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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Weiping Kostenko (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the Australian immigrants' job-life relationship by simultaneously estimating a bivariate ordered probit random effects panel model. We found that discrepancy between career goal and employment reality plays a central role. The study also explores the characteristics related to immigrants who are likely to have stronger job concerns. Non-western male immigrants are among them. They are more disadvantaged in the labour market and have lower life satisfaction compared to their Western counterparts, while these situations improve with duration in Australia. Also, immigration age is found crucial for this adjustment process. For female immigrants, the results suggest that the well-educated female migrants' subjective wellbeing is impeded by struggling over work-family balance. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant, wellbeing, labour market outcomes, endogeneity, bivariate ordered probit random effects panel model |
| JEL: | J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2009n21&r=lab |
| By: | Pouliakas, Konstantinos; Theodossiou, Ioannis |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether any significant differences in the job satisfaction of high- and low-paid workers exist in eleven European labour markets. Using data from six waves (1996-2001) of the ECHP, it is shown that low-paid employees are significantly less satisfied with their jobs compared to the high-paid in the periphery of Southern European countries, as opposed to those in the North. This evidence suggests that in the face of an increasing flexibility in labour markets, low-paid jobs in the EU are not inevitably of low quality, though in some countries low-wage workers have experienced the full brunt of both lower-paid and bad quality jobs. For these countries policies that centre on the quality of work are essential. Evidence indicates that the cross-country differences reflect the disparate manner with which the flexibility-security nexus has been confronted. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction; low pay; job quality; Europe; flexicurity |
| JEL: | J28 J42 |
| Date: | 2005–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16733&r=lab |
| By: | Mavromaras, Kostas (University of Melbourne); McGuinness, Seamus (ESRI); Fok, Yin King (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses panel data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and the dynamic properties of overskilling among employed individuals. The paper begins by asking whether there is extensive overskilling in the labour market, and whether overskilling differs by education pathway. The answer to both questions is yes. The paper continues by asking whether overskilling is a self-perpetuating labour market state (state dependence), and whether state dependence differs by education pathway. The paper uses a dynamic random effects probit which includes Mundlak corrections and it models the initial conditions following Heckman?s method. It finds that there is extensive overskilling state dependence in the workplace, and to the degree that overskilling can be interpreted as skills underutilisation and worker-job mismatch, this is an important finding. Overskilled workers with a higher degree show the highest state dependence, while workers with vocational education show none. Workers with no post-school qualifications are somewhere between these two groups. The finding that higher degree graduates suffer the greatest overskilling state dependence, combined with the well-established finding that they also suffer the highest overskilling wage penalty, offers an additional useful perspective to compare the attributes of vocational and degree qualifications. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp307&r=lab |
| By: | Jaakko Pehkonen; Ojala; Jari |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the evolution of wages and occupational composition of labour over three centuries, from 1755 to 1914, using worker-workplace data. The data from one industry offers a unique view on long-term trends in skill composition, wage inequality and occupational wage premiums. A major shift in the production technology, a shift from sail-only vessels to steam-operated vessels, in turn, allows the examination the popular skill-biased technological change (SBTC) hypothesis in a well-defined setting. We find that (i) technological change had both a new-skill-demanding aspect, showing up as an increase in the demand for skilled engineers, and a skill-replacing aspect, resulting in a decline in the demand for skilled able-bodied seamen and an increase in unskilled engine room operatives, (ii) increasing wage inequality in the latter part of the 18th century was associated with the emergence of new skilled occupations and rising wages of skilled seamen, and (iii) wage inequality evolved slowly over time and there were different, declining and rising phases in wage inequality. |
| Keywords: | Wage inequality, skill composition, technological change |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2009–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:5&r=lab |
| By: | Elhanan Helpman; Oleg Itskhoki; Stephen Redding |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new framework for examining the distributional consequences of internationaltrade that incorporates firm and worker heterogeneity, search and matching frictions in the labormarket, and screening of workers by firms. Larger firms pay higher wages and exporters pay higherwages than non-exporters. The opening of trade enhances wage inequality and raises unemployment,but expected welfare gains are ensured if workers are risk neutral. And while wage inequality is largerin a trade equilibrium than in autarky, reductions of trade impediments can either raise or reduce wageinequality. |
| Keywords: | Wage Inequality, International Trade, Risk, Unemployment |
| JEL: | F12 F16 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0940&r=lab |
| By: | Per Krusell; Toshihiko Mukoyama; Richard Rogerson; Aysegul Sahin |
| Abstract: | Commonly used frictional models of the labor market imply that changes in frictions have large effects on steady state employment and unemployment. We use a model that features both frictions and an operative labor supply margin to examine the robustness of this feature to the inclusion of a empirically reasonable labor supply channel. The response of unemployment to changes in frictions is similar in both models. But the labor supply response present in our model greatly attenuates the effects of frictions on steady state employment relative to the simplest matching model, and two common extensions. We also find that the presence of empirically plausible frictions has virtually no impact on the response of aggregate employment to taxes. |
| JEL: | E24 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15252&r=lab |
| By: | Katariina Nilsson Hakkala; Fredrik Heyman; Fredrik Sjöholm |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of multinational and foreign ownership on the demand for job tasks and educational skills. By using Swedish matched employer-employee data, we find that both foreign and domestic multinational firms have high shares of non-routine tasks and tasks requiring personal interaction. Moreover, acquisitions of local firms by multinationals increase the relative demand for non-routine and interactive job tasks in the targeted firms. The differences in the demand for job tasks are only partly explained by firm characteristics. Dividing employees by education instead of job tasks does not result in the same effects on relative labor demand, which shows that task measures do indeed capture a new labor market aspect. |
| Keywords: | FDI, Cross-Border Acquisitions, Multinational Enterprises, Foreign Ownership, Job Tasks, Labor Demand, Skill Groups |
| JEL: | F16 F23 J23 F21 |
| Date: | 2009–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:8&r=lab |
