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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Michael D. Giandrea (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Kevin E. Cahill (Analysis Group, Inc.); Joseph F. Quinn, Ph.D. (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | What role does self-employment play in the retirement process? Older Americans are staying in the labor force longer than prior trends would have predicted and many change jobs later in life. These job transitions are often within the same occupation or across occupations within wage-and-salary employment. The transition can also be out of wage-and-salary work and into self employment. Indeed, national statistics show that self employment becomes more prevalent with age, partly because self employment provides older workers with opportunities not found in traditional wage-and-salary jobs, such as flexibility in hours worked and independence. This paper analyzes transitions into and out of self employment among older workers who have had career jobs. We utilize the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally-representative dataset of older Americans, to investigate the prevalence of self employment among older workers who made a job transition later in life and to explore the factors that determine the choice of wage-and-salary employment or self employment. We find that post-career transitions into and out of self employment are common and that health status, career occupation, and financial variables are important determinants of these transitions. As older Americans and the country as a whole face financial strains in retirement income in the years ahead, self employment may be a vital part of the pro-work solution. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, Retirement Transitions, Self Employment |
| JEL: | J26 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec080040&r=lab |
| By: | Bernhard, Sarah (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Gartner, Hermann (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Stephan, Gesine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "In Germany, since 2005 needy job-seekers without access to earnings-related and insurance-paid 'unemployment benefit I' are entitled to means-tested and tax-funded 'unemployment benefit II'. Several active labour market programmes support the integration of these needy job-seekers into the labour market. Our paper estimates the average effect of targeted wage subsidies - paid to employers for a limited period of time - on the subsequent labour market prospects of participating needy job-seekers. We apply propensity score matching to compare participants with a group of similar non-participants. The results show that wage subsidies had in fact large and significant favourable effects: 20 months after taking up a subsidised job, the share of persons in regular employment is nearly 40 percentage points higher across participants. Estimated effects on the shares not unemployed and the share no longer receiving 'unemployment benefit II' are slightly smaller." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, Eingliederungszuschuss, Wirkungsforschung, Arbeitsmarktchancen |
| JEL: | J68 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200821&r=lab |
| By: | Krueger, Alan B. (Princeton University); Mueller, Andreas (IIES, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on time use and subjective well-being of employed and unemployed individuals in 14 countries. We devote particular attention to characterizing and modeling job search intensity, measured by the amount of time devoted to searching for a new job. Job search intensity varies considerably across countries, and is higher in countries that have higher wage dispersion. We also examine the relationship between unemployment benefits and job search. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, job search, time use, unemployment benefits, inequality |
| JEL: | J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3490&r=lab |
| By: | Müller, Kai-Uwe (DIW Berlin); Steiner, Viktor (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of imposed benefit sanctions on the unemployment-to-employment transition of unemployed people entitled to unemployment compensation on the basis of register data from the German Federal Employment Agency. We combine propensity score matching with a discrete-time hazard rate model which accounts for the dynamic nature of the treatment. We find positive short- and long-term effects of benefit sanctions which are robust for men and women in East and West Germany. The effects diminish with the elapsed unemployment duration until a sanction is imposed. The limited use of benefit sanctions can thus be an effective activation tool if they take place not too late in an individual’s unemployment spell. |
| Keywords: | benefit sanctions, unemployment transitions, German labor market reform, ex-post evaluation, propensity score matching, hazard rate model, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J64 J65 H31 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3483&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Heckel (BNP Paribas Asset Management, 5 avenue Kleber, 75016 Paris, France.); Hervé Le Bihan (Banque de France, Direction de la Recherche, DGEI-DIR-Rec.n 41-1391, 31 rue Croix-des-petits-champs, 75049 Paris Cedex 01, France.); Jérémi Montornès (Banque de France, Direction de la Recherche, 31 rue Croix-des-petits-champs, 75049 Paris Cedex 01, France.) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents nominal wage stickiness using an original quarterly firm-level dataset. We use the ACEMO survey, which reports the base wage for up to 12 employee categories in French .rms over the period 1998 to 2005, and obtain the following main results. First, the quarterly frequency of wage change is around 35 percent. Second, there is some downward rigidity in the base wage. Third, wage changes are mainly synchronized within firms but to a large extent staggered across firms. Fourth, standard Calvo or Taylor schemes fail to match micro wage adjustment patterns, but fixed duration 'Taylor-like'wage contracts are observed for a minority of firms. Based on a two-thresholds sample selection model, we perform an econometric analysis of wage changes. Our results suggest that the timing of wage adjustments is not state-dependent, and are consistent with existence of predetermined of wage changes. They also suggest that both backward- and forward-looking behavior is relevant in wage setting. JEL Classification: E24, J3. |
| Keywords: | Wage stickiness, wage predetermination. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080893&r=lab |
| By: | Benoît Mahy (Centre de Recherche Warocqué, Université de Mons-Hainaut, Belgium); Mélanie Volral (Centre de Recherche Warocqué, Université de Mons-Hainaut, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to model and estimate the impact of labour training financed by the firm on labour demand in Belgium, introducing training potential productivity and cost effects. To model this influence, we assume profit maximizing firms producing under a short run monopolistic competition regime. We emphasize that training variables, both qualitative and quantitative, can either increase labour demand through their positive effect on labour physical productivity net from the dropping price required to sell additional production, and that they can decrease labour demand through induced increasing direct labour costs and wages. GMM estimations on a panel of 269 firms observed during the period 1998-2004 show non significant impacts of training variables on labour demand, the productivity and cost effects seeming to offset each other. These results allow us to suggest two scenarios in terms of firms and workers behaviour and that subsidiary training could favour employment under the two assumptions that firms don’t transform training in an increased productivity – wage mark-up, but convert additional productivity in employment, and workers don’t claim for higher wages as a result of additional productivity. |
| Keywords: | Training, Labour Demand,Human capital, Labour Productivity, Panel Data |
| JEL: | C23 J23 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0021&r=lab |
| By: | Jaume Garcia; Climent Quintana |
