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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Jahn, Elke J. (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Rosholm, Michael (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | We perform a comprehensive analysis of the stepping-stone effect of temporary agency employment on unemployed workers. Using the timing-of-events approach, we not only investigate whether agency employment is a bridge into regular employment but also analyze its effect on post-unemployment wages and job stability for unemployed Danish workers. We find evidence of large positive treatment effects, particularly for immigrants. There is also some indication that higher treatment intensity increases the likelihood of leaving unemployment for regular jobs. Our results show that agency employment is even more effective in tight labor markets, where firms use agency employment primarily to screen potential candidates for permanent posts. Finally, our results suggest that agency employment may improve subsequent match quality in terms of wages and job duration. |
| Keywords: | temporary agency employment; stepping stone; employment stability; wages |
| JEL: | C41 J30 J40 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2010_006&r=lab |
| By: | Boockmann, Bernhard (Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a meta-analysis of 55 empirical studies estimating the employment effects of minimum wages in 15 industrial countries. It strongly confirms the notion that the effects of minimum wages are heterogeneous between countries. As possible sources of heterogeneity, it considers the benefit replacement ratio, employment protection and the collective bargaining system. While the results are in line with theoretical expectations, the degree to which they are robust differs across these institutions. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, regulation, employment, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | J38 J20 C12 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4983&r=lab |
| By: | Ozan Bakis (Department of Economics, Galatasaray University); Nurhan Davutyan; Haluk Levent; Sezgin Polat |
| Abstract: | This paper studies local human capital externalities and returns to education in Turkey. Data comes from 2006 Household Labor Survey. Instrumental Variables-OLS estimation indicates internal (external) returns amounting to 4.9% (2.4%), while IV estimates using quantile regression range from 3% to 6.9% (1.3% to 3.5%). We discuss further characteristics of the Turkish labor market segmented by gender and show that external returns are uniformly higher for women. Our results also indicate both internal and external returns increase or equivalently the wage distribution spreads out as education increases. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:517&r=lab |
| By: | Altmann, Steffen (IZA); Falk, Armin (University of Bonn); Huffman, David (Swarthmore College) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of imperfect contract enforcement on the emergence of unemployment. In an experimental labor market where trading parties can form long-term employment relationships, we compare a work environment where effort is observable, but not verifiable to a situation where explicit contracts are feasible. Our main result shows that unemployment is much higher when third-party contract enforcement is absent. Unemployment is involuntary, being caused by firms' employment and contracting policy. Moreover, we show that implicit contracting can lead to a segmentation of the labor market. Firms in both segments earn similar profits, but workers in the secondary sector face much less favorable conditions than their counterparts in primary-sector jobs. |
| Keywords: | incentives, implicit contracts, unemployment, fairness, dual labor markets |
| JEL: | C92 J64 M55 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5001&r=lab |
| By: | Feng, Shuaizhang (Princeton University); Zheng, Bingyong (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a two-period labor market model with imperfect information and on-the-job training, and uses data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohorts (NLSY79) to test its predictions. We find that training does not explain the positive relationship between employer size and wage. In addition, for industries that display size-wage premium, workers in large establishments are more likely to receive on-the-job training but their return to training is smaller. Our theory, substantiated by the new empirical evidence, suggests that it is not large firms, per se, but firms that hire better workers who are paying a wage premium. |
| Keywords: | imperfect information, sorting, on-the-job training, size-wage premium |
| JEL: | D83 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4998&r=lab |
| By: | Picchio, Matteo (Tilburg University); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Recent human capital theories predict that labor market frictions and product market competition influence firm-sponsored training. Using matched worker-firm data from Dutch manufacturing, our paper empirically assesses the validity of these predictions. We find that a decrease in labor market frictions significantly reduces firms' training expenditures. Instead, product market competition does not have an effect on firm-sponsored training. We conclude that increasing competition through international integration and globalization does not pose a threat to investments in on-the-job training. An increase in labor market flexibility may reduce incentives of firms to invest in training, but the magnitude of this effect is small. |
| Keywords: | firm-sponsored training, labor market frictions, product market competition, matched worker-firm data |
| JEL: | D43 J24 J42 L22 M53 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4988&r=lab |
