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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Herbert Brücker; Elke J. Jahn |
| Abstract: | This paper employs a wage-setting approach to analyze the labor market effects of immigration into Germany. The wage-setting framework relies on the assumption that wages tend to decline with the unemployment rate, albeit imperfectly. This enables us to consider labor market rigidities, which are particularly relevant in Europe. We find that the elasticity of the wage-setting curve is particularly high for young and well-educated workers. The labor market effects of immigration are moderate: a 1 percent increase in the German labor force through immigration increases the unemployment rate by less than 0.1 percentage points and reduces wages by 0.1 percent |
| Keywords: | Migration, wage-setting, labor markets, panel data |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1502&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Haefke; Marcus Sonntag; Thijs van Rens |
| Abstract: | Standard macroeconomic models underpredict the volatility of unemployment fluctuations. A common solution is to assume wages are rigid. We explore whether this explanation is consistent with the data. We show that the wage of newly hired workers, unlike the aggregate wage, is volatile and responds one-to-one to changes in labor productivity. In order to replicate these findings in a search model, it must be that wages are rigid in ongoing jobs but flexible at the start of new jobs. This form of wage rigidity does not affect job creation and thus cannot explain the unemployment volatility puzzle |
| Keywords: | Wage Rigidity, Search and Matching Model, Business Cycle |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J31 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1504&r=lab |
| By: | Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Munch, Jakob Roland (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Rose Skaksen, Jan (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we propose and test a novel effect of immigration on the wages of native workers. Existing studies have focused on the wage effects that result from changes in the aggregate labour supply in a competitive labour market. We argue that if labour markets are not fully competitive, the use of immigrants may also affect wage formation at the most disaggregate level – the workplace. Using linked employeremployee data, we find that an increased use of workers from less developed countries has a significantly negative effect on the wages of native workers at the workplace – also when controlling for potential endogeneity of the immigrant share using both fixed effects and IV. Additional evidence suggests that this effect works at least partly through a general effect on the wage norm in the firm of hiring employees with poor outside options (the immigrants). |
| Keywords: | na |
| JEL: | D21 H32 |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2008_007&r=lab |
| By: | Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj (CEBR, Copenhagen); Munch, Jakob Roland (University of Copenhagen); Skaksen, Jan Rose (Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we focus on the short-run adjustments taking place at the workplace level when immigrants are employed. Specifically, we analyse whether individual native workers are replaced or displaced by the employment of immigrants within the same narrowly defined occupations at the workplace. For this purpose, we estimate a competing risks duration model for job spells of native workers that distinguishes between job-to-job and job-to-unemployment transitions. In general, we do not find any signs of native workers being displaced by immigrants. Furthermore, we find only very limited signs of replacement of native workers by immigrants. Instead, in particular low-skilled native workers are less likely to lose or leave their jobs when the firms hire immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, adjustment costs, displacement, job spells, duration model |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4111&r=lab |
| By: | Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Livanos, Ilias |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the extent to which differences in the subject of degree studied by male and female university graduates contributes to the gender pay gap in Greece. The case of Greece is interesting as it is an EU country with historically large gender discrepancies in earnings and one of the highest levels of occupational gender segregation among OECD economies. Using micro-data from the most recently available waves (2000-2003) of the Greek Labour Force Survey (LFS), the returns to academic disciplines are firstly estimated by gender. It is found that the subjects in which women are relatively over-represented (e.g. Education, Humanities) are also those with the lowest amortization in terms of wage returns. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions subsequently imply that gender differences in the type of degree studied can explain an additional 8.4% of the male-female pay gap in Greece. Risk-augmented earnings functions (Hartog, 2006) indicate that Greek women seek for less risky educations that consequently command lower wage premiums in the job market. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap; subject of degree; educational choices; returns; risk; Greece |
| JEL: | J31 J71 J24 J16 |
| Date: | 2008–08–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14168&r=lab |
| By: | Munch, Jakob Roland (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Rose Skaksen, Jan (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the link between a firms education level, export performance and wages of its workers. We argue that firms may escape intence competition in international markets by using high skilled workers to differentiate their products. This story is consistent with our empirical results. Osing a very rich matched worker-firm longitudinal dataset we find that firms with high export intensities pay higher wages. However, an interaction term between export intensity and skill intensity has a positive impact on wages and it absorbs the direct effect of the export intensity. That is, we find an export wage premium, but it accrues to workers in firms with high skill intensities. Keywords: Exports, Wages, Human Capital, Rent Sharing, Matched Worker-Firm Data JEL Classification: J30, F10, I20 |
| Keywords: | na |
| JEL: | G10 |
| Date: | 2009–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2006_009&r=lab |
| By: | Fatma El-Hamidi |
| Abstract: | . . . |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pit:wpaper:380&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Bachmann; Peggy David |
| Abstract: | Using two data sets derived from German administrative data, including a linked employer-employee data set, we investigate the cyclicality of worker and job flows. The analysis stresses the importance of two-sided labour market heterogeneity in this context, taking into account both observed and unobserved characteristics. We find that small firms hire mainly unemployed workers, and that they do so at the beginning of an economic expansion. Later on in the expansion, hirings more frequently result from direct job-to-job transitions, with employed workers moving to larger firms. Contrary to our expectations, workers moving to larger firms do not experience significantly larger wage gains than workers moving to smaller establishments. Furthermore, our econometric analysis shows that the interaction of unobserved heterogeneities on the two sides of the labour market plays a more important role for employed job seekers than for the unemployed. |
| Keywords: | worker °ows, accessions, separations, business cycle, job-to-job, employer-to-employer, linked employer-employee |
| JEL: | J63 J64 J21 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2009-017&r=lab |
| By: | Gartell, Marie (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to study the long term effects of the college-to-work transition. The results reveal that unemployment immediately upon graduation has substantial and permanent effects on individual future earnings. Even for very short unemployment spells, estimated effects are statistically significant. These results are stable for the inclusion of a rich set of observable control variables, including grade point average from high school and parental educational level, and for choice of method i.e. OLS and propensity score matching. |
| Keywords: | Scarring; State dependence; Higher education; College-to-work |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2009_002&r=lab |
