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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Carol S. Lehr (Department of Economics, VCU School of Business) |
| Abstract: | During the 1940s wages compressed dramatically and the dispersion of returns to education and experience declined. This paper shows that the change in the 1940s wage structure arises from a compression in the distribution of mean wages between occupations. The compression results from labor market shortages caused both by economic mobilization and the selective nature of the draft. The war increased demand for relatively low skilled labor and induction policies protected many highly skilled occupations while inducting most heavily from lower-skilled occupations. These factors help to explain compression in both the upper and the lower portions of the male wage distribution and provide the mechanism linking war-time labor market shocks to the decline in the return to education. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, war mobilization, occupation skill |
| JEL: | E24 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vcu:wpaper:0901&r=lab |
| By: | De Walque, Gregory (National Bank of Belgium); Pierrard, Olivier (Catholic University of Louvain); Sneessens, Henri (Catholic University of Louvain); Wouters, Raf (National Bank of Belgium) |
| Abstract: | We consider a model with frictional unemployment and staggered wage bargaining where hours worked are negotiated every period. The workers' bargaining power in the hours negotiation affects both unemployment volatility and inflation persistence. The closer to zero this parameter, (i) the more firms adjust on the intensive margin, reducing employment volatility, (ii) the lower the effective workers' bargaining power for wages and (iii) the more important the hourly wage in the marginal cost determination. This set-up produces realistic labor market statistics together with inflation persistence. Distinguishing the probability to bargain the wage of the existing and the new jobs, we show that the intensive margin helps reduce the new entrants wage rigidity required to match observed unemployment volatility. |
| Keywords: | DSGE, search and matching, nominal wage rigidity, monetary policy |
| JEL: | E31 E32 E52 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4059&r=lab |
| By: | Bezerra, Márcio Eduardo G. (University of Sao Paulo); Kassouf, Ana Lucia (University of Sao Paulo); Arends-Kuenning, Mary P. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of child labor on school achievement using Brazilian school achievement test data from the 2003 Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Básica (SAEB). We control for the endogeneity of child labor using instrumental variable techniques, where the instrumental variable is the average wage for unskilled male labor in the state. Using our preferred OLS estimates, we find that child labor causes a loss in students' school achievement. Children and adolescents who do not work have better school performance than students who work. Up to two hours of work per day do not have a statistically significant effect on school performance, but additional hours decrease student's achievement. Differences in work conditions affect school performance. For high school students in Portuguese, compared to students who have schooling as their only activity, students who work only at home score 4 percent lower on the tests. Those students who only work outside the house are worse off than those who only work within the house, with test scores decreasing by 5 percent. Students who work both inside and outside the house have the lowest test scores of all the working conditions, decreasing by up to 7 percent. |
| Keywords: | child labor, school achievement, Brazil |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J22 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4062&r=lab |
| By: | Addison, John T. (University of South Carolina); Surfield, Christopher J. (Saginaw Valley State University) |
| Abstract: | Atypical employment arrangements such as agency temporary work and contracting have long been criticized as offering more precarious and unstable work than regular employment. Using data from two datasets – the CAEAS and the NLSY79 – we determine whether workers who take such jobs rather than regular employment, or the alternative of continued job search, subsequently experience greater or lesser employment continuity. Observed differences between the various working arrangements are starkest when we do not account for unobserved individual heterogeneity. Controlling for the latter, we report that the advantage of regular work over atypical work and atypical work over continued joblessness dissipates. |
| Keywords: | atypical work, open-ended work, employment continuity, unemployment, inactivity |
| JEL: | J40 J60 J63 M50 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4065&r=lab |
| By: | de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country) |
| Abstract: | The 2004 and 2007 EU enlargement has led to a significant increase in the immigration flow to Spain. Individuals from the new-EU-12 countries accounted for no more than 10% of the whole Spanish immigrant population in 2004, but by 2008 they accounted for almost 20% of the total flow of immigrants. As of 2008, immigrants from Bulgaria, Poland and Rumania account for 97 percent of new-EU-12 immigrants. These immigrants are younger, and the vast majority of them are educated to secondary level. Their employment rate is higher than that of natives, but they are hit harder by unemployment than natives. Our results point to two conclusions from a policy prospective: first, the EU enlargement has significantly improved legal immigration from new-EU-12 countries. Second, the lack of employment assimilation in terms of job quality for workers from the new-EU-12 countries may discourage the entrance of highly qualified workers. The Spanish authorities should provide on-the-job training for these qualified workers so that they can find adequate job prospects in Spain and decide to stay. |
| Keywords: | EU enlargement, immigration, assimilation |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4104&r=lab |
| By: | Troske, Kenneth (University of Kentucky); Voicu, Alexandru (CUNY - College of Staten Island) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the way women's education influences the effect of children on their level of labor market involvement. We propose an econometric model that accounts for the endogeneity of labor market and fertility decisions, for the heterogeneity of the effects of children and their correlation with the fertility decisions, and for the correlation of sequential labor market decisions. We estimate the model using panel data from NLSY79. Our results show that women with higher education work more before the birth of the first child, but children have larger negative effects on their level of labor market involvement. Differences across education levels are more pronounced with respect to full time employment than with respect to participation. Other things equal, higher wages reduce the effect of children on labor supply. Controlling for wages, women with higher education face larger negative effects of children on labor supply, which suggest they are characterized by a combination of higher marginal product of time spent in the production of child quality and higher marginal product of time relative to the marginal product of other inputs into the production of child quality. |
| Keywords: | female labor supply, education, endogenous fertility decisions, heterogeneous children effects, multinomial probit model, Gibbs sampler |
| JEL: | C11 C15 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4074&r=lab |
| By: | Gatti, Donatella (University of Paris 13); Vaubourg, Anne-Gaël (University of Orléans) |
| Abstract: | Using data for 18 OECD countries over the period 1980-2004, we investigate how labour and financial factors interact to determine unemployment. We show that the impact of financial variables depends strongly on the labour market context. Increased market capitalization as well as decreased banking concentration reduce unemployment if the level of labour market regulation, union density and coordination in wage bargaining is low. The above financial variables have no effect otherwise. Increasing intermediated credit worsens unemployment when the labour market is weakly regulated and coordinated, whereas it reduces unemployment otherwise. These results suggest that the respective virtues of bank-based and market-based finance are crucially tied to the strength of labour regulation. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, institutional complementarities and substitutabilities, labour market, financial system |
| JEL: | E24 J23 P17 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4075&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Marx, Paul (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Germany has always been one of the prime examples of institutional complementarities between social insurance, a rather passive welfare state, strong employment protection and collective bargaining that stabilize diversified quality production. This institutional arrangement was criticized for being the main cause of inferior labor market performance and increasing fiscal pressure on the welfare state while at the same time inhibiting institutional change. However, over the last 15 years, a sequence of institutional reforms has fundamentally modified the functioning of the German labor market and increased both flexibility and job creation capacities through two intimately linked processes that redefined the line between inactivity, the flexible and the standard segment of the labor market. On the one hand, policy changes facilitated the expansion of flexible or 'atypical' jobs, whereas increasing flexibility of the standard employment relationship resulted from wage moderation and working time flexibility. While at the outset of this reform sequence German had a small, but relatively egalitarian labor market, the number of jobs, but also their diversity has increased. |
| Keywords: | Germany, labor market reforms, atypical employment, standard employment relationship |
| JEL: | J38 J51 J41 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4100&r=lab |
| By: | Haile, Getinet Astatike (Policy Studies Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to establish empirically the link between workplace gender diversity and employee job-related well-being. Using nationally representative linked employer-employee data for Britain, I employ econometric techniques that account for unobserved workplace heterogeneity. I find that gender diversity is associated with lower employee well-being among women in several of the equations estimated. The magnitudes of the estimated effects also tend to increase with (women's) group size. Workplace equality policies do not appear to ameliorate these effects. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, job-related well-being, linked employer-employee data, Britain |
| JEL: | J16 J82 J7 I31 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4077&r=lab |
| By: | Hairault, Jean-Olivier (University of Paris 1); Langot, François (University of Le Mans); Ménard, Sébastien (GAINS, Université du Maine); Sopraseuth, Thepthida (GAINS, Université du Maine) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that optimal unemployment insurance contracts are age-dependent. Older workers have only a few years left on the labor market prior to retirement. This short horizon implies a more digressive replacement ratio. However, there is a sufficiently short distance to retirement for which flat unemployment benefits can be the optimal contract as the nearly retired unemployed workers rationally expect never to suffer from the punishment. This is why imposing a tax on the future job is particularly efficient in the context of older workers because the agency can now reward the job search by present employment subsidies. Moreover, we propose adopting a global approach to unemployment insurance by determining an optimal contract that integrates unemployment insurance and retirement pension systems. |
| Keywords: | unemployment insurance, retirement, recursive contracts, moral hazard |
| JEL: | C61 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4071&r=lab |
| By: | Surfield, Christopher; Welch, William |
| Abstract: | Atypical work forms – such as independent contracting, on-call, or temporary work – have been criticized as providing employment that is more precarious than that offered by regular (open-ended) employment. One of the concerns attached to these work forms is that they allow employers to evade labor market protections afforded to regular workers. In such cases, we might be expected to see a greater prevalence of atypical workers in those states with greater labor market protections. We test for this possibility using Current Population Survey data from 1995 to 2005. Our results would suggest that at least one form of atypical work – contracting and consulting work – is less likely to be observed in right-to-work states after controlling for state-level characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Atypical work; Employment regulation; Temporary employment |
| JEL: | J40 M51 J50 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14462&r=lab |
| By: | Haile, Getinet Astatike (Policy Studies Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of job satisfaction in Britain using nationally representative linked employer-employee data (WERS2004) and alternative econometric techniques. It uses eight facets of job satisfaction for the purpose. As well as underscoring the importance of accounting for unobserved workplace heterogeneity, the paper is able to highlight some new findings that relate to differential effects of dependent children and other dependents, type of employment contract and gaps between employees' skill and skills requirements of their job. Working long hours is found to be positively associated with intrinsic aspect of jobs. Public sector employment is positively associated with all facets of job satisfaction except satisfaction with pay. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, linked employer-employee data, Britain |
