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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Peter Rupert, Elena Stancanelli, Etienne Wasmer (University of California, Santa Barbara, CNRS, THEMA, University Cergy,(Sciences-Po, OFCE, IZA and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | A search model of the labor market is augmented to include commuting time to work. The theory posits that wages are positively related to commute distance, by a factor itself depending negatively on the bargaining power of workers. Since not all combinations of distance and wages are accepted, there is non-random selection of accepted job offers. We build on these ingredients to explore in the data the relationship between wages and commute time . We find that neglecting to account for this selection will bias downward the wage impact of commuting, and marginally affect the coefficients on education, age and gender. The correlation between the residuals of the selectivity equation and the distance equation is -0.70, showing the large impact of commute time on job acceptance decisions. We also use the theory to calculate the bargaining power of workers which largely varies depending on demographic groups: it appears to be much larger for men than that for women and that the bargaining power of women with oung children is essentially zero. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2009-02&r=lab |
| By: | Caroleo, Floro Ernesto; Pastore, Francesco |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests that the insufficient work experience of young people as compared to adults is the major cause of the hardship the former experience in the labour market both in terms of employment and wages. Economists are bewildered as to the determinants of and as to the ways to cure the youth experience gap. Most of them believe that the market should solve youth hardship by offering them: a) a lower than average entry wage able to mirror their lower productivity level; b) increasing labour market flexibility so as to allow them to move more easily from one job the next until they have found the best one for them; c) and, in particular, temporary work, considered as the only way to allow them to acquire the work experience they actually need. Other observers, instead, criticize entry flexibility and temporary work. The former works only if accompanied by additional instruments, otherwise it favours only those people who already have a greater level of motivation and skill. Temporary work allows accumulating only generic, not job specific work experience. The solution is a policy mix whereas labour market flexibility is accompanied by a more efficient and even education and training system and on the duality principle. This is shown in the second part of the paper by building a classification of EU regimes by type of school-to-work transition institutions. |
| Keywords: | Youth Unemployment; Youth Experience Gap; Temporary Work; Flexicurity; Lisbon Strategy |
| JEL: | J13 I2 H52 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14218&r=lab |
| By: | Natália P. Monteiro (Universidade do Minho - NIPE); Paulo Bastos (Inter-American Development Bank and GEP, University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of individual top managers on wages and wage policies. A large longitudinal administrative dataset from Portugal allows us to match workers,firms and top managers, and follow the movements of the latter across different firms over time. We estimate the role of top manager fixed-effects in determining wages and wage policies, while also accounting for the effect of worker and firm heterogeneity. Our results reveal that top managers have a significant influence on wages, the returns to schooling and tenure, the gender wage gap, and the extent of rent sharing. Further-more, they point to the existence of managerial styles in the setting of wage policies. Finally, we relate worker compensation to observable managerial attributes, and find that returns to schooling tend to be higher in firms led by more educated top executives, while longer-tenured managers appear on average to engage in more rent sharing. |
| Keywords: | Top managers, wage policies, linked worker-firm-manager data. |
| JEL: | D21 M5 J31 J16 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:2/2009&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco D’Amuri (Bank of Italy and ISER, University of Essex); Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano (Bocconi University, FEEM and CEPR); Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis and NBER) |
| Abstract: | In this article we measure the effects of recent immigration on the Western German labor market looking at both wage and employment effects. Refining administrative data for the period 1987-2001 to account for ethnic German immigrants and immigrants from Eastern Germany, we find that the substantial immigration of the 1990’s had very little adverse effects on native wages and on their employment levels. Instead, it had a sizable adverse employment effect as well as a small adverse wage effect on previous waves of immigrants. These asymmetric results are partly driven by a higher degree of substitution between old and new immigrants in the labor market. In a simple calculation we show that the largest aggregate effect of new immigration on natives and old immigrants comes from the increased costs of unemployment benefits to old immigrants. Those costs could be eliminated in a world of wage flexibility and no unemployment insurance in which immigration would not have any negative employment effect but only moderate wage effects. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200910&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel Horgos |
| Abstract: | International Outsourcing effects on labor markets are mostly analyzed within flexible wage settings. Using a modern duality approach, this paper formally investigates differences occurring in industries with low skilled wage rigidity and, for the first time in literature, presents empirical evidence supporting the theoretical findings. Using a logit model to analyze microeconomic German panel data, results show that International Outsourcing significantly increases low skilled unemployment when taking place in industries characterized by low skilled wage rigidity. Thus, in terms of unemployment, not International Outsourcing but inflexible labor market institutions instead should be blamed for harming low skilled labor. |
| Keywords: | International outsourcing, wage rigidity, unemployment |
| JEL: | F12 J64 F41 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp166&r=lab |
| By: | Nils Braakmann |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that differences in various non-cognitive traits, specifically the ¿big five¿, positive and negative reciprocity, locus of control and risk aversion, contribute to gender inequalities in wages and employment. Using the 2004 and 2005 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel, evidence from regression and decomposition techniques suggests that gender differences in psychological traits are more important for inequalities in wages than in employment. Differences in the ¿big five¿, in particular in agreeableness, conscientiousness and neurocitism matter for both wages and employment. For the latter, the results also show a large effect of differences in external locus of control. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, non-cognitive traits, decomposition |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp162&r=lab |
| By: | Schoellman, Todd |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the multi-dimensional human capital endowments of immigrants by characterizing their occupational decisions. This approach allows for estimation of physical skill and cognitive ability endowments, which are difficult to measure directly. Estimation implies that immigrants as a whole are abundant in cognitive ability and scarce in experience/training and communication skills. Counterfactual estimates of the wage impacts of immigration are skewed: the largest gain from preventing immigration is 3.2% higher wages, but the largest loss is 0.3% lower wages. Crowding of immigrants into select occupations plays a minor role in explaining these impacts; occupations’ skill attributes explain the bulk. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; occupations; wages |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14236&r=lab |
| By: | Neeraj Kaushal |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of changes in immigrant eligibility for Supplemental Security Income in 1996 on the employment and retirement behaviors of foreign-born elderly persons. I find that denial of SSI was associated with a 5 percentage point (15 percent) increase in the employment of non-citizen elderly men and a 5.6 percentage point (11 percent) decrease in their retirement rate. The estimated effects were higher for recent arrivals, a group most likely to be affected by the policy change. Further, while recent arrivals were more likely to increase part-time work, the earlier arrivals responded to the policy by increasing full-time employment. I find no consistent evidence that denial of SSI affected the employment of elderly immigrant women, but some evidence that it raised their retirement rate, specifically among those who immigrated in recent years. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-25&r=lab |
