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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Emilia Del Bono (Institute for Social & Economic Research (ISER)); Daniela Vuri (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the way in which job mobility contributes to the emergence of a gender wage gap in the Italian labour market. We show that men experience higher wage growth than women during the first 10 years of their career, and that this difference is particularly large when workers move across firms. This gender mobility penalty is robust to the inclusion of individual, job and firm characteristics, to different ways of accounting for individual unobserved heterogeneity, and is mainly found for voluntary job moves. Exploring the wage growth of job movers, we find that a significant gender wage penalty emerges when workers move to larger firms. This might be explained by the fact that bigger establishments offer jobs more highly valued by women than men or that the relationship between job satisfaction and firm size is less negative for women than men. Using data on job satisfaction, we find evidence for the latter hypothesis as well as some indication that wages and fringe benefits compensate for lower levels of job satisfaction in larger firms, but that this is so only for men. |
| Keywords: | panel data, job mobility, gender gap, wage growth, job satisfaction |
| JEL: | C23 J62 J16 J31 J28 |
| Date: | 2008–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:130&r=lab |
| By: | Mélika Ben Salem; Antoine Bozio; Didier Blanchet; Muriel Roger |
| Abstract: | One of the justifications provided for early retirement policies in developed countries is the idea that such policies can facilitate access to the labor market for younger people and help lower global unemployment. But many questions remain on the true effect on young workers of these policies. The objective of the present paper is to study the long term relationship between labor force participation of the old and unemployment of the young in France since the beginning of the 1970s. Establishing causal relationship of the reduction of labor force participation of the old on employment prospect of the young is a challenging work. Evidence of the correlation between youth labor market outcomes and older worker's labor force participation plead more in favor of a positive association between younger and older workers' employment. An increase in the older workers' participation is indeed correlated with an increase in the employment rate of young workers and a decrease in their unemployment rate. Even controlling for the economic cycle, this positive association remains - albeit less robustly. These correlations, based on times series, are not however evidence of causal relationship between younger and older workers' employment. We then use an index summarizing the intensity of policies aiming at removing older workers from the labor market, based on Social Security wealth. The effect of the wealth index on youth labor market outcomes is always significant, whatever the set of the control variables we use and with a similar size and the same sign. The coefficient is negative for both the unemployment and employment of youth, with or without controlling for school attendance. In France policies aiming at removing older workers from the labor market have been prompted by increase in unemployment. Granger causality tests between youth unemployment and the Wealth index show therefore a significant link in both directions, whereas nothing is significant between youth employment and the Wealth index. Hence if we do not find evidence that reducing labor force participation of the old provide jobs for the young, we cannot exclude altogether that some general and unaccounted cause is hiding its true impact. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2008-57&r=lab |
| By: | Gaure, Simen (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Roed, Knut (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Westlie, Lars (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We examine empirically the impacts of labor market policies – in terms of unemployment insurance (UI) and active labor market programs (ALMP) – on the duration and outcome of job search and on the quality of a subsequent job. We find that time invested in job search tends to pay off in the form of higher earnings once a job match is formed. More generous UI raises expected unemployment duration, while improving the quality of the resultant job. Participation in ALMP raises the probability of finding a job and the level of expected earnings, but at the cost of lengthening job search. |
| Keywords: | multivariate hazards, job search, job quality, timing-of-events, NPMLE, MMPH |
| JEL: | C14 C15 C41 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3802&r=lab |
| By: | David Campbell; Alan Carruth; Andrew Dickerson; Francis Green |
| Abstract: | This paperexamines whether subjective expectations of unemployment are reliable indicators of the probability of becoming unemployed, and investigates their association with wage growth. We find that workers’ fears of unemployment are increased by their previous unemployment experience and by the unemployment experiences of a close friend, and are associated with other objective indicators of insecure jobs. We then show that unemployment fear predicts future unemployment, above and beyond observed objective variables. High fears of unemployment are found to be associated with significantly lower levels of wage growth for men, but to have no significant link with wage growth for women. |
| Keywords: | Job Insecurity; Wages; Unemployment; Subjecctive Expectations |
| JEL: | J60 J30 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0813&r=lab |
| By: | Jerzmanowski, Michal; Nabar, Malhar |
| Abstract: | We argue that financial market development contributed to the rise in the skill premium and residual wage inequality in the US since the 1980s. We present an endogenous growth model with imperfect credit markets and establish how improving the efficiency of these markets affects modes of production, innovation and wage dispersion between skilled and unskilled workers. The experience of US states following banking deregulation provides empirical support for our hypothesis. We find that wages of college educated workers increased by between 0.5 - 1.2% following deregulation while those of workers with a high school diploma fell by about 2.2%. Similarly, residual (or within-group) inequality increased. The 90-50 percentile ratio of residuals from a Mincerian wage regression and their standard deviation increased by 4.5% and 1.8%, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Skill Premium; Residual Wage Inequality; Financial Deregulation |
| JEL: | E25 J31 G24 |
| Date: | 2008–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9841&r=lab |
| By: | Fida Karam (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Bernard Decaluwé (Laval University) |
| Abstract: | Recently, much research interest is directed towards the impact of migration on the sending country. However, we think that this literature does not successfully analyse the effects of migration on unemployment and wage rates especially in urban areas. It studies the effect of one king of migration flow, mainly international migration, on labour market in the country of origin and shows that international migration is able to reduce the unemployment rate and/or raise the wage rates. However, it is common to find labour markets affected simultaneously by inflows and outflows of workers. Using a detailed CGE model applied to the Moroccan economy, we show that if we take simultaneously into account Moroccan emigration to the European Union, immigration from Sub-Saharan Africa into Moroccan urban areas and rural-urban migration, the impact on Moroccan urban labour market disaggregated by professional categories is ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | Imperfect labor market, migration, computable general equilibrium model. |
| JEL: | D24 F14 F0 D92 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:bla08052&r=lab |
