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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Hofmann, Barbara (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Unemployment insurance (UI) sanctions in the form of benefit reductions are intended to set disincentives for UI recipients to stay unemployed. Empirical evidence about the effects of UI sanctions in Germany is sparse. Using administrative data we investigate the effects of sanctions on the reemployment probability in West Germany for individuals who entered UI receipt between April 2000 and March 2001. By applying a matching approach that takes timing of events into account, we identify the ex post effect of UI sanctions. As a robustness check a difference-in-differences matching estimator is applied. The results indicate positive effects on the employment probability in regular employment for both women and men." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200843&r=lab |
| By: | Renato Faccini; Salvador Ortigueira |
| Abstract: | Shocks to investment-specific technology have been identified as a main source of U.S. aggregate output volatility. In this paper we assess the contribution of these shocks to the volatility of labor market variables, namely, unemployment, vacancies, tightness and the job-finding rate. Thus, our paper contributes to a recent body of literature assessing the ability of the search-and-matching model to account for the large volatility observed in labor market variables. To this aim, we solve a neoclassical economy with search and matching in the labor market, where neutral and investment-specific technologies are subject to shocks. The three key features of our model economy are: i) Firms are large, in the sense that they employ many workers. ii) Adjusting capital and labor is costly. iii) Wages are the outcome of an intra-firm Nash-bargaining problem between the firm and its workers. In our calibrated economy, we find that shocks to investment-specific technology explain 40 percent of the observed volatility in U.S. labor productivity. Moreover, these shocks generate relative volatilities in vacancies and the workers' job finding rate which match those observed in U.S. data. Relative volatilities in unemployment and labor market tightness are 55 and 75 percent of their empirical values, respectively. |
| Keywords: | Business Cycles; Labor Market Fluctuations; Investment-Specific Technical Change; Search and Matching; Adjustment Costs; Wage Bargaining. |
| JEL: | E22 E24 E32 J41 J64 O33 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2008/39&r=lab |
| By: | Hans Fehr; Sabine Jokisch; Laurence J. Kotlikoff |
| Abstract: | Will incomes of low and high skilled workers continue to diverge? Yes says our paper's dynamic, six-good, five-region -- U.S., Europe, N.E. Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong), China, and India -- general equilibrium, life-cycle model. The model predicts a near doubling of the ratio of high- to low-skilled wages over the century. Increasing wage inequality arises from a traditional source -- a rising worldwide relative supply of unskilled labor, reflecting Chinese and Indian productivity improvements. But China's and India's education policies matter. If successive Chinese and Indian cohorts become more skilled, major exacerbation of inequality will be precluded. |
| JEL: | F0 F20 H0 H3 J20 O0 O23 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14527&r=lab |
| By: | Etienne, LEHMANN; Alexis, PARMENTIER; Bruno, VAN DER LINDEN (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| 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 observed 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-farie 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: | 2008–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2008036&r=lab |
| By: | Pieter A. Gautier (VU University Amsterdam, and CEPR); Yves Zenou (Stockholm University and Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Sweden) |
| 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: | 2008–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080106&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Mauricio Soto; Natalia A. Zhivan |
| Abstract: | With increasing pressure on the nation’s retirement systems, questions about how long people stay in the labor force and why they decide to retire are of great importance. The big unknown going forward is whether the contraction of the retirement income system will cause workers to continue working at older ages. The literature to date suggests that the availability of benefits has a larger impact than the level of benefits on people’s decision to retire. Indeed, 55 percent of men and 59 percent of women who claimed Social Security benefits in 2005 were 62 — the earliest age of eligibility.1 If availability of benefits is the main driver of retirement, future workers will be relatively insensitive to the coming decline in replacement rates from Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans. On the other hand, if the level of benefits has a significant impact, future declines could trigger increased work... |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-6&r=lab |
| By: | Hans G. Bloemen (VU University Amsterdam); Silvia Pasqua (University of Turin); Elena G.F. Stancanelli (University of Cergy Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the time allocation of Italian spouses to paid work, childcare and household work. The literature suggests that Italian husbands contribute the least to unpaid household work, relative to other European countries, while Italian women have the lowest market employment rates. We model the three different time uses simultaneously for the two spouses within each household, allowing for corner solutions and correlations in the unobservables across the system of six equations. To estimate the model we use data drawn from the 2002-03 Italian Time Use Survey, combined with earnings information taken from the 2002 Bank of Italy Survey. We conclude that Italian husbands’ time allocation responds to their wife’s attributes: in particular, husbands’ housework time increases with the wage of their wife. On the contrary, the own wage effect is significantly negative for housework of women. Childcare time of fathers increases with own wage and with the presence of small children and this is true both for weekdays and weekends. |
| Keywords: | Time allocation; work behaviour; household economics |
| JEL: | D1 D13 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080111&r=lab |
| By: | Florencia Lopez-Boo |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of labor market opportunities on schoolingemployment decisions in 12 urban areas in Argentina over 12 years, emphasizing the recession/crisis years 1998-2002. Over “typical” years deteriorating job rates increase the probability of attending school and decrease the probability of combining work and school, particularly for boys; the probability of being in school for secondary school children was about 6 percent higher in 2002 than in 1998. These estimates account for the fact that a new Federal Education Law (FEL) in 1996 extended mandatory education to 10 years. Differences across regions in implementation and differences in exposure across cohorts induced by the timing of the Law reveal that children in provinces fully implementing the FEL were 3 percent more likely to be in school and 1.6 percent points less likely to be working. |
