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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Faridi, Muhammad Zahir; Chaudhry, Imran Sharif; Anwar, Mumtaz |
| Abstract: | The analysis of labour market participation is useful for formulating employment and human resource development policies. Females form almost more than half of the total population in Pakistan play a very important role in the country. The present study endeavors to estimate the various factors which affect the women work participation. The study is based on the cross-section data collected through field survey. The logistic regression technique is employed to estimate the determinants of female labour force participation. Educational attainment levels turn out to be very significant determinant. Female’s labour force participation rises with increasing level of education. Presence of children in early age groups reduces the female labour force participation. The results of the study conclude that female education is necessary for better employment opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Female labor force participation; Female education; Household Income; Family Dependents; Marital Status; Children; Logit Model; Pakistan |
| JEL: | C23 J82 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22831&r=lab |
| By: | Karasiotou, Pavlina |
| Abstract: | This thesis aims at exploring the ties between education and the labour market. It is a micro-analysis of the effects of education on individual labour market outcomes and vice versa, from adolescence till retirement, using both theoretical and empirical tools. The first chapter is a critical discussion of the relevant literature and an introduction to the rest of the chapters. We discuss the special features of the Belgian education system and labour market and explain why we chose Belgium as the country of interest. Finally, we give a brief outline of the methodological tools we are using. The second chapter discusses how family income and parental work status influence children’s secondary school track choices, which is a significant determinant of future school attendance and labour market outcomes. Our results suggest that income has no significant effect on track choices after we control for (observed and unobserved) family characteristics. This conclusion is in line with the relevant literature. On the other hand, parental work status affects track choices. An unemployed father significantly increases the probability that his child will choose a less promising school track. The third chapter decomposes the effect of schooling on earnings into three separate effects: on wages, unemployment and labour supply. We argue that the true effect of schooling on earnings is a composition of higher wages, less unemployment and increased labour supply. This contrasts the mincerian approach that schooling mainly results to increased wages. At the same time we show that different school tracks imply different gains from education; hence not only years in education but also the type of education course matters. Finally we find complementarities between general and vocational school qualifications. In the fourth chapter we develop a theoretical model of lifetime human capital and earnings with endogenous retirement. The model is then adjusted to different retirement schemes, and the initial findings change accordingly. The main conclusion is that, in most cases high skilled workers retire later. In our model, this is not a consequence of later labour market entrance, but is a result of higher lifetime earnings and higher opportunity cost of retirement for the high skilled. Different schemes change retirement incentives for the high skilled. At the extreme, a retirement scheme that fully compensates workers for past income could drive high skilled workers earlier outside the labour market. In principle however, retirement implies a higher income loss for the high skilled, therefore they choose a longer working career. |
| Abstract: | Le sujet de cette thèse consiste en l'étude des liens existants entre l'éducation et le marché du travail. Cette analyse microéconomique étudie les effets de l'éducation sur les performances individuelles sur le marché du travail, et vice versa, et ce à partir de l'adolescence jusqu'à l'âge de la retraite. Des outils aussi bien empiriques que théoriques ont été employés en vue de mener à bien nos objectifs. Le premier chapitre s'ouvre sur une présentation critique de la littérature se rapportant au sujet et offre une introduction aux autres chapitres. Nous y présentons les spécificités du système éducatif belge ainsi que de son marché du travail. Y sont également explicitées les raisons qui nous ont poussé à choisir la Belgique comme objet d'étude. Le premier chapitre se clôt sur une présentation des outils méthodologiques employés dans les chapitres ultérieurs. Le second chapitre examine l'influence des revenus familiaux et du statut professionnel des parents sur le choix d'orientation scolaire de l'étudiant en secondaires. L’orientation scolaire apparaisse comme étant un déterminant significatif de l'assiduité de l'étudiant aux cours ainsi que sur ses performances futures sur le marché du travail. Nos résultats montrent que le niveau de revenu n'a pas d'impact significatif sur les choix d'orientation de l'étudiant une fois que l'on contrôle pour les caractéristiques familiales (observées ou non). Nos conclusions sont en parfaite adéquation avec les résultats obtenus dans la littérature sur le sujet. Par contre, il s'avère que le choix d'orientation se voit influencé par le statut professionnel des parents. Un père sans emploi voit une augmentation significative de la probabilité que son enfant s'oriente plutôt vers des études moins ambitieuses. Le troisième chapitre présente une décomposition des effets de la scolarité sur les revenus du travail en trois éléments distincts : sur les salaires, le chômage et l'offre de travail. Nous soutenons que l'effet réel de la scolarité sur les revenus se marque principalement sur une hausse du niveau salarial, une diminution du chômage et une meilleure offre de travail. Nos conclusions s'écartent donc de l'approche de Mincer selon qui le principal effet de la scolarité se porte sur l'augmentation des salaires. En même temps nous montrons que différentes orientations scolaires entraînent différents gains à l'éducation. On voit dès lors que les types de cours choisis lors du parcours scolaire importent au même titre que la longueur (en années) du parcours. Nous montrons finalement les types de complémentarités existants entre l'éducation secondaire générale et professionnelle. Dans le quatrième chapitre nous développons un modèle théorique d'accumulation de capital humain et de revenus avec décision endogène de départ à la retraite. Le modèle est ensuite ajusté selon différents schémas de départ à la retraite qui modifieront respectivement nos résultats initiaux. Notre principale conclusion est que dans la plupart des cas, les employés plus qualifiés partent en retraite plus tardivement. Cette conclusion ne se justifie pas dans notre modèle par une entrée plus tardive de ceux-ci sur le marché du travail mais bien par le niveau salarial élevé et le coût d'opportunité plus élevé que représente le départ à la retraite des travailleurs à qualification élevée. Différentes formules de départ à la retraite entraînent différents incitants de départ pour les travailleurs qualifiés. A l'extrême, une formule de départ à la retraite compensant parfaitement le revenu passé du travailleur pourrait inciter les travailleurs qualifiés à quitter plus tôt le marché du travail. Toutefois, le départ à la retraite entraîne en principe une perte de revenu pour le travailleur qualifié qui choisit alors une plus longue carrière professionnelle. |