| By: | Hart, Robert A. (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between military service and long-term real earnings. Based on a regression discontinuity design it compares the earnings of age cohorts containing British men who were required to undertake post-war National Service with later cohorts who were exempt. It also compares age cohorts containing men who were conscripted into military service during the first half of WWII and those with later spells of conscription. It argues that, in general, we should not expect large long-term real earnings differences between conscript and non-conscript cohorts since important elements of the former received military training and experience of direct value in the civilian jobs market. In the case of call-up during WWII there is even more reason to expect that there was no major disadvantages to those conscripted. This occurred largely because their pre-military job status was preserved due to the employment of substitute women workers who acted as a temporary employment buffer thereby protecting serving men's positions on the jobs hierarchy. |
| Keywords: | National Service, WWII conscription, long-term real earnings, regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J24 J31 N44 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4118&r=lab |
| By: | Ruppe, Kathi (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Wage subsidies are a major instrument of active labor market policies in Germany. This paper analyses for West Germany, if tenure differs across individuals taking up a subsidized or unsubsidized job, respectively, during the second quarter of 2003. The study is based on process generated data of the German Federal Employment Agency. Cox estimations indicate a significant positive relationship between subsidy receipt and tenure, the risk of ending an employment relationship is in particular lower during the time of subsidization and the subsequent statutorily regulated period of employment. However, no significant differences between men and women could be established." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Eingliederungszuschuss - Erfolgskontrolle, Beschäftigungsdauer, Betriebszugehörigkeit - Dauer, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, Arbeitslose, berufliche Reintegration, Westdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | J68 J64 J63 |
| Date: | 2009–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200906&r=lab |
| By: | Korpi, Martin (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | The questions addressed in this paper are (i) whether immigration and domestic migration over time contributes to changes in wage inequality, and (ii) if so, which parts of the income distribution are these changes associated with? Finally, (iii) what are the correlates of changes in inequality, and does ethnic and educational background of the migrant population matter? Using full population data for 1993 and 2003 for Swedish local labour markets, a fixed effect model is estimated. Factors associated with increasing wage inequality are positive net migration of the Swedish born, increasing educational inequality and low levels of employment. Immigration and domestic migration of the foreign born has no statistically significant effect. |
| Keywords: | migration; wage inequality |
| JEL: | J30 J60 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2008_013&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel F. Heuermann (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | The paper sheds light on the impact of local human capital endowments on individual wages in Western Germany. Using panel data it shows that regional wage differentials are partly attributable to localized human capital externalities arising from the regional share of highly qualified workers. Employing the regional number of public schools and of students as instrumental variables, the paper shows that human capital externalities are underestimated in ordinary panel regressions for highly qualified workers due to supply shifts of workers of different skills. An an alysis by sector reveals that human capital externalities are more pronounced in manufacturing than in the service sector. We find indication that highly qualified workers benefit from intraindustry knowledge spillovers, while non-highly qualified workers profit from pecuniary externalities between industries. Our findings are stable among a variety of indicators of regional human capital and robust to the inclusion of other sources of increasing returns, as well as wage curve, price level, and amenity effects. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital Externalities, Agglomeration, Urban Wage Premium |
| JEL: | D62 D83 J24 J31 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:wpaper:200903&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Reicher |
| Abstract: | A labor matching model with nominal rigidities can match short-run movements in labor’s share with some success. However, it cannot explain much of the behavior of employment, vacancies, and job flows in postwar US data without resorting to additional shocks beyond monetary policy and productivity shocks. In particular, the model suggests that monetary policy shocks can account for only a small portion of postwar fluctuations, except for the Volcker and late-1940s episodes. Productivity shocks can account for some of the pattern in labor’s share and in employment between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. Based on the timing of observed fluctuations in interest rates, inflation, and productivity, it appears that the vast majority of observed fluctuations in the real economy remain unexplained by standard real and nominal shocks |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, labor market search, job flows, labor share, inflation, productivity shocks, monetary shocks |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E52 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1496&r=lab |
| By: | Genre, Véronique (European Central Bank); Kohn, Karsten (KfW Bankengruppe); Momferatou, Daphne (European Central Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the euro area wage structure and its potential determinants from a sectoral viewpoint. Merging information from the OECD Structural Analysis database with data from the EU Labour Force Survey, we construct a cross-country panel of 22 industries in 8 euro area countries for 1991-2002. Data inspection confirms the existence of a fairly stable inter-industry wage structure that is similar across countries. We then apply panel data techniques to identify factors explaining inter-industry wage differentials in the euro area. Both workforce characteristics (e.g., human capital variables) and firm-related characteristics (e.g., capital intensity, productivity) contribute significantly. However, considerable wage heterogeneity across sectors remains. Idiosyncratic sector and country specifics, reflecting different socio-cultural and institutional backgrounds, appear to bear a major role. While our empirical analysis only uses direct evidence from workforce and firm-related characteristics, we also try to relate the remaining heterogeneity to institutional characteristics, based on related literature. |
| Keywords: | euro area, inter-industry wage differentials, panel estimation, firm and workforce characteristics, labour market institutions |
| JEL: | J31 J24 J51 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4114&r=lab |
| By: | Almut Balleer |
| Abstract: | Can the standard search-and-matching labor market model replicate the business cycle fluctuations of the job finding rate and the unemployment rate? In the model, fluctuations are prominently driven by productivity shocks which are commonly interpreted as technology shocks. I estimate different types of technology shocks from structural VARs and reassess the empirical performance of the standard model based on second moments that are conditional on technology shocks. Most prominently, the model replicates the conditional volatility of job finding and unemployment, so that the Shimer critique does not apply. Instead the model lacks non-technological disturbances to replicate the overall sample volatility. In addition, positive technology shocks lead to a fall in job finding and an increase in unemployment thereby opposing the dynamics in the standard model similar to the “hours puzzle” in Galí (1999) |
| Keywords: | labor market dynamics, technology shocks, structural VAR, search and matching, business cycle |
| JEL: | E24 E32 O33 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1500&r=lab |
| By: | Gartell, Marie (Institute for Futures Studies); Jans, Ann-Christin (Swedish Public Employment Service); Persson, Helena (The Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations) |
| Abstract: | Using employer-employee data covering the whole Swedish economy over a uniquely long time period from 1986 to 2002, we examine how job and worker flows have been distributed across age groups. We find that job and worker flows vary by age groups, not only with respect to magnitude and variation, but with respect to direction as well. The differences between the age groups are mainly driven by the job creation rates. Further, estimating a multinomial logistic model, we investigate the importance of age for leaving, changing or entering a new employment. Even though controlling for a number of factors, estimated age effects are substantial. |
| Keywords: | Linked employer-employee data; job and worker flows; cyclicality; age |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J62 J63 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2008_014&r=lab |
