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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Christopher L. Smith |
| Abstract: | The employment-to-population rate of high-school aged youth has fallen by about 20 percentage points since the late 1980s. The human capital implications of this decline depend on the reasons behind it. In this paper, I demonstrate that growth in the number of less-educated immigrants may have considerably reduced youth employment rates. This finding stands in contrast to previous research that generally identifies, at most, a modest negative relationship across states or cities between immigration levels and adult labor market outcomes. At least two factors are at work: there is greater overlap between the jobs that youth and less-educated adult immigrants traditionally do, and youth labor supply is more responsive to immigration-induced changes in their wage. Despite a slight increase in schooling rates in response to immigration, I find little evidence that reduced employment rates are associated with higher earnings ten years later in life. This raises the possibility that an immigration-induced reduction in youth employment, on net, hinders youths' human capital accumulation. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-03&r=lab |
| By: | Vanessa Gash; Antje Mertens; Laura Romeu Gordo |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working-hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women. |
| Keywords: | Temporary Employment, Unemployment, Health |
| JEL: | J41 J64 I10 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp268&r=lab |
| By: | Dustmann, C.; Schonberg, U. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether unions, through imposing wage floors that lead to wage compression, increase on-the-job training. Our analysis focuses on Germany. Based on a model of unions and firm-financed training, we derive empirical implications regarding apprenticeship training intensity, layoffs, wage cuts, and wage compression in unionized and nonunionized firms. We test these implications using firm panel data matched with administrative employee data. We find support for the hypothesis that union recognition, via imposing minimum wages and wage compression, increases training in apprenticeship programs. |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16427/&r=lab |
| By: | de Luna, Xavier (Umeå University); Stenberg, Anders (Stockholm University); Westerlund, Olle (Umeå University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine whether adult education delays retirement and increases labour force participation among the elderly, a mechanism suggested in the OECD strategy for “active ageing” and the “Lisbon strategy” of the EU. Using register data from Sweden, we analyse transcripts from adult education for the period 1979–2004 and annual earnings 1982–2004. We match samples of treated individuals, in adult education 1986–1989, and untreated on the propensity score. The timing of exit from the workforce is assessed by non-parametric estimation of survival rates in the labour force. The results indicate no effects of adult education on the timing of retirement. |
| Keywords: | Adult education; Retirement; Human capital; Labour supply; Pensions |
| JEL: | H52 H55 H75 I28 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2010–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2010_002&r=lab |
| By: | Bell, David N.F.; Hart, Robert A. |
| Abstract: | We compare two policies of increasing British state pension provision: (a) increase the pensionable age of men and women, (b) maintain the existing retirement age but require older workers to work longer per-period hours. There are reasons for policy makers to give serious consideration to the under-researched alternative (b). First, from wage - hours contract theory we know that there are potential gains to both workers and firms of allowing hours to rise in work experience. Second, there is strong evidence that job satisfaction rises in age. Third, there has in any case been a significant overall increase in the hours supplied by older workers in the last two decades. We review the relevant theory, model the trade-off between later retirement versus increased work intensity, produce relevant background facts, and provide estimates of the policy trade-offs. |
| Keywords: | hours of work; statutory retirement age; Older workers |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2010-03&r=lab |
| By: | Caliendo, Marco (IZA); Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (Australian National University); Uhlendorff, Arne (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | Standard job search theory assumes that unemployed individuals have perfect information about the effect of their search effort on the job offer arrival rate. In this paper, we present an alternative model which assumes instead that each individual has a subjective belief about the impact of his or her search effort on the rate at which job offers arrive. These beliefs depend in part on an individual's locus of control, i.e., the extent to which a person believes that future outcomes are determined by his or her own actions as opposed to external factors. We estimate the impact of locus of control on job search behavior using a novel panel data set of newly-unemployed individuals in Germany. Consistent with our theoretical predictions, we find evidence that individuals with an internal locus of control search more and that individuals who believe that their future outcomes are determined by external factors have lower reservation wages. |
| Keywords: | job search behavior, search effort, reservation wage, locus of control, unemployment duration |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4750&r=lab |
| By: | Hui Shan; David Powell |
| Abstract: | The link between taxes and occupational choices is central for understanding the welfare impacts of income taxes. Just as taxes distort the labor-leisure decision, they also distort the wage-amenity decision. Yet, there are no estimates of the full response on this margin. When tax rates increase, workers favor jobs with lower wages and more non-taxable amenities. We introduce a two-step methodology which uses compensating differentials to characterize the tax elasticity of occupational choice. We estimate a significant compensated elasticity of 0.05, implying that a 10% increase in the net-of-tax rate causes workers to change to a 0.5% higher wage job. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-04&r=lab |
| By: | Jorgen Hansen |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), this paper provides an up-to-date description of educational and labour market pathways (or transitions) among Canadian youth. It also estimates the effect of academic abilities, measured by PISA math and reading scores, on such transitions. Descriptive statistics show that educational success is positively related to math and reading achievements as well as family background characteristics. Further, working while in high school reduces educational attainment while participation in school organised activities increases the probability of grade progression. The results also indicate that students with low reading achievements are not only less likely to remain in school; they are also less likely to return to school once they have left school. Finally, the risk of entering unemployment after school is inversely related to the level of completed schooling.<BR>À partir des données de l’Enquête auprès des jeunes en transition (EJET), le présent document fournit une description actualisée des parcours (ou transitions) emprunté(e)s par les jeunes Canadiens dans les études et sur le marché du travail. Il évalue également l’effet de l’aptitude aux études, telle que mesurée par les scores PISA en mathématiques et compréhension de l’écrit, sur ces transitions. Des statistiques descriptives montrent que le succès dans les études est positivement corrélé à la réussite en mathématiques et en compréhension de l’écrit, ainsi qu’aux caractéristiques du contexte familial. Ensuite, on constate que le fait d’avoir un emploi lorsque l’on est encore dans l’enseignement secondaire exerce un effet négatif sur le niveau d’enseignement, tandis que la participation à des activités organisées par l’établissement scolaire augmente la probabilité d’obtenir de meilleures notes. Les résultats indiquent en outre que les élèves ayant obtenu de faibles scores en compréhension de l’écrit ne sont pas seulement moins susceptibles de rester dans l’éducation ; ils sont aussi moins susceptibles de retourner à leurs études une fois qu’ils les ont arrêtées. Enfin, le risque d’être au chômage après sa formation est inversement corrélé au niveau d’enseignement atteint. |
| Date: | 2010–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:30-en&r=lab |
| By: | Tu, Jiong (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - Labour Program) |
| Abstract: | It has been well documented that immigrants' clustering of residence in large cities has been associated with the creation of a number of ethnic enclaves. The intensive exposure to own-ethnic population could affect immigrant labour market involvement positively or negatively. However, no extant Canadian research has provided empirical evidence on the sign of these enclave effects. In this paper, I use the 1981-2001 Censuses to estimate the impact of residence in ethnic enclaves on male immigrants' labour force participation rate and employment probability. For recent immigrants who arrived in Canada within the preceding ten years, the intensity of enclave residence is negatively associated with their labour force participation rate, but positively related to their employment probability in all censuses. However, living in an enclave has no significant effect on the labour force activity of older immigrants who have lived in Canada for more than twenty years. Since immigrants could be attracted to areas with more job opportunities and hence enlarge the size of an enclave, the estimated effects from probit regressions might be positively biased. I then use instrumental variable (IV) method to address this endogeneity problem, and the IV estimates are consistent with the probit regression results. |
| Keywords: | immigrant, ethnicity, enclave, labour force participation, employment, Canada |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4744&r=lab |
| By: | Tatiana Karabchuk |
| Abstract: | The paper examines incidence and earnings of non-standard workers in Russia. We focus on two main types of non-standard arrangements: non-permanent and part-time employment. First we identify determinants of incidence of these types of non-standard employment and find out that such personal characteristics as education level, age and marital status have strong impact on it. Secondly we explore wage differentials between permanent and non-permanent and full-time and part-time employees and demonstrate that the observed wage gap went down substantially when we apply advanced econometric techniques and control for various other factors. The analysis was done with the help of large-scale representative data set Household Survey of Welfare, conducted by Rosstat and World Bank in 2003. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwesc:diwesc15&r=lab |
| By: | Ryouichi Ikeda (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | Research was conducted concerning the effects of child support. Many earlier studies have assumed full employment. However, in the real economy, there is unemployment. The relation between the number of children in the economy and unemployment was investigated. The overlapping generation model with involuntary unemployment was used because wages were set by labor unions. First, in the analytical research, it was found that the wage tax for child support and unemployment insurance both increased unemployment and that the wage tax for child support decreased equilibrium capital stock. Also, the wage tax for unemployment insurance reduced the number of the children in the economy. Second, a simulation was conducted, which revealed that there is a tax rate at which the number of the children is maximized. At tax rates for child support higher than this maximum, any increase in the tax rate for child support decreases the number of the children! The conclusion showed that tax rates for child support that are too high have a diminishing effect and policy makers should consider the effects of the wage tax for child support and unemployment. |