| Keywords: | Education; Labour market; Returns to education; Unemployment; Labour supply; Retirement; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:louvai:info:hdl:2078.1/30424&r=lab |
| By: | Chen, Wen-Hao; Morissette, René |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we document the post-displacement employment patterns observed between 1979 and 2004 for displaced workers aged 50 to 54. We uncover four key patterns. First, we detect no upward trend in the re-employment rates of male displaced workers in the aggregate, in manufacturing or outside manufacturing. Second, we show that re-employment rates of displaced women generally increased over time. Third, we find substantial evidence that median and average earnings losses of males displaced from manufacturing in recent years (i.e. between 2000 and 2004) were higher than those of comparable cohorts displaced during the 1980s. Part of this increase is related to the lower re-employment rates observed in recent years for males displaced from manufacturing. These lower re-employment rates suggest that, following displacement, aggregate working hours likely fell for males displaced from manufacturing. Finally, we show that median and average earnings losses of women displaced from non-manufacturing firms fell over time. |
| Keywords: | Layoffs, Job security, Job loss, Job stability, Labour turnover |
| JEL: | J2 J6 |
| Date: | 2010–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-20&r=lab |
| By: | F. Francavilla (Policy Studies Institute at University of Westminster.); Gianna Claudia Giannelli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Leonardo Grilli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica.) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relation between mothers’ employment and their children’s schooling in India, where a high number of children are not attending school at compulsory school age. Using the second National Family Health Survey, the results of a joint multi-level random effects model show that, controlling for covariates, the correlation between mothers’ employment and children’s schooling is negative. A sensitivity analysis on wealth and education deciles shows that this relation disappears in urban areas and becomes weaker in rural areas only at the top wealth deciles, but persists for the more educated mothers. The last result may be driven by the low number of females with a high level of education in India, but it also seems to envisage that, for mothers with lower education, being literate does not increase pay conditions. These findings suggest that policies aiming at improving both women’s and children’s welfare should not only pursue higher levels of education, but also target improvements in women’s conditions in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | women’s employment, children’s schooling, household allocation of time, random effects, India, NFHS-2 |
| JEL: | J13 J22 O15 O18 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2010_07.rdf&r=lab |
| By: | John S Heywood; Colin Green; KA Bender |
| Abstract: | While piece rates are routinely associated with greater productivity and higher wages, they may also generate unanticipated effects. This paper uses cross-country European data to provide among the first broad survey evidence of a strong link between piece rates and workplace injury. Despite unusually good controls for workplace hazards, job characteristics and worker effort, workers on piece rates suffer a large 5 percentage point greater likelihood of injury. As injury rates are typically not controlled for when estimating the premium to piece rates, this raises the specter that a portion of the return to piece rates reflects a compensating wage differential for risk of injury. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006688&r=lab |
| By: | Andrey Launov (Chair in Macroeconomics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany); Klaus Wälde (Chair in Macroeconomics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The distribution of unemployment duration in our equilibrium matching model with spell-dependent unemployment bene?ts displays a time-varying exit rate. Building on Semi-Markov processes, we translate these exit rates into an expres- sion for the aggregate unemployment rate. Structural estimation using a German micro-data set (SOEP) allows us to discuss the effects of a recent unemployment bene?t reform (Hartz IV). The reform reduced unemployment by only 0.3%. Contrary to general beliefs, we ?nd that both employed and unemployed workers gain (the latter from an intertemporal perspective). The reason is the rise in the net wage caused by more vacancies per unemployed worker. |
| Keywords: | Non-stationary unemployment bene?ts, endogenous effort, matching model, structural estimation, Semi-Markov process |
| JEL: | E24 J64 J68 C13 |
| Date: | 2010–05–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1007&r=lab |
| By: | Rosenzweig, Mark R. (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | A framework for understanding the determinants in the variation in the pricing of skills across countries and the model underlying the Mincer specification of wages that is used widely to estimate the relationship between schooling and wages are described. A method for identifying skill prices and for testing the Mincer model, using wages and the human capital attributes of workers located around the world, is discussed. A global wage equation that nests the Mincer specification is estimated that provides skill price estimates for 140 countries. The estimates reject the Mincer model. The skill price estimates indicate that variation in skill prices dominates the cross-country variation in schooling levels or rates of return to schooling in accounting for the global inequality in the earnings of workers worldwide. Variation in skill prices and GDP across countries has opposite and significant effects on the number and quality of migrants to the United States. |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:77&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship of social capital to self-rated health status in Japan, and how this is affected by the labor market. Data of 3075 adult participants in the 2000 Social Policy and Social Consciousness (SPSC) survey were used. Controlling for endogenous bias, the main finding is that social capital has a significant positive influence on health status for people without a job but not for those with. This empirical study provides evidence that people without a job can afford to allocate time to accumulate social capital and thereby improve their health status. |
| Keywords: | health status; social capital; labor market |
| JEL: | I19 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22967&r=lab |
