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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Chiswick, Barry R. (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago); Miller, Paul W. (Business School, University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the incidence of the mismatch of the educational attainment and the occupation of employment, and the impact of this mismatch on the earnings, of high-skilled adult male immigrants in the US labor market. Analyses for high-skilled adult male native-born workers are also presented for comparison purposes. The results show that over-education is widespread in the high-skilled US labor market, both for immigrants and the native born. The extent of over-education declines with duration in the US as high-skilled immigrants obtain jobs commensurate with their educational level. Years of schooling that are above that which is usual for a worker’s occupation are associated with very low increases in earnings. Indeed, in the first 10 to 20 years in the US years of over-education among high-skilled workers have a negative effect on earnings. This ineffective use of surplus education appears across all occupations and high-skilled education levels. Although schooling serves as a pathway to occupational attainment, earnings appear to be more closely linked to a worker’s occupation than to the individual’s level of schooling. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants; Skill; Schooling; Occupations; Earnings; Rates of Return |
| JEL: | F22 I21 J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–07–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2010_007&r=lab |
| By: | MEYER CHRISTENSEN Anna; PAVLOPOULOS Dimitris |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of institutions on the unemployment gap between immigrants and natives in 11 EU-countries. We study whether benefits provide disincentive effects as the job-search theory suggests or rather efficiency gains as alternative theories propose. Further than the existing literature, we study unemployment duration instead of unemployment incidence, we distinguish between exits to inactivity, primary and secondary employment and we use individual-level measures for unemployment benefits. We apply a competing-risk event-history model using the ECHP. Our results favour the efficiency-gains argument for granting immigrants benefits as we find that benefits reduce unemployment duration and prevent transitions into inactivity. Employment perspectives of immigrants are better when demand for low-skilled labour is high, employment protection is low and immigration policy is labour-market oriented. |
| Keywords: | Benefits; Employment protection; Event-history model; Immigrants; Low-skilled labour; Unemployment duration |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-04&r=lab |
| By: | Neil Rankin; Justin Sandefur; Francis Teal |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of learning - through formal schooling and time spent in the labor market - in explaining labor market outcomes of urban workers in Ghana and Tanzania. We investigate these issues using a new data set measuring incomes of both formal sector wage workers and the self-employed in the informal sector. In both countries we find significant, convex returns to education and large earnings differentials between sectors when we pool the data and do not control for selection. In Ghana there is a particularly steep age-earnings profile. We investigate how far a Harris-Todaro model of market segmentation or a Roy model of selection can explain the patterns observed in the data. We find highly significant differences across occupations and important effects from selection in both countries. The data is consistent with a pattern by which higher ability individuals queue for the high wage formal sector jobs such that the age earnings profile is convex for the self-employed in Ghana once we control for selection. The returns to education are far higher in the large firm sector than in others and in this sector they are linear not convex. In both countries there is clear evidence of convexity in the returns to education for the self-employed and here the average returns are low. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:10-02&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Marx, Paul (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The paper compares employment structures in five Continental welfare states. These countries feature broad similarities in their reliance on a more dualised model of labour market flexibility, particularly in service occupations with low skill requirements. However, a closer look also reveals considerable differences between national patterns of standard and non-standard work. In Germany (and to a lesser extent Austria), marginal part-time provides a fertile ground for low-paid service jobs, as non-wage labour costs are minimised. In France, fixed-term contracts are a flexible and also cheaper alternative to permanent contracts, especially for younger workers. Dutch service sector employers follow an eclectic approach, as can be seen from high shares of self-employed and part-timers, as well as temporary workers. Finally, Belgium has large proportions of very low-skilled, own-account self-employed and involuntary fixed-term contracts. On the basis of these results, we identify four transformative pathways towards a more inclusive or flexible labour market: growing wage dispersion, defection from both permanent full-time employment as well as from dependent employment, and government-sponsored labour cost reductions. |
| Keywords: | labour market dualisation, Continental Europe, fixed-term contracts, part-time work, wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J38 J41 J21 J58 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5035&r=lab |