| Keywords: | schooling decision, macroeconomic shocks, education policy |
| JEL: | I21 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4602&r=lab |
| By: | Carmen Pages; Lucia Madrigal |
| Abstract: | The formality status of a job is the most widely used indicator of job quality in developing countries. However, a number of studies argue that, at least for some workers, the informality status may be driven by choice rather than exclusion. This paper uses job satisfaction data from three low-income countries (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) to assess whether informal jobs are less valued than formal jobs. The paper finds substantial differences in job satisfaction within different types of informal jobs. More importantly, the results suggest that across different definitions, informality does not yield the same ranking of job quality as self-reported measures of job satisfaction. This correspondence varies across countries, and it seems to be lower for less-skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | Job Satisfaction, Informality, Quality of Employment, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala. |
| JEL: | J21 J28 O17 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4603&r=lab |
| By: | Damien Besancenot (CEPN - Centre d'économie de l'Université de Paris Nord - CNRS : UMR7115 - Université Paris-Nord - Paris XIII); Radu Vranceanu (Department of Economics - ESSEC) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the decision of a migrant to return or stay within the framework of a signaling model withexogenous migratory costs. If employers have only imperfect information about the type of a worker and goodworkers migrate, bad workers might copy their strategy in order to get the same high wage as the good workers.Employers will therefore reduce the wage they pay to migrants and good workers incur a loss compared to theperfect information setup. In one hybrid equilibrium of the game, the more bad workers migrate, the higher theincentive for good workers to come back. Policy implications follow. |
| Keywords: | Temporary migration, Return migrants, Hybrid Bayesian Equilibrium, Signaling model. |
| Date: | 2008–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00344929_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Chiaki Moriguchi |
| Abstract: | Using wage income tax statistics, we construct continuous series of upper wage income shares in Japan from 1951 to 2005 to document the evolution of top wage incomes and investigate their long-run determinants. We find that, while the middle wage income class gained enormously both in absolute and relative terms during the period of high economic growth, the upper wage income class faired comparatively better after 1975. In particular, the share of total wage accruing to the top 1% wage earners has risen steadily in the last ten years. Using a simple time-series regression analysis, we find that marginal income tax rates, corporate performance, female labor participation, and labor disputes are important determinants of top wage income shares in post-WWII Japan. Although not conclusive, our results suggest that much of the recent gains in wage income shares at the top can be explained by the changes in these four factors, placing a less emphasis on a story of structural change. |
| JEL: | D31 J30 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14537&r=lab |
| By: | van Ommeren , Jos; Fosgerau, Mogens |
| Abstract: | This paper applies a dynamic search model to estimate workers' marginal costs of commuting, including monetary and time costs. Using data on workers' job search activity as well as moving behaviour, for the Netherlands, we provide evidence that, on average, workers’ marginal costs of one hour of commuting are about 17 euro |
| Keywords: | On-the-job search; Job moving; Commuting time; Commuting cost; Willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | J32 R20 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12010&r=lab |
| By: | Paolo, NATICHIONI (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate the efficacy of Public Employment Services in Italy (PESs) in increasing the unemployment to employment transition probabilities, through matching techniques. Exploiting the longitudinal dimension of the LFS data we design an evaluation structure that allows observing outcomes in both the short (at most 3 months) and the long run (at most 12 and 15 months). In this framework, PES users show a lower probability of finding a job in the short term, because of a lock-in effect, while in the long term this probability turns out to be positive. Similar results are derived when considering as outcome a proxy for the quality of the job, i.e. having found a permanent job. Robustness checks and sensitivity analysis confirm this evidence, suggesting also that our estimates are to be considered as lower bound in the eventuality of unobserved negative selection into treatment. |
| Keywords: | Public Employment Services, Active Labour Market Policies, Propensity Score Matching, European Employment Startegy, Policy Evaluation, Italy |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2008030&r=lab |
| By: | Harald Uhlig |
| Abstract: | Fifteen years after German reunification, the facts about slow regional convergence have born out the prediction of Barro (1991), except that migration out of East Germany has not slowed down. I document that in particular the 18-29 year old are leaving East Germany, and that the emigration has accelerated in recent years. I document that low wages, high unemployment and increasing reliance on social security persist across wide regions of East Germany together with these migration patterns. To understand these patterns, I use an extension of the standard labor search model introduced in Uhlig (2006, 2008) by allowing for migration and network externalities. In that theory, two equilibria can result: one with a high networking rate, high average labor productivity, low unemployment and no emigration ("West Germany'') and one with a low networking rate, low average labor productivity, high unemployment and a constant rate of emigration ("East Germany''). The model does not imply any obviously sound policies to move from the weakly networked equilibrium to the highly networked equilibrium. |
| JEL: | E20 J61 J64 O11 O18 O33 P20 P25 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14553&r=lab |
| By: | Federico S. Mandelman; Andrei Zlate |
| Abstract: | We analyze the dynamics of labor migration and the insurance role of remittances in a two-country, real business cycle framework. Emigration increases with the expected stream of future wage gains but is dampened by the sunk cost reflecting border enforcement. During booms in the destination economy, the scarcity of established immigrants lessens capital accumulation, labor productivity, and the native wage. The welfare gain from the inflow of unskilled labor increases with the complementarity between skilled and unskilled labor and the share of the skilled among native labor. The model matches the cyclical dynamics of the unskilled immigration from Mexico. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2008-25&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Rute Cardoso; Daniel S. Hamermesh; José Varejão |
