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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Chzhen, Yekaterina (University of York) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses comparable longitudinal data from the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001 to examine the effects of recent childbirth on the relative risks of switching to part-time, inactivity or unemployment for full-time women, as well as the effect of switching from full-time time to part-time work on the risk of occupational downgrading, in 13 European countries. Once important human capital and workplace characteristics are controlled for, full-time female workers who gave birth in year t are the most likely to remain full-time the following year only in Denmark and Spain. Full-time women are more likely to switch to part-time work than to remain working full-time in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and the UK, where female part-time rates are relatively high, but also in Italy, where part-time rates are generally low. At the same time, in Ireland, Italy, the UK and Finland, recent childbirth increases the probability of moving from full-time work to unemployment, while in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, the UK and Finland, recent childbirth also increases the risk of switching to inactivity. Substantial evidence of occupational downgrading by skill and occupational hourly wage on switching from full-time to part-time work is found in the majority of the studied countries. Overall, downward occupational moves are substantially more likely amongst workers who switch from full-time to part-time work than amongst the working population at large, both for men and women. |
| Keywords: | women's labour supply; occupational transitions ; childbirth ; europe |
| JEL: | J22 J62 J13 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2009-12&r=lab |
| By: | George J. Borjas; Rachel M. Friedberg |
| Abstract: | This paper studies long-term trends in the labor market performance of immigrants in the United States, using the 1960-2000 PUMS and 1994-2009 CPS. While there was a continuous decline in the earnings of new immigrants 1960-1990, the trend reversed in the 1990s, with newcomers doing as well in 2000, relative to natives, as they had 20 years earlier. This improvement in immigrant performance is not explained by changes in origin-country composition, educational attainment or state of residence. Changes in labor market conditions, including changes in the wage structure which could differentially impact recent arrivals, can account for only a small portion of it. The upturn appears to have been caused in part by a shift in immigration policy toward high-skill workers matched with jobs, an increase in the earnings of immigrants from Mexico, and a decline in the earnings of native high school dropouts. However, most of the increase remains a puzzle. Results from the CPS suggest that, while average entry wages fell again after 2000, correcting for simple changes in the composition of new immigrants, the unexplained rise in entry wages has persisted. |
| JEL: | J6 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15406&r=lab |
| By: | Hui He (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | This paper documents a dramatic increase in the college enrollment rate of women from 1955 to 1980 and asks a quantitative question: to what extent can such change be accounted for by the change in the female cohort-specific college wage premium? I develop and calibrate an overlapping generations model with discrete schooling choice. I find that changes in the life-cycle earnings differential can explain the increase in female college enrollment rate very well. Young women's changing expectations of future employment opportunity also played an important role in driving their college attendance decision from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s. |
| Keywords: | female college enrollment rate, college wage premium, life-cycle |
| JEL: | J24 J31 I21 E24 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:200912&r=lab |
| By: | Scott Imberman (Department of Economics, University of Houston); Elisabetta Gentile (Department of Economics, University of Houston) |
| Abstract: | Concerns about safety in urban schools has led many school districts to require uniforms for their students. However, we know very little about what impact school uniforms have had on the educational environment. In this paper we use a unique dataset to assess how uniform adoption affects student achievement and behavior in a large urban school district in the southwest. Since each school in the district could decide independently about whether or not to adopt uniforms, we are able to use variation across schools and over time to identify the effects of uniforms. Using student and school fixed-effects along with school-specic linear time trends to address selection of students and schools into uniform adoption, we nd that uniforms had little impact on student outcomes in elementary grades but provided modest improvements in language scores and attendance rates in middle and high school grades. These effects appear to be concentrated in female students. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hou:wpaper:2009-03&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Giavazzi (IGIER, Bocconi University); Fabio Schiantarelli (Boston College; IZA); Michel Serafinelli (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | We study whether cultural attitudes towards gender, the young, and leisure are significant determinants of the evolution over time of the employment rates of women and of the young, and of hours worked in OECD countries. Beyond controlling for a larger menu of policies, institutions and structural characteristics of the economy than has been done so far, our analysis improves upon existing studies of the role of "culture" for labor market outcomes by dealing explicitly with the endogeneity of attitudes, policies and institutions, and by allowing for the persistent nature of labor market outcomes. When we do all this we Önd that culture still matters for women employment rates and for hours worked. However, policies and other institutional or structural characteristics are also important. Attitudes towards youth independence, however, do not appear to be important in explaining the employment rate of the young. In the case of women employment rates, the policy variable that is significant along with attitudes, is the OECD index of employment protection legislation. For hours worked the policy variables that play a role, along with attitudes, are the tax wedge and unemployment benefits. The quantitative impact of these policy variables is such that changes in policies have at least the potential to undo the effect of variations in cultural traits on labor market outcomes. |