| By: | Rosenzweig, Mark R. (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | I illustrate the variety of approaches to development issues microeconomists employ, focusing on studies that illuminate and quantify the major mechanisms posited by growth theorists who highlight the role of education in fostering growth. I begin with a basic issue: what are the returns to schooling? I discuss microeconomic studies that estimate schooling returns using alternative approaches to estimating wage equations, which require assumptions that are unlikely to be met in low-income countries, looking at inferences based on how education interacts with policy and technological changes in the labor and marriage markets. I then review research addressing whether schooling facilitates learning, or merely imparts knowledge, and whether there is social learning that gives rise to educational externalities. I next examine studies quantifying the responsiveness of educational investments to changes in schooling returns and assess whether and where there exist important barriers to such investments when returns justify their increase. |
| JEL: | J24 O11 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:yaleco:79&r=lab |
| By: | Tavares L (Dondena Centre University of Bocconi) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, this paper assesses the in uence of personality traits on the timing of motherhood and investigates whether, and in what way, personality traits can explain the differences in maternity timing between more and less educated women. We estimate a log-logistic model of the time to first child birth and show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the Big Five personality traits and timing to motherhood. The results also show that within the more educated group, women who have an average to high score on Openness have lower hazards of childbirth. |
| Date: | 2010–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2010-17&r=lab |
| By: | Maren Lurweg |
| Abstract: | The present paper investigates the impact of international trade on individual labour market outcomes in the German service sector for the period 1995-2006. Combining micro-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and industry-level trade data from input-output tables, we examine the impacts of international trade on (1) the individually reported fear of job loss and (2) job-to-unemployment transitions. We therefore apply both a “subjective” and a more “objective” measure of job insecurity. Our results indicate that international trade does indeed affect labour market outcomes in German service industries. Employees in trading service sectors face both a higher subjective and objective unemployment risk, regardless of their skill level. Moreover, growth in real net exports is positively correlated with perceived job insecurity and individual unemployment risk. |
| Keywords: | International trade, perceived job insecurity, employment status |
| JEL: | F16 C23 J63 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp300&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Bertola; Aurelijus Dabušinskas; Marco Hoeberichts; Mario Izquierdo; Claudia Kwapil; Jérémi Montornès; Daniel Radowski |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses information from survey data collected in the framework of the Eurosystem\'s Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) on patterns of firm-level adjustment to shocks. We document that the relative intensity and the character of price vs. cost and wage vs. employment adjustments in response to cost-push shocks depend - in theoretically sensible ways - on the intensity of competition in firms\' product markets, on the importance of collective wage bargaining and on other structural and institutional features of firms and of their environment. Focusing on the pass-through of cost shocks to prices, our results suggest that the pass-through is lower in highly competitive firms. Furthermore, a high degree of employment protection and collective wage agreements tend to make this pass-through stronger |
| Keywords: | wage bargaining, labour-market institutions, survey data, European Union |
| JEL: | J31 J38 P50 |
| Date: | 2010–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2010-07&r=lab |
| By: | Benjamin (Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin); |
| Abstract: | The eastern enlargement of the European Union in 2004 triggered a large flow of migrant workers from the new member states to the UK and Ireland. This paper analyzes the impact of this migration wave on the real wages in the source countries. I consider the case of Lithuania, which had the highest share of emigrants relative to its workforce among all ten new member states. Using data from the Lithuanian Household Budget Survey and the Irish Census, I find that emigration had a significant positive effect on the wages of men who stayed in the country, but no such effect is visible for women. A percentage point increase in the emigration rate increases the real wage of men on average by 1\%. Several robustness checks confirm this result. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, EU Enlargement, Labor Mobility |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp326&r=lab |
| By: | Stefano Gagliarducci (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); Tommaso Nannicini (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | The wage paid to politicians affects both the choice of citizens to run for an elective office and the performance of those who are appointed. First, if skilled individuals shy away from politics because of higher opportunities in the private sector, an increase in politicians’ pay may change their mind. Second, if the reelection prospects of incumbents depend on their in-office deeds, a higher wage may foster performance. We use data on all Italian municipal governments from 1993 to 2001 and test these hypotheses in a quasi-experimental framework. In Italy, the wage of a mayor depends on population size and sharply rises at different thresholds. We apply a regression discontinuity design to the only threshold that uniquely identifies a wage increase—5,000 inhabitants—to control for unobservable town characteristics. Exploiting the existence of a two-term limit, we further disentangle the composition from the incentive component of the effect of the wage on performance. Our results show that a higher wage attracts more educated candidates, and that better paid politicians size down the government machinery by improving internal efficiency. Importantly, most of this performance effect is driven by the selection of competent politicians, rather than by the incentive to be reelected. |
| Keywords: | political selection, efficiency wage, term limit, regression discontinuity. |
| JEL: | M52 D72 J45 H70 |
| Date: | 2010–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:162&r=lab |
| By: | David Atkin |
| Abstract: | This paper confi rms that for Mexico over the period 1986-2000, the export sector pays higher wages than other sectors, but school drop out increases with the arrival of new export jobs. The workers induced to enter export manufacturing eventually earn less than they would have earned had the jobs never appeared and they stayed in school. |
| Keywords: | higher wages, literature, export, manufacturing fi rms, jobs, new, o¤ering plenty, skill workers, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2506&r=lab |
| By: | Gianmarco Leon |