| Keywords: | overlapping generation model, involuntary unemployment, child support |
| JEL: | J13 J64 J51 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1005&r=lab |
| By: | Lee, Wang-Sheng (RMIT University); Suardi, Sandy (La Trobe University) |
| Abstract: | The time-series approach used in the minimum wage literature essentially aims to estimate a treatment effect of increasing the minimum wage. In this paper, we employ a novel approach based on aggregate time-series data that allows us to determine if minimum wage changes have significant effects on employment. This involves the use of tests for structural breaks as a device for identifying discontinuities in the data which potentially represent treatment effects. In an application based on Australian data, the tentative conclusion is that the introduction of minimum wage legislation in Australia in 1997 and subsequent minimum wage increases appear not to have had any significant negative employment effects for teenagers. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, teenage employment, structural break |
| JEL: | C22 J3 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4748&r=lab |
| By: | Torben Drewes |
| Abstract: | The primary purpose of the report is to explore the impact of PISA reading scores on the early labour market outcomes of young Canadians of the Youth in Transition Survey. This inquiry is complicated by two facts. First, family and school characteristics that are positively correlated with PISA scores are also correlated with labour market success, making it difficult to discover the independent effect of those scores. Second, students with higher PISA scores are much more likely to pursue education beyond high school and scores may operate both directly and indirectly through this channel to influence later outcomes. Among females, there is a positive correlation between PISA scores and future earnings, even after controlling for family background and educational attainment. There is no evidence of such a correlation for males. For both genders, the link between PISA scores and unemployment disappears when controls are added. These weak outcomes may be explained by the fact that sufficient time has not elapsed for the YITS respondents to complete schooling and to integrate into the labour market.<BR>L’objectif premier du présent rapport est d’examiner comment les scores PISA en compréhension de l’écrit influencent les premiers résultats sur le marché du travail des jeunes Canadiens interrogés dans le cadre de l’Enquête auprès des jeunes en transition (EJET). L’analyse est compliquée par deux facteurs : tout d’abord, les caractéristiques en termes de contexte familial et d’établissement scolaire fréquenté qui sont positivement corrélées avec les scores PISA sont également corrélées avec la réussite sur le marché du travail, ce qui empêche d’identifier l’effet indépendant de ces scores. Ensuite, les élèves qui ont obtenu des scores PISA élevés sont beaucoup plus susceptibles de continuer à faire des études après l’enseignement secondaire ; les scores pourraient donc avoir un effet à la fois direct et indirect sur les résultats ultérieurs. Chez les filles, on constate une corrélation positive entre les scores PISA et le revenu futur, même après prise en compte des caractéristiques du contexte familial et du niveau d’études. En revanche, on ne dispose d’aucun élément prouvant une telle corrélation chez les hommes. Pour les femmes comme pour les hommes, le lien entre les scores PISA et le fait d’être sans emploi disparaît dès lors que l’on ajoute des contrôles. La faiblesse de ces résultats peut s’expliquer par le manque de temps écoulé entre le moment où les personnes ont été sondées par l’EJET et le moment où elles ont terminé leurs études pour entrer sur le marché du travail. |
| Date: | 2010–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:29-en&r=lab |
| By: | Hartmut Lehmann |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys three studies on the internal labor market of one Russian firm spanning the years 1997 to 2002 and focusing on three different issues. The studies use unique personnel data that were collected by us and that include the work history of each employee as well as annual averages of monthly wages and total compensation. Since the three studies are part of a larger project on internal labor markets in Russia and Ukraine during transition, the paper starts off with a general assessment of how the analysis of personnel data from transition countries can contribute to the general literature on internal labor markets. After short descriptions of the investigated firm and the personnel data at our disposal, the motivation and the pertinent results of the three studies are presented. While the first study looks at the question how the costs of a financial crisis are spread over the workforce and whether incumbent employees are sheltered from negative shocks in the economy, the second study is tied to the discussion of wage determination in Russia and analyzes the narrower question whether local labor market conditions are an important factor in the wage determination process of the firm at hand or whether stable internal labor market structures are of primary concern for its human resource managers. The third study contributes to the literature on the labor market experience of women in transition by analyzing the evolution and the determinants of the gender earnings gap in the firm. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwesc:diwesc14&r=lab |
| By: | Saez, Emmanuel (University of California, Berkeley); Matsaganis, Manos (Athens University of Economics and Business); Tsakloglou, Panos (Athens University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the response of earnings to payroll tax rates using a cohort-based reform in Greece. All individuals who started working on or after 1993 face permanently a much higher earnings cap for payroll taxes, creating a large and permanent discontinuity in marginal payroll tax rates by date of entry in the labor force for upper earnings workers. Using full population administrative Social Security data and a Regression Discontinuity Design, we estimate the long-term incidence and effects of marginal payroll tax rates on earnings. Standard theory predicts that, in the long run, new regime workers should bear the entire burden of the payroll tax increase (relative to old regime workers). In contrast, we find that employers compensate new regime workers for the extra employer payroll taxes but not for the extra employee payroll taxes. We do not find any evidence of labor supply responses around the discontinuity, suggesting low efficiency costs of payroll taxes. The non-standard incidence results are the same across firms of different sizes. Tax incidence, however, is standard for older workers in the new regime as they bear both the employee and employer tax. Those results, combined with a direct small survey of employers, can be explained by social norms regarding pay seniority which create a growing wedge between pay and productivity as workers age. |
| Keywords: | payroll taxes, Greece |
| JEL: | J31 J22 H22 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4752&r=lab |
| By: | Hélène Blake; Marc Sangnier |
| Abstract: | How is it that populations react so differently to policy incentives among developed countries? We noticed that senior employment rates not only differ in level strikingly from one country to another, they also differ in their reaction to retirement incentives set by governments. We show the importance of trust given to the employer in wage negotiations by a simple trade-off model. According to this model, reaction of the senior activity rate to policy changes depends on the properties of the distribution of trust to employers at the country level. We then identify these properties by an empirical study based on panel data for nineteen OECD countries from 1980 to 2004. We show that the elasticity of senior males labor force participation rate to retirement incentives is stronger in countries with better and more homogeneously distributed working conditions. This results also applies to countries with higher generalized trust. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2010-04&r=lab |
| By: | Yana Roshchina |
| Abstract: | In this paper, on the basis of data of RLMS and of Monitoring of economics of education, it is shown that factors of the family capital (first of all, incomes and the educational level of parents) represent an essential obstacle for educational options for Russian high schools graduates. The inequity in accessing professional education was strong in 1961-1990 as well as in 1991-2000. Some of the factors disappeared (parents' membership in the Communist Party, respondent's age), some became less influential (village as the birthplace). However, the importance of some parameters such as parents' human capital, increased. The existing social inequality of pupils' families becomes fixed and aggravated at high school level as children of poorer and less educated parents study at the worst schools and have lower progress. Therefore, the considerable inequality of educational intentions between pupils of 8- 9 classes exists: children from families with higher social positions are going to receive full secondary education and will most likely be enrolled to the university courses while children from families with low level of the family capital are going to have only primary or secondary professional education. Subsequently, this self-restriction of intentions results in the social differentiation of students in three levels of professional education (primary, secondary and higher): university's students once studied at better schools and their parents have higher social positions. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwesc:diwesc13&r=lab |
| By: | Rodriguez-Planas, Nuria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long-term educational and employment impacts of an after-school program, the Quantum Opportunity Program, that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards with the objective to improve high-school graduation and post-secondary schooling enrollment. Average impacts reveal that the hefty beneficial educational outcomes quickly faded away. Heterogeneity matters. While encouraging results are found for the younger youth; detrimental long-lived outcomes for males suggest that extrinsic rewards may be crowding out intrinsic motivation. Evidence by sites' funding source, which led to implementation differences, supports this hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | short-, medium- and long-term effects, after-school programs, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, educational and employment outcomes |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4754&r=lab |