| JEL: | J28 I31 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4101&r=lab |
| By: | Joana Costa (International Poverty Centre); Elydia Silva (International Poverty Centre); Fábio Vaz (Institute for Applied Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This Working Paper investigates the possible link between gender inequalities in the labour market and significant economic outcomes such as income growth, poverty and inequality indicators. Our analysis is based on microsimulations for eight Latin American countries. We consider four aspects of gender inequalities: differences in labour market participation, differences in occupational status, wage discrimination and differences in characteristics. Our findings highlight the relevance of gender equality, especially an increase in women?s access to the labour market, in bringing about a reduction in poverty and inequality. |
| Keywords: | The Role of Gender Inequalities in Explaining Income Growth, Poverty and Inequality: Evidence from Latin American Countries |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:52&r=lab |
| By: | HANS G. BLOEMEN; SILVIA PASQUA; ELENA G. F. STANCANELLI |
| 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: | Female Labor Supply, Fertility, Discrete Choice, Classification Error, Simulated Maximum Likelihood |
| JEL: | D1 D13 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp18_08&r=lab |
| By: | Antonczyk, Dirk; Fitzenberger, Bernd; Leuschner, Ute |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the changes in the German wage structure for fulltime working males from 1999 to 2006. Our analysis builds on the task–based approach introduced by Autor et al. (2003), as implemented by Spitz-Oener (2006) for Germany, and also accounts for job complexity. We perform a Blinder–Oaxaca type decomposition of the changes in the entire wage distribution between 1999 and 2006 into the separate effects of personal characteristics and task assignments. In line with the literature, we find a noticeable increase of wage inequality between 1999 and 2006. The decomposition results show that the changes in personal characteristics explain some of the increase in wage inequality whereas the changes in task assignments strongly work towards reducing wage inequality. The coefficient effect for personal characteristics works towards an increase in wage inequality at the top of the wage distribution. The coefficient effect for the task assignments on the contrary shows an inverted U–shaped pattern. We conclude that altogether the task–based approach can not explain the recent increase of wage inequality in Germany. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, occupations, tasks, skill biased technical change, polarization |
| JEL: | C43 D31 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7522&r=lab |
| By: | van Ham, Maarten (University of St. Andrews); Manley, David (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of different levels of neighbourhood housing tenure mix on transitions from unemployment to employment and the probability of staying in employment for those with a job. We used individual level data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS), a 5.3% sample of the Scottish population, covering a 10 year period. We found a strong negative correlation between living in deprived neighbourhoods and labour market outcomes (getting or keeping a job). We found a small, but significant, positive correlation between living in mixed tenure (40-80% social housing) streets and transitions from unemployment to employment. In the conclusion we discuss the extent to which we think these results can be interpreted as 'neighbourhood effects' or selection effects. |
| Keywords: | tenure mix, deprivation, neighbourhood effects, labour market transitions, longitudinal data, Scotland |
| JEL: | I30 J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4094&r=lab |
| By: | Haan, Peter (DIW Berlin); Prowse, Victoria L. (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a dynamic structural life-cycle model of employment, non-employment and retirement that includes endogenous accumulation of human capital and intertemporal non-separabilities in preferences. Additionally, the model accounts for the effect of the tax and transfer system on work incentives. The structural parameter estimates are used to evaluate the effects of a tax reform targeted at low income individuals on employment behavior and retirement decisions. |
| Keywords: | life-cycle labor supply, income taxation |
| JEL: | C23 C25 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4102&r=lab |
| By: | Even, William E. (Miami University); Macpherson, David A. (Florida State University) |
| Abstract: | This study shows that the wage premium paid by large firms fell over the past 20 years and that the decline in the size premium has been most pronounced among the least educated work force. Empirical evidence supports several explanations for the decline in the size premium. First, there has been a convergence in the returns to worker characteristics at large and small firms over time. Second, there has been a convergence in the types of workers employed at small and large firms. Particularly important have been changes in the distribution of workers across industries and the greater rate of decline in unionism at large firms. |
| Keywords: | firm size, wages, fringe benefits |
| JEL: | J31 J32 J33 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4082&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Haan; Victoria Prowse |
| Abstract: | We estimate a dynamic structural life-cycle model of employment, non-employment and retirement that includes endogenous accumulation of human capital and intertemporal non- separabilities in preferences. Additionally, the model accounts for the effect of the tax and transfer system on work incentives. The structural parameter estimates are used to evaluate the effects of a tax reform targeted at low income individuals on employment behavior and retirement decisions. |
| Keywords: | Life-cycle labor supply, income taxation |
| JEL: | C23 C25 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp877&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Matysiak (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Daniele Vignoli (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This goal of this study is to add to our understanding of the impact of women’s human capital accumulation on the timing of first births. Applying intensity regression to national retrospective data, we examined the transition to motherhood in Italy and Poland. These countries share several similarities – Catholicism, strong family ties, and considerable tensions between fertility and work – but also differ in female labor supply developments. Our life-course study illustrates that paid employment clearly discourages childbearing in Italy, at least among low- and medium-educated women. In Poland, by contrast, employment functions as a precondition to childbearing, irrespective of a woman’s educational level. |
| Keywords: | Italy, Poland, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2009-011&r=lab |
| By: | Schweri, Jürg (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training); Hartog, Joop (University of Amsterdam); Wolter, Stefan (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We use a unique data set about the wage distribution that Swiss students expect for themselves ex ante, deriving parametric and non-parametric measures to capture expected wage risk. These wage risk measures are unfettered by heterogeneity which handicapped the use of actual market wage dispersion as risk measure in earlier studies. Students in our sample anticipate that the market provides compensation for risk, as has been established with Risk Augmented Mincer earnings equations estimated on market data: higher wage risk for educational groups is associated with higher mean wages. With observations on risk as expected by students we find compensation at similar elasticities as observed in market data. The results are robust to different specifications and estimation models. |
| Keywords: | wage, expectations, wage risk, risk compensation, skewness |
| JEL: | D8 I2 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4069&r=lab |
| By: | Margherita Coloma; Luiz de Mello |
| Abstract: | This paper uses household survey (Sakernas) data from the 1996 and 2004 to estimate the determinants of earnings in Indonesia. The Indonesian labour market is segmented, with a majority of workers engaged in informal-sector occupations, and earnings data are available only for formal-sector workers (salaried employees). This posed problems for the estimation of earnings equations, because selection into different labour market statuses is likely to be non-random. In order to describe selection into different labour market statuses we use the most general version of the method proposed by Dubin and McFadden (1984), which Bourguignon, Fournier and Gurgand (2007) proved to be preferable to other available multinomial selection methods. We also deal with reverse causality between education attainment and earnings by estimating the selection equations using an instrumental variable technique. Our findings cast doubt on the use of a binomial selection rule and suggest that workers with higher levels of educational attainment are most likely to find a job in the formal sector, and that the informal sector is perceived by those workers who cannot obtain a job in the formal sector as an alternative to inactivity. This Working Paper relates to the 2008 OECD Economic Assessment of Indonesia (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/indonesia).<P>Les facteurs déterminants de l’emploi et des revenus en Indonésie : Une approche de sélection multinomiale<BR>Ce document estime les revenus en Indonésie sur la base des donnés des enquêtes auprès des ménages (Sakernas) de 1996 et 2004. Le marché du travail indonésien est segmenté, avec une majorité des travailleurs occupée dans le secteur informel, et les données sur les revenus sont disponibles que pour les salariés du secteur formel. Ceci présente des problèmes pour estimer les équations sur les revenus, car la catégorisation en fonction du statut sur le marché du travail doit être non-aléatoire. Pour décrire cette catégorisation, nous utilisons une version plus générale de la méthode proposée par Dubin et McFadden (1984), que Bourguignon, Fournier et Gurgand (2007) ont montré comme préférable à toutes autres méthodes de sélection multinomiale. Nos conclusions mettent en doute l’emploi d’une règle de sélection binomiale, et impliquent que les travailleurs ayant les plus hauts niveaux d’éducation sont les plus susceptibles de trouver un travail dans le secteur formel et que le secteur informel est perçu comme une alternative à l’inactivité par les travailleurs qui n’ont pas eu de travail dans le secteur formel. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Évaluation économique de l’OCDE de l’Indonésie, 2008 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/indonesie). |
| Keywords: | employment, emploi, earnings, Indonesia, Indonésie, multimonial section, sélection multimoniale, revenus |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:690-en&r=lab |
| By: | Palokangas, Tapio K. (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines an economic union where oligopolistic firms produce by skilled and unskilled labor and do in-house R&D by skilled labor. The planner of the union accepts new members to the union, regulates the labor market through a minimum wage for unskilled labor and supports firms by taxation. Firms and workers lobby the planner for prospective policy. It is shown that in the political equilibrium small unions regulate the labor market but do not support firms, while large unions deregulate the labor market and support firms. |
| Keywords: | economic integration, minimum wage, market power, endogenous technological change |
| JEL: | F15 J50 O40 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4096&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Schettkat (Department of Economics University of Wuppertal); Rongrong Sun (Department of Economics University of Wuppertal) |
| Abstract: | Almost all institutions - employment protection legislation, unions, wages, wage structure, unemployment insurance, etc. - have been alleged and found guilty to have caused this tragic development at some point in the long history of rising and persistent unemployment in Europe. US labor market institutions, assumed to leave markets unfettered, became the benchmark for Europe. Based on the assertion of neutrality of monetary policy in the medium and long run, the search for causes of European unemployment has shielded away from the policy of central banks. Actually, however, the institutional setup regarding monetary policy is very different between the FED and the Bundesbank (ECB). We argue that the interaction of negative external shocks and tight monetary policies may have been the major - although probably not the only - cause of unemployment in Europe remaining at ever higher levels each recession. We identify the monetary policy of the Bundesbank as asymmetrical in the sense that the Bank did not actively fight recessions, but that it dampened recovery periods. |
| Keywords: | Production; Employment; Unemployment; Monetary Policy; Central Banks and Their Policies |
| JEL: | E23 E24 E42 E43 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:schdps:sdp09003&r=lab |
