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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Christina Felfe |
| Abstract: | Women with children tend to earn lower hourly wages than women without children - a shortfall known as the ‘child penalty’. While many studies provide evidence for this empirical fact and explore several hypotheses about its causes, the impact of motherhood on job dimensions other than wages has scarcely been investigated. In order to assess changes in women’s jobs around the time of first childbirth, I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and apply an event study analysis. The results show not only a significant change in women's hourly wages (-19%) once becoming mothers, but also in other non-pecuniary job characteristics, such as working hours (-15 hours), night work (-6%), work in the evening hours (-8%), stress (-10%), physical requirements (4%), hazards (-3%) and distance to the workplace (-1km). In order to assess the hypothesis that mothers might substitute wages for non-wage benefits, I additionally estimate a hedonic wage regression. The results suggest that mothers trade pecuniary for non-pecuniary job characteristics and hence, that part of the child penalty (8.2%) might be interpreted as a compensating wage differential. |
| Keywords: | Penalty, Compensating Wage Differentials, Sample Selection in Panel Data |
| JEL: | J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:dp2008:2008-22&r=lab |
| By: | Francis Green |
| Abstract: | I considerthe concept of employment insecurity and provide new evidence for 1997 and 2005 for many countries with widely differing institutional contexts and at varying stages of development. There are no grounds for accepting that workplaces were going through a sea-change in employment insecurity. Workers in transitional economies and developing economies worried the most about insecurity. Perceived insecurity tended to be greater for women, for less-educated and for older workers. However, these patterns vary across country groups, in ways that are only sometimes explicable in terms of their known institutional characteristics. In general, subjective employment insecurity tracks the unemployment rate. |
| Keywords: | precarious work; job insecurity; gender; job quality; unemployment |
| JEL: | J6 J16 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0810&r=lab |
| By: | John Schmitt |
| Abstract: | This report uses national data from 2003 to 2007 to show that unionization raises the wages of the typical low-wage worker (one in the 10th percentile) by 20.6 percent compared to 13.7 percent for the typical medium wage worker (one in the 50th percentile), 6.1 percent for the typical high-wage worker (one in the 90th percentile). The paper also produces results for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Throughout the states, a similar pattern holds, with unionization raising the wages of the lowest-wage workers the most. |
| Keywords: | unions, wages, benefits, pension |
| JEL: | J J1 J3 J31 J5 J6 J41 J68 J88 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2008-17&r=lab |
| By: | Delmar, Frédéric (Ecole de Management de Lyon); Folta, Timothy (Purdue University); Wennberg, Karl (Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the extent to which wage-earning workers are simultaneously self-employed, a phenomenon not thoroughly investigated in earlier studies. We use matched employee-employer databases to present a detailed investigation of self-employment patterns within the post industrial sectors in Sweden from 1990 to 2002. We find that persons that combine self-employment with waged work constitute a majority of the total number of self-employed, and that most people enter self-employment by engaging first in combinatory work, indicating that the decision to move to self-employment is more complex than characterized in earlier research. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; income dynamics; entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | J24 J60 |
| Date: | 2008–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_023&r=lab |
| By: | Guido Heineck; Silke Anger |
| Abstract: | We provide the first joint evidence on the relationship between individuals' cognitive abilities, their personality and earnings for Germany. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we employ scores from an ultra-short IQ-test and a set of measures of personality traits, namely locus of control, reciprocity and all basic items from the Five Factor Personality Inventory. Our estimates suggest a positive effect of so-called fluid intelligence or speed of cognition on males' wages only. Findings for personality traits are more heterogeneous. There however is a robust wage penalty for an external locus of control for both men and women. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive abilities, personality traits, Five Factor Model, Locus of control, reciprocity, wages |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp836&r=lab |
| By: | Grip Andries de; Fouarge Didier; Sauermann Jan (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | In public policy, international migration of scientists and engineers is often seen as achance of recruiting the most talented and productive workers. However, it can alsobe a risk in terms of loosing a country’s talented workers. In this paper, we analysemigration of graduates from science and engineering studies from nine Europeancountries. Using a dataset with information on personal characteristics, previousmigration experience, as well as study- and work-related variables, we analyse thedeterminants of migrating to the country of the first job and to the country of subsequentjobs after graduation. We find that not only wage gains are driving the migrationdecision. Differences in labour market opportunities related to R&D spending area strong predictor of future migration. Furthermore, past migration experiences arerelated to a higher probability of labour migration. Moreover, we find evidence ofselective migration: the best graduates are most likely to migrate. Contrary to ourexpectation, qualitative aspects of the job match such as the utilisation of skills in thejob and involvement in innovation hardly seem to matter in the decision whetheror not to migrate. Interestingly, the wage level affects migration towards countriesin continental Europe, whereas Anglo-Saxon countries seem to attract migrants duetheir larger R&D intensity. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2008006&r=lab |
| By: | Buligescu Bianca; Crombrugghe Denis de; Mentesoglu Gülcin; Montizaan Raymond (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | The focus of this paper is the size of the wage penalty due to maternal leave incurred by working mothers in Germany. Existing estimates suggest two-digit penalties of up to 30 percent, with very little rebound over time. We apply recent panel data methods designed to address problems of sample selectivity, unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity to German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data. The selectivity issue arises because no wage is observed for employees who are on leave. Heterogeneity takes the form of unobserved individual effects correlated with explanatory variables. Endogeneity is due to the simultaneity of the wage and participation outcomes. Heckman’s classic treatment of selectivity requires extensions to deal with both heterogeneity and simultaneity. We present an extension for the case of a censored tobit participation model and use it to exploit the actual working hours data available in GSOEP. We also investigate the sensitivity of the results to the choice of method. Our estimates imply a wage penalty due to maternal leave which although substantial remains below previous estimates. Furthermore, we find that this penalty is less persistent than other studies suggest. Five years after the career interruption mothers seem to have caught up. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2008005&r=lab |