| By: | Veenman, J.; Heij, C. (Erasmus Econometric Institute) |
| Abstract: | Immigration tends to have a mitigating effect on the socioeconomic gender gap among immigrants. To explain this finding, we propose a gender convergence hypothesis that states that migration to a modern ‘open’ society offers women the opportunity to improve their position relative to that of men. In such a society, there are (almost) equal chances to participate in education and paid labor. The equalizing effect will be larger if the immigrants come from less developed regions, since women then have more room to improve their position. However, there may also be countervailing cultural powers within the immigrant group. The gender convergence hypothesis proposed here is tested for immigrants in the Netherlands. Using survey data, we investigate the educational and labor market position of Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean males and females. We find convergent trends, particularly among Moroccan immigrants who come from less developed regions in their country of origin and who meet less cultural in-group barriers than, for example, Turkish immigrants. |
| Date: | 2008–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureir:1765013052&r=lab |
| By: | Gary Burtless |
| Abstract: | In the half century after World War II labor force participation in the population past age 60 fell substantially in nearly all rich countries. Declining participation rates became a matter of major concern when it became clear that population growth rates were slowing and the average age of citizens in most rich countries was rising. A rapidly growing number of aged was living longer but spending a smaller number of years in the paid workforce. This paper examines recent trends in retirement behavior in 21 rich countries. It proposes three straightforward measures of labor force exit, and it estimates labor force exit rates using a variety of labor supply indicators, including the labor force participation rate, the employment rate, average work hours in the population, and average weekly earnings in the population. The results suggest that in recent years exit rates from paid work are declining among older citizens. This pattern is found both for men and women, and it is found in a large majority of countries in the analysis. In many countries labor force participation rates at older ages reached a low point in the 1990s, but since that time participation rates have increased. The rebound in male participation rates has been substantial in several countries. On average across the 21 countries, participation rates among 60-64 year-old men have rebounded over 9 percentage points since a low point in the participation rate was reached, usually in the 1990s. This rise in the participation rate of 60-64 year-old men has offset almost one-quarter of the decline in participation rates that occurred between 1960 and the low point of participation rates. |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-6&r=lab |
| By: | David Card (University of California Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | Immigration is often viewed as a proximate cause of the rising wage gap between high- and low-skilled workers. Nevertheless, there is controversy over the appropriate theoretical and empirical framework for measuring the presumed effect, and over the precise magnitudes involved. This paper offers an overview and synthesis of existing knowledge on the relationship between immigration and inequality, focusing on evidence from cross-city comparisons in the U.S. While some researchers have claimed that a cross-city research design is inherently flawed, I argue that the evidence from cross-city comparisons is remarkably consistent with recent findings based on aggregate time series data. In particular, cross-city and aggregate time series comparisons provide support for three key conclusions: (1) workers with below high school education are perfect substitutes for those with a high school education; (2) “high school equivalent” and “college equivalent” workers are imperfect substitutes, with an elasticity of substitution on the order of 2; (3) within education groups, immigrants and natives are imperfect substitutes. Together these results imply that the average impacts of recent immigrant inflows on the relative wages of U.S. natives are small. The effects on overall wage inequality (including natives and immigrants) are larger, reflecting the concentration of immigrants in the tails of the skill distribution and higher residual inequality among immigrants than natives. Even so, immigration accounts for a small share (5%) of the increase in U.S. wage inequality between 1980 and 2000. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200907&r=lab |
| By: | Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Theodossiou, Ioannis |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to estimate the ‘utility cost’ of temporary employment contracts purged of the psychological effects of adaptation. A conjoint analysis experiment is used that examines the ex-ante contract preferences of a unique sample of low-skilled employees from 7 European countries. It is shown that permanent contract holders request a significant wage premium to move to a temporary job. In contrast, temporary workers are indifferent between permanent and temporary contracts, ceteris paribus. The evidence suggests that individuals have a psychological immune system which neutralises events that challenge their sense of well-being, such as job insecurity. The methodology developed in this paper can provide policymakers with an alternative and relatively inexpensive method of quantifying the transitional loss (or gain) in welfare that individuals might experience in response to changing labour market policies. |
| Keywords: | Utility; Temporary contracts; Adaptation; Conjoint analysis |
| JEL: | J31 J41 C25 |
| Date: | 2008–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14166&r=lab |
| By: | Annette Bergemann; Regina T. Riphahn |
| Abstract: | We study the labor supply effects of a change in child-subsidy policy designed to both increase fertility and shorten birth-related employment interruptions. The reform yields most of the intended effects. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply, fertility, child subsidy, parents money |
| JEL: | J13 J21 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp161&r=lab |
| By: | Brian Duncan (Department of Economics, University of Colorado at Denver); Stephen J. Trejo (Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, and CReAM) |
| Abstract: | Over the last several decades, two of the most significant developments in the U.S. labor market have been: (1) rising inequality, and (2) growth in both the size and the diversity of immigration flows. Because a large share of new immigrants arrive with very low levels of schooling, English proficiency, and other skills that have become increasingly important determinants of success in the U.S. labor market, an obvious concern is that such immigrants are a poor fit for the restructured American economy. In this chapter, we evaluate this concern by discussing evidence for the United States on two relevant topics: the labor market integration of immigrants, and the impact of immigration on the wages and employment opportunities of native workers. In these dimensions, the overall labor market performance of U.S. immigrants seems quite favorable. U.S. immigrants have little trouble finding jobs, and this is particularly true of unskilled immigrants. Most U.S. immigrants experience substantial earnings growth as they adapt to the American labor market. For most immigrant groups, the U.S.-born second generation has achieved socioeconomic parity with mainstream society; for some Hispanic groups, however, this is not the case. On the whole, immigration to the United States has not had large adverse consequences for the labor market opportunities of native workers. Therefore, with regard to the economic integration and labor market impacts of immigration, it is not obvious that the seemingly haphazard nature of U.S. immigration policy has led to unfavorable outcomes. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200908&r=lab |
| By: | Lee, Heyung-Jik |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the monetary returns from a baccalaureate degree for the nursing education compared to a diploma across five regions in Canada. It engages me in employing benefit-cost analysis to assess whether the evidence is consistent with implications of human capital theory. Depending on the assumed discount rate and retirement age, the estimated baccalaureate-diploma wage differentials vary in each Canadian region. In this study, I conclude that the decision to invest in one more year of nursing education is economically rational only for the registered nurses who work in Eastern Canada. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hok:dpaper:206&r=lab |