| By: | Hemerijck, Anton (WRR Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy); Eichhorst, Werner (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The paper challenges the widespread view that Bismarckian countries with a strong role of social insurance and labor market regulation are less successful than other employment regimes and hard to reforms. This has been true about a decade ago. But both the institutional set-up and the performance of BIsmarckian countries have changed fundamentally over the last years. The paper summarizes major reform dynamics in Bismarckian welfare states which had adopted a strategy of labor shedding in the 1970s and 1980s to combat open unemployment. As this was associated with an increasing burden of non-wage labor costs, this triggered a sequence of more employment-oriented and more fundamental reforms that eventually helped overcome a low employment situation. The paper pursues the trajectory of reforms, shows the structural change in labor market performance and points out the achievements of past reforms, but also emphasizes the need for further action in terms of education and training, activation and employment opportunities for all working age people in these countries so that flexibility and security can be reconciled. |
| Keywords: | Bismarckian welfare states, social insurance, social policy, employment, labor market policies |
| JEL: | J26 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4085&r=lab |
| By: | Lindeboom, Maarten (Free University Amsterdam); Lundborg, Petter (Free University Amsterdam); van der Klaauw, Bas (Free University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of obesity on wages and employment, using data from the British NCDS. The results show a significant negative association between obesity and labor market outcomes even after controlling for a rich set of demographic, socioeconomic, environmental and behavioral variables. After instrumenting with parental obesity the associations are no longer significant. We show that the intergenerational correlation in obesity is mainly due to genetic variation. However, the instruments do not always pass the overidentification tests and are sometimes weak. We are therefore somewhat sceptical about using parental obesity as an instrument. |
| Keywords: | obesity, wages, employment, labor, endogeneity |
| JEL: | I10 J10 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4099&r=lab |
| By: | Gürtzgen, Nicole |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between wages and the degree of firm heterogeneity in a given industry under different wage setting structures. To derive testable hypotheses, we set up a theoretical model that analyses the sensitivity of wages to the variability in productivity conditions in a unionsised oligopoly framework. The model distinguishes centralised and decentralised wage determination. The theoretical results predict wages to be negatively associated with the degree of firm heterogeneity under centralised wage-setting, as unions internalise negative externalities of a wage increase for low-productivity firms. We test this prediction using a linked employeremployee panel data set from the German mining and manufacturing sector. Consistent with our hypotheses, the empirical results suggest that under industry-level bargaining workers in more heterogeneous sectors receive lower wages than workers in more homogeneous sectors. In contrast, the degree of firm heterogeneity is found to have no negative impact on wages in uncovered firms and under firm-level contracts. |
| Keywords: | Wage-Setting Structure, Unions, Oligopoly, Linked Employer-Employee Data |
| JEL: | C23 J31 J51 L13 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7520&r=lab |
| By: | Avner Offer (All Souls College, Oxford) |
| Abstract: | A large majority of the labour force were manual workers in 1960. As voters, they had electoral power to pursue collective goods. As producers they were able to disrupt production. The majority left school with no qualifications. Their human capital consisted of skills specific to particular production processes. These became obsolete with de-industrialization, and with the large rise in secondary and higher education. Educated workers relied more on individual bargaining power, and less on collective goods. Casting workers as consumers rather than citizens or producers punished those with low purchasing power, it de-legitimized producer collective action and justified low wages. Poverty increased and relative wages fell. Rising productivity was partly offset by rising house prices and longer household working hours. Council-house sales enfranchised a minority and penalized the rest. The majority continued to identify as working class, but their culture was discredited by market liberalism and consumerism. |
| Keywords: | manual labour, human capital, skills, consumerism, housing, market liberalism |
| Date: | 2008–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_074&r=lab |
| By: | George A. Christodoulakis (Manchester Business School, University of Manchester); Emmanuel C. Mamatzakis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on labour market dynamics in the EU 15 using Markov Chains for proportions of aggregate data for the first time in this literature. We apply a Bayesian approach, which employs a Monte Carlo Integration procedure that uncovers the entire empirical posterior distribution of transition probabilities from full employment to part employment, temporary employment and unemployment and vice a versa. Thus, statistical inferences are readily available. Our results show that there are substantial variations in the transition probabilities across countries, implying that the convergence of the EU-15 labour markets is far from completed. However, some common patterns are observed as countries with flexible labour markets exhibit similar transition probabilities between different states of the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Employment, Unemployment, Markov Chains. |
| JEL: | C53 E24 E27 E37 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2009_07&r=lab |
| By: | Gibbons, Steve (London School of Economics); Silva, Olmo (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We provide estimates for the effect of attending a Faith school on educational achievement using a census of primary school pupils in England. We argue that there are no credible instruments for Faith school attendance in this context. Instead, we partially control for selection into religious schooling by tracking pupils over time and comparing attainments of students who exhibit different levels of commitment to religious education through their choice of secondary school and residence. Using this approach, we find only a small advantage from Faith primary schooling, worth about 1 percentile on age-11 test scores. Moreover, this is linked to autonomous admissions and governance arrangements, and not to religious character of the schools. We then go on to show that our estimates vary substantially across pupil subgroups that exhibit different levels of sorting on observable characteristics into Faith schooling, and provide bounds on what the 'Faith school effect' would be in the absence of sorting and selection. Pupils with a high degree of observable-sorting into Faith schools have an age-11 test score advantage of up to 2.7 percentiles. On the other hand, pupils showing a very low degree of sorting on observables have zero or negative gains. It appears that most of the apparent advantage of Faith school education in England can be explained by differences between the pupils who attend these schools and those who do not. |
| Keywords: | faith school, primary schools, pupil achievement |
| JEL: | I20 J24 Z12 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4089&r=lab |
| By: | Mihaela Dobre (Lecturer Ph.D., Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania); Dorel Ailenei (Professor Ph.D., Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania); Coralia Angelescu (Professor Ph.D., Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | Discrimination under its various manifestations will always represent a contemporary current issue. Discrimination's expressions emerge when a group of individuals sharing common characteristics (such as religious convictions, certain race or gender, etc) is discriminated regardless their own labor productivity. The empirical data demonstrated that differences in productivity are not entirely explained by the income differences between men and women. G. Becker (1971) was the founder of the modern economic theory of discrimination, which was developed later by Arrow (1973). The two researchers considered that people tend to have different behaviors pattern related to the people they work with, to supervisors and buyers and ultimately they claim compensation in order to work with the members of such a discriminated group. The main focus in the specialized literature was to understand how authority is distributed in accordance with sex, religion, race, ethnic group, age, etc (H.L.Moore-1988). Discrimination may be generated both by employer and employee when the latter refuse to work with a certain group or claim for a supplementary compensation in order to work with it. In Romania, discrimination is still widely spread mainly in rural areas. The occupational ratio for men was 64,6% compared to 53% for women according to data provided by EUROSTAT in 2006. The equality of chances between men and women persist on fairly low levels according to the "The Global Gender Gap Report 2006" issued by World Economic, Forum in 2006. Romania is ranked 46 among a list of 115 countries, having the same score as Ukraine, Uganda and Trinidad-Tobago. Romania is well ranked in the field of education and health areas. In spite of this, Romania registers a low level in case of representation of women at political level, in terms of salary policy, as the authors emphasize that the ratio between woman's salary and man's salary represents 0.64. As stated by the euro barometer of European Commission published in July 2006, the most common forms of discrimination are: ethnic discrimination (64%), disability discrimination (53%), sexual orientation discrimination (50%), age discrimination (46%), religion discrimination (44%), gender discrimination (40%). In terms of worker's gender discrimination Italy and Spain recorded the highest level: 56% in case of Italy and 51% in case of Spain. Romania also registered a high level of discrimination of approximately 32%. Disparities between men's wages and women's wages are determined by level of qualifications and hierarchical position at work place. Statistical data published by EUROSTAT for 2007 showed that women's average income is 13% lower than men's as worked performed is similar to men's. The current paper has as main objective to study the structural changes in Romania, which have influenced the salary differences between men and women on the labor market. Key words: discrimination, labor market, asymmetric information, and occupation rate.JEL: J01, J15, 16This paper was presented on May 23, 2008, at the 18th International Conference of the International Trade and Finance Association, meeting at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. |
| Date: | 2008–08–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bep:itfapp:1137&r=lab |
| By: | Pierenkemper, Toni (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | The following paper attempts to trace the construction of the standard employment contract in Germany from the beginning of the 19th century onwards. It was from this point in time that wage labour slowly came into being and later on developed more broadly. At first, state regulations were implemented to protect the workforce against exploitation by industrial entrepreneurs (laws on working hours, trading regulations etc.). Later on, as the state grew wealthier, the opportunity arose to create a social insurance system, to protect working people against basic risks. Finally, workers' and entrepreneurs' organisations participated in the market and collectively agreed on regulations of employment relationships. Alongside the consolidation of the welfare state, this type of employment was reinforced in Germany in the 20th century and finally developed into the modern concept of the standard employment contract. However, due to the forces of globalization and the dynamics of capitalist market economies, it seems that the standard employment contract has turned into an obstacle in the way of modern economy’s progress. Its achievements are threatened in many ways: the future will seemingly be determined by increasing work flexibility, rising working hours, falling income and increasing unemployment rates, rendering the standard employment contract anachronistic and obsolete. |
| Keywords: | economic history, standard employment, Germany |
| JEL: | N33 N34 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4068&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Ferrall (Queen's University); Kjell G. Salvanes (Norwegian School of Economics); Erik Ø. Sørensen (Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We develop an equilibrium model of wages and estimate it using administrative data from Norway. Coworkers interact through a task-assignment model, and wages are determined through multi-lateral bargaining over the surplus that accrues to the workforce. Seniority affects wages through workplace output and relative bargaining power. These channels are separately identified by imposing equilibrium restrictions on data observing all workers within workplaces. We find joint production is important. Seniority affects bargaining power but is unproductive. We reinterpret gender and firm-size effects in wages in light of the rejection of linearly separable production. |
| Keywords: | Wage Distributions, Productivity, Matched Data, Multilateral Bargaining, Assignment Models |
| JEL: | D2 J3 J24 L25 J7 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1200&r=lab |