| By: | Skribans, Valerijs |
| Abstract: | This paper shows system dynamic model of labour market and labour migration in Latvia. The hypothesis of the research is: labour migration is determined primarily by the payment level in the countries under consideration and the indicator derived from it – payment differences in the countries compared; as well as employment level, unemployment level, number of work places (market capacity) and number of vacant work places. Secondary factors influencing migration may be costs connected with labour migration, formal legal barriers to migration and personal propensity to migrate. Statistics on the labour market in Latvia are not complete; there is also no common view of experts on determinant processes. In such circumstances market forecasting with quantitative methods is problematic. One approach is to simulate indicators and to estimate their influence on national economy. The model has three parts: growth (expansion) of labour force, division and migration sub models. The sub model for growth of labour force is based on division of population in various categories during transition to a working age population. Division by level of education is further used in labour market analysis in which worker groups are formed according to the education level. The paper represents mutual interaction of groups of workers as well as labour migration. The results show sensitivity of the model factors to propensity of personnel for labour migration. |
| Keywords: | system dynamic; labour migration; labour market; salary level |
| JEL: | F15 D0 F16 O1 C0 J0 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16596&r=lab |
| By: | Weiping Kostenko (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Mark Harris (Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University); Xueyan Zhao (Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University) |
| Abstract: | We examine the occupational attainment of recent immigrants at two years post migration in order to study their early stage assimilation into the labour market in Australia. Human capital endowments and country-of-origin effects are examined for six occupational groups (including unemployment). We also study transitions across occupations from source to host country. The empirical approach utilises the Ordered Generalised Extreme Value model which embodies differing utility functions across occupational outcomes, as well as accounting for any ordering in these outcomes. The results suggest that the transferability of knowledge and skills is affected by cultural and social backgrounds, and that non-Western immigrants are disproportionately channelled into inferior jobs post migration. The investigation of the country-of-origin effect on the skilled migrants' occupational transition process is especially apt in the context of skill shortages in many host countries. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant, occupational assimilation, ordered discrete data, ordered generalised extreme value model, labour market outcomes |
| JEL: | J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2009n20&r=lab |
| By: | Norman Ireland; Robin A. Naylor; Jeremy Smith; Shqiponja Telhaj |
| Abstract: | An increase over time in the proportion of young people obtaining a degree is likely to impacton the relative ability compositions (i) of graduates and non-graduates and (ii) acrossgraduates with different classes of degree award. In a signalling framework, we examine theimplications of this on biases across cohorts in estimates of educational returns. In anempirical analysis, we exploit administrative data on whole populations of UK universitystudents for ten graduate cohorts to investigate the extent to which early labour marketoutcomes vary with class of degree awarded. Consistent with our theoretical model, we findthat returns by degree class increased across cohorts during a period of substantial graduateexpansion. We also corroborate the empirical findings with evidence from complementarydata on graduate sample surveys. |
| Keywords: | Educational Returns, College Wage Premium, Degree Class, Ability Bias,Statistical Discrimination |
| JEL: | J31 J24 I21 D82 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0939&r=lab |
| By: | Per Krusell; Toshihiko Mukoyama; Richard Rogerson; Aysegul Sahin |
| Abstract: | We develop a simple model featuring search frictions and a nondegenerate labor supply decision along the extensive margin. The model is a standard version of the neoclassical growth model with indivisible labor with idiosyncratic shocks and frictions characterized by employment loss and employment opportunity arrival shocks. We argue that it is able to account for the key features of observed labor market flows for reasonable parameter values. Persistent idiosyncratic productivity shocks play a key role in allowing the model to match the persistence of the employment and out of the labor force states found in individual labor market histories. |
| JEL: | E24 J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15251&r=lab |
| By: | Jason M. Fletcher; Jody L. Sindelar |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we provide some of the first empirical evidence of whether early occupational choices are associated with lasting effects on health status, affecting individuals as they age. We take advantage of data on occupational histories available in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to examine this issue. To the PSID data, we merge historical Census data that reflect the labor market conditions when each individual in the PSID made his first occupational choice. These data on labor market conditions (e.g. state-level share of blue collar workers) allow us to instrument for occupational choice in order to alleviate endogeneity bias. We use parental occupation as additional instruments. Since our instruments may have indirect effects on later health, we also control for respondent’s pre-labor market health, education and several family and state background characteristics in order to make the instruments more plausibly excludable. We find substantial evidence that a blue collar occupation at labor force entry is associated with decrements to later health status, ceteris paribus. These health effects are larger after controlling for endogeneity and are similar across sets of instruments. We also find differences in the effects of occupation by gender, race, and age. |
| JEL: | I1 I10 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15256&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias Kräkel; Anja Schöttner |
| Abstract: | It is well-known that, in static models, minimum wages generate positive worker rents and, consequently, ine?ciently low effort. We show that this result does not necessarily extend to a dynamic context. The reason is that, in repeated employment relationships, ?rms may exploit workers’ future rents to induce excessively high effort. |
| Keywords: | bonuses; limited liability; minimum wages |
| JEL: | D82 D86 J33 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse8_2009&r=lab |
| By: | Jeruzalski, Tomasz; Tyrowicz, Joanna |
| Abstract: | This paper approaches the question of efficiency in job placement using regional data for Polish regions (policy relevant NUTS 4 level) over the time span of 2000-2008. Using a unique data set we estimate the matching function using stochastic frontier as well as difference-in-difference estimators. We use also managed to combine this unique data set with another unique source of data on the ALMPs coverage, unemployment structure across time and regions as well as the individual capacity of local labour offices. We use these data to explain the exceptional variation in estimated efficiency scores. Our findings suggest that matching abilities are highly driven by demand fluctuations, while unemployment structure, ALMPs and individual labour office capacities have little explanatory power. Although without individual data it is fairly impossible to provide a reliable counterfactual, we raise some arguments to support the claim of job placement inefficiency by public employment services in Poland. |