| By: | Brenke, Karl (DIW Berlin); Yuksel, Mutlu (IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA, DIW Berlin and Bonn University) |
| Abstract: | The numbers of migrants from the accessions countries have clearly increased since the enlargement of the EU in 2004. Following enlargement, the net inflow of EU8 immigrants has become 2.5 times larger than the four-year period before enlargement. Poles constitute the largest immigrant group among the EU8 immigrants: since enlargement, 63% of all immigrants and 71% of EU8 immigrants are from Poland. This chapter presents new evidence on the impact of immigrant flow from EU8 countries on the German labor market since EU enlargement. Unlike other EU countries, Germany has not immediately opened up its labor market for immigrants from the new member states. Nevertheless, our analysis documents a substantial inflow and suggests that the composition of EU8 immigrants has changed since EU enlargement. The majority of the new EU8 immigrants are male and young, and they are less educated compared to previous immigrant groups. We also find that recent EU8 immigrants are more likely to be self-employed than employed as a wage earner. Furthermore, these recent EU8 immigrants earn less conditional on being employed or self-employed. Our findings suggest that these recent EU8 immigrants are more likely to compete with immigrants from outside of Europe for low-skilled jobs instead of competing with German natives. While Germany needs high-skilled immigrants, our analysis suggests that the new EU8 immigrants only replace non-EU immigrants in low-skilled jobs. These results underline the importance of more open immigration policies targeting high-skilled immigrants. The current policy not only cannot attract the required high-skilled workforce, but also cannot avoid the attraction of low-skilled immigrants, and is a complete failure. |
| Keywords: | wages, international migration, EU enlargement, employment |
| JEL: | J61 F22 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4055&r=lab |
| By: | Véronique Genre (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Karsten Kohn (KfW Bankengruppe Frankfurt, Palmengartenstraße 5-9,D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Daphne Momferatou (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main.) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the euro area wage structure and its potential determinants from a sectoral viewpoint. Merging information from the OECD Structural Analysis database with data from the EU Labour Force Survey, we construct a cross-country panel of 22 industries in 8 euro area countries for 1991-2002. Data inspection confirms the existence of a fairly stable inter-industry wage structure that is similar across countries. We then apply panel data techniques to identify factors explaining inter-industry wage differentials in the euro area. Both workforce characteristics (e.g., human capital variables) and firm-related characteristics (e.g., capital intensity, productivity) contribute significantly. However, considerable wage heterogeneity across sectors remains. Idiosyncratic sector and country specifics, reflecting different sociocultural and institutional backgrounds, appear to bear a major role. While our paper only uses direct evidence from workforce and firm-related characteristics, we also try to relate the remaining heterogeneity to institutional characteristics, based on available relevant literature. JEL Classification: J31, J24, J51. |
| Keywords: | euro area, inter-industry wage differentials, panel estimation, firm and workforce characteristics, labour market institutions. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:200901022&r=lab |
| By: | John Giles |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of changes in immigrant eligibility for Supplemental Security Income in 1996 on the employment and retirement behaviors of foreign-born elderly persons. I find that denial of SSI was associated with a 5 percentage point (15 percent) increase in the employment of non-citizen elderly men and a 5.6 percentage point (11 percent) decrease in their retirement rate. The estimated effects were higher for recent arrivals, a group most likely to be affected by the policy change. Further, while recent arrivals were more likely to increase part-time work, the earlier arrivals responded to the policy by increasing full-time employment. I find no consistent evidence that denial of SSI affected the employment of elderly immigrant women, but some evidence that it raised their retirement rate, specifically among those who immigrated in recent years. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-24&r=lab |
| By: | Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines the importance of labor mobility for the improvement in allocating and distributing economic resources. We are faced with an increasing lack of skilled workers and a growing tendency of unemployment amongst the low-skilled. A central political objective for the future will not only be education policy but also the recruitment of high-skilled workers from international and European labor markets. Additional skilled labor increases well-being and reduces inequality. However, internal European barriers to mobility are difficult to break through. An improved transparency of the European labor market, a greater command of languages and a standardization of the social security system can strengthen mobility. The key to mobility is in promoting the integration of international workers in the European migration process, which can be strengthened through circular migration. The European "blue card" initiative and the opening of labor markets to foreign graduates who have been trained in Europe could set a new course. |
| Keywords: | Migration, migration effects, EU Eastern enlargement, free movement of workers |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp862&r=lab |
| By: | Catherine Fuss (National Bank of BelgiumNational Bank of Belgium, Research Department, 14, bd. de Berlaimont, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.); Ladislav Wintr (Central Bank of Luxembourg, Economics and Research Department, 2 boulevard Royal, L – 2983 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.) |
| Abstract: | Using firm-level data for Belgium over the period 1997-2005, we evaluate the elasticity of firms' labour and real average labour compensation to microeconomic total factor productivity (TFP). Our results may be summarised as follows. First, we find that the elasticity of average labour compensation to firm-level TFP is very low contrary to that of labour, consistent with real wage rigidity. Second, while the elasticity of average labour compensation to idiosyncratic firm-level TFP is close to zero, the elasticity with respect to aggregate sector-level TFP is high. We argue that average labour compensation adjustment mainly occur at the sector level through sectoral collective bargaining, which leaves little room for firm-level adjustment to firm-specific shocks. Third, we report evidence of a positive relationship between hours and idiosyncratic TFP, as well as aggregate TFP within the year. JEL Classification: J30, J60. |
| Keywords: | labour compensation, employment, hours, Total Factor Productivity. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:200901021&r=lab |
| By: | Delia Furtado (University of Connecticut and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)); Nikolaos Theodoropoulos (University of Cyprus and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM, UCL)) |
| Abstract: | The social integration of immigrants is believed to be an important determinant of immigrants’ labor market outcomes. Using 2000 U.S. Census data, we examine how and why marriage to a native, one measure of social assimilation, affects immigrant employment rates. We show that even when controlling for a variety of human capital and assimilation measures, marriage to a native increases the probability that an immigrant is employed. An instrumental variables approach which exploits variation in marriage market conditions suggests that the relationship between marriage decisions and employment rates is not likely to arise from positive selection into marrying a native. We then present several pieces of evidence suggesting that networks obtained through marriage play an important part in explaining this effect. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200906&r=lab |
| By: | Julián Messina (University of Girona, Plaça Sant Domènec, 3, E-17071 Girona, Spain.); Chiara Strozzi (Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia,Via Università 4, I - 41100 Modena, Italy.); Jarkko Turunen (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| 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. JEL Classification: E32, J30, C10. |