| Abstract: | The problem of obesity is alarming public health authorities around the world. Therefore, it is important to study its determinants. In this paper we explore the empirical relationship between household income and body mass index (BMI) in nine European Union countries. Our findings suggest that the association is negative for women, but we find no statistically significant relationship for men. However, we show that the different relationship for men and women appears to be driven by the negative relationship for women between BMI and individual income from work. We tentatively conclude that the negative relationship between household income and BMI for women may simply be capturing the wage penalty that obese women suffer in the labor market. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2008-21&r=lab |
| By: | Thi Quynh Trang Do (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Gérard Duchêne (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | The determinants of self-employment are widely studied in the economic literature in recent twenty years. However, in the case of Vietnam where self-employed population takes an important proportion in workforce, it remains an under researched area. By using the data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2004 (VHLSS2004), this paper aims to provide clearer insights into this area. We use the Heckman method to determine the level and identify the factors that affect the workers' choice between self-employment and wage employment in Vietnam. We emphasize the role of expected earnings differential in workers' decision making. Comparisons between female and male workers are made. Our empirical results show that there exist a number of determinants that permit to construct the pattern of self-employed as well a salary workers in Vietnam. Regardless of educational attainment, experiences and familial background, perspective of having higher earnings plays an important role in choice behavior of workers. |
| Keywords: | Occupational choice, earnings, self-employment, entrepreneurship, informal sector, Vietnam. |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00281588_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Dew-Becker, Ian; Gordon, Robert J |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a comprehensive survey of seven aspects of rising inequality that are usually discussed separately: changes in labor’s share of income; inequality at the bottom of the income distribution, including labor mobility; skill-biased technical change; inequality among high incomes; consumption inequality; geographical inequality; and international differences in the income distribution, particularly at the top. We conclude that changes in labor’s share play no role in rising inequality of labor income; by one measure labor’s income share was almost the same in 2007 as in 1950. Within the bottom 90 percent as documented by CPS data, movements in the 50-10 ratio are consistent with a role of decreased union density for men and of a decrease in the real minimum wage for women, particularly in 1980-86. There is little evidence on the effects of imports, and an ambiguous literature on immigration which implies a small overall impact on the wages of the average native American, a significant downward effect on high-school dropouts, and potentially a large impact on previous immigrants working in occupations in which immigrants specialize.The literature on skill-biased technical change (SBTC) has been valuably enriched by a finer grid of skills, switching from a two-dimension to a three- or five-dimensional breakdown of skills. We endorse the three-way “polarization” hypothesis that seems a plausible way of explaining differentials in wage changes and also in outsourcing. To explain increased skewness at the top, we introduce a three-way distinction between market-driven superstars where audience magnification allows a performance to reach one or ten million people, a second market-driven segment consisting of occupations like lawyers and investment bankers, and a third segment consisting of top corporate officers. Our review of the CEO debate places equal emphasis on the market in showering capital gains through stock options and an arbitrary management power hypothesis based on numerous non-market aspects of executive pay. Data on consumption inequality are too fragile to reach firm conclusions. We introduce two new issues, disparities in the growth of price indexes and also of life expectancy between the rich and the poor. We conclude with a perspective on international differences that blends institutional and market-driven explanations. |
| Keywords: | CEO Pay; Globalization; Immigration; Inequality; Labour Unions; Minimum Wage; Progressive Taxation; Skill-biased Technical Change; Super Stars |
| JEL: | D10 D31 D63 I12 I3 J10 J24 J51 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6817&r=lab |
| By: | Müller, Kai-Uwe (DIW Berlin); Steiner, Viktor (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | In view of rising wage inequality and increasing poverty, the introduction of a legal minimum wage has recently become an important policy issue in Germany. We analyze the distributional effects of the introduction of a nationwide legal minimum wage of € 7.5 per hour on the basis of a microsimulation model which accounts for the complex interactions between individual wages, the tax-benefit system and net household incomes. Simulation results show that the minimum wage would be rather ineffective in reducing poverty, even if it led to a substantial increase in hourly wages at the bottom of the wage distribution and had no negative employment effects. The ineffectiveness of a minimum wage in Germany is mainly due to the existing system of means-tested income support. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, wage distribution, working poor, poverty reduction, micro-simulation |
| JEL: | I32 H31 J32 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3491&r=lab |
| By: | Maarten Goos |
| Abstract: | This paper first provides a twofold test of the Card and Lemieux [2001] hypothesis that variation in college attainment growth rates can have a substantial impact on cohort specific returns to college. Most importantly, this study exploits Britain’s expansion of its higher education system between 1988 and 1994 to show that the recent increase in college attainment growth rates has decreased college premiums for Britain’s youngest workers. This is in line with the predictions from an adverse supply shock in a simple aggregate model of relative demand for and supply of college labor. Moreover, this paper conjectures that a simple demand-supply model can go a substantial distance towards explaining the variation in the UK economy-wide average return to college and overall wage inequality. |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces0706&r=lab |
| By: | Mika Maliranta (The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA)); Satu Nurmi (Statistics Finland); Hanna Virtanen (The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA)) |
| Abstract: | We examine the determinants of labour market status after the initial vocational basic education (ISCED 3) by use of unique linked register data on students, their parents, teachers, educational organisations and business companies in Finland. We distinguish between four outcomes: 1) employment 2) further studies 3) non-employment and 4) drop-out. The explanatory factors are classified into three main groups: the characteristics of 1) the educational organisation and their institutions, 2) the students and 3) the local business conditions. Teaching expenditures do not matter but teachers’ skills do. Parental background plays a central role. Local business development matters for boys. |
| Keywords: | Education production, vocational education, employability, further studies, regional development, drop-out |
| JEL: | H52 I21 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0022&r=lab |
| By: | Brodaty, Thomas; Gary-Bobo, Robert J.; Prieto, Ana |