| By: | de Luna, Xavier (Department of Statistics, Umeå University); Stenberg, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University); Westerlund, Olle (Department of Economics, Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | Several studies have suggested that education is associated with later retirement from the labour market. In this paper, we examine whether adult education, involving enrolees aged 42 or above, delays retirement to potentially increase labour force participation among the elderly. With Swedish register data of transcripts from adult education and an-nual earnings, which encompasses 1979-2004 and 1982-2004 respectively, we exploit the fact that adult education is a large-scale phenomenon in Sweden and construct a measure of the timing of the transition from being self-supported by productive work to being supported by pension transfers. We match samples of treated and controls on the propen-sity score and use non-parametric estimation of survival rates. The results indicate that adult education has no effect on the timing of the retirement from the labour force. This can be contrasted with the fact that adult education is one of the cornerstones of the OECD strategy for “active ageing” and the European Union’s “Lisbon strategy” for growth and jobs. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; Pensions; Elderly; Adult schooling |
| JEL: | H52 H55 H75 I28 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0756&r=lab |
| By: | Till von Wachter (Columbia University - Department of Economics); Jae Song (Social Security Administration); Joyce Manchester (Social Security Administration) |
| Abstract: | We use administrative longitudinal data on earnings, impairment, and mortality to replicate and extend Bound¡¯s seminal study of rejected applicants to federal Disability Insurance (DI). We confirm Bound¡¯s main result that rejected older male applicants do not exhibit substantial labor force participation. We show this result is stable over time, robust to more narrow control groups, and similar within gender, impairment, industry, and earnings groups. However, we also find that younger rejected applicants have substantial employment after application. To what extent this translates into potential employment for new beneficiaries depends on which group among them is considered "on the margin" of receiving DI. If we use initially rejected applicants - a large and growing fraction of new beneficiaries - the resulting counterfactual employment rate for younger applicants is low, too. We also find that rejected applicants bear signs of economically induced applicants. DI appears to induce a growing number of less successful workers to apply, an important fraction of which ends up without benefits and non-employed. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clu:wpaper:0809-05&r=lab |
| By: | Walters, Lurleen M.; Emerson, Robert D.; Iwai, Nobuyuki |
| Abstract: | The issue of legalization for unauthorized farm workers is examined in this paper. The analytical framework uses a treatment effects approach which casts legalization as a treatment under the assumption of heterogeneity. The results show an overall positive impact of legalization on farm worker wage outcomes and with the expected positive sorting on the gains from legal status. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6285&r=lab |
| By: | Partridge, Jamie; Furtan, Hartley |
| Abstract: | We use an augmented national ideas production function to examine skilled immigrants' impact on Canadian innovation at the provincial level. Empirically, this model was tested using Canadian data by province on innovation flow over an 11 year time period, where innovation flow is defined in terms of international (U.S.) patents. It was found that skilled immigrants, who are proficient in either English or French, have a significant and positive impact on innovation flow in their home province. Further, in examining skilled immigrants by source region, it was found that skilled immigrants from developed countries have the greatest impact on their home province's innovation flow. This is true of North American/European skilled immigrants for all skill-level categories including language proficiency, education, and immigrant class. For immigrants from developing countries, only highly educated Eastern Europeans and Low Income Asians classified as "Independent Workers" are both significant and positively related to their home province's innovation flow. |
| Keywords: | Canada, endogenous technological change, innovation, national ideas, production function, patents, skilled immigrants, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6504&r=lab |
| By: | Frenette, Marc |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the effect of an additional year of schooling (Grade 10) on academic performance, with the particular aim of understanding the role of schooling in shaping the gender and income divides in academic performance. To identify the returns to schooling, the study takes advantage of a setting whereby standardized tests were administered to large samples of students of very close age, but who were in different school grades as a result of school-entry laws, thus creating a sharp discontinuity in school grades. The findings suggest that one additional year of high school (Grade 10) is associated with a large improvement in overall reading and mathematics performance, and that it had a smaller improvement in science performance. However, the improvements are not equally distributed: mathematics scores improve more for boys than for girls, and reading and science scores improve more for lower than for higher income youth. Most importantly, we find no evidence that girls or higher income youth benefit more from an additional year of high school in any test area. These findings suggest that the key to understanding the weaker academic performance of boys and lower income youth may lie in earlier school years, the home or at birth. |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Literacy, Outcomes of education |
| Date: | 2008–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2008317e&r=lab |
| By: | Jäckle, Robert; Himmler, Oliver |
| Abstract: | This paper complements previous studies on the effects of health on wages by addressing the problems of unobserved heterogeneity, sample selection, and endogeneity in one comprehensive framework. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) we find the health variable to suffer from measurement error and a number of tests provide evidence that selection corrections are necessary. Good health leads to higher wages for men, while there appears to be no significant effect for women. Contingent on the method of estimation, healthy males are estimated to earn between 1.3% and 7.8% more than those in poor health. |
| Keywords: | health; wages; fixed effects; sample selection; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | C34 J4 C33 I1 |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11578&r=lab |
| By: | Nonthakot, Phanin; Villano, Renato |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between labour migration and agricultural productivity in the Northern Province of Thailand. Drawing on maize production data from a household survey, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of migration, remittances and salient characteristics of migrants on the mean maize output and levels of technical efficiency. Evidence shows that remittances and number of migrant workers facilitate maize production. It was also found that remittances, duration of migration, gender and education of migrants enhance the productive capacity of maize farmers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, maize, Thailand, Crop Production/Industries, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5981&r=lab |