| By: | de la Rica, Sara (University of the Basque Country); Dolado, Juan José (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid); Vegas, Raquel (FEDEA, Madrid) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses detailed information from a large wage survey in 2006 to analyze the gender wage gap in the performance-pay (PP) component of total hourly wages and its contribution to the overall gender gap in Spain. Under the assumption that PP is determined in a more competitive fashion than the other wage components, one would expect, in principle, to find a low gender gap in PP. However, this is not what we find. After controlling for observable differences in individual and job characteristics as well as for non random selection, the adjusted gender gap in PP reaches 26 log points, displaying a "glass ceiling" pattern. After examining several alternative theories that could rationalize these findings, we conjecture that monopsonistic features, possibly related to women's lower labour mobility due to housework, fit better with our results than other theories related to occupational segregation. |
| Keywords: | performance pay, gender gaps, selection bias, quantile regressions |
| JEL: | J31 J33 J42 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5032&r=lab |
| By: | Mano, Yukichi; Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of a husband’s education, family structure, co-residence with parents or in-laws, and childcare, on labor supply and earnings among married Japanese women between 2000 and 2002. Whereas educated husbands reduce the labor supply of wives, they tend to improve productivity and earnings of the wives once they participate in the labor market. Moreover, our analysis provides evidence of specific division of labor within a household, through which a wife’s mother or mother-in-law helps her participate in the labor market, while her father or father-in-law does not affect her labor participation. ( 95 words) |
| Keywords: | Labor force participation; Women's earnings; Education |
| JEL: | J21 J12 |
| Date: | 2010–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23957&r=lab |
| By: | Eva Gutiérrez-i-Puigarnau; Jos N. van Ommeren |
| Abstract: | There is little known about the effects of staggered-hours programs that affect workers’ working schedules to mitigate peak congestion. We examine the effect of workers’ morning start times on their wages for Germany. In contrast to previous work based on cross-section data, we demonstrate that wages are not, or may be, a slight inverse U-shaped function of start time suggesting that staggered-hours programs might be welfare enhancing. |
| Keywords: | Work start time, wage, productivity, staggered work hours, congestion |
| JEL: | J2 J3 R41 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp310&r=lab |
| By: | BALDWIN Marjorie L.; CHOE Chung |
| Keywords: | Job demand; Disability; Wage Discrimination |
| JEL: | I10 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-14&r=lab |
| By: | Regina T. Riphahn |
| Abstract: | In response to increased international policy attention to youth unemployment this study investigates post-secondary school transitions of school leavers. Multinomial log it models are estimated for male and female German youth. The models control for individual, parent, and household characteristics, for those of the youth’s region of residence and local labor markets. The findings suggest that immigrant youth has particularly low participation rates in continued education, and that youth unemployment is centered in high unemployment states and metropolitan areas. Recent changes in academic benefit policies do not seem to be correlated with changes in academic enrollment, whereas men’s transitions to the military do reflect recent changes in defense policies. [IZA DP No. 99] |
| Keywords: | School-to-Work, youth unemployment, local labor markets |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2648&r=lab |
| By: | KOISSY KPEIN Sandrine |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) definition of child labor and data from EPAM Mali to highlight the gender difference in the competition between children’s economic or non-economic labor and schooling. A Quadri-variate Probit estimation was first used to account for the interdependency between school and various kinds of child labor: household chores (HHC), market-oriented (MO) activities and non-market-oriented (NMO) activities. Then, a Clogit estimation was used to examine the incidence of time repartition among children within the household regarding the probability of schooling. Empirical results from EPAM Mali provide interesting findings, including differential gender socialization according to the gender of the offspring, gender bias in repartition of tasks and time, and competition between labor activities and schooling. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Education; Child-labor; Intra-household allocations |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-08&r=lab |
| By: | David Card; Francesco Devicienti; Agata Maida |
| Abstract: | When wage contracts are relatively short-lived, rent sharing may reduce the incentives for investment since some of the returns to sunk capital are captured by workers. In this paper we use a matched worker-firm data set from the Veneto region of Italy that combines Social Security earnings records for employees with detailed financial information for employers to measure the degree of rent sharing and test for holdup. We estimate wage models with job match effects, allowing us to control for any permanent differences in productivity across workers, firms, and job matches. We also compare OLS and instrumental variables specifications that use sales of firms in other regions of the country to instrument value-added per worker. We find strong evidence of rent-sharing, with a “Lester range” of variation in wages between profitable and unprofitable firms of around 10%. On the other hand we find little evidence that bargaining lowers the return to investment. Instead, firm-level bargaining in Veneto appears to split the rents after deducting the full cost of capital. Our findings are consistent with a dynamic bargaining model (Crawford, 1988) in which workers pay up front for the returns to sunk capital they will capture in later periods. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16192&r=lab |