| Abstract: | This paper provides empirical evidence of the long- and short-term effects of political violence exposure on human capital accumulation. Using a novel data set that registers all the violent acts and fatalities during the Peruvian civil conflict, Leon exploit the variation in war location and birth cohorts of children to identify the effect of the civil war on educational attainment. The results show that, conditional on being exposed to violence, the average person accumulates about 0.21 less years of education as an adult. In the short-term, the effects are stronger than in the long run. Further, children are able to catch-up if they experience violence once they have already started their schooling cycle, while if they are affected earlier in life the effect persists in the long run. He explore the potential causal mechanisms, finding that supply shocks delay entrance to school but don't cause lower educational achievement in the long-run. On the demand side, suggestive evidence shows that the effect on mother's health status and the subsequent effect on child health is what drives the long-run results. [Working Paper No. 245] |
| Keywords: | children, schooling cycle, life, mother's health, child, demand human capital, war location, birth, Civil Conflict, Education, Persistence, Economic shocks, Perú, violence, education, adult, human capital accumulation |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2505&r=lab |
| By: | Derek Yu (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch and University of the Western Cape) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the Stats SA methodologies to measure informal employment before and after the introduction of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), as well as other recently proposed approaches (e.g., Devey, Skinner and Valodia, Heintz and Posel, etc.), so as to investigate the congruence, if any, between the various measures of the rate of informality. Furthermore, econometric techniques are used to investigate commonalities and differences in the way in which the different measures of informality are associated with demographic and employment characteristics. The results suggest that informal employment is much bigger if the post-2007 Stats SA methodology, which considers employment as informal regardless of whether the activities take place in the informal sector or not, is adopted. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Household survey, Labour market trends, Informal employment |
| JEL: | J00 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers108&r=lab |
| By: | Sven Heitzler; Christian Wey |
| Abstract: | We analyze the bargaining problem of an incumbent firm and a union when the wage contract becomes generally binding. Our main application relates to competition among operators of mail delivery networks. We describe the Deutsche Post case which highlights the raising rivals' costs incentive and its consequences resulting from labor laws that make collective agreements generally binding. We show that minimum wages implemented by means of extension regulation are an effective deterrence instrument which frustrates both market entry as well as investments into the build-up of a mail delivery network. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wages, postal services, collective bargaining, raising rivals' costs |
| JEL: | L12 J52 K31 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1008&r=lab |
| By: | Giuliano Guerra (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland); Roberto Patuelli (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland; The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), Italy); Rico Maggi (Institute for Economic Research (IRE), University of Lugano, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | Immigrant self-employment rates vary considerably across regions in Switzerland. Business ownership seems to provide an alternative to wage labour, where immigrants have to face structural barriers such as the limited knowledge of the local language, or difficulties in fruitfully making use of their own human capital. Despite the historically high unemployment rates with respect to natives, immigrants in Switzerland are less entrepreneurial. It is therefore important to uncover the determinants that may facilitate the transition from the status of immigrant to the one of economic agent. Among others factors, concentration in ethnic enclaves, as well as accumulated labour market experience and time elapsed since immigration, have been associated to higher business ownership rates. In this paper we use a cross-section of 2,490 Swiss municipalities in order to investigate the role played by the ethnic concentration of immigrants, as well as cultural factors, in determining self-employment rates. |
| Keywords: | self-employment, immigrants, Switzerland, ethnic concentration, cultural identity |
| JEL: | C21 J24 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lug:wpaper:1008&r=lab |
| By: | Robertas Zubrickas |
| Abstract: | Assuming that teachers are concerned with human capital formation and students - with ability signaling, in this paper we model a teacher-student relationship as an agency problem with conflicting interests. In our model, the teacher elicits effort from the student rewarding for it with a grade, the utility of which to the student is an ability signal inferred by the job market. In the event that the job market does not observe individual teachers' grading practice, teachers find grades as costless rewards and optimally choose to be lenient in grading. As a result, 'the problem of the commons'of good grades emerges leading to the depreciation of grading standards and grade inflation. The prediction of the model that the lower the expectations the teacher holds about her students' abilities, the flatter the grading rules she sets up is empirically supported. |
| Keywords: | Principal-agent model, teacher-student relationship, costless rewards, grading rules, mismatch of abilities and grades, grade inflation, teacher incentives |
| JEL: | C70 D82 D86 I20 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:iewwpx:487&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (JRC-IPTS); Marco Vivarelli (Università Cattolica, Milano; CSGR-Warwick University; IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In this study we use a unique database covering 25 manufacturing and service sectors for 15 European countries over the period 1996-2005, for a total of 2,295 observations, and apply GMM-SYS panel estimations of a demand-for-labour equation augmented with technology. We find that R&D expenditures -fostering product innovation- have a job-creating effect, in accordance with the previous theoretical and empirical literature discussed in the paper. Interestingly enough, the labour-friendly nature of R&D emerges in both the flow and the stock specifications. These findings provide further justification for the European Lisbon-Barcelona targets. |
| Keywords: | Technological change, corporate R&D, employment, product innovation, GMM-SYS |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:wpaper:201004&r=lab |
| By: | Mario Amendola; Francesco Vona (Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an out-of-equilibrium model to explain cross-country dierences in the capacity to absorb new skill-biased technologies. The usual mainstream viewpoint stressing the role of labour markets will be re-examined in a context characterized by a sequential structure of both the process of production and the skill formation, whose interaction brings about coordination failures harming the viabiity of the innovation process. In this light, educational policies play a crucial role in restoring the required coordination. The robust results of the simulations show that educational policies appear to be important both in rigid and in exible systems. In the former case, educational policies nanced by taxation allow the system to escape a low productivity nal equilibrium. In the latter, they contrast the nancial constraint associated to a large decrease in the unskilled wage. Altogether, a moderate degree of rigidity seems the most appropriate institutional environment to reach the targets of viability and of a full exploitation of the technological potential. |