| By: | Mercedes Teruel-Carrizosa (GRIT, Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Agustí Segarra-Blasco (GRIT, Universitat Rovira i Virgili) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the effect of immigration flows on the growth and efficiency of manufacturing firms in Spanish cities. To date, most studies have tended to focus on the effect immigrants have on labour markets at an aggregate level. Here, however, we undertake an exhaustive analysis at the firm level and report conclusive empirical findings. Ten years ago, Spain began to register massive immigration flows, concentrated above all on its most dynamic and advanced regions. Here, therefore, rather than focusing on the impact this has had on Spain’s labour market (changes to the skill structure of the workforce, increase in labour supply, the displacement of native workers, etc.), we examine the arrival of immigrants in terms of the changes this has meant to the structure of the country’s cities and their amenities. Thus, we argue that the impact of immigration on firm performance should not only be considered in terms of the labour market, but also in terms of how a city’s amenities can affect the performance of firms. Employing a panel data methodology, we show that the increasing pressure brought to bear by immigrants has a positive effect on the evolution of labour productivity and wages and a negative effect on the job evolution of these manufacturing firms. In addition, both small and new firms are more sensitive to the pressures of such immigrant inflows, while foreign market oriented firms report higher productivity levels and a less marked impact of immigration than their counterparts. In this paper, we also present a set of instruments to correct the endogeneity bias, which confirms the effect of local immigration flows on the performance of manufacturing firms. |
| Keywords: | firm growth, firm location, regional effects |
| JEL: | L25 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2008-11&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Clemens; Satish Chand |
| Abstract: | Does the emigration of highly-skilled workers deplete local human capital? The answer is not obvious if migration prospects induce human capital formation. We analyze a unique natural quasi-experiment in the Republic of the Fiji Islands, where political shocks have provoked one of the largest recorded exoduses of skilled workers from a developing country. Mass emigration began unexpectedly and has occurred only in a well-defined subset of the population, creating a treatment group that foresaw likely emigration and two different quasi-control groups that did not. We use rich census and administrative microdata to address a range of concerns about experimental validity. This allows plausible causal attribution of post-shock changes in human capital accumulation to changes in emigration patterns. We show that high rates of emigration by tertiary-educated Fiji Islanders not only raised investment in tertiary education in Fiji; they moreover raised the stock of tertiary educated people in Fiji—net of departures. |
| Keywords: | migration, human capital, fiji |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:152&r=lab |
| By: | Bonanno, Alessandro; Lopez, Rigoberto A. |
| Abstract: | This paper measures the degree of monopsony power exerted by Wal-Mart over retail workers using a dominant-firm model and data on contiguous U.S. counties where the company operates, presenting for the first time a measure of the anti-competitive behavior of the company. Empirical results show that Wal-Mart€ٳ monopsony power over workers varies significantly across the country, being higher in rural counties, particularly in the south. For instance, Wal-Mart€ٳ buying power index in labor markets in rural southern central states is estimated to be 5% or higher while the impact on northeastern states€٠retail wages is negligible. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6219&r=lab |
| By: | Roberts, J; Rice, N; Jones, A.M |
| Abstract: | Both health and income inequalities have been shown to be much greater in Britain than in Germany. One of the main reasons seems to be the difference in the relative position of the retired, who, in Britain, are much more concentrated in the lower income groups. Inequality analysis reveals that while the distribution of health shocks is more concentrated among those on low incomes in Britain, early retirement is more concentrated among those on high incomes. In contrast, in Germany, both health shocks and early retirement are more concentrated among those with low incomes. We use comparable longitudinal data sets from Britain and Germany to estimate hazard models of the effect of health on early retirement. The hazard models show that health is a key determinant of the retirement hazard for both men and women in Britain and Germany. The size of the health effect appears large compared to the other variables. Designing financial incentives to encourage people to work for longer may not be sufficient as a policy tool if people are leaving the labour market involuntarily due to health problems. |
| Keywords: | health, early retirement, hazard models. |
| JEL: | J26 I10 C23 C41 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:08/27&r=lab |
| By: | Elhanan Helpman; Oleg Itskhoki; Stephen Redding |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new framework for examining the distributional consequences of trade liberalization that is consistent with increasing inequality in every country, growth in residual wage inequality, rising unemployment, and reallocation within and between industries. While the opening of trade yields welfare gains, unemployment and inequality within sectors are higher in the trade equilibrium than in the closed economy. In the open economy changes in trade openness have nonmonotonic effects on unemployment and inequality within sectors. As aggregate unemployment and inequality have within- and between-sector components, changes in sector composition following the opening of trade complicate its impact on aggregate unemployment and inequality. However, when countries are nearly symmetric, the sectoral composition effects reinforce the within-sector effects, and both aggregate inequality and aggregate unemployment rise with trade liberalization. |
| JEL: | D31 F12 J31 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14478&r=lab |
| By: | Sung-Hee Jeon (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Guyonne Kalb (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Ha Vu (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This study examines whether the factors that determine the welfare participation of women who experienced teenage motherhood differ from the factors that determine the welfare participation of women who had their first child at an older age. We examine these factors across the lifetimes of both groups of women. A dynamic random effects probit model is applied to investigate the extent of state dependence in welfare participation while allowing for observed and unobserved individual heterogeneity. We find evidence of state dependence for all women, but it is stronger for women who experienced teenage childbearing than for women who had a child at an older age. In addition, poor health is an important factor in increasing the probability of the welfare participation of women who experienced teenage childbearing. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2008n22&r=lab |
| By: | Esther Duflo; Pascaline Dupas; Michael Kremer |
| Abstract: | This paper provides experimental evidence on the impact of tracking primary school students by initial achievement. In the presence of positive spillover effects from academically proficient peers, tracking may be beneficial for strong students but hurt weaker ones. However, tracking may help everybody if heterogeneous classes make it difficult to teach at a level appropriate to most students. We test these competing claims using a randomized evaluation in Kenya. One hundred and twenty one primary schools which all had a single grade one class received funds to hire an extra teacher to split that class into two sections. In 60 randomly selected schools, students were randomly assigned to sections. In the remaining 61 schools, students were ranked by prior achievement (measured by their first term grades), and the top and bottom halves of the class were assigned to different sections. After 18 months, students in tracking schools scored 0.14 standard deviations higher than students in non-tracking schools, and this effect persisted one year after the program ended. Furthermore, students at all levels of the distribution benefited from tracking. A regression discontinuity analysis shows that in tracking schools scores of students near the median of the pre-test distribution score are independent of whether they were assigned to the top or bottom section. In contrast, in non-tracking schools we find that on average, students benefit from having academically stronger peers. This suggests that tracking was beneficial because it helped teachers focus their teaching to a level appropriate to most students in the class. |
| JEL: | I20 O1 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14475&r=lab |