| Keywords: | real wages, business cycle, dynamic correlation, labour market institutions. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:200901003&r=lab |
| By: | Oriana Bandiera; Luigi Guiso; Andrea Prat; Raffaella Sadun |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence on the match between firms, managers and incentives using a new survey designed for this purpose. The survey contains information on a sample of executives’ risk preferences and human capital, on the explicit and implicit incentives they face and on the firms they work for. We model a market for managerial talent where both firms and managers are heterogeneous. Following the sources of heterogeneity observed in the data, we assume that firms differ by ownership structure and that family firms, though caring about profits, put relatively more weight on benefits of direct control than non-family firms. Managers differ in their degree of risk aversion and talent. The entry of firms and managers, the choice of managerial compensation schemes and the manager firm matching are all endogenous. The model yields predictions on several equilibrium correlations that find support in our data: (i) Family firms use managerial contracts that are less sensitive to performance, both explicitly through bonus pay and implicitly through career development; (ii) More talented and risk-tolerant managers are matched with firms that offer steeper contracts. (iii) Managers who face steeper contracts work harder, earn more and display higher job satisfaction. Alternative explanations may account for some of these correlations but not for all of them jointly. |
| Keywords: | managerial incentives, matching, firm performance, family firms |
| JEL: | J3 J5 G3 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2009/14&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Mauricio Soto; Alex Golub-Sass |
| Abstract: | If Americans continue to retire at age 63, a great many will risk income shortfalls especially at older ages. Because work directly increases current income, Social Security benefits, retirement saving, and decreases the length of retirement, a logical solution would be to increase the age of retirement. But are Americans healthy enough to work longer? Using the National Health Interview Study, this paper shows that healthy life expectancy increased by about three years over 1970-2000 for the average 50-year old man. This increase is largely the result of men moving up the education ladder, with minimal increases within educational groups. Moreover, major disparities in healthy life expectancy remain between those in the bottom and top quartiles of the population. And these disparities mean that a vulnerable portion of the population – perhaps those who most need to work longer – might not be able to extend their work lives. |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-11&r=lab |
| By: | Behrman, Jere R.; Murphy, Alexis; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Yount, Kathryn |
| Abstract: | "Many prior studies find significant cross-sectional positive ordinary least squares (OLS) associations between maternal human capital (usually maternal schooling attainment) and children's human capital (usually children's schooling, but in some cases children's nutritional status). This paper uses rich Guatemalan longitudinal data collected over 35 years to explore several limitations of these “standard” estimates. The preferred estimates developed herein suggest that (1) maternal human capital is more important than suggested by the standard estimates; (2) maternal cognitive skills have a greater impact than maternal schooling attainment on children's biological human capital; and (3) for some important indicators of children's human capital, maternal biological capital has larger effect sizes than maternal intellectual capital (schooling and cognitive skills). These results imply that breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty, malnutrition, and intellectual deprivation through investments in women's human capital may be more effective than previously suggested, but it will require approaches that account for dimensions of women's human capital beyond just their schooling. Effective interventions to improve women's biological and intellectual human capital often begin in utero or in early childhood; thus, their realization will take longer than if more schooling were the only relevant channel." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Maternal human capital, Cognitive skills, Nutritional status, Child outcomes, Poverty, Women, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:850&r=lab |
| By: | Musgrave, Ralph S. |
| Abstract: | Workfare has had a chequered history because it has not been well thought out. It increases employment not just because it calls the bluff of the workshy; this element need not be all that harsh. It works because it acts as a marginal employment subsidy of a type not tried before (except unwittingly as part of workfare). The subsidy is as follows. As full employment is approached (i.e.given rising demand), dole queue labour gets progressively less suited to available vacancies, which induces employers to out bid each other in an attempt to attract or retain better quality or more suitable labour, and this is inflationary. This phenomenon is behind NAIRU, the level of unemployment below which it is allegedly impossible to go. But the above unsuitability of the unemployed is temporary for each person: a job usually appears sooner or later for which they are suited. Thus the antidote is to compensate employers for this unsuitability, i.e. subsidise the unemployed into temporary jobs and this is more or less what workfare has always consisted of. This ought to reduce NAIRU. The above NAIRU reducing characteristic of workfare is key to proving it should operate as much in the private as public sector. In fact it works better in the former because the private sector is better at employing relatively unskilled labour. It is often claimed that workfare should take the form of specially set up job creation schemes. The arguments for this do not stand inspection (and nor do a large majority of other arguments for these schemes). Thus workfare jobs should be with existing employers. To effect workfare in this form, the unemployed are made available to all employers at little or no charge to the latter, while the number of jobs so created is strictly limited so as to prevent employers replacing existing em¬ployees with workfare employees. The above all amounts to saying that there is a much stronger case for heavily subsidised temporary employment agencies than for subsidised normal employment agencies (Job Centres in the U.K.). Or to put it yet another way, in a totally free market (i.e. in the absence of unemployment benefit) the unemployed have the choice of doing nothing, or doing a job other than their usual one for a while. To date, governments have subsidised only the former. This booklet claims governments should subsidise the latter activity (perhaps at the expense of the former). |
| Keywords: | workfare; "marginal employment subsidy"; "employer of last resort"; unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 J23 |
| Date: | 2009–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14206&r=lab |
| By: | Krogh Graversen, Brian; van Ours, Jan C |
| Abstract: | In an experimental setting some Danish unemployed workers were assigned to an activation program while others were not. Unemployed who were assigned to the activation program found a job more quickly. We show that the activation effect increases with the distance between the place of residence of the unemployed worker and the place where the activation took place. We also find that the quality of the post-unemployment jobs was not affected by the activation program. Both findings confirm that activation programs mainly work because they are compulsory and unemployed don't like them. |
| Keywords: | Activation program; Experiment; Unemployment duration; Unemployment insurance |
| JEL: | C41 H55 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7233&r=lab |
| By: | Joshua D. Angrist (MIT Department of Economics); Stacey H. Chen (Department of Economics, Royal Holloway, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Military service reduces the civilian work experience of veterans but subsidizes their college attendance through the GI Bill. Estimates of veteran effects using the Vietnam-era draft-lottery show a post-service earnings impact close to zero in 2000, coupled with a marked increase in college attendance. Viewed through the lens of a Minser wage equation, these results are explained by a flattening of the experimence profile in middle age and a modest return to GI Bill schooling. Consistent with Roy-type selection into college for veterans, IV estimates of the returns to GI Bill-funded schooling are well below OLS estimates. These results are unchanged in more general models that allow for nonlinear returns to schooling and possible effects of military service on health. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hol:holodi:0902&r=lab |