| By: | Carolina Silva Cassorla (Dpto. Fundamentos del Análisis Económico) |
| Abstract: | We introduce a minimum wage and severance payments in an equilibrium labor market model with search frictions. We analyze how these policies affect endogenous job creation and destruction decisions and, more generally, the general equilibrium allocation. We structurally estimate the model's parameters and, with the resulting sets of estimates, we perform a quantitative welfare analysis. We conclude that when the dispersion in wages found in the sample is low and the share that workers receive from the surplus their job generates is below a particular level, the maximum level of welfare can be attained using either any of the two policies by themselves or an appropriate combination. However, as dispersion in wages increases, the minimum wage, by itself, can no longer reach the economy's maximum level of welfare; and when it is high enough, no policy in isolation can attain the economy's maximum level of welfare, a combination is required. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wages, severance payments, matching models, Nash bargaining, welfare |
| JEL: | C51 J38 J41 J65 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2010-22&r=lab |
| By: | Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London); Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London) |
| Abstract: | <p>This paper examines the impact of month of birth on national achievement test scores in England whilst children are in school, and on subsequent further and higher education participation. Using geographical variation in school admissions policies, we are able to split this difference into an age of starting school or length of schooling effect, and an age of sitting the test effect. We find that the month in which you are born matters for test scores at ages 7, 11, 14 and 16, with younger children performing significantly worse, on average, than their older peers. Furthermore, almost all of this difference is due to the fact that younger children sit exams up to one year earlier than older cohort members. The difference in test scores at age 16 potentially affects the number of pupils who stay on beyond compulsory schooling, with predictable labour market consequences. Indeed, we find that the impact of month of birth persists into higher education (college) decisions, with age 19/20 participation declining monotonically with month of birth. The fact that being young in your school year affects outcomes after the completion of compulsory schooling points to the need for urgent policy reform, to ensure that future cohorts of children are not adversely affected by the month of birth lottery inherent in the English education system.</p> |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/06&r=lab |
| By: | TENIKUE Michel |
| Abstract: | Many developing countries face a pro-male gender gap in schooling, as boys are more likely to be enrolled at school than girls. This paper examines whether the current enrolment gap prevails equally both among children with a "regular" and an "irregular" schooling history. Children with a Regular schooling history are those who completed primary educa- tion between the ages of 12 and 15 years. Children with an Irregular schooling history are the rest. We investigate the gender gap in schooling empirically using data provided by the 2001 Cameroon Household Survey. The empirical framework allows for a dierent gender efect among regular and irregular children. It also accounts for selection into the two groups. Results show no male-female diference among regular children. Among irregular children however, females are more likely to stay out of schools. Our results suggest that, female children are given a schooling possibility to start with but are more exposed to dropping out if they display any form of irregularity in the course of their education. |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-03&r=lab |
| By: | Stephan, Gesine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper explores whether wage, employment and tenure outcomes of workers taking up a job subsidized by the German Federal Employment Agency differ by industry. The analysis utilizes administrative data and statistical matching techniques; it covers an observation period of 3.5 years. First, we conduct a within-industry comparison of temporarily subsidized and otherwise similar unsubsidized workers. The findings show for most industries that subsidized workers had similar short-run wages, but fared significantly better in the longer run. Second, we compare labor market outcomes of subsidized workers within each industry with those of similar subsidized workers in other industries. The main result is that cumulated wages of workers would not have differed significantly, if they had been hired in another industry instead. However, we find significant differences in short-term wages, employment and tenure outcomes across industries. Finally, from a fiscal point of view it seems more advantageous to subsidize workers hired in industries that are less subject to demand fluctuations." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J31 J38 J58 |
| Date: | 2010–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201012&r=lab |
| By: | Soumya Gupta |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an overview of school education in Delhi. [Working Paper No. 0068] |
| Keywords: | School, Education, Delhi, literacy, Census, classroom, Fundamental rights |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2653&r=lab |