| By: | Alberto Alesina; Silvia Ardagna; Vincenzo Galasso |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether or not the adoption of the Euro has facilitated the introduction of structural reforms, defined as deregulation in the product markets and liberalization and deregulation in the labor markets. After reviewing the theoretical arguments that may link the adoption of the Euro and structural reforms, we investigate the empirical evidence. We find that the adoption of the Euro has been associated with an acceleration of the pace of structural reforms in the product market. The adoption of the Euro does not seem to have accelerated labor market reforms in the "primary labor market;" however, the run up to the Euro adoption seems to have been accompanied by wage moderation. We also investigate issues concerning the sequencing of goods and labor market reforms. |
| JEL: | H10 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14479&r=lab |
| By: | Laura Hering; Sandra Poncet |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the role of economic geography in explaining regional wages in China. It investigates the extent to which market proximity can explain the evolution of wages, and through which channels. We construct a complete indicator of market access at the provincial level from data on domestic and international trade flows; this is introduced in a simultaneous-equations system to identify the direct and indirect effect of market access on wages. The estimation results for 29 Chinese provinces over 1995-2002 suggest that access to sources of demand is indeed an important factor shaping regional wage dynamics in China. We investigate three channels through which market access might influence wages beside direct transport-cost savings: export performance, and human and physical capital accumulation. A fair share of benefits seems to come from enhanced export performance and greater accumulation of physical capital. The main source of influence of market access remains direct transport costs. |
| Keywords: | Economic geography; international trade; wage; trade openness; capital accumulation; China |
| JEL: | F12 F15 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2008-20&r=lab |
| By: | Gordon H. Hanson |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I selectively discuss recent empirical work on the consequences of global labor mobility. I examine how international migration affects the incomes of individuals in sending and receiving countries and of migrants themselves. Were a social planner to choose the migration policies that would maximize global welfare, she would need to know, among other values, the elasticities of wages, prices, taxes, and government transfers with respect to national labor supplies, as well as how these parameters vary across countries. My goal is to evaluate the progress of the literature in terms of providing these inputs. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14490&r=lab |
| By: | Ghosh, Dipak; Ruziev, Kobil |
| Abstract: | In labour surplus developing countries a strategy based on the application of the Keynesian multiplier to generate employment is constrained by the availability of resources. In some of Keynes's writings in general and those on the post-War employment and commodity policy in particular it seems that Keynes himself became aware of the limitation of the savings investment multiplier in generating and maintaining full employment in industrialized economies. The paper argues that the time has now arrived for the economic policy makers to wake up to the limitations of expansionary fiscal and monetary policy alone to combat the current downturn in economic activities. |
| Keywords: | wage goods; Commod Control; employment; fix-price; flex-price; Bretton Woods |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-22&r=lab |
| By: | Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö; Matthias Deschryvere |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT : This study empirically explores whether R&D offshoring affects the domestic R&D employment at the firm level. Overall, the Finnish survey data suggest that the impact of R&D internationalization on domestic R&D employment depends on the mode of internationalization (in-house offshoring vs. offshore outsourcing vs. in-house expansion of R&D abroad). Moreover, manufacturing and service firms are found to be different when it comes to R&D internationalization and its domestic employment effects. In the manufacturing sector, especially in-house offshoring of R&D has a significant negative impact on the plan to increase R&D employment. But the relationship between the in-house expansion of R&D abroad and domestic R&D employment turns out to be complementary. In the service sector, it is in the first place offshore outsourcing of R&D that has a significant negative impact on the plan to increase R&D employment. A final result supports the view that R&D does not always follow production but that a strong location link between production and R&D does have a significant negative effect on the domestic R&D employment. |
| Keywords: | globalization, internationalization, outsourcing, offshoring, job loss, R&D, spillovers, research, relocation, domestic, home-country |
| JEL: | J6 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1163&r=lab |
| By: | Fougere, Denis; Gautier, Erwan; Le Bihan, Herve |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of the minimum wage on restaurant prices. For that purpose, we estimate a price rigidity model by exploiting a unique data set of individual price quotes used to calculate the Consumer Price Index in France. We …find a positive and signifi…cant impact of the minimum wage on prices. We obtain that the effect of the minimum wage on prices is very protracted. The aggregate impact estimated with our model takes more than a year to fully pass through to retail prices. |
| Keywords: | Price stickiness, minimum wage, inflation, restaurant prices, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:44084&r=lab |
| By: | Senou, Barthelemy mahugnon |
| Abstract: | This paper aim to study the impact of teacher status on the behaviour of Benin’s primary school teachers in the context of the growing expansion of the hiring of non civil servant teachers. To address this issue we estimate both negative binomial model and linear instrumental variable model to assess the effect of to be either civil servant or non civil servant teacher both on the absenteeism frequency and the end of year performance of pupils in primary school. We find that the fact to be non civil servant teacher negatively affect absenteeism both in CP2 and CMI. Considering the impact on the pupil’s performances the results show that non civil servant women have a positive effect on the pupil’s performances in CP2 while this effect is ambiguous in CMI. Theses finding are relevant and useful in order to define the type of contract which insure a better and efficient educative system. |
| Keywords: | contract;contractuel;communautaire; performance; absenteisme |
| JEL: | A20 C50 |
| Date: | 2008–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11528&r=lab |
| By: | Dorfman, Jeffrey H.; Patridge, Mark D.; Galloway, Hamilton |
| Abstract: | We investigate the recently advanced theory that high-technology workers are drawn to high amenity locations and then the high-technology jobs follow the workers. Using a novel data set that tracks high-technology job growth by U.S. county, we estimate spatial parameters of the response of job growth to the level of local natural amenities. We achieve this estimation with a reasonably new class of models, smooth coefficient models. The model is employed in a spatial setting to allow for smooth, but nonparametric response functions to key variables in an otherwise standard regression model. With spatial data this allows for flexible modeling such as a unique place-specific effects to be estimated for each location, and also for the responses to key variables to vary by location. This flexibility is achieved through the non-parametric smoothing rather than by nearest-neighbor type estimators such as in geographically weighted regressions. The resulting model can be estimated in a straightforward application of analytical Bayesian techniques. Our results show that amenities can definitely have a significant effect on high-technology employment growth; however, the effect varies over space and by amenity level. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian econometrics, employment growth, high technology, smooth coefficient models, spatial modeling., Labor and Human Capital, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6459&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin H. O'Rourke; Ahmed S. Rahman; Alan M. Taylor |