| Keywords: | Skill-Biased Technical Change, Labour Markets, Educational Policies, Out-of-Equilibrium Models |
| JEL: | E22 E24 O3 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:des:wpaper:19&r=lab |
| By: | Núria Rodriguez-Planas |
| Abstract: | This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long- term impacts of an afterschool program that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards to attend program activities, complete high-school and enroll in post-secondary education on youths' engagement in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, criminal activity, and teenage childbearing. Outcomes were measured at three different points in time, when youths were in their late-teens, and when they were in their early- and their late- twenties. Overall the program was unsuccessful at reducing risky behaviors. Heterogeneity matters in that perverse effects are concentrated among certain subgroups, such as males, older youths, and youths from sites where youths received higher amount of stipends. We claim that this evidence is consistent with different models of youths' behavioral response to economic incentives. In addition, beneficial effects found in those sites in which QOP youths represented a large fraction of the entering class of 9th graders provides hope for these type of programs when operated in small communities and supports the hypothesis of peer effects. |
| Keywords: | After-school program, short-, medium- and long-term effects, behavioral models, peer effects, criminal activity, teen childbearing and substance abuse. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:829.10&r=lab |
| By: | Montgomery, David B. (Singapore Management University); Wittink, Dick R. (?) |
| Abstract: | An experiment was conducted to determine if the decision-making process for choosing between alternative job offers by Stanford MBA's is affected by a task requiring an individual to evaluate hypothetical combinations of a limited number of job characteristics. Based on a paramorphic representation of the decision-making process, the ability to predict which job is chosen by the individual does not appear to be influenced by exposure to the task. However, the ability to predict the preference order of the job offers differed significantly between the experimental and control groups. This difference is probably due to a phenomenon similar to the testing effect. Models developed at various levels of aggregation are explored and differences in job preferences related to background variables are noted. For example, female students on the average, appear to be less interested in financial remuneration and less career-oriented than male students, even after adjusting for marital status and other background variables. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2018&r=lab |
| By: | Fang, Hai (U CO, Denver); Eggleston, Karen N. (Walter H Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford U); Rizzo, John A. (Stony Brook U, SUNY); Zeckhauser, Richard (Harvard U) |
| Abstract: | Data on 2,288 married women from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey are deployed to study how off-farm female employment affects fertility. Such employment reduces a married woman's actual number of children by 0.64, her preferred number by 0.48, and her probability of having more than one child by 54.8 percent. Causality flows in both directions; hence, we use well validated instrumental variables to estimate employment status. China has deep concerns with both female employment and population size. Moreover, female employment is growing quickly. Hence, its implications for fertility must be understood. Ramifications for China's one-child policy are discussed. |
| JEL: | J13 J18 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp10-011&r=lab |
| By: | Gerard Postiglione |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the capacity of colleges and universities to serve poor and vulnerable populations during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global recession—an Asia far more economically integrated than during past economic shocks, with more unified aspirations to be globally competitive and socially responsible—need not delay reforms in higher education. In fact, the global recession is an opportune time for higher education in the Asia and Pacific region to continue reforming governance and administration, access and equity, internal and external efficiency, and regional collaboration. This paper proposes a series of measures to increase the resilience of higher education systems in serving poor and vulnerable populations during the economic recession. |
| Keywords: | capacity, colleges, universities, economic, vulnerable, populations, global, recession, administration, access, equity, internal, external, efficiency, regional, collaboration, measures, increase, resilience, higher, education, systems |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2503&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas I. Palley (New America Foundation, Washington DC) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a neo-Kaleckian endogenous growth model that incorporates aggregate supply - demand balance and balance between labor force and employment growth. The paper explicitly models income distribution which is a critical channel whereby unemployment affects investment and growth. The model generates a growth unemployment rate trade-off. A reduced propensity to save raises growth but it also raises the unemployment rate because of induced technological progress. This resonates with Alvin Hansen's hypothesis. The paper contains several theoretical innovations including a new mechanism whereby unemployment affects income distribution; introduction of a Phillips curve and inflation effects; and introduction of demand growth expectation effects. |
| Keywords: | aggregate demand, supply, unemployment, neo-Kaleckian endogenous growth theory |
| JEL: | E12 O41 O33 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:wpaper:7-2010&r=lab |
| By: | Bruce Philp; Dan Wheatley |
| Abstract: | Since 1997, until the present, UK Government policy has increasingly acknowledged the principle of work-life balance and problems of work-time excess. The present paper contributes to our understanding of these issues via a theoretically-informed longitudinal investigation of time-use among members of an increasingly important demographic group — dual career households. The seminal approaches to work-time offered by Gary Becker, Catherine Hakim, and David Laibman are outlined, then evaluated using data extracted from the 1996 and 2008 British Household Panel Survey. Our study identifies significant, unexplained dissatisfaction with working hours for many men and women in dual career households, and that women tend to have less pure consumption time than men. This pattern does not accord well with theories of time-allocation which place great weight on preferences. |
| Keywords: | Work-Time, Household, Time-Use, Heterodox Economics |
| JEL: | J22 R23 R41 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbs:wpaper:2010/6&r=lab |
| By: | Justina Cross |