| Date: | 2009–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:714&r=lab |
| By: | Szulkin, Ryszard (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS); Hällsten, Martin (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine mechanisms that generate gaps in educational attainment and labor market outcomes between children of immigrants and children of native Swedes. Theoretical explanations of how social inequality between generations is (re)produced focus on a relative lack of resources within the family and/or in the broader social environment, particularly in neighborhoods and schools. In the empirical analyses we follow over time all individuals who completed compulsory school during the period 1990 -1995 and analyze what types of background factors have influenced their educational and labor market careers, which are measured for the year 2007. On the basis of our empirical results we conclude that the gaps between children of immigrants and children of native Swedes are mainly generated by differences in various forms of resources in the family of origin. The role of neighborhood segregation is less substantial. Moreover, our results indicate that the gaps in employment are larger than the corresponding gaps in educational attainment. When gainfully employed, children of immigrants born in Sweden follow roughly the same path as children from native families in contrast to children born abroad. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; education; labor market; children of immigrants |
| JEL: | I21 J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2009_009&r=lab |
| By: | Fabrizio Alboni (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna); Furio Camillo (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna); Giorgio Tassinari (Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna) |
| Abstract: | The paper addresses the problem of evaluation of the effectiveness of Active Labour Policies in the province of Bologna, a manufacturing district in Northern Italy, during the period 2004/2006. Using surviving analysis through Kaplan Meier filter and a new approach to propensity score computation, the Authors shows that the policies run by the Labor Market Authorities are able to compensate the disavatanges that secondary labor forces such as migrants, old age or less educated workers have in getting a job when fired. Moreover, they put new light on the transitions from temporary job to permanent jobs, and show that the probability of transitions is very low. |
| Keywords: | Mercato del lavoro, Precarietà, Valutazione delle politiche Labour Market, Temporary Jobs, Evaluation of Policy Effectiveness |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bot:quadip:92&r=lab |
| By: | Andrés Erosa (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Luisa Fuster (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Diego Restuccia (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | Despite mandatory parental-leave policies being a prevalent feature of labor markets in developed countries, the aggregate effects of leave policies are not well understood. In order to assess the quantitative impact of mandated leave policies in the economy, we develop ageneral-equilibrium model of fertility and labor-market decisions that builds on the labormarket framework of Mortensen and Pissarides (1994). We find that females gain substantially with generous policies, but this benefit occurs at the expense of a reduction in the welfare of males. Mandated leave policies have important effects on fertility, leave taking decisions, and employment rate of mothers with infants. These effects are driven by how policy affects bargaining in job matches: Young females anticipate that there are some states in the future in which their threat point in bargaining will be higher. Because the realization of these states depend on the decisions of females to give birth and take a leave, the change in the threat point induced by the policy subsidizes fertility and leave taking. Unpaid parental leaves have a small impact on the time that mothers spend with their children but paid parental leaves can be an effective tool to encourage mothers to spend time with theirchildren after giving birth. |
| Keywords: | human capital; labor-market equilibrium; parental-leave policies; fertility; temporary separations |
| JEL: | E24 E60 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2009–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2009-10&r=lab |
| By: | Navon, Guy |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the relationship between human capital spillovers and productivity using a unique longitudinal matched employer–employee dataset of Israeli manufacturing plants that contains individual records on all plant employees. I focus on the within-plant diversity of employees’ higher-education diplomas (university degrees). The variance decomposition shows that most knowledge diversity takes place within the industries. Using a semi-parametric approach, the study finds that hiring workers who are diversified in their specific knowledge is beneficial for plants’ productivity—the knowledge-diversity elasticity is about 0.2–0.25 and is robust—and that the benefit of knowledge diversity increase with the size of the plant. This suggests that for each allocation of labor in the production process it is beneficial for plants to diversify their skilled labor. The findings also suggest that the conventional way of estimating plant-level production function using Ordinary Least Squares or Fixed-Effects method is biased upward due to simultaneity of the inputs and the unobserved productivity shock. |
| Keywords: | human capital; spillovers; within; firm; plant; guy; navon; pakes; levinsohn; petrin; poi; olley |
| JEL: | J41 E24 J31 J24 D24 J82 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17741&r=lab |
| By: | Benjamin Campbell; Martin Ganco; April Franco; Rajshree Agarwal |
| Abstract: | We theorize that differences in human assets’ ability to generate value are linked to exit decisions and their effects on firm performance. Using linked employee-employer data from the U.S. Census Bureau on legal services, we find that employees with higher earnings are less likely to leave relative to employees with lower earnings, but if they do leave, they are more likely to move to a spin-out instead of an incumbent firm. Employee entrepreneurship has a larger adverse impact on source firm performance than moves to established firms, even controlling for observable employee quality. Findings suggest that the transfer of human capital, complementary assets, and opportunities all affect mobility decisions and their impact on source firms. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:09-32&r=lab |