| Abstract: | Technological change was unskilled-labor-biased during the early Industrial Revolution, but is skill-biased today. This is not embedded in extant unified growth models. We develop a model which can endogenously account for these facts, where factor bias reflects profit-maximizing decisions by innovators. Endowments dictate that the early Industrial Revolution be unskilled-labor-biased. Increasing basic knowledge causes a growth takeoff, an income-led demand for fewer educated children, and the transition to skill-biased technological change. The simulated model tracks British industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries and generates a demographic transition without relying on either rising skill premia or exogenous educational supply shocks. |
| JEL: | J13 J24 N10 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14484&r=lab |
| By: | David Albouy |
| Abstract: | The standard revealed-preference hedonic estimate of a city's quality of life is proportional to that city's cost-of-living relative to its wage-level. Adjusting the standard hedonic model to account for federal taxes, non-housing costs, and non-labor income produces quality-of-life estimates different from the existing literature. The adjusted model produces city rankings positively correlated with those in the popular literature, and predicts how housing costs rise with wage levels, controlling for amenities. Mild seasons, sunshine, and coastal location account for most quality-of-life differences; once these amenities are accounted for, quality of life does not depend on city size, contrary to previous findings. |
| JEL: | H4 J3 Q51 Q54 R1 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14472&r=lab |
| By: | Acosta Reveles, Irma Lorena |
| Abstract: | Argentina is recognized because it has one of the most fertile areas of the orb, the pampeana region. The exuberance of their ecosystem has been basic to preserve the agrarian profile of the country, despite of the impulse to the industrialization in the postwar period. The certain thing is that along the last quarter of century the rural physiognomy of the country has changed radically. This country is probably the best example of penetration of the capitalism in latinamerican fields, with atrocious effects in social and environmental matter. In this occasion it propose a debate over of the impact of these transformations in wage labor, following closely the production of soybean. La República Argentina es reconocida por albergar una de las áreas naturales más fértiles del orbe, la región pampeana. La exuberancia de su ecosistema ha sido clave para preservar el perfil agrario del país, no obstante el impulso a la industrialización que en la posguerra compartieron las naciones de América Latina. Lo cierto es que a lo largo del último cuarto de siglo la fisonomía rural del país ha cambiado radicalmente. Este país es quizá el mejor ejemplo de penetración del capital en el campo latinoamericano, con efectos atroces en materia social y ambiental. En esta ocasión nos proponemos debatir acerca del impacto laboral de estas transformaciones, siguiendo de cerca la evolución de las relaciones salariales en la región pampeana, pero sólo en lo que corresponde a la producción de soja. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture; capital; wage labor; soybean; Argentina |
| JEL: | Q16 J43 P1 R14 Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11493&r=lab |
| By: | Espey, Molly |
| Abstract: | The ability to work with others is a skill highly valued by employers. Students often work in groups for class projects, but extensive teamwork is usually limited. This research explores student attitudes toward working with peers through a "Value of Teams" survey. The relationship of demographic characteristics and initial attitudes, changes in attitudes after a semester in an intensive team-based learning environment, and the enduring effect of attitudes as measured through responses of students enrolled in a second class with the same instructor are all examined. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6493&r=lab |
| By: | Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés; Tselios, Vassilis |
| Abstract: | Does inequality matter for regional growth? This paper addresses this question by using microeconomic data for more than 100,000 individuals over a period of 5 years from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) dataset, complemented with Eurostat's Regio data, in order to examine the impact of income and educational distribution on regional economic growth. Educational distribution is measured in terms of educational achievement as well as educational inequality, and income distribution in terms of income per capita and income inequality, not only for the whole of the population, but also for normally working people. Our results indicate that, given existing levels of inequality, an increase in a region's income and educational inequality has a significant positive relationship with subsequent economic growth. Nevertheless, the reverse does not seem to be the case, as we do not find a causal link between growth and changes in inequality levels. Despite the fact that educational achievement is positively correlated with economic growth, the results also suggest that inequalities in income and educational attainment levels matter more for economic performance than average income and educational attainment, respectively. Initial income levels, in contrast, are irrelevant for regional economic growth as they are very sensitive to the inclusion of control variables. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality,educational attainment,educational inequality,economic growth,regions,Europe/growth |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:dynreg34&r=lab |
| By: | Till Bärnighausen (Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal); David E. Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health) |
| Abstract: | In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa health worker shortages are one of the main constraints in achieving population health goals. Financial-incentive programmes for return of service, whereby participants receive payments in return for a commitment to practice for a period of time in a medically underserved area, can alleviate local and regional health worker shortages through two mechanisms. First, they can redirect the flow of those health workers who would have been educated without financial incentive from well-served to underserved areas. Second, they can add health workers to the pool of workers who would have been educated without financial incentives and place them in underserved areas. While financial-incentive programmes are an attractive option to increase the supply of health workers to medically underserved areas – they offer students who otherwise would not have the means to finance a health care education an opportunity to do so, establish legally enforceable commitments to work in underserved areas, and work without compulsion – these programmes may be difficult to implement. |
| Keywords: | Disease, control, global health, financial-incentive programs, Africa. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:3708&r=lab |
| By: | Aradhyula, Satheesh; Rahman, Tauhidur |
| Abstract: | Using insights from economics, pediatrics, psychology, and sociology, this paper examines the effects of income, income inequality, neighborhood characteristics, maternal health, the participation in religious services, breastfeeding, household smoking, and racial/ethnic composition of population on child health. Using aggregate data on children's health and well-being for 50 U.S. states derived from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH, 2005), we document the following results: (1) the independent effects of income inequality on children's health vary across domains of child health outcomes, as some aspects of child health (mental health) are more responsive to the immediate environment of family and neighborhood than others; (2) neighborhood characteristics are powerful predictors of children's health; (3) there is a large effect of maternal health on children's health; (4) children who participate in religious services at least once a week have less socio-emotional difficulties compared to children who do not, and (5) breastfeeding has beneficial effect on children's health, while household smoking has negative effect on children's health and well-being. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6244&r=lab |