| By: | Palokangas, Tapio K. (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines an economy with a large number of industries, each producing a different good. Technological change follows a Poisson process where firms improve their productivity through investment in R&D. The less there are firms in the economy or the more they can coordinate their actions, the higher their profits. Labor is used in production or R&D. All workers are unionized and their wages depend on relative union bargaining power. If this power is high enough, then there is involuntary unemployment. Both workers and firms lobby the central planner of the economy which affects firms' and unions' market power. The main findings of the paper can be summarized the follows. The central planner can increase its welfare either (a) by increasing the level of income or (b) by speeding up economic growth. If (a) is more effective than (b), then the central planner eliminates union power altogether to have full employment. On the other hand, if (b) is more effective than (a), then the central planner supports labor unions to promote cost-escaping R&D. |
| Keywords: | economic integration, labor unions, market power, endogenous technological change |
| JEL: | F15 J50 O40 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4091&r=lab |
| By: | Graversen, Brian Krogh (SFI - Danish National Centre for Social Research); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| 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: | unemployment insurance, unemployment duration, experiment, activation programs |
| JEL: | C41 H55 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4079&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas J. Holmes; Julia Thornton Snider |
| Abstract: | We develop a theory of outsourcing in which there is market power in one factor market (labor) and no market power in a second factor market (capital). There are two intermediate goods: one labor-intensive and the other capital-intensive. We show there is always outsourcing in the market allocation when a friction limiting outsourcing is not too big. The key factor underlying the result is that labor demand is more elastic, the greater the labor share. Integrated plants pay higher wages than the specialist producers of labor-intensive intermediates. We derive conditions under which there are multiple equilibria that vary in the degree of outsourcing. Across these equilibria, wages are lower the greater the degree of outsourcing. Wages fall when outsourcing increases in response to a decline in the outsourcing friction. |
| JEL: | J31 L22 L23 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14856&r=lab |
| By: | Koskela, Erkki (University of Helsinki); König, Jan (Free University of Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the following question associated with flexible outsourcing under imperfect domestic labour market: How does the implementation of profit sharing influence flexible outsourcing? We show that in general profit sharing has a negative effect on low skilled wage and thus an outsourcing decreasing character. However due to labour union determination of effort a constant effort level will result so that in this case firm's optimal choice of profit sharing is zero. |
| Keywords: | flexible outsourcing, profit sharing, labour market imperfection |
| JEL: | E24 J23 J33 J51 J82 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4063&r=lab |
| By: | Albrecht, James (Georgetown University); Navarro, Lucas (Universidad Alberto Hurtado); Vroman, Susan (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | We show that in a search/matching model with endogenous participation in which workers are heterogeneous with respect to market productivity, satisfying the Hosios rule leads to excessive vacancy creation. The reason is that the marginal worker does not internalize the effect of his or her participation on average productivity. |
| Keywords: | search, matching, efficiency, participation, Hosios rule |
| JEL: | D8 J6 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4097&r=lab |
| By: | Huber, Martin (University of St. Gallen); Lechner, Michael (University of St. Gallen); Wunsch, Conny (University of St. Gallen); Walter, Thomas (ZEW Mannheim) |
| 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: | welfare-to-work policies, propensity score matching, programme evaluation, panel data, targeting |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4090&r=lab |
| By: | Andersson Joona, Pernilla (SOFI, Stockholm University); Nekby, Lena (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | A Trial Introduction Program (TIP) for newly-arrived immigrants to Sweden was implemented from October 2006 to June 2008 in order to meet the main criticisms directed at existing introduction programs. Two primary innovations were introduced, flexible language instruction parallel with other labor market activities at the Public Employment Service (PES) and intensive counseling and coaching by PES caseworkers with considerably reduced caseloads. Within participating municipalities, newly-arrived immigrants were randomly assigned into TIP (treatment) or regular introduction programs (control). Results indicate significant treatment effects on the probability of attaining regular employment as well as the probability of entering intermediate PES training programs. Hazard rates into PES training programs were also significantly higher for participants in TIP in comparison to participants in regular introduction programs. |
| Keywords: | labor market policy evaluation, integration, introduction programs, experiment |
| JEL: | J15 J64 J68 J61 C41 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4072&r=lab |
| By: | Croce, Giuseppe; Ghignoni, Emanuela |
| Abstract: | Following suggestions from theoretical and empirical literature on agglomeration and on social returns to education which emphasise the contribution of local knowledge spillovers to productivity and wage growth, this paper aims at uncovering the relationship between local human capital and training. Furthermore, we check the effects of other variables measuring distinctive features of local labour markets, like the degree of specialization, average firms’ size, intensity of job turnover, economic density, employment in R&D activities and some other control variables. Our key-results are consistent with the prediction that training should be more frequent in areas where the aggregate educational level is higher. Moreover, interaction between local and individual human capital is positive and significant for those with an upper secondary educational attainment. These results have proved to be robust since they are not altered when different definitions of local human capital are adopted or different sub-samples are considered (with the exception of female workers). We coped also with the problem of omitted variables and spatial sorting, that could bias econometric results, by means of a two-step strategy based on instrumental variables. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: training; knowledge spillovers; local labour markets |
| JEL: | O18 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14475&r=lab |
| By: | Graziella Bertocchi; Marianna Brunetti; Costanza Torricelli |
| Abstract: | We study the joint impact of gender and marital status on financial decisions. First, we test the hypothesis that marriage represents - in a portfolio framework - a sort of safe asset, and that this effect is stronger for women. Controlling for a number of observable characteristics, we show that single women have a lower propensity to invest in risky assets than married females and males. Second, we show that the differential behavior of single women evolves over time, reflecting the increasing incidence of divorce and the expansion of female labor market participation. In particular, towards the end of our sample period, we observe a reduction in the gap between women with different family status, which can be attributed to the gradual erosion of the perception of marriage as a sort of safe asset. Our results therefore suggest that the differential behavior of single vs. married women can be explained by the evolution of gender roles in society, even after controlling for differential risk attitudes. Our empirical investigation is based on a dataset drawn from the 1989-2006 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. |
| Keywords: | Portfolio choice, marriage, divorce, labor force participation |
| JEL: | G11 E21 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp03_09&r=lab |
| By: | Neagu, Ileana Cristina |
| Abstract: | The initial occupational placements of male immigrants in the U.S. labor market vary significantly by country of origin even when education and other factors are taken into account. Does the heterogeneity persist over time? Using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. Censuses, this study finds that the performance of migrants from countries with lower initial occupational placement levels improves at a higher rate compared with that of migrants originating from countries with higher initial levels. Nevertheless, the magnitude of convergence suggests full catch-up is unlikely. Country specific attributes are found to have less direct impact on the rate of assimilation than on the initial performance. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,International Migration,Human Migrations&Resettlements,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement, |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4891&r=lab |
| By: | James Marton (Georgia State University); Stephen A. Woodbury (W.E. Upjohn Institute and Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of employer offers of retiree health benefits (RHBs) on the timing of retirement using a sample of men observed over a period of up to 12 years in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Our main concern is that such estimates may be contaminated by unobserved heterogeneity—workers with a taste for early retirement sort into jobs offering RHBs. We attempt to address this concern by using a fixed-effects estimator, which yields substantially smaller estimates of the effect of RHB offers than estimators that do not attempt to control for unobservables. The findings suggest that an RHB offer increased the probability of retirement by 14 percent on average for men born between 1931 and 1941. |
| Keywords: | Retirement; Health Insurance; Employee Benefits; Unobserved Effects |
| JEL: | J26 I18 D14 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:09-149&r=lab |
| By: | Guy Lacroix |
| Abstract: | In 2002 the Quebec government implemented the "Action Emploi" (AE) program aimed at making work pay for long-term social assistance recipients (SA). AE offered a generous wage subsidy that could last up to three years to recipients who found a full-time job within twelve months. The program was implemented on an experimental basis for a single year. Based on little empirical evidence, a slightly modified version of the program was implemented on permanent basis in May 2008. The paper investigates the impact of the temporary program by focusing on the labour market transitions of the targeted population starting one year before the implementation of the program and up until the end of 2005. We use a multi-state multi-episode model. The endogeneity of the participation status is accounted for by treating AE as a distinct state and by allowing correlated unobserved factors to affect the transitions. The model is estimated by the method of simulated moments. Our results show that AE has indeed increased the duration of Off-SA spells and decreased the duration of SA spells slightly. There is also some evidence that the response to the program varies considerably with unobserved individual characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Wage subsidy, multi-state multi-episode transition model, social assistance |
| JEL: | I38 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0911&r=lab |
| By: | Blomquist, Glenn C. (University of Kentucky); Coomes, Paul A. (University of Louisville); Jepsen, Christopher (University of Kentucky); Koford, Brandon C. (Valdosta State University); Troske, Kenneth (University of Kentucky) |
| Abstract: | Much is known about private returns to education in the form of higher earnings. Less is known about social value, over and above the private, market value. Associations between education and socially-desirable outcomes are strong, but disentangling the effect of education from other causal factors is challenging. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the social value of one form of higher education. We elicit willingness to pay for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System directly through a stated-preferences survey and compare our estimate of total social value to our estimates of private value in the form of increased earnings. Our earnings estimates are based on two distinct data sets, one administrative and one from the U.S. Census. The difference between the total social value and the increase in earnings is our measure of the education externality. Our work differs from previous research by eliciting values directly in a way that yields a total value including any external benefits and by focusing on education at the community college level. Our preferred estimate indicates the social value of expanding the system substantially exceeds private value by approximately 50 percent. |
| Keywords: | social returns, education externalities, contingent valuation, earnings |
| JEL: | I2 H4 H23 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4086&r=lab |
| By: | Antonio Nicita; Matteo Rizzolli |
| Abstract: | In this paper we outline the economic rationale behind the virtual strike, and workers’ incentives to use this bargaining solution rather than resorting to standard strike action. We show that, from a welfare perspective, a virtual strike always dominates a standard strike and it would be most needed precisely when workers have weaker incentives to adopt it. We then discuss the pros and cons of legally regulating the virtual strike rather than leaving it to self-regulation. Finally, we apply our findings to the analysis of Italy’s draft legislation on virtual strikes |
| Keywords: | Stoppage strike, virtual strike, penal code, labor law and economics |