| By: | Simona E. Cociuba; Alexander Ueberfeldt |
| Abstract: | From 1980 until 2007, U.S. average hours worked increased by thirteen percent, due to a large increase in female hours. At the same time, the U.S. labor wedge, measured as the discrepancy between a representative household's marginal rate of substitution between consumption and leisure and the marginal product of labor, declined substantially. We examine these trends in a model with heterogeneous households: married couples, single males and single females. Our quantitative analysis shows that the shrinking gender wage gaps and increasing labor income taxes observed in U.S. data are key determinants of hours and the labor wedge. Changes in our model's labor wedge are driven by distortionary taxes and non-distortionary factors, such as cross-sectional differences in households' labor supply and productivity. We conclude that the labor wedge measured from a representative household model partly reflects imperfect household aggregation. |
| Keywords: | Hours of labor ; Taxation ; Households - Economic aspects ; Labor supply ; Wages |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:53&r=lab |
| By: | Cortes, Kalena E. (Syracuse University); Bricker, Jesse (Federal Reserve Board); Rohlfs, Chris (Syracuse University) |
| Abstract: | Absences in Chicago Public High Schools are 3-7 days per year higher in first period than at other times of the day. This study exploits this empirical regularity and the essentially random variation between students in the ordering of classes over the day to measure how the returns to classroom learning vary by course subject, and how much attendance in one class spills over into learning in other subjects. We find that having a class in first period reduces grades in that course and has little effect on long-term grades or grades in related subjects. We also find moderately-sized negative effects of having a class in first period on test scores in that subject and in related subjects, particularly for math classes. |
| Keywords: | education production, subject-specific, math, English, morning classes, first period, course schedule, quasi-experimental, attendance, absenteeism, Chicago, high school |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5031&r=lab |
| By: | Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah; Francis Teal; Moses Awoonor-Williams |
| Abstract: | Poverty has halved in Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005. Our objective in this paper is to assess how far this fall was linked to the creation of better paying jobs and the increase in education. We find that earnings rose rapidly in the period from 1998 to 2005, by 64% for men and by 55% for women. While education, particularly at the post secondary level, is associated with far higher earnings there is no evidence that the increase in earnings that occurred over the period from1998 to 2005 is due to increased returns to education or increased levels of education. In contrast there is very strong evidence, for all levels of education, that the probability of having a public sector job approximately halved over the period from 1991 while the probability of having a job in a small firm increased very substantially. In 1991/92 a male worker with secondary education had a 7 per cent probability of being employed in a small firm, by 2005/06 this had increased to 20 per cent which was higher than the probability of being employed by the public sector. Employment in small firms, which is the low paying occupation within the urban sector, increased from 2.7 to 6.7 percent of the population, an increase from 225,000 to 886,000 employees. Jobs in total have been increasing in line with the population but the proportion of relatively low paying ones increased markedly from 1998/99 to 2005/06. The rises in income that occurred over this period were due almost entirely to increases in earnings rates, for given levels of education, across all job types particularly among the unskilled. Why unskilled earnings rates rose so rapidly is unclear. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:10-01&r=lab |
| By: | Feng, Shuaizhang (Princeton University); Hu, Yingyao (Johns Hopkins University) |
| Abstract: | Using recent results in the measurement error literature, we show that the official U.S. unemployment rates substantially underestimate the true levels of unemployment, due to misclassification errors in labor force status in Current Population Surveys. Our closed-form identification of the misclassification probabilities relies on the key assumptions that the misreporting behaviors only depend on the true values and that the true labor force status dynamics satisfy a Markov-type property. During the period of 1996 to 2009, the corrected monthly unemployment rates are 1 to 4.6 percentage points (25% to 45%) higher than the official rates, and are more sensitive to changes in business cycles. Labor force participation rates, however, are not affected by this correction. We also provide results for various subgroups of the U.S. population defined by gender, race and age. |
| Keywords: | unemployment rate, labor force participation rate, misclassification, measurement error, Current Population Survey |
| JEL: | J21 J64 C14 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5057&r=lab |