| By: | Eva Mörk (IFAU and Uppsala University); Anna Sjögren (IFAU); Helena Svaleryd (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: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2009/3/doc2009-2&r=lab |
| By: | Alicia H. Munnell; Mauricio Soto; Robert K. Triest; Natalia A. Zhivan |
| Abstract: | Economic conditions and labor force participation vary significantly across the states of the Union. Despite these marked differences, little is known about the reasons for such variations in retirement patterns. Using the Current Population Survey for the period 1977-2007, this paper demonstrates that the differences in the labor force participation of men age 55-64 are related to the labor market conditions, the nature of employment, and the employee characteristics in each state as well as a pseudo replacement rate. These variables explain more than one-third of the total variation. Even moving to a fixed-effects model only cuts the explanatory power by half. The question remains, however, whether these relationships reflect different populations or unique aspects of the state. To answer that question we turn to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We estimate equations for the probability of working and for the expected retirement for men in their late fifties and early sixties. In each case, the first equation includes just the state-level variables and the second the state-level variables and the HRS demographic and economic information for each individual. The results show that the state-level variables explain almost none of the variation in the probability of working or the expected retirement age, but most of the state-level variables are statistically significant both before and after the inclusion of the HRS information. |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2008-12&r=lab |
| By: | Huber, Martin; Lechner, Michael; Walter, Thomas; Wunsch, Conny |
| Abstract: | Many Western economies have reformed their welfare systems with the aim of activating welfare recipients by increasing welfare-to-work programmes and job search enforcement. We evaluate the three most important German welfare-to-work programmes implemented after a major reform in January 2005 ("Hartz IV"). Our analysis is based on a unique combination of large scale survey and administrative data that is unusually rich with respect to individual, household, agency level, and regional information. We use this richness to allow for a selection-on-observables approach when doing the econometric evaluation. We find that short-term training programmes on average increase their participants' employment perspectives and that all programmes induce further programme participation. We also show that there is considerable effect heterogeneity across different subgroups of participants that could be exploited to improve the allocation of welfare recipients to the specific programmes and thus increase overall programme effectiveness. |
| Keywords: | panel data; targeting; programme evaluation; propensity score matching,; Welfare-to-work policies |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7238&r=lab |
| By: | Assa Doumbia Gakou (DNSI, Bamako); Mathias Kuepie (DIAL,CEPS/INSTEAD) |
| Abstract: | (english) The objective of this study is to identify factors that explain Malian women position in the labor market. We begin by presenting a theoretical framework that mobilizes three theories explaining women labor market integration: the feminist theory which shows that the disadvantaged women position in the labor market is an extension of their status in society, the theory of surviving strategies which postulates that the participation of women is strongly linked to households economic constraints and the standard human capital theory. Using data from the “Enquête Légère Intégrée auprès des Ménages” (ELIM) realized in 2003, we more or less validate the three theories: women from poor economic class are more actives. When the Malian women are educated, they have almost the same opportunity (or even more) than men to find their place in the cramped but protective public sector. A last, women with young children are more likely to be located into the informal sector. _________________________________ (français) L’article porte sur l’insertion des femmes maliennes sur le marché du travail. Le travail empirique s’appuie sur le traitement des données de l’Enquête Légère Intégrée auprès des Ménages (ELIM) de 2003. Trois théories explicatives sont testées : la théorie des stratégies de survie qui postule que la participation des femmes est fortement liée aux contraintes de survie des ménages ; la théorie standard du capital humain d’insertion sur le marché du travail, et les théories féministes qui montrent que la position défavorable des femmes sur le marché du travail n’est qu’un prolongement de leur situation dans la société. Nous validons l’hypothèse de stratégie de survie, les femmes appartenant aux ménages les plus pauvres s’insèrent plus fréquemment que celles des ménages les plus aisés sur le marché du travail. De plus, elles sont contraintes soit à mener conjointement étude et travail, soit à travailler et à assurer leur rôle de mère. Ce n’est que dans les classes aisées que l’éducation joue pleinement son rôle comme facteur stimulant la participation des femmes à l’activité économique. Quand elles sont actives, les femmes occupent une position légèrement plus défavorable que les hommes, en étant plus nombreuses dans le secteur informel. Mais cette position s’explique essentiellement par des différences de capital humain car quand les femmes maliennes sont éduquées, elles ont quasiment les mêmes chances (voire plus) que les hommes de trouver leur place dans l’exigu mais protecteur secteur public. |
| Keywords: | Labor market, women employment, Mali, marché du travail, emploi des femmes. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200809&r=lab |
| By: | Esther Geisler (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Michaela Kreyenfeld (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates fathers’ usage of parental leave in Germany based on data from the microcenses 1999-2005. We consider two competing hypotheses. On the one hand, we argue that value change is a driving force behind fathers’ engagement in parenting activities. We assume that the ‘new father’ can more often be found among highly educated and urban men who are believed to be the forerunners in terms of new values and ideas. We contrast this hypothesis with the assumption that economic factors are the main determinants of men’s parental leave decisions. Our main finding is that fathers are more likely to be on parental leave if they have a highly educated or older partner. We also find that employment through a temporary working contract substantially lowers the chances that men will take advantage of parental leave, while being employed in the public sector increases the chances that men will use their parental leave entitlement. |
| Keywords: | Germany, employment |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2009-010&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Chisik (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | We show that stereotype threat can occur in a labor market signaling model where no one believes that an agent played a strictly dominated strategy. This idea of self-fulfilling statistical discrimination is different from the one Spence posed in his original work on market signaling, which requires employers to believe that low-ability women would play a strictly dominated strategy. Our analysis builds instead on an endogenous quality choice. The existence of multiple un-dominated pooling equilibria, which can generate a stereotype threat effect, is shown to depend on the shape and variance of the distribution of types as well as the value of the signal. It is more likely if the variance is low (so that the types are more similar) or if the signal has more value to the firm. We also show that a very bad stereotype forces the high-quality agent with that bad stereotype to separate. This counter-stereotypical behavior increases that label’s high-quality probability and education level. In this way the very discriminated against label overtakes the complacent good stereotype label, and the good stereotype label can suffer from a reputational Dutch disease. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:0906&r=lab |
