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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (IZA); Uhlendorff, Arne (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the mobility between self-employment, wage employment and non-employment. Using data for men in West Germany, we find strong true state dependence in all three states. Moreover, compared to wage employment, non-employment increases the probability of self-employment significantly, and self-employment goes along with a higher risk of future non-employment. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, state dependence, labor market dynamics, unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 L26 C23 C25 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3900&r=lab |
| By: | Felbermayr, Gabriel J.; Geis, Wido; Kohler, Wilhelm K. |
| Abstract: | Many European countries restrict immigration from new EU member countries. The rationale is to avoid adverse wage and employment effects. We quantify these effects for Germany. Following Borjas (2003), we estimate a structural model of labor demand, based on elasticities of substitution between workers with different experience levels and education. We allow for unemployment which we model in a price-wage-setting framework. Simulating a counterfactual scenario without restrictions for migration from new EU members countries, we find moderate negative wage effects, combined with increased unemployment for some types of workers. Wage-setting mitigates wage cuts. |
| Keywords: | wages, migration |
| JEL: | J48 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:7443&r=lab |
| By: | Pavlopoulos, Dimitris (CEPS/INSTEAD and K.U. Leuven); Fouarge, Didier (ROA, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Purpose { This paper investigates the extent and the human-capital de- terminants of low-wage mobility for labour market entrants, in the UK and Germany. Design/methodology/approach { Using panel data for the UK (BHPS) and Germany (GSOEP), we apply a competing-risks duration model that al- lows us to study transitions from low pay to competing destination states: higher pay, self-employment, unemployment and inactivity. Unobserved het- erogeneity is tackled by a non-parametric mass-point approach. Findings { We ¯nd that low pay is only a temporary state for most young job starters. However, there is a small group of job starters that is caught in a trap of low pay, unemployment or inactivity. In the UK, job starters escape from low pay mainly by developing ¯rm-speci¯c skills. In Germany, involvement in formal vocational training and the attainment of apprenticeship quali¯cations account for low pay exits. Originality/value { Over the past decades, unemployment and low-wage employment have emerged as major challenges facing young labour market entrants. While most empirical studies focus exclusively on the transition from low pay to high pay, we show that a signi¯cant percentage of young entrants are caught in a low-pay - non-employment trap. Moreover, we show that, depending on the institutional context, di®erent types of human capital investments can account for a successful low-pay exit. |
| Keywords: | Low pay; labour market entry ; duration model ; human capital |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2008-12&r=lab |
| By: | Koskela, Erkki (University of Helsinki); König, Jan (Free University of Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the following questions associated with flexible outsourcing under partly imperfect dual domestic labour markets, where high skilled workers participate in firm's profit via profit sharing: How does the implementation of profit sharing influence flexible outsourcing? What is the relationship between outsourcing cost, profit sharing and wages? We show that profit sharing has a positive effect on low skilled wage and thus an outsourcing enhancing character. The wages of both types of labour are negatively correlated and lower outsourcing cost can increase the wage dispersion by decreasing the low skilled wage and raising the high skilled wage. The overall effect of profit sharing on high skilled wage is ambiguous due to a positive direct effect and a negative indirect effect via the low skilled wage. |
| Keywords: | profit sharing, dual labour market, flexible outsourcing, labour market imperfection, employee effort |
| JEL: | E23 E24 H22 J23 J51 J82 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3876&r=lab |
| By: | António Afonso; Pedro Gomes |
| Abstract: | We analyse the interactions between public and private sector wages per employee in OECD countries. We motivate the analysis with a dynamic labour market equilibrium model with search and matching frictions to study the effects of public sector employment and wages on the labour market, particularly on private sector wages. Our empirical evidence shows that the growth of public sector wages and of public sector employment positively affects the growth of private sector wages. Moreover, total factor productivity, the unemployment rate, hours per worker, and inflation, are also important determinants of private sector wage growth. With respect to public sector wage growth, we find that, in addition to some market related variables, it is also influenced by fiscal conditions. |
| Keywords: | public wages; private wages; employment. |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H50 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp552008&r=lab |
| By: | António B. Moniz (IET, FCT-Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Tobias Woll (IET, FCT-Universidade Nova de Lisboa) |
| Abstract: | In this working paper is presented information on the Portuguese labour market developed with the support of the European project WORKS-“Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society”. Is still a on the process article and thus commentaries are welcome. The structure is based on the following topics: a) The employment policy (Time regimes - time use, flexibility, part-time work, work-life balance -, and the work contracts regimes – wages, contract types, diversity); b) Education and training (skilling outcomes, rules on retraining and further training, employability schemes, transferability of skills); c) Equal opportunities (relevance of equal opportunity regulation for restructuring outcomes, the role of gender and age regulation); d) Restructuring effects (policy on transfer of personnel, policy on redundancies, and participation or voice in restructuring). |
| Keywords: | labour market; gender; work organisation; knowledge society; employment policy; Education |
| JEL: | E24 J21 J31 J48 J68 J82 M12 M54 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieu:wpaper:02&r=lab |
| By: | Borghans Lex; Weel Bas ter (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | We review the empirical literature about the implications of the computerization ofthe labor market to see whether it can explain observed computer adoptionpatterns and (long-term) changes in the wage structure. Evidence from empiricalmicro studies turns out to be inconsistent with macro studies that are based onCES production functions. We propose a micro foundation for the CESproduction function that allows for changes in the underlying structure. We adaptthe macro model by incorporating computer skills, complementary skills and fixedcosts for computer technology usage suggested by the micro literature. It turns outthat fixed costs for computer technology usage explain different patterns ofcomputer adoption and diffusion between several types of workers and countries; italso provides very plausible patterns of the timing of wage inequality anddevelopments over time. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2008009&r=lab |
| By: | Christina Felfe |
| Abstract: | How can we encourage untapped work potentials, such as young mothers, to participate in the labor market? The present study addresses this issue by providing a direct measure for the relevance of job-related amenities for mothers work decision, namely mothers’ marginal willingness to pay (MWP) for job amenities. Its identification strategy relies on German maternity leave length data. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the Qualification and Career Survey, mothers' leave length decision is estimated by a discrete duration method that assumes a logistic hazard function. The MWP for amenities can be inferred through the estimated elasticities of the leave length with respect to the disamenities and the wage. The results provide evidence that mothers are willing to sacrifice a significant fraction of their wage to reduce hazardous working conditions (more than 20%) and to enjoy a working schedule compatible with available daycare (more than 35%). |
| Keywords: | Marginal Willingness to Pay; Maternal Labor Supply; Discrete Duration Models |
| JEL: | J22 J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:dp2008:2008-25&r=lab |
| By: | Kosfeld, Michael (University of Frankfurt); von Siemens, Ferdinand (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We investigate a competitive labor market with team production. Workers differ in their motivation to exert team effort and types are private information. We show that there can exist a separating equilibrium in which workers self-select into different firms and firms employing cooperative workers make strictly positive profits. Profit differences across firms persist because cooperation strictly increases output and worker separation requires firms employing cooperative workers to pay out weakly lower wages. |
| Keywords: | team work, self-selection |
| JEL: | D82 D86 M50 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3881&r=lab |
| By: | Beach, Charles M.; Finnie, Ross; Gray, David |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the variability of workers' earnings in Canada over the 1982-to-2000 period by a graphical descriptive approach using the Longitudinal Administrative Data base file. Following Gottschalk and Moffitt (1994), we decompose the total variance of workers' earnings into a 'permanent' or long-run component between workers and a 'transitory' or year-to-year earnings instability component over time for given workers. The decomposition is applied to a five-year moving window. Several results are found. First, the general rise in total earnings variance over the period reflects quite different patterns of change for its separate components. Long-run earnings inequality has generally increased over the period, while year-to-year earnings instability has pretty steadily decreased. Changes in the total earnings variability have been driven primarily by changes in long-run earnings inequality. Second, the patterns of change in the two variance components showed substantial differences between men and women. Since the early 1990s, long-run earnings inequality continued to rise for men, but it markedly decreased for women. Since the late 1980s, earnings instability fell quite steadily for women, but it showed a more cyclical pattern for men. Third, the patterns across ages of the two variance components are almost opposite. Long-run earnings inequality generally rises with age, so it is markedly highest among older-age workers. Earnings instability, in contrast, generally declines with age, so it is markedly highest among entry-age workers. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Wages, salaries and other earnings |
| Date: | 2008–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2008311e&r=lab |
| By: | Belzil, Christian (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris); Poinas, François (CNRS, GATE) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a flexible dynamic model of education choices and early career employment outcomes of the French population. Individuals are allowed to choose between 4 options: continue to the next grade, accept a permanent contract, accept a temporary contract, or withdraw from the labor force (a residual state). Our analysis focuses on the comparison between French Second-Generation Immigrants whose parents are born in Africa and French-natives. We find that schooling attainments explain around two thirds of the differences in access to early career employment stability. However, one third cannot be linked to observed investment in human capital. |
| Keywords: | schooling attainments, second-generation immigrants, fixed term employment |
| JEL: | I2 J15 J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3877&r=lab |
| By: | Belzil, Christian (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris); Hansen, Jörgen (Concordia University); Kristensen, Nicolai (Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we formulate and estimate a structural model of post-schooling training that explicitly allows for possible complementarity between initial schooling levels and returns to training. Precisely, the wage outcome equation depends on accumulated schooling and on the incidence of training. The effect of training on wage growth depends on individual permanent endowments as well as on education. We find evidence of statistically significant complementarity, i.e. the higher educated receive the highest return to the MBA-type training considered here. |
| Keywords: | dynamic programming, dynamic treatment effects, skill complementarity, random coefficients |
| JEL: | I2 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3882&r=lab |
| By: | Kisswani, Khalid |
| Abstract: | The Great Depression is a prime example of a macroeconomic crisis that produced adverse economic and social effects in all spheres of life. The theoretical arguments about the real effects of the Great Depression on education vary. The first is that of economic hardships, which might force individuals eligible to go to school to work for their sustenance. The second argument is that high unemployment would reduce the opportunity cost of going to school, making going to school the best other viable alternative. Following these theoretical notions, this paper explores the impact of the Great Depression on education, on race (whites and blacks) and gender (males and females), during the period from 1930 to 1940. Furthermore, this paper examines the effects of state employment indices on the average education (at the mean). The results (using individual census data from 1960) show some evidence that the Great Depression affected education of whites born between 1911 and 1915. However, the results show no evidence that the variation in state employment indices affected the decision of schooling on the average (mean), but it affected the education of white males at the top of the distribution (90% percentile). |
| Keywords: | Great Depression; education; employment indices |
| JEL: | I21 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12302&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Iara (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the debate on the effects of migration by providing evidence on the returns to working experience from western Europe in eastern European labour markets. In particular, using the 2003 Youth Central and Eastern Eurobarometer dataset, we test the hypothesis that there are differential returns to foreign as opposed to domestic work experience. Our analysis combines the Mincer wage equation framework and the Roy model of migration. The latter suggests that migration responds to net expected benefits. Hence, return migration is endogenous with respect to differential returns to foreign working experience. To allow for selectivity on observable or unobservable characteristics, we estimate an endogenous switching model in two steps. This procedure combines probit estimates of propensities to work and to acquire foreign work expericence respectively, and OLS estimates of earnings equations for stayers and movers, with the inclusion of nonselection hazards obtained in the first step. The expected wage increase is the difference between post-return migrants' wages and wages under similar conditions in the absence of migration. For any individual, only one of these measures can be observed. We impute the respective counterfactuals from the separate wage regressions. Our analysis shows that movers and stayers are rewarded for different human capital characteristics. We find an average earnings premium for foreign work experience of around 30%. This can be seen as partial evidence for international skill diffusion: temporary migrants may upgrade their skills by learning on the job in countries with higher technological development, and subsequently bring human capital to their source country, thus adding to know-how diffusion and the catching-up of their economy. We perform additional empirical analyses to support this interpretation: we show that the premium found for return migration does not primarily reward the language proficiencies of returning migrants, and we further provide indicative evidence that no earnings premium is obtained for work-related stays abroad in other central and eastern European transition countries. |