| By: | Dürsch, Peter (Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg); Oechssler, Jörg (Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg); Vadovic, Radovan (ITAM) |
| Abstract: | Sick pay is a common provision in most labor contracts. This paper employs an experimental gift-exchange environment to explore two related questions using both managers and undergraduates as subjects. First, do workers reciprocate sick pay in the same way as they reciprocate wage payments? Second, do firms benefit from offering sick pay? Firms may benefit in two different ways: directly, from workers reciprocating higher sick pay with higher efforts; and indirectly, from self-selection of reciprocal workers into contracts with higher sick pay. Our main finding is that the direct effect is rather weak in terms of effort and negative in terms of profits. However, when there is competition among firms for workers, sick pay can become an important advantage. Consequently, competition leads to a higher provision of sick pay relative to a monopsonistic labor market. |
| Date: | 2008–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:08-14&r=lab |
| By: | Nordin, Martin (Lund University); Persson, Inga (Lund University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Kalmar University) |
| Abstract: | This paper adds to the small literature on the consequences of education-occupation mismatches. It examines the income penalty for field of education-occupation mismatches for men and women with higher education in Sweden and reveals that the penalty for such mismatches is large for both men and women. In fact, it is substantially larger than has been found for the US. Controlling for cognitive ability further establishes that the income penalty is not caused by a sorting by ability, at least for Swedish men. The income penalty for men decreases with work experience which is an indication that education-specific skills and work experience are substitutes to some extent. There is no evidence, though, that the mismatched individuals move to a matching occupation over time. Thus, for some, the income penalty seems to be permanent. |
| Keywords: | salary wage differentials, rate of return, human capital, educational economics |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3806&r=lab |
| By: | Lehmann, Etienne (CREST-INSEE); Parmentier, Alexis (University of Evry); Van der Linden, Bruno (Catholic University of Louvain) |
| Abstract: | This paper characterizes the optimal redistributive taxation when individuals are heterogeneous in two exogenous dimensions: their skills and their values of non-market activities. Search-matching frictions on the labor markets create unemployment. Wages, labor demand and participation are endogenous. The government only observes wage levels. Under a Maximin objective, if the elasticity of participation decreases along the distribution of skills, at the optimum, the average tax rate is increasing, marginal tax rates are positive everywhere, while wages, unemployment rates and participation rates are distorted downwards compared to their laissez-faire values. A simulation exercise confirms some of these properties under a general utilitarian objective. Taking account of the wage-cum-labor demand margin deeply changes the equity-efficiency trade-off. |
| Keywords: | non-linear taxation, redistribution, adverse selection, random participation, unemployment, labor market frictions |
| JEL: | D82 H21 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3804&r=lab |
| By: | Gautier, Pieter (Free University of Amsterdam); Zenou, Yves (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | We show how small initial wealth differences between low skilled black and white workers can generate large differences in their labor-market outcomes. This even occurs in the absence of a taste for discrimination against blacks or exogenous differences in the distance to jobs. Because of the initial wealth difference, blacks cannot afford cars while whites can. Car ownership allows whites to reach more jobs per unit of time and this gives them a better bargaining position. As a result, in equilibrium, blacks end up with both higher unemployment rates and lower wages than whites. Furthermore, it takes more time for blacks to reach their jobs even though they travel less miles. Those predictions are consistent with the data. Better access to capital markets or better public transportation will reduce the differences in labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | transportation mismatch, job search, spatial labor markets, multiple job centers, ethnic minorities |
| JEL: | D83 J15 J64 R1 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3814&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Coelli; Roger Wilkins |
| Abstract: | We find that post-school education earnings premia have remained strikingly stable over the 1981 to 2003-04 period in Australia. This stability is in sharp contrast to the rising college premium observed in the US. The observed stability in Australia may in part be due to changes in the credentials earned by individuals entering certain professional occupations during the 1980s and early 1990s, particularly for females. We provide an estimate of the potential effect of within-occupation credential changes on estimates of education earnings premia in Australia over time. Our focus is on credential changes within the nursing and teaching professions, which have moved from predominately certificate and diploma qualifications to university bachelor’s degree or higher as the standard qualification |
| Keywords: | education; earnings structure; wage premium; credentials; Australia |
| JEL: | I20 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1037&r=lab |
| By: | Asuyama, Yoko |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the degree to which supply and demand shift across skill groups contributed to the earnings inequality increase in urban China from 1988 to 2002. Product demand shift contributed to an equalizing of earnings distribution in urban China from 1988 to 1995 by increasing the relative product demand for the low educated. However, it contributed to enlarging inequality from 1995 to 2002 by increasing the relative product demand for the highly educated. Relative product demand was continuously higher for workers in the coastal region and contributed to a raising of interregional inequality. Supply shift contributed essentially nothing or contributed only slightly to a reduction in inequality. Remaining factors, the largest disequalizer, may contain skill-biased technological and institutional changes, and unobserved supply shift effects due to increasing numbers of migrant workers. |
| Keywords: | China, Income distribution, Labor market, Urban societies, Earnings inequality, Inequality decomposition |
| JEL: | D31 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper177&r=lab |
| By: | Samuel H. Preston; Caroline Sten Hartnett |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the major social and demographic forces influencing American fertility levels with the aim of predicting changes during the next three decades. Increases in the Hispanic population and in educational attainment are expected to have modest and offsetting effects on fertility levels. A cessation of the recent pattern of increasing ages at childbearing will at some point put upward pressure on period (but not cohort) fertility rates. Higher relative wages for women and better contraception have empowered women and fundamentally altered marriage and relations between the sexes. But women's childbearing has become less dependent upon stable relations with men, and educational differences in intended fertility have narrowed. One explanation of higher fertility in the U.S. than in other developed countries is that its institutions have adapted better to rising relative wages for women and the attendant increase in women's labor force participation. |
| JEL: | H0 H55 J11 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14498&r=lab |