| Abstract: | We examine the timing of firms' operations in a formal model of labor demand. Merging a variety of data sets from Portugal from 1995-2004, we describe temporal patterns of firms' demand for labor and estimate production-functions and relative labor-demand equations. The results demonstrate the existence of substitution of employment across times of the day/week and show that legislated penalties for work at irregular hours induce firms to alter their operating schedules. The results suggest a role for such penalties in an unregulated labor market, such as the United States, in which unusually large fractions of work are performed at night and on weekends. |
| JEL: | J23 J78 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14566&r=lab |
| By: | Gustavsson, Magnus (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using a large Swedish longitudinal database for the period 1982–2005, I estimate and compare within-group inequality in persistent and transitory earnings among men with highschool and college degrees. Analyses of inequality over the life cycle reveal that experiencevariance profiles of persistent earnings are very similar across the two education groups and also consistent with standard human capital models of on-the-job training. Transitory earnings shocks display a marked U-shaped variance pattern over the life-cycle for both groups, but are clearly larger for high-school graduates and also account for a larger proportion of their overall variance. Analyses of changes in within-group inequality over time, holding life-cycle effects constant, show that high-school and college graduates have been subject to similar trend growths in both persistent and transitory earnings differentials between 1982 and 2005. |
| Keywords: | Permanent inequality; Earnings instability; Life-cycle earnings; Schooling |
| JEL: | C33 D31 J39 |
| Date: | 2008–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2008_014&r=lab |
| By: | Natalia Zhivan; Steven A. Sass; Margarita Sapozhnikov |
| Abstract: | In the early 1980s, Congress responded to the Social Security program’s long-term financing shortfall, in part, by raising the Full Retirement Age (FRA) from 65 to 67. When fully phased in, for those who turn 62 in 2022, workers will have to wait an additional two years to get the same monthly benefit. If they do not postpone claiming, the increase in the FRA will cut their benefits by about 13 percent. Congress did not change the earliest age at which workers can claim. This Earliest Eligibility Age (EEA) remains 62. When the increase in the FRA is fully phased in, workers who claim at 62 will get 70 percent, rather than 80 percent, of their FRA benefit. This has raised concerns that benefits claimed at the EEA will be too low, especially as retirees age and other sources of income decline. One response would be to raise the EEA from 62 to 64, in line with the two-year rise in the FRA. There are, however, two important objections to an increase in the EEA. The primary concern is that it would create hardship for those unable to work or find employment and who lack the resources to support themselves without working until age 64. A second objection is that raising the EEA is unfair to disadvantaged groups with low life expectancy. This brief addresses these concerns by considering an “Elastic” EEA, which gives different workers different earliest eligibility ages. |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-2&r=lab |
| By: | Esen Erdogan-Ciftci (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Eddy Van Doorslaer (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Angel Lopez-Nicolas (Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of health and financial incentives on the retirement transitions of older workers in Spain. Individual measures of pension wealth, peak and accrual values are constructed using labor market histories and health shocks are derived as changes in a composite health stock measure over time. We examine labour market exits into both old age retirement and a broader definition of retirement including inactivity, while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. We find that pension wealth, accrual and peak value are significant determinants of retirement decisions, although their effect is weaker in the case of the broad definition of retirement. Initial health stock shows a significant impact on both definitions of retirement. Only large negative health shocks have a significant effect on the probability of entering the broader definition of retirement. Unlike previous literature, we find that (i) financial incentives, when measured adequately, exert a greater impact on retirement behaviour than health shocks, and (ii) initial health stock plays a more important role than health shocks in determining retirement decisions. We also perform simulations of a recently enacted reform of pension incentives and show how its expected effects compare to those of health improvements. |
| Keywords: | Health; Retirement; Social security and public pensions |
| JEL: | H55 I10 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080093&r=lab |
| By: | Sorokina, Olga V. |
| Abstract: | How important are liquidity constraints in the demand for college education in the U.S.? Who is most likely to be affected? Persistent credit constraints can lead to inefficient skill allocations and, given the wide gap between college and high school earnings, can work to perpetuate imbalances in the distribution of economic well-being. Unfortunately, empirical evidence regarding the pervasiveness of credit constraints in the demand for college education has not been consistent in part because constraints tend to be inferred indirectly and approaches for gauging them differ. In contrast with existing studies I use a measure that is more direct, namely self-reported financial constraints available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I find that about 13 percent of college-age individuals expect to underinvest in education because of financial limitations. These are the youths from less well-off families who live in areas with no universities in the vicinity. The findings of this paper suggest that liquidity constraints are potentially more pervasive than earlier studies indicate. |
| Keywords: | Credit Constraints; Expectations; Demand for Education |
| JEL: | I2 D84 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11932&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Dur (Erasmus University Rotterdam, CESifo, and IZA); Joeri Sol (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Social interaction with colleagues is an important job attribute for many workers. To attract and retain workers, managers therefore need to think about how to create and preserve high-quality co-worker relationships. This paper develops a principal-multi-agent model where agents do not only engage in productive activities, but also in social interaction with their colleagues, which in turn creates co-worker altruism. We study how financial incentives for productive activities can improve or damage the work climate. We show that both team incentives and relative incentives can help to create a good work climate. We discuss some empirical evidence supporting these predictions. |
| Keywords: | social interaction; altruism; incentive contracts; co-worker satisfaction |
| JEL: | D86 J41 M50 |