| JEL: | D74 D78 J52 J83 K31 M55 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:557&r=lab |
| By: | Annamaria Simonazzi |
| Abstract: | Rapid population ageing has dramatically increased the social and economic cost of elderly care. Demand for care labour is increasing rapidly, and all countries are experiencing problems in recruiting enough workers to meet demand. In some countries, the shortage of care workers has been met by a large inflow of immigrant, mostly female, workers. The paper’s aim is twofold. To argue that the way in which care is provided and financed may entail large differences in the creation of a formal care market. Provision in kind and ‘tied’ monetary transfers - that is, cash benefits that are somehow regulated – may prevent the formation of a large informal care market. National employment models in turn shape the features of the care labour market: in fact, they affect the quantity and the quality of the care labour supply, the size of the care labour shortage, and the degree of dependence on migrant carers. We show how these two factors combine to shape the characteristics of care regimes and their long term sustainability. |
| JEL: | F22 I3 J3 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:113&r=lab |
| By: | M. P. Keane; R. M. Sauer |
| Abstract: | Two key issues in the literature on female labor supply are: (1) if persistence in employment status is due to unobserved heterogeneity or state dependence, and (2) if fertility is exogenous to labor supply. Until recently, the consensus was that unobserved heterogeneity is very important, and fertility is endogenous. But Hyslop (1999) challenged this. Using a dynamic panel probit model of female labor supply including heterogeneity and state dependence, he found that adding autoregressive errors led to a substantial diminution in the importance of heterogeneity. This, in turn, meant he could not reject that fertility is exogenous. Here, we extend Hyslop (1999) to allow classification error in employment status, using an estimation procedure developed by Keane and Wolpin (2001) and Keane and Sauer (2005). We find that a fairly small amount of classification error is enough to overturn Hyslop’s conclusions, leading to overwhelming rejection of the hypothesis of exogenous fertility. |
| Keywords: | Female Labor Supply, Fertility, Discrete Choice, Classification Error, Simulated Maximum Likelihood |
| JEL: | J2 J6 C3 D1 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp13_08&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Landesmann (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Hermine Vidovic (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Vladimir Gligorov (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Anna Iara (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | The main question addressed in this study is the performance of the labour markets in the Western Balkans. The aim is to find out whether they can deliver growth of employment and decline of unemployment in the medium run and whether they can withstand short-term shocks due to changes in demand or supply. These questions are particularly pressing in view of the monetary policy based on fixed exchange rates which is followed by the majority of the countries in this region. In terms of the theory of optimal currency areas, if the exchange rate is fixed, labour markets have to be flexible if there are adverse shocks. Otherwise, adjustment would work through a fall in employment levels and an increase in unemployment. The alternative of flexible exchange rates has been abandoned by most monetary authorities in the region for fears of risk of an exchange rate crisis. |
| Keywords: | Western Balkans, optimum currency area, labour market flexibility, external disequilibria, wage-setting |
| JEL: | E24 F15 F16 F41 F42 J3 J4 D57 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:352&r=lab |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi; Claudia Olivetti |
| Abstract: | The entry of married women into the labor force is one of the most notable economic phenomena of the twentieth century. We argue that medical progress played a critical role in this process. Improved maternal health alleviated the adverse effects of pregnancy and childbirth on women's ability to work, while the introduction of infant formula reduced mothers' comparative advantage in infant feeding. We construct economic measures of these two dimensions of medical progress and develop a quantitative model that aims to capture their impact. Our results suggests that these advances, by enabling women to reconcile work and motherhood, were essential for the rise in married women's participation and the evolution of their economic role. |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J21 J22 N3 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14873&r=lab |
| By: | Möller, Joachim; Tubadji, Annie |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at testing Florida’s concept of the Creative Class using panel data for 323 West German regions for the time period 1975 – 2004. Applying a dynamic system approach based on GMM, we find that the local concentration of the Creative Class has predictive power for the economic development of a region and tends to outperform traditional indicators of human capital. However, our results do not support Florida’s assertion that the creative workers flock where the Bohemians are. According to our findings, the Creative Class is attracted by favorable economic conditions as indicated by employment growth or an increasing wage bill. |
| Keywords: | Culture, Regional Development, Bohemians, Creative Class, Dynamic Panel Methods |
| JEL: | C23 O1 O3 R1 Z10 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7525&r=lab |
| By: | Catherine Rodríguez; Fabio Sánchez T. |
| Abstract: | Using a unique combination of household and violence data sets and a duration analysis methodology, this paper estimates the effect that exposure to armed conflict has on school drop-out decisions of Colombian children between the ages of six and seventeen. After taking into account the possible endogeneity of municipal conflict related events through the use of instrumental variables, we find that armed conflict reduces the average years of schooling in 8.78% for all Colombian children. This estimate increases to 17.03% for children between sixteen and seventeen years old. We provide evidence that such effect may be induced mainly through higher mortality risks, and to lesser extent due to negative economic shocks and lower school quality; all of which induce a trade-off between schooling and child labor. |
| Date: | 2009–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:005400&r=lab |
| By: | Francis Vella (Georgetown University); Lídia Farré (Universidad de Alicante); Roger Klein (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the degree of intergenerational transmission ofeducation for individuals from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth1979. Rather than identifying the causal effect of parental education viainstrumental variables we exploit the feature of the transmissionmechanism responsible for its endogeneity. More explicitly, we assume theintergenerational transfer of unobserved ability is invariant to the economicenvironment. This, combined with the heteroskedasticity resulting from theinteraction of unobserved ability with socioeconomic factors, identifies thiscausal effect. We conclude the observed intergenerational educationalcorrelation reflects both a causal parental educational effect and a transferof unobserved ability. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational mobility, endogeneity, conditional correlation |
| JEL: | C31 J62 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-11&r=lab |
| By: | Bruce Chapman; Kiatanantha Lounkaew; Piruna Polsiri; Rangsit Sarachitti; Thitima Sitthipongpanich |
| Abstract: | This paper presents analysis of the implicit subsidies and repayment hardships of Thailand’s Student Loan Fund (SLF). Comparisons are made between the current SLF with alternative similar schemes, assuming different rates of interest and loan repayment periods. We find that the implicit interest rate subsidy is about 66 per cent, with much of this being due to the fact that the scheme charges only a 1 per cent per annum nominal interest rate. The repayment hardships, measured as the proportion of a graduate’s income allocated to servicing the debt, are around 4 and 3 per cent, for female and male graduates earning average incomes by age. However, these increase to 12 and 10 per cent for female and males whose earnings are in the bottom deciles. The current SLF is generous in terms of repayment hardship for the borrowers. However, the scheme appears to be unsatisfactory in terms of the extent of implicit subsidies.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: | student loans; higher education financing |
| JEL: | I00 I2 I20 I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:592&r=lab |
| By: | Deborah A. Cobb-Clark; Andrew Leigh |
| Abstract: | In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the overall unemployment rate in the ACT was virtually indistinguishable from that in the country as a whole. However, for the past twenty-five years, unemployment in the ACT has been lower – often substantially lower – than in the nation as a whole. The ACT also has a lower rate of long-term unemployment (defined as unemployment durations of 12 months or more). Given the unique nature of the ACT labour market, it is useful to focus on long-term unemployment in the ACT specifically. We do this by analysing administrative data on benefits payments. Looking only at unemployed persons in the ACT, and analysing the propensity to be long-term unemployed, we find that men, Indigenous people, older people, and less educated people are more likely to be long-term unemployed. Finally we find that unemployment and long-term unemployment in the ACT is geographically concentrated in certain neighbourhoods. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration, local labour markets |
| JEL: | E24 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:603&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Trentini (EUI Florence); Lídia Farré (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the implications of major ¯nancial markets crises for the human capital accumulation decisions of households. We use data for Argentinean households over the period 1995-2002 to examine households' response to negative idiosyncratic income shocks in di®erent macroeconomic scenarios. In particular we study how teenagers' school progress responds to household head unemployment during periods of high economic growth and compare it to the response during recession years, when families are more likely to be ¯nancially constrained. After accounting for the potential endogeneity of household head unemployment we ¯nd that school failure in response to unemployment shocks increases during periods of economic instability and that, at least for boys, this results from a greater involvement in labor market activities. Our results add to the existing literature on the long term cost of macroeconomic crises. |
| Keywords: | imperfect credit markets, human capital, parental unemployment |
| JEL: | D52 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-07&r=lab |
| By: | Pekkarinen, Tuomas (Helsinki School of Economics); Uusitalo, Roope (VATT, Helsinki); Kerr, Sari (Charles River Associates) |
| Abstract: | The Finnish comprehensive school reform replaced the old two-track school system with a uniform nine-year comprehensive school and significantly reduced the degree of heterogeneity in the Finnish primary and secondary education. We estimate the effect of this reform on the test scores in the Finnish Army Basic Skills test. The identification strategy relies on a differences-in-differences strategy and exploits the fact that the reform was implemented gradually across the country during a six-year period between 1972 and 1977. We find that the reform had a small positive effect on the verbal test scores but no effect on the mean performance in the arithmetic or logical reasoning tests. Still in all tests the reform improved the scores of students from families where parents had only basic education. |
| Keywords: | education, school system, tracking, comprehensive school, test scores |
| JEL: | H52 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4058&r=lab |
| By: | Fougère, Denis (CREST-INSEE); Gautier, Erwan (Bank of France); Le Bihan, Hervé (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of the minimum wage on restaurant prices. We contribute to both the study of economic impact of the minimum wage and to the micro patterns of price stickiness. For that purpose, we use a unique dataset of individual price quotes collected to calculate the Consumer Price Index in France and we estimate a price rigidity model based on a flexible (S; s) rule. We find a positive and significant impact of the minimum wage on prices. The effect of the minimum wage on prices is however very protracted. The aggregate impact estimated with our model takes more than a year to fully pass through to retail prices. |
| Keywords: | price stickiness, minimum wage, inflation, restaurant prices |
| JEL: | E31 D43 L11 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4070&r=lab |
| By: | Sandra García; Jennifer Hill |
| Abstract: | During the last decade, conditional cash transfer programs have expanded in developing countries as a way to increase school enrollment and deter youth from dropping out of school. However, despite evidence of these programs’ positive impact on school enrollment and attendance, little is known about their impact on school achievement. Thus, using data from the Colombian conditional cash transfer program Familias en Acción, this study estimated the effect of the conditional subsidy on school achievement. It found that the program does have a positive effect on school achievement for children aged 7 to 12 living in rural areas but practically no effect for the same population living in urban areas. Moreover, the program may actually have a negative effect on the school achievement of adolescents, particularly those living in rural areas. Possible mechanisms of these effects are explored and discussed. |