| By: | López Bóo, Florencia (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Returns to schooling in urban Argentina increased from 1992 to 2003, a period of economic reforms and macroeconomic volatility. In this paper I provide the most consistent estimates of returns to education so far, while I also investigate earnings profiles over time. This paper contributes to the existing literature by employing a variety of methodologies in order to estimate these returns and by using macroeconomic time series to explore shifts in earnings. The pattern of the increasing returns to education changes after the 2001 crisis. Until then, increasing convexity in the earnings-education profile reflects increasing or stable earnings for college graduates combined with decreasing earnings for the less educated. After the crisis, the increasing premium to education results from wages falling at a faster pace for the less educated than for college graduates. This result is robust to endogenous supply responses, selection, specification, changes in the functional form and to the inclusion of household fixed effects. I also find that rates of return to education are upward biased by up to 20 per cent by the omission of unobserved family background factors (i.e. family fixed effects). Surprisingly, after controlling for macroeconomic variables I still find a statistically and economically significant downward trend for all earnings, particularly those of primary completers. |
| Keywords: | returns to schooling, earnings profiles, occupations, macroeconomic shocks, policy swings, Argentina |
| JEL: | I21 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4753&r=lab |
| By: | Chowdry, H.; Crawford, C.; Goodman, A. |
| Abstract: | This study examined why young people from poor families have lower attainment in school, are more likely to become NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) after compulsory education, and are more likely to participate in a range of risky behaviours whilst teenagers. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England is combined with school and neighbourhood information to document the links between lower socio-economic position and poorer outcomes: identifying the key factors amongst parental education and material resources; school and neighbourhood peer groups; and the attitudes and beliefs of young people and their parents that help sustain those links. |
| Date: | 2009–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/18314/&r=lab |
| By: | Hunt, Jennifer (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | Using the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, I examine how immigrants perform relative to natives in activities likely to increase U.S. productivity, according to the type of visa on which they first entered the United States. Immigrants who first entered on a student/trainee visa or a temporary work visa have a large advantage over natives in wages, patenting, commercializing or licensing patents, and publishing. In general, this advantage is explained by immigrants’ higher education and field of study, but this is not the case for publishing, and immigrants are more likely to start companies than natives with similar education. Immigrants without U.S. education and who arrived at older ages suffer a wage handicap, which offsets savings to the United States from their having completed more education abroad. Immigrants who entered with legal permanent residence do not outperform natives for any of the outcomes considered. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, entrepreneurship, visa type, wages |
| JEL: | J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4745&r=lab |
| By: | Macartney, G.J. |
| Abstract: | This thesis investigates the effect that market institutions have on economic outcomes such as employment and innovation. The market institutions under study are those that determine the conditions in product, labour and capital markets. Of particular interest is how the effect of institutional changes in one market depends on the conditions in another, or depends on the nature of innovation by the firm. The first chapter describes the matching of patents at the European Patent Office to firm accounts data for all registered firms across fifteen European countries. This constitutes a valuable new dataset for research in innovation that is used for much of the empirical work in this thesis. The second chapter investigates the impact of product market competition on unemployment, and how this depends on labour market institutions. It uses differential changes in regulations across OECD countries to find that increased competition reduces unemployment, more so in countries with strong unions. The third chapter investigates how the effect of product market competition on innovation depends on financial institutions. Using exogenous variation in competition in manufacturing industries this chapter finds that the positive effect of competition on innovation is larger in countries with good financial institutions. The fourth chapter investigates the effect of employment protection legislation on innovation. The theoretical effect of employment protection legislation on innovation is ambiguous, and empirical evidence is thus far inconclusive. This chapter finds that within multinational enterprises overall innovation occurs more in subsidiaries located in countries with high employment protection, however radical innovation occurs more in subsidiaries located in countries with low employment protection. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/18564/&r=lab |
| By: | Almeida, R.; Carneiro, P. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate the rate of return to firm investments in human capital in the form of formal job training. We use a panel of large firms with detailed information on the duration of training, the direct costs of training, and several firm characteristics. Our estimates of the return to training are substantial (8.6%) for those providing training. Results suggest that formal job training is a good investment for these firms possibly yielding comparable returns to either investments in physical capital or investments in schooling. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16154/&r=lab |
| By: | Alesina, Alberto (Harvard University); Algan, Yann (Sciences Po, Paris); Cahuc, Pierre (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris); Giuliano, Paola (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Abstract: | Flexible labor markets require geographically mobile workers to be efficient. Otherwise, firms can take advantage of the immobility of workers and extract monopsony rents. In cultures with strong family ties, moving away from home is costly. Thus, individuals with strong family ties rationally choose regulated labor markets to avoid moving and limiting the monopsony power of firms, even though regulation generates lower employment and income. Empirically, we do find that individuals who inherit stronger family ties are less mobile, have lower wages, are less often employed and support more stringent labor market regulations. There are also positive cross-country correlations between the strength of family ties and labor market rigidities. Finally, we find positive correlations between labor market rigidities at the beginning of the twenty first century and family values prevailing before World War II, which suggests that labor market regulations have deep cultural roots. |
| Keywords: | family values, labor regulation |
| JEL: | E0 P16 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4747&r=lab |
| By: | Sharmila, N; Dhas, Albert Christopher |
| Abstract: | Women constitute almost half of the population of the world. Education for women is the best way to improve the health, nutrition and economic status of a household that constitute a micro unit of a nation economy. In this context, it can be argued that lack of woman education can be an impediment to the country’s economic development. In India, women achieve far less education that of men. As per the Census report 2001, the literacy rate of women is 54.16 per cent and that of men is 65.38 per cent. There has been a sincere effort to improve the education attainment of women by both government and voluntary organizations. The changes in the policies and infrastructural supports on primary, secondary and higher education reflect the initiatives of the Government of India towards women education. This paper examined the trends in women education, the investments on education and infrastructural supports in India. The study revealed that there had been significant progress in the performance of women education revealed from female literacy levels and its change over time. It was also observed that the gaps between rural and urban female literacy rates are narrowing down. It was observed that rural poverty acts as a push factors for women’s education rather than as an obstacle to women’s education. The significant influence of urbanization on women’s education implied that urbanization had been playing a beneficial role in the attainment of women’s education in India. At the same time, the drop-out rate had a negative effect on women’s education. It revealed that that reduction of girl’s drop-out rates is necessary for achieving women’s education. The initiatives of the government through investment and infrastructure in developing education in India were examined. With regard to facilities in schools, it had improved significantly, but a lot more need to be done. In sum, the study revealed that there have been concerted efforts to encourage girls to attend schools, which would lead to higher literacy in future. The study also revealed that there are several infrastructural barriers to women education in India. The study calls for focused approach towards increasing women centred educational infrastructure so as to reduce the women drop-out rates and to improve female literacy levels in India. |
| Keywords: | Women Development; women education; women literacy; education infrastructure; Female literacy rate; women in India; Indian women; primary education; secondary education; higher education; India |
| JEL: | I2 A2 B54 |
| Date: | 2010–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:20680&r=lab |
| By: | Davies, Rob; Thurlow, James |
| Abstract: | South Africa's high involuntary unemployment and small informal sector are attributed to an underperforming formal sector and barriers to entry in the informal sector. This paper examines the economywide linkages between the formal and informal economies while accounting for different types of informal activities. A multiregion empirically calibrated general equilibrium model is developed capturing both product and labor markets. Three policy options are considered. First, results indicate that trade liberalization reduces national employment. At the same time, it increases formal employment, hurts informal producers, and favors informal traders, who benefit from lower import prices. Past liberalization may, therefore, partly explain South Africa's small informal sector and its concentration among traders rather than producers. Second, wage subsidies on low-skilled formal workers increase national employment but hurt informal producers by heightening competition in domestic product markets. This suggests that it is insufficient to examine unemployment policies by focusing only on labor markets. Third, unconditional cash transfers stimulate demand for informally produced products, thereby raising informal employment without undermining formal producers. The transfer does, however, place a large fiscal burden on the state and is less effective at reducing national unemployment than a wage subsidy. Overall, these findings underline the importance of distinguishing between the formal and informal sector implications of socioeconomic policies. |
| Keywords: | informal economy, involuntary unemployment, formal economy, labor markets, trade liberalization, national employment, Cash transfers, wage subsidy, Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:943&r=lab |