| Date: | 2008–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080094&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Du Caju (Banque Nationale de Belgique, Boulevard de Berlaimont 14, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.); Erwan Gautier (Banque de France, 39, rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, F-75049 Paris Cedex 01, France.); Daphne Momferatou (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Melanie Ward-Warmedinger (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents information on wage bargaining institutions, collected using a standardised questionnaire. Our data provide information from 1995 and 2006, for four sectors of activity and the aggregate economy, considering 23 European countries, plus the US and Japan. Main findings include a high degree of regulation in wage setting in most countries. Although union membership is low in many countries, union coverage is high and almost all countries also have some form of national minimum wage. Most countries negotiate wages on several levels, the sectoral level still being the most dominant, with an increasingly important role for bargaining at the firm level. The average length of collective bargaining agreements is found to lie between one and three years. Most agreements are strongly driven by developments in prices and eleven countries have some form of indexation mechanism which affects wages. Cluster analysis identifies three country groupings of wage-setting institutions. JEL Classification: J31, J38, J51, J58. |
| Keywords: | wage bargaining, institutions, indexation, trade union membership, cluster analysis. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080974&r=lab |
| By: | Nadège Marchand (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France); Claude Montmarquette (University of Montreal and CIRANO) |
| Abstract: | Our study considers the question of training in firms using an experimental laboratory approach. We investigate the following questions : What conditions, excluding external certification, will bring workers and employers to cooperate and share a rent generated by the workers’ training? What conditions will induce workers to accept the training offer, for employers to initially offer the training and to reward the trained workers in the last stage of the game? We analyse the impact of the size of the rent created by training and the existence of an information system on employer reputation rewarding trained employees. Reputation does matter to induce cooperation, but in the absence of external institutions, coordination on the optimal outcome remains difficult. |
| Keywords: | general and speficic trainings in firms, accreditation, cooperation and reputation, experimental econonmics |
| JEL: | C91 I |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0823&r=lab |
| By: | Raluca Prelipceanu (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of the Romanian temporary labour migration during the transition period. First of all, we build a househould level model in order to explain the decision to migrate in a couple. Then, by using a 10% sample of the Romanian 2002 Census we try to assess the importance of the gender bias for the migration decision. The main questions raised are "Do migration determinants differ according to gender ?" and "Do local norms influence the propensity to migrate of women and that of men ?". Our results prove the existence of important differences between the migration decision of men and that of women as well as the influence of cultural norms on gender roles on the latter's decision to migrate. |
| Keywords: | Temporary labour migration ; gender inequality ; household production ; social norms |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00344790_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Raluca Prelipceanu (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of the Romanian temporary labour migration during the transition period. First of all, we build a househould level model in order to explain the decision to migrate in a couple. Then, by using a 10% sample of the Romanian 2002 Census we try to assess the importance of the gender bias for the migration decision. The main questions raised are "Do migration determinants differ according to gender ?" and "Do local norms influence the propensity to migrate of women and that of men ?". Our results prove the existence of important differences between the migration decision of men and that of women as well as the influence of cultural norms on gender roles on the latter's decision to migrate. |
| Keywords: | Temporary labour migration ; gender inequality ; household production ; social norms |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00344790_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Nickell; Jumana Saleheen |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether immigration to Britain has had any impact on average wages. There seems to be a broad consensus among academics that the share of immigrants in the workforce has little or no effect on the pay rates of the indigenous population. But the studies in the literature have typically not refined their analysis by breaking it down into different occupational groups. In this paper we find that once the occupational breakdown is incorporated into a regional analysis of immigration in Britain, the immigrant-native ratio has a significant, small, negative impact on average wages. Closer examination reveals that the biggest impact is in the semi/unskilled services sector. This finding accords well with intuition and anecdote, but does not seem to have been recorded previously in the empirical literature. |
| Keywords: | Emigration and immigration - Great Britain ; Wages - Great Britain |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:08-6&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Anthony Webb; Alex Golub-Sass; |
| Abstract: | The financial crisis has sparked proposals to reform the retirement income system. One component of such a system could be a new tier of retirement accounts. These accounts would augment declining Social Security replacement rates for low-wage workers and provide a buffer of security for middle- and upper-wage workers who, increasingly, will rely totally on 401(k) plans to supplement their Social Security. Designing such a new tier requires answering a number of questions: Mandatory or voluntary? Employee and/or employer contributions? Subsidies for low earners? Payments as lump sums or annuities? Tax favored or not? But the most fundamental question is whether the goal of the new tier is to provide a defined contribution account, where the retirement income will depend on market performance, or an account that can provide a certain percent of final earnings – that is, a target replacement rate... |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-20&r=lab |
| By: | Leora Friedberg; Wei Sun; Anthony Webb |
| Abstract: | This brief seeks to answer the question in the title by analyzing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of older Americans. New questions in the HRS enable researchers to compare the value that workers place on health insurance with their perceptions about the cost of coverage... |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-9&r=lab |