| By: | Denisa Maria Sologon; Cathal O'Donoghue |
| Abstract: | Do EU citizens have an increased opportunity to improve their position in the distribution of earnings over time? This question is answered by exploring short and long-term wage mobility for males across 14 EU countries between 1994 and 2001 using ECHP. Mobility is evaluated using rank measures which capture positional movements in the distribution of earnings. All countries recording an increase in cross-sectional inequality recorded also a decrease in short-term mobility. Among countries where inequality decreased, short-term mobility increased in Denmark, Spain, Ireland and UK, and decreased in Belgium, France and Ireland. Long-term mobility is higher than short-term mobility, but long-term persistency is still high in all countries. The lowest long-term mobility is found in Luxembourg followed by four clusters: first, Spain, France and Germany; second, Netherlands, and Portugal; third, UK, Italy and Austria; forth, Greece, Finland, Belgium and Ireland. The highest long-term mobility is recorded in Denmark. |
| Keywords: | Panel data, wage distribution, inequality, mobility |
| JEL: | C23 D31 J31 J60 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp221&r=lab |
| By: | Scott Imberman (Department of Economics, University of Houston) |
| Abstract: | Charter schools are the most popular form of school choice in the US. How- ever, we know little about how these schools affect traditional public schools. I look at how charter schools affect achievement, behavior, and attendance in nearby traditional public schools using data from a large urban school district in the southwest. I address the endogenous location of charter schools using an instrumental variables strategy. My results show that when charter school penetration increases, students suffer modest but statistically signicant drops in math and language score gains. However, achievement losses are potentially oset by improvement in discipline. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hou:wpaper:2009-02&r=lab |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Böhlmark, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University); Nordström Skans, Oskar (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies childhood migrants and examines how age at migration affects their ensuing integration at the residential market, the labor market, and the marriage market. We use population-wide Swedish data and compare outcomes as adults among siblings arriving at different ages in order to ensure that the results can be given a causal inter-pretation. The results show that the children who arrived at a higher age had substan-tially lower shares of natives among their neighbors, coworkers and spouses as adults. The effects are mostly driven by higher exposure to immigrants of similar ethnic origin, in particular at the marriage market. There are also non-trivial effects on employment, but a more limited impact on education and wages. We also analyze children of migrants and show that parents’ time in the host country before child birth matters, which implies that the outcomes of the social integra¬tion process are inherited. Inherited integration has a particularly strong impact on the marriage patterns of females. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; integration; segregation; age at migration; siblings |
| JEL: | J01 J12 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2009–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_021&r=lab |
| By: | Vendrik Maarten; Cörvers Frank (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the extent and speed of dynamic adjustment of labour supply to changes in labour demand, government policies and autonomous trends. We estimate error-correction models (ECMs) for male and female participation rates in the Netherlands between 1969 and 2004. The results show significant short and long-run effects of labour demand as well as a negative autonomous trend for male participation. In contrast, we find no significant long-run labour-demand effects and a very strong positive autonomous trend for female participation. Including female and male participation as additional explanatory variables in the male and female ECMs, respectively, reveals significant substitution effects between female and male participation. For male participation the substitution effects from female participation account for the negative trend in the basic ECM, while for female participation the substitution effects from male participation counterbalance labour demand effects that are now significant. In addition, we find very significant breakpoints in male and female participation at 1994, which indicate the effects of exogenous participation-promoting policies by the Dutch governments after 1994. The adjustments of the participation rates to changes in labour demand, government policies and autonomous trends are moderately fast. |
| Keywords: | labour economics ; |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2009038&r=lab |
| By: | Henry Ohlsson, Michael Neugart and (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Economic theory suggests that incentives matter for people's decisions. This paper investigates whether this also holds for less self-evident areas of life such as the timing of births. We make use of a nautral experiment when the German government changed its parental benefit system January 1, 2007. The policy changes strongly increased economic incentives for women to postpone delivery to the new year provided that they were employed. The incentives for women not employed were not the same, they could gain slightly from giving birth before the policy change. Applying a difference-in-difference-in-difference approach, we find very strong evidence that women with an employment history near to the end of their term indeed succeeded to shift births and became subject to the new and more generous parental benefit system. We estimate the quantitative impact to correspond to a 5-6 percentage points increased probability to give birth the first seven days of 2007 rather than the last seven days of 2006 for employed women. |
| Keywords: | Timing of births; economic incentives; parental benefits; policy reform |
| JEL: | D19 H53 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2009–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2009_010&r=lab |
| By: | Kim, Hyeongwoo; Thompson, Henry |
| Abstract: | Factor proportions trade theory focuses on wage adjustments to product prices and factor endowments estimated directly for the first time in the present paper with a structural vector auto regression. Yearly data cover the US wage, labor force, fixed capital assets, and relative prices of services and manufactures from 1949 to 2006. This model with only capital and labor inputs is inconsistent with the evidence leading to the addition of energy input. Energy has a stronger wage impact than capital, labor is revealed as the middle factor in the intensity ranking, and results suggest a high degree of substitution. |