| By: | Danzer, Alexander M. (Royal Holloway, University of London); Yaman, Firat (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Studies that investigate the effect of the regional ethnic composition on immigrant outcomes have been complicated by the self-selection of ethnic minorities into specific neighbourhoods. We analyse the impact of own-ethnic concentration on the language proficiency of immigrants by exploiting the fact that the initial placement of guest-workers after WWII was determined by labour demanding firms and the federal labour administration and hence exogenous to immigrant workers. Combining several data sets, we find a small but robust and significant negative effect of ethnic concentration on immigrants' language ability. Simulation results of a choice model in which location and learning decisions are taken simultaneously confirm the presence of the effect. Immigrants with high learning costs are inclined to move to ethnic enclaves, so that the share of German-speakers would increase only modestly even under the counterfactual scenario of a regionally equal distribution of immigrants across Germany. |
| Keywords: | enclave, ethnic concentration, language proficiency, immigrants, Instrumental variable, random utility model |
| JEL: | J61 R23 F22 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4742&r=lab |
| By: | Carneiro, P.; Lee, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the method of local instrumental variables developed by Heckman and Vytlacil [Heckman, J., Vytlacil E., 2005. Structural equations, treatment, effects and econometric policy evaluation. Econometrica 73(3), 669–738] to the estimation of not only means, but also distributions of potential outcomes. The newly developed method is illustrated by applying it to changes in college enrollment and wage inequality using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1979. Increases in college enrollment cause changes in the distribution of ability among college and high school graduates. This paper estimates a semiparametric selection model of schooling and wages to show that, for fixed skill prices, a 14% increase in college participation (analogous to the increase observed in the 1980s), reduces the college premium by 12% and increases the 90–10 percentile ratio among college graduates by 2%. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16157/&r=lab |
| By: | Fan, Elliott (Australian National University); Meng, Xin (Australian National University); Wei, Zhichao (Brown University); Zhao, Guochang (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Estimating the rate of return to a university degree has always been difficult due to the problem of omitted variable biases. Benefiting from a special feature of the University Admission system in China, which has clear cutoffs for university entry, combined with a unique data set with information on individual National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) scores, we estimate the Local Average Treatment Effects (LATE) of university education based on a Regression Discontinuity design. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use RD design to estimate the causal effect of a university education on earnings. Our results show that the rates of return to 4-year university education relative to 3-year college education are 40 and 60 per cent for the compliers in the male and female samples, respectively, which are much larger than the simple OLS estimations revealed in previous literature. Since in our sample a large proportion of individuals are compliers (45 per cent for males and 48 per cent for females), the LATEs estimated in this paper have a relatively general implication. In addition, we find that the LATEs are likely to be larger than ATEs, suggesting that the inference drawn from average treatment effects might understate the true effects of the university expansion program introduced in China in 1999 and thereafter. |
| Keywords: | rate of return to education, regression discontinuity design, China |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4749&r=lab |
| By: | Schmillen, Achim (IAB, Nürnberg); Möller, Joachim (IAB, Nürnberg) |
| Abstract: | The empirical literature on unemployment almost exclusively focuses on the duration of distinct unemployment spells. In contrast, we use a large German administrative micro data set for the time span 1975-2004 to investigate individual lifetime unemployment (defined as the total length of all unemployment spells over a 25-year period). This new perspective enables us to answer questions regarding the long-term distribution and determinants of unemployment for West German birth cohorts 1950-1954. We find that lifetime unemployment is highly unevenly distributed and employ censored quantile regressions to show that, for men, pursuing a disadvantageous occupation early in the professional career leads to a significantly higher amount of lifetime unemployment. |
| Keywords: | lifetime unemployment, censored quantile regressions, occupation-specific human capital |
| JEL: | J64 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4751&r=lab |
| By: | Guillermo Cruces (Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata y CONICET); Sebastian Galiani (Washington University in Saint Louis - United States.); Susana Kidyba (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INDEC) - Argentina) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of changes in payroll taxes on wages and employment in Argentina. The analysis, based on administrative data, focuses on the impact of a series of major changes in payroll taxes which varied across geographical areas. This setup offers two main advantages over previous studies. First, using longitudinal data, the variation in tax rates across space and time provides a plausible source of identification of their effects on employment and wages. Second, the use of legal tax rates for each area at each point in time provides a remedy for the measurement error bias raised by the use of empirical rates constructed from observed tax and wage bills. Once this bias is accounted for, the results indicate that changes in payroll tax rates are only partially shifted onto wages, and they point to the absence of any significant effect on employment. |
| Keywords: | Argentina, payroll taxes, employment, wages |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0093&r=lab |
| By: | Antonella Tutino |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that constraining people to choose consumption and labor under finite Shannon capacity produces results in line with U.S. business cycle data. My model has a simple partial equilibrium setting in which risk averse consumers keep high labor supply and low consumption profile at early stage of life to hedge against wealth fluctuations. They rationally choose to keep consumption and labor unchanged until they collect enough information. I find that at high frequency consumption appears to be more sluggish than labor supply. However, when people decide to change consumption they do so by a large amount. This combination leads to higher variance of consumption with respect to labor supply. My model also finds high persistence and strong comovement of consumption and employment and delayed response of consumption and labor with respect to wealth. Furthermore, my framework generates endogenously a wedge between marginal rate of substituition and marginal rate of transformation or wages. Such wedge is bigger and more volatile the lower information flow. These findings suggest that rational inattention offers a promising avenue to bridge the gap between theory and U.S. business cycle data. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-02&r=lab |
| By: | Dhas, Albert Christopher; Helen, Mary Jacqueline |
| Abstract: | The globalisation process, which aimed at integration of economies and global development, is basically a reflection of neo-imperialism ideas. The question addressed in this paper is: what are the social implications of the neo-imperialism (globalisation) process in India, particularly on the social security aspects of the working population? Accordingly, an attempt is made in this paper to examine changes in the social security status of the working population that have been brought about since the introduction of globalisation process in terms of employment, labour absorption and the labour market conditions in India. It is seen that the overall growth rate of the organised sector employment maintained its declining trend from the period 1977-78 to 1999-2000. The growth rate of the public sector employment declined more than the private sector employment and this trend continues up to the present. From 1997, the public sector employment grew negatively. Though there has been marginal increase in the percentage growth rate of employment in the private sector, the quality of the life of the working population may not have increased as the characteristics of these employees are similar to those in the unorganized labour with lower or no social security. In order to understand the changing dimensions of unorganized sector, the data on the growth performance and labour absorption in agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises in India from the Economic Censuses are analysed. It is also seen that the increase in employment has been much lower than that of the number of enterprises, indicating the low labour absorption capacity in both the Agricultural and the Non-Agricultural Enterprises. In addition, the number of workers per enterprise has shown a steady decline from 1980 to 1998, revealing a falling trend in labour absorption in enterprises of both sectors. The paper concluded that the trends in the labour market reveal deplorable conditions of the working population in India. This situation would affect not only the social and economic conditions of the present working population, but also the further additions to it. Therefore, it is argued that the policies towards de-linking budgetary support to the working population, reducing labour absorption in the public sector as part of the globalisation strategy and relying on the market forces to absorb labour and fix their wages, would adversely affect the employment situation in India. Hence, efforts should be initiated to improve the labour absorption capacity of the country at remunerative levels of real wages so that the problems of rise in unemployment could be solved. |
| Keywords: | Soaial Implications; Neo-imperialism; Labour market; employment; globalization; unorganized sector; labour absoption; India |
| JEL: | A1 J64 J0 |
| Date: | 2010–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:20740&r=lab |
| By: | Gabor Korosi (Institute of Economics Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Skill biased technical change arrived to Hungary with the transition to market economy. As Hungary integrated into the international economy, technical change progressed much faster in some sectors than in mature market economies. That lead to increasing skill premia, intensive rent sharing, and additional benefits for workers at innovative firms. This paper analyses wage setting at Hungarian firms after the micro-economic restructuring and stabilisation period, in the years 1998-2006, with a special regard to wage determination at innovative firms. Wage setting is characterised by intensive rent-sharing. Premium at innovative firms varies with the way of measuring it, and also changes with the sector and over time. |
| Keywords: | innovation, rent sharing, corporate wage setting |
| JEL: | J31 L10 O30 C23 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:0908&r=lab |