| By: | Ham, Roger (University of Western Sydney); Junankar, Pramod N. (Raja) (University of Western Sydney); Wells, Robert (University of Western Sydney) |
| Abstract: | In modern societies, people are often classified as "White Collar" or "Blue Collar" workers: that classification not only informs social scientists about the kind of work that they do, but also about their social standing, their social interests, their family ties, and their approach to life in general. This analysis will examine the effect of an individual's psychometrically derived personality traits and status of their parents on the probability of attaining a white collar occupation over the baseline category of a blue collar occupation; controlling for human capital and other factors. The paper uses data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to estimate a random effects probit model to capture the effects on the probability of being in a white collar occupation. The results are then examined using the average marginal effects of the different conditioning variables over the whole sample. The analysis confirms the previous findings of human capital theory, but finds that personality and parental status also have significant effects on occupational outcomes. The results suggest that the magnitude of the average marginal effect of parental status is small and the effect of the personality trait "conscientiousness" is large and rivals that of education. Finally, estimates of separate models for males and females indicate that effects differ between the genders for key variables, with personality traits in females having a relatively larger effect on their occupational outcomes due to the diminished effects of education. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, personality, human capital, dynasty hysteresis |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4105&r=lab |
| By: | Hamish Low; Costas Meghir; Luigi Pistaferri |
| Abstract: | We specify a structural life-cycle model of consumption, labour supply and job mobility in an economy with search frictions that allows us to distinguish between different sources of risk and to estimate their effects. The sources of risk are shocks to productivity, job destruction, the process of job arrival when employed and unemployed and match level heterogeneity. In contrast to simpler models that attribute all income fluctuations to shocks, our framework disentangles variability due to shocks from variability due to the responses to these shocks. Estimates of productivity risk, once we control for employment risk and for individual labour supply choices, are substantially lower than estimates that attribute all wage variation to productivity risk. Increases in productivity risk impose a considerable welfare loss on individuals and induce substantial precautionary saving. Increases in employment risk have large effects on output and, primarily through this channel, affect welfare. The welfare value of government p rogram s such as food stamps which partially insure productivity risk is greater than the value of unemployment insurance which provides (partial) insurance against employment risk and no insurance against persistent shocks. |
| JEL: | D91 E21 H31 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14901&r=lab |
| By: | Selin, Håkan (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Sweden reached the 2007 OECD average level of female labor force participation already in 1974. Before, but not after, 1971 the average tax rate facing the housewife was a function of the income of her husband. By exploiting a rich register based data source I utilize the exogenous variation provided by the individual tax reform to analyze the evolution of female employment in Sweden in the beginning of the 1970’s. Simulations suggest that employment among married women would have been 10 percentage points lower in 1975 if the 1969 statutory income tax system still had been in place in 1975. |
| Keywords: | Female labor supply; income tax reforms |
| JEL: | H24 J21 |
| Date: | 2009–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2009_004&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Merkl |
| Abstract: | In the standard New Keynesian sticky price model the central bank faces no contradiction between the stabilization of inflation and the stabilization of the welfare relevant output gap after a productivity shock hits the economy. When the standard model is enhanced by real wage rigidities or labor turnover costs, an endogenous short-run inflation-output tradeoff arises. This paper compares the implications of the two labor market rigidities. It argues that economists and policymakers alike should pay more attention to labor turnover costs for the following reasons. First, a model with labor turnover costs generates impulse response functions that are more in line with the empirical evidence than those of a model with real wage rigidities. Second, labor turnover costs are the dominant source for the inflation-output tradeoff when both rigidities are present in the model. And finally, there is stronger empirical evidence for the existence of labor turnover costs than for real wage rigidities |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, real wage rigidity, labor turnover costs, unemployment, tradeoff |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E52 J23 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1495&r=lab |
| By: | Selin, Håkan (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Sweden reached the 2007 OECD average level of female labor force participation already in 1974. Before, but not after, 1971 the average tax rate facing the housewife was a function of the income of her husband. By exploiting a rich register based data source I utilize the exogenous variation provided by the individual tax reform to analyze the evolution of female employment in Sweden in the beginning of the 1970’s. Simulations suggest that employment among married women would have been 10 percentage points lower in 1975 if the 1969 statutory income tax system still had been in place in 1975. |
| Keywords: | Female labor supply; income tax reforms |
| JEL: | H24 J21 |
| Date: | 2009–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2009_003&r=lab |
| By: | Pacifico, Daniele |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to introduce labour supply behaviour in an arithmetic microsimulation model so as to take into account changes in labour supply when a new policy is evaluated. I explore the performance of a labour supply estimation method based on a discrete choice set. The idea behind this approach is to work directly with preferences instead of labour supply functions. The main advantage of the discrete approach is the possibility of dealing easily with non-convex budget sets and joint labour supply. This let the discrete approach relatively suitable for policy evaluation purposes. I use the papers from Blundell, Dancan, McCrae and Meghir (1999) and Brewer, Duncan Shepard and Suarez (2006) as main references for the structural microeconometric model. Several innovative elements are taken into account with respect previous Italian studies. In particular, I allow for errors in the predicted wage for non-workers, unobserved heterogeneity in preferences, unobserved monetary fixed costs of working and child-care demand. The model is fully parametric and the Simulated Maximum Likelihood approach is used to approximate multidimensional integrals. An overview of the STATA routine for the maximum likelihood estimation is also presented. The elasticities of labour supply for married men and women are computed and discussed. |
| Keywords: | Microsimulation; Household labour supply; discrete choice |
| JEL: | H31 J22 H24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14198&r=lab |
| By: | Jongkyun Choi |