| Abstract: | Cross explores multiple options for expanding personal finance training among youth in California, including statewide legislation or education code changes for financial education, professional development and training for teachers on personal finance concepts, and school district adoption of financial preparedness curriculum. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy ; Education |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfcw:2010-02&r=lab |
| By: | Antonella Stirati |
| Abstract: | The well-known enduring controversy on the interpretation of Ricardo's wage theory, and by implication on classical wage theory, has undoubtedly been fuelled by the existence of some inconsistencies in Ricardo's writings. However, as far as the factors affecting normal wages are concerned, these inconsistencies may carry less weight than is usually believed.. The present paper aims to provide a critical overview of the controversy concerning the interpretation of the theory of wages in classical economists, offering a somewhat unusual perspective. I contend that there are major similarities between the two interpretations that have been regarded as the main contenders, the so-called New view and Fix wage interpretations. Due to these similarities, the controversy has tended to neglect a decisive point for the interpretation of the theory of wages in Ricardo and other classical economists, namely, the meaning of 'demand for labour' in classical thought. I also maintain that there is a third point of view concerning the interpretation of wage theory in the classical economists, which has not been accurately understood and discussed in earlier surveys of the controversy. Unlike the others, this Alternative interpretation, as I shall label it for brevity, centers on the absence of a systematic decreasing relation between real wages and employment in Ricardo and other classical economists. The Alternative interpretation will be presented in some detail, and some questions posed by the New view will be assessed from the point of view of this alternative interpretation. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0116&r=lab |
| By: | Laporte, Christine; Mueller, Richard |
| Abstract: | We utilize a multinomial probit model and the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) to investigate the persistence behaviour of individuals enrolled in apprenticeship programs. These behaviours include continuing, discontinuing (or quitting) and completing programs. The NAS contains detailed demographic data as well as other data regarding respondents’ backgrounds and apprenticeship characteristics. Our results show that program completion is positively related to being married, having fewer children, being non-Aboriginal and not a visible minority, not being disabled and having a higher level of education before the beginning of the program. Completion is negatively related to time in the program (beyond the normal program length) and the number of employers. Type of technical training and having a journeyperson always present enhance the probability of completion. The regional unemployment rate has little effect on completion. There are also large provincial and trade group differences that are generally consistent with the sparse literature on this topic. Males and females have similar completion probabilities when we control for other influences. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship Training, Completion Outcomes, Canada |
| JEL: | J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2010–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-21&r=lab |
| By: | Ashwini Deshpande; Thomas E. Weisskopf |
| Abstract: | The objective in this paper is to shed some empirical light on a claim often made by critics of affirmative action policies: that increasing the representation of members of marginalized communities in jobs – and especially in relatively skilled positions – comes at a cost of reduced efficiency. A systematic empirical analysis of productivity in the Indian Railways is undertaken in order to determine whether the policy of reserving jobs for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has actually reduced productive efficiency in the railway system. No evidence have been found that affirmative action in hiring has reduced the efficiency of the Indian Railways. Indeed, some of the results suggest that the opposite is true, providing tentative support for the claim that greater labour force diversity boosts productivity. [Working Paper No. 185] |
| Keywords: | Affirmative, Action, Policies, Marginalised, Communities, Skilled, Positions, Efficeincies, Indian, Railways, Scheduled, Castes, Tribes, Labour, Force, Productivity, Diversity, Boosts |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2501&r=lab |
| By: | Horton, John J. (Harvard University); Rand, David G. (Harvard University); Zeckhauser, Richard (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Online labor markets have great potential as platforms for conducting experiments, as they provide immediate access to a large and diverse subject pool and allow researchers to conduct randomized controlled trials. We argue that online experiments can be just as valid--both internally and externally--as laboratory and field experiments, while requiring far less money and time to design and to conduct. In this paper, we first describe the benefits of conducting experiments in online labor markets; we then use one such market to replicate three classic experiments and confirm their results. We confirm that subjects (1) reverse decisions in response to how a decision-problem is framed, (2) have pro-social preferences (value payoffs to others positively), and (3) respond to priming by altering their choices. We also conduct a labor supply field experiment in which we confirm that workers have upward sloping labor supply curves. In addition to reporting these results, we discuss the unique threats to validity in an online setting and propose methods for coping with these threats. We also discuss the external validity of results from online domains and explain why online results can have external validity equal to or even better than that of traditional methods, depending on the research question. We conclude with our views on the potential role that online experiments can play within the social sciences, and then recommend software development priorities and best practices. |
| JEL: | C70 C91 C92 C93 J20 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp10-017&r=lab |
| By: | Signe Hald Andersen (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Lars GÅrn Hansen (Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen) |
| Abstract: | Despite the strong and persistent influence of Gary Becker’s marriage model, the model does not completely explain the observed correlation between married women’s labor market participation and overall divorce rates. In this paper we show how a simple sociologically inspired extension of the model realigns the model’s predictions with the observed trends. The extension builds on Becker’s own claim that partners match on preference for partner specialization, and, as a novelty, on additional sociological theory claiming that preference coordination tend to happen subconsciously. When we incorporate this aspect into Becker’s model, the model provides predictions of divorce rates and causes that fit more closely with empirical observations. |
| Keywords: | marriage market |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:foi:wpaper:2010_04&r=lab |