| By: | Cally Ardington (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town); Murray Leibbrandt (SALDRU, School of Economics, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of the Cape Area Panel study (CAPS), a longitudinal study of youth and their families in metropolitan Cape Town in order to broaden the empirical body of evidence of the causal impact of parental death on children’s schooling in South Africa in two dimensions. First, analysis of CAPS allows us to examine the extent to which results may generalize across geographically and socioeconomically distinct areas. Second, CAPS allows for an explicit exploration of whether the causal impact lessens as time since the parental death lengthens. Evidence from the CAPS is consistent with that from a large demographic surveillance site in rural KwaZulu-Natal in supporting the findings that mother’s deaths have a causal impact on children’s schooling outcomes and that there is no evidence of a causal effect of paternal loss on schooling for African children. The loss of a father has a significant negative impact on the education of coloured children but a significant amount of this impact is driven by socioeconomic status. We exploit the longitudinal data to investigate the extent to which orphan disadvantage precedes parental death and whether orphans begin to recover in the period following a parent’s death or whether they continue to fall behind. We find no evidence of orphan recovery in the period following their parent’s death and results suggest that negative impacts increase with the time since the parent died. The longer-run impact of parental death in childhood is also evident in an analysis of the completion of secondary schooling by early adulthood. These results suggest that parental death will reduce the ultimate human capital attainment of the child. |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:42&r=lab |
| By: | Vimal Ranchhod |
| Abstract: | How do poor households respond to the cessation of cash transfers in developing countries? South Africa's generous social pension system results in most of the poor elderly being the primary 'breadwinner' in the household. I estimate the magnitude of the changes in household composition and labour force activity amongst the resident members of the household, that correlate with a pensioner leaving the household. I use nationally representative matched panel data from several waves of the South African Labour Force Surveys. Compositional changes include the out-migration of school-aged children, and in-migration of middle aged females and older adults of either gender. More than 1 in 4 losing households get an additional older adult. For people who maintain their residency status across waves, I nd large and statistically signi cant increases in employment rates for middle aged females and males (9.3 and 8.1 percentage points in each case), as well as for older adult females and males (10.3 percentage points in each case). For middle aged adults, this is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in labour supply. |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:35&r=lab |
| By: | Rodney Andrews; Stephen DesJardins; Vimal Ranchhod |
| Abstract: | To the surprise of the residents of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Kalamazoo Promise was announced on November 10, 2005. Fully funded by anonymous donors, the Kalamazoo Promise offers to pay both the tuition and mandatory fees of graduates of Kalamazoo public high schools at any public college or university located in Michigan. To be eligible for the scholarship program students must graduate from a Kalamazoo public high school, reside in the school district, and have been enrolled in the Kalamazoo Public School (KPS) district for four years or more. Enrollment and residency must be continuous to be eligible for the nancial support. Students must gain admission to and enroll in a public State of Michigan community college, or four-year college or university. They must make regular progress toward a degree or certi cation and maintain a 2.0 grade point average at their postsecondary institution. Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester, and if their cumulative grade point average drops below 2.0, they lose the funding, but it may be reinstated if the student is able to bring her grade point average up to at least a 2.0. |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:34&r=lab |
| By: | Almeida, R.; Carneiro, P. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how the enforcement of labor regulation affects firm size and other firm characteristics in Brazil. We explore firm level data on employment, capital, and output, city level data on economic characteristics and new administrative data measuring enforcement of regulation at the city level. Since enforcement may be endogenous, we instrument this variable with the distance between the city where the firm is located and surrounding enforcement offices, while controlling for a rich set of city characteristics (such as past levels of informality in the city). We present suggestive evidence of the validity of this instrument. We find that stricter enforcement of labor regulation constrains firm size, and leads to higher unemployment. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16155/&r=lab |
| By: | Tia L. Zuze; Murray Leibbrandt (SALDRU, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | It is widely agreed that studying the relationship between school quality and academic achievement will benefit public investment in education. This is particularly true in Africa where, the 1990 World Conference on ‘Education for All’ led to renewed commitments to quality basic education. At this time, Uganda implemented a set of public reforms that were designed to increase educational opportunities in poor communities. This paper uses data from the second wave of a cross-national survey of schools in Southern and Eastern Africa to assess some dimensions of these Ugandan reforms. Hierarchical linear models are estimated to investigate which schools most effectively ensure a meaningful educational experience for children who face economic and social hardships. Contrary to earlier studies in developing countries, the positive relationship between socioeconomic status and student performance is striking and significant. In line with the school effectiveness theory, resource availability proves to be consistently related to educational quality and its equitable distribution in Uganda. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:37&r=lab |
| By: | Rodney Andrews; Vimal Ranchhod; Vijay Sathy |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of Texas's Top Ten Percent Rule - which grants automatic to any public college in Texas for Texas high school graduates who graduate in the top decile - and subsequent targeted recruitment programs initiated by Texas's flagship universities. Using data on SAT test takers in Texas from 1996-2004, we find that the Top Ten Percent rule affects the set of colleges that students consider, and the targeted recruitment programs are able to attract the attention of students from poor high schools that were not traditional sources of students for the flagships in Texas. |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:33&r=lab |
| By: | Usamah Al-farhan |
| Abstract: | In this article, I analyze the changes in wage inequality in the eastern region, western region and reunified Germany a decade after reunification. For that purpose, I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the period 1999 – 2006, and implement the decomposition methodologies of Fields (2003) and Yun (2006). I find that during the sub-period 1999-2002 each of the characteristics effect, coefficient effect and residual<br /> effect contributed to the increasing levels of wage inequality in Germany. On the other hand, the relative stability in wage inequality during the sub-period 2002-2006 was caused by the fact that the characteristics effect and the residual effect influenced wage inequality negatively, whereas the coefficient effect maintained a positive influence in both the western region, eastern region and in reunified Germany alike. Hence, I conclude that after 1999, changes in wage inequality in Germany can be explained by both; changes in workers characteristics and changes in the wage structure, and not by changes in the wage structure alone, as the case has been during the transition process in the first decade after reunification |
| Keywords: | Wages, Inequality, Decomposition, Transition, Characteristics effect, Coefficient effect, Residual effect, Selection bias, Maximum Likelihood |
| JEL: | D30 J31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp269&r=lab |
| By: | Serra, Danila (Florida State University); Serneels, Pieter (University of East Anglia); Barr, Abigail (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Economists have traditionally assumed that individual behavior is motivated exclusively by extrinsic incentives. Social psychologists, in contrast, stress that intrinsic motivations are also important. In recent work, economic theorists have started to build psychological factors, like intrinsic motivations, into their models. Besley and Ghatak (2005) propose that individuals are differently motivated in that they have different "missions," and their self-selection into sectors or organizations with matching missions enhances organizational efficiency. We test Besley and Ghatak's model using data from a unique cohort study. We generate two proxies for intrinsic motivations: a survey-based measure of the health professionals’ philanthropic motivations and an experimental measure of their pro-social motivations. We find that both proxies predict health professionals' decision to work in the non-profit sector. We also find that philanthropic health workers employed in the non-profit sector earn lower wages than their colleagues. |
| Keywords: | sector choice, intrinsic motivation, non-profit |
| JEL: | C93 I11 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4746&r=lab |
| By: | Amélie Goossens (DULBEA, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.); Pierre-Guillaume Méon (Centre Emile Bernheim and DULBEA, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.) |
| Abstract: | Using a survey of a large group of first and final-year students of different disciplines, to study their belief in the existence of mutual benefits of voluntary transactions, we observe significant differences between economics and business students on the one hand, and students of other disciplines on the other hand. Those differences increase over time, due to economics students increasingly supporting that belief, and other students increasingly disagreeing with it. Beliefs of students specializing in the same topic also become more homogeneous over time. We therefore report evidence of both a selection and a learning effect of studying different disciplines. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, learning, self-selection, beliefs, fairness of the market. |
| JEL: | A13 A20 B40 D01 D63 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:10-012&r=lab |
| By: | Kaas, Leo (University of Konstanz); Manger, Christian (University of Konstanz) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies ethnic discrimination in Germany's labour market with a correspondence test. To each of 528 advertisements for student internships we send two similar applications, one with a Turkish-sounding and one with a German-sounding name. A German name raises the average probability of a callback by about 14 percent. Differential treatment is particularly strong and significant at smaller firms at which the applicant with the German name receives 24 percent more callbacks. Discrimination disappears when we restrict our sample to applications including reference letters which contain favourable information about the candidate’s personality. We interpret this finding as evidence for statistical discrimination. |
| Keywords: | correspondence test, hiring discrimination, ethnic discrimination |
| JEL: | C93 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4741&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Ramskogler (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics & B.A.) |