| By: | Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (Department of Economics, Virginia Tech University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a comparative study of private returns to schooling in Egypt, Iran, and Turkey using similar survey data and a uniform methodology. We employ three surveys for each country that span nearly two decades, ranging from 1987 to 2006. Our aim is to learn from survey data about the signals of rewards that individuals use in their decisions to invest in education. So we pay special attention to differences across countries and over time in the institutions of education and labor markets, and how these differences might be related to the observed patterns of rewards to education. We find a fair amount of consistency in the patterns of returns between the countries, as well as important differences that suggest the influence of institutions. We find that returns to education increase in years of schooling in all three countries, as one would expect in countries with relatively rigid labor markets, where heavy emphasis on higher terminal degrees reduce the value of basic education. Private returns to tertiary relative to upper secondary and vocational education are high, confirming that university education is highly attractive in these countries. Low returns to vocational training relative to general upper secondary, which have been observed in many developing countries, are true in Egypt and Iran, but not Turkey. We attempt to reconcile these facts with the institutional features of the countries and changes over time. |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:504&r=lab |
| By: | Louis-Philippe Morin (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON) |
| Abstract: | Studies based on instrumental variable techniques suggest that the value of a high school education is large for potential dropouts, yet we know much less about the size of the benefit for students who will go on to post-secondary education. To help fill this gap, I measure the value-added of a year of high-school mathematics for university-bound students using a recent Ontario secondary school reform. The subject specificity of this reform makes it possible to identify the benefit of an extra year of mathematics despite the presence of self-selection: one can use subjects unaffected by the reform to control for potential ability differences between control and treatment groups. Further, the richness of the data allows me to generalize the standard difference-in-differences estimator, correcting for heterogeneity in ability measurement across subjects. The estimated value-added to an extra year of mathematics is small for these students – of the order of 17 percent of a standard deviation in university grades. This evidence helps to explain why the literature finds only modest effects of taking more mathematics in high school on wages, the small monetary gain being due to a lack of subject-specific human capital accumulation. Within- and between-sample comparisons also suggest that the extra year of mathematics benefits lowerability students more than higher-ability students. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, High School Curriculum, Education Reform, Mathematics, Factor Model |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ott:wpaper:1002e&r=lab |
| By: | Joanne Lindley (University of Surrey) |
| Abstract: | Many studies have shown that technical change has led to job polarisation. A relatively unexplored aspect of this is whether there has been a gender bias. This paper is the first to show gender bias in technology driven skill polarisation. Between 1997 and 2006 the demand for women shows hollowing out across high, medium and low education groups, as a consequence of technical change. This was not the case for men. Decomposing the fall in the gender pay gap shows further evidence for gender biased technological change. For moderate and complex computer users the fall in the gender pay gap remains largely unexplained suggesting gender biased demand shifts have significantly contributed to the closing of the gender pay gap. |
| Keywords: | Gender Pay, Task-Bias Technology Change, Skills |
| JEL: | J01 J16 J2 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:surrec:0510&r=lab |
| By: | Rana Hendy (University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics and Crest-Insee) |
| Abstract: | To our knowledge, the present research is the first to explore the extremely biased division of labor within Egyptian households. Time activities in respect of paid and unpaid work are an important aspect of this study. The classical dichotomy of “work in the market” versus “leisure” may serve as a good approximation of the role the male plays in the production activity of the household but does grave injustice to the female since it overlooks the whole time she spends outside the market—on domestic activities. Moreover, studying the females’ invisible unpaid work is crucial since it remains the females’ main occupation. Time-use profiles are constructed using the Egyptian time-use data available, only for females, in the Egyptian Labor Market and Panel Surveys of 1998 and 2006. On the one hand, the empirical exercise analyzes the main features of Egyptian females' time allocation relying on both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. On the other hand, we estimate a Propensity Score Matching model in order to evaluate the effect of marriage on the female market and domestic labor supplies. Results show that marriage significantly affects both types of work. Married females spend about 8 hours less on market work relative to their single counterparts. And interestingly, marriage as a treatment increases the domestic labor supply by 30 hours on average. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:526&r=lab |
| By: | Metzler, Johannes (University of Munich); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Teachers differ greatly in how much they teach their students, but little is known about which teacher attributes account for this. We estimate the causal effect of teacher subject knowledge on student achievement using within-teacher within-student variation, exploiting a unique Peruvian 6th-grade dataset that tested both students and their teachers in two subjects. We circumvent omitted-variable and selection biases using student and teacher fixed effects and observing teachers teaching both subjects in one-classroom-per-grade schools. After measurement-error correction, one standard deviation in subject-specific teacher achievement increases student achievement by about 10 percent of a standard deviation. |