| By: | Kristian Behrens (Department of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada; CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium; CIRPÉE, Canada); Giordano Mion (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department; LSE, Department of Geography, London, UK); Yasusada Murata (Advanced Research Institute for the Sciences and Humanities (ARISH), Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan); Jens Südekum (Mercator School of Management, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Ruhr Graduate School of Economics, Germany; IZA, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We develop a new general equilibrium model of trade with heterogeneous firms, variable demand elasticities and endogenously determined wages. Trade integration favours wage convergence, boosts competition, and forces the least efficient firms to leave the market, thereby affecting aggregate productivity. Since wage and productivity responses are endogenous, our model is well suited to studying the impact of trade integration on aggregate productivity and factor prices. Using Canada-US interregional trade data, we first estimate a system of theory-based gravity equations under the general equilibrium constraints generated by the model. Doing so allows us to measure 'border effects' and to decompose them into a 'pure' border effect, relative and absolute wage effects, and a selection effect. Using the estimated parameter values, we then quantify the impact of removing the Canada-US border on wages, productivity, mark-ups, the share of exporters, the mass of varieties produced and consumed, and thus welfare. Finally, we provide a similar quantification with respect to regional population changes. |
| Keywords: | heterogeneous firms; gravity equations; general equilibrium; monopolistic competition; variable demand elasticities |
| JEL: | F12 F15 F17 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:200903-23&r=lab |
| By: | John Schmitt; Ben Zipperer |
| Abstract: | This report updates an earlier report from January of 2007, which found a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It updates the index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign, using published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It also takes into consideration the increase in card-check organizing campaigns that began in the mid-1990s and adjusts the index for this factor. By 2007, pro-union workers involved in union election campaigns faced about a 1.8 percent chance of being illegally fired during the course of the campaign. If we assume that employers target union organizers and activists, and that union organizers and activists make up about 10 percent of pro-union workers, our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign. Since 2000, illegal firings have marred over one-in-four NLRB-sponsored union elections, reaching 30 percent of elections in 2007. |
| Keywords: | unions, organizing campaigns, union firings, illegal firings, NLRB, |
| JEL: | J J1 J3 J31 J32 J41 J5 J58 J6 J68 J88 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-08&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Bossuroy (EHESS, DIAL, IRD, Paris); Denis Cogneau (DIAL, IRD, Paris) |
| Abstract: | How fluid are African societies? This paper uses wide-sample nationally representative surveys to set down the first comparative measurement of the extent and features of the social mobility of men in five countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Intergenerational as well as intra-generational mobility between the farm and non-farm sectors are examined, and are linked to migration patterns on the one hand, educational development and mobility on the other hand. Two former British colonies, Ghana and Uganda, stand out with the highest level of social fluidity. Two former French Western colonies, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, come next. Last, Madagascar exhibits specifically large and sustained inequalities of opportunity. Comparisons between countries reveal how occupational mobility is linked to spatial and educational mobility. In the former French colonies, these latter forms of mobility are much selective on the origin variables, and appear as pre-requisites for the access to non-agricultural jobs. In the former British colonies, the links between origin, migration, education and occupational achievement appear much looser. Historical evidence suggests that these different structures are the product of policies and investments implemented differently by the two former colonial powers. This article thus presents original evidence on social mobility in Africa and highlights how institutions and policies shape it. _________________________________ Quel est le degré de fluidité des sociétés africaines ? Cet article mobilise des enquêtes nationalement représentatives à larges échantillons pour établir une première mesure comparative du niveau et des caractéristiques de la mobilité sociale des hommes dans cinq pays d'Afrique Sub-Saharienne. Les mobilités intergénérationnelle ainsi qu'intra-générationnelle entre les secteurs agricole et non-agricole sont examinés, et mis en relation avec les caractéristiques de la migration d'une part, avec le développement de l'éducation et la mobilité scolaire intergénérationnelle d'autre part. Deux anciennes colonies britanniques, le Ghana et l'Ouganda, ressortent avec le plus haut degré de fluidité sociale. Deux anciennes colonies françaises d'Afrique de l'Ouest, la Côte d'Ivoire et la Guinée, viennent ensuite. Enfin, Madagascar montre une inégalité des chances particulièrement élevée et durable. Les comparaisons entre pays révèlent que la mobilité professionnelle est liée à la mobilité spatiale et à la mobilité scolaire. Dans les anciennes colonies françaises, ces deux dernières formes de mobilité sont plus sélectives en fonction des variables d'origine sociale, et apparaissent comme des préconditions pour l'accès aux professions non-agricoles. Dans les anciennes colonies britanniques, les liens entre origine sociale, migration, éducation et destination professionnelle apparaissent beaucoup plus lâches. L'analyse historique suggère que ces structures différentes sont les produits de politiques et d'investissements mis en oeuvre de façon différente par les deux puissances coloniales. Cet article présente ainsi une série de faits originaux sur la mobilité sociale en Afrique et met en lumière comment les institutions et les politiques lui confèrent ses formes. |
| Keywords: | Social Mobility, Education, Intergenerational Transmission, Colonization, Dualism,Africa, Mobilité sociale, éducation, transmission intergénérationnelle, colonisation, dualisme,Afrique. |
| JEL: | J62 N37 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200810&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Dudel |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to show possible consequences of changes in labor force participation of women and the connection between fertility and labor force participation on the future demographic and economic development in Germany. For this purpose a projection model based on micro-data covering the population development as well as the development of the labor force is computed for different scenarios, varying in the extent of changes in female participation rates. The results point to a sharp decline in size of the total population and labor force as well as on negative effects of demographic development on growth, mediated through incompatibility of fertility and participation. It is argued that this incompatibility leads to a demographic dilemma, imposing negative effects on growth either in short or in long term. |
| JEL: | J11 J21 O40 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp158&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Elsby; Bart Hobijn; Aysegul Sahin |
| Abstract: | We provide a set of comparable estimates for the rates of inflow to and outflow from unemployment for 14 OECD economies using publicly available data. We then devise a method to decompose changes in unemployment into contributions accounted for by changes in inflow and outflow rates for cases where unemployment deviates from its flow steady state, as it does in many countries. Our decomposition reveals that fluctuations in both inflow and outflow rates contribute substantially to unemployment variation within countries. For Anglo-Saxon economies we find approximately a 20:80 inflow/outflow split to unemployment variation, while for Continental European and Nordic countries, we observe much closer to a 50:50 split. Using the estimated flow rates we compute gross worker flows into and out of unemployment. In all economies we observe that increases in inflows lead increases in unemployment, whereas outflows lag a ramp up in unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2009-04&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration, Department of Economics, University College London); Josep Mestres (Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration, Department of Economics, University College London) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the remittance behavior of immigrants and how it relates to temporary versus permanent migration plans. We use a unique data source that provides unusual detail on remittances and return plans, and follows the same household over time. Our data allows us also to distinguish between different purposes of remittances. We analyze the association between individual and household characteristics and the geographic location of the family as well as return plans, and remittances. The panel nature of our data allows us to condition on household fixed effects. To address measurement error and reverse causality, we use an instrumental variable estimator. Our results show that changes in return plans are related to large changes in remittance flows. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200909&r=lab |