| Abstract: | Before the introduction of the Euro many observers had expected an increase of inflationary pressures due to a de-coordination-shock to national wage bargaining. However, if anything systematically happened after the introduction of the Euro wage restraint increased (Posen and Gould 2006). A possible explanation for this finding is that a system of pattern bargaining has emerged with Germany figuring as a “centre of gravity” for European wage bargains (Traxler et al. 2008, Traxler and Brandl 2009). This paper studies wage and nominal unit labour cost spill-overs for the EMU for a panel over 13 manufacturing sectors from 1992-2005 and quantifies the effects of different countries. It turns out that there are strong interdependencies across EMU-members with regard to nominal wage growth. Indeed, a leading role accrues to Germany whose wage developments are twice as influential as those of the next important countries. Remarkably, the strong interdependence of wage growth is not reflected with regard to unit labour costs. Here, only the development in a core group composed of Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands, is bound to each other. The development of nominal unit labour costs in other countries is largely independent from each other and especially from this core group. |
| JEL: | L16 J31 J52 F42 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp130&r=lab |
| By: | Venkat Venkatasubramanian |
| Abstract: | The high pay packages of U.S. CEOs have raised serious concerns about what would constitute a fair pay. |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1002.2269&r=lab |
| By: | Tomasz Gluszynski; Justin Bayard |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, Canada has experienced a substantial increase in the number of individuals participating in post-secondary education (PSE). This trend emphasizes the importance of understanding the pathways leading to PSE enrolment and the competencies that are associated with them. This chapter describes a range of possible education and work outcomes at the age of 21, and the pathways that led to them. It describes the wealth of information that is available in the combination of the PISA and YITS databases. This overview provides a useful context in which to consider the complexity and importance of transitioning to postsecondary education and work.<BR>Au cours des dix dernières années, le Canada a vu augmenter de façon substantielle le nombre de ses étudiants dans l’enseignement post-secondaire. Cette tendance montre bien l’importance de la compréhension des parcours menant à l’inscription dans l’enseignement post-secondaire et des compétences qui y sont associées. Le présent chapitre passe en revue une gamme de résultats possibles dans les études et sur le marché du travail à l’âge de 21 ans, ainsi que les parcours qui y ont mené. Il décrit l’abondance des informations disponibles via la mise en commun des bases de données PISA et EJET. Cette vue d’ensemble fournit un contexte utile pour examiner la complexité et l’importance des transitions vers l’enseignement post-secondaire et le travail. |
| Date: | 2010–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:31-en&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Wittenberg (School of Economics, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the balance between work (including home production), leisure and personal care (chiefly sleep) within South African households. We use the South African time use survey which enables us to obtain a better measure of the division of total labour (paid and unpaid) within South African households than previous studies have been able to. Furthermore we construct a measure of "genetic" relatedness between the respondent and other members of the household. We find that women that are more closely related to other household members do more work and enjoy less leisure than more peripheral individuals. Single men, by contrast, seem to do less work and enjoy more leisure if they are more closely related to other household members. Our findings are not compatible with the unitary model of the household. They suggest that men extract extra leisure because of the anticipated altruism shown by women. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:28&r=lab |
| By: | Anna McCord; Kate Wilkinson |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the socio-economic identity of Public Works Programme (PWP) participants in two programmes in South Africa, in order to establish the incidence of PWP participation, a question which is central to assessing the social protection impact of PWPs, but which is frequently omitted from programme analysis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper focuses on an analysis of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of PWP participants. As in many PWPs, no baseline data on participants in these programme were collected. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain a priori who the beneficiaries of the programmes are, a situation which fundamentally challenges any attempt to or to assess incidence or the social protection impact of such an intervention. The research interrogates the assumption that the 'less eligibility criteria' central to the design of PWPs (the work requirement and low wages) will lead to participation of the poorest, thereby reducing the likelihood of inclusion errors, attempting first to ascertain who the participants in the programmes are. The question is explored using survey data gathered in 2003 on two case study PWPs implemented simultaneously in South Africa, which adopt different design and targeting approaches. Programme incidence is then considered in relationship to targeting and programme objectives, and the conclusion drawn that in order for PWPs to reach the poorest in a given community, reliance on self targeting through the work requirement and a low wage is not adequate, and explicit targeting measures are needed during participant selection. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:31&r=lab |
| By: | Proto, Eugenio (University of Warwick); Sgroi, Daniel (University of Warwick); Oswald, Andrew J. (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We live in a high-divorce age. It is now common for university faculty to have students who are touched by a recent divorce. It is likely that parents themselves worry about effects on their children. Yet there has been almost no formal research into the important issue of how recent parental-divorce affects students at university. This paper designs such a study. In it, to avoid 'priming', we measure students' happiness with life before we inquire into their family background. We also measure student achievement in a randomized-trial productivity task. Our results seem both of scientific interest and of potential interest to parents. This study finds no evidence that students suffer after parental divorce |
| Keywords: | labor productivity, divorce, well-being, happiness, experimental economics |
| JEL: | J24 C91 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4755&r=lab |
| By: | Bernard Philippe; Stéphane Mussard |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the analytical links between the rate of unemployment, monetary creation and how individuals share the value added in an economy with three types of agents : capital owners, managers and employees. This relationship relies on the fact that the rate of unemployment depends on many macroeconomic characteristics such as : creation of money, external balance of goods and services and mark-up pricing. The latter being decomposed into the expected margin rate and the growth rate of the unitary wage cost that characterize the primary value-added sharing. |
| Keywords: | Mark-up pricing, Unemployment rate, Value added |
| JEL: | E25 E24 C39 |
| Date: | 2010–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:10-05&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Herd; Hu-Wei Hu; Vincent Koen |
| Abstract: | China’s population is set to age fast, owing to low fertility and rising life expectancy. With ongoing migration of the younger cohorts to urban areas the increase in the old-age dependency ratio will be even more pronounced in rural than in urban areas. Very different pension arrangements exist across the country, with diverse and segmented systems in urban areas, belated retirement and low replacement ratios in rural areas, and special rules governing public sector pensions. Labour mobility is impeded by some of features of the current pension system, not least limited benefit portability. Various reforms have been initiated or proposed over the past decade. Some add to the existing fragmentation, while others, notably those providing for greater geographical pooling, have only partly been implemented. Also, under current rules, effective replacement rates are fairly low and projected to decline further, both for rural and urban residents, which may be difficult to sustain with the elderly living less and less with their descendants. Furthermore, as the countryside ages, much of the additional burden will be shouldered by local governments with insufficient resources. These challenges can be addressed by gradually consolidating the various regimes, raising retirement ages and shifting more of the cost of rural pensions to the central government. Even if different schemes for different categories of workers were to persist, each should be unified over time, first provincially and then nationally, phasing out the urban-rural distinction.<P>Offrir davantage de sécurité aux personnes âgées en Chine<BR>La population de la Chine devrait vieillir rapidement, en raison d’une faible fécondité et de l’allongement de l’espérance de vie. Dans un contexte de migration des cohortes plus jeunes vers les agglomérations, la hausse du taux de dépendance économique des personnes âgées sera encore plus soutenue en milieu rural que dans les zones urbaines. Des mécanismes de retraite très variés co-existent: systèmes divers et segmentés en ville, retraite tardive et faibles taux de remplacement dans les campagnes, et règles spécifiques régissant les retraites du secteur public. La mobilité de la main d’oeuvre est freinée par certains aspects du système de retraite actuel, notamment une portabilité restreinte des prestations. Des réformes ont été initiées ou proposées au cours de la décennie écoulée. Certaines accentuent la fragmentation existante, alors que d’autres, en particulier celles visant à intensifier le regroupement géographique, n’ont été que partiellement mises en oeuvre. De plus, d’après les règles en vigueur, les taux de remplacement effectifs sont assez bas et devraient poursuivre leur repli, pour les ruraux comme pour les citadins, ce qui pourrait entraîner une situation difficilement tenable puisque les plus âgés vivent de moins en moins souvent avec leurs descendants. De surcroît, en raison du vieillissement de la population rurale, une grande partie du surcoût devra être supporté par des collectivités locales dotées de ressources insuffisantes. Il est possible de remédier à ces difficultés en fusionnant progressivement les différents régimes, en relevant l’âge de la retraite et en reportant une plus grande fraction du coût des retraites en milieu rural sur le gouvernement central. Même si différents régimes devaient subsister pour différentes catégories de travailleurs, il faudra les fusionner au fil du temps, tout d’abord à l’échelon provincial, puis sur le plan national, en supprimant peu à peu la distinction entre les villes et les campagnes. |
| Keywords: | ageing, labour mobility, pension system, replacement ratios, demographic projections, China, poverty, benefit portability, retirement age, vieillissement, taux de remplacement, système de retraite, pauvreté, Chine, projections démographiques, âge du départ en retraite, mobilité de la main d’oeuvre |
| JEL: | H55 J11 J13 J14 J32 J61 N35 O15 O53 P21 P25 P26 P36 |