| Keywords: | Central and Eastern Europe, return migration, wage premium, skill diffusion |
| JEL: | J31 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:wpaper:46&r=lab |
| By: | Taryn Ann Galloway (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Studies on the earnings assimilation of immigrants have traditionally focused exclusively on immigrants in employment. However, given evidence of immigrants' difficulties in entering and remaining in the labor market, restricting the population to those in employment may entail a selection bias. In addition, the primary variable of interest in such studies is often the duration of residence or the years since migration (YSM), which is interpreted as a proxy for potential labor market experience in the host country. The appropriateness of that proxy will, however, also depend on the extent to which immigrants are able to quickly enter and remain in the labor market. This study thus re-examines evidence on the earnings assimilation of immigrants in light of selection into the labor market and with better information on actual labor market experience in the host country. The findings suggest that a major revision of previous conclusions about the earnings assimilation of immigrants in Norway may be in order. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; assimilation; employment; earnings |
| JEL: | J20 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:570&r=lab |
| By: | Boman, Anders (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique possibility to link unemployed individuals’ stated willingness to move with administrative data, giving us the possibility to analyse the effects of mobility on labour market outcome. Furthermore, we can do this not only for those who actually move, but also for non-movers. I find that those who extend their search area in job search geographically do have a higher probability of escaping unemployment. However, this positive effect is not only present for jobs outside the local labour market, as would be expected, but the greatest effect is found on the local labour market. This indicates positive selection; i.e. it is not so much the increased geographic scope per se that increases the likelihood of escaping unemployment, but mainly differences in unobservable characteristics between those who choose to use a larger search area and those who do not.<p> |
| Keywords: | unemployment; selection; geographic mobility; job search; search scope |
| JEL: | D83 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2008–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0336&r=lab |
| By: | Michal, Tvrdon |
| Abstract: | The presented article deals with labour market institutions and labour market performance in the European Union. The first chapter is devoted to theoretical and methodological background of labour market performance. Theoretical literature has created a set of institutional aspects such as employment protection legislation, structure of wage bargaining, taxation of labour, active labour market policy, the system of unemployment and social benefits. All these aspects determine the institutional framework of labour market. Theoretical literature also has defined labour market flexibility as an instrument for adjustment process in case of asymmetric shock. Attention is also paid to influence of these institutional aspects on employment or unemployment. The second chapter is composed of the comparative analysis of selected criteria and corresponding economic indicators of the EU member states. The author has chosen the method of comparative analysis as the basic method for accomplishing the goal of the paper - to analyse the labour market institutions and their contribution to labour market performance in the EU member states. The evidence shows that the labour market flexibility in the Visegrad group countries is better than average of old EU-15 member states. However, this level of flexibility is much behind the level of USA or Anglo-Saxon countries. The main problem of Visegrad group is long-term unemployment and its composition and a lower level of employment. The author assumes that improving these indicators is one of the most important tasks for political-economic authorities. |
| Keywords: | Labour market; tax wedge; wage bargaing; EMU; integration; labour market flexibility |
| JEL: | E24 J60 J01 |
| Date: | 2008–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12219&r=lab |
| By: | Cardoso, Ana Rute (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)); Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin); Varejão, José (University of Porto) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | labor demand, time use, wage penalty |
| JEL: | J23 J78 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3885&r=lab |
| By: | Bukowski, Maciej; Koloch, Grzegorz; Lewandowski, Piotr |
| Abstract: | In this paper the dynamic responses of labor markets to macroeconomic shocks in eight CEE countries are empirically analyzed in panel SVECM. Identification of shocks, interpreted as real wage, productivity, labor demand and supply shocks, is based on DSGE model with labor market explicitly modeled after Mortensen and Pissarides (1994). Fluctuations in foreign demand are controlled for and the model is estimated with panel procedure, which improves estimation's precision. We show that propagation of shocks on NMS labor markets fairly resembles that characterizing OECD countries. Productivity improving shocks temporarily increase unemployment. Positive labor demand shocks increase employment, depress unemployment, rise real average wages, and were found to be the main determinant of variability of employment and unemployment in the short-run. In the medium term, in Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland innovations in wages seem to be prevalent drivers of employment and unemployment. The retrospective simulations of the model show that Baltic states and Poland were significantly affected by the collapse of Russian exports in late 1990s, and in 2000 an adverse labor demand shock hit all NMS, except for Hungary and Slovenia. However, the flexibility of wages is found to be crucial factor behind the diverse labor market performance in the region. Slovenia and Estonia fared best when it comes to flexibility of wages on macro level, on the other hand in Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland downward wage rigidities were especially binding after employment-contracting shocks. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; Rigidities; Transition economies; Cointegration;;Structural VECM; Panel econometrics; DSGE models |
| JEL: | C32 E32 E24 J60 |
| Date: | 2008–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12429&r=lab |
| By: | Hans G. Bloemen (Free University of Amsterdam, Tinbergen Institute, Netspar, and IZA); Sylvia Pasqua (University of Turin, and CHILD- Collegio Carlo Alberto); Elena G.F. Stancanelli (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA, F-95000 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2008-30&r=lab |
| By: | Bauer, Thomas (RWI Essen); Kluve, Jochen (RWI Essen); Schaffner, Sandra (University of Bochum); Schmidt, Christoph M. (RWI Essen) |
| Abstract: | Against the background of the current discussion on the introduction of statutory minimum wages in Germany, this paper analyzes the potential employment and fiscal effects of such a policy. Based on estimated labor demand elasticities obtained from a structural labor demand model, the empirical results imply that the introduction of minimum wages in Germany will be associated with significant employment losses that are concentrated among marginal and low- and semi-skilled full-time workers. Even though minimum wages will lead to increased public revenues from income taxes and social security benefits, they will result in a significant fiscal burden, due to increased expenditures for unemployment benefits and decreased revenues from corporate taxes. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, employment, public budget, fiscal effects |
| JEL: | H60 J31 J88 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3875&r=lab |
| By: | Amilon, Anna (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); Persson, Inga (Lund University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Kalmar University) |
| Abstract: | Although the share of female PhDs has increased explosively since the 1980s, little research has focused on the utilisation and remuneration of female versus male scientific human capital. Using rich Swedish cross-sectional register data on the stock of PhDs in 2004, this paper analyses to what extent men and women choose academic versus non-academic employment, and to what earnings differences these choices lead. Results show that women are significantly less likely than men to be academically employed in the natural sciences and medicine, whereas no significant gender differences prevail for the social sciences and the humanities. On average, women earn 15 per cent less than men, and the academically employed earn 24 per cent less than PhDs outside academia. Gender earnings differences are larger in the academic than in the non-academic labour market in the humanities and the natural sciences, whereas the opposite holds in the social sciences and medicine. |
| Keywords: | gender, earnings, scientific human capital |
| JEL: | J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3878&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Jochen Kluve; Sandra Schaffner; Christoph M. Schmidt |
| Abstract: | Against the background of the current discussion on the introduction of statutory minimum wages in Germany, this paper analyzes the potential employment and fiscal effects of such a policy. Based on estimated labor demand elasticities obtained from a structural labor demand model, the empirical results imply that the introduction of minimum wages in Germany will be associated with significant employment losses that are concentrated among marginal and low- and semi-skilled full-time workers. Even though minimum wages will lead to increased public revenues from income taxes and social security benefits, they will result in a significant fiscal burden, due to increased expenditures for unemployment benefits and decreased revenues from corporate taxes. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wages, employment, public budget, fiscal effects |
| JEL: | H60 J31 J88 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0079&r=lab |
| By: | Mariapia Mendola; Gero Carletto |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of male-dominated international migration in shaping labor market outcomes by gender in migrant-sending households in Albania. Using detailed information on family migration experience from the latest Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) survey, we find that male and female labor supplies respond differently to current and past migration episodes of household members. Controlling for the potential endogeneity of migration and for the income (remittances) effect, estimates show that having a migrant abroad decreases female paid labor supply while increasing unpaid work. On the other hand, women with household members with past migration experience are significantly more likely to engage in self-employment and less likely to supply unpaid work. The same relationships do not hold for men. These findings suggest that over time male-dominated Albanian migration may lead to women’s empowerment in the access to income-earning opportunities at origin. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:148&r=lab |
| By: | Max Friedrich Steinhardt (Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano and Hamburg Institute of International Economics) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes whether citizenship acquisition affects the labor market performance of immigrants in Germany. The study uses actual micro data from the IAB employment sample, which covers more than 80% of the whole labor force in Germany. The econometric analysis is carried out using both cross-sectional and panel data techniques, which allow to disentangle the effects of self-selection and legal impact of citizenship acquisition. The estimates from a simple OLS specification suggest the existence of a wage premium of naturalized immigrants. Panel estimates show an immediate positive naturalization effect on wages and an accelerated wage growth in the years after the naturalization event. Both results are consistent with the argument that naturalization increases the labor market opportunities of immigrants in various ways. |
| Keywords: | Naturalization, self-selection, socioeconomic integration |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:266&r=lab |
| By: | Agar Brugiavini (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Franco Peracchi (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the “lump of labor” assumption fails in Italy. The direct relationship between the unemployment rate of the young and the labor force participation of the old is pro-cyclical, i.e. a higher labor force participation of the old is related to a lower unemployment rate of the young. Hence both vary with the business cycle. In order to overcome endogeneity problems in explaining unemployment of the young, we resort to a simulated variable: “the inducement to retire”, which is constructed by simulating the social security benefits. We related the unemployment rate of the young to this incentive measure and find that a higher inducement to retire is associated to a higher unemployment rate – quite the opposite of the “young-in-old-out” story. |
| Keywords: | lump of labour, youth unemployment, early retirement |
| JEL: | H3 J2 J6 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2008_45&r=lab |
| By: | Jean Abraham (Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota); Stéphanie Lluis (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we revisited the question of the existence of a tradeoff between wages and health insurance by extending previous work in the following way: 1) we exploit richer information on health insurance in terms of whether the worker holds health insurance or whether it is offered at the firm but he/she does not hold it, 2) we analyze possible combinations of health insurance with other fringe benefits (retirement, sick leave and paid vacation), 3) we include information on workers health (self-reported) as a determinants of workers wage and mobility decision, and 4) we use an econometric framework and GMM estimations which allow us to treat the issues of endogenous choice of benefits and mobility into benefits sectors encountered in the literature and estimate the extent of worker selection into jobs with/without benefits based on unobserved individual-specific traits, skills and health status. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:08012&r=lab |
| By: | Alison L. Booth; Melvyn B. Coles |
| Abstract: | This paper considers how asymmetric tax treatment, where labour market earnings are taxed but household production is untaxed, aspects educational choice and labour supply. We show that taxes on labour market earnings can generate a large (non-marginal) switch to home production and the ensuing deadweight losses are large. Using a cross-country panel, we find that gender differences in labour supply responses to tax policy can explain differences in aggregate labour supply and years of education across countries. |
| Keywords: | Increasing returns; tax policy; gender; labour supply; education |
| JEL: | H24 H3 J22 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:591&r=lab |