| Keywords: | Wage; Factor Proportions; Structural Vector Autoregression; Impulse Response Functions |
| JEL: | F11 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17798&r=lab |
| By: | Teresa Casey (Department of Economics and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London); Christian Dustmann (University College London, CReAM) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we address three issues relating to immigrants’ identity, measured as the feeling of belonging to particular ethnic groups. We study the formation of identity with home and host countries. We investigate how identity with either country relates to immigrants’ and their children’s labour market outcomes. Finally, we analyse the intergenerational transmission of identity. Our analysis is based on a unique longitudinal dataset on immigrants and their children. We find that identity with either country is only weakly related to labour market outcomes. However, there is strong intergenerational transmission of identity from one generation to the next. |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:200923&r=lab |
| By: | Steven G. Craig (Department of Economics, University of Houston); Scott Imberman (Department of Economics, University of Houston); Adam Perdue (Department of Economics, University of Houston) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether school districts, and individual schools, respond to ratings from the accountability system by reallocating resources across or within schools. Our empirical work follows three identification strategies, a regression discontinuity for schools on the rating boundaries, a “rating shock” analysis for schools that face a change in rating when the state changed its accountability system, and a school fixed effects strategy. We find that school districts provided incentives for their schools to achieve higher ratings under the early accountability system, but under the later system they appear to have abandoned this strategy. In addition, the rating shock results suggest that some effort was directed towards assisting lower performing schools under the new regime. Finally, we find that in the early period incremental funds were used as much for ancillary purposes as instruction. |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hou:wpaper:2009-04&r=lab |
| By: | H. Lehmann; J. Wadsworth |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:679&r=lab |
| By: | Verbic, Miroslav; Majcen, Boris; Cok, Mitja |
| Abstract: | In the article we model education and human capital as major endogenous growth elements in a small open economy general equilibrium framework and consider several policy scenarios for Slovenia. Decrease of the PIT rate and increase of government spending on education turned out to be the most effective policy measures. It is important, though, to understand its transitory dynamic. Namely, as education expenditure is increased, certain amount of labour is temporarily withdrawn from its productive use and put into the educational system. Higher skill upgrade of labour requires longer and higher short-term labour force decrease, but also provides us with higher long-term growth. The households that would gain more utility from such policy scenarios are those with more skilled labour and thus higher income level. |
| Keywords: | education; endogenous growth; general equilibrium modelling; Slovenia |
| JEL: | C68 E24 D58 H52 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17817&r=lab |
| By: | Talan Iscan (Department of Economics, Dalhousie University) |
| Keywords: | structural change; service sector employment; United States |
| Date: | 2009–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dal:wparch:unify_sept09.pdf&r=lab |
| By: | Giacomo degli Antoni (University of Milan - Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | The present paper draws on an original dataset collected by the author to investigate if: i)the relational network and the human capital developed by unemployed volunteers through their associational membership are useful in finding a job; ii)the likelihood to get a job is higher for volunteers who take part in activities capable of increasing social networks and human capital. Data show that a considerable percentage of volunteers (24%) who were out of work when they joined their association obtained a job thanks to their associational participation. In particular, personal declarations of unemployed respondents reveal that 12% of them found a job thanks to the skills developed by working in the association, 10% thanks to information received by people met through the association and 2% for other reasons concerning the associational membership. Moreover, the econometric analysis shows that some activities related to the creation of social network (the frequency of participation in informal meetings and work groups) and human capital (the attendance at training courses) positively and significantly affect the probability to get a job if unemployed. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary Associations; Job Opportunities; Social Network; Human Capital |
| JEL: | L31 A14 J64 D85 J24 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ent:wpaper:wp14&r=lab |
| By: | Andrén, Daniela (Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an econometric framework for analyzing part-time sick leave as a treatment method. We exemplify how the discrete choice one-factor model can address the importance of controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in understanding the selection into part-time/full-time sick leave and the probability to fully recover from a reduced work capacity. The results indicate that part-time sick listing increases the probability to recover compared to full-time sick listing when the expected time to recover is longer than 120 days. |
| Keywords: | part-time sick leave; discrete choice model; selection; unobserved heterogeneity. |
| JEL: | I12 J21 J28 |
| Date: | 2009–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2009_013&r=lab |
| By: | Hui He (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantitatively examines the effects of two exogenous driving forces, investment-specific technological change (ISTC) and the demographic change known as “the baby boom and the baby bust,” on the evolution of the skill premium in the postwar U.S. economy. I develop an overlapping generations general equilibrium model with endogenous discrete schooling choice. The production technology features capital-skill complementarity as in Krusell et al. (2000). ISTC, through capital-skill complementarity, raises the relative demand for skilled labor, while demographic variation affects the skill premium through changing the age structure and hence relative supply of skilled labor. I find that demographic change is more important in shaping the skill premium before 1980. Since then, ISTC takes over to drive the dramatic increase in the skill premium. |