| Date: | 2010–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:750-en&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Schneider (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | We present an explorative analysis from qualitative and quantitative data of fourteen European economics departments for the years 2001 to 2003 and investigate how one component of a successful PhD education, which is socializing PhD students into the academic community, should be designed in order to support intercultural collaboration among PhD students. We employ Multi-Value Qualitative Comparative Analysis (MVQCA) to analyze the data. Our results reveal unique patterns of socializing strategies present in economics departments with either high or low intercultural collaboration among PhD students. It turns out that high intercultural collaboration is characterized by two configurations of different socializing strategies. In the first configuration we find that a “high number of foreign PhD students” in a department sufficiently explains high intercultural collaboration as it is realized in American research universities. In the second configuration we find that a combination of “different backgrounds in academic disciplines” among PhD students with “active support for research visits” sufficiently explains high intercultural collaboration. Low intercultural collaboration is characterized by three single strategies: “Financing attendance at academic conferences or events about once per year”, “no active support for research visits” and a “small number of foreign PhD students”. Each condition is sufficient to explain the outcome. The results for high intercultural collaboration are not affected by any of five resource conditions we added as controls. Low intercultural collaboration though was partly co-explained by low amounts of extra time among faculty and low financial resources of the department. The results indicate that high intercultural collaboration is not only supported by a socializing strategy typical for American research universities but can also be achieved by different socializing strategies. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:wpaper:201002&r=lab |
| By: | Ester Faia; Wolfgang Lechthaler; Christian Merkl |
| Abstract: | Several contributions have recently assessed the size of fiscal multipliers both in RBC models and New Keynesian models. None of the studies considers a model with frictional labour markets which is a crucial element, particularly at times in which much of the fiscal stimulus has been directed toward labour market measures. We use an open economy model (more specifically a currency area calibrated on the EMU) with labour market frictions in the form of labour turnover costs and workers’ heterogeneity to measure fiscal multipliers. We compute short and long run multipliers and open economy spillovers for five types of fiscal packages: pure demand stimuli and consumption tax cuts return very small multipliers; income tax cut and hiring subsidies deliver larger multipliers as they reduce distortions in sclerotic labour markets; short-time work (German "Kurzarbeit") returns negative short-run multipliers, but stabilises employment. Our model highlights a novel dimension through which multipliers operate, namely the labour demand stimulus which occurs in a model with non-walrasian labour markets |
| Keywords: | Fiscal multipliers, fiscal packages, labour market frictions |
| JEL: | E62 H30 J20 H20 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1592&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Rogan; Likani Lebani; Nompumelelo Nzimande |
| Abstract: | In a globalising world, the pace of human mobility has increased alongside flows of capital and goods. Regional integration and trade liberalisation have accompanied these trends and have, arguably, received more attention from both academic researchers and policymakers. Human movement, however, cannot be de-linked from other social and economic events and it is becoming critical to undertake research that identifies the links between human migration and these events. |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:30&r=lab |
| By: | Muriel, A.; Sibieta, L. |
| Abstract: | The current recession is the first that the UK has experienced since the early 1990s. Much has changed since then, and society's collective memory of who fared worst during previous recessions seems likely to have faded. Many workers in their 20s or early 30s have not experienced a recession during their working lives - including both authors of this report, one of whom had just started secondary school at the end of the last recession and the other of whom had just started junior school. This Briefing Note thus aims to document the course of average living standards, and those of particular subgroups in society, during the previous three UK recessions. It will also show what happened to measures of poverty and inequality during these periods. |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/18294/&r=lab |
| By: | Rostom, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper predicts the effect of childcare prices and quality on choice of childcare and work status in England using the Millenium Cohort Study survey. There are five different types of childcare: maternal care, paternal care, relative/friend care, childminder or daycare. There are three types of work status: full-time, part-time, stay-at-home. Prices of maternal and paternal care are taken as the foregone wage. Furthermore, prices of relative, childminder and daycare are estimated with the assumption that the observed childcare choice selection are a result of a self- selection process. Prices are therefore estimated based on Lee's (1983) method for a multinomial response model with self-selection. Quality of formal care is proxied for using education by type of care and the score received from a childcare quality survey which was conducted nationally. Price results - for the most part - suggest that as prices for a given type of care rises, demand for other types of care increases (relative to its own price). Results are also positive for daycare and childminder quality: as quality increases, own-price elasticity results are positive and elastic. The exception is part-time daycares, where as quality rises, demand for all forms of part-time care decrease (even after controlling for price and quality interactions). Nevertheless, the relative decrease in part-time daycare demand is much smaller than for other forms of part-time care. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/17572/&r=lab |
| By: | Andras Simonovits (Institute of Economics - Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We analyze underreported earnings and age-specific income redistribution in postsocialist economies. Pensions, other transfers and public expenditures are financed from contributions and wage taxes, respectively. We derive the reported earnings and savings from individual utility maximization, when workers overly discount the future, obtain partial satisfaction from reporting earnings, cannot be excluded from the use of public services. The government maximizes a utilitarian social welfare function, corrected for discounting and taking into account the utility of public services. An optimal proportional pension system - complemented by appropriate means-testing - provides higher welfare than any system containing a significant flat component. |
| Keywords: | reporting earnings, proportional (contributional) pension, flat pension, progressive wage tax, redistribution |
| JEL: | H55 D91 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:0927&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Schneider; Dieter Sadowski (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | In many European countries efforts are undertaken to improve doctoral education. In the context of new public governance in the Higher Education sector, less state, more competition, less academic self-governance, more internal hierarchy and more influence by external stakeholders under the common roof of New Public Management (NPM) are considered most promising for successful PhD education. Therefore according to a steering model of American research universities many initiatives are undertaken to introduce more managerial elements in European university departments. Based on an explorative analysis of qualitative and quantitative data of 26 continental European, English and American economics departments, we investigate the steering effects of the five above mentioned governance dimensions in the years 2001 to 2002 on subsequent placement success of PhD graduates. To control the impact of resources on PhD education, next to governance regimes we added four different resource conditions to the analysis: financial resources, publication record of the department, total number of professors in a department and annual number of PhD graduates in a department, Using fuzzy-set QCA to analyze the data, our results deliver strong support for local best ways of steering configurations and no superiority of one system over the other. Introducing market elements though seems to be important in any governance system but only in combination with different co-conditions. In respect to our control conditions only financial resources contribute considerably to the understanding of steering PhD education. Our results strengthen the strong impact of competition as an effective governance instrument and take into account the relevance of financial resources. |
| Keywords: | New Public Governance, competition, higher education, PhD education, fsQCA |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:wpaper:201001&r=lab |
| By: | Bologa , Lia |
| Abstract: | Human violence is one of actual problems of contemporary world. Almost every day, we are presented a series of forms of violence, from the easiest to the most difficult ones. The violence in school organizations is a common form, so we can not speak about it as a separate reality of life. This fact knows a spectacular growth in the last period, it contains a multiple determination (familiar, social, personal and school) and its forms of manifestation are mutually conditioned and they have a specified dynamics. Most of the time, the violence in schools is not fatal but it may be the cause of serious physical and pshycal prejudicies of the abused person. |
| Keywords: | violence; school organization; school violence prevention. |
| JEL: | I2 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:20689&r=lab |
| By: | Carlin, W.J.; Soskice, D. |
| Abstract: | Since unification, the debate about Germany's poor economic performance has focused on supply-side weaknesses, and the associated reform agenda sought to make low-skill labour markets more flexible. We question this diagnosis using three lines of argument. First, effective restructuring of the supply side in the core advanced industries was carried out by the private sector using institutions of the coordinated economy, including unions, works councils and blockholder owners. Second, the implementation of orthodox labour market and welfare state reforms created a flexible labour market at the lower end. Third, low growth and high unemployment are largely accounted for by the persistent weakness of domestic aggregate demand, rather than by the failure to reform the supply side. Strong growth in recent years reflects the successful restructuring of the core economy. To explain these developments, we identify the external pressures on companies in the context of increased global competition, the continuing value of the institutions of the coordinated market economy to the private sector and the constraints imposed on the use of stabilizing macroeconomic policy by these institutions. We also suggest how changes in political coalitions allowed orthodox labour market reforms to be implemented in a consensus political system. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16061/&r=lab |
| By: | Laudeline Auriol; Bernard Felix; Martin Schaaper |