| Abstract: | The self-employed workers make up a small but significant minority of the workforce in many OECD countries. Moreover, transitions into and out of self-employment have become much more common for a larger group of workers. It is therefore of critical importance to review and assess the pension schemes available to self-employed workers across OECD countries. Given employment and income patterns commonly observed for this subgroup, it is also important to address the issue of compliance and enforcement towards a formal affiliation of this group to pension schemes on offer. This paper reviews three key aspects of pension schemes available to self-employed workers: coverage, contributions and benefits. In each part, analyses are undertaken not just by describing the rules governing these schemes but also looking into their actual functioning in terms of compliance and enforcement. Key findings include the fact that the self-employed are covered by the same pension schemes as those of employees in the majority of countries. One important difference is that, while employees share the contribution burden with their employers, the self-employed workers in most cases pay the full pension contribution from their own income. The rules for pension entitlements, on the other hand, are usually almost identical to those that apply to employees. One key conclusion emerging from this paper is that the pension provision for the self-employed is a matter of practical implementation of existing schemes rather than overhauling pension rules for these schemes. Low coverage is a common problem for this group in some OECD countries, as they belong to the informal sector and their incomes are hard to identify. Contribution evasion or under-reporting of income by the self-employed is prevalent even in some countries with high per capita income. This has implications as these self-employed workers will have lower levels of pension incomes at retirement. In some cases, low contributions coupled with relatively generous pension rights also raise an issue of equity in the provision of pensions for the self-employed and employees.<BR>Dans beaucoup de pays de l’OCDE, les travailleurs indépendants constituent, au sein de la population active, une minorité faible par la taille mais d’importance significative. En outre, pour un nombre accru de travailleurs, le passage au statut d’indépendant et l’abandon de ce statut est un processus bien plus courant aujourd’hui. En conséquence, il est crucial d’examiner et évaluer les régimes de pension qui sont à la disposition des travailleurs indépendants dans les différents pays de l’OCDE. Compte tenu de la structure de l’emploi et de celle du revenu généralement observées au sein de cette population, il importe également de s’intéresser au respect de l’obligation d’affiliation formelle de ces travailleurs aux régimes de pension qui leur sont proposés et aux moyens de les y contraindre. Ce document examine trois aspects clés des régimes de pension auxquels les travailleurs indépendants peuvent s’affilier : couverture, cotisations et prestations. Dans chaque partie, les analyses proposées ne se contentent pas de décrire les règles régissant ces dispositifs, mais portent aussi sur leur fonctionnement concret du point de vue du respect de l’obligation d’affiliation et des instruments de coercition. Les principales observations englobent le fait que, dans la majorité des pays, les travailleurs indépendants sont couverts par les mêmes régimes de retraite que les salariés, à ceci près, et la différence est de taille, que si les salariés partagent le poids des cotisations avec leurs employeurs, les travailleurs indépendants payent dans la plupart des cas les deux parts sur leur propre revenu. Par ailleurs, les règles régissant les droits à pension des indépendants sont généralement presque identiques à celles s’appliquant aux salariés. Une conclusion essentielle se dégage de ce document : en matière de retraite, la question qui se pose pour les travailleurs indépendants concerne l’application pratique des dispositifs existants et non la remise à plat des règles. Dans quelques pays de l’OCDE, les indépendants se heurtent à un même problème, celui du faible niveau de couverture, car cette catégorie de travailleurs relève du secteur informel, et ses revenus sont difficiles à cerner. La fraude fiscale et la sous-déclaration des revenus sont très répandues chez les travailleurs indépendants, même dans des pays où le revenu par habitant est élevé. Ce phénomène n’est pas sans conséquence car au moment de la retraite, le niveau de revenu que procurera à ces travailleurs leur pension sera plus modeste. Dans certains cas, le faible niveau des cotisations conjugué à la générosité des droits à pension soulève aussi un problème d’équité dans le financement des pensions des travailleurs indépendants et des salariés. |
| JEL: | H55 J23 |
| Date: | 2009–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:84-en&r=lab |
| By: | Tavani, Daniele |
| Abstract: | In a simple one-sector, two-class, fixed-proportions economy, wages are set through axiomatic bargaining a la Nash [1950]. As for choice of technology, firms choose the direction of factor augmentations to maximize the rate of unit cost reduction (Kennedy [1964], and more recently Funk [2002]). The aggregate environment resulting by self-interested decisions made by economic agents is described by a two-dimensional dynamical system in the employment rate and output/capital ratio. The economy converges cyclically to a long-run equilibrium involving a Harrod-neutral prole of technical change, a constant rate of employment of labor, and constant input shares. The type of oscillations predicted by the model matches the available data on the United States (1963-2003). Finally, institutional change, as captured by variations in workers' bargaining power, has a positive effect on the rate of output growth but a negative effect on employment. |
| Keywords: | Bargaining; Induced Technical Change; Factor Shares; Employment |
| JEL: | E25 E24 J52 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–04–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14635&r=lab |
| By: | Pierrette Heuse (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department); Yves Saks (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department) |
| Abstract: | The paper describes job flows in Belgium using micro data at the firm level collected through the annual social balance sheets that companies have to file with the National Bank of Belgium. The coverage of the study is very broad: all industries and commercial services are included. We contribute to the previous literature by studying a long period from 1998 to 2006, covering both upturns and downturns in the Belgian economy. Furthermore, data from the social balance sheets make it possible to take into account the heterogeneity of the workforce, on top of the eterogeneity of firms themselves: job flows are broken down by socio-professional status and type of employment contract |
| Keywords: | Job flows, business cycle, heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J23 J21 I20 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:200904-14&r=lab |
| By: | de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country); Ortega, Francesc (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the economic and cultural gaps of the largest foreign-born ethnic minorities in Spain: Latinos, Eastern Europeans, Moroccans and individuals from Other Muslim countries. We focus on several outcomes: the gender education gap, early marriage, inter-ethnic marriage, fertility, female employment, command of Spanish, and social participation. Our results suggest that Latinos are the group with patterns of behavior closest to those of natives, followed by Eastern Europeans. In several dimensions, such as the marriage penalty for females, Moroccans and individuals from Other Muslim countries are the groups with larger gaps relative to natives. Our results also show large improvements in the educational attainment of younger Moroccan cohorts, which is an important determinant of the outcomes we have analyzed. |
| Keywords: | immigration, cultural gaps, ethnicity, assimilation |
| JEL: | J15 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4115&r=lab |
| By: | Sonia Oreffice (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | I estimate how intra-household bargaining affects gay and lesbian couples¿ labor supplies, investigating their similarity to heterosexual decision-making, in a collective household framework. Data from the 2000 US Census shows that couples of all types exhibit a significant response to bargaining power shifts, as measured by differences between partners in age or non-labor income. In gay, lesbian, and heterosexual cohabiting couples, a relatively young or rich partner has more bargaining power and hence supplies less labor, the opposite holding for his/her mate. Married couples value the older spouse instead, or the richer. No effects are found for same-sex roommates. |
| Keywords: | Same-sex couples; Household bargaining power; Labor Supply |
| JEL: | D1 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-08&r=lab |
| By: | Maimaiti, Yasheng (University of Birmingham, UK); Siebert, W. Stanley (University of Birmingham, UK) |
| Abstract: | We investigate girls' school dropout rates, bringing forward a novel variable: access to water. We hypothesise that a girl's education suffers when her greater water need for female hygiene purposes after menarche is not met because her household has poor access to water. For testing we use data from rural villages in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. We find that menarche is associated with an increase in the school dropout rate, and indeed the effect is weaker for girls who have good access to water. Water engineering can thus contribute significantly to reducing gender education gaps in rural areas. |
| Keywords: | education, gender gaps, menarche, water, China |
| JEL: | I21 J16 O15 L95 Q25 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4108&r=lab |
| By: | Francesca Mazzolari; David Neumark |