| Keywords: | Skill Premium; Schooling Choice; Demographic and Technological Change; Capital-Skill Complementarity; Overlapping Generations |
| JEL: | E25 I21 J11 J24 J31 O33 |
| Date: | 2009–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:200911&r=lab |
| By: | Lampi, Elina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Nordblom, Katarina (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Survey data is used to investigate whether siblings and birth order can explain differences in stated time preferences and in some real-life decisions of intertemporal nature, namely whether one obtains a university education, whether one moves in with a partner at an early age, and when one has children. We also study earnings. Middleborns are found to be the least patient in terms of stated time preferences. First-borns, on the other hand, are more patient in real-life decisions than later-borns: they are more likely to obtain a university education and have higher earnings. Interestingly, those who have siblings but did not grow up with them are the least patient in family related real-life decisions. We also find that the more siblings one grew up with, the more impatient one is in the studied real-life decisions. Moreover, stated time preferences are correlated with the studied real-life decisions: people with high discount rates make more impatient choices and have lower earnings than others.<p> |
| Keywords: | time preferences; education; earnings; birth order; siblings |
| JEL: | D99 I20 J10 |
| Date: | 2009–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0388&r=lab |
| By: | Deborah Winkler, William Milberg (New School for Social Research, New York, NY) |
| Keywords: | Services Offshoring, Offshoring Intensity, Labor Demand |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epa:cepawp:2009-12&r=lab |
| By: | Xavier Pautrel (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272) |
| Abstract: | This article demonstrates that when finite lifetime is introduced in a Lucas (1988) growth model where the source of pollution is physical capital, the environmental policy may enhance the growth rate of a market economy, while pollution does not influence educational activities, labor supply is not elastic and human capital does not enter the utility function. The result arises from the “generational turnover effect” due to finite lifetime. It remains valid under conditions when the education sector uses final output besides time to accumulate human capital. Nevertheless, it does no longer hold when the source of pollution is output. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that ageing reduces the positive influence of the environmental policy when growth is driven by human capital accumulation à la Lucas (1988) and lifetime is finite. It also confirms for finite lifetime the result found by Vellinga (1999) with a single representative agent: environmental care does not influence optimal growth when utility is additive and pollution does not influence the ability of agents to be educated. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00423201_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Karolien De Bruyne |
| Abstract: | We analyze how unionized wage setting a¤ects the location of firms. We find that the degree of centralization (at firm or sectoral level) and regionalization (at regional or supra-regional level) is crucial. We show that wage setting at the firm level is the best policy to attract firms when trade costs are low, while wage setting at a more centralized level is most effective to attract firms when trade costs are high. Moreover, wage setting at the supra-regional level is beneficial for the already more agglomerated region and hurts the peripheral region. |
| Keywords: | location, unions, regionalization, centralization |
| JEL: | J51 R12 R3 F12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:vivwps:9&r=lab |
| By: | Aaron Sojouner |
| Abstract: | This paper studies peer effects on student achievement among first graders randomly assigned to classrooms in Tennessee's Project STAR. The analysis uses previously unexploited pre-assignment achievement measures available for sixty percent of students. Data are not missing at random, making identification challenging. The paper develops a new way, given random assignment of individuals to classes, to identify peer effects without other missing-data assumptions. Estimates suggest moderate, positive effects of mean peer lagged achievement. Allowing heterogeneous effects, evidence suggests lower-achieving students benefit more than higher-achieving students do from increases in peer mean. Further, the bias of a widely used but poorly understood peer-effects estimator is characterized. |
| JEL: | C2 I21 J13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hrr:papers:0109&r=lab |
| By: | Horácio C. Faustino; João Peixoto |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes Portuguese immigration during the period 1995-2006 and estimates the effects of an increase in the stock of immigrants and of the increased percentage of highly-skilled immigrants employed in manufacturing industry. Furthermore, the effects are estimated of immigrant entrepreneurs active in manufacturing industry on Portugal’s bilateral trade with 38 countries. The latter group includes, in addition to the member-countries of the EU27, five African countries with Portuguese as their official language, and known as PALOPs. In 2006, these two blocs combined accounted for 83% of Portugal’s trade in goods and 89% of its immigrant stock. Panel data is used to conduct an econometric analysis. The study finds that a 10% increase in the immigrant stock will produce the following effects on Portugal’s bilateral trade with these countries: an increase of 2.8% in exports, an increase of 2.66% in imports, an increase of 1.87% in IIT, an increase of 4.01% in HIIT and an increase of 1.48% in VIIT. In addition, we conclude that higher percentages both of highly skilled immigrant workers and immigrant employers in manufacturing industry have a positive effect on exports, IIT and VIIT. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; trade; skills; entrepreneurship; panel data; Portugal. |