| By: | Guillermo Tomás Málaga |
| Date: | 2008–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:19&r=lab |
| By: | Blomquist, Sören (Department of Economics); Selin, Håkan (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Recently, a voluminous literature estimating the taxable income elasticity has emerged as an important field in empirical public economics. However, to a large extent it is still unknown how the hourly wage rate, an important component of taxable income, reacts to changes in marginal tax rates. In this study we use a rich panel data set and a sequence of tax reforms that took place in Sweden during the 1980’s to estimate the elasticity of the hourly wage rate with respect to the net-of-tax rate. While carefully accounting for the endogeneity of marginal tax rates as well as other factors that determine wage rates we do find a statistically significant response both among married men and married women. The hourly wage rate elasticity with respect to the net-of-tax rate is estimated to 0.14-0.16 for males and 0.41-0.57 for females. In addition, we obtain uncompensated taxable labor income elasticities of around 0.21 for men and 0.96-1.44 for women. In contrast to earlier studies, we also find significant income effects for males. Accordingly, for males the compensated taxable labor income elasticity is about 4 percentage points higher than the uncompensated one. |
| Keywords: | Income taxation; hourly wage rates; work effort; taxable income |
| JEL: | H24 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2008_016&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Zabojnik (Queen's University) |
| Abstract: | Standard models of promotion tournaments assume that firms can commit to arbitrary tournament prizes. In this paper, a firm's ability to adjust tournament prizes is constrained by the outside labor market, through the wages other firms are willing to offer to the promoted and unpromoted workers. The paper shows that sufficiently patient firms may be able to retain some control over the tournament prizes through a relational contract, but if the firms are competitive, full efficiency does not obtain in equilibrium even for discount factors arbitrarily close to one. Full efficiency, however, may be feasible in firms with supranormal profits (monopolistic firms). The paper also shows that a minimum wage regulation distorts the workers' investments in human capital by restricting the firms' abilities to design efficient promotion tournaments. A minimum wage thus leads to underinvestment in competitive firms, but could lead to excessive human capital accumulation in monopolistic firms. |
| Keywords: | Promotion tournaments, Relational contracts |
| JEL: | C73 J31 L14 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1193&r=lab |
| By: | Fehr, Ernst (University of Zurich); Goette, Lorenz (University of Geneva); Zehnder, Christian (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we argue that important labor market phenomena can be better understood if one takes (i) the inherent incompleteness and relational nature of most employment contracts and (ii) the existence of reference-dependent fairness concerns among a substantial share of the population into account. Theory shows and experiments confirm, that even if fairness concerns were only to exert weak effects in one-shot interactions, repeated interactions greatly magnify the relevance of such concerns on economic outcomes. We also review evidence from laboratory and field experiments examining the role of wages and fairness on effort, derive predictions from our approach for entry-level wages and incumbent workers' wages, confront these predictions with the evidence, and show that reference-dependent fairness concerns may have important consequences for the effects of economic policies such as minimum wage laws. |
| Keywords: | fairness, contracts, wages, effort, experiments |
| JEL: | C7 D00 D2 D8 J2 L2 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3901&r=lab |
| By: | Jorge González (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether the increase in home-workplace separation observed among U.S. older male workers in the last decades of the 20th century can partly account for earlier retirement. We first extend a conventional residential location-labor supply model in order to examine potential mechanisms linking commuting and retirement. After showing that, as a consequence of the urban residential equilibrium, it is possible that workers residing further from the workplace retire earlier, PSID data and an instrumental variables approach are combined in order to assess the nature and strength of the relation. |
| Keywords: | Retirement. Commuting. Instrumental variables. |
| JEL: | J26 R22 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2008-19&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Hemerijck, Anton (WRR Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy) |
| Abstract: | The majority of the Member States of the European Union have undertaken remarkably comprehensive welfare and labor market reforms in the years since the 1990s. Many of these reforms, however, have not followed the conventional retrenchment and deregulation recipes, but rather took a liking to social pacts, activation, active ageing/avoidance of early retirement, part-time work, lifelong learning, parental leave, gender mainstreaming, flexicurity (balancing flexibility with security), reconciling work and family life. At first sight, these reforms seem to have resulted in relatively robust employment growth, especially for women and more recently older workers. European economic integration has fundamentally recast the boundaries of national systems of employment regulation and social protection, both by constraining the autonomy for domestic policy options but also by opening opportunities for EU-led social and employment coordination and agenda setting. |
| Keywords: | labor market reforms, European integration, welfare states |
| JEL: | J21 J58 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3870&r=lab |
| By: | J. David Brown; John Earle; Álmos Telegdy |
| Abstract: | We use longitudinal methods and universal panel data on 30,000 initially state-owned manufacturing firms in four transition economies to estimate the impacts of privatization on employment and wages. The results in all four countries consistently reject job losses and they never imply large wage cuts from privatization to either foreign or domestic owners. The domestic privatization estimates are close to zero for employment, while for wages they are negative but small in magnitude; estimated foreign privatization effects are nearly always positive and sometimes large for both outcome variables. We find that the negligible consequences of domestic privatization result from effects on scale, productivity, and costs that are large but offsetting in Hungary and Romania, and from small effects of all types in Russia and Ukraine. The positive employment outcome of foreign ownership results from a substantial scale-expansion effect that dominates the productivity-improvement effect, and the positive wage outcome from productivity improvement dominating the cost-reduction effect. |
| Keywords: | privatization, employment, wages, foreign ownership, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine |
| JEL: | D21 G34 J23 J31 L33 P31 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0807&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - CNRS : UMR6579); Gilles Duranton (Department of Economics - University of Toronto); Laurent Gobillon (INED - INED); Sébastien Roux (CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - INSEE - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique) |
| Abstract: | Does productivity increase with density? We revisit the issue usingFrench wage and TFP data. To deal with the ‘endogenous quantity of labour’ bias (i.e., urban agglomeration is consequence of high local productivity rather than a cause), we take an instrumental variable approach and introduce a new set of geological instruments in addition to standard historical instruments. To dealwith the ‘endogenous quality of labour’ bias (i.e., cities attract skilled workers so that the effects of skills and urban agglomeration are confounded), we take a worker fixed-effect approach with wage data. We find modest evidence about theendogenous quantity of labour bias and both sets of instruments give a similar answer. We find that the endogenous quality of labour bias is quantitatively more important. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration economies, instrumental variables, wages, TFP |
| Date: | 2008–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00347451_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Yosuke Oda (Graduate school of Economics, Osaka university) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this note is to explain theoretically the observed entire density of wages which is hump-shaped and right-skewed. I extend the model brought up by Halko et al . (2008) to introduce heterogeneity of firmfs productivity. It causes a difference in the support of wage offers, a wider (narrower) range for high (low) productivity firms. The different support roughly results in the observed wage dispersion because low wage offers are made by all firms (right-skewed), whereas high wage offers are made by only high producivity firms. |
| Keywords: | search; matching; wage posting; wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0837&r=lab |
| By: | Guillermo Tomás Málaga |
| Date: | 2008–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:13&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. |
| Keywords: | J23; J78 |
| Date: | 2008–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:759.08&r=lab |
| By: | Magali Recoules (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the interaction between gender discrimination and household decisions. It develops a general equilibrium model with endogenous fertility, endogenous labor supply and endogenous size of government spending. Family policies are assumed to decrease the time that parents spend on their children. The model shows that gender discrimination may explain differences in household decisions between countries. The solution shows a U-shaped relationship between fertility and gender discrimination. An increase in the discrimination level implies a related decrease in fertility, women's participation in the labor force and in family-friendly policies. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, gender, fertility, labor supply, public policies. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00348904_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Agar Brugiavini (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Axel Börsch-Supan (MEA Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging, University of Mannheim); Enrica Croda (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to investigate the role of pension and social security institutions in shaping the European patterns of work and retirement. We provide evidence on the extent of “unused capacity” in labor force, on pathways to retirement and on the relationship between actual health status and disability take up. We find that institutional differences between countries explain much of the cross-national differences in work and retirement, while differences in health and demographics play only a minor role. |
| Keywords: | Aging, employment, retirement, health, disability, social security institutions, SHARE |
| JEL: | J14 J18 J26 J68 I12 C81 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2008_44&r=lab |
| By: | Cobb-Clark, Deborah (Australian National University); Stillman, Steven (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the relationship between immigrants' retirement status and the prevalence of return migration from the host country to their country of origin. We develop a simple theoretical model to illustrate that under reasonable conditions the probability of return migration is maximized at retirement. Reduced-form models of retirement status which control for the rate of return migration are then estimated using unique data on emigration rates matched to individual-level data for Australia. We find that immigrants, particularly immigrant women, are more likely to be retired than are native-born men and women with the same demographic, human capital, and family characteristics. Moreover, within the immigrant population, there is a negative relationship between the propensity to be retired and the return migration rate of one's fellow countrymen, particularly amongst men. This link is strongest for those individuals who are at (or near) retirement age and among those with the highest cost of return migration. These results suggest that the fiscal pressures associated with aging immigrant populations vary substantially across origin countries. |
| Keywords: | retirement, immigrants, return migration, emigration, Australia |
| JEL: | J26 J01 J08 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3874&r=lab |
| By: | Radowski, Daniel; Bonin, Holger |
| Abstract: | The paper provides evidence concerning incidence and sources of nominal wage rigidity in services and manufacturing, using a new and large employer survey on wage and price setting behaviour for Germany. We observe that wage freezes are more frequent in services than in manufacturing, whereas wage cuts are less frequent. The significant sector gaps do not vanish after controlling for relevant firm characteristics influencing the incidence of wage freezes and wage cuts, notably coverage by collective agreements and the degree of price competition on the product market. An analysis of firms’ view on the reasons preventing wage cuts suggests that specific fear of excess worker turnover could explain distinct wage setting behaviour in services. |
| Keywords: | Nominal Wage Rigidity, Efficiency Wages, Manufacturing and Services, Germany |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:7447&r=lab |
| By: | Campos, Nauro F. (Brunel University); Dabušinskas, Aurelijus (Bank of Estonia) |
| Abstract: | Why do workers change occupations? This paper investigates occupational mobility and its determinants following a large unexpected shock (communism's collapse in 1989.) Our calculations show that from 1989 to 1995 between 35 and 50 percent of Estonian workers changed occupations (classified at one- and four-digits, respectively). Among the main determinants of occupational mobility we find firm tenure, labour market experience and returns to alternative occupations. We investigate the role of gender and ethnicity and find strong results for the former, with mobility mainly driven by push factors for males (returns to current occupations) and by pull factors for females (returns to alternative occupations). |
| Keywords: | occupational mobility, human capital, transition economies |
| JEL: | J62 J63 J64 J23 C41 H53 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3886&r=lab |
| By: | McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI); Kelly, Elish (ESRI); O'Connell, Philip J. (ESRI) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a linked employer-employee dataset to analyse the impact of institutional wage bargaining regimes on levels of average labour costs and within firm wage dispersion in private sector companies in Ireland. The results show that while centralised bargaining reduced labour costs within both the indigenous and foreign-owned sectors, the relative advantage was greater among foreign-owned firms. The analysis suggests that there are potentially large competitiveness gains to multinational companies that choose to locate in countries implementing a centralised bargaining system. Furthermore, the results provide additional support to the view that collective bargaining reduces within firm wage inequality. |
| Keywords: | Ireland/Labour Costs/Wage Bargaining Regimes/Wage Dispersion |
| JEL: | J51 J52 J58 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp266&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Richard B. Freeman |