| By: | Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Theodossiou, Ioannis |
| Abstract: | A ranking of a variety of incentive devices used by firms according to their perceived effectiveness by employees is identified. The determinants of employee incentive preferences are also investigated, suggesting a ‘menu’ of conditions under which an organization’s personnel policies will have maximum motivational impact on its workforce. Based on the beliefs of a unique sample of workers from seven European countries, the results suggest that (a) the primary determinant of the level of employee effort is the amount of discretion offered at work; (b) pay incentives and ‘gift exchanges’ are the most important motivators; (c) the use of monitoring and Taylor-type assembly lines are the least effective incentives; and (d) the optimal design of incentive strategies by firms is strongly shaped by a host of contextual factors. The expressed desire for autonomy, and distaste for control, by employees gives credibility to the “participative” management approach. |
| Keywords: | Incentives; effectiveness; effort; attitudes; employees |
| JEL: | C14 M54 M52 J33 |
| Date: | 2009–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14167&r=lab |
| By: | Pierpaolo Benigno; Luca Antonio Ricci |
| Abstract: | Wage setters take into account the future consequences of their current wage choices in the presence of downward nominal wage rigidities. Several interesting implications arise. First, a closed-form solution for a long-run Phillips curve relates average unemployment to average wage inflation; the curve is virtually vertical for high inflation rates but becomes flatter as inflation declines. Second, macroeconomic volatility shifts the Phillips curve outward, implying that stabilization policies can play an important role in shaping the trade-off. Third, nominal wages tend to be endogenously rigid also upward, at low inflation. Fourth, when inflation decreases, volatility of unemployment increases whereas the volatility of inflation decreases: this implies a long-run trade-off also between the volatility of unemployment and that of wage inflation. |
| Keywords: | Wage policy , Inflation , Unemployment , Price adjustments , Economic models , |
| Date: | 2009–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:09/34&r=lab |
| By: | Rose, Gus; Kingwell, Ross |
| Abstract: | Labour scarcity and affordability have encouraged many farmers in Western Australia to focus more on cropping than sheep production. Many farmers are opting to run low input livestock systems. This paper examines labour demand for sheep and cropping during the production year, combined with various scenarios of labour availability and cost. The implications for farm profitability and enterprise selection are examined using the bio-economic farming systems model MIDAS (Model of an Integrated Dryland Agricultural System). Labour requirements for sheep are far greater than those for cropping. Additionally the labour requirements for sheep are high in all production periods whilst the seasonal nature of cropping means more time is required only at certain times of the year, particularly at seeding and harvest. This means that the most profitable labour option is employing casual labour during periods of peak demand for cropping. The lesser relative profitability of the sheep enterprise makes employing a permanent worker the least profitable labour option. By contrast, employing casual labour during busy periods for cropping is more profitable but it is also associated with only small areas of perennial pastures being sown which has environmental implications. The logistics of employing labour at only certain times of the year compared to employing a full time worker means that farmers need to pay more per week to employ these workers or do the extra work themselves. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, labour, farm modelling, cropping, sheep, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare09:47947&r=lab |
| By: | Boris Branisa (Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen / Germany); Stephan Klasen (Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen / Germany); Maria Ziegler (Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen / Germany) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we construct the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) using variables of the OECD Gender, Institutions and Development database. Instead of measuring gender inequalities in education, health, economic or political participation, the SIGI allows a new perspective on gender issues. It is a composite measure of social institutions which are mirrored by societal practices and legal norms that produce inequalities between women and men in non-OECD countries. Empirical results confirm that the SIGI provides additional information to that of other wellknown gender-related indices. |
| Keywords: | SIGI, Composite index, Gender inequality, Social institutions, OECD-GID database |
| Date: | 2009–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:iaidps:184&r=lab |
| By: | Galimberti, Jaqueson Kingeski; Cupertino, César Medeiros |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a reassessment to the hypothesis that the persistence of current earnings performance is decreasing in the magnitude of the accrual component of earnings and increasing in the magnitude of the cash flow component of earnings. For this purpose, a threshold autoregressive panel unit root approach is proposed using a Fisher-type. This approach allowed us to distinguish between unconditioned and conditioned measures of persistence, making it possible to infer whether the earnings components condition its persistence. The approach was applied to a sample of 126 Brazilian firms in the period from 1995 to 2007. Our main results are the finding of relevant earnings persistence heterogeneity between the firms in the sample, a relatively lower unconditioned measure of earnings persistence, and a partial rejection of the hypothesis afore mentioned, specifically about the effects of the accruals components over the earnings persistence. |
| Keywords: | earnings persistence; accruals; threshold autoregressions; panel unit root tests |
| JEL: | M41 C23 G10 |
| Date: | 2009–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14237&r=lab |
| By: | Brendan Cushing-Daniels; C. Eugene Steuerle |
| Abstract: | Traditional analyses of retirement decisions focus on the age, from birth, of the individual making choices about how much to work, consume, and save for old age. However, remaining life expectancy is arguably a better way of examining these issues. As mortality rates decline, people at a given age now have more remaining years of life expectancy than they did in the past. If participation rates at older ages remain constant (or decline), then average time spent in retirement will increase. Additionally, because health status and mortality are correlated, adults with more expected years of life are generally in better health (and better able to work) than those with fewer years of remaining life. |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2009-1&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan Fahr (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, D-60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Fang Yao (Institute for Economic Theory, Humboldt University of Berlin, Spandauer Strasse 1, D-10178 Berlin, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the dynamic effects of lumpy factor adjustments at the firm level onto the aggregate economy. We find that distinguishing between capital and labour as lumpy factors within the production function result in very different dynamics for aggregate output, investment and labour in an otherwise standard real business cycle model. Lumpy capital leaves the RBC dynamics mainly unchanged, while lumpy labour allows for persistence and an inner propagation within the model in form of hump-shaped impulse responses. In addition, when modeling lumpy adjustments on both investment and labour, the aggregate effects are even stronger. We investigate the mechanisms underlying these results and identify the elasticity of factor supply as the most important element in accounting for these differences. JEL Classification: E32, E22, E24. |
| Keywords: | Lumpy labor adjustment, Lumpy investment, Business cycles, Elasticity of supply. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:200901016&r=lab |