| Abstract: | We propose a new test for the presence of job-market signalling in the sense of Spence (1973), based on an equation in which log-wages are explained by two endogenous variables: the student's degree and the student's time to degree, not simply by years of education. Log-wages are regressed on a measure of education, which is a position on a scale of certificates and degrees, and a measure of the student delay, defined as the difference between the individual's school-leaving age and the average school-leaving age of students holding the same certificate or degree. We use past school-opening instruments, and distance-to-the-nearest-college, also measured in the past, when students were entering grade 6, to identify the parameters. We find a robust, significant and negative impact of the delay variable on wages, averaged over the first five years of career. A year of delay causes a 9% decrease of the student's wage. The only reasonable explanation for this effect is the fact that longer delays signal unobserved characteristics with a negative productivity value. We finally estimate a nonlinear model of education choices and cannot reject the assumption that the data is generated by a job-market signalling equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | grade repetitions; Returns to education; Signalling; time to degree; wages |
| JEL: | I2 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6832&r=lab |
| By: | Jae-won Jung (THEMA, Université de Cergy-Pontoise.); Jean Mercenier (ERMES, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2)) |
| Abstract: | We adapt Yeaple's (2005) heterogeneous agents framework to model firms in the North as making explicit offshore outsourcing decisions to cheap-labor economies. Globalization results from a lowering of the set-up costs incurred when engaging in offshore activities. We highlight how firms'technology transformations due to global- ization will induce skill upgrading in the North, increase aggregate productivity, av- erage wages and therefore total welfare at the cost of increased wage inequalities. We analytically derive mild conditions under which all consumers-including lower-skilled workers-will nevertheless gain from the surge of offshore outsourcing. A parameter- ized version of the model roughly calibrated on U.S. data is then numerically explored and confirms our positive welfare predictions. |
| Keywords: | Offshore outsourcing; Globalization; Skill upgrading, Technology upgrading; Firm heterogeneity |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2008-21&r=lab |
| By: | Jens Josephson; Joel Shapiro |
| Abstract: | Interviewing in professional labor markets is a costly process for firms. Moreover, poor screening can have a persistent negative impact on firms’ bottom lines and candidates’ careers. In a simple dynamic model where firms can pay a cost to interview applicants who have private information about their own ability, potentially large inefficiencies arise from information-based unemployment, where able workers are rejected by firms because of their lack of offers in previous interviews. This effect may make the market less efficient than random matching. We show that the first best can be achieved using either a mechanism with transfers or one without transfers. |
| Keywords: | Decentralized Labor Markets, Professional Labor Markets, Asymmetric Information, Interview costs, Matching |
| JEL: | D82 J21 J44 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1093&r=lab |
| By: | Said Hanchane (Institut d’Economie Publique (IDEP), Marseille, and Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail (LEST), Aix-en-Provence); Jacques Silber (Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, and Institut d’Economie Publique (IDEP), Marseille) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a first attempt to devise a methodology that allows estimating the exact impact of training on the dispersion of wages. It uses an approach originally proposed by Fields (2003) but extends it to the breakdown of inequality by population subgroups as well as to the case where the earnings function that is at the base of the analysis has to be adjusted for selectivity bias. The empirical illustration is based on a survey conducted in France at the end of the twentieth century. |
| Keywords: | earnings’ dispersion, France, labour market segmentation, on-the-job training, overlapping, selectivity bias, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0023&r=lab |
| By: | Halfdanarson, Benedikt (Statistics Iceland); Heuermann, Daniel F. (University of Trier); Suedekum, Jens (University of Duisburg-Essen) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we survey the recent developments in two empirical literatures at the crossroads of labor and urban economics: Studies about localized human capital externalities (HCE) and about the urban wage premium (UWP). After surveying the methods and main results of each of these two literatures separately, we highlight several interrelations between them. In particular we ask if HCE can be interpreted as one fundamental cause of the UWP, and we discuss if one literature can conceptually learn from the methods that are used by the other one. |
| Keywords: | local labor markets, agglomeration, human capital externalities, urban wage premium |
| JEL: | J31 J61 R23 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3493&r=lab |
| By: | Ebell, Monique (Department of Economics and Business Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, and Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science); Haefke, Christian (Department of Economics and Finance, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria, and Instituto de Análisis Económico, CSIC) |
| Abstract: | We consider the dynamic relationship between product market entry regulation and equilibrium unemployment. The main theoretical contribution is combining a job matching model with monopolistic competition in the goods market and individual bargaining. We calibrate the model to US data and perform a policy experiment to assess whether the decrease in trend unemployment during the 1980’s and 1990’s could be directly attributed to product market deregulation. Under a traditional calibration, our results suggest that a decrease of less than two-tenths of a percentage point of unemployment rates can be attributed to product market deregulation, a surprisingly small amount. Under a small surplus calibration, however, product market deregulation can account for the entire decline in US trend unemployment over the 1980’s and 1990’s.; |
| Keywords: | Product market competition, barriers to entry, wage bargaining |
| JEL: | E24 J63 O00 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ihs:ihsesp:223&r=lab |
| By: | Elish Kelly (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)); Philip O'Connell (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)); Emer Smyth (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the economic returns to different fields of study in Ireland in 2004 and also the value placed on various job-related competencies, accumulated on completion of higher education, in the Irish labour market. In examining these issues the paper seeks to control for potential selection influences by ensuring through quantile regression that comparisons are made within sections of the wage distribution where ability differences are likely to be minimal. The impact that education-job mismatch, both education-level and field, has on earnings is also taken into consideration. The results derived indicate that, relative to the base case, there are higher returns to Medicine & Veterinary, Education, Engineering & Architecture, Science and Computers & IT. The quantile regression analysis reveals that the OLS estimates are not particularly affected by unobserved heterogeneity bias. Furthermore, this approach indicates that field specific returns diminish the more able the graduate. Small but significant returns were found for some of the competencies analysed, in particular technical skills. |
| Keywords: | Field of Study, Competencies, Returns to Education, Quantile Regression, Ireland |
| JEL: | I20 J24 J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp242&r=lab |