| Abstract: | We study potential economic benefits of immigration stemming from two factors: first, that immigrants bring not only their labor supply with them, but also their consumption demands; and second, that immigrants may have a comparative advantage in the production of ethnic goods. Using data on the universe of business establishments located in California between 1992 and 2002 matched with Census of Population data, we find some evidence that immigrant inflows boost employment in the retail sector, which is non-traded and a non-intensive user of immigrant labor. We find that immigration is associated with fewer stand-alone retail stores, and a greater number of large and in particular big-box retailers – evidence that likely contradicts a diversity-enhancing effect of immigration. On the other hand, focusing more sharply on the restaurant sector, for which we can better identify the types of products consumed by customers, the evidence indicates that immigration is associated with increased ethnic diversity of restaurants. |
| JEL: | J18 J2 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14900&r=lab |
| By: | Torben M. Andersen; Michael Svarer |
| Abstract: | The consequences of cylical contingencies in unemployment insurance systems are considered in a search-matching model allowing for shifts between “good” and “bad” states of nature. An argument for state contingencies is that insurance arguments are stronger and incentive effects weaker in "bad" than in "good" states of nature. We con.rm this and show that cyclically dependent benefit levels not only provide better insurance but may have structural effects implying that the structural (average) unemployment rate decreases, although the variability of unemployment may increase |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1498&r=lab |
| By: | Pekkarinen, Tuomas (Helsinki School of Economics); Uusitalo, Roope (Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT)); 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: | 2009–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_006&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin J. Mumford |
| Abstract: | Families with children receive preferential treatment in the U.S. federal income tax. Over the past 15 years, the real value of child tax benefits approximately doubled reaching nearly $1,900 per child in 2006. This paper examines the efficiency cost of providing child tax benefits. A representative agent model is used to show how the efficiency cost of providing child tax benefits depends on labor supply and fertility elasticities. The model reveals that cross-price substitution effect for labor supply and children is of primary importance in calculating the efficiency cost. However, there are no estimates of this parameter in the literature. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to estimate this parameter. The estimated cross-price substitution effect implies that children and time spent outside of employment are complements. This implies that the full cost of providing child tax benefits is larger than the reported tax expenditure. |
| Keywords: | fertility, income tax, child tax benefits, female labor supply |
| JEL: | H24 H21 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pur:prukra:1220&r=lab |
| By: | Martínez i Coma, Ferran (CIDE, Mexico City); Duval Hernández, Robert (CIDE, Mexico City) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence regarding public opinion on immigration by studying the Spanish case, and by analyzing not only respondents' preferences regarding immigration levels, but also regarding admittance policies and the rights and benefits to grant to foreigners. In general, Spaniards support less immigration, and more selectivity based on skills and qualifications, but not reduced rights and benefits for immigrants. Skilled natives have more positive attitudes about immigration, in spite of the potential fiscal burden it implies for them. Respondents believing that immigration drops natives' wages tended to oppose immigration and endorse reducing the benefits and rights granted to immigrants. More negative attitudes were found among individuals who dislike other races, while the opposite was found for those valuing cultural diversity. Catholic respondents favor more restrictive admission policies, in particular ones based on cultural factors. Respondents in provinces with high immigration and a high proportion of Moroccans wanted lower levels of immigration, though having contact with immigrants reduces the negative attitudes toward them. Individuals overestimating the levels of immigration are more prone to have negative attitudes toward immigrants. |
| Keywords: | international migration, immigration preferences |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4109&r=lab |
| By: | Kap, Hrvoje (Swedish Institute for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper is an attempt to propose how education systems can be studied in relation to the welfare state and knowledge society in the global age. It begins by discussing the aims of education and relates these to the core values of social citizenship, arguing that access to the provision of education is a fundamental pillar of citizenship with the purpose of extending and enhancing life chances by general principles of social inclusion and equality of opportunity. It further on reviews a large body of comparative research which studies how the design of education institutions in various countries influences one important aspect of these aims, namely school-leavers’ entrance into the labour market. The third and last section investigates the possibilities and difficulties inherent in comparative studies of national systems of education, particularly with regard to questions concerning validity when constructing conceptual models and comparable indicators. The tentative conclusion of the paper is that further comparative endeavours should set out analyzing primarily input- and process-related features of compulsory education, and the dimensions of stratification and standardization of upper secondary education for an assessment of these institutions’ capacity to equip citizens with knowledge and skills for human flourishing. |
| Keywords: | education systems; social citizenship |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2008_010&r=lab |
| By: | Mewael F. Tesfaselassie; Eric Schaling |
| Abstract: | We analyze determinacy and stability under learning (E-stability) of rational expectations equilibria in the Blanchard and Galí (2006, 2008) New-Keynesian model of inflation and unemployment, where labor market frictions due to costs of hiring workers play an important role. We derive results for alternative specifications of monetary policy rules and alternative values of hiring costs as a percentage of GDP. Under low hiring costs – a typical part of the U.S. calibration – for policy rules based on current period inflation and unemployment our results are similar to those of Bullard and Mitra (2002). However, we find that the region of indeterminacy and E-instability in the policy space increases with the hiring costs. So, higher hiring costs – consistent with the European 'sclerotic' labor market institutions – seem to play an important part in explaining unemployment instability. Under lagged data based rules the area where monetary policy delivers both determinacy and E-stability shrinks. These rules perform worse according to these two dimensions when hiring costs go up. Finally, under expectations-based rules – unlike Bullard and Mitra (2002) – an additional explosive region is introduced. Here also the scope for determinacy and E-stability oriented monetary policy decreases. Interestingly – under the same rule and European 'sclerotic' labor market institutions – we find that responding too much to expected inflation and too little to expected unemployment may very well be self-defeating. When hiring costs are large, a central bank that follows such a policy rule could very easily end up in the worst-case scenario of both indeterminacy and E-instability |
| Keywords: | Monetary Policy Rules, Determinacy, Learning, E-Stability |
| JEL: | E52 E31 D84 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1506&r=lab |
| By: | Stefano Gagliarducci; M. Daniele Paserman |
| Abstract: | This paper studies gender interactions within hierarchical organizations using a large data set on the duration of Italian municipal governments elected between 1993 and 2003. A municipal government can be viewed as a hierarchy, whose stability over time depends on the degree of cooperation between and within ranks. We find that in municipalities headed by female mayors, the probability of early termination of the legislature is higher. This result persists and becomes stronger when we control for municipality fixed effects as well as non-random sorting of women into municipalities using regression discontinuity in gender-mixed electoral races decided by a narrow margin. The likelihood that a female mayor survives until the end of her term is lowest when the council is entirely male, and in regions with less favorable attitudes towards working women. The evidence is suggestive that female mayors are less able at fostering cooperation among men, or alternatively, that men are more reluctant to be headed by women. Other interpretations receive less support in the data. Our results may provide an alternative explanation for the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. |
| JEL: | J16 M54 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14893&r=lab |