| Abstract: | This paper uses nationally representative linked workplace-employee data from the British2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey to examine the operation of shared capitalistforms of pay - profit-sharing and group pay for performance, employee share ownership, andstock options—and their link to productivity. It shows that shared capitalism has grown inthe UK, as it has in the US; that different forms of shared capitalist pay complement eachother and other labour practices in the sense that firms use them together more than theywould if they chose modes of pay and work practices independently; and that workplacesswitch among schemes frequently, which suggests that they have trouble optimizing and thetransactions cost of switching are relatively low. Among the single schemes, shareownership has the clearest positive association with productivity, but its impact is largestwhen firms combine it with other forms of shared capitalist pay and modes of organization. |
| Keywords: | share ownership, payment systems, labour productivity |
| JEL: | J33 L23 L25 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0885&r=lab |
| By: | Daniela Kalužná |
| Abstract: | in 1991 when the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic commenced transition to a market economy. Labour offices, in addition to providing placement and related services, manage jobseeker retraining and subsidies for job creation, administer unemployment insurance benefits, and provide guidance for the employment of foreign labour in the Czech Republic and for Czech nationals working abroad. They monitor and enforce compliance of employers with employment legislation: in 2005 some responsibilities were transferred to the newly-created National Labour Inspectorate but labour offices remain responsible in the areas of undeclared work and the conclusion of employment contracts. In 2004 the administration of state social support benefits (i.e. mainly child allowances, parental allowances and housing benefits, some but not all of them being means-tested) was, except in Prague, transferred from municipalities to the local labour offices. The Employment Service Administration at national level is part of the organisational structure of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. At local level, it manages the 77 district labour offices: 14 of these, so-called “authorized” labour offices, act as an intermediary between the Ministry and the other district labour offices in their region. The 77 labour offices operate 167 detached workplaces (some of which only serve as first contact points for state social support benefits) and 8 branch offices in Prague. <BR>Le Service public tchèque de l’emploi (SPE) a été créé en 1991, plus ou moins sous sa forme actuelle, lorsque les Républiques fédérales slovaque et tchèque ont entamé leur transition vers l’économie de marché. Les bureaux de l’emploi, outre qu’ils assurent des services de placement et les services apparentés, gèrent la reconversion des demandeurs d’emploi et les subventions à la création d’emplois, administrent les prestations d’assurance chômage, et dispensent des conseils concernant l’emploi de main-d’oeuvre étrangère dans la République tchèque et conseillent les ressortissants tchèques partant travailler à l’étranger. Ces bureaux suivent la législation du travail et s’assurent que les employeurs la respectent : en 2005, certaines de leurs attributions ont été transférées au nouveau Service national d’inspection du travail mais le travail clandestin et l’établissement des contrats de travail demeurent de leur responsabilité. En 2004, l’administration du soutien social de l’État (c’est-à-dire principalement les allocations pour enfant à charge, les allocations parentales et les allocations logement, dont certaines sont soumises à des conditions de ressources) a été transférée des municipalités aux bureaux de l’emploi locaux, sauf à Prague. |
| JEL: | H53 H83 I38 J08 J63 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:74-en&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Dohmen; Hartmut Lehmann; Mark E. Schaffer (Heriot-Watt University) |
| Abstract: | We use a rich personnel data set from a Russian firm for the years 1997 to 2002 to analyze how the financial crisis in 1998 and the resulting change in external labour market conditions affect the wages and the welfare of workers inside a firm. We provide evidence that large shocks to external conditions affect the firm's personnel policies, and show that the burden of the shock is not evenly spread across the workforce. The firm takes advantage of a high-inflationary environment and of a fall in workers' outside options after the financial crisis and cuts real wages. Earnings are curbed most for those who earned the highest rents, resulting in a strong compression of real wages. The fact that real wages and real compensation levels never recovered to pre-crisis levels even though the firm's financial situation was better in 2002 than before the crisis and the differential treatment of employee groups within the firm can be taken as evidence that market forces strongly influence the wage policies of our firm. |
| Keywords: | internal labour markets, wage policies of a firm, personnel data, Russia |
| JEL: | J23 J31 P23 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0801&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Konle-Seidl, Regina (IAB, Nürnberg) |
| Abstract: | The trend towards activation has been one of the major issues in recent welfare and labour market reforms in Europe and the US. Despite considerable initial variation across national models with respect to the scope and intensity of activation, redefining the link between social protection and labour market policies on the one hand and employment on the other has been a common issue in labour market reforms. The paper shows the development of activation policies in terms of basic principles, instruments, target groups and governance in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the US, Sweden and Denmark. It assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of activation policies in terms of bringing the jobless into work and ensuring sustainable independence from social benefits. Based on national activation trajectories, the paper argues that we can observe a contingent convergence of instruments, target groups, governance modes and outcomes so that established typologies of activation strategies have to be questioned. |
| Keywords: | activation, active labor market policies, unemployment insurance, social assistance |
| JEL: | J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3905&r=lab |
| By: | Nilsson Hakkala, Katariina (Helsinki School of Economics); Heyman, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Sjöholm, Fredrik (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We use Swedish matched employer-employee data to analyze the impact of multinational activity and foreign acquisitions on the relative demand for different job tasks. We contribute to the literature by using a conceptualization from the recent literature in international economics and define the division of labor in terms of job tasks. Our econometric results show that multinational firms, both foreign and domestic, are associated with higher shares of non-routine tasks and tasks requiring personal interaction than local firms. Moreover, acquisitions of local firms by both foreign and domestic MNEs tend to increase the relative demand for non-routine and interactive job tasks, i.e. tasks that are not easily offshored. As a comparison, dividing labor according to educational attainment does not capture the found effects on relative labor demand. |
| Keywords: | FDI; Cross-Border Acquisitions; Multinational Enterprises; Foreign Ownership; Job Tasks; Labor Demand; Skill Groups |
| JEL: | F16 F21 F23 J23 |
| Date: | 2008–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0781&r=lab |
| By: | Kramarz, Francis (CREST-INSEE); Machin, Stephen (University College London); Ouazad, Amine (CREST-INSEE) |
| Abstract: | This study develops an analytical framework for evaluating the respective contributions of pupils, peers, and school quality in affecting educational achievement. We implement this framework using rich data from England that matches pupils to their primary schools. The dataset records all English pupils and their test scores in Key Stage 1 (age 7) and Key Stage 2 (age 11) national examinations. The quality of the data source, coupled with our econometric techniques, allows us to assess the respective importance of different educational inputs. We can distinguish school effects, that affect all pupils irrespective of their year and grade of study, from school-grade-year effects. Identification of pupil effects separately from these school-grade-year effects is achieved because students are mobile across schools. Peer effects are identified assuming variations in school-grade-year group composition in adjacent years are exogenous. We estimate three different specifications, the most general allowing Key Stage 2 results to be affected by the Key Stage 1 school(-grade-year) at which the pupil studied. We discuss the validity of our various exogeneity assumptions. Estimation results show statistically significant pupil ability, school and peer effects. Our analysis suggests the following ranking: pupils' ability and background are more important than school time-invariant inputs. Peer effects are significant, but small. |
| Keywords: | education, peer effects, school effects, school quality |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3866&r=lab |
| By: | Rudolfs Bems; Philip Schellekens |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the macroeconomic impact of migration on income convergence in the EU's New Member States (NMS). The paper focuses on cross-border mobility of labor and examines the implications for policymakers with the help of a general equilibrium model. It finds that cross-border labor mobility provides ample benefits in terms of faster and smoother convergence. Challenges, however, include containing wage pressures and better mobilizing and utilizing resident labor that does not cross borders. |
| Keywords: | Migration , Labor mobility , European Economic and Monetary Union , Wages , Capital flows , Economic growth , Income , |
| Date: | 2008–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/264&r=lab |
| By: | António B. Moniz (IET, FCT-Universidade Nova de Lisboa) |
| Abstract: | This report is made for the Work Package 15 of WORKS project and tries to develop more information on the Portuguese situation in the work structures changes in the recent years. It starts with an analysis of socio- economical indicators (Macro economical indicators, Employment indicators, Consumption, Technology at the workplace, Productivity), and then approaches the situation in terms of work flexibility in its dimensions of time use and New forms of work organisation. It traces employment in business functions with a sectoral and occupational approach, and analyses the occupational change in South Europe with particular relevance to Portugal (skill utilisation and job satisfaction, occupational and industrial mobility, quantitative evaluation of the shape of employment in Europe. Finaly are analysed the globalisation indicators. |
| Keywords: | work organisation, institutions, employment, labour markets, investment, technology modernisation |
| JEL: | D24 E20 F21 J2 J80 L6 M54 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieu:wpaper:08&r=lab |
| By: | Messina, Julián (University of Girona); Strozzi, Chiara (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); Turunen, Jarkko (European Central Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study differences in the adjustment of aggregate real wages in the manufacturing sector over the business cycle across OECD countries, combining results from different data and dynamic methods. Summary measures of cyclicality show genuine cross-country heterogeneity even after controlling for the impact of data and methods. We find that more open economies and countries with stronger unions tend to have less pro-cyclical (or more counter-cyclical) wages. We also find a positive correlation between the cyclicality of real wages and employment, suggesting that policy complementarities may influence the adjustment of both quantities and prices in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | dynamic correlation, business cycle, real wages, labour market institutions |
| JEL: | E32 J30 C10 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3884&r=lab |
| By: | Meschi, Elena (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona); Taymaz, Erol (Middle East Technical University); Vivarelli, Marco (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we report evidence on the relationship between trade openness, technology adoption and relative demand for skilled labour in the Turkish manufacturing sector, using firm-level data over the period 1980-2001. In a dynamic panel data setting using a unique database of 17,462 firms, we estimate an augmented cost share equation whereby the wage bill share of skilled workers in a given firm is related to international exposure and technology adoption. Overall, results suggest that trade openness and technology play a key role in shifting the demand for labour towards more skilled workers within each firm. Technology-related variables (domestic R&D expenditures and technological transfer from abroad) are positive and significantly related to skill upgrading, as are the involvement of foreign capital in a firm's ownership and the propensity to export. Moreover, firms belonging to those sectors that most raised their imported inputs also experienced a higher increase in the labour cost share of skilled workers. This finding is consistent with the idea that imports by a middle-income country imply a transfer of new technologies that are more skill-intensive than those previously in use in domestic markets. This idea is reinforced by the finding that only imported inputs from industrialised countries − where the potential for innovation diffusion comes from - enter the estimated regression significantly. |
| Keywords: | globalisation, skills, skill-biased technological change, technology transfer, GMM-SYS |
| JEL: | F16 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3887&r=lab |
| By: | Grönqvist, Erik (IFAU); Vlachos, Jonas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Teachers are increasingly being drawn from the lower parts of the general ability distribution, but it is not clear how this affects student achievement. We track the position of entering teachers in population-wide cognitive and non-cognitive ability distributions using school grades and draft records from Swedish registers. The impact on student achievement caused by the position of teachers in these ability distributions is estimated using matched student-teacher data. On average, teachers’ cognitive and non-cognitive social interactive abilities do not have a positive effect on student performance. However, social interactive ability turns out to be important for low aptitude students, whilst the reverse holds for cognitive abilities. In fact, while high performing students benefit from high cognitive teachers, being matched to such a teacher can even be detrimental to their lower performing peers. Hence, the lower abilities among teachers may hurt some students, whereas others may even benefit. High cognitive and non-cognitive abilities thus need not necessarily translate into teacher quality. Instead, these heterogeneities highlight the importance of the studentteacher matching process. |
| Keywords: | Cognitive and non-cognitive ability; Teacher quality: Student achievement |
| JEL: | H40 I21 J40 |
| Date: | 2008–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0779&r=lab |