| By: | Jonah E. Rockoff; Brian A. Jacob; Thomas J. Kane; Douglas O. Staiger |
| Abstract: | Research on the relationship between teachers' characteristics and teacher effectiveness has been underway for over a century, yet little progress has been made in linking teacher quality with factors observable at the time of hire. However, most research has examined a relatively small set of characteristics that are collected by school administrators in order to satisfy legal requirements and set salaries. To extend this literature, we administered an in-depth survey to new math teachers in New York City and collected information on a number of non-traditional predictors of effectiveness including teaching specific content knowledge, cognitive ability, personality traits, feelings of self-efficacy, and scores on a commercially available teacher selection instrument. Individually, we find that only a few of these predictors have statistically significant relationships with student and teacher outcomes. However, when all of these variables are combined into two primary factors summarizing cognitive and non-cognitive teacher skills, we find that both factors have a modest and statistically significant relationship with student and teacher outcomes, particularly with student test scores. These results suggest that, while there may be no single factor that can predict success in teaching, using a broad set of measures can help schools improve the quality of their teachers. |
| JEL: | I21 J45 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14485&r=lab |
| By: | Iwai, Noubyuki; Emerson, Robert D.; Walters, Lurleen M. |
| Abstract: | The prospect of immigration reform has renewed farmers€٠concerns of serious labor shortages and cost increases, which may urge highly labor-intensive specialty crop farmers to switch to less-labor-intensive technology. The large-scale mechanization of the Florida sugarcane harvest during the 1970s/80s serves as an historical example of how technologies evolved due to changes in local labor market conditions. We analyze the dynamic decision-making process of sugarcane farmers in the relevant period using net present value (NPV) approach and real options approach (ROA) with least squares Monte Carlo (LSMC). |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Labor and Human Capital, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6479&r=lab |
| By: | Haller, Stefanie (ESRI); Siedschlag, Iulia (ESRI) |
| Abstract: | We analyse factors driving ICT adoption at firm level using data from Irish manufacturing firms over the period 2001-2004. Our results indicate that the adoption of ICT has been uneven across firms, industries and space. On average, other things equal, firms with more skilled workers, firms operating in ICT-producing and ICTusing industries, and firms located in the capital city region have been relatively more successful in adopting and using ICT. We find positive technology spillovers from firms that have adopted ICT located in the same region and industry. To a certain extent, patterns of ICT adoption are different for domestic and foreign-owned firms, in particular with respect to the effects of international competitive pressure and firm size. |
| Keywords: | Human capital/ICT adoption/Industrial structure/Technologyspillovers |
| JEL: | L21 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:dynreg29&r=lab |
| By: | Schlosser, Janet A.; Leatherman, John C.; Peterson, Jeffrey M. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6123&r=lab |
| By: | Arie Kapteyn; James P. Smith; Arthur van Soest |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the determinants of global life satisfaction in two countries (The Netherlands and the U.S.), by using both self-reports and responses to a battery of vignette questions. The authors find global life satisfaction of happiness is well-described by four domains: job or daily activities, social contacts and family, health, and income. Among the four domains, social contacts and family have the highest impact on global life satisfaction, followed by job and daily activities and health. Income has the lowest impact. As in other work, they find that American response styles differ from the Dutch in that Americans are more likely to use the extremes of the scale (either very satisfied or very dissatisfied) than the Dutch, who are more inclined to stay in the middle of the scale. Although for both Americans and the Dutch, income is the least important determinant of global life satisfaction, it is more important in the U.S. than in The Netherlands. Indeed life satisfaction varies substantially more with income in the U.S. than in The Netherlands. |
| JEL: | I31 J28 D31 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:623&r=lab |
| By: | Guidi, Francesco |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is twofold. First it aims to compare several GARCH family models in order to model and forecast the conditional variance of German, Swiss, and UK stock market indexes. The main result is that all GARCH family models show evidence of asymmetric effects. Based on the “out of sample” forecasts I can say that for each market considered there is a model that will lead to better volatility forecasts. Secondly a long run relation between these markets was investigated using the cointegration methodology. Cointegration tests show that DAX30, FTSE100, and SMI indexes move together in the long term. The VECM model indicates a positive long run relation among these indexes, while the error correction terms indicate that the Swiss market is the initial receptor of external shocks. One of the main findings of this analysis is that although the UK, Switzerland and Germany do not share a common currency, the diversification benefits of investing in these countries could be very low given that their stock markets seem to move together in the lung term. |
| Keywords: | Stock Returns; Volatility; GARCH models; Cointegration |
| JEL: | C53 G15 C22 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11535&r=lab |
| By: | JINDAL, Rohit |
| Abstract: | This paper determines the demand for a forestry program amongst rural households in western Kenya. It is based on a field survey with 277 households, using a stratified random sampling approach. The study follows attribute based method to elicit farmers€٠preferences. Demand is measured in terms of additional number of trees that a household is willing to plant under different price schedules, including direct economic incentive to plant new seedlings. The mean willingness to plant new trees per household increases from 44 trees when farmers have to pay 10ksh/seedling, to 244 trees when farmers receive a payment of 10ksh/seedling. The paper uses fixed effects, random effects and random effect tobit models to estimate relevant parameters. Hausman specification test is returned insignificant, while implies that random effects specification is not incorrect. Price of seedlings (negative effect), availability of timber species (positive effect), gender of the respondent (men likely to plant more trees than women), and availability of agricultural labor at the household (positive) were all found to be significant. Increase in price of a seedling by 1Ksh reduced demand by nine seedlings, while addition of an adult who works full-time on the family farm will raise the demand for seedlings by 18. Furthermore, farmers in Yala River basin were likely to plant more trees than those in the Nyando River basin. |
| Keywords: | Kenya, Lake Victoria, demand, tree seedlings, attribute based method, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C23, Q23, Q57, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6347&r=lab |
| By: | Iorgulescu, Raluca Ioana |