| By: | Budria, Santiago (University of Madeira); Diaz-Serrano, Luis (Universitat Rovira i Virgili); Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)); Hartog, Joop (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We replicate Shaw (1996) who found that individual wage growth is higher for individuals with greater preference for risk taking. Expanding her dataset with more American observations and data for Germany, Spain and Italy, we find mixed support for the earlier results. We present and estimate a new model and find that in particular the wage level is sensitive to attitudes towards risk taking. |
| Keywords: | wage growth, risk, post-school investment |
| JEL: | J24 J30 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4124&r=lab |
| By: | Meta Brown; John Karl Scholz; Ananth Seshadri |
| Abstract: | We discuss a simple model of intergenerational transfers with one-sided altruism: parents care about their child but the child does not reciprocate. Parents and children make investments in the child’s education, investments for other purposes, and parents can transfer cash to their child. We show that for an identifiable set of parent-child pairs, parents will rationally under-invest in their child’s education. For these parent-child pairs, additional financial aid will increase educational attainment. The model highlights an important feature of higher education finance, the “expected family contribution†(EFC) that is based on income, assets, and other factors. The EFC is neither legally guaranteed nor universally offered: Our model identifies the set of families that are disproportionately likely to not provide their full EFC. Using a common proxy for financial aid, we show, using of data from the Health and Retirement Study, that financial aid increases the educational attainment of children whose families are disproportionately likely to under-invest in education. Financial aid has no effect on the educational attainment of children in other families. The theory and empirical evidence identifies a set of children who face quantitatively important borrowing constraints for higher education. |
| JEL: | I22 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14879&r=lab |
| By: | Ericson, Peter (Sim Solution); Flood, Lennart (Göteborg University); Wahlberg, Roger (Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of SWEtaxben is to evaluate the impact of changes in the tax/benefit systems on households as well as the central governmental budget. Relating to the micro simulation literature this model can be labeled a static micro simulation model with behavioral changes. This behavioral change takes two different forms and use two different types of models; first binary models that describe mobility in/out from non-work states such as old age pension, disability, unemployment, long term sickness and second models that describe change in working hours and welfare participation. Thus, apart from the choice to work or not to work, working hours conditional on working as well as welfare participation are treated as endogenous variables. As an application the model is used to evaluate the recent Swedish "make work pay" reform, effective from 2007 and further reinforced in 2008 and 2009. The key characteristic of this reform is an in-work tax credit and decreased state tax rate. Simulations performed by SWEtaxben show increased working hours at both the intensive as well as extensive margin. The tax decrease together with dynamic changes results in a strong increase in household's incomes but also a reduction in income inequality. However, even considering the increase in hours of work, the reform is far from being self-financed. |
| Keywords: | micro simulation, tax-benefit system, in-work tax credit reform |
| JEL: | C8 D31 H24 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4106&r=lab |
| By: | Eamonn Greville |
| Abstract: | These guidelines offer information on space planning and design for school principals, boards of management and designers to make permanent learning facilities available for pupils with special educational needs across the 26 counties of Ireland. The guidelines reflect many of the recent changes in the country’s educational system, changes that have placed greater demands on schools for additional space to account for a growing range of teaching and support services for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders, emotional disturbance and/or behaviour problems, speech and language difficulties, hearing impairment, visual impairment, multi-sensory impairment, and other needs. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2009/1-en&r=lab |
| By: | Eric D. Gould; Victor Lavy; M. Daniele Paserman |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of the childhood environment on a large array of social and economic outcomes lasting almost 60 years, for both the affected cohorts and for their children. To do this, we exploit a natural experiment provided by the 1949 Magic Carpet operation, where over 50,000 Yemenite immigrants were airlifted to Israel. The Yemenites, who lacked any formal schooling or knowledge of a western-style culture or bureaucracy, believed that they were being "redeemed," and put their trust in the Israeli authorities to make decisions about where they should go and what they should do. As a result, they were scattered across the country in essentially a random fashion, and as we show, the environmental conditions faced by immigrant children were not correlated with other factors that affected the long-term outcomes of individuals. We construct three summary measures of the childhood environment: 1) whether the home had running water, sanitation and electricity; 2) whether the locality of residence was in an urban environment with a good economic infrastructure; and 3) whether the locality of residence was a Yemenite enclave. We find that children who were placed in a good environment (a home with good sanitary conditions, in a city, and outside of an ethnic enclave) were more likely to achieve positive long-term outcomes. They were more likely to obtain higher education, marry at an older age, have fewer children, work at age 55, be more assimilated into Israeli society, be less religious, and have more worldly tastes in music and food. These effects are much more pronounced for women than for men. We find weaker and somewhat mixed effects on health outcomes, and no effect on political views. We do find an effect on the next generation – children who lived in a better environment grew up to have children who achieved higher educational attainment. |
| JEL: | F22 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14884&r=lab |
| By: | McArthur, David Philip (Stord/Haugesund University College); Thorsen, Inge (Stord/Haugesund University College); Ubøe, Jan (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Traffic congestion and the policies to combat it have been studied extensively. However, most studies neglect the labour market impacts of congestion. Many also fail to account for the simultaneity between commuting and migration. This paper models impacts such as unemployment disparities, changes in commuting flows and changes in the flow of migrants by adopting an agent based simulation approach. This approach has the strength that it allows the simultaneous consideration of commuting, migration and labour force participation decisions. The results obtained have important theoretical and policy implications and show how an "optimal" charge may, in fact, be sub-optimal. |
| Keywords: | Congestion; Road pricing; Agent-based approach; Spatial interaction; Infrastructure investment |
| JEL: | J61 R12 R23 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2009–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2009_003&r=lab |
| By: | Augusto Iglesias-Palau |