| Keywords: | matching function; stochastic frontier; Poland |
| JEL: | P36 C78 J64 C33 |
| Date: | 2009–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16598&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Terry Ward; Enrique F. Macias |
| Abstract: | This study considers the overall implications of changes in employment patterns for the nature of the jobs in which people are employed and for job quality, in particular for the EU member states over the period 1995-2005. Jobs, defined as a particular occupation in a particular industry, are ranked according to their relative wage or their relative skill intensity. Given that these job rankings are relatively stable over time, we examine whether job expansion mainly took place for jobs in the lower or upper part of the ranking. Overall, the results suggest an increase in job quality in most of the countries included; in particular, the hypothesis of 'job polarization' could not be supported. The study further includes an analysis of differences with respect to job quality and changes in job quality for a number of other dimensions, such as gender, age, part-time working, fix-term contracts, etc. |
| Keywords: | job quality, employment structures, gender, age, migrants |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:354&r=lab |
| By: | ARIGA Kenn; KAMBAYASHI Ryo |
| Abstract: | We use the result from a survey of Japanese firms in manufacturing and services to investigate the choice of wage and employment adjustments when they needed to reduce substantially the total labor cost. Our regression analysis indicates that the large size reduction favors the layoffs of core employees, whereas base wage cuts are more likely if firms do not feel immediate pressures from the external labor market or strong competition in the product market. We also find some evidence that the concerns over adverse selection or demoralizing effects of wage cuts are real. Firms do try to avoid using base wage cuts if they consider these factors more important. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:09042&r=lab |
| By: | Jaakko Pehkonen; Aki Kangasharju; Hynninen; Sanna-Mari |
| Abstract: | In this paper we apply a stochastic frontier approach to examine how matching efficiency and regional differences in structural factors contribute to regional and aggregate unemployment. Our results suggest that there would be a substantial decline in aggregate unemployment if (i) all local labour offices operated with full efficiency or (ii) they shared the same structure of job seekers and vacant jobs as the most favourable office. In the former case an increase in hirings would lower the average unemployment rate by 2.4 percentage points. In the latter case the decrease would be 1.4 percentage points. Further, we find that fixed effects are positively c0orrelated with both a more favourable structure and higher efficiency. This suggests that the fixed effects may capture some part of time invariant features in the structure and efficiency. Thus, the role of structural factors and efficiency in regional unemployment disparities may be higher than estimated. |
| Keywords: | Technical efficiency, structural factors, matching, regions, aggregate unemployment |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2009–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:4&r=lab |
| By: | Steinbacher, Matej; Steinbacher, Matjaz; Steinbacher, Mitja |
| Abstract: | In the paper, we simulate a heterogeneous-agent version of the wage-posting model as derived by Montgomery (1991) with homogeneous workers and differently-productive employers. Wage policy of particular employer is positively correlated with employer’s productivity level and the wage policy of the competitor. However, it is a less productive employer whose wage posting could also outweigh the posting of a more productive employer, though only temporarily. |
| Keywords: | Job-search model; Wage posting; Heterogeneous agents; Numerical optimization |
| JEL: | C78 J31 D83 C15 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:16706&r=lab |
| By: | J.E. Boscá; R. Doménech; J. Ferri |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of introducing typical Keynesian features, namely rule-of-thumb consumers and consumption habits, into a standard labour market search model. It is a well-known fact that labour market matching with Nash-wage bargaining improves the ability of the standard real business cycle model to replicate some of the cyclical properties featuring the labour market. However, when habits and rule-of-thumb consumers are taken into account, the labour market search model gains extra power to reproduce some of the stylised facts characterising the US labour market, as well as other business cycle facts concerning aggregate consumption and investment behaviour. |
| Keywords: | general equilibrium, labour market search, habits, rule-of-thumb consumers |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E62 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:910&r=lab |
| By: | Vimala Ramachandran |
| Abstract: | This study tried to bring together the experiences of different approaches to incentives followed by six NGOs in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Issues dealing with incentives and the hidden cost of education have been explored with a view to gaining some insights and exploring some possible ways forward in such a diverse and challenging situation. |
| Keywords: | Malnutrition, anaemia, education, educational programmes, DPEP, teachers, learning, school system, Dropout rates, SC, ST, boys, girls, NFHS, adult women, women, Muslim communities, marriage, illiterate, incentives, NGOs, Rajasthan, incentives, elementary education, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2164&r=lab |
| By: | Colin Busby (C.D. Howe Institute); Alexandre Laurin (C.D. Howe Institute); David Gray (University of Ottawa) |
| Abstract: | Regionally based entry requirements and benefit durations prolong the persistence of unemployment and reduce economic incentives to adjust to labour-market conditions. Reforms aimed at equity are overdue. Regionally based criteria should be replaced by uniform, countrywide, employment insurance entrance requirements and benefit durations. |
| Keywords: | employment insurance reform |
| JEL: | E24 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdh:ebrief:84&r=lab |
| By: | Robin Douhan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) and Uppsala University); Mirjam van Praag (University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship, Max Planck Institute of Economics, IZA) |
| Abstract: | We combine two empirical observations in a general equilibrium occupational choice model. The first is that entrepreneurs have more control than employees over the employment of and accruals from assets, such as human capital. The second observation is that entrepreneurs enjoy higher returns to human capital than employees. We present an intuitive model showing that more control (observation 1) may be an explanation for higher returns (observation 2); its main outcome is that returns to ability are higher in higher control environments. This provides a theoretical underpinning for the control-based explanation for higher returns to human capital for entrepreneurs. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Ability; Occupational Choice; Human Capital; Wage Structure |
| JEL: | L26 I20 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20090055&r=lab |
| By: | Long Chen; Lu Zhang |
| Abstract: | We study the interactions between the stock market and the labor market. When aggregate risk premiums are time-varying, predictive variables for market excess returns should forecast long-horizon growth in the marginal benefit of hiring and thereby long-horizon aggregate employment growth. Consistent with this logic, we document that long-horizon payroll growth and change in unemployment rate are predictable with risk premium proxies. Lagged payroll growth and change in unemployment rate also forecast stock market excess returns. |