| Keywords: | teacher knowledge, student achievement, Peru |
| JEL: | I20 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4999&r=lab |
| By: | Chowdry, Haroon (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Crawford, Claire (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Dearden, Lorraine (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Goodman, Alissa (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Vignoles, Anna (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of newly linked administrative data to better understand the determinants of higher education participation amongst individuals from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It is unique in being able to follow two cohorts of students in England – those who took GCSEs in 2001-02 and 2002-03 – from age 11 to age 20. The findings suggest that while there remain large raw gaps in HE participation (and participation at high-status universities) by socio-economic status, these differences are substantially reduced once controls for prior attainment are included. Moreover, these findings hold for both state and private school students. This suggests that poor attainment in secondary schools is more important in explaining lower HE participation rates amongst students from disadvantaged backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry into HE. These findings highlight the need for earlier policy intervention to raise HE participation rates amongst disadvantaged youth. |
| Keywords: | widening participation, socio-economic gap, higher education |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4991&r=lab |
| By: | Machin, Stephen (University College London); Marie, Olivier (ROA, Maastricht University); Vujić, Sunčica (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present evidence on empirical connections between crime and education, using various data sources from Britain. A robust finding is that criminal activity is negatively associated with higher levels of education. However, it is essential to ensure that the direction of causation flows from education to crime. Therefore, we identify the effect of education on participation in criminal activity using changes in compulsory school leaving age laws over time to account for the endogeneity of education. In this causal approach, for property crimes, the negative crime-education relationship remains strong and significant. The implications of these findings are unambiguous and clear. They show that improving education can yield significant social benefits and can be a key policy tool in the drive to reduce crime. |
| Keywords: | crime, education, offenders |
| JEL: | I2 K42 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5000&r=lab |
| By: | Koning, Pierre (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); van der Wiel, Karen (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether information on high school quality published by a national newspaper affects school choice in the Netherlands. For this purpose, we use both school level and individual student level data. First, we study the causal effect of quality scores on the influx of new high school students using a longitudinal school dataset. We find that negative (positive) school quality scores decrease (increase) the number of students choosing a school after the year of publication. The positive effects are particularly large for the academic school track. An academic school track receiving the most positive score sees its inflow of students rise by 15 to 20 students. Second, we study individual school choice behaviour to address the relative importance of the quality scores, as well as potential differences in the quality response between socio-economic groups. Although the probability of attending a school is affected by its quality score, it is mainly driven by the travelling distance. Students are only willing to travel about 200 meters more in order to attend a well-performing rather than an average school. In contrast to equity concerns that are often raised, we cannot find differences in information responses between socio-economic groups. |
| Keywords: | school quality, school choice, information, media |
| JEL: | I20 D10 D83 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4984&r=lab |
| By: | Bertola, G.; Dabusinskas, A.; Hoeberichts, M.; Izquierdo, M.; Kwapil, C.; Montornès, J.; Radowski, D. |
| 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:281&r=lab |
| By: | Montornès, J. Author-Name: Sauner-Leroy, J-B. |
| Abstract: | We investigate the wage-setting behavior of French companies using an ad-hoc survey conducted specifically for this study. Our main results are the following. i) Wages are changed infrequently. The mean duration of wage contracts is one year. Wage changes occur at regular intervals during the year and are concentrated in January and July. ii) We find a lower degree of downward real wage rigidity and nominal wage rigidity in France compared to the European average. iii) About one third of companies have an internal policy to grant wage increases according to inflation. iv) When companies are faced with adverse shocks, only a partial response is transmitted into prices. Companies also adopt cost-cutting strategies. The wage of newly hired employees plays an important role in this adjustment. |
| Keywords: | Wage Rigidity, Wage-setting Behavior, Survey Data. |
| JEL: | E24 J3 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:282&r=lab |
| By: | Kondylis, Florence; Manacorda, Marco |
| Abstract: | Is improved school accessibility an effective policy tool for reducing child labor in developing countries? We address this question using micro data from rural Tanzania and a regression strategy that attempts to control for non-random location of households around schools as well as classical and nonclassical measurement error in self-reported distance to school. Consistent with a simple model of child labor supply, but contrary to what appears to be a widespread perception, our analysis shows that school proximity leads to a rise in school attendance but no fall in child labor. |