| Abstract: | This dissertation explores new directions in economic theory based on field research in two Igbo villages in Nigeria (Umuluwe - representative of traditional Igbo villages and Obigo - representative of suburban, more modern, Igbo villages). Results from Ultimatum and Dictator Games played in Umuluwe show the importance of cultural context in economic behavior (endogenous preferences). The importance of endogenous preferences, as opposed to concepts of Pareto efficiency and Potential Pareto Improvement. The information provided by the 2001 survey, regarding the age, ocupation, education, income, number of children, affiliation to different associations, and other data, allows us to compare the social-economic characteristics of the villagers in Umuluwe and Obigbo. The migration between Umuluwe and Obigbo is analysed. Young people from Umuluwe migrate to Obigbo in search of better employment and education opportunities while retired people from Obigbo return to Umuluwe. In addition to the human flows, the the income flows from Obigbo to Umuluwe reveal a symbiotic rural-suburban relationship between the two villages. As modernization changed the traditional socio-economic structure and institution, it also enhanced the role of the symbiotic relationship between the two villages in Igbo society within the traditonal cultural matrix (based on the patrilineal polygamous extended family). Based on the survey results, the labor market decision-making in the two villages is examined using a binary logit model. The occupational structure revealed for Umuluwe and Obigbo villages is analyzed in combination with personal characteristics, households demograhics, and economic conditions in the village of residence. This study allows us to conduct the discussion regarding the probability of an individual to have a paid occupation vs. a non-paid occupation at two levels: (1) decision-making of male vs. female villages and (2) decision-making of Umuluwe vs. Obigbo residents. The results are consistent with the traditional cultural and institutional pattern in Igbo society. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rjr:wpiecf:081102&r=lab |
| By: | Ekki Syamsulhakim (Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to exercise a rather recent trend in applied microeconometrics, namely the effect of sampling design on statistical inference, especially on binary outcome model. Many theoretical research in econometrics have shown the inappropriateness of applying i.i.dassumed statistical analysis on non-i.i.d data. These research have provided proofs showing that applying the iid-assumed analysis on a non-iid observations would result in an inflated standard errors which could make the estimated coefficients inefficient if not biased. Consequently, a policy-affecting quantitative research would give an incorrect - usually of type-1 errors - in its conclusion. Using a dataset sourced from the third cycle of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), which sampling design involved multi-stage clustering and stratification, this paper shows discrepancies in the estimation result of probit regressions of a child attending school when the estimated standard errors are adjusted and not. The computation also shows a considerable change in the level of confidence in not-rejecting the null hypothesis of the explanatory variables. This paper provides more evidence that statistical analysis should always take into account the sampling design in collecting the data. |
| Keywords: | Applied microeconometrics, survey data, IFLS, design effects, economics of education, demand for schooling |
| JEL: | C12 C42 C81 I21 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:200809&r=lab |
| By: | Till Bärnighausen (Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal); David E. Bloom |
| Abstract: | In many geographical regions, both in developing and in developed countries, the number of health workers is insufficient to achieve population health goals. Financial incentives for return of service are intended to alleviate health worker shortages: A (future) health worker enters into a contract to work for a number of years in an underserved area in exchange for a financial pay-off. The authors of this paper carried out a systematic literature search of PubMed for studies evaluating outcomes of financial-incentive programs published between 1957 and 2007. |
| Keywords: | Disease, control, global health, financial-incentive programs. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gdm:wpaper:3608&r=lab |
| By: | Shawn Fremstad; Rebecca Ray; Hye Jin Rho |
| Abstract: | Synthesizing previous CEPR research, this report uses a new methodology to better assess the economic security of working families. Rather than using the federal poverty line as a metric for a family's economic hardship, the authors of this report use basic family budgets and consider the role of public works supports to present a more accurate picture of a working family's economic needs for attaining a basic standard of living in their communities. The study includes results for 45 states and the District of Columbia. |
| Keywords: | economic security, working families, standard of living, work supports |
| JEL: | I I38 J J08 J68 J88 O51 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2008-15&r=lab |
| By: | Enver, Ayesha; Partridge, Mark |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 07/24/08. |
| Keywords: | Overlapping Generations Model, Rural-Urban Migration, Poverty Traps, Agglomeration Economies, Place-based Policies, Person-based Policies, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital, R13, R58, O15, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6475&r=lab |
| By: | Mugera, Amin W.; Langemeier, Michael |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to analyze sources of labor productivity growth in the Kansas farm sector over the period 1993-2006 for a sample of 668 farms. The nonparametric production frontier method is used to decompose labor productivity growth into three components: (1) technological catch-up, (2) technological change, and (3) capital deepening. Kernel estimation methods are used to analyze the evolution of the entire distribution of labor productivity in the sample period. We find that labor productivity is primarily driven by capital deepening. On average, capital deepening is the main source of convergence in productivity and technical change is a source of divergence. We find little evidence of technological catch-up. The impact of the three components of labor productivity varies by farm size. |
| Keywords: | labor productivity, growth, technological catch-up, technological change, capital deepening, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6069&r=lab |
| By: | Jordan, Jeff; Castillio, Marco; Ferraro, Paul J.; Petrie, Regan |
| Abstract: | We experimentally investigate the distribution of children's time preferences along gender and racial lines. Black boys have significantly larger discount rates than any other demographic group. Discount rates among Black girls are comparable to rates among White girls. Although White boys exhibit higher discount rates than girls, the difference is small and not statistically significant. These results are robust to alternative measures of patience and to regression analyses that control for socio-economic background and school performance. The measured differences in discount rates are large. All things equal, a Black boy requires expected returns to education 13-15% higher than Black girls to compensate for his larger discounting of future payoffs. Equally importantly, we show that impatience, as measured by discount rates, has a direct effect on behavior. An increase of one standard deviation in the discount rate increases by 5 percent the probability that a child incurs at least 3 school-related disciplinary actions. This result suggests that experiments capture new and relevant information on children. Overall, our results suggests that time preferences might play a large role in setting appropriate incentives for children. Understanding the factors behind these differences in preferences is an important area for future research. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6368&r=lab |
| By: | Barkley, Andrew |