| By: | Morten Henningsen and Torbjørn Hægeland (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Employers cannot always displace workers at their own discretion. In many countries, Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) includes restrictions on laying off workers. This paper studies whether employers use downsizing events, where the rules for dismissal differ from the rules that apply for individual dismissal, to displace workers selectively. We investigate empirically whether workers with low expected productivity relative to co-workers face particularly high exit risks when establishments downsize. Our evidence is consistent with establishments using downsizings as a sorting device to terminate the employment of the least profitable workers who are protected against dismissal under normal times of operation. However, only a minor share of the displacements in downsizings may be attributed to opportunistic sorting by employers, suggesting that EPL may not be an important obstacle to firms’ firing of individual workers. |
| Keywords: | Downsizing; sickness absence; employment protection |
| JEL: | I18 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:543&r=lab |
| By: | Alexis León; Daniele Coen-Pirani; Steven Lugauer |
| Abstract: | . . . |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pit:wpaper:355&r=lab |
| By: | Philippe Antoine (DIAL, IRD, Dakar) |
| Abstract: | (English) Until these last years, "55 years" marked the retirement age in the majority of the French-speaking African capitals of West Africa. Only people who were employed in the modern private sector or in the administration could profit from a retirement pension. The increasing presence of active seniors is a question which currently occupies the social scene in West Africa. In addition, the increase in the retirement age is one of the major claims of the trade unions Men are still comparatively numerous working in the group age of 55-59 years (more than 60 % of the). Beyond 60 years old, an important proportion of individuals still work. As they get older, senior workers confine themselves more and more in the informal sector. Pensions distributed in West Africa are relatively moderate. There are not enough to cover family expenses which represent a burden until a relatively advanced age. _________________________________ (français) Jusqu’à ces dernières années « 55 ans » marquait l’âge de la retraite dans la plupart des capitales africaines francophones d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Cependant seules les personnes ayant exercé une activité dans les entreprises privées du secteur moderne de l’économie ou dans l’administration pouvaient bénéficier d’une pension de retraite. La présence plus tardive des personnes âgées au travail est une question qui occupe actuellement la scène sociale en Afrique de l’Ouest et le passage à un âge plus tardif de la retraite est une des revendications majeures des syndicats de la sous-région. Les hommes sont encore relativement nombreux encore à travailler dans le groupe d’âge 55-59 ans (plus de 60 %) ; au-delà de 60 ans une proportion importante d’individus travaille encore. Avec l’âge les travailleurs se cantonnent de plus en plus dans le secteur informel. Les pensions de retraite versées en Afrique de l’Ouest sont relativement modiques, en particulier pour ceux qui exerçaient en dehors du secteur public, et ne suffisent pas à couvrir les charges familiales qui pèsent sur ces personnes jusqu’à un âge relativement avancé. |
| Keywords: | Retraite, personnes âgées, ville, emploi, Afrique, Retirement, old people, city, labour market, Africa. |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200713&r=lab |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University, California); de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country) |
| Abstract: | How immigration affects the labor market of the host country is a topic of major concern for many immigrant-receiving nations. Spain is no exception following the rapid increase in immigrant flows experienced over the past decade. We assess the impact of immigration on Spanish natives’ income by estimating the net immigration surplus accruing at the national level and at high immigrant-receiving regions while taking into account the imperfect substitutability of immigrant and native labor. Specifically, using information on the occupational densities of immigrants and natives of different skill levels, we develop a mapping of immigrant-to-native self-reported skills that reveals the combination of natives across skills that would be equivalent to an immigrant of a given self-reported skill level, which we use to account for any differences between immigrant self-reported skill levels and their effective skills according to the Spanish labor market. We find that the immigrant surplus amounts to 0.04 percent of GDP at the national level and it is even higher for some of the main immigrant-receiving regions, such as Cataluña, Valencia, Madrid, and Murcia. |
| Keywords: | international migration, regional, national, immigration surplus, Spain |
| JEL: | J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3486&r=lab |
| By: | Haan, Peter (DIW Berlin); Prowse, Victoria L. (University of Oxford); Uhlendorff, Arne (IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop a dynamic structural life-cycle model of labor supply behavior which fully accounts for the effect of income tax and transfers on labor supply incentives. Additionally, the model recognizes the demand side driven rationing risk that might prevent individuals from realizing their optimal labor supply state, resulting in involuntary unemployment. We use this framework to study the employment effects of transforming a traditional welfare state, as is currently in place in Germany, towards a more Anglo-American system in which a large proportion of transfers are paid to the working poor. |
| Keywords: | life-cycle labor supply, involuntary unemployment, in-work credits |
| JEL: | J22 J64 C35 C61 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3480&r=lab |
| By: | Mahuteau, Stéphane (Macquarie University, Sydney); Junankar, Pramod N. (Raja) (University of Western Sydney) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of ethnic networks in migrants’ job search and the quality of jobs they find in the first years of settlement. We find that there are initial downward movements along the occupational ladder, followed by improvements. As a result of restrictions in welfare eligibility since 1997, we study whether this increases the probability that new migrants accept “bad jobs” quickly and then move onto better jobs over time. Holding employability constant, our results support this view. However, accounting for their higher employability, new migrants seem to fare better up to a year and half after settlement. |
| Keywords: | immigration policy, job quality, migrants, ethnic networks |
| JEL: | J61 J68 C25 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3489&r=lab |
| By: | Anders Björklund; Richard Freeman |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of economic inequality in Sweden before, during and after the major macro-economic recession in the early 1990s. Earnings and income inequality increased after the downturn, but government safety net programs buttressed disposable income for those with low income, and despite the rise in inequality, Sweden remained one of the most egalitarian economies in the world. The rise in inequality raised the return to observable skills, but the returns are still too low to explain that Sweden moved to the top of the league tables in knowledge intensive activities. Our analysis of attitudes to inequality shows that more Swedes expressed more concern over the inequity in inequality after the rise in inequality in the 1990s than in the past. Further, more Swedes expressed greater dissatisfaction with wages and working conditions. On the other hand, the rise in unemployment did not reduce overall subjective well being, probably because individuals adapted to higher levels of unemployment. |
| JEL: | J0 J01 J08 J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14014&r=lab |