| By: | Montserrat Vilalta-Bufi (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | There is evidence that experience premium differs across industries. We propose a theoretical model for explaining these differences. We assume that labor mobility brings external knowledge to the firm, which increases its productivity. We find that industry experience premium is decreasing in the inter-firm mobility costs, while increasing in the learning-by-doing and the technological level of the industry. Moreover, it has a U-shape relationship with the level of learning-by-hiring, the substitutability between different types of experienced workers and the variety of knowledge in the industry. Results are consistent with the empirical findings that R&D-intensive industries have steeper wage profiles. |
| Keywords: | wage growth, labor mobility, learning-by-hiring, industry experience premium |
| JEL: | J61 J24 J30 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2008208&r=lab |
| By: | Poschke, Markus (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | Why do some people become entrepreneurs (and others don't)? Why are firms so heterogeneous, and many firms so small? To start, the paper briefly documents evidence from the empirical literature that the relationship between entrepreneurship and education is U-shaped, that many entrepreneurs start a firm "out of necessity", that most firms are small, remain so, yet persist in the market, and that returns to entrepreneurship have a much larger cross-sectional variance than returns to wage work. Popular models of firm heterogeneity cannot easily account for the U-shape or for the persistence of low-productivity firms. The paper shows that these facts can be explained in a model of occupational choice between wage work and entrepreneurship where agents are heterogeneous in their ability as workers, and starting entrepreneurs face uncertainty about their project's productivity. Then, if agents' expected productivity as entrepreneurs is increasing and not too concave in their ability as workers, the most and the least able individuals choose to become entrepreneurs. This sorting is due to heterogeneous outside options in the labor market. Because of their low opportunity cost, low-ability agents benefit disproportionately from the ability to pursue only good business projects and abandon low-productivity ones. This also makes them more likely to immediately abandon a project for a new one. Data from the NLSY79 gives support to these two predictions. Individuals with relatively high or low wages when employed, or with a high or low degree, are more likely to be entrepreneurs or to become entrepreneurs, and spend more time in entrepreneurship. Among entrepreneurs, more of the firms run by individuals with low wages when employed, or with a low degree, are abandoned after only a year. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, entrepreneurship, firm entry, selection, search |
| JEL: | E20 J23 L11 L16 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3816&r=lab |
| By: | Katrin Sommerfeld |
| Abstract: | Female labor market activity is dependent on the presence and the age of a child, but how do the determinants develop in magnitude and significance with the child’s age? Using German SOEP data from 1991 to 2006 for mothers with young children, the change in maternal labor supply when the child is one, two, and three years old is explicitly addressed. According to the tobit regression results for precise working hours, maternal labor supply becomes increasingly responsive to economic incentives - mainly to imputed wages - as the child grows. |
| Keywords: | Female labor supply, childbirth, parental leave |
| JEL: | J13 J22 D13 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp143&r=lab |
| By: | Mireille Bruyère (LIRHE-CNRS); Laurence Lizé (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers an analysis of the career security according to three criteria defined by the CERC (2005) : the job stability (length of job tenure), the job security (short duration of unemployment after an external mobility) and the income security (maintaining or increasing incomes). We try to verify if job characteristics are more important factors than classical individual variables to explain these three criteria. The 2003 FQP Survey contains rich information to describe jobs. It offers usual information as the sector or the size of the company and also newer information about concrete conditions of job as the use of information technology, the work rate, contact with the public, type of hierarchical control, position in the firm. We process all these data to analyze the link between characteristics of job, and career security. On the one hand, variables connected to the job are the most important to explain employment stability and income security. On the other hand, individual's variables as age and diploma become at least as much determining as the characteristics of the last job to explain job security when a worker left his job. This result throws light on the debate on the flexicurity based on a strong individual involvement of employees in their career curriculum. |
| Keywords: | Mobility, career security, employment. |
| JEL: | J62 J8 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:r08044&r=lab |
| By: | THARAKAN, Jo (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); TROPEANO, Jean-Philippe |
| Abstract: | We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market. |
| Keywords: | economic geography, local labor market, regional disparities, human capital. |
| JEL: | J61 J42 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2008046&r=lab |
| By: | Diego Amador |
| Abstract: | This paper simulates, within a partial equilibrium framework, the scenarios resulting form the implementation of several educational policies. Then, policies are compared according to their hypothetical results in terms of labor earnings inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient. Results suggest that educational policies which attempt to guarantee medium qualification produce the lowest inequality even if dispersion in schooling years is high. Policies which attempt to raise tertiary education coverage but do not raise high school coverage as well, lead to rising inequality. |
| Date: | 2008–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:005147&r=lab |
| By: | Thi Quynh Trang Do (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Gérard Duchêne (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| 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: | GARCH, Generalized Hyperbolic Distribution, pricing, risk neutral distribution. |
| JEL: | D21 J24 M13 O17 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v08038&r=lab |
| By: | Asuyama, Yoko |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the causes of earnings inequality in urban China from 1988 to 2002. Earnings inequality in urban China continuously increased, even when adjusting for regional price differences. This paper reveals how the causes of earnings inequality changed between the periods 1988-1995 and 1995-2002 by reflecting labor-related institutional reform in China. Contrary to the situation from 1988 to 1995, between 1995 and 2002, employment status became the largest disequalizer, and the decline of inter-provincial inequality contributed to a reduction in entire earnings inequality. Individual ability, represented by education and occupation, received much greater rewards. Throughout the period from 1988 to 2002, a large part of the explained inequality increase was due to change in price (valuation of each individual's attributes) and not due to change in quantity (composition of individual attributes). |
| Keywords: | China, Income distribution, Labor market, Earnings inequality, Inequality decomposition |
| JEL: | D31 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper176&r=lab |
| By: | Christofides, Louis N. (University of Cyprus); Hoy, Michael (University of Guelph); Yang, Ling (Wilfrid Laurier University) |