| By: | Donata Bessey (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Uschi Backes-Gellner (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | Previous research on educational decisions has almost exclusively focused on individual decisions to start a particular education. At the same time, the decision to revise an educational choice has hardly been analyzed, unless it is the decision to drop out. However, dropping out is only one possibility of revising an educational choice. In this paper, we distinguish three different educational revisions, namely, dropping out, changing and upgrading. We analyze the determinants of these three different choices in apprenticeship training using hazard rate models for the empirical analysis. In a first research step, we carry out a simple hazard rate estimation of the decision to drop out vs. staying in the educational system because dropping out is associated with considerable risks, unlike the other two choices. Our most important finding here is that dropout decisions seem to be driven to a considerable amount by financial considerations such as the opportunity cost of apprenticeship training or financial distress, determinants that could rarely be analyzed in previous research due to lack of information. In a competing risks specification of the different educational choices, we find additional regional-level impact factors and remarkable differences in the determinants of the different choices. Less favorable local labor market conditions lead to lower hazards of staying within the educational system. These results underline the importance of distinguishing between the different choices instead of focusing exclusively on dropping out as one possible choice. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship training, human capital, regional labor markets |
| JEL: | J I J |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0040&r=lab |
| By: | Bodor , Andras; Robalino, David; Rutkowski, Michal |
| Abstract: | Mandatory pension systems can have a negative impact on individual savings and labor supply decisions. In particular, defined benefit pension schemes that are not actuarially fair, can create incentives for early retirement, and therefore, reduce labor supply and the stock of human capital. After a review of frequently applied approaches to assess the incentives generated by a pension system, the paper develops an indicator to predict the age-specific retirement probabilities induced by a particular pension system given heterogeneous individual preferences. The paper then describes how this indicator could be used to project the size of the labor force by gender, age and skill level, and correspondingly, the dynamics of human capital accumulation. Finally, the paper develops a set of life-cycle income measures to assess how the pension system affects decisions regarding the supply of labor in the public and private sectors. The methods are illustrated in the case of Morocco. |
| Keywords: | life cycle models; labor supply; human capital; retirement policies; job and occupational mobility |
| JEL: | J62 J22 D91 J24 J26 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12046&r=lab |
| By: | Sherry A. Glied; Ashwin Prabhu; Norman H. Edelman |
| Abstract: | This study uses a human capital model to estimate the societal cost of producing a physician service. Physician human capital consists of the underlying human capital (productivity) of those who become physicians and the job-specific investments (physician training) added to this underlying capital. The value of physicians' underlying human capital is estimated by forecasting an age-earnings profile for doctors based on the characteristics in youth of NLSY cohort participants who subsequently became doctors. Published estimates are used to measure the total cost (wherever paid) of investments in physician training. These data are combined to compute the societal cost per primary care physician visit. The estimated societal cost per primary care physician visit is much higher than the average co-payment per primary care service and generally higher than the current Medicare compensation rate per service unit The private return to primary care physician training is relatively low, in the range of 7-9%. At current levels of supply, the marginal social costs of primary care visits appear to be equal to or greater than marginal social benefits. |
| JEL: | I18 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14568&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Mauricio Soto; Robert K. Triest; Natalia A. Zhivan |
| Abstract: | The difference in labor force participation rates of men aged 55-64 across the United States is astounding. For example, West Virginia has a participation rate below 60 percent, while South Dakota has a participation rate approaching 90 percent (see Figure 1). This fact in itself has significant implications for the pressures that states will face as the baby boom starts to retire in the face of a contracting retirement income system, declining housing prices, and a lackluster stock market... |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-13&r=lab |
| By: | David Neumark; Jed Kolko |
| Abstract: | We use new establishment-level data and geographic mapping methods to improve upon evaluations of the effectiveness of state enterprise zones, focusing on California's program. Because zone boundaries do not follow census tracts or zip codes, we created digitized maps of original zone boundaries and later expansions. We combine these maps with geocoded observations on most businesses located in California. The evidence indicates that enterprise zones do not increase employment. We also find no shift of employment toward the lower-wage workers or manufacturing sector targeted by enterprise zone incentives. We conclude that the program is ineffective in achieving its primary goals. |
| JEL: | H25 H73 J23 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14530&r=lab |
| By: | Brian A. Jacob; Jens Ludwig |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the effects of means-tested housing programs on labor supply using data from a randomized housing voucher wait-list lottery in Chicago. Evidence for the net effects of housing programs on labor supply is central to a wide range of policy decisions about how to provide housing assistance to the poor. Economic theory is ambiguous about the expected sign of any labor supply response. We find that among working-age, able-bodied adults, housing voucher use reduces quarterly labor force participation rates by 4 percentage points (6 percent of the control complier mean) and quarterly earnings by $285 (10 percent), and increases social program participation rates by 2 percentage points (16 percent of the control mean). These impacts are toward the lower end of the range of recent estimates from other studies of housing programs, but nonetheless do still imply that housing vouchers reduce labor supply. |
| JEL: | I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14570&r=lab |
| By: | Jonah E. Rockoff; Lesley J. Turner |