| JEL: | G12 J01 J23 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15219&r=lab |
| By: | Kunal Dasgupta |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic, general equilibrium model to understand how multinationals affect host countries through knowledge diffusion. Workers learn from their managers and knowledge diffusion takes place through worker mobility. We identify two forces that determine wages : the labour demand effect and the learning effect. The former tends to raise wages while the latter tends to reduce it. We show that in a model without learning, an integrated steady-state equilibrium in which incumbent host country managers operate alongside multinationals, can never be a Pareto improvement for the host country. In contrast, we present a novel mechanism through which a Pareto improvement occurs in the presence of learning dynamics. We study how integration affects the life time earnings of agents and the degree of inequality in the host country, as well as, analyze the pattern of multinational activity. In the quantitative section of the paper, we calibrate our model to fit key moments from the U.S. wage distribution and quantify gains from integration. Our estimates suggest that learning produces welfare gains that range from 2% for middle-income countries to 43% for the low-income countries. |
| Keywords: | Multinationals, knowledge di¤usion, learning, welfare gains, worker mobility |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2009–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-364&r=lab |
| By: | Tim Willems (University of Amsterdam); Sweder van Wijnbergen (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper first documents the increase in the time lag with which labor input reacts to output fluctuations ("the labor adjustment lag") that is visible in US data since the mid-1980s. We show that a lagged labor adjustment response is optimal in a setting where there is uncertainty about the persistence of shocks and where labor input is costly to adjust. We then present evidence that both the nature of shocks as well as labor adjustment costs may have changed during the 1980s in a direction that could explain the observed increase in the lag. Finally, we argue that the increased labor adjustment lag has the potential to explain some macroeconomic puzzles that characterize post-1984 US data, such as the reduced procyclicality of labor productivity and the reduction in output volatility (known as the Great Moderation). |
| Keywords: | imperfect information; labor adjustment; jobless growth; option value of waiting; Great Moderation |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20090063&r=lab |
| By: | Markus Jäntti; Matti Sarvimäki; Roope Uusitalo |
| Abstract: | We study the long-term effects of human displacement using individual level panel data onforced migrants and comparable non-migrants. After World War II, Finland ceded a tenth ofits territory to the Soviet Union and resettled the entire population living in these areas in theremaining parts of the country. We find that displacement increased the long-term income ofmen, but had no effect on that of women. We attribute a large part of the effect to fastertransition from traditional (rural) to modern (urban) occupations among the displaced. |
| Keywords: | Migration, displaced persons, regional labor markets |
| JEL: | J60 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0015&r=lab |
| By: | Jonathan Heathcote; Kjetil Storesletten; Giovanni L. Violante |
| Abstract: | This paper studies consumption and labor supply in a model where agents have partial insurance and face risk and initial heterogeneity in wages and preferences. Equilibrium allocations and variances and covariances of wages, hours and consumption are solved for analytically. We prove that all parameters of the structural model are identified given panel data on wages and hours, and cross-sectional data on consumption. The model is estimated on US data. Second moments involving hours and consumption show that the rise in wage dispersion in the 1970s was effectively insured by households, while the rise in the 1980s was not. |
| JEL: | E21 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15257&r=lab |
| By: | Gordon Anderson; Teng Wah Leo; Robert Muelhaupt |
| Abstract: | Interest in Economic and Social Mobility is rooted in a societal aspiration for equal opportunity. The aspiration is based upon an Egalitarian Political Philosophy which approves of differential outcomes when they are the consequence of differential effort and disapproves of differential outcomes when they are the consequence of differential circumstance and results in “level playing field” policies. In the absence of any other imperative, such policies would result in increased upward mobility for the poorly endowed and increased downward mobility for the richly endowed. Adding a Utilitarian imperative (the inheriting generation should not be made worse off in a first order dominance sense) to societal objectives results in a “Qualified Equal Opportunity or Conditional Mobility” policy which calls for rethinking the approach to mobility measurement. Techniques for evaluating the impact of such policies (both in terms of generational regressions and transition matrices) are proposed and exemplified in considering the issue of Gender Equity in educational attainment in Canada over the last 20 years. The evidence is that women have more than caught up with men and that, in closing the gap, it is the poorly endowed women who have made the most progress in terms of mobility whilst the mobility of males has remained relatively constant across the endowment spectrum consistent with a Qualified Equal Opportunity program. |
| Keywords: | Mobility and Equal Opportunity |
| JEL: | J62 |
| Date: | 2009–08–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-368&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Belfield; David Marsden |
| Abstract: | Using data from large-scale establishment surveys in Britain and France, we show thatincentive pay for non-managers is more widespread in France than in Britain. We explain thisfinding in terms of the 'beneficial constraint' arising from stronger employment protection inFrance, which provides an impulse to develop incentive pay; employer networking activitiesin France, which facilitate joint learning about its development and operation; andgovernment fiscal incentives for profit-sharing, which reduces the cost of its operation. |
| Keywords: | incentive systems, merit pay, profit-sharing, employer networks |
| JEL: | J3 J5 M5 M52 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0941&r=lab |
| By: | Katherine Cuff; Nicolas Marceau; Steeve Mongrain; Joanne Roberts |
| Abstract: | This paper characterizes optimal policies in the presence of tax evasion and undocumented workers. Equilibrium can be characterized as segmented or non-segmented, depending on whether domestic workers work exclusively in the formal sector (seg- mented) or also in the informal sector (non-segmented). Surprisingly, in equilibrium, wages are always equalized between domestic and undocumented workers, even if they do not work in the same sectors of the economy. This is driven by the interaction of ¯rm level decisions with optimal government policy. We also ¯nd that enforcement may not always be decreasing in its cost, and that governments will optimally enforce segmentation if enforcement costs are not too high. |
| JEL: | H32 H26 K42 |
| Date: | 2009–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clg:wpaper:2009-12&r=lab |
| By: | J.E. Boscá; R. Doménech; J. Ferri |