| Abstract: | The decision to attend university is influenced by the balance of the expected returns and costs of attending university, by liquidity constraints and capital market imperfections that may modify these calculations and, hence, by the family income of prospective students. Family circumstances also play a role. We examine the secular increase in the propensity of children from Canadian families, evident in annual surveys spanning two and a half decades, to attend university. We quantify the importance of these factors taking account of the greater propensity by young women than men to attend university and controlling for secular trends in socioeconomic norms that impinge on these decisions. |
| Keywords: | university participation, parental education, university premium, gender, tuition, income, societal trends |
| JEL: | I21 J01 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3805&r=lab |
| By: | Milo Bianchi |
| Abstract: | This paper explores both theoretically and empirically the relation between financial development and occupational choices, as determined by utility differences between the self-employed and employees. In our model, financial constraints may impede firms' creation and depress labor demand, thereby pushing some individuals into self-employment by lack of salaried jobs. When these constraints are relaxed, instead, more individuals choose self-employment because of their talent. In more financially developed countries, then, the self-employed are more satisfied with their job, even if competition is higher and profits may be lower. Our empirical results support these predictions by showing that greater financial development increases job satisfaction for the self-employed, despite reducing their profits, as it allows them to enjoy greater non-monetary benefits, and in particular higher independence in their job. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2008-59&r=lab |
| By: | Björklund, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University); Roine, Jesper (Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics); Waldenström, Daniel (Research Institute of Industrial Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on intergenerational income and earnings mobility in the top of the distributions. Using a large dataset of matched father-son pairs in Sweden we are able to obtain results for fractions as small as 0.1 percent of the population. Overall, mobility is lower for incomes than for earnings and it appears to decrease the higher up in the distribution one goes. In the case of incomes, however, we find that mobility decreases dramatically within the top percentile of the population. Our results suggest that Sweden, well-known for its egalitarian achievements, is a society where equality of opportunity for a large majority of wage earners coexists with capitalistic dynasties. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational income mobility, top incomes, earnings inequality, income inequality, welfare state, non-linear regression, quantile regression |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3801&r=lab |
| By: | Benoit Julien; John Kennes; Ian King; Sephorah Mangin |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of public policy parameters in a simple directed search model of the labour market, and contrast them with those in standard random matching models with Nash bargaining. Both finite and limit versions of the directed search model are considered, and the value of the limit model as an approximation of the finite one is assessed. As with the random matching model, job creation is the key channel through with the policy parameters effect the equilibrium of the directed search model. Both comparative static effects of the policy parameters and optimal configurations are identified. |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J41 J64 H20 D44 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1049&r=lab |
| By: | Grout, Paul (University of Bristol, Department of Economics); Schnedler, Wendelin (Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg) |
| Abstract: | How does the environment of an organization infuence whether workers voluntarily provide effort? We study the power relationship between a non-profit unit (e.g. university department, NGO, health trust), where workers care about the result of their work, and a bu- reaucrat, who supplies some input to the non-profit unit, but has opportunity costs in doing so (e.g. Dean of faculty, corrupt representative, government agency). We find that marginal changes in the balance of power eventually have dramatic effects on donated labor. We also identify when strengthening the non-profit unit decreases and when it increases donated labor. |
| Date: | 2008–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrs:sfbmaa:08-17&r=lab |
| By: | Douarin, E. |
| Abstract: | According to neo-classical theory, farm operators€٠labour allocation is determined by the relative wage they can earn from their labour on and off the farm. At the equilibrium, time should be allocated so that the marginal returns from on- and off-farm work are equal. Thus, a move from coupled to decoupled payments should have important impacts on labour allocation, as it reduces the return to farm labour and increases the unearned income of operators. However, empirical studies on decoupling have shown so far only limited impact from decoupling and sometimes contradictory findings. In this paper, individual preferences and constraints are taken into account to try and identify potential barriers to labour allocation adjustment. Empirical analysis based on the intentions to adjust to decoupling of a sample of French farmers confirms a limited impact of the change in policy and calls for further investigation of the potential barriers to adjustment. |
| Keywords: | Decoupling, time allocation, farm operators, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44044&r=lab |
| By: | Douarin, E. |
| Abstract: | According to neo-classical theory, farm operators€٠labour allocation is determined by the relative wage they can earn from their labour on and off the farm. At the equilibrium, time should be allocated so that the marginal returns from on- and off-farm work are equal. Thus, a move from coupled to decoupled payments should have important impacts on labour allocation, as it reduces the return to farm labour and increases the unearned income of operators. However, empirical studies on decoupling have shown so far only limited impact from decoupling and sometimes contradictory findings. In this paper, individual preferences and constraints are taken into account to try and identify potential barriers to labour allocation adjustment. Empirical analysis based on the intentions to adjust to decoupling of a sample of French farmers confirms a limited impact of the change in policy and calls for further investigation of the potential barriers to adjustment. |
| Keywords: | Decoupling, time allocation, farm operators, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44024&r=lab |
| By: | McKie, Linda (Glasgow Caledonian University); Hearn, Jeff (Hanken School of Economics); Bowlby, Sophie (University of Reading); Smith, Andrew (Glasgow Caledonian University); Hogg, Gill (Heriot-Watt University) |
| Abstract: | This working paper develops an approach to the analysis of care as it is evident in the policies and practices of employing organisations. We identify how notions of care are incorporated in myriad and multi-faceted ways that may support, survey and control workers, as well as having implications for employers, managers, employees and workers. Aspects of care can be found in a range of statutory duties, policies and related activities, including: health and safety, equality and diversity, parental leave, religious observance, bullying and harassment, personal development, voluntary redundancy, early retirement, employer pension schemes, grievance procedures, and dismissal. The conceptual framework of organisation carescapes is offered as an aid to the analysis of employee policies and services. These policies and services are transformed by shifts in supranational and national policies such as European Union (EU) economic strategies and national legislation on disability rights legislation, age discrimination and flexible working, and changes in labour market competitiveness. In conclusion, we consider how the framework of organisation carescapes is informing research design in our and our colleagues’ ongoing programme of research. |