| Abstract: | In November of 2007, the New York City Department of Education assigned elementary and middle schools a letter grade (A to F) under a new accountability system. Grades were based on numeric scores derived from student achievement and other school environmental factors such as attendance, and were linked to a system of rewards and consequences. We use the discontinuities in the assignment of grades to estimate the impact of accountability in the short run. Specifically, we examine student achievement in English Language Arts and mathematics (measured in January and March of 2008, respectively) using school level aggregate data. Although schools had only a few months to respond to the release of accountability grades, we find that receipt of a low grade significantly increased student achievement in both subjects, with larger effects in math. We find no evidence that these grades were related to the percentage of students tested, implying that accountability can cause real changes in school quality that increase student achievement over a short time horizon. We also find that parental evaluations of educational quality improved for schools receiving low accountability grades. However, changes in survey response rates hold open the possibility of selection bias in these complementary results. |
| JEL: | H52 H75 I21 I28 L38 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14564&r=lab |
| By: | Brian Jacob; Jens Ludwig |
| Abstract: | This review paper, prepared for the forthcoming Russell Sage volume Changing Poverty, considers the ability of different education policies to improve the learning outcomes of low-income children in America. Disagreements on this question stem in part from different beliefs about the problems with our nation's public schools. In our view there is some empirical support for each of the general concerns that have been raised about public schools serving high-poverty student populations, including: the need for more funding for those school inputs where additional spending is likely to pass a benefit-cost test; limited capacity of many schools to substantially improve student learning by improving the quality of instruction on their own; and the need for improved incentives for both teachers and students, and for additional operational flexibility. Evidence suggests that the most productive changes to existing education policies are likely to come from increased investments in early childhood education for poor children, improving the design of the federal No Child Left Behind accountability system, providing educators with incentives to adopt practices with a compelling research base while expanding efforts to develop and identify effective instructional regimes, and continued support and evaluation of a variety of public school choice options. |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14550&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Nieves Valdes |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of PROGRESA education grants on school enrollment. It looks at its effect on total school enrollment and in particular on school enrollment of drop-outs, i.e. those children who face a re-enrollment decision since they were not enrolled in school the year prior to the implementation of the PROGRESA program. Estimates of the impact of PROGRESA education grants on drop-outs and non-drop-outs are obtained applying difference estimation and maximum likelihood estimation of a reduced form equation for schooling decision. Differences in results between both groups of children are discussed looking at the distribution of marginal effects. PROGRESA did send drop-outs back to school. It had a larger effect on drop-outs than on non-drop-outs. However, for the particular group of girls who dropped out of school just before attending secondary school PROGRESA grants only had a minor effect. This last finding highlights the fact that determinants of the schooling decision are different for young girls and that PROGRESA grants do not provide a strong enough incentive to send them back to school. |
| Keywords: | Anti-poverty program evaluation, School enrollment, Re-enrollment decision, Heterogeneous program effects, Correlated random effects model |
| JEL: | C21 C23 I28 I38 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we085926&r=lab |
| By: | Iwai, Nobuyuki; Emerson, Robert D.; Walters, Lurleen M. |
| Abstract: | Specialty crop farmers have expressed concern about labor shortages and cost increases which may arise with immigration reform. 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. |
| 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:saeaed:6758&r=lab |
| By: | Dohmen Thomas; Falk Armin; Huffman David; Marklein Felix; Sunde Uwe (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | Many economic decisions involve a substantial amount of uncertainty, andtherefore crucially depend on how individuals process probabilistic information. Inthis paper, we investigate the capability for probability judgment in a representativesample of the German population. Our results show that almost a third of therespondents exhibits systematically biased perceptions of probability. The findingsalso indicate that the observed biases are related to observed outcomes, whichindicates the policy relevance of our findings. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2008008&r=lab |
| By: | Resul Cesur; Inas Rashad |
| Abstract: | While the effects of low birth weight have long been explored, those of high birth weight have been essentially ignored. Economists have analyzed the negative effects that low birth weight might have on subsequent school outcomes, while taking into account unobserved characteristics that may be common to families with low birth weight babies and negative outcomes in terms of school test scores when children, in addition to labor market income when adults. Today, however, with increasing obesity rates in the United States, high birth weight has become a potential concern, and has been associated in the medical literature with an increased likelihood of becoming an overweight child, adolescent, and subsequently an obese adult. Overweight and obesity, in turn, are associated with a host of negative effects, including lower test scores in school and lower labor market prospects when adults. If studies only focus on low birth weight, they may underestimate the effects of ensuring that mothers receive adequate support during pregnancy. In this study we find that cognitive outcomes are adversely affected not only by low birth weight (<2500 grams) but also by high birth weight (>4500 grams). Our results have policy implications in terms of provision of support for pregnant women. |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14524&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Dan Muldoon; ; |
| Abstract: | Since the mid-1960s, the median retirement age for men has declined from 66 to 63. If Americans continue to retire at age 63, a great many will risk income shortfalls, especially at older ages. This risk is even greater for those currently nearing retirement who have recently seen a large portion of their nest eggs evaporate... |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-17&r=lab |
| By: | Montserrat Vilalta-Bufi, Departament de Teoria Economica and CAEPS (Universitat de Barcelona) and; Departament d'Economia i Historia Economica (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We analyze an economy with two main features: labor mobility goes together with knowledge transfer and firm productivity increases with the exchange of ideas. Each firm develops some specific knowledge that will be transmitted to the rest of the industry through the mobility of workers. We study two labor market settings and use comparative statics to derive the implications of the model. They reveal how labor mobility depends on the variety and level of knowledge, the presence of mobility costs, the institutional environment, the absorptive capacity of the firms and the size of the industry. Results are robust to different labor market settings. |