| Abstract: | This paper uses REMS, a Rational Expectations Model of the Spanish economy designed by Boscá et al (2007) to analyse the effects of lowering the overall tax edge to the level prevailing in the US. Our results partially confirm previous findings in the literature: a reduction in the overall tax wedge of 19.5 points, in order to reach the US levels, has a positive effect in the long run, increasing total hours by about 7 per cent and GDP by about 8 percentage points. In terms of GDP per adult, these results account for ¼ of the gap with respect to the US, but imply a reduction of only one percentage point in the labour productivity gap. The rise in total hours per adult is explained by a similar increase in both hours per employee and the employment rate of about 3.5 percentage points, allowing hours per adult to converge to levels only slightly lower than those in the US. |
| Keywords: | General equilibrium, tax wedge, tax reforms, fiscal policy, labour market. |
| JEL: | E32 E62 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:908&r=lab |
| By: | Jadotte, Evans |
| Abstract: | The Republic of Haiti is a prime international remittance recipient country in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, relative to its gross domestic product (GDP). The downside of this fact may be that Haiti, based on population size, is also the largest exporter of skilled workers in the world. The present research uses a zero-altered negative binomial (with logit inflation) to model the international migration decision process of households, and endogenous regressors. Amemiya generalized least squares method (instrumental variable Tobit, IV-Tobit) to account for selectivity and endogeneity issues to assess the impact of remittances on labour market outcomes. The results in terms of a decline of labour supply in the presence of remittances are in line with those observed thus far in the literature. However, the impact of international remittances does not seem to be important in determining the labour participation behaviour, particularly for |
| Keywords: | Republic of Haiti, international migration, remittances, labour supply |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2009-28&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Gibbons; Stephen Machin; Olmo Silva |
| Abstract: | A large body of international research shows that house prices respond to local school qualityas measured by average test scores. But better test scores could signal better expectedacademic outputs or simply reflect higher ability intakes, and existing studies rarelydifferentiate between these two channels. In our research, we simultaneously estimate theresponse of prices to school 'value-added' and school composition to show more clearly whatdrives parental demand for schools. To achieve consistent estimates, we push to the limit theuse of geographical boundary discontinuities in hedonic models by matching identicalproperties across admissions authority boundaries; by allowing for a variety of boundaryeffects and spatial trends; by re-weighting our data to only consider the transactions that areclosest to education district boundaries; and by submitting the estimates to a number ofpotentially destructive falsification tests. Our results survive this battery of experiments andshow that a one-standard deviation change in either school value-added or prior achievementraises prices by around 3%. |
| Keywords: | House prices, school quality, boundary discontinuities |
| JEL: | C21 I20 H75 R21 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0018&r=lab |
| By: | Kristian Behrens; Giordano Mion; Yasusada Murata; Jens Südekum |
| Abstract: | We develop a new general equilibrium model of monopolistic competition with heterogeneous firms, variable demand elasticity and multiple asymmetric regions, in which trade integration induces wage and productivity changes. Using Canada-US interregional trade data, we structurally estimate a theory-based gravity equation system featuring endogenous wages and productivity. Given the estimated parameter values, we first decompose border effects into a pure border effect, relative and absolute wage effects, and a selection effect. We then quantify the impacts of removing the trade distortions generated by the Canada-US border on regional market aggregates such as wages, productivity, markups, the mass of varieties produced and consumed, as well as welfare. Last, we extend the counterfactual analysis to the firm level by generating productivity distributions and their changes via simulation. |
| Keywords: | firm heterogeneity, monopolistic competition, general equilibrium, endogenous markups, gravity equation system, counterfactual analysis |
| JEL: | F12 F15 F17 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0942&r=lab |
| By: | Arie Kapteyn; James P. Smith; Arthur van Soest |
| Abstract: | To analyze the effect of health on work, many studies use a simple self-assessed health measure based upon a question such as “do you have an impairment or health problem limiting the kind or amount of work you can do?†A possible drawback of such a measure is the possibility that different groups of respondents may use different response scales. This is commonly referred to as “differential item functioning†(DIF). A specific form of DIF is justification bias: to justify the fact that they don’t work, non-working respondents may classify a given health problem as a more serious work limitation than working respondents. In this paper we use anchoring vignettes to identify justification bias and other forms of DIF across countries and socio-economic groups among older workers in the U.S. and Europe. Generally, we find differences in response scales across countries, partly related to social insurance generosity and employment protection. Furthermore, we find significant evidence of justification bias in the U.S. but not in Europe, suggesting differences in social norms concerning work. |
| JEL: | C81 I12 J28 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15245&r=lab |
| By: | Padmaja Ayyagari; Jody L. Sindelar |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of job-related stress on smoking behavior. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine how high job stress affects the probability that smokers quit and the number of cigarettes smoked for current smokers. We include individual fixed effects, which control for time-invariant factors. Occupational fixed effects are also included to control for occupational characteristics other than stress; time dummies control for the secular decline in smoking rates. Using a sample of people who smoked in the previous wave, we find that job stress is positively related to continuing to smoke and to the number of cigarettes smoked for current smokers. The FE results are of greater magnitude and significance than the OLS results suggesting an important omitted variable bias in OLS estimates. It may be that individuals who are able to handle stress or have better self-control are more likely to have high stress jobs and less likely to smoke. We also find that the smoking/stress relationship is neither explained by heterogeneity across individuals in cognitive ability, risk taking preferences or planning horizons nor is it explained by time varying measures that we observe. |
| JEL: | I1 I10 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15232&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Kalie Pauw; Liberty Mncube (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | This paper, while broadly located within reforming the labour market policy debate, is specifically focused on one aspect of the labour regulatory regime, namely the dispute resolution system. Hence, we attempt to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of the country’s institutionalised dispute resolution body, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). A better and more informed understanding of the nature of dispute resolution and its determinants, it would seem, remains central to any detailed debate regarding labour market institutions in particular and labour market regulation in general. Ultimately then, the study intends to empirically verify the patterns of dispute referral, settlement and determination regionally, sectorally and historically. It should be noted at the outset that this paper, possibly for the first time for South Africa, provides a detailed economic and econometric analysis and interpretation of dispute resolution in the post-apartheid period. |