| Keywords: | care; companies; cultures; lifecourse; organisations; organisation; carescapes; work |
| Date: | 2008–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hanken:0538&r=lab |
| By: | Coe, Norma B. (Tilburg University); Lindeboom, Maarten (Free University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | The magnitude of the effect that health has on the retirement decision has long been studied. We examine the reverse relationship, whether or not retirement has a direct impact on later-life health. In order to identify the causal relationship, we use unexpected early retirement window offers to instrument for retirement behavior. They are legally required to be unrelated to the baseline health of the individual, and are significant predictors of retirement. We find that there is no negative effect of early retirement on men's health, and if anything, a temporary increase in self-reported health and improvements in health of highly educated workers. While this is consistent with previous literature using Social Security ages as instruments, we also find some evidence that anticipation of retirement might also be important, and might bias the previous estimates towards zero. |
| Keywords: | health, retirement, instrument, causal effect |
| JEL: | I12 J08 J14 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3817&r=lab |
| By: | Zheng Liu; Louis Phaneuf |
| Abstract: | A commonly held view is that nominal rigidities are important for the transmission of monetary policy shocks. We argue that they are also important for understanding the dynamic effects of technology shocks, especially on labor hours, wages, and prices. Based on a dynamic general equilibrium framework, our closed-form solutions reveal that a pure sticky-price model predicts correctly that hours decline following a positive technology shock, but fails to generate the observed gradual rise in the real wage and the near-constance of the nominal wage; a pure sticky-wage model does well in generating slow adjustments in the nominal wage, but it does not generate plausible dynamics of hours and the real wage. A model with both types of nominal rigidities is more successful in replicating the empirical evidence about hours, wages and prices. This finding is robust for a wide range of parameter values, including a relatively small Frisch elasticity of hours and a relatively high frequency of price reoptimization that are consistent with microeconomic evidence. |
| Keywords: | Technology shock, nominal rigidities, monetary policy |
| JEL: | E31 E32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0837&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus (Kalmar University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Kalmar University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether sex discrimination is the cause of sex segregation in the Swedish labour market. The correspondence testing (CT) method was used, which entails two qualitatively identical applications, one with a female name and one with a male name, being sent to employers advertising for labour. The results show that females have a somewhat higher callback rate to interview in female-dominated occupations, while in male-dominated occupations there is no evidence of any difference. The conclusion is that the sex segregation prevailing in the Swedish labour market cannot be explained by discrimination in hiring. Instead, the explanation must be found on the supply side. |
| Keywords: | sex discrimination, segregation, exit from unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3811&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Schettkat (Department of Economics University of Wuppertal); Rongrong Sun (Department of Economics University of Wuppertal) |
| Abstract: | In the long history of rising and persistent unemployment in Europe almost all institutions - employment protection legislation, unions, wages, wage structure, unemployment insurance, etc. - have been alleged and found guilty to have caused this tragic development at some point in time. Later, welfare state institutions in interaction with external shocks were identified as more plausible causes for rising equilibrium unemployment in Europe. Monetary policy has managed to be regarded as innocent. Based on the assertion of the neutrality of money in the medium and long run, the search for causes of European unemployment has shied away from the policy of central banks. But actually the institutional setup regarding monetary policy is very different between the FED and the Bundesbank (ECB). We argue that the interaction of negative external shocks and tight monetary policies may have been the major - although probably not the only - cause of unemployment in Europe remaining at ever higher levels after each recession. We identify the monetary policy of the Bundesbank as asymmetrical in the sense that the Bank did not actively fight against recessions, but that it dampened recovery periods. Less constraint on growth would have kept German unemployment at lower levels. |
| Keywords: | Production, Employment, Unemployment, Monetary Policy, Central Banks and Their Policies |
| JEL: | E23 E24 E42 E43 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:schdps:sdp08002&r=lab |
| By: | de la CROIX, David (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); VANDER DONCKT, Marie |
| Abstract: | We examine the pathways by which gender inequality affects fertility and hampers growth. We introduce several dimensions of gender inequality into a 2-sex OLG model with a non-unitary representation of household decision-making. We characterize a Malthusian corner regime which is characterized by strong gender inequality in education and high fertility. We find both in theory and in the data that reducing the social and institutional gender gap does not help to escape from this regime while reducing the wage gender gap lowers fertility only in countries which have already escaped from it. The key policies to ease out the countries in the Malthusian regime are to promote mother's longevity and to curb infant mortality. In the interior regime, parents consider the impact of their children education on the expected intra-household bargaining position in their future couple. Education could thus compensate against the institutional and social gender gap that still exists in developed countries. |
| Keywords: | gender gap, fertility, education, household bargaining. |
| JEL: | J13 O11 O40 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2008043&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus (Kalmar University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Kalmar University) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the existing literature on ethnic discrimination of immigrants in hiring by addressing the central question of what employers act on in a job application. The method involved sending qualitatively identical resumes signalling belonging to different ethnic groups to firms advertising for labour. The results show that whether the applicant has a native sounding or a foreign sounding name explains approximately 77 per cent of the total gap in the probability of being invited to an interview between natives and immigrants, while having foreign qualifications only explains the remaining 23 per cent. This in turn, suggests a lower bound for statistical discrimination of approximately 23 per cent of total discrimination. The analysis indicates further that the 77 per cent are most likely driven by a mixture of preference-based and statistical discrimination. |
| Keywords: | statistical discrimination, ethnic discrimination, hiring, job search, preference-based discrimination, correspondence testing |
| JEL: | J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3810&r=lab |
| By: | Murayama, Mayumi; Nobuko, Yokota |