| By: | Clément Carbonnier (THEMA - Université de Cergy-Pontoise, 33 boulevard du port, F 95011 Cergy-Pontoise cedex, France) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the present paper is to measure the labor market participation elasticity with respect to income tax rates. A very complete data base of more than 500 000 observations a year is used. This data base is a large sample of the French income tax returns. The case of spouses is studied by comparing - for very similar couples - the probability of the secondary earner to participate in the labor market depending on the other foyer incomes on the one hand and depending on the tax rate which would apply on the income of this potential work on the other hand. Results find labor market participation elasticity with respect to income tax rate equal to -0.04 and with respect to income equal to -0.30. That for, it is outlined that joint income tax schedules have a negative impact on the secondary earners participation to labor market. As secondary earners are mainly women in France, joint income tax schedules have a negative impact on women participation to the labor market. Furthermore, different elasticities are measured for different population categories. Two phenomenons appear, they confirm each other partially. On the one hand, there is a difference between secondary earners more or less constrained to participate in the labor market. The more constrained ones have weaker elasticities than the less constrained ones. On the other hand, there is a major difference between the capital holders and the others. The capital holders’ elasticity with respect to income tax rate is higher than their elasticity with respect to income. The opposite occurred for the other households. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply; Time allocation; Fiscal incidence. |
| JEL: | H22 H31 J32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2008-20&r=lab |
| By: | Marcos A. Rangel |
| Abstract: | Studies have shown that differences in wage-determinant skills between blacks and whites emerge during a child’s infancy, highlighting the roles of parental characteristics and investment decisions. Exploring the genetics of skin-color and models of intrahousehold allocations, I present evidence that, controlling for observed and unobserved parental characteristics, lightskinned children are more likely to receive investments in formal education than their darkskinned siblings. Even though not denying the importance of borrowing constraints (or other ancestry effects), this suggests that parental expectations regarding differences in the return to human capital investments may play an independent role on the persistence of earnings differentials. |
| Keywords: | race, parent, education investment |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:har:wpaper:0714&r=lab |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert W. (University of California, Santa Cruz); Woodruff, Christopher (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: | Although business ownership has implications for income inequality, wealth accumulation and job creation, surprisingly little research explores why Mexican-Americans are less likely to start businesses and why the businesses that they start are less successful on average than non-Latino whites. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of Mexican-American entrepreneurship using microdata from the 2000 U.S. Census, the matched and unmatched March and Outgoing Rotation Group Files of the Current Population Survey from 1994 to 2004, and the Legalized Population Survey (LPS). We find that low levels of education and wealth explain the entire gap between Mexican immigrants and non-Latino whites in business formation rates. Nearly the entire gap in business income for Mexican immigrants is explained by low levels of education and limited English language ability. Using the natural experiment created by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), we find that legal status represents an additional barrier for Mexican immigrants. A conservative estimate suggests that the lack of legal status reduces business ownership rates by roughly seven-tenths of a percentage point for both men and women. Human and financial capital deficiencies are found to limit business ownership and business success among second and third-generation Mexican-Americans, but to a lesser extent. These findings have implications for the debates over the selection of immigrants and the assimilation of Mexican-Americans in the U.S. economy. |
| Keywords: | Mexican-Americans, entrepreneurship, inequality |
| JEL: | J15 L26 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3488&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel G. Schroeder |
| Abstract: | Food Stamps (FS) and cash assistance were reformed in 1996 and later to emphasize work as a route out of poverty. When employment opportunities were plentiful, as they were during the late 1990s, many families were able to transition off program rolls and into jobs. However, when the employment situation reversed starting in 2000, social supports were needed. This study attempts to determine whether Unemployment Insurance (UI) was a significant source of support for these families, as might be expected because many former welfare recipients should have developed work histories that would have made them eligible for UI benefits. In particular, the study asks whether UI was able to replace or complement food stamps for unemployed, welfare-eligible families. |
| Keywords: | food stamp, welfare, unemployment insurance |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:har:wpaper:0715&r=lab |
| By: | Ardiana N. Gashi (Riinvest University and Riinvest Institute, Prishtina, Kosova); Geoff Pugh (Staffordshire University Business School, Stoke-on-Trent, UK); Nick Adnett (Staffordshire University Business School, Stoke-on-Trent, UK) |
| Abstract: | There is a wide range of theoretical and empirical analyses suggesting that technological change has increased the demand for skills. Since training is a mechanism to upgrade workers’ skills, it would be expected that technical progress strengthens the importance of training on account of the requirement for skills to complement new technology. However, the relationship between technical progress and firms’ (employer-funded) continuous training has been little investigated. In our research we address the theoretical gap by building upon existing models from the skillbiased technological change and training literatures. This theoretical platform supports a maintained hypothesis of a positive relationship between training and technological change, which we investigate empirically for Germany using data from the IAB establishment panel. Our empirical findings indicate that in Germany a greater share of workers undergo further/continuing training in establishments subject to technological change. An important issue we raise in our empirical analysis is the possibility of endogeneity/simultaneity between training and technological change. |
| Keywords: | further training, technological change, skills |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0026&r=lab |
| By: | David Carey |
| Abstract: | Improving education outcomes is important for Germany’s long-term economic performance and social cohesion. While student achievement is above the OECD average in science and at the OECD average in reading and mathematics according to the 2006 OECD PISA study, weaker students tend to do badly by international comparison and socio-economic and/or immigrant backgrounds have a large impact. Another problem is that the proportion of younger people that completes tertiary education is relatively low. The authorities are undertaking wide ranging reforms touching all levels of education to tackle these problems. Nevertheless, there is scope to go further by: increasing participation in early childhood education and care of children from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds and improving the quality of such education; improving teaching quality; reducing stratification in the school system; and making tertiary education more attractive and responsive to labour-market requirements. With the reforms underway or suggested, Germany would be able to look forward to higher education achievement and attainment and, especially, greater equality of education opportunity. <P>Améliorer les résultants de l’enseignement en Allemagne <BR>Il importe d’améliorer les résultats de l’enseignement pour les performances économiques à long terme et pour la cohésion sociale de l’Allemagne. Si les élèves réussissent mieux que la moyenne de l’OCDE en sciences et atteignent la moyenne en compréhension de l’écrit et en mathématiques selon l’enquête PISA 2006 de l’OCDE, les élèves en difficulté ont généralement des résultats faibles par rapport à ceux des autres pays et l’influence du milieu socio-économique et/ou de l’origine est forte. Autre problème : la proportion des jeunes qui achèvent leurs études supérieures est relativement faible. Les autorités ont entrepris une vaste réforme de l’ensemble du système éducatif afin de résoudre ces difficultés. Néanmoins, il est possible d’aller plus loin, notamment en augmentant le nombre d’enfants de familles défavorisées inscrits dans les services d’éducation et d’accueil des jeunes enfants et en améliorant la qualité de ces services, en rehaussant la qualité de l’enseignement, en réduisant la stratification du système scolaire, et en rendant l’enseignement supérieur plus avantageux et plus réactif face aux exigences du marché du travail. Avec les réformes en cours ou proposées, l’Allemagne pourrait espérer des résultats scolaires et des niveaux de formation plus élevés et surtout, une plus grande égalité des chances dans le domaine de l’éducation. |