| By: | Bressoux, Pascal (Université de Grenoble); Kramarz, Francis (CREST-INSEE); Prost, Corinne (EHESS, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of different teacher and class characteristics on third graders' outcomes. It uses a feature of the French system in which some novice teachers start their jobs before receiving any training. Three categories of teachers are included in the sample: experienced teachers, trained novice teachers and untrained novice teachers. To identify the effects, we use administrative mistakes in forecasting the number of teachers. We find that trained and untrained novice teachers are assigned to similar classes, whereas experienced teachers have better students located in better environments. Hence, in order to match similar students and classes, we focus on pupils with novice teachers and discard those with experienced teachers. In addition, we show that the same sample can be used to estimate the causal effect of class size on students' outcomes. Our findings are: (1) teachers' training substantially improves students' test scores in mathematics; (2) this training effect does not rely on different teaching practices, but mainly on subject matter competence; untrained teachers who majored in sciences at university improve their students' achievement as much as trained teachers do; (3) the class size effect is substantial and significant; class size does not seem to be correlated with instructional practices; (4) teachers' training does not improve the scores of initially low-achieving students and classes; on the contrary, a smaller class is more beneficial to low-achieving students within classes and to all students in low-achieving classes. |
| Keywords: | teachers' training, class size |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3871&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Bazen (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - CNRS : UMR6579); Claire Salmon (IREGE - Université de Savoie) |
| Abstract: | Using data for Bangladesh we find evidence of added worker effects resulting from father's health problems on both children's and (to a lesser extent) spouse's labor supply. In particular, when illness is short-lived or if treatment is required (when there are "health shocks") children's participation tends to increase. Our results suggest that income replacement through sickness benefit could significantly reduce child labor. |
| Keywords: | child labor; health shocks; added worker effects |
| Date: | 2008–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00349412_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Du Caju, Philip (National Bank of Belgium); Gautier, Erwan (Bank of France); Momferatou, Daphne (European Central Bank); Ward-Warmedinger, Melanie E. (European Central Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents information on wage bargaining institutions, collected using a standardized 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. |
| Keywords: | wage bargaining, institutions, indexation, trade union membership, cluster analysis |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J51 J58 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3867&r=lab |
| By: | dr.Lincaru, Cristina (INCSMPS-National Research Institute for Labour & Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania); dr.Predosanu, Gabriela (INCSMPS-National Research Institute for Labour & Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania); ms.Brinza, Raluca-Catrinel (INCSMPS-National Research Institute for Labour & Social Protection, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | Main achievements: The major objective of the project was accomplished through building life-table of survival analysis (event history analysis or duration analysis or transition analysis) for describing transitions from school-to-work using longitudinal micro-data. It is important to mention that we built a longitudinal data base, using the ECHP data base for all the 8 waves, with the SPSS program. The discrete model’s approach for this transition is described as the process of entering on the labour market, between two moments/points in time. The observed subjects are viewed as a cohort, a homogenous one. The selective final sample included the people over 16 years old who responded to the interviews in all the 8 waves, within the same household and who achieved the highest level of education one year before 1994. So, the entrance point is 1994 and the exit point is represented by the year of obtaining the main activity status – self defined as "working with an employer in paid employment (15+ hours/week)". There are some intermediary results obtained for 10 countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Germany (ECHP – from national sources), United Kingdom (ECHP – from national sources). Transition process from school-to-work is described as the distribution of time-to-event variables, where the 'event' is considered ‘to be employed’ (in the conditions already specified) in opposition to the state of not experiencing this event. Additionally, we compared the distribution by levels of a factor variable represented by 'gender'/sex and 'the highest level of general or higher education completed' (stated in ISCED levels). The main results of the study are expressed through: Median Survival Time, Cumulative Proportion Surviving at End of Interval, Probability Density, Hazard Rate - for the aggregate sample and also for the selected countries: Italy, Portugal and Spain. Final remarks: The major objective of the project was accomplished through building life-table of survival analysis (event history analysis or duration analysis or transition analysis) for describing transitions from school-to-work using longitudinal micro-data. But, under this destination we encounter a lot of “traps” and “opportunities” in view to answer to a lot of questions. First set of questions is concentrated to a better understanding of the Life Table Main Results, their interpretation and analysis from the labour market perspective. 1.The cumulative proportion surviving at the end of an interval could be a speed of (still) searching or a speed of (no)allocation? 2. Probability density / probability of experiencing the event of entering on work, during the given year interval, could be an indicator of the absorbent power of the labour market for the new entrants? 3. Could we consider the hazard rate as a way to measure the “permeability characteristic” of the “local” labour market? Second set of questions is strongly connected with some visible consequences of the duration measuring and analysis in perspective of shaping of the working life span. The median period of this transition process or the average searching period regarded as a measure of searching duration could be a starting point to determine: 1. The “average age” of entrance on the labour market; 2. Discussion regarding the age borders for the young people’s definition. We consider that our enterprise was concentrated to find new semantics for the main results obtained through Life Table Analysis, useful for better explaining the functioning and the characteristics of the labour markets at different levels (national, local and regional). The idea of the journey from learning-to-know to learning-to-do represents a complex set of interactions between the individual/person/young and: o itself, in the sense of making a lot of choices (intending to get employment under the personal strategy); o the socio-economic environment, regarded in this article particularly as the labour market space (described under the absorptive, permeability and speed of allocation characteristics for the new entrants); o unknown, in the sense of the efficient utilisation of all the resources under the new circumstances … We tried to answer the questions and present our study results in this paper. For the moment: “that’s it”, even if the various analyses could continue and we suppose having made misinterpretations/inaccuracies/mistakes; we are expecting readers’ comments in order to correct them. The only reliable conclusion is that the Life Table Analysis could represent a useful tool/instrument to better understand and explain the differences in functioning and for better shaping the characteristics of the labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Supply of Labo; Labour Force and Employme ; Time Allocation and Labou ; Labour Demand ; Human Capital; Skills; Oc |
| JEL: | J2 J21 J22 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2008-13&r=lab |
| By: | Pallage, Stéphane (University of Québec at Montréal); Scruggs, Lyle (University of Connecticut); Zimmermann, Christian (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a methodology to summarize the various policy parameters of an unemployment insurance scheme into a single generosity parameter. Unemployment insurance policies are multdimensional objects. They are typically defined by waiting periods, eligibility duration, benefit levels and asset tests when eligible, which makes intertemporal or international comparisons difficult. To make things worse, labor market conditions, such as the likelihood and duration of unemployment matter when assessing the generosity of different policies. We build a first model with such complex characteristics. Our model features heterogeneous agents that are liquidity constrained but can self-insure. We then build a second model that is similar, except that the unemployment insurance is simpler: it is deprived of waiting periods and agents are eligible forever with constant benefits. We then determine which level of benefits in this second model makes agents indifferent between both unemployment insurance policies. We apply this strategy to the unemployment insurance program of the United Kingdom and study how its generosity evolved over time. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, labor market policy evaluation |
| JEL: | E24 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3868&r=lab |
| By: | Alan Manning; Farzad Saidi |
| Abstract: | A number of papers have recently argued that men and women have different attitudes andbehavioural responses to competition. Laboratory experiments suggest that these genderdifferences are very large but it is important to be able to map these findings into real worlddifferences. In this paper, we use performance pay as an indicator of competition in theworkplace and compare the gender gap in incidence of performance pay and earnings andwork effort under these contracts. Women are less likely to found in performance paycontracts but the gender gap is small. Furthermore, the effect of performance pay on earningsis modest and does not differ markedly by gender. Consequently the ability of these theoriesto explain the gender pay gap seems very limited. |
| Keywords: | Gender Pay gap, Performance Pay |
| JEL: | J31 J33 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0898&r=lab |
| By: | António B. Moniz (IET, FCT-Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Margarida R. Paulos (IET, FCT-Universidade Nova de Lisboa) |
| Abstract: | The clothing sector in Portugal is still seen, in many aspects as a traditional sector with some average characteristics, such as: low level of qualifications, less flexible labour legislation and stronger unionisation, very low salaries and low capability of investment in innovation and new technology. Is, nevertheless, a very important sector in terms of labour market, with increased weight in the exporting structure. Globalisation and delocalisation are having a strong impact in the organisation of work and in occupational careers in the sector. With the pressure of global competitiveness in what concerns time and prices, very few companies are able to keep a position in the market without changes in organisation of work and workers. And those that can perform good responses to such challenges are achieving a better economical stability. The companies have found different ways to face this reality according to size, capital and position. We could find two main paths: one where companies outsource a part or the entire production to another territory (for example, several manufacturing tasks), close and/or dismissal the workers. Other path, where companies up skilled their capacities investing, for example, in design, workers training, conception and introduction of new or original products. This paper will present some results from the European project WORKS – Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society (6th Framework Programme), focusing the Portuguese case studies in several clothing companies in what concern implications of global context for the companies in general and for the workers in particular, in a comparative analysis with some other European countries. |
| Keywords: | Clothing Industry; Restructuring; Work; Knowledge Society |
| JEL: | A14 E23 F01 F23 J61 L22 L67 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieu:wpaper:09&r=lab |
| By: | Nathaniel John Porter; Francis Vitek |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of a minimum wage on business cycle volatility, depending upon its coverage and adjustment mechanism. As with other small open economies, Hong Kong SAR is vulnerable to external shocks, with its exchange rate regime precluding active monetary policy. Adjustment to past shocks has relied on flexible domestic prices. We find that a minimum wage affecting 20 percent of employees would amplify output volatility by 0.2 percent to 9.2 percent, and employment volatility by ?1.2 percent to 7.8 percent. A fixed wage or indexation to consumption price inflation increases volatility most. Indexation to wage inflation or unit labor cost growth is preferable, largely preserving labor market flexibility. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage , Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China , Business cycles , External shocks , Exchange rate regimes , Monetary policy , Inflation , Wage indexation , Labor market policy , Economic models , |
| Date: | 2008–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/285&r=lab |
| By: | Akee, Randall K. Q. (IZA); Yuksel, Mutlu (IZA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine whether where one acquires their human capital matters in earnings regressions. We focus on a nationally-representative US data set and find that there is little difference between a measure of total years of education and measures for US and foreign-based years of education. There is a large difference, however, in where total experience is acquired: US-based experience commands a higher return to wages and is statistically highly significant. The measures used in this analysis must be inferred based on the year of migration to the US. Using an immigrant-specific data set, the New Immigrant Survey which contains explicit information on the human capital acquired in the US and abroad, we confirm these results. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, schooling, rates of return |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3897&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre-Carl Michaud; Konstantinos Tatsiramos |
| Abstract: | The authors investigate the direct and long-run effects of fertility on employment in Europe estimating dynamic models of labor supply under different assumptions regarding the exogeneity of fertility and modeling assumptions related to initial conditions, unobserved heterogeneity and serial correlation in the error terms. They find overall large direct and long-run effects of giving birth on employment probabilities, and these effects differ considerably across countries. They find that within countries the results are sensitive to the statistical assumption made on initial conditions, the inclusion of serial correlation and the assumption of strict exogeneity of children. However, the pattern across countries is robust to these assumptions. They show that such patterns are largely consistent with prevailing institutional differences related to the flexibility of the labor markets and family policies. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:643&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Bas |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model of trade that features heterogeneous firms, technology choice anddifferent types of skilled labor in a general equilibrium framework. Its main contribution is to explainthe impact of trade integration on technology adoption and wage inequalities. It also providesempirical evidence to support the model's predictions using plant-level panel data from Chile'smanufacturing sector (1990-1999). The theoretical framework offers a possible explanation of thepuzzling increase in skill premium in the developing countries. The key mechanism is found in theeffects of trade policy on the number of new firms upgrading technology and on the skill-intensity oflabor. Trade liberalization pushes up export revenues, raising the probability that the most productiveexporters will upgrade their technology. These firms then increase their relative demand for skilledlabor, thereby raising inequalities. |