| Abstract: | The establishment of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) is a strategy for economic development that was introduced almost fifty years ago and is nowadays employed in a large number of countries. While the number of EPZs including several variants such as Special Economic Zone (SEZs) has increased continuously, general interest in EPZs has declined over the years in contrast to earlier heated debates regarding the efficacy of the strategy and its welfare effects especially on women workers. This article re-evaluates the historical trajectories and outstanding labour and gender issues of EPZs on the basis of the experiences of South Korea, Bangladesh and India. The findings suggest the necessity of enlarging our analytical scope with regard to EPZs, which are inextricably connected with external employment structures, whether outside the EPZ but within the same country, or outside the EPZ and its host country altogether. |
| Keywords: | South Korea, Bangladesh, India, Female labor, Labor problems, Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Gender |
| JEL: | F02 F16 J53 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper174&r=lab |
| By: | Minjeong Jeon (University of California, Berkeley); Sophia Rabe-Hesketh (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | We consider multilevel models for longitudinal data where membership in the highest level units changes over time. The application is a four-year study of Korean students who are in middle school during the first two waves and in high school during the second two waves, where middle schools and high schools are not nested. The model includes crossed random effects for middle schools and high schools and can be estimated using Stata¡¯s xtmixed command. An important consideration is how the impact of the middle school and high school random effects on the response variable should change over time. |
| Date: | 2008–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:fsug08:10&r=lab |
| By: | Ian Walker; Yu Zhu |
| Abstract: | There is someevidence to support the view that Child Support (CS), despite low compliance rates and a strong interaction with the welfare system, has played a positive role in reducing child poverty among non-intact families. However, relatively little research has addressed the role of CS on outcomes for the children concerned. There are good reasons for thinking that CS could leverage better outcomes than other forms of income support and, using a sample of dependent children in non-intact families from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we find that CS received has an effect which is at least 10 times as large as that associated with variations in other sources of total household net income for two key educational outcomes: namely school leaving at the age of 16, and attaining 5 or more good GCSEs. We show that this remarkable and strong result is robust and, in particular, can be given a causal interpretation. |
| Keywords: | parental separation; parental incomes; child support; educational outcomes |
| JEL: | D13 D31 K12 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0811&r=lab |
| By: | Sarah Brown; Lisa Farrell; Mark N Harris (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | Modelling the incidence of self-employment has traditionally proved problematic. Whilst the individual supply side characteristics of the self-employed are well documented, we argue that the literature has largely neglected demand-side aspects. We explore the determinants of self-employment using individual level data drawn from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). We present results from an econometric framework, the Parameterised Dogit model, that allows us to separately, and simultaneously, model individual heterogeneity (i.e. supply side) and employment type heterogeneity (i.e. demand-side) influences that determine self-employment. Our findings suggest that whilst individual characteristics are important determinants of self-employment, there are also factors which are specific to the type of employment that influence whether an individual is self-employed. |
| Keywords: | Discrete Choice Models, Dogit Models, Self-Employment. |
| JEL: | J23 J33 C25 C10 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2008010&r=lab |
| By: | Rooth, Dan-Olof (Kalmar University) |
| Abstract: | This study provides empirical support for automatically activated associations inducing unequal treatment against the obese among recruiters in a real-life hiring situation. A field experiment on differential treatment against obese job applicants in hiring is combined with a measure of employers' automatic/implicit performance stereotype toward obese relative to normal weight using the implicit association test. We find a strong and statistically significant obesity difference in the correlation between the automatic stereotype of obese as being less productive and the callback rate for an interview. This suggests that automatic processes may exert a significant impact on employers' hiring decisions, offering new insights into labor market discrimination. |
| Keywords: | implicit stereotypes, obese job applicants, differential treatment |
| JEL: | J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3799&r=lab |
| By: | Ievoli, Corrado; Macrì, Maria Carmela |
| Abstract: | Rural employment is one of the most important item of the Common Agricultural Policy reform. Attractiveness and development of rural areas are strictly linked to quality of job opportunities in rural areas. In addiction role of migrant workforce in primary sector viability is not enough considered. So it€ٳ necessary to build a conceptual framework to analyse the interaction existing between immigration and agricultural labour market. Therefore the first aim of the paper is to build such framework considering the several approaches which can be used to face the issue. This framework is used to analyse the Italian case; Italy has become an important destination for migrations, and in this country a migrant workforce plays an important role in the agricultural activities. In Italy the employ of migrants in primary sector seems to agree with two different patterns: in some cases it seems to cope the mismatch of preference between Italian workers desires and actual opportunities; in other cases it seems to defer a necessary renewal process towards quality productions and more sustainable (both environmentally and socially) processes. Italian evidence gives the opportunity to reflect on the necessity to support the actual reform of the CAP with a migration policy which is able to take in account heterogeneity of territorial contexts. At the same time, stand the increasing importance of subordinate employment, CAP should start to involve policies aiming to improve working condition as it has already stated in occasion of the Fishler Reform (European Commission (2002). |
| Keywords: | Health Check, Labour Markets, Agricultural and Food Policy, Political Economy, Q10, Q12, |
| Date: | 2008–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa109:44786&r=lab |
| By: | Owen, Ann L. |
| Abstract: | This study employs a regression discontinuity design in order to provide direct evidence on the effects of grades earned in economics principles classes on the decision to major in economics and finds a differential effect for male and female students. Specifically, for female students, receiving an “A” for a final grade in the first economics class is associated with a meaningful increase in the probability of majoring in economics, even after controlling for the numerical grade earned in the class. This suggests that, for female students, the feedback that is embedded in the course letter grade has an encouragement effect on their decision to study economics further. It finds no evidence of a similar effect for male students. |
| Keywords: | economics majors; grades; gender; regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | A22 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11586&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno AMABLE (Université Paris I and CEPREMAP); Yannick LUNG (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113 and GERPISA) |