| Keywords: | child labor; distance to school; school enrollment |
| JEL: | J22 J82 O12 O55 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7890&r=lab |
| By: | Consoli, Davide; Vona, Francesco; Saarivirta, Toni |
| Abstract: | The recent history of Finland has been shaped by the rollercoaster of the 1990s when the economy went from deep recession to becoming among the most innovative and competitive within merely a decade. Economic recovery driven by the surge of ICT-related industries with the active support of the higher education system gave way also to growing inequalities among regions, especially within graduate workers. The paper elaborates an empirical analysis of the returns to education of a cohort entering the labour force between 1995 and 2005; our objective is to capture the extent of spatial and occupational determinants on income distribution as Finland slid from its most troubled to most prosperous times. |
| JEL: | R11 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ing:wpaper:201002&r=lab |
| By: | Bosch, Mariano; Manacorda, Marco |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the contribution of the minimum wage to the well documented rise in earnings inequality in Mexico between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. We find that a substantial part of the growth in inequality, and essentially all the growth in inequality in the bottom end, is due to the steep decline in the real value of the minimum wage. |
| Keywords: | Mexico; Minimum Wage; Wage Inequality |
| JEL: | J31 J38 O15 O17 O24 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7882&r=lab |
| By: | Pinoli, Sara (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that expectations are an important element that need to be included into the analysis of the effects of the minimum wage on employment. We show in a standard matching model that the observed employment e¤ect is higher the lower is the likelihood associated with the minimum wage variation. On the other side, there is a significant anticipation e¤ect, ignored in the literature. This property is able to explain the controversial results found in the empirical studies. When the policy is anticipated, the effect at the time of the actual variation is small and potentially hard to identify. The model is tested on Spanish data, taking advantage of the unexpected change in the minimum wage following the election of Zapatero in 2004. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage; Expectations; Heterogeneous matches |
| JEL: | D21 J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2010–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2010_010&r=lab |
| By: | Manacorda, Marco |
| Abstract: | This paper uses administrative longitudinal micro data on Junior High school students in Uruguay to measure the effect of grade failure on students’ subsequent school outcomes. Exploiting the discontinuity induced by a rule establishing automatic grade failure for pupils with more than three failed subjects, I show that grade failure leads to substantial drop-out and lower educational attainment even four to five years after grade failure first occurred. |
| Keywords: | grade retention; regression discontinuity; school drop-out |
| JEL: | I21 I22 J20 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7889&r=lab |
| By: | Javier G. Polavieja (IMDEA) |
| Abstract: | Gender-differences in post-schooling skill investments play a central role in stratification processes.Yet little research has been devoted to explaining how these differences come about. This paperhelps to fill this gap by proposing and testing a job-investment model with social-interaction effectsthat melds substantive ideas of sociology and economics. Firms use strategic compensation profilesin order to protect their job-specific skill investments and this shifts the weight of the investmentdecision to the supply side. Employees consider the tenure-reward profiles of different job-specificinvestment options and chose rationally on the basis of their expected survival probabilities in eachof them. Given uncertainty, actors are likely to inform their job-survival expectations by observingtheir social context. Three different forms of social influence are distinguished: social-learning,social norms and role identification. It is further argued that social influences on job-survivalexpectations can be identified empirically by blocking individuals\' work and family preferences.Several hypotheses are derived and tested to a subsample of approximately 2,700 young singlewage-earners nested in 261 different European regions and 24 different European countries.Results show that young women\'s job-investment decisions are significantly correlated with 1) thesocial visibility of women in highly specialized jobs in the preceding generation; 2) the proportionof men who do housework in their potential marriage markets, and 3) the existing fertility norms. |
| Keywords: | gender;job-specific investments;social interactions;strategic compensation;social learning;social norms;role identification;prefrences;european social survey |
| JEL: | D8 D13 J10 J16 J22 J24 M52 M53 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2010-12&r=lab |
| By: | Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE; Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE; Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Costas Meghir (University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT; Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE) |