| Keywords: | Firm heterogeneity, trade reforms, technology adoption, skill premium, plant panel data |
| JEL: | F10 F12 F41 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0902&r=lab |
| By: | Pallage, Stéphane (University of Québec at Montréal); Scruggs, Lyle (University of Connecticut); Zimmermann, Christian (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to establish if unemployment insurance policies are more generous in Europe than in the United States, and by how much. We take the examples of France and one particular American state, Ohio, and use the methodology of Pallage, Scruggs and Zimmermann (2008) to find a unique parameter value for each region that fully characterizes the generosity of the system. These two values can then be used in structural models that compare the regions, for example to explain the differences in unemployment rates. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, labor market policy evaluation |
| JEL: | E24 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3869&r=lab |
| By: | Johan H. L. Oud (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands); Henk Folmer (University of Groningen, The Netherlands; University of Wageningen, The Netherlands); Roberto Patuelli (University of Lugano, Switzerland; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Italy); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes patterns of regional labour market development in Germany over the period 2000-2003 by means of a spatial-dependence continuous-time model. (Spatial) panel data are routinely modelled in discrete time. However, there are compelling arguments for continuous time modelling of (spatial) panel data. Particularly, most social processes evolve in continuous time such that analysis in discrete time is an oversimplification, gives a distorted representation of reality and leads to misinterpretation of estimation results. The most compelling reason for continuous time modelling is that, in contrast to discrete time modelling, it allows for adequate modelling of dynamic adjustment processes (see, for example, Special Issue 62:1, 2008, of Statistica Neerlandica). We introduce spatial dependence in a continuous time modelling framework and apply the unified framework to regional labour market development in Germany. The empirical results show substantial autoregressive effects for unemployment and population development, as well as a negative effect of unemployment development on population development. The reverse effect is not significant. Neither are the effects of the development of regional average wages and of the manufacturing sector on the development of unemployment and population. |
| Keywords: | Continuous time modelling, structural equation modelling, spatial dependence, panel data, disattenuation, measurement errors, Germany |
| JEL: | C33 E24 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpaper:0811&r=lab |
| By: | Picot, Garnett |
| Abstract: | The past 25 years has seen a more or less continuous deterioration in the economic outcomes for immigrants entering Canada. However, economic outcomes for second-generation Canadians (children of immigrants) are more positive, and in spite of the economic difficulties, after four years in Canada most immigrants entering in 2000 remained positive regarding their immigration decision, citing the freedom, safely, rights, security and prospects for the future as the aspects they appreciate most in Canada. This paper reviews what we know about the economic deterioration, and the possible reasons behind it, in particular based on the research conducted at Statistics Canada. It also outlines the data development undertaken by Statistics Canada and its policy department partners to support increased research of this topic. From 2002 to 2008, Statistics Canada released 64 research articles on the above topics, and others related to immigration. The research suggests that through the 1980s and 1990s three factors were associated with the deterioration in economic outcomes: (1) the changing mix of source regions and related issues such as language and school quality, (2) declining returns to foreign experience, and (3) the deterioration in economic outcomes for all new labour market entrants, of which immigrants are a special case. After 2000, the reasons appear to be different, and are associated more with the dramatic increase in the number of engineers and information technology (IT) workers entering Canada, and the IT economic downturn. Data also suggest that, by and large, Canadians continue to see immigration as an important part of the development of Canada and that they continue to support it. The paper reviews Statistics Canada research that indicates that economic outcomes for most second-generation Canadians remain very positive. Finally, there is a discussion of the interaction between immigration and social cohesion in Canada, and possible reasons as to why we hav |
| Keywords: | Ethnic diversity and immigration, |
| Date: | 2008–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2008319e&r=lab |
| By: | Mario Piacentini (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the presence of a network externality which might explain the persistence of low schooling achievements among internal migrants. We test empirically whether young migrants schooling decisions are affected by the presence of covillagers at destination, using data on life-time histories of migration and education choices from a rural region of Thailand. Different modelling approaches are used to account for the self-selection of young migrants, for potential endogeneity of the network size, and for unobserved heterogeneity in individual preferences. The size of the migrant network is found to negatively affect the propensity of young migrants to pursue schooling while in the city. This finding suggests that policies seeking to minimise stratification in enclaves might have a socially multiplied impact on schooling participation, and, ultimately, affect the socio-economic mobility of the rural born. |
| Keywords: | education, networks, migration |
| JEL: | I21 L14 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:265&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Espinola-Arredondo; Sunita Mondal (School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the e¤ect of federal and state maternity leave policies on female employ- ment. We analyze if the enactment of the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) di¤erently a¤ected states which previously implemented maternity leave laws at the state level than those states which did not. Additionally, we study whether FMLA has provoked an increase in the female employment and labor force participation in those states which expanded its bene?ts and relaxed the eligibility criteria than in those which did not expand them. Finally, we analyze the Paid Family Leave program in California, comparing how the change in female employment dif- fers from those states which have FMLA alone and those which have complemented the bene?ts of FMLA. Using March CPS data available from the Integrated Public Use Micro data Series (IPUMS), our results suggest that the change in female employment is positive and signi?cant when states complement the bene?ts and eligibility criteria of FMLA. |
| Keywords: | Family Medical Leave Act, Temporary Disability Insurance, Female Employment. |
| JEL: | J48 K31 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsu:wpaper:espinola-3&r=lab |
| By: | John F. Helliwell; Haifang Huang |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes and extends our recent work using life satisfaction regressions to estimate the relative values of financial and non-financial job characteristics. The well-being results show strikingly large values for non-financial job characteristics, especially workplace trust and other measures of the quality of social capital in workplaces. For example, an increase of trust in management that is about one tenth of the scale is equivalent to more than 30% increase in monetary income. We find that these values differ significantly by gender and by union status. We consider the reasons for such large values, and explore their implications for employers, employees, and policy-makers. |
| JEL: | I31 J16 J31 J51 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14589&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Apps; Ray Rees |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the US, UK and Australia have lowered tax rates on high incomes and expanded tax credits and family transfer payments that are withdrawn on the joint income of a couple. These reforms result in significant changes in the structure of marginal and average income tax rates. In this paper we present a case study that examines the impact of reforms of this kind on the structure of tax rates on incomes in Australia. We find that the reforms have led to high effective marginal rates across a wide middle band of earnings and to a shift towards joint taxation. As is well known, joint taxation results in high tax rates on secondary earners, with in consequence undesirable effects on both work incentive and fairness of the income distribution. A lifecycle analysis of time use and saving decisions indicates strong negative effects on female labour supply and household saving. |
| Keywords: | Income taxation; family benefits; time allocation; labour supply; lifecycle saving; household production |
| JEL: | D91 H24 H31 I38 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:590&r=lab |
| By: | Cardoso, Ana Rute (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)); Guimaraes, Paulo (University of South Carolina); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA, DIW Berlin and Bonn University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the early research performance of PhD graduates in labor economics, addressing the following questions: Are there major productivity differences between graduates from American and European institutions? If so, how relevant is the quality of the training received (i.e. ranking of institution and supervisor) and the research environment in the subsequent job placement institution? The population under study consists of labor economics PhD graduates who received their degree in the years 2000 to 2005 in Europe or the USA. Research productivity is evaluated alternatively as the number of publications or the quality-adjusted number of publications of an individual. When restricting the analysis to the number of publications, results suggest a higher productivity by graduates from European universities than from USA universities, but this difference vanishes when accounting for the quality of the publication. The results also indicate that graduates placed at American institutions, in particular top ones, are likely to publish more quality-adjusted articles than their European counterparts. This may be because, when hired, they already have several good acceptances or because of more focused research efforts and clearer career incentives. |
| Keywords: | graduate programs, research productivity |
| JEL: | A23 J44 A11 A14 A10 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3898&r=lab |
| By: | David Grubb; Agnès Puymoyen |
| Abstract: | The OECD has collected data for public expenditure on labour market programmes (LMPs) continuously since the mid-1980s. For most longstanding Member countries, data according to a consistent classification system and definition of scope are available for reference years 1985 to 2002. Starting with reference year 1998, Eurostat started collecting and publishing data according to a somewhat different classification system and definition of scope. In line with agreements for bilateral coordination of data collection, the OECD after some time adopted - for non-Eurostat OECD Member countries as well as Eurostat countries – most of the features of the Eurostat system. This allows the OECD to use data collected by Eurostat rather than making a separate data request to the 20 Eurostat countries that are members of the OECD. OECD data according to the “new” classification and definition of scope are generally available for reference year 2002 onwards, or 1998 onwards for Eurostat countries. These data are often used in time-series applications, e.g. for documenting long-term trends in total social expenditure (ìn which labour market programmes are one component), or in time-series regressions that attempt to estimate the impact of training programmes vs. job-creation programmes on unemployment. It is no longer practicable to do such work using only the “old” data which stop in 2002 or the “new” data which start in 2002 or 1998. If the two data sets are combined using crude extrapolation and splicing techniques, time-series movements will result primarily from statistical breaks (i.e. changes in definition and coverage of the statistics) rather than real changes in spending patterns. <BR>L’OCDE a rassemblé des données pour les dépenses publiques au titre des programmes du marché du travail (PMT) de façon continue depuis le milieu des années 80. Pour la plupart des pays membres de longue date, des données selon un système de catégories et une définition du champ cohérents sont disponibles pour les années de référence 1985 à 2002. A partir de l’année de référence 1998, Eurostat a rassemblé et publié des données selon un système de catégories et une définition du champ modifiés. En conformité avec des accords bilatéraux concernant la collecte des données, après un certain temps l’OCDE a adopté – pour les pays membres non Eurostat autant que pour les pays Eurostat – la plupart des caractéristiques du système Eurostat. Cette approche permet à l’OCDE d’utiliser les données collectées par Eurostat plutôt que d’adresser des requêtes de données séparées aux 20 pays Eurostat membres de l’OCDE. Le données OCDE selon les « nouvelles » catégories et définition du champ sont le plus souvent disponibles à partir de l’année de référence 2002, ou à partir de 1998 pour les pays Eurostat. Ces données servent souvent en séries temporelles, par exemple pour documenter les tendances à long terme dans les dépenses sociales totales (les PMT en étant une composante) ou dans les régressions temporelles qui visent à estimer l’impact sur le chômage des programmes de formation ou bien des programmes de créations d’emplois. Ces travaux ne sont plus faisables en se servant uniquement de données « anciennes » qui s’arrêtent en 2002 ou des données « nouvelles » qui démarrent en 2002 ou en 1998. Si les deux bases de données sont regroupées avec des techniques d’extrapolation et de raccordements crues, les variations temporelles seront principalement le reflet de ruptures statistiques plutôt que des changements réels dans la distribution des dépenses. |
| JEL: | H53 H83 I38 J08 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:73-en&r=lab |