| Abstract: | This research presents the results of a mathematical model of learning, to identify the major determinants of a productive and successful learning environment for college-level students. The driving force of the research is the relationship between: (1) student capacity for learning (ability), and (2) the opportunity to learn provided by the instructor (challenge). The dynamic relationship between ability and challenge leads to the most effective steady state rate of knowledge acquisition (learning). Implications for both students and teachers are derived and explored, including the proposition that a stable and sustainable rate of learning occurs when ability and challenge are congruent. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6161&r=lab |
| By: | Kurka, Bernhard; Trippl, Michaela; Maier, Gunther |
| Abstract: | In today's knowledge-based global economy, highly qualified people acting as carriers of knowledge are playing a crucial role for the growth and development of organizations, cities and regions. Top-talent is regarded as the major source of innovation and competitive advantage, particularly in science and research. Highly skilled and educated workers, such as scientists and scholars, who are transferring their embodied knowledge from one place to another through geographical mobility, are referred to as knowledge spillover agents (KSA). Considering this context it is important to develop an understanding of the motivational dynamics, location factors and knowledge flows associated with mobility decisions of scientists and researchers. Based on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with Austrian scientists who are either currently staying abroad or have already returned this explorative study identifies some characteristics of scientific mobility, investigates the most relevant push and pull factors as well as sheds some light on the motivational dynamics at the individual level. acting as carriers of knowledge are playing a crucial role for the growth and development of organizations, cities and regions. Top-talent is regarded as the major source of innovation and competitive advantage, particularly in science and research. Highly skilled and educated workers, such as scientists and scholars, who are transferring their embodied knowledge from one place to another through geographical mobility, are referred to as knowledge spillover agents (KSA). Considering this context it is important to develop an understanding of the motivational dynamics, location factors and knowledge flows associated with mobility decisions of scientists and researchers. Based on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with Austrian scientists who are either currently staying abroad or have already returned this explorative study identifies some characteristics of scientific mobility, investigates the most relevant push and pull factors as well as sheds some light on the motivational dynamics at the individual level. |
| Keywords: | growth/innovation |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:dynreg30&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Guadalupe (Columbia University); Julie M. Wulf (Harvard Business School, Startegy Unit) |
| Abstract: | This paper establishes a causal effect of competition from trade liberalization on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies (1986-1999) of large U.S. firms and find that increasing competition leads firms to become flatter, i.e., (i) reduce the number of positions between the CEO and division managers (DM), (ii) increase the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO (span of control), (iii) increase DM total and performance-based pay. The results are generally consistent with the explanation that firms redesign their organizations through a set of complementary choices in response to changes in their environment. |
| Keywords: | organizational change, hierarchy, organizational structure, incentives, complementarities, decentralization, competition |
| JEL: | L2 M2 M52 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-067&r=lab |
| By: | Patrick Gaulé (Chaire en Economie et Management de l'Innovation, Collège du Management de la Technologie, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Departement of Economics, University of Geneva); Nicolas Maystre (Departement of Economics, University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | We reexamine the widely held belief that free availability of scientific articles increases the number of citations they receive. Since open access is relatively more attractive to authors of higher quality papers, regressing citations on open access and other controls yields upward-biased estimates. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find no significant effect of open access. Instead, self-selection of higher quality articles into open access explains at least part of the observed open access citation advantage. |
| Keywords: | scholarly publishing, open access, free access |
| JEL: | O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cmi:wpaper:cemi-workingpaper-2008-007&r=lab |
| By: | De Brauw, Alan; Giles, John |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the consumption of rural households in China. We find that increased migration from rural villages leads to significant increases in consumption per capita, and that this effect is stronger for poorer households within villages. Household income per capita and non-durable consumption per capita both increase with out-migration, and increase more for poorer households. We also establish a causal relationship between increased out-migration and investment in housing and durable goods assets, and these effects are also stronger for poorer households. We do not find robust evidence, however, to support a connection between increased migration and investment in productive activity. Instead, increased migration is associated with two significant changes for poorer households: increases both in the total labor supplied to productive activities and in the land per capita managed by the household. In examining the effect of migration, we pay considerable attention to developing and examining our identification strategy. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Migrant Networks, Consumption, Poverty, Wealth, Rural China, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital, O12, O15, J22, J24, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6085&r=lab |
| By: | Hilmer, Christiana E.; Hillmer, Michael J. |
| Abstract: | This study is the first to empirically assess the difference between the prevailing salary structures in economics and agricultural economics departments at public institutions in the United States. We find that average salaries in economics departments tend to be higher than salaries in agricultural economics departments. Regression analysis suggest that years since Ph.D. explains a greater proportion of salaries in agricultural economics departments while the tier of school explains a great proportion of salaries structure in economics departments. Regression results also suggest that the returns to publications in top 36 and other economics journals is higher in economics departments while publications in core and regional agricultural economics journals is more highly rewarded in agricultural economics departments. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6550&r=lab |
| By: | Tilley, Marcia L.; Tilley, Daniel S.; Yiannaka, Amalia; Holcomb, Rodney; Howard, Wayne; Weckler, Paul; Cavaletto, Richard; Zohns, Mark; Sitton, Shelly; Blackwell, Cindy; Delahoussaye, Ronald; Jones, David |
| Abstract: | Innovation is critical to the survival of agricultural businesses in the U.S. yet few universities have classes in their curricula that focus on innovation and innovation management. Innovation includes developing new processes and concepts and taking products based on those ideas to market. By its nature, innovation generally involves technical components, market assessment, business analysis, and implementation strategies that include marketing campaigns to a target market. As a result, if innovation is going to be experientially taught to students, the class will likely need to include concepts from multiple disciplines. The objectives of this paper are to present an outline of capstone/senior design classes designed to cause students to learn innovation by participating in interdisciplinary teams working with real companies on the development of new product innovation. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6153&r=lab |