| By: | Armstrong, Christopher S. (University of Pennsylvania); Jagolinzer, Alan D. (Stanford University); Larcker, David F. (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the use of performance-based incentives for internal monitors (general counsel and chief internal auditor) and whether these incentives impair monitors' independence by aligning their interests with the interests of those being monitored. We find evidence that incentives are greater when monitors' job duties contribute more to the firm's production function, when other top managers receive greater incentives, and when a firm has lower expected litigation risk. We also find evidence that firms provide more incentives when there is greater demand for internal monitoring. We find no evidence that internal monitor incentives impair the monitoring function. Instead, our results suggest that adverse firm outcomes (e.g., regulatory enforcement actions and internal-control material-weakness disclosures) occur less frequently at firms that provide greater monitor incentives. |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2052&r=lab |
| By: | Chenyang Wei; David Yermack |
| Abstract: | Many commentators have suggested that companies pay top executives with deferred compensation, a type of incentive known as inside debt. Recent SEC disclosure reforms greatly increased the transparency of deferred compensation. We investigate stockholder and bondholder reactions to companies' initial reports of their CEOs' inside debt positions in early 2007, when new disclosure rules took effect. We find that bond prices rise, equity prices fall, and the volatility of both securities drops upon disclosures by firms whose CEOs have sizable defined benefit pensions or deferred compensation. Similar changes in value occur for credit default swap spreads and exchange-traded options. The results indicate a reduction in firm risk, a transfer of value from equity toward debt, and an overall destruction of enterprise value when a CEO's deferred compensation holdings are large. |
| Keywords: | Executives - Salaries ; Defined benefit pension plans ; Chief executive officers ; Options (Finance) ; Corporations - Finance ; Disclosure of information |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:445&r=lab |
| By: | DeVoe, Sanford E. (University of Toronto); Pfeffer, Jeffrey (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how the practice of accounting for one's time--so that work can be billed or charged to specific clients or projects--affects the decision to allocate time to volunteer activities. Using longitudinal data collected from law students transitioning to their first jobs, Study 1 showed that exposure to billing time diminished individuals' willingness to volunteer, even after controlling for attitudes about volunteering held prior to entering the workforce as well as the individual's specific opportunity costs of volunteering time. Studies 2-5 experimentally manipulated billing time and confirmed its causal effect on individuals' willingness to volunteer and actual volunteering behavior. Study 5 showed that the effect of exposure to billing time on volunteering occurred above and beyond any effects on general self-efficacy or self-determination. Individual differences moderated the effects of billing, such that people who did not value money as much were less affected. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2035&r=lab |
| By: | Reto Foellmi; Josef Zweimüller |
| Abstract: | We explore how the underemployment problem of less-developed economies is related to income inequality. Our crucial assumption is that consumers have non-homothetic preferences over differentiated products of formal-sector goods and thus that inequality affects the composition of aggregate demand via the price-setting behavior of formal-sector firms. We find that (i) high inequality divides the formal sector into mass producers (which charge low prices that are within the reach of the poor) and exclusive producers (which charge high prices and sell only to the rich); (ii) high inequality generates an equilibrium where many workers are crowded into the informal economy; and (iii) an increase in subsistence productivity raises the wages of unskilled workers and boosts employment due to the higher purchasing power of poorer households. |
| Keywords: | Income distribution; monopolistic competition; mark-ups; exclusion |
| JEL: | E25 D30 D42 L16 E24 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp1005&r=lab |
| By: | Fahlenbrach, Rudiger (Swiss Finance Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne); Low, Angie (Nanyang Technological University); Stulz, Rene M. (Ohio State University and ECGI) |
| Abstract: | Outside directors have incentives to resign to protect their reputation or to avoid an increase in their workload when they anticipate that the firm on whose board they sit will perform poorly or disclose adverse news. We call these incentives the dark side of outside directors. We find strong support for the existence of this dark side. Following surprise director departures, affected firms have worse stock and operating performance, are more likely to suffer from an extreme negative return event, are more likely to restate earnings, and have a higher likelihood of being named in a federal class action securities fraud lawsuit. |
| JEL: | G30 G34 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2010-7&r=lab |
| By: | Misra, Sanjog (Rochester University); Nair, Harikesh (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | We present an empirical framework to analyze real-world sales-force compensation schemes. The model is flexible enough to handle quotas and bonuses, output-based commission schemes, as well as "ratcheting" of compensation based on past performance, all of which are ubiquitous in actual contracts. The model explicitly incorporates the dynamics induced by these aspects in agent behavior. We apply the model to a rich dataset that comprises the complete details of sales and compensation plans for a set of 87 sales-people for a period of 3 years at a large contact-lens manufacturer in the US. We use the model to evaluate profit- improving, theoretically-preferred changes to the extant compensation scheme. These recommendations were then implemented at the focal firm. Agent behavior and output under the new compensation plan is found to change as predicted. The new plan resulted in a 9% improvement in overall revenues, which translates to about $0.98 million incremental revenues per month, indicating the success of the field-implementation. The results bear out the face validity of dynamic agency theory for real-world compensation design. More generally, our results fit into a growing literature that illustrates that dynamic programming-based solutions, when combined with structural empirical specifications of behavior, can help significantly improve marketing decision-making, and firms' profitability. |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2037&r=lab |
| By: | Pahnke, Luise; Honekamp, Ivonne |
| Abstract: | Financial literacy or “what consumers know about finance” has become part of the scientific discussion in recent years. In Germany, as in many other countries, the structure of social security benefits has changed substantially. Using the German SAVE study conducted by the Mannheim Institute for the Economics of Aging, in this paper financial literacy in Germany is measured and its effect on private retirement provisions is examined. Therefore, the SAVE data is empirically analysed whether financial literacy has an impact on the retirement savings decision in Germany. With our analysis we were able to prove that financial literacy encourages individual retirement planning for households with an above-average income. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy; Retirement savings; Private pensions; Germany; SAVE |