| By: | De Borger B.; Wuyts B. |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a numerical optimisation model to study optimal labour and peak-period congestion taxes under different assumptions on the structure of the labour market. We consider both a competitive labour market and various wage bargaining models, in which wages are determined via negotiations between firms and labour unions. All models include commuting and non-commuting transport, and they allow for telecommuting. The models are numerically implemented using Belgian data. We find that wage bargaining models may imply higher or lower congestion tolls on peak period car traffic compared to competitive labour markets, depending on the response of unions to transport issues and the composition of the traffic flow. If unions care about the effect of congestion and congestion tolls on their members’ well being, we find the optimal congestion toll for the wage bargaining model to be 15%-20% lower than under competitive labour market conditions. However, if unions do not care about their members’ transport problems when negotiating about wages and employment, then the optimal congestion tax is up to 50% higher under bargaining than under competition. We further find that the optimal tax structure results in substantially more telecommuting for all labour market structures considered. Finally, improving the efficiency of telecommuting results in a considerable reduction in optimal congestion tolls. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2010013&r=lab |
| By: | Christofides, Louis N. (University of Cyprus); Polycarpou, Alexandros (University of Cyprus); Vrachimis, Konstantinos (University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | We consider and attempt to understand the gender wage gap across 24 EU member states, all of which share the objective of gender equality, using 2007 data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. The size of the gender wage gap varies considerably across countries and selection corrections affect the offered gap, sometimes substantially. Most of the gap cannot be explained by the characteristics available in this data set. Quantile regressions show that, in most countries, the wage gap is wider at the top of the wage distribution ('glass ceilings') and, in fewer countries, it is wider at the bottom of the wage distribution ('sticky floors'). These features are related to country-specific characteristics that cannot be evaluated at the member state level. We use the cross-country variation in this large sample of member states to explore the influence of (i) policies concerned with reconciling work and family life and (ii) wage-setting institutions. We find that policies and institutions are systematically related to unexplained gender wage gaps. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, selection, quantile effects, work-family reconciliation, wage-setting institutions |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J50 C21 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5044&r=lab |
| By: | Arusha Cooray (School of Ecnomoics, University of Wollongong); Niklas Potrafke (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We investigate empirically whether political institutions or culture and religion underlie gender inequality in education. The dataset contains up to 157 countries over the 1991-2006 period. The results indicate that political institutions do not significantly influence education of girls: autocratic regimes do not discriminate against girls in denying educational opportunities and democracies do not discriminate by gender when providing educational opportunities. The primary influences on gender inequality in education are culture and religion. Discrimination against girls is especially pronounced in Muslim dominated countries. |
| Keywords: | Gender discrimination, education, democracy, religion |
| JEL: | O11 O15 O43 O57 P26 P36 Z12 |
| Date: | 2010–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:0601&r=lab |
| By: | Monazza Aslam; Geeta Kingdon |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between parental schooling on the one hand, and child health outcomes (height and weight) and parental health-seeking behaviour (immunisation status of children), on the other. While establishing a correlational link between parental schooling and child health is relatively straightforward, confirming a causal relationship is more complex. Using unique data from Pakistan, we aim to understand the mechanisms through which parental schooling promotes better child health and health-seeking behaviour. The following ‘pathways’ are investigated: educated parents’ greater household income, exposure to media, literacy, labour market participation, health knowledge and the extent of maternal empowerment within the home. We find that while father's education is positively associated with the 'one-off' immunisation decision, mother's education is more critically associated with longer term health outcomes in OLS equations. Instrumental variable (IV) estimates suggest that father's health knowledge is most positively associated with immunisation decisions while mother's health knowledge and her empowerment within the home are the channels through which her education impacts her child's height and weight respectively. |
| Keywords: | parental schooling, mother's health knowledge, father's health knowledge, media exposure, maternal empowerment, child health, immunisation, Pakistan. |
| JEL: | I1 I2 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:10-16&r=lab |
| By: | Dronkers, Jaap; Avram, S |
| Abstract: | We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of the disparity in school effectiveness between the privately owned, privately funded school sector and the public one in a sample of 25 countries in Europe, America and Asia. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus, to account for selectivity induced variation in school effectiveness. We find two broad patterns of private independent school choice: the choice as a social class reproduction choice; and the choice of an outsider’s for a good-equipped school. As regards school effectiveness, our results show that, after controlling for selectivity and school choice processes, the initial higher reading scores of students in private-independent schools become comparable to those public schools students in a majority of countries. However, in a few countries average reading scores remain higher in the private independent sector even after introducing controls for school choice induced selectivity. The opposite pattern, namely of higher average reading scores in the public sector has also been found in four countries. |