| By: | Santos, Marcelo Rodrigues dos; Ferreira, Pedro Cavalcanti |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the causes in the reduction of labor force participation of the old. We argue that the changes in social security policy, in technology and in demography may account for most of the changes in retirement over the second part of the last century in the U.S. economy. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous retirement that embeds social security legislation. The model is able to match very closely the increase in the retirement rate of males aged 65 and older. It also quanti es the isolated impact on retirement and on the solvency of the social security system of the di¤erent factors. The model suggests that technological and demographic changes had a strong in uence on retirement, so that it would have increased signi cantly even if the social security rules had not changed. However, as the latter became much more generous in the past, changes in social security policy can account not only for a sizeable part of the expansion of retirement, but also for the most of the observed increase in the social security expenses as a share of GDP. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:epgewp:683&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Rute Cardoso; Paulo Guimarães; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the early research performance of PhD graduates in labor economics, addressing the following questions: Are there major productivity differences between graduates from American and European institutions? If so, how relevant is the quality of the training received (i.e. ranking of institution and supervisor) and the research environment in the subsequent job placement institution? The population under study consists of labor economics PhD graduates who received their degree in the years 2000 to 2005 in Europe or the USA. Research productivity is evaluated alternatively as the number of publications or the quality-adjusted number of publications of an individual. When restricting the analysis to the number of publications, results suggest a higher productivity by graduates from European universities than from USA universities, but this difference vanishes when accounting for the quality of the publication. The results also indicate that graduates placed at American institutions, in particular top ones, are likely to publish more quality-adjusted articles than their European counterparts. This may be because, when hired, they already have several good acceptances or because of more focused research efforts and clearer career incentives. |
| Keywords: | graduate programs; research productivity |
| JEL: | A23 J44 A11 A14 A10 |
| Date: | 2008–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:760.08&r=lab |
| By: | Adelaide Maria Figueiredo (LIAAD/INESC-Porto and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Fernanda Otília Figueiredo (CEAUL and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto); Natália Pimenta Monteiro (NIPE and Departamento de Economia, Universidade do Minho) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines labor adjustments in ten Portuguese banks after the ownership transfer to the private sector. The results show that the restructuring process is a very complex phenomenon, with firms exhibiting diverse adjustments in terms of either speed or path. In addition, our findings also show that the pay level in the banking industry is by far the workforce attribute that changed more, reflecting substantial changes in terms of composition and not size of the workforce. In particular, firms tend to reduce the share of workers in managerial occupations and replace the most experienced employees with younger and more educated workers. Our empirical evidence also suggests that privatization is associated with a higher level of rent sharing. |
| Keywords: | Labor adjustments; Portuguese banking industry; privatization; Statis |
| JEL: | D21 J31 J51 L13 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:306&r=lab |
| By: | Stefanie Anelia Lehmann |
| Abstract: | In the context of principal-agent theory risk is largely seen as a source that causes inefficiencies and lowers incentives and accordingly is not in the principal’s interest. In this paper I compare two different designs of a collective tournament where output in a team is generated through a particular two-stage production process. I show within a theoretical tournament framework that risk in terms of chance is beneficial from the point of view of a profit maximizing principal who organizes the tournament. Selecting an agent randomly that has to work at the final stage after all agents exerted effort at the first stage helps the principal to overcome a trade-off in incentive provision he faces when selecting the agent who works at the final stage before the tournament starts. This trade-off causes optimal efforts to be lower in a tournament without random selection compared to a tournament with random selection. As the higher efforts overcompensate additional wage costs the principal earns higher expected profits when selecting the agent that has to work at the second stage randomly after the first stage. |
| Keywords: | collective tournament, incentives, randomization, risk |
| JEL: | D2 J3 M5 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse19_2008&r=lab |
| By: | Gudrun Biffl (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Family policy is getting increasing public policy attention in the EU as a result of population ageing and the challenge of the sustainability of economic growth. It is being recognised that a sustainable rise in the fertility rate is needed in order to put a break on population ageing. Immigration can postpone but not stem the tide of ageing. In consequence, research into the reasons for the decline in the fertility rate and the role of public policy in promoting fertility gain momentum. There is growing evidence that social and economic policies do have an important role to play in raising fertility. Properly devised, they allow a better balance of market and family work and raise the propensity to invest in higher education and training, thereby furthering the sustainability of economic growth and wellbeing of the society. |
| Keywords: | sustainable family policy, fertility, labour force participation, work-life balance |
| Date: | 2008–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2008:i:331&r=lab |
| By: | Büttner, Thomas (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Rässler, Susanne |
| Abstract: | "In many large data sets of economic interest, some variables, as wages, are top-coded or right-censored. In order to analyze wages with the German IAB employment sample we first have to solve the problem of censored wages at the upper limit of the social security system. We treat this problem as a missing data problem and derive new multiple imputation approaches to impute the censored wages by draws of a random variable from a truncated distribution based on Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. In general, the variation of income is smaller in lower wage categories than in higher categories and the assumption of homoscedasticity in an imputation model is highly questionable. Therefore, we suggest a new multiple imputation method which does not presume homoscedasticity of the residuals. Finally, in a simulation study, different imputation approaches are compared under different situations and the necessity as well as the validity of the new approach is confirmed." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Lohnhöhe, Daten, Datenaufbereitung - Methode, angewandte Statistik, mathematische Statistik, Schätzung, Markov-Ketten, Monte-Carlo-Methode, IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe, Westdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | C24 C15 |
| Date: | 2008–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200844&r=lab |
| By: | Elena Arnal; Alex Hijzen |
| Abstract: | Foreign direct investment (FDI) by OECD-based multinational enterprises (MNEs) in developing and emerging economies has increased dramatically over the past two decades. While generally perceived as beneficial for local development, it has also raised concerns about unfair competition and the protection of workers’ rights in host countries. This paper documents the recent increase in FDI and assesses its effects on wages and working conditions for workers of foreign affiliates of MNEs and those of their independent supplier firms. The evidence suggests that MNEs tend to provide better pay than their domestic counterparts, especially when they operate in developing and emerging economies. The positive impact on wages also appears to spread to the employees of domestic firms that serve as suppliers of MNEs or recruit managers with prior experience in foreign firms, but these spillover effects are small. MNEs also provide more training than domestic firms, but it is unclear whether this reflects a causal impact of foreign ownership. <BR>L’investissement direct étranger (IDE) des entreprises multinationales (EMN) originaires de pays de l’OCDE dans les économies en développement et émergentes a augmenté de façon spectaculaire au cours des deux dernières décennies. Quoique généralement perçu comme bénéfique pour le développement local, l’IDE amène aussi à s’interroger sur le caractère déloyal de la concurrence et sur la protection des droits des travailleurs dans les pays d’accueil. Ce document examine l’accroissement de l’IDE et en analyse les effets sur les salaires et les conditions de travail des salariés des filiales étrangères des entreprises multinationales et de leurs sous-traitants. Il apparaît que les EMN te ndent à offrir de meilleurs salaires, surtout dans les économies en développement et émergentes. Il semble aussi que l’effet positif sur les salaires s’étende aux salariés des entreprises locales auxquelles les EMN font appel pour la sous-traitance ou qui recrutent des dirigeants ayant une expérience préalable dans des entreprises étrangères, mais ces retombées sont limitées. Les EMN font aussi un plus gros effort de formation que les entreprises locales, mais on ne saurait dire si cela tient à ce que ce sont des sociétés étrangères. |
| JEL: | F16 F21 F23 J80 |
| Date: | 2008–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:68-en&r=lab |
| By: | Dorfman, Mark; Hinz, Richard; Robalino, David |
| Abstract: | The impact of the financial crisis extends beyond immediate losses to pension fund assets. Abrupt policy changes in response to the immediate circumstances should be avoided. Pension systems are designed to function over very long time periods. Short term responses to relatively rare circumstances can potentially have negative long term consequences on the capacity of pension systems to reliably provide adequate levels of retirement income. Measures to mitigate the affects on the relatively small number of retiring individuals can be considered without fundamentally altering the system design. The current crisis strengthens the need for diversified multi-pillar pension systems that are able to manage risks and provide protection to individuals who may be vulnerable to the kind of economic shocks now being experienced. Increasing attention should be paid to managing the exposure of individuals to short term financial risks in funded systems through portfolios designed for workers nearing retirement age and the development of phased transitions to the payout of benefits that limit the impact of shorter term financial volatility |
| Keywords: | financial crisis; pensions; financial risks; labor market risks |
| JEL: | H55 G23 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12254&r=lab |
| By: | Gordon Dahl; Lance Lochner |
| Abstract: | Past estimates of the effect of family income on child development have often been plagued by endogeneity and measurement error. In this paper, we use two simulated instrumental variables strategies to estimate the causal effect of income on children's math and reading achievement. Our identification derives from the large, non-linear changes in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) over the last two decades. The largest of these changes increased family income by as much as 20%, or approximately $2,100. Using a panel of almost 5,000 children matched to their mothers from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth datasets allows us to address problems associated with unobserved heterogeneity, endogenous transitory income shocks, and measurement error in income. Our baseline estimates imply that a $1,000 increase in income raises combined math and reading test scores by 6% of a standard deviation in the short run. The gains are larger for children from disadvantaged families and are robust to a variety of alternative specifications. We find little evidence of long-run income effects, with most of the effects disappearing after one year. |
| JEL: | H53 I32 I38 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14599&r=lab |
| By: | Natasha T. Duncan; Brigitte S. Waldorf (Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | The United States provides a path to citizenship for its newcomers. Unlike other immigration countries, however, the United States does not have policies that ease assimilation or directly promote naturalization such as easily accessible and widely advertised language and civic instruction courses. Immigrants are by and large left on their own when facing legal and financial barriers or seeking instruction to pass the citizenship test. Not surprisingly, thus, we find that immigrants’ attributes such as educational attainment, English language proficiency, and income affect naturalization rates. This paper analyzes whether naturalization rates are also affected by neighborhood characteristics and informal networks for assistance and information. Towards that end, we estimate a binary model of immigrants’ citizenship status specifying the size of the immigrant enclave and its level of assimilation as key explanatory variables. The study uses 2005 ACS data, and focuses on immigrants from the Caribbean islands in the New York area. The results suggest that who they are and where they live has substantial impacts on immigrants’ propensities to have acquired US citizenship. Citizenship is unlikely for recent arrivals, those who do not speak English well, are poorly educated, and have a low income. Moreover, living in a neighborhood with a well assimilated immigrant enclave enhances the chance of acquiring US citizenship. This effect is stronger for highly educated than for poorly educated immigrants and thus misses the more vulnerable segments of the immigrant population. |
| Keywords: | US Immigration, Assimilation, Caribbean Immigrants |
| JEL: | J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:08-14&r=lab |
| By: | Boyce, Christopher J. (University of Warwick); Oswald, Andrew J. (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses longitudinal data to explore whether greater job status makes a person healthier. Taking the evidence as a whole, promotees do not exhibit a health improvement after promotion. Instead the data suggest that workers with good health are more likely to be promoted. In the private sector, we find that job promotion significantly worsens people's psychological strain (on a GHQ score). For the public sector, there are some tentative signs of the reverse. We discuss caveats to our conclusions, suggest caution in their interpretation, and argue that further longitudinal studies are needed. |
| Keywords: | health, Whitehall studies, GHQ, locus of control, job satisfaction, mortality, status |
| JEL: | I1 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3894&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas J. Kane; Douglas O. Staiger |
| Abstract: | We used a random-assignment experiment in Los Angeles Unified School District to evaluate various non-experimental methods for estimating teacher effects on student test scores. Having estimated teacher effects during a pre-experimental period, we used these estimates to predict student achievement following random assignment of teachers to classrooms. While all of the teacher effect estimates we considered were significant predictors of student achievement under random assignment, those that controlled for prior student test scores yielded unbiased predictions and those that further controlled for mean classroom characteristics yielded the best prediction accuracy. In both the experimental and non-experimental data, we found that teacher effects faded out by roughly 50 percent per year in the two years following teacher assignment. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14607&r=lab |
| By: | Oswald, Andrew J. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Proto, Eugenio (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Sgroi, Daniel (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Little is known by economists about how emotions affect productivity. To make persuasive progress, some way has to be found to assign people exogenously to different feelings. We design a randomized trial. In it, some subjects have their happiness levels increased, while others in a control group do not. We show that a rise in happiness leads to greater productivity in a paid piece-rate task. The effect is large; it can be replicated; it is not a reciprocity effect; and it is found equally among males and females. We discuss the implications for economics. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity ; emotions ; well-being ; happiness ; positive affect ; experimental economics |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:882&r=lab |