| JEL: | C33 F11 F12 F22 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp362009&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Baumann (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Cara Howe (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | Tournament design is of crucial importance in competitive sports. The primary goal of effective tournament design is to provide incentives for the participants to maximize their performance both during the tournament and in the time period leading up to the tournament. In spectator sports, a secondary goal of tournament design is to also promote interesting match ups that generate fan interest. Seeded tournaments, in general, promote both goals. Teams or individuals with strong performances leading up to a tournament receive higher seeds which increase their chances of progressing further in the tournament. Furthermore, seeding ensures that the strongest teams or players are most likely to meet in the final rounds of the tournament when fan interest is at its peak. Under some distributions of team or player skill, however, a seeding system can introduce anomalies that could affect incentives. Our analysis of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament uncovers such an anomaly. The seeding system in this tournament gives teams with better success in the regular season more favorable first round match ups, but the tournament is not reseeded as the games progress. Therefore, while higher seeds progress to the 2nd round of the tournament at uniformly higher rates than lower seeds, this relationship breaks down in later rounds. We find that 10th and 11th seeds average more wins and typically progress farther in the tournament than 8th and 9th seeds. This finding violates the intended incentive structure of seeded tournaments. |
| Keywords: | basketball, tournament design, sports, NCAA |
| JEL: | L83 D02 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0912&r=lab |
| By: | DEBASIS BANDYOPADHYAY (University of Auckland); XUELI TANG (Deakin University) |
| Abstract: | We provide an empirically plausible endogenous growth model to prove analytically that sometimes a progressive redistribution from rich to poor lowers the growth rate of consumption per capita in all subsequent periods. The model accommodates the growth retarding effect of income inequality by combining the assumptions of no credit market and a production technology with diminishing returns to the combined inputs of physical and human capital. Also, to make the model’s assumptions consistent with the evidence reported by leading labor economists, we assume that the parental human capital sufficiently improves the effectiveness of expenditure on a child’s education, in order to induce increasing returns to scale in the education technology. A reduction in the progressivity of redistribution, under such education technology, enhances the average human capital of all future cohorts of parents, which in turn boosts the growth rate of average human capital. The immediate resulting gain in the growth rate of consumption per capita sufficiently outweighs the subsequent growth loss due to the decline in TFP brought about by the associated increase in income inequality. Consequently, in our model, a policy of progressive redistribution is dynamically inefficient. |
| Keywords: | heterogeneous ability, education technology, endogenous growth, progressive income tax rate. |
| JEL: | D61 E24 E62 O11 |
| Date: | 2009–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2009_15&r=lab |
| By: | Andrés Erosa (IMDEA Ciencias Sociales); Tatyana Koreshkova (Concordia University and CIREQ); Diego Restuccia (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | We develop a quantitative theory of human capital investments in order to evaluate the magnitude of cross-country differences in total factor productivity (TFP) that explains the variation in per-capita incomes across countries. We build a heterogeneous-agent economy with cross-sectional variation in ability, schooling, and expenditures on schooling quality. By embedding our analysis in a growth model with tradable and non-tradable sectors, we model sectorial productivity differences across countries, as documented in Hsieh and Klenow (2007). The parameters governing human capital production and random ability and taste processes are restricted by a set of cross-sectional data moments such as variances and intergenerational correlations of earnings and schooling, as well as slope coefficient and R2 in a Mincer regression. Our main finding is that human capital accumulation strongly amplifies TFP differences across countries: To explain a 20-fold difference in the output per worker the model requires a 5-fold difference in the TFP of the tradable sector, versus an 18-fold difference if human capital is fixed across countries. Moreover, we find that sectorial productivity differences play a prominent role in quantitative implications of the theory. |
| Date: | 2009–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2009-11&r=lab |
| By: | Andaluz, Joaquín; Marcén, Miriam; Molina, José Alberto |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the dynamics of bargaining in an intrahousehold context. To explore long-term partner relationships, we analyse bilateral bargaining by considering that spouses take decisions sequentially. We conclude that, for the spouse who takes the second decision, a greater discount factor increases the set of possible sustainable agreements, as well as the proportion of time that this agent devotes to a family good. |
| Keywords: | Family Bargaining; Stackelberg Game; Family Good. |
| JEL: | C71 J12 C62 C72 |
| Date: | 2009–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17742&r=lab |
| By: | David A. Savage; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | There is a notable shortage of empirical research directed at measuring the magnitude and direction of stress effects on performance in a controlled environment. One reason for this is the inherent difficulties in identifying and isolating direct performance measures for individuals. Additionally most traditional work environments contain a multitude of exogenous factors impacting individual performance, but controlling for all such factors is generally unfeasible (omitted variable bias). Moreover, instead of asking individuals about their self-reported stress levels we observe workers' behavior in situations that can be classified as stressful. For this reason we have stepped outside the traditional workplace in an attempt to gain greater controllability of these factors using the sports environment as our experimental space. We empirically investigate the relationship between stress and performance, in an extreme pressure situation (football penalty kicks) in a winner take all sporting environment (FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Cup competitions). Specifically, we examine all the penalty shootouts between 1976 and 2008 covering in total 16 events. The results indicate that extreme stressors can have a positive or negative impact on individuals' performance. On the other hand, more commonly experienced stressors do not affect professionals' performances. |