| Abstract: | The paper presents the main results and conclusion of the European project ESEMK (FP6, Priority 7) discussing the variety of capitalism within the European Union (2004-08). In Part 1 is abstracted the methodological framework, articulating the macro levels (diversity of socio-economic models or forms of capitalism), the micro level of firms (productive models) and the meso level (industry or sector). Part 2 analyses the main institutional changes occurring in Europe regarding product market regulation, wage-labour relationships and financialisation. Part 3 concludes that the Lisbon process which will not contribute to the emergence of a European model. |
| Keywords: | variety of capitalism, European Union, European model, product market regulation, wage labour nexus, financialisation, sectorial analysis |
| JEL: | B52 G10 J60 L22 L52 L62 L65 L66 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2008-26&r=lab |
| By: | Davide Castellani (University of Perugia); Ilaria Mariotti (DIG-Politecnico di Milano); Lucia Piscitello (DIG-Politecnico di Milano) |
| Abstract: | <p><p> </p></p><p align="left">The present paper investigates the effect of outward investments by Italian manufacturing</p><div align="left">firms on the domestic employment level and on its skill composition, as measured by the</div><div align="left">increase in the aggregate share of skilled workers (managers and clerks) in total employ-</div><div align="left">ment. In doing so, the paper extends the existing empirical literature on the Italian case</div><div align="left">that has so far provided evidence on the changes in the employment intensity but not on</div><div align="left">the composition of the domestic employment. We carry out an analysis at the firm level</div><div align="left">based on the the behaviour of 108 Italian firms, which became multinational for the first</div><div align="left">time in 1998-2003, investing in either developed countries, CEECs or other developing</div><div align="left">economies, compared with the behaviour of a counterfactual group of firms constituted by</div><div align="left">2,500 national firms that never invested abroad in the considered period. The econometric</div><div align="left">analysis supports that the internationalisation of activities by manufacturing firms does</div><div align="left">not reduce their domestic employment, independently of the destination of the investment,</div><div align="left">and that it may change the division of labour within the firm, thus leading to a higher</div><div align="left">share of skilled labour intensive activities, especially as a result of investments in CEECs.</div> |
| JEL: | O1 O11 |
| Date: | 2006–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcr:wpdief:wpaper00038&r=lab |
| By: | Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Iñigo Iturbe-Ormaetxe (Department of Economics, Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes public intervention in education, taking into account the existence of two educational levels: basic education and college education. The government decides per capita expenditure at each level and the subsidy for college education. We explore the effect of transferring money from one level to the other on equity and efficiency. We find that there is always a policy reform that satisfies both the objectives of equity and efficiency, where efficiency refers to average productivity of college graduates. For developed countries, this policy consists of transferring resources from college education to basic education. |
| Keywords: | Basic education, college education, public expenditure in education. |
| JEL: | H52 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:08.11&r=lab |
| By: | Katja Rost; Margit Osterloh |
| Abstract: | Director compensation has become a fashionable topic: Cross-nationally, the earnings of executives and non-executive directors have risen significantly in recent years. Academic literature offers two hypotheses for this trend, a “fat cat” and an “optimal-contract” explanation. Proponents of the “fat cat” explanation state that directors are paid too much due to their unjustified power. Proponents of the “optimalcontract” hypothesis state that competition in the managerial labour market establishes an optimal compensation contract. This study contrasts both hypotheses and presents evidence that the level of directors’ pay in Swiss corporations is to be explained by “optimal contracts” and by managerial power. We give evidence to which degree the two explanations are valid. |
| Keywords: | director compensation; corporate governance; “optimal-contracts”; “fat cat” explanation |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2008-26&r=lab |
| By: | Lips, Markus; Gazzarin, Christian |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the preferences of dairy farmers with respect to their work by the means of a Discrete Choice experiment, which was carried out in the Eastern part of Switzerland. 304 dairy farmers, who intend to produce milk beyond the abolishment of the milk quota in 2009, were asked to choose between the status quo and alternatives consisting of several combinations with four attributes. The latter comprise work content, terms of employment, holiday per year and income per year. Using a probit model, the willingness to pay/accept is calculated. The results indicate that there is a strong preference to stay in dairy production. In order to achieve both, maintaining the level of utility and moving away from dairy production, an additional income (willingness to accept) per year of at least CHF 25€ٰ00.- would be necessary. The pre-ferences of dairy farmers show that differences between the alternative work contents like suckler cows husbandry, farming without livestock and work outside of agriculture are minor. |
| Keywords: | discrete choice, preferences, work content, dairy farming, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44132&r=lab |
| By: | Danny Leung; Césaire Meh; Yaz Terajima |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between firm size and productivity. In contrast to previous studies, this paper offers evidence of the relationship not only from manufacturing firms, but from non-manufacturing firms as well. Furthermore, the aggregate importance of the firm size-productivity relationship is gauged by calculating to what extent shifts in the distribution of employment over firm size categories has affected Canadian aggregate productivity, and whether differences in the employment distribution over firm size categories between Canada and the United States can account for the Canada-U.S. labour productivity gap. The importance of large and small firms to changes in productivity is also examined. <br><br> A positive relationship between firm size and both labour productivity and TFP is found in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. Given this relationship, the difference in the employment distribution over firm sizes between Canada and the United States can account for half of the Canada-U.S. labour productivity gap in manufacturing. |
| Keywords: | Productivity |
| JEL: | L11 L25 O47 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:08-45&r=lab |
| By: | Strawinski, Pawel |
| Abstract: | In the article social rate of return to education is considered. As is pointed out in various research papers social return rate exceeds the pure technical rate of return by considerable margin. However, it is hard to calculate adequate figure due to methodological and data problems. The model used in the article is based on a comparative advantage theory. It contains two equations: one for technical and social rate of return to education, second deals with non-random selection for different education regimes. We find that private rate of return is over 7% yearly and therefore is still among the highest in Europe and there exists additional 1.5% social return to higher education. |
| Keywords: | return to education; private returns; external return |
| JEL: | O15 I22 |
| Date: | 2008–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11598&r=lab |