| By: | Leonardo Gasparini (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Guillermo Cruces (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Leopoldo Tornarolli (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata); Mariana Marchionni (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents patterns and recent developments on different dimensions of inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). New comparative international evidence confirms that LAC is a region of high inequality, although maybe not the highest in the world. Income inequality has fallen in the 2000s, suggesting a turning point from the significant increases of the 1980s and 1990s. There have been some significant improvements toward the reduction in inequalities in the access to primary and secondary education, and to some services (water, sanitation, electricity, cell phones). However, there is an increasing gap between the rich and the poor in the access to tertiary education, and important differences in the access to new technologies. |
| Keywords: | inequality, distribution, education, Latin America, Caribbean |
| JEL: | C15 D31 I21 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0081&r=lab |
| By: | Christoph A. Schaltegger; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | This comment makes a contribution to Becker and Woessmann’s paper on a human capital theory of Protestant economic history eventually challenging the famous thesis by Max Weber who attributed economic success to a specific Protestant work ethic (Quarterly Journal of Economics 124 (2) (2009) forthcoming). The authors argue for a human capital approach: higher literacy among Protestants of the 19th century (and not a Protestant work ethic) contributed to higher economic prosperity at that point in history. However, the paper leaves the question open as to whether a Protestant specific work ethic existed or exists at all. Are there observable denomination-based differences in work ethic or is Protestantism only a veil hiding the underlying role of education? We use recent data to explore the role of Protestantism on work ethic. The results indicate that today’s work ethic in fact is influenced by denomination-based religiosity and also education. |
| Keywords: | Religion; Work Ethic; Protestantism; Education |
| JEL: | Z12 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2009-06&r=lab |
| By: | John Schmitt; Dean Baker |
| Abstract: | In 1982, the United States experienced the highest annual unemployment rate since the Great Depression – 9.7 percent. In principle, that rate is directly comparable to the 8.1 percent seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2009, and suggests that current unemployment is still not as bad as it was in 1982. The official unemployment rate, however, masks two important differences between the unemployment rate in 1982 and today. The first difference is demographic. In 1982, the US population was substantially younger than it is today. Even in an otherwise identical economy, we would expect a younger population to have a higher unemployment rate than an older population would. The second difference is statistical. The main government survey used to measure the unemployment rate – the Current Population Survey (CPS) reaches a smaller share of the population today than it did in 1982, and is especially likely to miss people who are not employed. As a result, the official unemployment rate understates the unemployment rate relative to 1982. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, unemployment rate |
| JEL: | O51 E E2 E24 J J1 J11 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-12&r=lab |
| By: | Omar Licandro; David de la Croix |
| Abstract: | We propose a new theory of the demographic transition based on the evidence that body development during childhood is an important predictor of adult life expectancy. This theory is embodied in an OLG framework where fertility, longevity and education all result from individual decisions. The model displays different regimes, allowing the economy to move slowly from an initial Malthusian regime towards the Modern era. The dynamics reproduces the key features of the demographic transition, including the permanent increase in life expectancy, resulting from improvements in body development, the hump in both population growth and fertility, and a late increase in secondary educational attainments. |
| Keywords: | Life Expectancy, Height, Education, Fertility, Mortality |
| JEL: | J11 I12 N30 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:765.09&r=lab |
| By: | Carlos Martin-Rios |
| Abstract: | Organizational control systems are a central phenomenon, yet despite their significance, research is dominated by top-down command-and-control approaches and contingent models of goaldirected behavior. This paper introduces and empirically explores the concept of accountability system: the set of norms and practices an organization puts in place to assess, reward, and sanction the work engagement and output of an individual. Data from seven organizations are used to explore whether organizations provide distinct, useful accountability systems for individuals working in complex, knowledge activities. The findings show that organizations are struggling to set up accountability systems around the notion of contribution what would help to direct attention and mobilize effort beyond the boundaries of hierarchical control systems. |
| Keywords: | Accountability system, Management control, Organization theory, Organization behavior, Knowledge-work, Contribution |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:campwp:campwp09_01&r=lab |
| By: | Kim Fredericq Evangelista (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Zouhair Alaoui Amine (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Danièle Meulders (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Sîle O'Dorchai (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Robert Plasman (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); François Rycx (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels) |
| Abstract: | Traditional measures of poverty and social exclusion are appropriate only to study the situation of single-member households. Once couples and other household configurations are considered these measures fail to capture real-life individual poverty risks given that they are based on the very strong, not to say incorrect, hypothesis of an equal sharing of income between partners. To address this failure in the traditional household-based poverty literature, this paper suggests an alternative and innovative approach to poverty analysis. It evaluates the risk of poverty at the individual rather than at the household level. The results of the analysis show great differences in individual incomes between men and women and important underestimation of women's poverty in Belgium using conventional poverty indicators. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:09-09rr&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Courtioux (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Il existe des marges de manœuvre pour augmenter les ressources de l'éducation du supérieur tout en préservant une forme d'équité, grâce à l'introduction de dispositifs de prêt à remboursement conditionnels au revenu. Ces dispositifs, sans grever le budget des étudiants durant leur période de formation initiale permet à la collectivité de recouvrer une partie de son investissement quand la carrière d'un diplômé du supérieur constitue une réussite financière du point de vue individuel. En retenant une version du dispositif plus légère que celle mise en œuvre en Australie, nos évaluations montrent que, en France, avec un taux progressif de remboursement variant entre 5-20% selon la tranche de revenu considérée, les dispositifs de prêts à remboursement conditionnel une fois arrivés à maturité permettraient de dégager jusqu'à 1,85 milliards d'euros chaque année. Ce montant est voisin du montant actuellement consacré aux aides individuelles pour l'éducation du supérieur. Cette participation des anciens étudiants à l'investissement publique dont ils ont bénéficié modifie très faiblement le taux de rendement des différents diplômes, mais n'affecte pas leur hiérarchie. De plus, les risques d'optimisation fiscale et de fuite devant les remboursements des annuités restent très faibles. |
| Keywords: | éducation ; microsimulation ; prêt |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00370094_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Courtioux (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Ce papier analyse la mise en place de dispositifs de prêts à remboursement conditionnel au revenu pour l'éducation du supérieur (PARC) dans un contexte institutionnel particulier qui se caractérise par (i) un système d'accès gratuit en place préalablement et (ii) une grande hétérogénéité dans les diplômes, leurs qualités et leurs coûts se traduisant par des effets sur les carrières des anciens étudiants. Dans ce cas particulier, la mise en place de PARC conduit à un arbitrage entre une amélioration de ‘l'équité' des carrières (en termes de dépenses publiques collectives versus gains individuels), et l'élargissement de ‘trappes à basse éducation'. Sur la base d'un modèle de microsimulation dynamique, nous proposons une évaluation ex ante de l'élargissement de ces trappes. Nous concluons que le risque de cet élargissement reste très faible pour la France. |
| Date: | 2008–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00369986_v1&r=lab |