| Keywords: | performance; stressors; sport; behavioral economics; work-related stress |
| JEL: | D80 D81 J81 Z13 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2009-22&r=lab |
| By: | Helena Holmlund; Helmut Rainer; Thomas Siedler |
| Abstract: | An emerging question in demographic economics is whether there is a link between family size and the geographic distance between adult children and elderly parents. Given current population trends, understanding how different configurations of fam- ily size and sibship influence patterns of child-parent proximity is vitally important, as it impacts on issues such as intergenerational care and everyday mobility. It may be the case, for example, that larger families enable the responsibility of care for older parents to be shared among more siblings, possibly decreasing individual involvement and relaxing constraints on geographic mobility. However, there is no causal evidence to date on this issue. This study is the first attempt to estimate the causal effect of sibship size on the geographic distance between older parents and adult children by using a large administrative data set from Sweden. We find a positive association between sibship size and child-parent geographic distance. However, when we use multiple births and sibship sex composition as instruments for family size, we do not find any evidence that the observed positive relationship represents a causal effect. Given that family sizes are continuing to fall in many developed countries, our findings suggest that the trend towards smaller families will not necessarily result in adult children being more constrained in terms of their geographic location decisions, at least in countries with extensive state-provision of elderly care. |
| Keywords: | Family size, child-parent geographic proximity |
| JEL: | J10 C10 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp923&r=lab |
| By: | Weber, Tjark |
| Abstract: | The Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem is a well-known theorem from the field of social choice theory. It states that every voting scheme with at least 3 possible outcomes is dictatorial or manipulable. Later work on the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem frequently does not distinguish between alternatives and outcomes, thereby leading to a less general statement that requires the voting scheme to be onto. We show how the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem can be derived from the seemingly less general formulation. |
| Keywords: | Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem; infeasible alternatives |
| JEL: | D71 |
| Date: | 2009–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17836&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Thompson (Department of Economics, Florida International University); Jing Chen (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | A team of managers engaged in production using technology x, is considering switching to technology y. The value of y is learned slowly over time, but constraints on the ability of individual managers to communicate their beliefs allow disagreements to emerge among team members. Managers who develop sufficiently strong disagreements with their colleagues choose to form new companies to implement their preferred strategy. Out of a symmetric model of disagreement, two distinct classes of spinoffs arise. A type 1 spinoff forms when an employee comes to believe it is worth switching to y but the firm does not. A type 2 spinoff arises when an employee sufficiently disagrees with the firm’s decision to switch strategy that he is willing to invest in order to continue with x. The comparative dynamics of the formation of type 1 and type 2 spinoffs are distinct, and yield some novel implications that are tested using data on spinoffs in the British automobile industry. |
| Keywords: | Spinoffs, learning, strategic disagreement. |
| JEL: | L2 D70 D83 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:0910&r=lab |
| By: | Marcén, Miriam; Molina, José Alberto |
| Abstract: | We study the effect that the care decision process has on the amount of caring-time and on informal caregiver satisfaction. We develop a theoretical framework in which we compare three two-stage sequential games, each of which corresponds to a different care decision (family, caregiver, and recipient). We find cases of overprovision of informal care in both the family and the recipient decision models, since the caregiver is obliged to spend more time than he/she would prefer. We then use the Spanish Survey of Informal Assistance for the Elderly (2004) to study the relationship between the care decision processes and the time that informal caregivers devote to care activities, with the results confirming our theoretical hypotheses. We also find that different care decision processes imply differences in the informal caregivers' satisfaction, with intensive caregivers being less likely to have greater satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Informal Care; Informal Caregiver Satisfaction; Care Decision Process; Two-stage Sequential Game |
| JEL: | J10 C70 I10 |
| Date: | 2009–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17739&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel Carvell; Janet Currie; W. Bentley MacLeod |
| Abstract: | Reforms to the Joint and Several Liability rule (JSL) are one of the most common tort reforms and have been implemented by most US states. JSL allows plaintiffs to claim full recovery from one of the defendants, even if that defendant is only partially responsible for the tort. We develop a theoretical model that shows that the efficiency of the JSL rule depends critically on both whether the care taken by potential tortfeasors is observed, and on how the actions of the potential tortfeasors interact to cause the harm. We then provide evidence that reforms of the JSL rule have been accompanied by reductions in the accidental death rate in the U. S. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the reform of JSL causes potential tortfeasors to take more care. |
| JEL: | I1 K13 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15412&r=lab |