| Date: | 2009–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:005403&r=lab |
| By: | Sergio Destefanis; Giuseppe Mastromatteo |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess the evolution of labor-market performance in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the last decade. We provide a survey of the literature dealing with labor-market performance in the OECD, finding that, while this literature tends to conclude that institutions are a key part of the story, the survey's results appear far less robust and uniform than is commonly believed. We then assess the robustness of the claims made in the most recent (2005) OECD follow-up study within a very similar cross-country setup, and highlight the impact of unobserved heterogeneity and outliers on the policy estimates. We find that in recent OECD cross-country data, changes in labor-market performance are consistently (and inversely) linked to its lagged level. Structural changes are also important: changes in the share of construction employees are very significant, even in the presence of various kinds of policy change indicators. As far as the latter are concerned, some consistent role seems to emerge only for active labor-market policies and (to a lesser extent) unemployment benefit reforms. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_559&r=lab |
| By: | Reza Oladi (Department of Applied Economics, Utah State University); John Gilbert (Department of Economics and Finance, Utah State University); Hamid Beladi (Department of Economics, University of Texas - San Antonio) |
| Abstract: | Using a three-sector general equilibrium model with non-traded goods, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers. We show that foreign direct investment increases the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers, but widens the gap between the two under plausible conditions. |
| Keywords: | Real wages, foreign direct investment, non-traded goods |
| JEL: | F10 F11 F21 |
| Date: | 2008–12–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usu:wpaper:200804&r=lab |
| By: | Maria , De Paola |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate whether grades are used by educational institutions as a competition variable to attract and retain students. Using a sample of almost 26,000 students enrolled at an Italian University, we document that grades vary significantly across degrees. After controlling for students’ characteristics, class-size, classmates’ quality and degree fixed effects, it emerges that students obtain better grades and are less likely to drop-out when their degree course experiences an excess of supply. We adopt an instrumental variable strategy to account for endogeneity problems and instrument the excess of supply by using the total number of universities offering each degree course. Our IV estimates confirm that the teaching staff on degree course facing low demand tend to set lower academic standards with the result that their students obtain better grades and have a lower probability of dropping out than they might otherwise. |
| Keywords: | grades; higher education; grading standards |
| JEL: | A2 |
| Date: | 2008–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14425&r=lab |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca; Christopher Flinn |
| Abstract: | There is a long history of the theoretical and empirical investigation of the labor supply decisions of married women. Perhaps the starting point for modern econometric analysis of this question is Heckman (1974), in which a neoclassical model of wives’ labor supply was estimated using disaggregated data. He explicitly estimated the parameters characterizing a household utility function, which included as arguments the leisure levels of wives and household consumption. With the addition of a wage function, Heckman was able to consistently estimate household preference parameters and the wage function in a manner that eliminated the types of endogenous sampling problems known to create estimator bias when the participation decision is ignored.... |
| Keywords: | Household Time Allocation, Grim Trigger Strategy, Household Production, Method of Simulated Moments |
| JEL: | C79 D19 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp08_09&r=lab |
| By: | Cory Koedel (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Julian Betts |
| Abstract: | Value-added modeling continues to gain traction as a tool for measuring teacher performance. However, recent research (Rothstein, 2009, forthcoming) questions the validity of the value-added approach by showing that it does not mitigate student-teacher sorting bias (its presumed primary benefit). Our study explores this critique in more detail. Although we find that estimated teacher effects from some value-added models are severely biased, we also show that a sufficiently complex value-added model that evaluates teachers over multiple years reduces the sorting-bias problem to statistical insignificance. One implication of our findings is that data from the first year or two of classroom teaching for novice teachers may be insufficient to make reliable judgments about quality. Overall, our results suggest that in some cases value-added modeling will continue to provide useful information about the effectiveness of educational inputs. |
| Keywords: | value added, measurement of teacher quality, outcome-based teacher quality |
| JEL: | I20 I28 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:0902&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Baron |
| Abstract: | Using unique information for a cohort of Australian youth, this paper explores the association between youths’ perception of control (i.e. locus of control) and three educational outcomes: (i) Year 12 completion, (ii) whether youth obtained an Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) score, and (iii) the actual ENTER score. By using a measure of socio-economic status based on 12 years of parental income support histories, the paper also investigates the association between growing up in a socio-economically disadvantaged household and subsequent educational outcomes. Additionally, the paper considers the hypothesis that disadvantage has an indirect effect on youths’ educational outcomes through its effect on locus of control. The results suggest that youths with a more internal locus of control (e.g. those who believe their actions determine their future outcomes) are more likely to complete Year 12, more likely to obtain an ENTER score, and obtain better ENTER scores. The evidence is also consistent with a negative relationship between disadvantage when growing up and youths’ educational outcomes. Even after controlling for demographic and family characteristics, youths who grew up in socioeconomically disadvantaged households are up to 10 per cent less likely to complete Year 12 and up to 20 per cent less likely to obtain an ENTER score. There is however no evidence of an indirect effect of being disadvantaged on educational outcomes through the effect of disadvantage on locus of control once other characteristics are accounted for. Although highly disadvantaged youths obtain ENTER scores that are four points lower than those of non-disadvantaged youth, locus of control shows only a small association with actual ENTER scores. |
| Keywords: | locus of control; parental socio-economic background; education |
| JEL: | I38 J24 H31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:598&r=lab |
| By: | Naufal, George (American University of Sharjah); Vargas-Silva, Carlos (Sam Houston State University) |
| Abstract: | In this article we study the relationship between workers' remittances and fertility rate of the remittance receiving country. We identify two main channels by which remittances transfers affect fertility. First, migrants may adopt and later transmit to the household the ideas, values and attitudes predominant in the host country. Arguably, migrants with more attachment to the household would be more inclined to remit money home. Therefore, remittances can be seen as a proxy for the level of social norms (including fertility preferences) that is transmitted from the migrant to the household. Second, previous studies have shown that remittances money is often used for health services and educational expenses, factors that may ultimately decrease fertility rates. Using panel data for several countries we find a negative relationship between remittances and the fertility rate. The relationship is robust for a sub-sample of Latin American and African countries, but not for a sub-sample of Asian countries. In addition to finding evidence on the transfer of social norms from migrants to the home country, the paper also confirms that several socio-economic factors such as female labor force participation, percent of the population in rural areas and GDP per capita affect fertility rates. |
| Keywords: | remittances, fertility rate, panel data, Latin America, Africa, Asia |
| JEL: | F22 F24 J13 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4066&r=lab |
| By: | Dimova, Ralitza (Brunel University); Wolff, François-Charles (University of Nantes) |
| Abstract: | Most of the literature on remittances has focused on their implications for the welfare of family members in the country of origin and has disregarded the possibility for remittances to trigger chain migration. In this paper, we address this issue with the use of longitudinal data from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the primary exporters of migrants and recipients of remittances in the world. Our panel data estimates indicate that remittances have a significant positive impact on the migration prospects of those remaining in the country of origin. Highly educated, healthy and young individuals are those most likely to migrate, suggesting that the implications of prospective migration on both the labor market and the rest of the economy in the origin country are likely to be negative. |
| Keywords: | emigration intentions, Bosnia and Herzegovina, remittances |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4083&r=lab |
| By: | Bruce Chapman; Kiatanantha Lounkaew |
| Abstract: | This paper illustrates the extent of implicit taxpayer subsidies under four possible income contingent loan (ICL) arrangements for Thailand: TICAL, implemented in 2007 only, a variant of TICAL, and two alternative ICL schemes. The implicit taxpayer subsidy calculated with respect to average graduate earnings for TICAL-type arrangements is between 25-40 per cent; however, the average implicit subsidies for the two alternatives are close to zero. When account is taken of disaggregated graduate earnings, the subsidies for TICALtype schemes increase to about 30-55 per cent. The subsidy is between 3-18 per cent for our alternative ICLs, depending on the form of the real rate of interest incurred. These results show that there is a viable ICL alternative to TICAL, which are of greatest benefit for low levels of debt. When the debt is relatively large the subsidies of even well designed schemes can be as high as 50 per cent. |
| Keywords: | income contingent loans; student loans; higher education financing |
| JEL: | I00 I2 I20 I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:595&r=lab |
| By: | Joana Costa (International Poverty Centre); Elydia Silva (International Poverty Centre) |
| Abstract: | There are many ways in which gender inequalities are present in society. Those inequalities, like any other, are intrinsically unfair and should be fought against. In this One Pager, we show how gender inequalities in the labour market determine poverty levels. We answer the following question: which aspect of gender inequalities should be considered priority in the design of public policies that seek to reduce gender inequalities and poverty? |
| Keywords: | Eliminating Gender Inequalities Reduces Poverty. How? |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:73&r=lab |
| By: | Herbert Buscher; Hubert Gabrisch |
| Abstract: | Our study tries to find out whether wage dynamics between Euro member countries became more synchronized through the adoption of the common currency. We calculate bivarate correlation coefficients of wage and wage cost dynamics and run a model of endogenously induced changes of coefficients, which are explained by other variables being also endogenous: trade intensity, sectoral specialization, financial integration. We used a panel data structure to allow for cross-section weights for country-pair observations. We use instrumental variable regressions in order to disentangle exogenous from endogenous influences. We applied these techniques to real and nominal wage dynamics and to dynamics of unit labor costs. We found evidence for persistent asymmetries in nominal wage formation despite a single currency and monetary policy, responsible for diverging unit labor costs and for emerging trade imbalances among the EMU member countries. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:7-09&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Baron; Deborah Cobb-Clark; Nisvan Erkal |
| 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: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:594&r=lab |
| By: | Laura Blow (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Martin Browning (Department of Economics, University of Oxford); Mette Ejrnæs (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | We examine theoretically and empirically consumption over the early part of the life-cycle. The main focus is on the transition from being single to living with someone else. Our theoretical model allows for publicness in consumption; uncertainty concerning marriage; differences between lifetime incomes for prospective partners and a marriage premium. We develop a two period model to bring out the main features of the impact of marriage on consumption and saving. We then develop a multi-period model that can be taken to the data on expenditures by singles and couples aged between 18 and 30. Our empirical work is based on individual based quasi-panels from UK expenditure survey data from 1978 to 2005. The model fits the data relatively well. We find that expenditure by couples leads to 20-40 % more consumption than the same expenditure split between two comparable singles. |