| Keywords: | South Africa: labour regulation, Labour Regulatory Environment, Dispute resolution, CCMA |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:96113&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Sharpe |
| Abstract: | The objective of this report for the LMI High-Level Advisory Panel is to provide advice on best practices in LMI and policy suggestions to improve the Canadian LMI system. Based on a thorough analysis, it presents 20 recommendations to improve the operation of LMI in Canada in the areas of LMI data, LMI analysis and forecasting, and LMI dissemination. For these recommendations to have traction, two conditions are needed. First, it is crucial that senior policy makers, that is those at the Deputy Minister and Ministerial level, recognize the important on an effective LMI system for a high-performance economy. Second, it is extremely important that jurisdictional issues do not become a barrier to the provision of high-quality LMI to the public. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, data dissemination, analysis, forecasting, labour market flows, occupational data, policy recommendations, data improvement, |
| JEL: | C89 H41 H43 J29 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:0905&r=lab |
| By: | Robin Hogarth; Natalia Karelaia; Carlos Andrés Trujillo |
| Abstract: | We use a Colombian TV game show to test gender differences in competitive behavior where there is no opportunity for discrimination and females face no genderspecific external constraints. Each game started with six contestants who had to answer general knowledge questions in private. There were five rounds of questions and, at the end of each, one participant was eliminated. Despite equality in starting numbers, women earn less than men and exit the game at a faster rate. In particular, there are more voluntary withdrawals by women than men. We draw an analogy between the game and the process by which employees rise through the levels of a corporation. As such, we note that “glass ceilings” may result, in part, from women’s own behavior and this raises the issue of how women are socialized to behave. At the same time, our results illustrate that maintaining and promoting gender diversity at the lower/middle ranks of organizations is necessary to obtain gender diversity at the top. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, TV game shows, gender differences, glass ceilings |
| JEL: | C93 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1165&r=lab |
| By: | Douglas A. Webber; Ronald G. Ehrenberg |
| Abstract: | During the last two decades, median instructional spending per full-time equivalent (FTE) student at American 4-year colleges and universities has grown at a slower rate than median spending per FTE student in a number of other expenditure categories including academic support, student services and research. Our paper uses institutional level panel data and a variety of econometric approaches, including unconditional quantile regression methods, to analyze whether these non instructional expenditure categories influence graduation and first-year persistence rates of undergraduate students. Our most important finding is that student service expenditures influence graduation and persistence rates and their marginal effects are higher for students at institutions with lower entrance test scores and higher Pell Grant expenditures per student. Put another way, their effects are largest at institutions that have lower current graduation and first year persistence rates. Simulations suggest that reallocating some funding from instruction to student services may enhance persistence and graduation rates at those institutions whose rates are currently below the medians in the sample. |
| JEL: | I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15216&r=lab |
| By: | Taryn Ann Galloway and Torbjørn Skardhamar (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Although several established theories of crime often suggest an association between socio-economic background and youth criminal involvement, the empirical evidence for such claims diverges considerably. The aim of this paper is to re-investigate the relationship between family income and criminal charges by exploiting the rich register data available in Norway. The longitudinal data sources used in the study encompass the entire resident population from five birth cohorts, and allow us to identify youths charged with crimes committed from 1992 to 2004 and link information on these youths with information on family earnings for several years. In a criminal career perspective, our outcome variable is the age of first offence (onset). We find that family academic resources are more important than family income for all kinds of offences, except for serious theft. |
| Keywords: | SES; parental income; onset of offending; criminal careers |
| JEL: | K14 K40 Z00 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:588&r=lab |
| By: | Ramírez Carrera, Dionisio (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha); Rodríguez, Gabriel (Central Reserve Bank of Peru and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) |
| Abstract: | Using di¤erent unit root statistics and the approach of Tomljanovich and Vogelsang (2002), we test for the existence of stochastic and beta-convergence in the unemployment rates of a set of thirteen European countries. Using quarterly data for the period 1984:1-2005:4, we observe that there has taken place a convergence process in the majority of European unemployment rates. This process has become more intense since 1993. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Rate, European Union, Stochastic Convergence and beta-convergence. |
| JEL: | C22 C52 E24 J60 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rbp:wpaper:2009-007&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Carlos Cuestas; Javier Ordóñez |
| Abstract: | In the present paper we analyse the existence of common nonlinear trends in several of Central and Eastern European Countries in order to gain some insight about the degree of labour market integration within the area. In order to do so, we test for the order of integration of the unemployment rates, by applying the Leybourne et al. (1998) and Kapetanios et al. (2003) nonlinear unit root tests. Our results pinpoint the fact that five up to eight unemployment rates are stationary around a nonlinear trend and, by means of Anderson and Vahid (1998) approach, we also find that there is a common trend that drives the long run behaviour of that variable in these countries. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Central and Eastern Europe, unit roots, smooth transition, nonlinearities. |
| JEL: | C32 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbs:wpaper:2009/5&r=lab |
| By: | Corinna Kleinert; Britta Matthes |
| Abstract: | Over the last years, political and scientific debates have stressed the growing importance of adult education. Currently important research questions call not only for data sources that collect detailed information on adult education with repeated measurements and in different cohorts, but they should also include data on other life spheres such as education and working histories, partnership and household information, as well as competence development. In Germany, there are several large-scale datasets containing information on adult education. While general panel studies do not provide a systematic overview of educational activities of adults, studies focusing on adult education are either small-scale or cross-sectional and contain little context information. A study that covers information on all educational activities in the life course as well as repeated competence assessment is still missing. In part, these deficits will be resolved by large-scale longitudinal studies focused on adults and education that were either recently conducted or are currently prepared. Thus, we do not call for new data sources on adult education. What is far more important in the next years is analyzing the data of the new large-scale data sources thoroughly, but also developing new theoretical approaches to adult education. |