| By: | Babur De los Santos (Department of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University Kelley School of Business); Ali Hortacsu (University of Chicago and NBER); Matthijs R. Wildenbeest (Department of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University Kelley School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Using a large data set on web browsing and purchasing behavior we test to what extent consumers are searching in accordance to various classical search models. We nd that the benchmark model of sequential search with a known distributions of prices can be rejected based on the recall patterns we observe in the data. Moreover, we show that even if consumers are initially unaware of the price distribution and have to learn the price distribution, observed search behavior for given consumers over time is more consistent with non-sequential search than sequential search with learning. Our ndings suggest non-sequential search provides a more accurate description of observed consumer search behavior. We then utilize the non-sequential search model to estimate the price elasticities and markups of online book retailers. |
| Keywords: | consumer search, electronic commerce, consumer behavior |
| JEL: | D43 D83 L13 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuk:wpaper:2009-05&r=lab |
| By: | Guillaume Horny. |
| Abstract: | A general formulation of Mixed Proportional Hazard models with K random effects is provided. It enables to account for a population stratified at K different levels. We then show how to approximate the partial maximum likelihood estimator using an EM algorithm. In a Monte Carlo study, the behavior of the estimator is assessed and I provide an application to the ratification of ILO conventions. Compared to other procedures, the results indicate an important decrease in computing time, as well as improved convergence and stability. |
| Keywords: | EM algorithm, penalized likelihood, partial likelihood, frailties. |
| JEL: | C13 C14 C41 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:248&r=lab |
| By: | Domenico Giannone; Michele Lenza |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that general equilibrium effects can partly rationalize the high correlation between saving and investment rates observed in OECD countries. We find that once controlling for general equilibrium effects the saving-retention coefficient remains high in the 70’s but decreases considerably since the 80’s, consistently with the increased capital mobility in OECD countries. |
| Keywords: | Saving-Investment correlation, capital mobility, international comovement, dynamic factor model. |
| JEL: | C23 F32 F41 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2009_022&r=lab |
| By: | Karen Kopecky (University of Western Ontario); Tatyana Koreshkova (Concordia University) |
| Abstract: | We consider a life-cycle model with idiosyncratic risk in labor earnings, out-of-pocket medical and nursing home expenses, and survival. Partial insurance is available through welfare, Medicaid, and social security. Calibrating the model to the U.S., we find that nursing home expenses play an important role in the savings of the wealthy. In our policy analysis, we find that elimination of out-of-pocket expenses through public health care would reduce the capital stock by 12 percent, Medicaid and old-age welfare programs crowd out 44 percent of savings and greatly increase wealth inequality, and social security effects are influenced by out-of-pocket health expenses. |
| Keywords: | health expenses, nursing home, idiosyncratic risk, savings, wealth inequality, old-age social insurance |
| JEL: | E21 I18 I38 |
| Date: | 2009–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crd:wpaper:09006&r=lab |
| By: | João Ramos; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | We study the broken windows theory with a field experiment in a shared area of a workplace in academia (department common room). We explore academics' and postgraduate students' behaviour under an order condition (clean environment) and a disorder condition (messy environment). We find strong support that signs of disorderly behaviour triggers littering. In the disorder treatment 59% of the subjects litter compared to 18% in the order condition. The results remain robust when controlling compared to previous studies for a large set of factors in a multivariate analysis. When academic staff members and postgraduate students observe that others violated the social norm of keeping the common room clean the probability of littering increases ceteris paribus by around 40 percent. |
| Keywords: | broken windows theory; field experiment; littering |
| JEL: | Z13 C93 K42 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2009-21&r=lab |
| By: | Patrick Lagadec (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X) |
| Abstract: | Avec la montée des crises, et leur aggravation, la notion de plan est de plus en plus mise en avant. Quels sont les points forts de l'outil, quels en sont les faiblesses effectives ou potentielles, quelles meilleures pistes considérer aujourd'hui ? Comment ce débat, fort ancien, se transforme-t-il aujourd'hui ? Les trois volets – forces, faiblesses, perspectives – sont examinés, et un ensemble de textes est proposé pour enrichir la réflexion. |
| Keywords: | Crises, Plans, Planification, Surprises, Pièges, Pensée stratégique |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00422147_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Jellal, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | One considers a model of accumulation of the human capital in the presence of the international migration offers. One shows that under certain conditions,this option can support the increase in the stock of the national human capital by taking of account the externalities. Thus the `brain drain' would have a positive impact on the national economy under a well controlled restrictive migratory policy. The difficulty of this control scheme leads us to propose an alternative model suggesting the internalisation of the human capital externalities thus allowing the implementation of the social optimum. The mechanism of this internalisation is based on the endogenous creation of cultural norm with the accumulation of the knowledge. This social norm avoids the risks of conditionalities inherent in a migratory policy as a mechanism of internalisation of the externalities of the human capital. |
| Keywords: | Human capital Formation; Brain Gain; Social Norm ; Diaspora Formation |
| JEL: | F22 I21 J24 Z13 F43 |
| Date: | 2009–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17818&r=lab |
| By: | Child Rights and You CRY |
| Abstract: | This concept papers aims at demystifying some of these social, economic and political myths, and stimulate discussion, debate and deliberation on various aspects of child labour. This paper, further, has two functions, one, it provides a background to the national child labour research; and two, as a prelude to the policy paper on child labour, this will be a working paper for facilitating a framework on the contending aspects of the issue, and the implementation of good practices. |
| Keywords: | social, economic, political myths, childhood, adult, India, NSSO, adulthood status, India, child labout, research, deliberation, debate, national |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2236&r=lab |