| Keywords: | school choice; school effectiveness; PISA data; public schools; private government-independent schools |
| JEL: | D71 I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23886&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Keane (School of Finance and Economics, University of Technology, Sydney) |
| Abstract: | I survey the male and female labor supply literatures, focusing on implications for effects of wages and taxes. For males, I describe and contrast results from three basic types of model: static models (especially those that account for nonlinear taxes), life-cycle models with savings, and life-cycle models with both savings and human capital. For women, more important distinctions are whether models include fixed costs of work, and whether they treat demographics like fertility and marriage (and human capital) as exogenous or endogenous. The literature is characterized by considerable controversy over the responsiveness of labor supply to changes in wages and taxes. At least for males, it is fair to say that most economists believe labor supply elasticities are small. But a sizeable minority of studies that I examine obtain large values. Hence, there is no clear consensus on this point. In fact, a simple average of Hicks elasticities across all the studies I examine is 0.30. Several simulation studies have shown that such a value is large enough to generate large welfare costs of income taxation. For males, I conclude that two factors drive many of the differences in results across studies. One factor is use of direct vs. ratio wage measures, with studies that use the former tending to find larger elasticties. Another factor is the failure of most studies to account for human capital returns to work experience. I argue that this may lead to downward bias in elasticity estimates. In a model that includes human capital, I show how even modest elasticities – as conventionally measured – can be consistent with large welfare costs of taxation. For women, in contrast, it is fair to say that most studies find large labor supply elasticities, especially on the participation margin. In particular, I find that estimates of “long run†labor supply elasticities – by which I mean estimates that allow for dynamic effects of wages on fertility, marriage, education and work experience – are generally quite large. |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uts:wpaper:160&r=lab |
| By: | Kosfeld, Michael (Goethe University Frankfurt); Neckermann, Susanne (ZEW Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of status and social recognition on worker performance in a field experiment. In collaboration with an international non-governmental organization we hired students to work on a database project. Students in the award treatment were offered a congratulatory card from the organization honoring the best performance. The award was purely symbolic in order to ensure that any behavioral effect is driven by non-material benefits. Our results show that students in the award treatment outperform students in the control treatment by about 12 percent on average. Our results provide strong evidence for the motivating power of status and social recognition in labor relations with major implications for theory and applications. |
| Keywords: | award, non-monetary incentives, status, social recognition, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5040&r=lab |
| By: | Alberto Alesina (Harvard and Igier); Yann Algan (Sciences Po, Ofce); Pierre Cahuc (Ecole Polytechnique, Crest); Paola Giuliano, UCLA (UCLA) |
| Abstract: | Flexible labor markets requires geographically mobile workers to be efficient. Otherwise, firms can take advantage of the immobility of workers and extract monopsony rents. In cultures with strong family ties, moving away from home is costly. Thus, individuals with strong family ties rationally choose regulated labor markets to avoid moving and limiting the monopsony power of firms, even though regulation generates lower employment and income. Empirically, we do find that individuals who inherit stronger family ties are less mobile, have lower wages, are less often employed and support more stringent labor market regulations. There are also positive cross-country correlations between the strength of family ties and labor market rigidities. Finally, we find positive correlations between labor market rigidities at the beginning of the twenty first century and family values prevailing before World War II, which suggests that labor market regulations have deep cultural roots. |
| Keywords: | Family Values, Regulation of Labor, Labor Markets |
| JEL: | J J2 J4 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.56&r=lab |
| By: | Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Feil, Michael (IAB, Nürnberg); Marx, Paul (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The current crisis, while of a global nature, has affected national labor markets to a varying extent. While some countries have experienced a steep increase in unemployment, employment in other developed economies has not fallen in parallel with a significant decline in GDP. Our analysis shows that labor market institutions frequently used to study employment performance can explain the development of unemployment in the situation of crisis in some clusters of countries much better than in others. One major factor to be incorporated in capturing national variations is the role of internal flexibility, in particular working time adjustment. This calls for a broader concept of labor market flexibility which takes into account different channels of adjustment. |
