticeship period but gain by the long-term employment of its graduate apprentices. |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship training, performance, panel data estimation |
| JEL: | C33 D24 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0016&r=lab |
| By: | Edgar Villa; María Laura Alzúa; Catherine Rodríguez |
| Abstract: | Using census data for Argentine prisons for the period 2002-2005, this paper presents evidence of the positive e¤ect that prisoner education programs (pri- mary and some part of secondary schooling) have on in prison conflictivity measured as sanctions or violent behavior of the prisoner. In order to over- come the problems of endogeneity that education decisions generate we use an instrumental variables approach. Our results show a decrease in partici- pation in violent conflicts and bad behavior which can be partially attributed to education. |
| Date: | 2008–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000108:004546&r=lab |
| By: | Grilo, I.; Thurik, A.R.; Verheul, I.; Zwan, P. van der (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether women and men differ with respect to the steps they take in the entrepreneurial process, distinguishing between five successive steps described by the following positions: (1) “never thought about itâ€; (2) “thinking about starting up a businessâ€; (3) “taking steps to start a businessâ€; (4) “running a business for less than three yearsâ€; (5) “running a business for more than three yearsâ€. This paper provides insights into the manner in which women and men climb the entrepreneurial ladder and the factors that influence their position on the ladder. We use data from the 2006 “Flash Eurobarometer survey on Entrepreneurship†consisting of more than 10,000 observations for 25 member states of the European Union, Norway, Iceland and the United States. Findings suggest that for men it is easier to climb the ladder and that this may be attributed partly to their higher tolerance of risk. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship;determinants;gender;nascent entrepreneurship;ordered multinomial logit |
| Date: | 2008–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765010888&r=lab |
| By: | Rogers, F. Halsey; Dang, Hai-Anh |
| Abstract: | Private tutoring is now a major component of the education sector in many developing countries, yet education policy too seldom acknowledges and makes use of it. Various criticisms have been raised against private tutoring, most notably that it exacerbates social inequalities and may even fail to improve student outcomes. This paper surveys the literature for evidence on private tutoring-the extent of the tutoring phenomenon, the factors that explain its growth, and its cost-effectiveness in improving student academic performance. It also presents a framework for assessing the efficiency and equity effects of tutoring. It concludes that tutoring can raise the effectiveness of the education system under certain reasonable assumptions, even taking into account equity concerns, and it offers guidance for attacking corruption and other problems that diminish the contributions of the tutoring sector. |
| Keywords: | Teaching and Learning,Tertiary Education,Education For All,Primary Education, |
| Date: | 2008–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4530&r=lab |
| By: | Fatima Suleman (DINAMIA - Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica - Université de Lisbonne); Jean-Jacques Paul (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - CNRS : UMR5225 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at comparing the respective impact of the traditional Human Capital Variables (HCV) and of competences explicitly assessed on employees’ remuneration. The data are derived from an original survey conducted in five large banking companies in Portugal. Six hundred clerks were interviewed regarding their individual characteristics (age, gender, education, experience in the labour market, experience in the company). Their respective supervisors were asked to assess their competences using a list of thirty skills. Complementary models are used in this research, relating to earnings and the distribution of profit shares to employees. Analyses take the specific structure of the multilevel data into account. These different dimensions show that traditional human capital variables are important determinants for earnings, whereas competences explain the profit shares distributed to employees. |
| Keywords: | Earnings ; Human capital ; Competences ; Profit sharing ; Banking sector ; Portugal |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00260115_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Borghans Lex; Lee Duckworth Angela; Heckman James J.; Weel Bas ter (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the interface between personality psychology andeconomics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability ofpersonality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworksfor interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promisingavenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2008001&r=lab |
| By: | Christina Matzke; Damien Challet |
| Abstract: | Tuning one's shower in some hotels may turn into a challenging coordination game with imperfect information. The temperature sensitivity increases with the number of agents, making the problem possibly unlearnable. Because there is in practice a finite number of possible tap positions, identical agents are unlikely to reach even approximately their favorite water temperature. Heterogeneity allows some agents to reach much better temperatures, at the cost of higher risk. |
| Keywords: | coordination, heterogeneity, adaptive learning, non-linear system, feedback |
| JEL: | C02 C61 C62 C63 D70 D83 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse1_2008&r=lab |
| By: | Jens Mohrenweiser (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Uschi Backes-Gellner (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Apprenticeship training in Germany is generally considered to be an investment of companies in the human capital of their apprentices. This view is mainly based on the German cost benefit studies which find that firms bear high net costs for their apprenticeships. But these results have not been confirmed by other types of data or methods so far. We derive an empirical method to distinguish between firms which train for investment reasons or which are driven by a substitution strategy. The data which are necessary for our approach are readily available in most company panel data bases. According to our classification, we find that 18.5 percent of all companies follow a substitution strategy and 43.75 percent follow an investment strategy; the rest is mixed or undetermined. In a second step we also estimate the determinants for a substitution strategy. We find sizeable differences between sectors with different skill requirements and between firms’ coverage of industrial relations. We conclude that only part of German apprenticeship training entails a human capital investment for the company and that this fact has to be adequately taken into account in any theoretical or empirical analysis of apprenticeship training. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship Training, Human Capital Investments, Substitution Effects |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J63 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0017&r=lab |
| By: | Morissette, René; Ostrovsky, Yuri |
| Abstract: | À l'aide d'un vaste ensemble de données longitudinales canadiennes, nous examinons si, en réaction au licenciement que subissent les maris, les gains des femmes et des adolescents augmentent. Dans le cas des adolescents, nous ne relevons pour ainsi dire aucun indice d'un « effet de travailleur supplémentaire », mais nous constatons que, dans le cas des familles sans enfants en âge de travailler, les gains des épouses compensent au cinquième environ la perte de revenu du travail des époux cinq ans après leur licenciement. Nous comparons aussi les pertes correspondantes à long terme des maris et des hommes seuls. Le premier de ces groupes peut être géographiquement moins mobile que le second, mais nous pouvons voir que l'un et l'autre essuient à long terme à peu près les mêmes pertes de revenu du travail. On doit ajouter que les pertes de revenu (avant et après impôt) sont très semblables d'un groupe à l'autre. Toutefois, comme les hommes seuls ont un revenu bien moindre avant leur licenciement, le choc en revenu relatif est bien plus grand pour eux que pour les maris licenciés (et leur famille) |
| Keywords: | Travail, Emploi et chômage, Salaires, traitements et autres gains, Assurance-emploi, aide sociale et autres transferts |
| Date: | 2008–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3f:2008304f&r=lab |