| Keywords: | education, éducation, PISA, achievement, attainment, school system, stratification, PISA, réussite scolaire, stratification, accountability, responsabilité, cadre socio–économique |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:611-en&r=lab |
| By: | Randall Jones |
| Abstract: | Faced with exceptionally rapid population ageing, Korea should address obstacles that lower fertility rates while encouraging higher labour force participation, particularly among women. While public social spending is currently very low, there is pressure for increased outlays on pensions, healthcare, long-term care and social assistance. The government should be cautious in expanding spending, taking into account the impact on economic growth. Outlays should be limited by shifting from direct provision of social services, notably childcare and long-term care, in favour of providing vouchers to consumers. Given the limited coverage of the public pension system, the new means-tested benefit for the elderly will be useful in reducing poverty. It is important to increase transparency about self-employed income to ensure fairness in the financing of social insurance systems, including the new long-term care insurance. The rise in inequality and relative poverty should be reversed by reducing labour market dualism. <P>Les dépenses sociales en Corée dans le contexte d’un vieillissement démographique rapide <BR>Confrontée à un vieillissement démographique exceptionnellement rapide, la Corée se doit d’éliminer les obstacles qui font baisser les taux de fécondité tout en encourageant l’augmentation des taux d’activité, en particulier chez les femmes. Si les dépenses sociales sont actuellement très faibles, des pressions s’exercent sur les pouvoirs publics pour qu’ils augmentent les dépenses consacrées aux retraites, à la santé, aux soins de longue durée et à l’aide sociale. L’État devra se montrer prudent en la matière, en tenant compte de l’impact de la hausse des dépenses sur la croissance économique. Pour limiter les dépenses, il devrait substituer à la fourniture directe de services sociaux – notamment dans le domaine de la garde d’enfants et des soins de longue durée – une approche fondée sur la distribution de chèques-services aux consommateurs. Compte tenu de la couverture limitée du régime public de retraite, la nouvelle prestation de vieillesse soumise à conditions de ressources devrait apporter une contribution utile au recul de la pauvreté. Il est important d’améliorer la transparence des revenus issus du travail indépendant pour garantir l’équité dans le financement des régimes d’assurance sociale, y compris le nouveau régime d’assurance des soins de longue durée. Pour enrayer la hausse des inégalités et de la pauvreté relative, il y a lieu de réduire le dualisme du marché du travail. |
| Keywords: | santé, Korea, Corée, labour markets, marché du travail, population ageing, long-term care, soins de longue durée, vieillissement démographique, pension reform, non-regular workers, travailleurs non réguliers, taux d'activité, labour force participation, réforme du système de retraite, income inequality, inégalité des revenus, relative poverty, pauvreté relative, social spending, dépenses sociales, fécondité, fertility |
| JEL: | I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2008–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:615-en&r=lab |
| By: | Monstad, Karin; Propper, Carol; Salvanes, Kjell G |
| Abstract: | In many developed countries a decline in fertility has occurred. This development has been attributed to greater education of women. However, establishing a causal link is difficult as both fertility and education have changed secularly. The contribution of this paper is to study the connection between fertility and education over a woman’s fertile period focusing on whether the relationship is causal. We study fertility in Norway and use an educational reform as an instrument to correct for selection into education. Our results indicate that increasing education leads to postponement of first births away from teenage motherhood towards having the first birth in their twenties and, for a smaller group, up to the age of 35-40. We do not find, however, evidence that total fertility falls as a result of greater education. |
| Keywords: | causal effect; education; female fertility |
| JEL: | I20 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6816&r=lab |
| By: | Sarah Gibb (University of Aalborg, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the impact of microcredit on economic, educational, and empowerment levels of women from the Bolivian high plains who had acquired microcredit for over three years. Primary research was carried out with the help of a major NGO dedicated solely to microcredit. 100 in-depth personal interviews were conducted by the author in La Paz and El Alto from February to May 2007. This region was chosen because of the wide extent to which microcredit have been implemented here since the 1980s. The author created a control group from women who had never taken out a microcredit. The study employs the use of an established poverty scorecard to measure poverty levels over time. Using a comparative approach that allows a comparison between the independent control group and the loan group, the study finds that while the ownership of goods increased in the loan group, the benefits of microcredit on family educational attainment levels and empowerment are questionable. It is important to note that the vast majority of microcredit research does not use this type of independent control group. |
| Keywords: | Microcredit, microfinance, empowerment, development, women, Bolivia. |
| JEL: | Z13 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:200804&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Denny (School of Economics & Geary Institute, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This note re-examines a finding by Crow et al. (1998) that equal skill of right and left hands is associated with deficits in cognitive ability. This is consistent with the idea that failure to develop dominance of one hemisphere is associated with various pathologies such as learning difficulties. Using the same data source but utilising additional data, evidence is found of a more complex relationship between cognitive ability and relative hand skill. |
| Date: | 2008–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:200805&r=lab |
| By: | Friebel, Guido; McCullough, Gerard; Padilla Angulo, Laura |
| Abstract: | After deregulation in 1980, competitive pressures forced the large U.S. freight railroads to restructure. Much attention has focused on defensive (cost-cutting) restructuring: until 2004 employment was reduced by 60%, and railroads abandoned many of their lines. Less attention has been given to strategic restructuring: many firms changed the skill structure of employment and their output mix. We investigate the effects of defensive and strategic restructuring on financial performance between 1984 and 2004. In a simple regression, line abandonments (reduction of network size) have positive effects on performance but employment reductions do not. Controlling for the interaction between defensive and strategic restructuring, however, changes the picture significantly. Employment reductions then do have positive performance effects. There are also significant complementarities between defensive restructuring and strategic changes in skill and output mix. We provide the first in-depth analysis of the anatomy of restructuring in this important industry. Our analysis re-enforces the view that downsizing works best when accompanied by strategic restructuring. |