| Keywords: | labor market institutions, internal flexibility, employment protection, economic crisis |
| JEL: | J23 J21 J58 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5045&r=lab |
| By: | Barattieri, Alessandro (Boston College); Basu, Susanto (Boston College); Gottschalk, Peter T. (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Nominal wage stickiness is an important component of recent medium-scale structural macroeconomic models, but to date there has been little microeconomic evidence supporting the assumption of sluggish nominal wage adjustment. We present evidence on the frequency of nominal wage adjustment using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for the period 1996-1999. The SIPP provides high-frequency information on wages, employment and demographic characteristics for a large and representative sample of the US population. The main results of the analysis are as follows. 1) After correcting for measurement error, wages appear to be very sticky. In the average quarter, the probability that an individual will experience a nominal wage change is between 5 and 18 percent, depending on the samples and assumptions used. 2) The frequency of wage adjustment does not display significant seasonal patterns. 3) There is little heterogeneity in the frequency of wage adjustment across industries and occupations 4) The hazard of a nominal wage change first increases and then decreases, with a peak at 12 months. 5) The probability of a wage change is positively correlated with the unemployment rate and with the consumer price inflation rate. |
| Keywords: | wage stickiness, micro-level evidence, measurement error |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J30 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5039&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Chowdry (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London); Alissa Goodman (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Anna Vignoles (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute of Education) |
| Abstract: | <p>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.</p> |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/04&r=lab |
| By: | Arpino B (University of Florence); Pronzato C (Bocconi University); Tavares L (Dondena Centre University of Bocconi) |
| Abstract: | In the traditional models of female labour supply formal childcare is assumed to be provided by the market. This is not the case in most European countries. In this paper we estimate the causal effect of a particular kind of informal care, the one provided by grandparents, on mothersÂ’ work decisions in Italy. We deal with the endogeneity due to mothersÂ’ and grandparentsÂ’ unobserved preferences by instrumenting grandparentsÂ’ help. We find that having grandparents helping with childcare increases mothersÂ’ labour market participation. The effect is particularly strong for lower educated mothers of young children, in North and Centre Italy. |
| Date: | 2010–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2010-24&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Chiapore (Economics Department, Columbia University); Climent Quintana Domeque (Universidad de Alicante); Sonia Oreffice (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | We construct a matching model on the marriage market along more than one characteristic, where individuals have preferences over physical attractiveness (proxied by anthropometric characteristics) and market and household productivity of potential mates (proxied by socioeconomic characteristics), with a certain degree of substitutability between them. Men and women assess each other through an index combining these various attributes, so the matching is one-dimensional. We estimate the sorting and trade-offs among these characteristics using data from the PSID, finding evidence of compensation between anthropometric and socioeconomic characteristics for both genders, and of equality of these marginal rates of substitution across traits. Among men, a 10% increase in BMI can be compensated by a higher wage, the supplement being estimated to be around 3%. Similarly, for women, an additional year of education may compensate up to three BMI units. |
| Keywords: | BMI, marriage market, wages, education |
| JEL: | D1 J1 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2010-23&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Atherton; Geeta Kingdon |
| Abstract: | While use of contract teachers provides a low-cost way to increase teacher numbers, it raises the quality concern that these less trained teachers may be less effective. We estimate the causal contract-teacher effect on student achievement using school fixed effects and value-added models of the education production function, using Indian data. We allow for both homogenous and heterogeneous treatment effects, to highlight the mechanisms through which the contract teacher effect works. We also present school fixed effects teacher pay equations and predict achievement marks per Rupee spent on regular and contract teachers. We find that despite being paid just a third of the salary of regular teachers with similar observed characteristics, contract teachers produce higher student learning. |
| Keywords: | Student achievement, contract teachers, India |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:10-15&r=lab |