| Keywords: | marriage; consumption; saving; family economics; economies of scale |
| JEL: | D12 D91 J12 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuieca:2009_07&r=lab |
| By: | Beegle, Kathleen; Filmer, Deon; Stokes, Andrew; Tiererova, Lucia |
| Abstract: | Increasing adult mortality due to HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa raises considerable concerns about the welfare of surviving children. Studies have found substantial variability across countries in the negative impacts of orphanhood on child health and education. One hypothesis for this variability is the resilience of the extended family network in some countries to care for orphans-networks under increasing pressure by the sheer number of orphans in many settings. Using household survey data from 21 countries in Africa, this study examines trends in orphanhood and living arrangements, and the links between the two. The findings confirm that orphanhood is increasing, although not all countries are experiencing rapid rises. In many countries, there has been a shift toward grandparents taking on increased childcare responsibility-especially where orphan rates are growing rapidly. This suggests some merit to the claim that the extended network is narrowing, focusing on grandparents who are older and may be less able to financially support orphans than working-age adults. However there are also changes in childcare patterns in countries with stable orphan rates or low HIV prevalence. This suggests future work on living arrangements should not exclude low HIV/AIDS prevalence countries, and explanations for changes should include a broader set of factors. |
| Keywords: | Street Children,HIV AIDS,Youth and Governance,Primary Education,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2009–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4889&r=lab |
| By: | Caroline M. Hoxby; Sonali Murarka |
| Abstract: | We analyze all but a few of the 47 charter schools operating in New York City in 2005-06. The schools tend locate in disadvantaged neighborhoods and serve students who are substantially poorer than the average public school student in New York City. The schools also attract black applicants to an unusual degree, not only relative to New York City but also relative to the traditional public schools from which they draw. The vast majority of applicants are admitted in lotteries that the schools hold when oversubscribed, and the vast majority of the lotteries are balanced. By balanced, we mean that we cannot reject the hypothesis that there are no differences in the observable characteristics of lotteried-in and lotteried-out students. Using the lotteries to form an intention-to-treat variable, we instrument for actual enrollment and compute the charter schools' average treatment-on-the-treated effects on achievement. These are 0.09 standard deviations per year of treatment in math and 0.04 standard deviations per year in reading. We estimate correlations between charter schools' policies and their effects on achievement. The policy with the most notable and robust association is a long school year--as long as 220 days in the charter schools. |
| JEL: | H0 H42 H75 I2 I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14852&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Rute Cardoso; Elsa Fontainha; Chiara Monfardini |
| Abstract: | We analyze a mechanism that has been disregarded in the literature on parental investment in children, as little attention has been devoted to the choices made by children themselves. We model directly time use by youngsters into activities related to the acquisition of human capital, considering not just the decision on study time, but also on socialization/networking at young age, which can enhance personal interaction skills. We provide new empirical evidence for three European countries (France, Italy and Germany) on the link between time allocation by parents and time allocation by youngsters, highlighting country-specific patterns as well as cross-country differences. We run fractional regression models and double hurdle models on multi-member household micro data on time use. Countries diverge concerning the association between parents and youngsters allocation of time to socializing and to reading and studying activities, with Italy standing out as the country where that association, in particular between youngster and mother, is strongest. Our results are consistent with different mechanisms: parental role model directly influencing children behavior, intergenerational transmission of preferences, or network effects, as individuals adapt their behavior to social patterns. |
| Keywords: | study time; socializing, networking, youth, intergenerational transmission of preferences, fractional regression models, double hurdle models |
| JEL: | J22 J24 J13 C21 C24 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp17_08&r=lab |
| By: | Löschel, Andr; Oberndorfer, Ulrich |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze oil price impacts on unemployment for Germany. Firstly, we survey theoretical and empirical literature on the oil-unemployment relationship and relate them to the German case. Secondly, we illustrate this issue within the framework of a vector autoregression (VAR) approach for Germany. For this purpose, we use three different specifications in order to adequately address the uncertainty related to the construction of an adequate oil variable. Using monthly data from 1973 to 2008, we show that oil price increases induce a rise in unemployment in the German labor market. Moreover, for a restricted sample period for post-unification Germany, we oppose claims that the oil to macroeconomy relationship has weakened since the 1980s. However, our results suggest that it has become more important to construct adequate measures of oil price variables. |
| Keywords: | oil price, unemployment, Germany |
| JEL: | E24 Q43 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7526&r=lab |
| By: | Bauer, Michal (Charles University, Prague); Chytilová, Julie (Charles University, Prague) |
| Abstract: | Heterogeneity in time discounting may reinforce the existing barriers to save and invest faced by rural populations in developing countries. We elicit a subjective discount rate for a varied sample of Ugandan villagers. In accordance with other studies, we have found the discount rate to decrease with education. We examine this correlation further by testing the causal effect of education and exploit two different sources of its variation: school frequency across villages and the number of the respondents' school-going years that overlap with the era of the dictator Idi Amin's rule. For men, we find that education has a significant impact on their discount rate, similar in magnitude for both types of instruments and robust to observable characteristics. This finding highlights the importance of education in development. |
| Keywords: | time discounting, patience, education, economic development, Uganda |
| JEL: | C93 D91 O12 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4057&r=lab |
| By: | Alessandro Cigno |
| Abstract: | Conventional pension systems suffer from a design defect which makes them financially unsustainable, and a source of inefficiency for the economy as a whole. The paper outlines a second-best policy which includes a public pension system made up of two parallel schemes, a Bismarckian one allowing individuals to qualify for a pension by working and paying contributions in the usual way, and an unconventional one allowing them to qualify for a pension by having children, and investing time and money in their upbringing. |
| Keywords: | Pension reform, implicit pension taxes and subsidies, child benefits, fertility, labour productivity. |
| JEL: | D13 D64 H55 J13 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp04_09&r=lab |
| By: | Chiara Pronzato; Magne Mogstad |
| Abstract: | High welfare dependency and poverty rate among lone mothers prompted a workfare reform of the Norwegian welfare system for lone parents: activity requirements were brought in, time limits imposed and benefit levels raised. To evaluate the reform we introduce an estimator that, unlike the much used difference-in-difference approach, accounts for the fact that policy changes are typically phased in gradually rather than coming into full effect immediately. We find that the reform has not only led to increased earnings and educational attainment – in the process lowering welfare caseloads and therefore easing the government’s financial burden – but also reduced poverty. |
| Keywords: | Welfare, lone mothers, workfare reform, difference-in-difference, activity requirements, time limits, earnings, education, poverty |
| JEL: | C23 I32 I38 J00 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp14_08&r=lab |
| By: | Trevon Logan; Manisha Shah |
| Abstract: | Economists argue that rich information environments and formal enforcement of contracts are necessary to prevent market failures when information asymmetries exist. We test for the necessity of formal enforcement to overcome the problems of asymmetric information by estimating the value of information in an illegal market with a particularly rich information structure: the online market for male sex work. We assemble a rich dataset from the largest and most comprehensive online male sex worker website to estimate the effect of information on pricing. We show how clients of male sex workers informally police the market in a way that makes signaling credible. Using our institutional knowledge, we also identify the specific signal male sex workers use to communicate quality to clients: face pictures. We find that the premium to information is large and that it is due entirely to face pictures. More importantly, the premium is in the range of premiums to information estimated for legal markets. We also show that the evidence is inconsistent with alternative explanations such as beauty premiums. The findings provide novel evidence on the ability of rich information environments to overcome the problems of asymmetric information without formal enforcement, and show that the value of information in illegal markets is similar to its value in legal markets. |
| JEL: | D4 D8 J4 K4 L8 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14841&r=lab |
| By: | Debande, Olivier (European Investment Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper observes that de-industrialisation has been mostly relative in Europe, with industrial value added and employment shrinking in relative terms, but industrial value added growing in absolute terms âÃÂàat least until recently. Qualitatively, this relative de-industrialisation has been the result of a number of supply-side factors, including improving labour productivity; changing comparative advantage of countries; and trade liberalisation. Demand-side factors have played a role, too, as rising income levels and population ageing in developed countries have led to changing consumption patterns. Quantitatively, factors internal to advanced economies, such as productivity growth and changing consumption patterns, explain 70 percent of the downtrend in European industrial employment. External trade, including with low-wage economies, is less important, although its role has shown some signs of strengthening in the past decade. All in all, the causes of de-industrialisation do not reflect market failures, and the process should not be resisted. However, it may have transitory economic and social pain as a consequence, which may well warrant public intervention. |
| Keywords: | de-industrialisation; manufacturing; Europe |
| JEL: | L60 O14 O52 |
| Date: | 2009–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:eibpap:2006_003&r=lab |
| By: | Emily Oster; Rebecca Thornton |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results from a randomized evaluation that distributed menstrual cups (menstrual sanitary products) to adolescent girls in rural Nepal. Girls in the study were randomly allocated a menstrual cup for use during their monthly period and were followed for fifteen months to measure the effects of having modern sanitary products on schooling. While girls were 3 percentage points less likely to attend school on days of their period, we find no significant effect of being allocated a menstrual cup on school attendance. There were also no effects on test scores, self-reported measures of self-esteem or gynecological health. These results suggest that policy claims that barriers to girls' schooling and activities during menstrual periods are due to lack of modern sanitary protection may not be warranted. On the other hand, sanitary products are quickly and widely adopted by girls and are convenient in other ways, unrelated to short-term schooling gains. |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14853&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Leigh; Mark McLeish |
| Abstract: | Using data from 191 Australian state elections, we test how voters respond to economic conditions. We find that unemployment has a strong impact on election outcomes, with each additional percentage point of unemployment reducing the incumbent’s re-election probability by 3-5 per cent. However, when we separate luck (unemployment in other states) from competence (unemployment in that state relative to the rest of Australia), we find that both luck and competence are equally important. This is consistent with a psychological theory of the ‘fundamental attribution error’, in which observers consistently underestimate the importance of situational constraints. We also find evidence that unemployment driven by a clearly exogenous source – the United States economy – has a non-trivial impact on the re-election probability of Australian state governments. Our results suggest that Australian voters either retain too many state governments in economic booms, vote out too many state governments in recessions, or perhaps both. |