| JEL: | D14 |
| Date: | 2010–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22900&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Migali |
| Abstract: | Individual risk aversion and riskiness of investment in higher education are combined with two alternative loan-based financing systems, income contingent loans (ICL) and mortgage loans (ML), to investigate the effects on graduate lifetime expected utilities. We deal explicitly with the presence of hidden subsidies due to discounting, which is one of the main drawbacks of an ICL. The theoretical model has been calibrated using real data on graduate earnings and their volatility, together with the features of the English HE financing system, which has recently switched from a ML to an ICL system. Higher uncertainty in earnings in general makes an ICL the preferred system for risk averse individuals, while risk neutral individuals prefer mortgage loans. |
| Keywords: | Education Choice; Risk Aversion; Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006705&r=lab |
| By: | Gränsmark, Patrik (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents empirical findings on gender differences in time preference and time inconsistency which are based on international chess data from 1.5 million expert games. Controls are included for age, nationality and playing strength where the latter accounts for gender differences in productivity. Impatience is measured by considering preferences for different game durations. Inconsistency is measured by exploiting the 40th move time control, where over-consumption of thinking time is inefficient. The results reveal that men are more impatient while women are more time inconsistent. Moreover, the difference in impatience increases with expertise while the difference in inconsistency decreases. |
| Keywords: | Time preference; time inconsistency; impatience; gender |
| JEL: | D91 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2010_005&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre de Villiers (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch); Liezl Nieuwoudt (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | The global increase in the demand for tertiary education, with higher education systems expanding in many countries from elite systems to universal access, necessitated changes to the nature of higher education financing. Tuition fees, or other charges (where it was previously free) were introduced, substantial increases in tuition fees (where fees previously did exist) took place and student aid systems moved away from grants towards student loans (to replace or supplement grants). The controversy and debate surrounding these issues were influenced by politics, legal issues, social policy issues and economic reasoning. The paper firstly considers the shift in higher education financing since the 1960s in light of the focus of economic thinking in the 1960s and 1970s (the human capital model, growth accounting, views on elite versus mass systems, the private/public nature of higher education and rates of return) compared to the more recent focus on primary education, private and social rates of return and cost sharing. The global typology of allocation mechanisms is then examined. Although a myriad of allocation systems is operational, a definite shifting trend from direct to indirect funding (to support students) of institutions can be identified. The paper subsequently explores the global workings, conditions and problems of income-contingent student loans (ICL) and then focuses on the South African trend in direct funding (including the current subsidy formula for higher education) and student support systems. The South African allocation system exhibits the global trend towards indirect funding and the South African ICL (NSFAS) is internationally highly commended. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, Public financing, Income contingent loan, Cost sharing |
| JEL: | H40 H52 I20 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers111&r=lab |
| By: | Jakub Growiec (National Bank of Poland, Economic Institute); Lukasz Wozny (Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We analyze an economy populated by a sequence of generations who decide over their consumption and investment in human capital of their immediate descendants. The objective of the paper is twofold: firstly, to identify the impact of strategic interactions between consecutive generations on the time path of human capital accumulation. To this end, we characterize the Markov perfect equilibrium (MPE) in such an economy and derive the sufficient conditions for its existence and uniqueness. We then benchmark our results against an optimal but time-inconsistent policy which abstracts from strategic interactions between generations. We prove analytically that human capital accumulation is unambiguously lower in the “strategic” case than in the optimal, “non-strategic” case. The second objective of the current paper is to work out a functional parametrization of the model, suitable for obtaining clear-cut results on the monotonicity of the (unique) Markov perfect equilibrium policy and the optimal policy. We then carry out a sensitivity analysis under this parametrization, thereby assessing quantitatively the magnitude of discrepancies between human capital accumulation paths whether strategic interactions between consecutive generations are taken into account or not. |
| Keywords: | human capital, intergenerational interactions, Markov perfect equilibrium, stochastic transition, constructive approach |
| JEL: | C73 I20 J22 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbp:nbpmis:71&r=lab |
| By: | Kamalesh Gosalia (Certified General Accountants Association of Canada) |
| Abstract: | The quality of earnings is said to be high if it can be directly attributed to fundamental economic factors like higher revenues or lower costs rather than through accounting shenanigans. This study considers how the two different financial reporting regimes used in Canada and in the US impact earnings quality. To that end, the study looks at the earnings quality differential between Canadian and US public companies. The “Accrual Ratios” are employed as the proxy for earnings quality. The SAS statistical software is used to construct a mixed model (SAS: Proc Mixed) to assess the effect of country, year and sector on accrual ratios. Additional models using the log of accrual ratios as the outcome are also tested. Accrual ratios for Canadian and US companies for ten economic sectors are compared over the period of 1998 to 2008. Controlling for year effects, no differences are found between the two countries except for the Materials sector in 2000 and the Consumer Discretionary sector in 1998 and 2005. Instead, accrual ratios show much more variability between companies than between countries. As such, the study concludes that there is no statistical evidence suggesting that the financial statements prepared under the Canadian regime reveal better earnings quality than those prepared under the US regime. |
| Keywords: | quality of earnings, financial reporting, oversight effect, accrual ratio, accrual earnings |
| JEL: | E22 G31 G32 M41 D21 D23 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cga:wpaper:100301&r=lab |