| Keywords: | adult education, further education, lifelong learning, continuing training, life course, competencies, data access |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps51&r=lab |
| By: | Weber, Richard; Graevenitz, Georg von; Harhoff, Dietmar |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship education ranks highly on policy agendas in Europe and the US, but little research is available to assess its impacts. In this context it is of primary importance to understand whether entrepreneurship education raises intentions to be entrepreneurial generally or whether it helps students determine how well suited they are for entrepreneurship. We develop a theoretical model of Bayesian learning in which entrepreneurship education generates signals which help students to evaluate their own aptitude for entrepreneurial tasks. We derive predictions from the model and test them using data from a compulsory entrepreneurship course at a German university. Using survey responses from 189 students ex ante and ex post, we find that entrepreneurial propensity declined somewhat in spite of generally good evaluations of the class. Our tests of Bayesian updating provide support for the notion that students receive valuable signals and learn about their own type in the entrepreneurship course. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship education; Bayes’ Rule; learning; signals |
| JEL: | D83 J24 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2009–08–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:10966&r=lab |
| By: | Rashmi Barua; Kevin Lang |
| Abstract: | Partly in response to increased testing and accountability, states and districts have been raising the minimum school entry age, but existing studies show mixed results regarding the effects of entry age. These studies may be severely biased because they violate the monotonicity assumption needed for LATE. We propose an instrument not subject to this bias and show no effect on the educational attainment of children born in the fourth quarter of moving from a December 31 to an earlier cutoff. We then estimate a structural model of optimal entry age that reconciles the different IV estimates including ours. We find that one standard instrument is badly biased but that the other diverges from ours because it estimates a different LATE. We also find that an early entry age cutoff that is applied loosely (as in the 1950s) is beneficial but one that is strictly enforced is not. |
| JEL: | C21 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15236&r=lab |
| By: | Steffen Hillmert |
| Abstract: | Modern societies depend on the successful and comprehensive provision of skills, and receiving vocational training in any form has been experienced by a majority of the population in younger cohorts. There has therefore been a constant demand for timely information about the various forms of training and their relations to a broader societal context. Over the recent decades, the patterns of participation in education and training have become more extended, more complex and more heterogeneous. Against this background, the paper discusses to what extent existing and projected data sources are suitable for investigating the relevant scientific and policy-related questions. Among these questions are: How does participation in training develop over the life course? What are the relative chances of receiving specific types of training; who, in particular, is likely to receive the most attractive types? Are training measures effective? When reviewing the current data situation, it becomes clear that progress has undoubtedly been made in the past few years. It is also obvious, however, that fundamental questions can presently not be answered on the basis of the available large-scale data on vocational education and training. Some key recommendations are presented. |
| Keywords: | Vocational training, data, research infrastructure, overview, Germany |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps65&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Weber (LMU Munich School of Management); Georg von Graevenitz (LMU Munich School of Management); Dietmar Harhoff (LMU Munich School of Management) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship education ranks highly on policy agendas in Europe and the US, but little research is available to assess its impacts. In this context it is of primary importance to understand whether entrepreneurship education raises intentions to be entrepreneurial generally or whether it helps students determine how well suited they are for entrepreneurship. We develop a theoretical model of Bayesian learning in which entrepreneurship education generates signals which help students to evaluate their own aptitude for entrepreneurial tasks. We derive predictions from the model and test them using data from a compulsory entrepreneurship course at a German university. Using survey responses from 189 students ex ante and ex post, we find that entrepreneurial propensity declined somewhat in spite of generally good evaluations of the class. Our tests of Bayesian updating provide support for the notion that students receive valuable signals and learn about their own type in the entrepreneurship course. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, Bayes’ Rule, learning, signals |
| JEL: | D83 J24 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trf:wpaper:269&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan Bender; Joachim Möller |
| Abstract: | This contribution shows the increasing supply on German micro data over the last years for labor market research. We focus on the research data centre movement, the development of new anonymisation techniques for establishment data, the new challenges of the social code II and the fundamental change to evaluate labor market programmes actively with administrative data. Although a lot of ongoing developments like combining different data sets are happening, we make three recommendations for future developments in this area: (1) Demand to have an influence an the data production. (2) The need to combine data sets (especially across national borders) (3) Importance to establish an international infrastructure for data access. |
| Keywords: | labor market, data access, administrative data, linked employer employee data, research data center, social code II, evaluation |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps56&r=lab |
| By: | Kirwan, Susanne; Thomson, K.J; Edwards, I.E; Stott, A.W. |
| Abstract: | Sheep welfare is an emerging topic in research and food marketing, and recent studies suggest that farm labour is a key factor for both animal welfare and productivity in extensive sheep farming systems, although little research has been done into labour utilisation in these systems. This paper reports field data collection on two commercial farms and the use of a linear programming (LP) model to link labour economics and animal welfare analysis. The model maximises the number of ewes to clooked after over the lambing period, when constrained by labour availability for various key tasks and by a pre-determined level of sheep welfare. The results show a trade-off between welfare level and labour input per sheep. Dropping tasks with less significant welfare and productivity consequences is an effective way of increasing carrying capacity (from 977 ewes/shepherd to 1428), as is working longer hours (1174 ewes/shepherd) or only doing the legal minimum of welfare checking (labour reduced from 0.68 min/ewe to 0.44 min/ewe) . The field data suggest that farmers currently provide high welfare, and that, despite much time spent away from the flock (e.g. driving), they spend a large amount of time (39% of total) with their sheep. |
| Keywords: | Labour, Sheep, Linear Programming, Animal Welfare, Livestock Production/Industries, Q10, Q19, Y1, |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc09:51060&r=lab |