| Keywords: | defensive and strategic restructuring; downsizing; labour effects of deregulation; panel data |
| JEL: | J23 L25 L92 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6836&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Gregg; Carol Propper; Elizabeth Washbrook |
| Abstract: | In this paper we explore the association between family income and children’s cognitive ability (IQ and school performance), socio-emotional outcomes (self esteem, locus of control and behavioural problems) and physical health (risk of obesity). We develop a decomposition technique that allows us to compare the relative importance of the adverse family characteristics and home environments of low income children in accounting for different outcomes. Using rich cohort data from the UK we find that poor children are disadvantaged at age 7 to 9 across the full spectrum of outcomes, the gradient being strongest for cognitive outcomes and weakest for physical health. We find that some aspects of environment appear to be associated with the full range of outcomes - for example, maternal smoking and breastfeeding, child nutrition, parental psychological functioning. We also find some some aspects of the environment of higher income households hinder child development. We conclude that many aspects of growing up in poverty are harmful to children’s development, and that narrowly-targeted interventions are unlikely to have a significant impact on intergenerational mobility. |
| Keywords: | Child outcomes, income, pathways, mediating factors |
| JEL: | I12 I31 I32 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:07/193&r=lab |
| By: | Bruce D. Meyer |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I first summarize how the U.S. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) operates and describe the characteristics of recipients. I then discuss empirical work on the effects of the EITC on poverty and income distribution, and its effects on labor supply. Next, I discuss a few policy concerns about the EITC: possible negative effects on hours of work and marriage, and problems of compliance with the tax system. I then briefly discuss some possible reforms to the structure of the current EITC. |
| Keywords: | EITC, poverty |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:har:wpaper:0720&r=lab |
| By: | Robertas Zubrickas (Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In the framework of static mechanism design games with non- pecuniary rewards, we solve for optimal student grading schemes and attempt to explain the observed mismatch between students? grades and their abilities. The model predicts that the more pes- simistic the teacher is about her students, the more generous she should be in grading them. Generally, the "no distortion at the top" property ceases to hold for optimal contracts with cost- less non-pecuniary rewards, and we argue that the compression of ratings as witnessed in job performance appraisals could be an equilibrium outcome. The presented theoretical ?ndings are strongly supported by empirical evidence from the related litera- ture in psychological and educational measurement. |
| Keywords: | Mechanism design, non-pecuniary incentives, op- timal grading schemes, mismatch of grades and abilities, com- pression of ratings |
| JEL: | D82 D86 I20 J41 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0027&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Denny (School of Economics & Geary Institute, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | In a 2005 paper Kanezawa proposed a generalisation of the classic Trivers- Willard hypothesis. It was argued that as a result taller and heavier parents should have more sons relative to daughters. Using two British cohort studies, evidence was presented which was partly consistent with the hypothesis. I analyse the relationship between an individual being male and their parents’ height and weight using one of the datasets. No evidence of any such relationship is found. |
| Date: | 2008–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:200803&r=lab |
| By: | Jo Blanden; Paul Gregg; Lindsey Macmillan |
| Abstract: | Sociologists and economists reach quite different conclusions about how intergenerational mobility in the UK compares for those growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Persistence in social class is found to be unchanged while family income is found to be more closely related to sons’ earnings for those born in 1970 compared to those born in the 1958. We investigate the reasons for the contrast and find that they are not due to methodological differences or data quality. Rather, they are explained by the increased importance of differences in income within social class for sons’ earnings in the second cohort. When economists measure intergenerational mobility their ideal is to see how permanent income is transmitted across generations. Our investigations show that the importance of within-social class differences in income mean that a single measure of income is a better predictor of permanent income status than fathers’ social class. We would not, therefore, expect the results for changes in intergenerational mobility based on income and social class to necessarily coincide. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, Earnings, social class |
| JEL: | J62 I2 D31 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:cmpowp:07/195&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan Bauernschuster (University of Passau); Oliver Falck (Ifo Institute for Economic Research, University of Munich); Stephan Heblich (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena) |
| Abstract: | Keeping up with rapid technological change necessitates constant innovation. Successful innovation depends on both incumbent workers’ knowledge, based on experience, and knowledge about the latest technologies, along with the skills needed to implement them. Both of these knowledge-based elements of innovation can be attained through moderate labor force turnover in combination with continuous training. Based on German micro data, we find empirical evidence in support of training leading to innovation within a multivariate regression framework. However, when instrumenting training by the existence of a union’s contract or a works council this impact disappears. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, training, unions, works councils |
| JEL: | J24 L11 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0024&r=lab |
| By: | Saint-Paul, Gilles |
| Abstract: | In order to credibly "sell" legitimate children to their spouse, women must forego more attractive mating opportunities. This paper derives the implications of this observation for the pattern of matching in marriage markets, the dynamics of human capital accumulation, and the evolution of the gene pool. A key consequence of the trade-off faced by women is that marriage markets will naturally tend to be hypergamous - that is, a marriage is more likely to be beneficial to both parties relative to remaining single, the greater the man’s human capital, and the lower the woman’s human capital. As a consequence, it is shown that the equilibrium can only be of two types. In the "Victorian" type, all agents marry somebody of the same rank in the distribution of income. In the "Sex and the City" (SATC) type, women marry men who are better ranked than themselves. There is a mass of unmarried men at the bottom of the distribution of human capital, and a mass of single women at the top of that distribution. It is shown that the economy switches from a Victorian to an SATC equilibrium as inequality goes up. The model sheds light on how marriage affects the returns to human capital for men and women. Absent marriage, these returns are larger for women than for men but the opposite may occur if marriage prevails. Finally, it is shown that the institution of marriage may or may not favour human capital accumulation depending on how genes affect one’s productivity at accumulating human capital. |