| By: | Francesconi, Marco (University of Essex); Rainer, Helmut (University of St. Andrews); van der Klaauw, Wilbert (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | This paper formulates a model to examine the effects of changes in tax-benefit policy on the behavior of divorced parents and the well-being of children in single-parent households. Noncustodial parents choose the level of a child support payment to transfer to custodians. These, in turn, decide over child good expenditures and the allocation of time between market work and parenting. In general, ex-spouses fail to achieve an efficient allocation of their resources. On the custodial side, there are inefficiently high levels of labor supply and inefficiently low levels of expenditures on child goods, while on the noncustodial side child support payments are suboptimally low. Our results rationalize the adverse effects that welfare reforms might have on divorced parents and their children. Such adverse effects may arise because an increase in the custodian's effective wage, either through lower marginal income tax rates or higher childcare subsidies, reinforces the inefficiencies of divorced parents' decisions: that is, such an increase further depresses child support transfers from noncustodial parents and induces custodial parents to work even more. We explore several extensions of this model, link our findings to the existing empirical literature on the impacts of welfare reform, and discuss the implications of our results for policy and further economic analysis. |
| Keywords: | non-intact families, in-work benefit reform, child care, child support, non-cooperation |
| JEL: | D13 H31 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3891&r=lab |
| By: | Mörk, Eva (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Sjögren, Anna (IFAU - Insitute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Svalelryd, Helena (IFN) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of child care costs on the fertility behavior of Swedish women and find that reductions in child care charges influence fertility decisions, even when costs are initially highly subsidized. Exploiting the exogenous variation in child care costs caused by a Swedish child care reform, we are able to identify the causal effect of child care costs on fertility in a context in which child care enrolment is almost universal and the labor force participation of mothers is very high. A typical household planning another child experienced a reduction in expected future child care costs of SEK 106,000 (USD 17,800). This reduction resulted in 3–5 more child births per 1,000 women during an 18 month period, which corresponds to a 4–6 per cent increase in the birth rate. |
| Keywords: | Child care; Cost of children; Fertility; Quasi-experiment; Difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | H31 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_029&r=lab |
| By: | Parsons, Christopher A. (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Sulaeman, Johan (Southern Methodist University); Yates, Michael C. (Auburn University); Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | We explore how umpires' racial/ethnic preferences are expressed in their evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity. This effect only exists where there is little scrutiny of umpires' behavior – in ballparks without computerized systems monitoring umpires' calls, at poorly attended games, and when the called pitch cannot determine the outcome of the at-bat. If a pitcher shares the home-plate umpire's race/ethnicity, he gives up fewer hits, strikes out more batters, and improves his team's chance of winning. The general implication is that standard measures of salary discrimination that adjust for measured productivity may be flawed. We derive the magnitude of the bias generally and apply it to several examples. |
| Keywords: | strategic interactions, worker evaluation, wage equations, economics of sports |
| JEL: | J44 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3899&r=lab |
| By: | Chiappori, Pierre-André (Columbia University); Iyigun, Murat (University of Colorado, Boulder); Weiss, Yoram (Tel Aviv University) |
| Abstract: | We develop a two-sided matching model with positive sorting, divorce and remarriage. Match quality for each couple is revealed ex post and those with poor draws divorce. Competition determines lifetime expected utilities but per-period utilities depend on the laws that govern the distribution of assets upon divorce. We discuss separately cases in which remarriage is or is not feasible and cases in which commitments are or are not made. In all cases, lifetime utilities are exactly pinned down by equilibrium (stability) requirements. Moreover, ex-post Nash bargaining and ex-ante commitment yield the same non-contingent intertemporal allocations. We then analyze the impact of changes in the property division upon divorce, considering for instance a reform that favors women. The short-term impact of the reform on the allocations of already married wives is positive. However, its long-term impact on yet unmarried women is not because such a reform generates lower utility for women within marriage which exactly offsets their higher prospective divorce settlement. When remarriage is possible, more complex effects could occur: the reform typically alters divorce probabilities and it may affect the total surplus generated by marriage, thus either increasing both spouses' welfare or decreasing both. |
| Keywords: | matching, intra-household allocations, Becker-Coase theorem |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3892&r=lab |
| By: | Gabriel Sánchez; María Laura Alzúa (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Inés Butler |
| Abstract: | While tari¤ and quota barriers in agricultural, food and manufactured products have been declining due to the proliferation of multilateral trade agreements, there is increasing debate regarding the impact of product and process standards and technical regulations, since they may have become a subtler form of protection. One of the possible e¤ects of increasing standards in developing countries is that it may a¤ect the size of the exporting sector, with adverse e¤ects on labor markets. We test such e¤ect for the case of Argentina using .rm level data for the manufacturing sector. We .nd evidence of a reduction in export shares due to an increase in standard stringency. Moreover, there is an increase in the skill ratio for exporting .rms. The overall e¤ect of standard stringency on average wages of exporting .rms is negative, supporting the idea that lower net producer prices, due to a higher cost of standard compliance, are passed on to workers. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0079&r=lab |
| By: | Lovell, Michael C. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines five problems with the inflation indexing procedures used by the Social Security Administration of the United States in taking inflation into account when calculating Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Benefits. Because of Problem #1, the commingling of unindexed with indexed earnings, a retiree born in 1930 who continued in a high earning career until age 75 receives an annual benefit more than $1,800 larger than would have been generated with full indexing. As a result of Problems #2 and #4 your OASI check will be larger if wage inflation happens to be extra high in your 60th year or if price inflation is exceptionally low in your 61st year. Because of the indexing problems, the percentage increase in your inflation (CPI-W) adjusted benefit if you elect to postpone retirement and the start of OASI benefits will depend in part on the pace of inflation. While inflation indexing problems do not attract much attention in normal times, they can contribute to serious short-run financial instability for the OASI trust fund in periods of substantial inflation or deflation. |
| Keywords: | Social Security, inflation, indexing |
| JEL: | H55 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:7410&r=lab |
| By: | Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Mouez Fodha (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the environmental tax policy issues within an overlapping generations models framework. The objective is to analyze whether an environmental tax policy can respect the two equity principles simultaneously, the vertical as well the horizontal one. We characterize the necessary conditions for the obtaining of a Pareto improving shift when the revenue of the pollution tax is recycled by a change in the labor tax rate or by a change in the distributive properties of the labor tax. We show that, depending on the production function elasticities and on the heterogeneity characteristics of labor supply, an appropriate policy mix could be designed in order to leave each workers' class unharmed by the environmental tax reform. It will consist in an increase of the progressivity of the labor tax together with a decrease of the minimal wage tax rate. |
| Keywords: | Environmental tax, double dividend, tax progressivity, overlapping generations model. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00348891_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Baron, Juan (Australian National University); Cobb-Clark, Deborah (Australian National University); Erkal, Nisvan (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the potential for the cultural transmission of attitudes toward work, welfare, and individual responsibility to explain the intergenerational correlation in welfare receipt. Specifically, we investigate whether 18-year olds' views about social benefits and the drivers of social inequality depend on their families' welfare histories. We begin by incorporating welfare receipt into a theoretical model of the cultural transmission of work-welfare attitudes across generations. Consistent with the predictions of our model, we find that young people's attitudes towards work and welfare are shaped by socialization within their families. Young people are more likely to oppose generous social benefits and adopt an internal view of social inequality if their mothers support these views, if their mothers were employed while they were growing up, and if their families never received welfare. These results are consistent with − though do not definitively establish − the existence of an intergenerational welfare culture. |
| Keywords: | cultural transmission, attitudes, intergenerational welfare receipt |
| JEL: | I38 H31 Z1 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3904&r=lab |
| By: | Meyer, Jenny |
| Abstract: | For the first time data of German ICT and knowledge intensive service providers are used to analyze the relation between the age structure of the workforce and the probability of adopting new technologies. The results show that firms with a higher share of younger employees are more likely to adopt new technologies and the older the workforce the less likely is the adoption of new technologies. Furthermore the results exhibit that the age structure of the workforce should be accompanied by appropriate workplace organization. A part of the firms which enhanced teamwork or flattened their hierarchies are actually more likely to adopt new technologies and software when they have a higher share of older employees whereas they are less likely to introduce new technologies if they have a higher share of younger employees. |
| Keywords: | age structure of the workforce, adoption of new technologies, ICT intensive services |
| JEL: | J14 O31 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7439&r=lab |
| By: | Marie-Pierre Dargnies (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Guillaume Hollard (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Miscalibration can be defined as the fact that people think that their knowledge is more precise than it actually is. In a typical miscalibration experiment, subjects are asked to provide subjective confidence intervals. A very robust finding is that subjects provide too narrow intervals at the 90% level. As a result a lot less than 90% of correct answers fall inside the 90% intervals provided. As miscalibration is linked with bad results on a experimental financial market (Biais et al., 2005) and entrepreneurial success is positively correlated with good calibration (Regner et al., 2006), it appears interesting to look for a way to cure or at least reduce miscalibration. Previous attempts to remove the miscalibration bias relied on extremely long and tedious procedures. Here, we design an experimental setting that provides several different incentives, in particular strong monetary incentives ; i.e. that make miscalibration costly. Our main result is that a thirty-minute training session has an effect on men's calibration but no effect on women's. |
| Keywords: | Miscalibration, overconfidence, incentives, gender effect. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00348826_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias Sutter; Ronald Bosman; Martin Kocher; Frans van Winden |
| Abstract: | We study the influence of gender and gender pairing on economic decision making in an experimental two-person bargaining game where the other party’s gender is known to both actors. We find that (1) gender per se has no significant effect on behavior, whereas (2) gender pairing systematically affects behavior. In particular, we observe much more competition and retaliation and, thus, lower efficiency when the bargaining partners have the same gender than when they have the opposite gender. These findings are consistent with predictions from psychology. Implications of our results for real-world organizations are discussed. |
| Keywords: | gender pairing, bargaining, psychology, experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2008-27&r=lab |
| By: | William Collier; Francis Green; Young-Bae Kim; John Peirson |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the savings behaviour of natives and immigrants in Germany. It is argued that uncertainty about future income and legal status (in case of immigrants) is a key component in the determination of the level of precautionary savings. Using the German dataset, we exploit a natural experiment arising from a change in the nationality law in Germany to estimate the importance of precautionary savings. Using difference-in-differences approach, we find a significant reduction in savings and remittances for immigrants after the easing of citizenship requirements, compared to the pre-reform period. Our parametric specification shows that introduction of the new nationality law reduces the marginal propensity to save gap between natives and immigrants by up to 80%. These findings suggest that much of the differences in terms of the savings behaviour between natives and immigrants are driven by the savings arising from the uncertainties about future income and legal status rather than cultural differences. |
| Keywords: | Training; Education; Human capital; Profit, Skill |
| JEL: | J24 J1 L21 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0822&r=lab |
| By: | Jana Bruder (University of Rostock); Solvig Räthke-Döppner (University of Rostock) |
| Abstract: | In Germany self-employment among foreigners increased significantly in recent years. We study the geographical distribution of ethnic minority self-employment in Germany and find determinants for variations in start-up activities across 440 administrative German regions. We analyze the Statistic of Business Notifications and provide an extensive overview about start-up activities of foreigners in the time period 2001-2005. Moreover we apply a count data model on the number of business registrations in a particular region. We find that business foundations by foreigners are mainly enhanced by population growth, a higher population density and a large fraction of foreigners on overall population. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic Minority Business, Entrepreneurship, Germany, Count Data Model |
| JEL: | L26 M13 C21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ros:wpaper:100&r=lab |