| By: | A. Abigail Payne; Joanne Roberts |
| Abstract: | Universities are engaged in many activities; primarily, research and teaching. Many states have instituted performance measures that focus on evaluating a university's success in teaching. We suggest that multitasking may be important in this context, and we consider research outcomes after adoption. We find striking results that depend on university status. Research activity is higher at flagship institutions after the adoption of performance measures. Most of this increase in activity is with respect to the level of research funding and the number of articles produced. In contrast, research funding and the number of publications is dramatically lower at non-flagship institutions. There is some evidence that citations per publication at non-flagship institutions are higher after the adoption of performance standards. The evidence suggests that universities have become more specialized since the introduction of these programs. |
| JEL: | H3 H4 |
| Date: | 2009–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clg:wpaper:2009-04&r=lab |
| By: | Julio Martinez-Galarraga; Joan R. Roses; Daniel A. Tirado Fabregat |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the evolution of Spanish regional inequality from 1860 to 1930. The results point to the coexistence of two basic forces behind changes in regional economic inequality: industrial specialization and labor productivity differentials. The initial expansion of industrialization, in a context of growing economic integration of regions, promoted the spatial concentration of manufacturing in certain regions, which also benefited from the greatest advances in terms of labor productivity. Since 1900, the diffusion of manufacturing production to a greater number of locations generated the emulation of production structures and a process of catching-up in labor productivity and wages. |
| Keywords: | Industrialization, Market Integration, Heckscher-Ohlin Model, New Economic Geography |
| JEL: | N93 N94 R11 |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:whrepe:wp09-05&r=lab |
| By: | Jarkko Harju |
| Abstract: | Many countries tax voluntary pension savings using the so-called EET model, based on tax-deductible savings and taxable withdrawals. In Finland the tax reform of 2005 changed the tax rate schedule from progressive to proportional, while the basic structure of the EET model was retained. This paper is an empirical study of changes in savers? behaviour as a result of the reform using individual level data. The econometric estimations indicate that the reform altered pension saving behaviour by reducing the labour income and age effects on saving contributions in a statistically significant way. Also, the reform reduced the number of pension savers among high income-earners. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary pension savings, tax reform, tax incentives |
| Date: | 2009–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:7&r=lab |
| By: | Tatjana Mika; Uwe Rehfeld; Michael Stegmann |
| Abstract: | Research on the income situation of today’s and future retirees requires often record based data. Because of their accuracy in the life-course infomation they can also, if they are linked to survey data, make interviews shorter and less demanding for the interviewed persons. Process produced data from the pension fund are already available for these research topics. The data include details about the employment career and other life-course events as far as they are considered in the pensions’ calculation. Nevertheless, additional sources are needed if research projects address the income situation more in detail, in particular the question of poverty or high income in old age. The pension reforms of the past decade have strengthened the second and third pillar in the importance, thereby increasing their importance of occupational pensions and private savings for future old age income. There exist already some detailed and inclusive data for research on old age income and retirement collected for government reports, but not all this data is yet available for scientific research. Furthermore should the exchange of data between social securitiy and/or tax institutions more often be combined with the collection of statistical data in order to improve the possibility of record-to-record linkage. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, old age provisions, public pension fund, process produced data, data linkage |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsw:rswwps:rswwps72&r=lab |
| By: | Pablo , Agnese; Hector , Sala |
| Abstract: | The ‘lost decade’ in Japan was a period of steep surge in unemployment. It started in 1991 with the unemployment rate at 2.1%, and ended in 2002 when it reached a historical maximum of 5.5%. To assess the main causes of this rise we take a macroeconomic perspective and estimate a reduced-form unemployment model. This model, containing a rich set of variables, yields an interesting picture. The fall of private investment played the main role, while private consumption and the boost in government spending partially offset this recessive effect. In turn, the initial rise in participation rates and the East Asian crisis after 1997 added new burdens to the labor market. We conclude that a crucial issue in the medium-run is to avoid the consequences of the prolonged decline in investment in terms of reduced productivity growth and a weaker international trade performance. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; reduced-form models; investment; economic policy; East Asian crisis |
| JEL: | F16 E24 J01 |
| Date: | 2008–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:14332&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Oxoby |
| Abstract: | Beliefs are a key motivator of individual behavior. As such, an understanding of how individuals' beliefs develop is a prerequisite to understanding decision-making and behavior. While rational choice theory posits a Bayesian model framework for belief formation, sta- tus construction theories argue that beliefs are strongly in uenced by status typications. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian model of belief formation in which individuals use irrelevant information on others' observable type to bias their beliefs. This model is used to analyze a simple occupational choice setting, thereby shedding light on the micro-macro inter-relationship between observable type (e.g. race, gender) and social class. |
| JEL: | D63 D83 J64 J70 |
| Date: | 2009–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clg:wpaper:2009-07&r=lab |
| By: | Lex Borghans; Frank Cörvers |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades there has been a substantial increase in the mobility of students in Europe, while also research has become much more internationally oriented. In this paper we document changes in the structure of research and higher education in Europe and investigate potential explanations for the strong increase in its international orientation. While higher education started to grow substantially around 1960, only a few decades later, research and higher education transformed gradually to the American standard. Decreased communication costs are likely causes for this trend. This transformation is most clearly revealed in the change of language used in research from the national language, Latin, German and French to English. Smaller language areas made this transformation earlier while there are also clear timing differences between research fields. Sciences and medicine tend to switch to English first, followed by economics and social sciences, while for law and arts only the first signs of such a transformation are currently observed. This suggests that returns to scale and the transferability of research results are important influences in the decision to adopt the international standard. |
| JEL: | I23 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15217&r=lab |