| Keywords: | human capital accumulation; hypergamy; legitimacy; Marriage markets; overlapping generations |
| JEL: | D1 D13 D3 E24 I2 J12 J13 J16 K36 O15 O43 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6828&r=lab |
| By: | Devrim Göktepe (Max Planck Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops theoretical standpoints to investigate and analyse university inventors and patenting activities. Although the studies on academic entrepreneurship and university patenting have substantially increased, first there have not been enough studies on individual inventors and second the current theoretical studies are not eclectic enough to capture the different factors that may explain university inventors patenting activities. The framework described here addresses this need. To accomplish this we inductively derive several factors from a substantial number of studies on university patenting and entrepreneurship, and develop these factors into a tentative framework. It is our hope that this framework is useful in future empirical research on university patenting and provides a point of departure for scientists. |
| Keywords: | theoretical approach, university patenting, inventors, incentives |
| JEL: | O31 O34 B31 |
| Date: | 2008–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-031&r=lab |
| By: | Facchini, Giovanni; Mayda, Anna Maria |
| Abstract: | In democratic societies individual attitudes of voters represent the foundations of policy making. We start by analyzing patterns in public opinion on migration and find that, across countries of different income levels, only a small minority of voters favour more open migration policies. Next we investigate the determinants of voters' preferences towards immigration from a theoretical and empirical point of view. Our analysis supports the role played by economic channels (labour market, welfare state, efficiency gains) using both the 1995 and 2003 rounds of the ISSP survey. The second part of the paper examines how attitudes translate into a migration policy outcome. We consider two alternative political-economy frameworks: the median voter and the interest groups model. On the one hand, the restrictive policies in place across destination countries and the very low fractions of voters favouring immigration are consistent with the median voter framework. At the same time, given the extent of individual-level opposition to immigration that appears in the data, it is somewhat puzzling, in a median-voter perspective, that migration flows take place at all. Interest-groups dynamics have the potential to explain this puzzle. We find evidence from regression analysis supporting both political-economy frameworks. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Immigration Policy; Interest Groups; Median Voter; Political Economy |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6835&r=lab |
| By: | Buddelmeyer, Hielke (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Jensen, Paul H. (University of Melbourne); Oguzoglu, Umut (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Webster, Elizabeth (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | Since little is known about the degree of bias in estimated fixed effects in panel data models, we run Monte Carlo simulations on a range of different estimators. We find that Anderson-Hsiao IV, Kiviet’s bias-corrected LSDV and GMM estimators all perform well in both short and long panels. However, OLS outperforms the other estimators when the following holds: the cross-section is small (N = 20), the time dimension is short (T = 5) and the coefficient on the lagged dependent variable is large (γ = 0.8). |
| Keywords: | dynamic model, LSDV, panel data, fixed effects |
| JEL: | C23 O11 E00 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3487&r=lab |
| By: | Donald Boyd; Pam Grossman; Hamilton Lankford; Susanna Loeb; James Wyckoff |
| Abstract: | Almost a quarter of entering public-school teachers leave teaching within their first three years. High attrition would be particularly problematic if those leaving were the more able teachers. The goal of this paper is estimate the extent to which there is differential attrition based on teachers' value-added to student achievement. Using data for New York City schools from 2000–2005, we find that first-year teachers whom we identify as less effective at improving student test scores have higher attrition rates than do more effective teachers in both low-achieving and high-achieving schools. The first-year differences are meaningful in size; however, the pattern is not consistent for teachers in their second and third years. For teachers leaving low-performing schools, the more effective transfers tend to move to higher achieving schools, while less effective transfers stay in lower-performing schools, likely exacerbating the differences across students in the opportunities they have to learn. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14022&r=lab |
| By: | Maria, De Paola |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse whether the characteristics of university teaching staff matter with regards students’ performance and interest in the discipline. We use data on about one thousand students enrolled on the first level degree course in Business and Economics at a medium sized Italian University. Thanks to the random assignment of students to different teaching sections during their first year, we are able to analyze the effect that teachers with different characteristics, in terms of experience and research productivity, produce both on students’ performance, measured in terms of the grades obtained at subsequent exams and courses chosen. Our results suggest that teacher quality has statistically significant effects on students’ grades on subsequent courses. These effects are also robust after controlling for unobserved individual characteristics. On the other hand, we find less clear evidence when relating teacher quality to student involvement with a subject. It emerges that more experienced teachers have a negative impact on the probability of a student’s undertaking additional courses in a subject, while research productivity does not produce a statistically significant effect. |
| Keywords: | teaching quality; student performance; |
| JEL: | A2 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8841&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Denny (School of Economics & Geary Institute, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | In a recent paper, Kanazawa and Kovar (2004) assert that given certain empirical regularities about assortative mating and the heritability of intelligence and beauty, that it logically follows that more intelligent people are more beautiful. It is argued here that this “theorem” is false and that the evidence does not support it. |
| Date: | 2008–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:200802&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Ca’ Zorzi (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Micha? Rubaszek (National Bank of Poland, ul. ?wi?tokrzyska 11/21, 00-919 Warsaw, Poland and Warsaw School of Economics, al. Niepodleg?osci 162, 02-554 Warsaw, Poland.) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a novel approach to the empirical validation of the intertemporal approach to the current account. We develop a calibrated model highlighting the role of consumption smoothing and capital accumulation in the economic convergence process. After solving the model, we derive the theoretical values for the euro area countries’ current account, testing to what extent they match reality. The model explains most of the dispersion in the current account and saving ratio, though cannot equally well capture differences in the investment ratios. The conclusion that we draw is that consumption smoothing, based on expectations of economic convergence, is driving the current account of the euro area countries over medium-term horizons. Capital accumulation appears to play a less pronounced role. JEL Classification: D91, F36, F41. |
| Keywords: | General equilibrium models, intertemporal optimisation, current account, euro area. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080895&r=lab |