| Abstract: | The paper describes Chile’s pension reform of 1980, which replaced the existing pay-as-you-go public pension programs by a new funded pension program managed by private companies (the “AFP´s”). It comments on the main results of this reform so far, and identifies the current challenges faced by the country’s pension system. The paper also describes the changes introduced to Chile’s pension system in March 2008 and assesses their potential impact. The Chilean case shows that parametric reforms preceding the creation of a funded program can reduce political resistance to structural pension reform. Chile’s experience also suggests that the consistency of opinions among the economic, social security and labor market authorities responsible of designing and conducting a pension reform process can help to sell the reform to the political authorities. If the decision is to replace an existing pension program by a new one, it also seems necessary to have specific rules that, in some particular circumstances and for a limited period of time, allow discontented workers to go back to their former pension program. Chile’s experience also shows that the quality of pension programs micro design is relevant since individual decisions and portfolio managers investments decisions are shaped by regulations. Results so far suggests that the reform has been successful in improving the long term sustainability of Chile’s pension system; in creating a more fair system; in promoting the development of capital markets; and in removing some distortions to the operation of labor markets. On the other side, there is some room for the new program operational costs and prices to go down, and expectations about an increase in second pillar coverage have not been met. While some regulatory changes could improve the extent and quality of the funded pension program coverage, the long-term solution to the economic problems of retirement involves the labor market. To improve future pensions more jobs in the formal sector of the economy should be created; unemployment must be reduced; and working lives should be extended.<BR>Le document décrit la réforme chilienne des pensions, qui a remplacé en 1980 les programmes publics de retraite par répartition par un système financé par capitalisation, géré par des entreprises privées (les “AFP”). Il commente les principaux résultats de cette réforme et recense les défis auxquels est actuellement confronté le nouveau régime. Le document décrit aussi les modifications qui y ont été apportées en mars 2008 et en évalue l’impact potentiel. Le cas chilien montre que les réformes paramétriques, qui avaient précédé la mise en place d’un système financé par capitalisation, peuvent atténuer les résistances politiques à une réforme structurelle des retraites. L’expérience du Chili donne aussi à penser que la cohérence des avis formulés par les autorités responsables de la politique économique, de la sécurité sociale et des marchés du travail, chargées de concevoir et de conduire le processus de réforme des retraites, peuvent aider à « vendre » la réforme aux autorités politiques. Lorsque l’on prend la décision de remplacer un régime de retraite par un autre, il semble également nécessaire de définir des règles spécifiques autorisant, dans certaines circonstances particulières et pendant une période limitée, les travailleurs mécontents à se réaffilier à leur régime de retraite antérieur. L’expérience du Chili montre aussi qu’il importe de veiller attentivement à la qualité de la conception des dispositions détaillées du système, car les décisions des particuliers et des gestionnaires des investissements de portefeuilles dépendent du cadre réglementaire mis en place. Les résultats observés jusqu’ ici laissent penser que la réforme a permis d’améliorer la viabilité à long terme du système chilien des retraites, d’instaurer un système plus équitable, de promouvoir le développement des marchés financiers et d’éliminer certains facteurs de distorsion du fonctionnement des marchés du travail. Par contre, il y existe une certaine marge de manoeuvre pour abaisser les coûts de fonctionnement du nouveau régime et les coûts d’affiliation. Les attentes quant à une extension de la couverture du second pilier ne se sont pas concrétisées. Si certaines modifications d’ordre réglementaire sont de nature à améliorer l’étendue et la qualité de la couverture du régime de pension capitalisé, à longterme la solution aux problèmes de financement des retraites est liée à la situation du marché du travail. Pour améliorer les retraites futures, il faudrait créer des emplois plus nombreux dans le secteur formel de l’économie, réduire le chômage et allonger la durée de la vie active. |
| JEL: | E62 G22 G23 G28 H53 H55 |
| Date: | 2009–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:86-en&r=lab |
| By: | Antoniya Owens |
| Abstract: | This research report uses the most recent available data to construct a detailed demographic, labor, and socioeconomic portrait of New England’s immigrants. It is the latest in a series of publications from the Center on the movement of people into and out of our region. ; The report evaluates the size, relative share, settlement patterns, and national origins of the region’s immigrants, and explores how these have changed in recent decades. It then describes the demographic characteristics of the region’s foreign-born residents, and analyzes their labor force behavior. Finally, the report evaluates immigrants’ socioeconomic status and reliance on public assistance as well as their civic contributions. Throughout the report, the author explores differences between immigrants in the region and in the nation as a whole, as well as between immigrants in the northern three New England states and those in the southern three. The report concludes with recommendations of how states can sustain and enhance the economic potential and social integration of their immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants - New England |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbcr:08-2&r=lab |
| By: | Sven Schreiber |
| Abstract: | We investigate the controversial issue whether unemployment is related to productivity growth in the long run, using U.S. data in a framework of infrequent mean shifts. Tests find (endogenously dated) shifts around 1974, 1986, and 1996, system techniques indicate that the shifts are common features, and the implied long-run link between the two variables is negative. Therefore the secular decline of unemployment since the mid 1990s indeed stemmed from higher average productivity growth. The initial and final regimes are essentially equal, thus supporting theories that explain the productivity slowdown by a slow adoption process of IT with associated learning costs |
| Keywords: | productivity slowdown, growth, NAIRU level, common shifts |
| JEL: | E24 C32 O40 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1505&r=lab |
| By: | Mohn, Klaus (University of Stavanger) |
| Abstract: | , |
| Keywords: | Health problems; Work environment |
| JEL: | A10 |
| Date: | 2009–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:stavef:2009_009&r=lab |
| By: | Jakobsson, Niklas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Kotsadam, Andreas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Using survey data from Norway and Sweden, we assess people’s attitudes towards gender equality. Previous studies argue that these attitudes are more egalitarian in Sweden than in Norway. Similar to previous research, we find that Swedes are more positive towards gender equality in general. However, we find no differences regarding views on egalitarian sharing of household responsibilities, and Norwegians are actually more supportive of government intervention to increase gender equality. This suggests that the lower support for gender equality in Norway is less robust than previously thought and that there is a larger scope for advancing the gender revolution in Norway via government policies than in Sweden.<p> |
| Keywords: | attitudes; norms; gender equality |
| JEL: | I20 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0352&r=lab |
| By: | Leigh Robinson; Taylor Robinson |
| Abstract: | Contemporary education design strongly emphasises stimulating, adaptable learning environments, with spaces able to support various styles of teaching and learning. Delivering successful school buildings requires a close collaborative relationship between the architect and all key stakeholders from initial briefing through to project handover. The brief should identify the opportunities and challenges to create an exciting architectural solution which is functional, aspirational and contextually responsible. The design should demonstrate adaptability and flexibility, maintainability, attention to siting, a culture of community, and sustainability. The building programme and budget also require special attention. The photographs throughout this article show a variety of examples of educational facilities in Perth, Australia, across both the primary and secondary levels. They demonstrate the role architecture can play in creating stimulating learning environments and communities of excellence. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2009/3-en&r=lab |
| By: | NAKAJIMA Tomoyuki |
| Abstract: | We consider an efficiency-wage model with the Calvo-type sticky prices and analyze the optimal monetary policy when the unemployment insurance is not perfect. With imperfect risk sharing, the strict zero-inflation policy is no longer optimal even when the steady-state equilibrium is made (conditionally) efficient. Quantitative results depend on how the idiosyncratic earnings loss due to unemployment varies over business cycles. If the idiosyncratic income loss is acyclical, the optimal policy differs very little from the zero-inflation policy. However, if it varies countercyclically, as evidence suggests, the deviation of the optimal policy from the complete price-level stabilization becomes quantitatively signifficant. Furthermore, the optimal policy in such a case involves stabilization of output to a much larger extent. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:09014&r=lab |
| By: | Mayu Fujii |