| Abstract: | Accurate estimates of the extent of ethnic parity amongst benefit claimants are very important for policymakers who provide interventions for these groups. We use new administrative data on benefit claimants in Great Britain to document differences in labour market outcomes between Ethnic Minority and White claimants, both before and after controlling for rich observable characteristics. We do so using a variety of methods, from OLS to propensity score matching to difference-in-differences. We find that, in many cases, Minorities and Whites are simply too different for satisfactory estimates to be calculated, and that results are sensitive to the methodology used. This calls into question previous results based on simple regression techniques, which may hide the fact that observationally different ethnic groups are being compared by parametric extrapolation. For Income Support and Incapacity Benefit claimants, however, we could calculate satisfactory results. For these groups, large and significant raw penalties almost always disappear once we appropriately control for pre-inflow characteristics. |
| Keywords: | higher education, widening participation, socio-economic disadvantage, administrative data |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1009&r=lab |
| By: | Marwan Khawaja (Center for Research on Population and Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon); Rozzet Jurdi; Shireen Assaf; Joumana Yeretzian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines cause-specific labor force non-participation among women living in three impoverished communities on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. It uses an expanded labor force utilization framework, separating the socially discouraged from other labor nonparticipants. This study is based on data from a sample survey of some 2699 households, carried out in 2002. The analysis is limited to women between the ages of 15-59 which yields a total of 3813 women, 9% of whom reported to be socially discouraged from seeking employment. Descriptive and bivariate analysis of the affect of the independent variables chosen is first investigated. A multinomial logit model is then fitted to the data in order to uncover the impact of individual and household characteristics on the socially discouraged group as well as women labor force participation. The focus is on covariates pertaining to both women respondents and their spouses (heads of household in other household domains), but several other human-capital, demographic and socio-economic factors are also included. Our findings overall indicate a strong influence of social and demographic factors on discouragement. These include residence, marital status, households with children and experience. Surprisingly, education of the household head and women, presence of children and income have no noticeable influence on social discouragement. |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:494&r=lab |
| By: | Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE; Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE; Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Alice Mesnard (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE); Barbara Sianesi (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE); Jonathan Shaw (Institute for Fiscal Studies, 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE) |
| Abstract: | Accurate estimates of the extent of ethnic parity amongst benefit claimants are very important for policymakers who provide interventions for these groups. We use new administrative data on benefit claimants in Great Britain to document differences in labour market outcomes between Ethnic Minority and White claimants, both before and after controlling for rich observable characteristics. We do so using a variety of methods, from OLS to propensity score matching to difference-in-differences. We find that, in many cases, Minorities and Whites are simply too different for satisfactory estimates to be calculated, and that results are sensitive to the methodology used. This calls into question previous results based on simple regression techniques, which may hide the fact that observationally different ethnic groups are being compared by parametric extrapolation. For Income Support and Incapacity Benefit claimants, however, we could calculate satisfactory results. For these groups, large and significant raw penalties almost always disappear once we appropriately control for pre-inflow characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Non-response, bias, school survey, data linkage, PISA |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1007&r=lab |
| By: | Meneses, Francisco; Blanco, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of the Chilean government's nancial aid on college and vocational education enrollment. We found that there is an endogenous process in the application for nancial aid. To solve this problem we use a two-step procedure with instrumental variables (IV) and found that nancial aid increases the probability of students going to college by over 30%. In the case of vocational education, we found that being pre-selected for college nancial aid decreases the enrollment. However, vocational nancial aid increases that probability of enrollment. Therefore, students choose college education over vocational education when they have nancial aid for both. Theoretical conclusion and public policy recommendations are provided. |
| Keywords: | Financial aid; college enrollment; Chile; education; public policy. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 I22 |
| Date: | 2010–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23321&r=lab |
| By: | Aditi Kavarana |
| Abstract: | The Equal Remuneration Act in India was enacted to prevent discrimination between workers on grounds of gender. The preamble to the act describes it as: An Act to provide for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers and for the prevention of discrimination, on the ground of sex, against women in the matter of employment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.[Working Paper No. 0015] |
| Keywords: | Equal Remuneration Act, prevent discrimination, gender, preamble, women, employment, incidental |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2571&r=lab |