| Keywords: | exchange of knowledge, inter-firm labor mobility, knowledge diffusion |
| JEL: | J61 J23 O33 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2008210&r=lab |
| By: | Margaretha Buurman (Dept. of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam); Robert Dur (Dept. of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Many street-level bureaucrats (such as caseworkers) have the dual task of helping some clients, while sanctioning others. We develop a model of such a street-level bureaucracy and study the implications of its personnel policy on the self-selection and allocation decisions of agents who differ in altruism towards clients. When bureaucrats are paid flat wages, they do not sanction, and the most altruistic types sort into bureaucracy. Pay-for-performance induces some bureaucrats to sanction, but necessitates an increase in expected wage compensation, which can result in sorting from both the top and bottom of the altruism distribution. We also show how client composition affects sorting and why street-level bureaucrats often experience an overload of clients. |
| Keywords: | street-level bureaucracy; sorting; altruism; personnel policy; pay-for-performance |
| JEL: | J3 J4 L3 M5 |
| Date: | 2008–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080113&r=lab |
| By: | Steven A. Sass; Wei Sun; Anthony Webb |
| Abstract: | Most married men claim Social Security benefits at age 62 or 63, well short of the age that maximizes the expected present value of the average household’s benefits. That many married men “leave money on the table” is surprising. It is also problematic. It results in much lower benefits for surviving spouses and the low incomes of elderly widows are a major social problem. If married men delayed claiming Social Security benefits, retirement income security would significantly improve. This brief focuses on the potential gains from delayed claiming and the factors that may influence claiming behavior. It then considers possible policy responses. |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-4&r=lab |
| By: | Josse Delfgaauw (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Robert Dur (Erasmus University Rotterdam, and IZA) |
| Abstract: | The quality of public management is a recurrent concern in many countries. Calls to attract the economy's best and brightest managers to the public sector abound. This paper studies self-selection into managerial and non-managerial positions in the public and private sector, using a model of a perfectly competitive economy where people differ in managerial ability and in public service motivation. We find that, if demand for public sector output is not too high, the equilibrium return to managerial ability is always highest in the private sector. As a result, relatively many of the more able managers self-select into the private sector. Since this outcome is efficient, our analysis implies that attracting a more able managerial workforce to the public sector by increasing remuneration to private-sector levels is not cost-efficient. |
| Keywords: | Public Management; Public Service Motivation; Managerial Ability; Self-Selection |
| JEL: | H83 J24 J3 J45 |
| Date: | 2008–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20080097&r=lab |
| By: | Hans G. Bloemen (Free University Amsterdam); Elena Stancanelli (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques) |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:0830&r=lab |
| By: | Piggot, John; Robalino, David; Jimenez-Martin, Sergi |
| Abstract: | The paper explores the incentive effects of retirement income transfers – essentially, non-contributory cash transfers aimed at reducing poverty among the elderly. A literature review reveals how little academic analysis of the impact of these transfers has been completed. We begin with a taxonomy of retirement income transfers, differentiating between ex-ante and ex-post interventions and universal and targeted arrangements. This distinction allows important differences across designs to be highlighted. We then provide a simple framework for thinking about what the incentive impacts of the transfers might be, distinguishing between effects related to the transfer itself and those related to the financing mechanism. Thus, from theory and available empirical evidence we derive a few policy relevant findings. First, incentive effects will depend on the level of the transfer relative to average earnings and the degree of integration between the formal and informal sectors in the economy. In general, for modest transfers, negative impacts on savings and labor supply would be contained. Second, we highlight the tradeoff between maintaining low effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) to reduce distortions and keeping the program costs at affordable levels. This tradeoff suggests that universal programs are suboptimal. Third, in terms of design features, we emphasize the importance of implementing a gradual withdrawal of the benefit to avoid crowding-out contributory pensions among low income individuals and of indexing the eligibility age with life expectancy to contain costs. Finally we find that matching contributions can be a promising instrument to promote savings among individuals with limited savings capacity. |
| Keywords: | Social pensions; Pension coverage; Retirement Insurance; matching contributions |
| JEL: | E62 H55 J41 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12020&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Dan Muldoon; ; |
| Abstract: | The stock market, as measured by the broad-based Wilshire 5000, declined by 42 percent between its peak in October 9, 2007 and October 9, 2008. Over that one-year period, the value of equities in pension plans and household portfolios fell by $7.4 trillion. Of that $7.4 trillion decline, $2.0 trillion occurred in 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), $1.9 trillion in public and private defined benefit plans, and $3.6 trillion in household non-pension assets... |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-16&r=lab |
| By: | Justine S. Hastings; Lydia Tejeda-Ashton |
| Abstract: | We use responses to a survey and experiment with participants in Mexico’s privatized social security system to examine how financial literacy impacts workers’ choice behavior and how simplifying information on management fees may increase measures of price elasticity sensitivity among the financially illiterate. We find that by presenting fees in pesos instead of annual percentage rates, financially illiterate workers focus much more on fees when choosing between investment funds, selecting funds with lower average fees in hypothetical choice settings. Even though changes in information have small impacts on fees of the selected fund, holding fees constant, we show that changes in choice behavior imply a substantial increase in price sensitivity. Hence, the way in which information is presented to workers can have a substantial impact on optimal fees that firms can charge in the marketplace. |
| JEL: | H0 H55 L10 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14538&r=lab |