| Keywords: | rational voting; political business cycles; unemployment; elections |
| JEL: | D72 D80 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:593&r=lab |
| By: | Becker, William E. (Indiana University); Round, David K. (University of South Australia) |
| Abstract: | Higher education, like any other commodity or service, has been viewed in a variety of economic frameworks. Little of this work, however, appears to have made any effort to define carefully the boundaries of the relevant market for higher education, which is the subject of this particular inquiry. Market definition is an essential preliminary step before any academic or policy investigation can properly be made into the forces that determine the behavior of the buyers and sellers of higher education, those who provide inputs into the education process, or those who fund or otherwise subsidize it. The authors spell out the key economic dimensions of a market, and illustrate their relevance for research that seeks to analyze the players and policies in the many distinct domestic and international markets that exist for the inputs and outputs of the higher education sector. |
| Keywords: | competition, efficiencies, market boundaries, markets, higher education, public policy |
| JEL: | A1 I2 L3 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4092&r=lab |
| By: | Aldave, Iván (Central Bank of Peru and GREQAM); García-Peñalosa, Cecilia (GREQAM and CNRS) |
| Abstract: | The empirical evidence on the determinants of growth across countries has found that growth is lower when natural resources are abundant, corruption widespread and educational attainment low. An extensive literature has examined the way in which these three variables can impact growth, but has tended to address them separately. In this paper we argue that corruption and education are interrelated and that both crucially depend on a country’s endowment of natural resources. The key element is the fact that resources affect the relative returns to investing in human and in political capital, and, through these investments, output levels and growth. In this context, inequality plays a key role both as a determinant of the possible equilibria of the economy and as an outcome of the growth process. |
| Keywords: | natural resources, corruption, human capital, growth, inequality |
| JEL: | O11 O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rbp:wpaper:2009-005&r=lab |
| By: | Roe, Brian E. (Ohio State University); Wu, Steven Y. (Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | Experimental studies have consistently shown that cooperative outcomes can emerge even in finitely repeated games. Such outcomes are justified by existing reputation building models, which suggest that cooperative outcomes can be sustained if some subjects have other-regarding preferences. While the existence of other-regarding preferences is typically used to justify experimental outcomes, we are unaware of empirical studies that explicitly examine the interaction between cooperators (those with other-regarding preferences) and selfish subjects in sustaining cooperation. In this paper, we classify subjects as either selfish or cooperative using simple social preference games and then test for behavioral differences between the two types in a finitely-repeated labor market with unenforceable worker effort. Theory predicts, and our data confirms, that (1) selfish players mimic the actions of cooperators when trading partners can track the individual reputation of past partners and (2) selfish and cooperative types act differently when individual reputations cannot be tracked. |
| Keywords: | contracts, relational contracts, implicit contracts, market interaction, experimental economics, repeated transaction, social preferences, reputation, firm latitude, finitely-repeated games |
| JEL: | C91 D31 D86 K12 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4084&r=lab |
| By: | Even, William E. (Miami University); Macpherson, David A. (Florida State University) |
| Abstract: | Since 1990, most pension plans have shifted the responsibility for directing pension assets to the employee. This study summarizes some of the possible explanations for this rapid shift toward participant direction and uses IRS Form 5500 data to investigate the effect of worker and plan characteristics on the likelihood of making a switch. The study also estimates the effect of a switch to participant direction on employee contribution and asset allocation behavior. The analysis reveals that collective bargaining and pension investments in employer stock reduce the chance of a switch to participant direction, whereas below average return performance increases the chance. Also, a switch to participant direction increases employee contributions to the pension and reduces the share of assets invested in employer securities. |
| Keywords: | participant direction, pensions, employer stock |
| JEL: | J32 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4088&r=lab |
| By: | Atila Abdulkadiroglu; Parag A. Pathak; Alvin E. Roth |
| Abstract: | The design of the New York City (NYC) High School match involved tradeoffs among efficiency, stability and strategy-proofness that raise new theoretical questions. We analyze a model with indifferences--ties--in school preferences. Simulations with field data and the theory favor breaking indifferences the same way at every school --single tie breaking-- in a student-proposing deferred acceptance mechanism. Any inefficiency associated with a realized tie breaking cannot be removed without harming student incentives. Finally, we empirically document the extent of potential efficiency loss associated with strategy-proofness and stability, and direct attention to some open questions. |
| JEL: | C78 D60 I20 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14864&r=lab |
| By: | R. Aaberge; T. Wennemo; U. Colombino |
| Abstract: | During the last two decades, the discrete-choice modelling of labour supply decisions has become increasingly popular, starting with Aaberge et al. (1995) and van Soest (1995). Within the literature... |
| Keywords: | Discrete choice models, Random utility models, Choice set specification, Labour supply, Prediction performance |
| JEL: | C51 C52 H31 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp20_08&r=lab |
| By: | Alison L. Booth; Patrick Nolen |
| Abstract: | Women and men may differ in their propensity to choose a risky outcome because of innate preferences or because their innate preferences are modified by pressure to conform to gender-stereotypes. Single-sex environments are likely to modify students’ risk-taking preferences in economically important ways. To test this, our controlled experiment gave subjects an opportunity to choose a risky outcome – a real-stakes gamble with a higher expected monetary value than the alternative outcome with a certain payoff- and in which the sensitivity of observed risk choices to environmental factors could be explored. The results show that girls from single-sex schools are as likely to choose the real-stakes gamble as much as boys from either coed or single sex schools, and more likely than coed girls. Moreover, gender differences in preferences for risk-taking are sensitive to the gender mix of the experimental group, with girls being more likely to choose risky outcomes when assigned to all-girl groups. This suggests that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits. |
| Keywords: | gender identity, controlled experiment, risk aversion, risk attitudes, single-sex schooling, coeducation |
| JEL: | C9 C91 C92 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:601&r=lab |
| By: | Todd E. Elder; John H. Goddeeris; Steven J. Haider |
| Abstract: | We analyze four methods to measure unexplained gaps in mean outcomes: three decompositions based on the seminal work of Oaxaca (1973) and Blinder (1973) and an approach involving a seemingly naïve regression that includes a group indicator variable. Our analysis yields two principal findings. We first show that a commonlyused pooling decomposition systematically overstates the contribution of observable characteristics to mean outcome differences, therefore understating unexplained differences. We also show that the coefficient on a group indicator variable from an OLS regression is an attractive approach for obtaining a single measure of the unexplained gap. We then provide three empirical examples that explore the practical importance of our analytic results. |
| Keywords: | decompositions, discrimination |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:600&r=lab |
| By: | Ugo Colombino; Marilena Locatelli |
| Abstract: | In this note we investigate the empirical differences between the Random Utility model with fixed coefficients (Conditional Logit), and the Random Utility model with random coefficients (Mixed Logit). We consider a model of household labour supply developed for a project aimed at the evaluation of alternative Basic Income mechanisms. Data are drawn from the 1998 Bank of Italy survey of household income and wealth (SHIW 1998) and choice alternatives are generated using EUROMOD. We compare the estimates of the Conditional Logit and Mixed Logit. We also compare the respective results from simulating the effects of a Flat Tax reform. Although on average the estimates of Conditional Logit and of Mixed Logit are very close, the Mixed Logit estimates reveal that there is a significant unobserved heterogeneity of preferences. We also compare the simulations of a hypothetical Flat Tax reform. Although the differences are small, yet the results would imply different policy conclusions depending on whether Conditional Logit or Mixed Logit is adopted. |
| Keywords: | labour supply, conditional logit, mixed logit, unobserved heterogeneity |
| JEL: | D0 J0 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp21_08&r=lab |
| By: | Elke Holst; Anne Busch |
| Abstract: | Obwohl eine Vielzahl an Studien zum geschlechtsspezifischen Verdienstunterschied und dessen Erklärung existiert, konzentrieren sich bisher nur vergleichsweise wenige auf den "gender pay gap" in Führungspositionen, der im Fokus dieses Beitrags steht. In der hoch selektiven Gruppe der Führungskräfte in der Privatwirtschaft in Deutschland unterscheiden sich die Geschlechter in ihrer Humankapitalausstattung kaum, so dass der über eine Oaxaca/Blinder-Dekomposition ermittelte Unterschied in den Brutto-Monatsverdiensten hierüber nur sehr unzureichend zu erklären ist. Die Einbeziehung von Variablen zur geschlechtsspezifischen Segregation auf dem Arbeitsmarkt sowie haushaltsbezogener Kontrollvariablen führt zunächst dazu, dass der "gender pay gap" zu über zwei Dritteln erklärt werden kann. Das tatsächliche Ausmaß der Nachteile von Frauen am Arbeitsmarkt wird erst unter Berücksichtigung von Selektionseffekten in eine Führungsposition sichtbar: Unter Einbezug von Selektionseffekten (Heckman-Korrektur) können die in den Verdienstschätzungen berücksichtigten Merkmale den "gender pay gap" nur noch zu einem Drittel erklären. Zudem wird deutlich, dass Frauen auch innerhalb der Frauenberufe weniger verdienen als Männer (allokative Diskriminierung). Der zwei Drittel umfassende nicht erklärte Anteil am "gender pay gap" ("Resteffekt") repräsentiert die unbeobachtete Heterogenität. Hierzu gehören zum Beispiel gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Rahmenbedingungen sowie Strukturen und Praktiken auf dem Arbeitsmarkt und in Unternehmen, die zum Nachteil von Frauen wirken und den Aufstieg in eine Führungsposition erschweren. |
| Keywords: | Gender Pay Gap, managers, segregation, Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition, Heckman correction |
| JEL: | J31 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp169&r=lab |
| By: | Theodore Palivos (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia); Dimitrios Varvarigos (Department of Economics, University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | We construct a simple model of education and growth in which young adults (children) spend a fraction of their time and old adults (parents) spend a fraction of their income on education. Both a strategic complementarity and an intergener- ational externality in the creation of human capital are present. The interactions between each pair of consecutive generations lead to rich dynamics. We show that multiple growth equilibria arise, some of them periodic and some aperiodic. We also ?nd a negative correlation between volatility and growth, without a one-way causal relationship between the two being, necessarily, present. Rather this negative correlation is driven by the structural characteristics of the economy. |
| Keywords: | Education, Human Capital, Economic Growth. |
| JEL: | E32 O41 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2009_08&r=lab |
| By: | Amedeo Piolatto (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | The literature on vouchers often concludes that a voucher-based system cannot be the outcome of a majority vote. This paper shows that it is possible to propose selective vouchers (of exogenous value) such that the majority of voters are in favour of selective vouchers. As long as the introduction of vouchers does not undermine the existence of public schools, introducing selective vouchers induces a Pareto improvement. Some agents use vouchers in equilibrium to buy private education, while the poorest agents continue attending public schools and enjoy an increase in per-capita expenditure. |
| Keywords: | positive public economics; education; vouchers; voting. |
| JEL: | H42 I20 I22 I28 I29 D70 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-10&r=lab |