| By: | Böckerman, Petri; Ilmakunnas , Pekka |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of job satisfaction in the determination of establishment-level productivity. The matched data contain both information on job satisfaction from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel) and information on establishment productivity from longitudinal register data that can be linked to the ECHP. The estimates for the effect of a one point increase in the establishment average level of employee job satisfaction, on a scale 1-6, on productivity vary depending on the specification of the model. The preferred estimate, based on the IV estimation that uses satisfaction with housing conditions as an instrument for job satisfaction, shows that the effect on value added per hours worked is ~20% in the manufacturing sector. The economic size of this effect is modest, because the observations are bunched towards the higher end of the satisfaction scale making it very difficult to increase the average level of job satisfaction in the establishment by one point. |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction; employee well-being; productivity; performance |
| JEL: | J28 D24 |
| Date: | 2010–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23348&r=lab |
| By: | Natacha Raffin (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | We develop a political economy model that might explain the different environmental performance of countries, through educational choices. Individuals decide whether to invest in additional education according to their expectations regarding future environmental quality. They also vote on a tax that will be exclusively used to finance environmental protection. We show that the model may generate multiple equilibria and agents' expectations may be self-fulfilling when the public policy is endogenous. Then, we analyse the long-term implications of a public policy that would favour education and make it possible to select the higher equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Environmental quality, human capital, education, self-fulfilling prophecies, public policy. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00492178_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Sean Corcoran; William N. Evans |
| Abstract: | Using a panel of U.S. school districts spanning 1970 – 2000, we examine the relationship between income inequality and fiscal support for public education. In contrast with recent theoretical and empirical work suggesting a negative relationship between inequality and public spending, we find results consistent with a median voter model, in which inequality that reduces the median voter’s tax share induces higher local spending on public education. We estimate that 12 to 22 percent of the increase in local school spending over this period is attributable to rising inequality. |
| JEL: | H72 I21 I22 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16097&r=lab |
| By: | Sgroi, Daniel (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Proto, Eugenio (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Oswald, Andrew J. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick and and Warwick Business School) |
| Abstract: | We live in a high-divorce age. Parents worry about the possibility of negative effects upon their children. This paper tests whether recent parental-divorce has deleterious consequences for grown children. Under controlled conditions, it measures students’ happiness with life, and their productivity in a standardized laboratory task. No negative effects from divorce can be detected. If anything, happiness and productivity are greater, particularly among males, if they have experienced parental divorce. Using longitudinal BHPS data -- to control for fixed effects -- we cross-check this result on happiness. Again, the evidence suggests that young people’s mental well-being improves after parental divorce. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity ; divorce ; well-being ; happiness ; experimental economics JEL Codes: D03 ; J24 ; C91 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:937&r=lab |
| By: | Aniruddha Mitra; James T. Bang |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the emerging literature on gender differences in the causes and consequences of brain drain. Differentiating between gender bias in the access to economic opportunities and gender differentials in economic outcomes, we find that differences in access have a significant impact on the emigration of highly-skilled women relative to that of men. However, differentials in outcomes do not have a significant impact. Additionally, the structure of political institutions in the source countries does not have a significant impact on the difference in emigration rates. |
| Keywords: | immigration, gender, brain drain |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:1027&r=lab |
| By: | Bjuggren, Carl Magnus (Linköping University and Stockholm School of Economics/EHFF); Johansson, Dan (The Ratio Institute); Stenkula, Mikael (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Research on entrepreneurship has received an increased amount of interest in recent years, with self-employment being used as the most common proxy for “entrepreneurship” in empirical studies. However, there are various ways of defining selfemployment, making it a somewhat dubious proxy. This may flaw the analysis, especially in cross-country studies, since the documentation of data often is insufficient and difficult to access due to language barriers. We present an analysis of Swedish self-employment data. We show that the measurement of self-employment has changed over time to noticeably affect the reported number of self-employed in the two major statistical sources on self-employment. The reported development of self-employment sometimes differs diametrically depending on source. Sweden is occasionally erroneously reported to show the largest increase in selfemployment in cross-country studies. Our study mimics the results of other country-specific analyses and we conclude that well-grounded conclusions require that the advantages and disadvantages of different statistical sources are recognized. |
| Keywords: | Labor Force Survey; RAMS; self-employed; self employment; entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | C81 C82 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2010–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0154&r=lab |