| By: | Whitacre, Brian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the shifting influence of household characteristics and telecommunications infrastructure on the residential broadband adoption decision for Oklahoma residents between 2003 and 2006. In particular, the spread of wired telecommunications infrastructure (namely cable Internet and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL)) is examined, along with the effect that this diffusion has had on broadband access rates. The data indicates that the gap in broadband access rates between rural and urban areas has remained relatively constant over this period despite increased levels of cable and DSL throughout the state. In addition, an inter-temporal decomposition shows that the increasing levels of infrastructure are not the dominant cause of higher broadband rates over time. Instead, shifting returns to specific characteristics (namely income) are found to be the primary contributors. |
| Keywords: | Broadband, Internet, Temporal Diffusion, Public Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, R11, O18, C1, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saeaed:6934&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Hiller (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This research focuses on the role played by cultural norms in the long run persistence of gender inequalities. Cultural norms about gender roles are considered to be endogenous and can generate gender inequality and low development traps. Indeed, when the gender gap is internalized, it leads to inegalitarian views about gender roles. Due to these inegalitarian beliefs, boys receive more education and the initial gender gap is reinforced. The existence of gender inequality traps is pointed out by the World Bank as a major obstacle for economic development (WDR 2006). The present article allows for a better understanding of the persistence of such traps and the means to escape. |
| Keywords: | Gender equality ; endogenous cultural norms ; economics development ; inequality traps |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00344793_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Lee, Youngjae |
| Abstract: | In this study it is examined to see that if the government subsidy compensating for the additional cost of adopting best management practices (BMP) is equal to marginal net benefit, will farmers then try to adopt BMP at every level of TRQ and FMA without exhibiting concerns over the form of their production function and, also, will this then imply an ability on the part of the government to lighten importing and market restrictions on sugar. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saeaed:6826&r=lab |
| By: | Gary Charness (Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara); Peter Kuhn (Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara); Marie-Claire Villeval (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France) |
| Abstract: | The ‘ratchet effect’ refers to a situation where a principal uses private information that is revealed by an agent’s early actions to the agent’s later disadvantage, in a context where binding multi-period contracts are not enforceable. In a simple, context-rich environment, we experimentally study the robustness of the ratchet effect to the introduction of ex post competition for principals or agents. While we do observe substantial and significant ratchet effects in the baseline (no competition) case of our model, we find that ratchet behavior is nearly eliminated by labor-market competition; interestingly this is true regardless of whether market conditions favor principals or agents. |
| Keywords: | Ratchet effect, competition, experiment, private information, labor markets |
| JEL: | C91 D23 D82 J24 L14 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0828&r=lab |
| By: | Stephanie Riegg Cellini; Fernando Ferreira; Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of voter-approved school bond issues on school district balance sheets, local housing prices, and student achievement. We draw on the unique characteristics of California's system of school finance to obtain clean identification of bonds' causal effects, comparing districts in which school bond referenda passed or failed by narrow margins. We extend the traditional regression discontinuity (RD) design to account for the dynamic nature of bond referenda, since the probability of future proposals depends on the outcomes of past elections. By law, bond revenues can be used only for school facilities projects. We find that bond funds indeed stick exclusively in the capital account, with no effect on current expenditures or other revenues. Our housing market estimates indicate that California school districts under-invest in school facilities: passing a referendum causes immediate, sizable increases in home prices, implying a willingness-to-pay on the part of marginal homebuyers of $1.50 or more for each $1 of facility spending. These effects do not appear to be driven by changes in the income or racial composition of homeowners, and the school bond impact on test scores cannot explain more than a small portion of the total housing price effect. Our estimates indicate that parents value improvements in other dimensions of school output (e.g., safety) that may be not captured by test scores. |
| JEL: | C23 H21 H41 H71 H75 I22 R13 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14516&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Mauricio Soto; |
| Abstract: | House prices rose 60 percent between 2000 and 2007 before the housing bubble burst. The question is whether the housing boom made people better or worse prepared for retirement. If they extracted the equity from their home through some form of housing-related debt and consumed all their borrowings, they will be left with additional debt and no additional assets and probably will be worse off in retirement. If they did not borrow and consume their equity, they will have more housing wealth to tap in retirement and will be better off... |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:issbrf:ib2008-8-12&r=lab |
| By: | Ming-Jen Lin; Nancy Qian; Jin-Tan Liu |
| Abstract: | Many countries with "deficits" in their female population see banning sex-selective abortion as a way to curb the observed sex imbalance. However, they rarely discuss the potentially negative unintended consequences of this ban on female survival rates as parents may be forced to substitute post-natal for pre-natal sex-selection. This paper presents novel empirical evidence on the impact of access to abortion on sex ratios at birth and relative female infant mortality. We use the universe of birth and death registry data from Taiwan and exploit plausibly exogenous variation in the availability of sex-selective abortion caused legislative changes to identify the causal effects of sex-selective abortion on sex ratios at birth and excess female mortality. We find that sex-selective abortion increased the fraction of males at birth by approximately 0.7 percentage-points, accounting for approximately 100% of the observed increase in sex ratios at birth during the 1980s; and it decreased relative female neo-natal mortality by approximately 61%. We estimate that approximately 13 more female infants survived for every 100 aborted female fetuses. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14541&r=lab |