| Abstract: | Human resources are recognised as being key to the creation, commercialisation and diffusion of innovation. Among them, doctorate holders are not only the most qualified in terms of educational attainment, but also those who are specifically trained to conduct research. In 2004, the OECD launched a collaborative project with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Eurostat aimed at developing internationally comparable indicators on the labour market, career path and mobility of doctorate holders. This Working Paper presents the second edition of the technical guidelines used in the framework of the Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH) project. The technical guidelines are composed of: i) the methodological guidelines; ii) a core model questionnaire and instruction manual; and iii) the output tables used for reporting data at the international level and related definitions. This second edition builds on the experience resulting from the first large scale data collection, which was based on the first edition of the technical guidelines released in 2007. In addition to a number of basic adjustments, it proposes new ways to measure post-doctoral positions and types of mobility, including international mobility. The current draft is the result of discussions among the members of the CDH expert group. Its aim is to provide guidance to countries that wish to implement the project at national level.<P>Suivi des carrières et de la mobilité des titulaires de doctorats : proposition de directives, questionnaire modèle et indicateurs – deuxième édition – le projet OCDE / Institut statistique de l’UNESCO / EUROSTAT sur les carrières des titulaires de doctorats<BR>Les ressources humaines ont un rôle déterminant pour la création, la commercialisation et la diffusion d’innovations. Parmi cette population, les titulaires de doctorat ne sont pas seulement ceux les plus qualifiés en terme de niveau d’éducation, mais aussi ceux qui ont été spécifiquement formés à la recherche. En 2004, l’OCDE a lancé un projet en collaboration avec l’Institut statistique de l’UNESCO et Eurostat ayant pour objectif de développer des indicateurs sur le marché du travail, les carrières et la mobilité des titulaires de doctorat comparables au plan international. Ce document de travail présente la seconde édition des lignes directrices utilisées dans le cadre du projet sur les Carrières des Titulaires de Doctorat (CTD). Les lignes directrices se composent : i) des directives méthodologiques ; ii) d’un questionnaire modèle et manuel d’instruction ; et iii) des tableaux de sortie utilisés pour recueillir les données au niveau international et des définitions qui y sont associées. Cette seconde édition résulte de l’expérience acquise au cours de la première collecte de données de grande échelle, laquelle était fondée sur la première édition des lignes directrices datant de 2007. En complément d’un cerain nombre d’ajustements de base, elles proposent de nouvelles pistes de mesure des emplois « postdocs » et des types de mobilité. Le document dans sa présente forme est le résultat des discussions menées par le groupe des experts CDT. Il est destiné à guider les pays qui souhaitent implanter le projet au niveau national. |
| Date: | 2010–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2010/1-en&r=lab |
| By: | Griffith, R.; Neely, A. |
| Abstract: | This article exploits a quasi‐experimental setting to estimate the impact that a commonly used performance‐related pay scheme had on branch performance in a large distribution firm. The scheme, which is based on the Balanced Scorecard, was implemented in all branches in one division but not in another. Branches from the second division are used as a control group. Our results suggest that the Balanced Scorecard had some impact but that it varied with branch characteristics, and, in particular, branches with more experienced managers were better able to respond to the new incentives. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/16498/&r=lab |
| By: | Hedesström, Martin (Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | Interviews with Swedish investment professionals show that incentivising stock portfolio managers on the basis of short term returns performance is a widespread practice across several types of fund management. Among retail funds, state pension funds, and hedge funds, bonuses are predominantly based on one-year intervals. Longer-term bonus components, if offered, are generally of insignificant size. Small fund companies may offer longer-term bonuses, but then as incentive not only to produce good results but also – if results are good – to stay at the company for a longer time. Pension insurance companies also apply longer-term bonuses, possibly because they do not risk money being withdrawn by investors due to poor performance. Experimental studies are needed in order to disentangle the effects of longer term bonuses on sustainable investments. |
| Keywords: | incentive system; compensation scheme; bonus; stock portfolio manager; shorttermism |
| Date: | 2009–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:sicgwp:2010_002&r=lab |
| By: | Nicola Branson |
| Abstract: | In the absence of South African longitudinal data for the ten years post apartheid, national cross-sectional household survey data is frequently used to analyse change over time. When these data are stacked side-by-side however, they reveal inconsistencies both in trends across time and between the household and person level data. These inconsistencies can introduce biases into research which analyse change. This study calculates a new set of person and household weights for the October Household Surveys between 1995 and 1999 and the Labour Force Surveys between 2000 and 2004. A cross entropy estimation approach is used. This approach is favoured because the calculated weights are similar to the initial sample weights (and hence retain the survey design benefits) while simultaneously being consistent with aggregate auxiliary data. A consistent series of aggregates from the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) model and the 1996 and 2001 South African Census data are used as benchmarks. The new weights result in consistent demographic and geographic trends over time and greater consistency between person and household level data. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:38&r=lab |
| By: | Simrit Kaur; Vani S. Kulkarni; Raghav Gaiha; Manoj K. Pandey |
| Abstract: | Employment elasticity with respect to agriculture value added in South Asia has weakened in recent years. While crop diversification has grown and value added per hectare also grew, employment growth was sluggish. However, the linkages between farm and non-farm employment remain strong. Drawing upon the 50th and 61st rounds of the National Sample Surveys (NSS) for India in 1993 and 2004, we first review the changes in participation rates in farm and non-farm activities by gender, age, education and caste affiliations. This is followed by an econometric analysis of contribution of farm and non-farm employment towards welfare in terms of per capita expenditure. The focus is on household characteristics (size, composition, education, land holding), and community characteristics (access to roads, power and financial services). Using a measure of normalised rainfall, we assess how rainfall shocks influence welfare in farm and non-farm activities. The fact that welfare of selfemployed in non-farm activities became more sensitive to rainfall shocks in 2004, relative to 1993, suggests stronger linkages between farm and non-farm activities. Also, the welfare of self-employed in agriculture became more sensitive to rainfall shocks in 2004, presumably due to expansion of agriculture into arid and semi-arid areas. Finally, and not so surprising is the greater sensitiveness of welfare of agricultural labour households to rainfall shocks. So while education and better infrastructure will help enhance welfare in farm and non-farm activities, the policy concern for resilience against rainfall shocks is reinforced. |
| Keywords: | Rainfall Shocks, Agriculture, Non-Agriculture, Employment, Income, Consumption, Infrastructure, Education, South Asia, India |
| JEL: | H53 I32 Q15 R23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:asarcc:2010-05&r=lab |
| By: | Bygren, Magnus (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | Using a large sample of employees-within-workplaces, the author investigates the relative role of random and systematic sorting for ethnic segregation across workplaces. If employees, in a counterfactual world, were randomly allocated to workplaces, the level of ethnic segregation across workplaces would just be halved. The remainder of segregation - systematic segregation - is upheld because employees that are recruited to workplaces tend to be similar to those already employed there, not because underrepresented groups within workplaces are systematically screened out of them. This homosocial inflow of employees appears largely to be sustained by employers’ tendency to select new employees from a pool of workplaces where its employees have been employed previously. |
| Keywords: | workplaces; segregation; ethnicity; simulation |
| JEL: | C15 J10 J20 |
| Date: | 2010–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2010_002&r=lab |
| By: | Christophe Kolodziejczyk (AKF, Danish Institute of Governmental Research); Søren Leth-Petersen (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | There are good theoretical reasons why transfers from parents are likely to be important around the time of the first home purchase. Transactions costs associated with trading houses make people with increasing income paths prefer to buy a house that is more expensive than what matches their current income. This together with a down-payment constraint make some first-time house owners borrow to the limit and run down liquid assets at purchase thereby making them vulnerable to adverse income shocks. Intergenerational transfers can alleviate these constraints. Moreover, previous papers have suggested that transfers from parents to children are significant exactly around the time where children buy their first home. Using a panel data set issued from Danish administrative registers with information about wealth of a sample of first-time homeowners and their parents, we document that child and parent resources, house value as well as financial resources are correlated. We then go on to test if there are direct parental transfers targeted to the purchase of the house, and in case of an unemployment spell during the years after the purchase where children typically hold little liquid assets. We also test whether children consider parental wealth as part of their own precautionary savings. We do not find strong evidence of any of these hypotheses. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transfers; home purchase; saving; empirical analysis |
| JEL: | D91 E21 R29 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuieca:2010_01&r=lab |
| By: | Boehmke, Frederick J. (University of Iowa); Meissner, Christopher M. (University of California, Davis and NBER) |
| Abstract: | We extend existing estimators for duration data that suffer from non-random sample selection to allow for time-varying covariates. Rather than a continuous-time duration model, we propose a discrete-time alternative that models the effects of sample selection at the time of selection across all subsequent years of the resulting spell. Properties of the estimator are compared to those of a naive discrete duration model through Monte Carlo analysis and indicate that our estimator outperforms the naive model when selection is non-trivial. We then apply this estimator to the question of the duration of monetary regimes and find evidence that ignoring selection into pegs leads to faulty inferences. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ucdeco:09-22&r=lab |