| Abstract: | Recent studies on the relationship between family income and child health show that children from poorer families have worse health than those from wealthier families, and that the negative effects of low income on health accumulate during childhood. In this paper, we aim to disaggregate the accumulated effects of income on child health found in the past studies into the gmarginalh (i.e., contemporaneous) effects and investigate how the contemporaneous effects evolve as children become older. Using data from the two waves of the Child Development Supplement (CDS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we found weak evidence that the contemporaneous effects of family income on child health seem to accumulate with a decreasing rate throughout childhood. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hst:ghsdps:gd08-052&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This study explored how social pressure related to parental preference for the sex of their children affects fertility. Pre-war and post-war generations were compared using individual level data previously collected in Japan in 2002. In the pre-war generation, if the first child was a daughter, the total number of children tended to increase regardless of the mother’s sex preference. This tendency was not observed for the post-war generation. Results suggest that social pressure related to giving birth to a son led to high fertility in the pre-war generation; however, fertility was not influenced by social pressure in the post-war generation. |
| Keywords: | Fertility; son preference; social pressure; family structure. |
| JEL: | J13 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2009–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14647&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Shubik |
| Abstract: | There is already considerable talk about the possible need for a massive public works program in response to the deepening recession and rising unemployment; however, an ad hoc emergency approach is going to waste billions of dollars by mismatching skills and needs. In this new Policy Note, Martin Shubik of Yale University outlines a proposal aimed directly at providing good planning consistent with maintaining market freedom and minimizing pork-barrel legislation. Rather than an emergency relief program on the order of the New Deal Works Progress Administration, Shubik proposes a permanent agency modeled on the Federal Reserve that would monitor unemployment in each state and maintain a list of potential public works projects. Financing for any project could then be set in place as soon as the unemployment level in any state exceeded the trigger value, eliminating the need for relief legislation during a crisis. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levypn:09-5&r=lab |
| By: | Kvaløy, Ola (University of Stavanger); Olsen, Trond (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | x |
| Keywords: | Relational contracts; Multiagent Moral Hazard; Indispensable human capital |
| JEL: | D23 J33 L14 |
| Date: | 2008–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:stavef:2009_003&r=lab |
| By: | Enström Öst, Cecilia (Institute for Futures Studies) |
| Abstract: | The aim with this paper is to investigate whether parental wealth influences the tenure choice of young adults. Sweden as a welfare state has historically been considered as strong and with an ambitious housing policy. However, since the early 1990’s there has been a decrease in housing subsidies and a rolling back of the welfare state. These changes have been associated with rising house prices and costs which have worsened young adults’ chances on the housing market. Such problems may increase the importance of parental wealth. Data from three birth-cohorts that entered the housing market during different periods suggest that family background has now become an important factor in describing young adults’ housing situation. Young adults with parents who are owner occupiers and whose fathers have a university degree seem to have become more likely to buy their housing. The results also indicate that growing up with a single parent – a factor that has been shown to put children at risk – now also seems to have become a constraint on choice in the housing market. The result from this three-cohort study indicates that housing opportunities of young adults may have become a matter of class affiliation. |
| Keywords: | Housing tenure; Family background; Wealth; Young adult |
| JEL: | I30 J10 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2009_001&r=lab |
| By: | Davis, Lee N.; Davis, Jerome; Hoisl, Karin |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure time invention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor is away from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive creativity of the individual researcher, and reassessing the image of researchers inventing during unpaid time – who have often been dispatched as “hobbyists”. Based on the responses from a survey of over 3,000 German inventors, we tested hypotheses on the conditions under which leisure time invention is likely to arise. Results suggest that the incidence of leisure time invention is positively related to exposure to a variety of knowledge inputs – but, surprisingly, not to the quality of prior inventive output. Leisure time inventions are more frequently observed in conceptual-based technologies than in science-based technologies, in smaller R&D projects, and in externally financed R&D projects. |
| Keywords: | Leisure Time; Inventiveness; Organizational Creativity |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O34 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:10457&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Arcidiacono; Esteban M. Aucejo; Hanming Fang; Kenneth I. Spenner |
| Abstract: | We argue that once we take into account the students' rational enrollment decisions, mismatch in the sense that the intended beneficiary of affirmative action admission policies are made worse off could occur only if selective universities possess private information about students' post-enrollment treatment effects. This necessary condition for mismatch provides the basis for a new test. We propose an empirical methodology to test for private information in such a setting. The test is implemented using data from Campus Life and Learning Project (CLL) at Duke. Evidence shows that Duke does possess private information that is a statistically significant predictor of the students' post-enrollment academic performance. We also propose strategies to evaluate more conclusively whether the evidence of Duke private information has generated mismatch. |
| JEL: | D8 I28 J15 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14885&r=lab |
| By: | Hunnes, Arngrim; Kvaløy, Ola (University of Stavanger); Mohn, Klaus (University of Stavanger) |
| Abstract: | , |
| Keywords: | Performance; Career |
| JEL: | A10 |
| Date: | 2009–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:stavef:2009_011&r=lab |
| By: | Kathleen J. Mullen; Richard G. Frank; Meredith B. Rosenthal |
| Abstract: | Despite the popularity of pay-for-performance (P4P) among health policymakers and private insurers as a tool for improving quality of care, there is little empirical basis for its effectiveness. We use data from published performance reports of physician medical groups contracting with a large network HMO to compare clinical quality before and after the implementation of P4P, relative to a control group. We consider the effect of P4P on both rewarded and unrewarded dimensions of quality. In the end, we fail to find evidence that a large P4P initiative either resulted in major improvement in quality or notable disruption in care. |
| JEL: | D23 H51 I12 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14886&r=lab |
| By: | Andersen, Steffen (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Bulte, Erwin (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Gneezy, Uri (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); List, John A. (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | na |
| Keywords: | na |
| JEL: | G10 |
| Date: | 2009–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2008_001&r=lab |
| By: | George Gardner (Reserve Bank of Australia); Andrew Stone (Reserve Bank of Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first of two companion pieces examining competition between payment systems. Here we develop a model of competing platforms which generalises that considered by Chakravorti and Roson (2006). In particular, our model allows for fully endogenous multi-homing on both the merchant and consumer sides of the market. We develop geometric frameworks for understanding the aggregate decisions of consumers to hold, and merchants to accept, different payment instruments, and how these decisions will be influenced by the pricing choices of the platforms. We also illustrate a new potential source of non-uniqueness in the aggregate behaviour of consumers and merchants which is distinct from the well-known ‘chicken and egg’ phenomenon – and indeed can only arise in the context of multiple competing platforms. Finally, we briefly discuss how this new source of non-uniqueness may nevertheless shed light on the ‘chicken and egg’ debate in relation to the development of new payment systems. |
| Keywords: | payments policy; two-sided markets; interchange fees |
| JEL: | D40 E42 L14 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2009-02&r=lab |