| By: | Helmut Rainer; Thomas Siedler |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically examines social network explanations for migration decisions in the context of the German reunification. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we first show that the presence of family and friends in West Germany is an important predictor for the migration hazard rate of East Germans. We then explore whether pre-migration networks have a discernible impact on the economic and social assimilation of East German immigrants in West Germany. We find that East German immigrants are more likely to be employed, and to hold higher-paying jobs, when socially connected to the West prior to emigrating. East Germans immigrants with pre-migration networks also appear to be more integrated into their Western host communities than movers without preexisting social ties. |
| Keywords: | mergers and acquisitions, abnormal returns, value-ambiguity, unlisted firms, method of payment. |
| JEL: | C23 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:san:crieff:0811&r=lab |
| By: | Chi, Wei; Zhang, Haiyan |
| Abstract: | This study examines whether firms incorporated in mainland China benefit from cross-listing in Hong Kong, China. The Hong Kong Stock Market has more stringent governance rules and a better investor protection than the mainland market. Hong Kong companies generally provide strong incentives to executives via equity-based compensation. Have cross-listed companies learned from Hong Kong local firms in adopting strong executive incentives? The evidence from this study suggests that top executive compensation of cross-listed firms is more sensitive to sales growth than mainland firms without cross-listing. However, compared to that of Hong Kong firms, executive pay of cross-listed firms are less sensitive to stock returns. Further study shows that it is necessary to differentiate state and non-state companies among the cross-listed firms, as they exhibit different patterns of executive incentives. |
| Keywords: | Cross-listing;Executive Compensation;Corporate Governance |
| JEL: | J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11649&r=lab |
| By: | Werner Güth (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena); Christian Paul (Institut für Wirtschaftstheorie und Operations Research, University of Karlsruhe) |
| Abstract: | One may hope to capture the behavioral and emotional effects of downsizing the labor force in rather abstract settings as an ultimatum game (see Fischer et al. (2008)), or try to explore downsizing in its more natural principal-agent scenario with a labor market background. We pursue the latter approach and test experimentally whether downsizing occurs whenever (game) theoretically predicted and whether effort reactions question its proïfitability. Our main findings are that downsizing seems to happen less often than predicted and that its frequency does not depend on whether, theoretically, its gains are rather large or small. Interestingly, we also find strong evidence that piece-rate offers are used in a suboptimal way. |
| Keywords: | downsizing, experimental economics, principal-agent model, labor economics |
| JEL: | C72 C91 D21 J01 |
| Date: | 2008–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-087&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Funk; Christina Gathmann |
| Abstract: | In spite of increasing representation of women in politics, little is known about their impact on policies. Comparing outcomes of parliaments with different shares of female members does not identify their causal impact because of possible differences in the underlying electorate. This paper uses a unique data set on voting decisions to sheds new light on gender gaps in policy making. Our analysis focuses on Switzerland, where all citizens can directly decide on a broad range of policies in referendums and initiatives. We show that there are large gender gaps in the areas of health, environmental protection, defense spending and welfare policy which typically persist even conditional on socio-economic characteristics. We also find that female policy makers have a substantial effect on the composition of public spending, but a small effect on the overall size of government. |
| Keywords: | Female Policy Makers, Political Gender Gaps, Switzerland |
| JEL: | H10 J16 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1126&r=lab |
| By: | Niels-Hugo Blunch; Claus C Pörtner |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of adult literacy program participation on household consumption in Ghana. We use community fixed effects combined with instrumental variables to account for possible endogenous program placement and self-selection into program participation. For households where none of the adults have completed any formal education we find a substantial, positive and statistically significant effect on household consumption. Our preferred estimate of the effect of participation for households without education is equivalent to a ten percent increase in consumption per adult equivalent. There is, however, little evidence that other households benefit from participation in terms of welfare. The improvements in literacy and numeracy rates are also mainly concentrated among participants with little or no formal schooling, although most participants appear to gain in skills to some extent. Taking account of both direct cost and opportunity cost we argue that the social returns to adult literacy programs are substantial. |
| Date: | 2005–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udb:wpaper:uwec-2005-23-r&r=lab |
| By: | Katja Rost; Soren Salomo; Margit Osterloh |
| Abstract: | A rarely studied trend in corporate governance is the increasing tendency to fill CEO openings through external hires rather than through internal promotions: Kevin J. Murphy and Ján Zábojník (2004) show that the proportion of outside hires has doubled and their pay premium almost quadrupled over the last thirty years. Assuming that general managerial skills are becoming more important relative to firm-specific skills, the authors conclude that competition in the managerial labor market establishes optimal contracts. In our model and our empirical analysis we question this explanation by assuming that over the past decades the dishonesty of the predecessor has become relatively more important for the appointment decisions of firms. We conclude that outside hires are a suboptimal trend because external candidates even step up the regression of integrity in firms: As nobody has an incentive to invest in firm-specific knowledge, not only the performance of firms drops, but also the remaining integrity. |
| Keywords: | CEO Appointments; external hires; suboptimal contracts |
| JEL: | G34 J23 J41 M52 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2008-27&r=lab |
| By: | Cardoso, Ana Rute (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)); Fontainha, Elsa (Technical University of Lisbon); Monfardini, Chiara (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | We analyze a mechanism that has been disregarded in the literature on parental investment in children, as little attention has been devoted to the choices made by children themselves. We model directly time use by youngsters into activities related to the acquisition of human capital, considering not just the decision on study time, but also on socialization/networking at young age, which can enhance personal interaction skills. We provide new empirical evidence for three European countries (France, Italy and Germany) on the link between time allocation by parents and time allocation by youngsters, highlighting country-specific patterns as well as cross-country differences. We run fractional regression models and double hurdle models on multi-member household micro data on time use. Countries diverge concerning the association between parents and youngsters allocation of time to socializing and to reading and studying activities, with Italy standing out as the country where that association, in particular between youngster and mother, is strongest. Our results are consistent with different mechanisms: parental role model directly influencing children behavior, intergenerational transmission of preferences, or network effects, as individuals adapt their behavior to social patterns. |
| Keywords: | study time, socializing, networking, youth, intergenerational transmission of preferences, fractional regression models, double hurdle models |
| JEL: | J22 J24 J13 C21 C24 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3815&r=lab |