| By: | Kahn, Lisa B. (Yale University); Lange, Fabian (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Two ubiquitous empirical regularities in pay distributions are that the variance of wages increases with experience, and innovations in wage residuals have a large, unpredictable component. The leading explanations for these patterns are that over time, either firms learn about worker productivity but productivity remains fixed or workers' productivities themselves evolve heterogeneously. In this paper, we seek to disentangle these two models and place magnitudes on their relative importance. We derive a dynamic model of learning and productivity that nests both models and allows them to coexist. We estimate our model on a 20-year panel of pay and performance measures from a single, large firm (the Baker-Gibbs-Holmstrom data). Incorporating performance measures yields two key innovations. First, the panel structure implies that we have repeat measures of correlates of productivity, as opposed to the empirical evidence on employer learning which uses one fixed measure. Second, we can separate productivity from pay, whereas the previous literature on productivity evolution could not. We find that both models are important in explaining the data. However, the predominant effect is that worker productivity evolves idiosyncratically over time, implying firms must continuously learn about a moving target. Therefore, while the majority of pay dispersion is driven by variation in individual productivity, wages differ significantly from individual productivity at all experience levels due to imperfect information. We believe this represents a significant reinterpretation of the empirical literature on employer learning. |
| Keywords: | employer learning, productivity, performance evaluations, personnel |
| JEL: | D21 D83 J24 J33 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5054&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Denny (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College Dublin); Orla Doyle; Patricia O'Reilly; Vincent O'Sullivan |
| Abstract: | <p><p>There is a well established socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment in all countries: young people from a low socioeconomic status (SES) will, on average, receive less education and do less well at school. While this is true virtually everywhere, this SES gradient is noticeably higher in Ireland compared to other OECD countries despite much effort in recent decades to address this inequality. This study evaluates a university access program in Ireland that provides financial, academic and social support to low SES students both prior to and after entry to university. It uses a natural experiment involving the gradual roll-out of the program to identify the effect of the program. The program has parallels with US Affirmative Action programs, although preferential treatment in this case is based on SES rather than ethnicity. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs targeting disadvantaged students in Ireland is particularly salient given the high rate of return to education and the lack of intergenerational mobility in educational attainment. Overall, we find positive treatment effects on first year exam performance, progression to second year and final year graduation rates, with the impact often stronger for higher ability students. We find similar patterns of results for students that entered through the regular system and the 'affirmative action' group i.e. the students that entering with lower high school grades. The program affects both male and female students, albeit in different ways. The study is unable to identify which specific component of the treatment is responsible for the effects but we find no evidence that changes in the financial support have an effect on student outcomes. This study suggests that access programs can be an effective means of improving academic outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students. </p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p></p></p> |
| Keywords: | Education inequality, Access programs, Natural experiment, Economics of education |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/12&r=lab |
| By: | Dronkers, Jaap; Avram, S |
| Abstract: | We apply propensity score matching to the estimation of differential school effectiveness between the publicly funded private sector and the public one, in a sample of 26 countries. This technique allows us to distinguish between school choice and school effectiveness processes and thus, to account for selectivity issues involved in the comparison of the two. Concerning school choice, we found two patterns: a choice of the upwardly mobile parents for private schools and a preference for segregation by (lower-) middle class parents. As regards school effectiveness, our results indicate that, after controlling for selectivity, a substantial advantage in reading achievement remains among students in publicly funded private schools in ten out of the 26 countries. |
| Keywords: | school choice; school effectiveness; private-dependent and public schools; international comparison; PISA data |
| JEL: | D71 I21 J24 L33 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23911&r=lab |
| By: | Hilary Williamson Hoynes; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach |
| Abstract: | Labor supply theory makes strong predictions about how the introduction of a social welfare program impacts work effort. Although there is a large literature on the work incentive effects of AFDC and the EITC, relatively little is known about the work incentive effects of the Food Stamp Program and none of the existing literature is based on quasi-experimental methods. We use the cross-county introduction of the program in the 1960s and 1970s to estimate the impact of the program on the extensive and intensive margins of labor supply, earnings, and family cash income. Consistent with theory, we find modest reductions in employment and hours worked when food stamps are introduced. The results are larger for single-parent families. |
| JEL: | H31 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16198&r=lab |
| By: | James Banks (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Richard Blundell (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Antoine Bozio (Institute for Fiscal Studies and UCL); Carl Emmerson (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p>This paper tries to assess whether or not we have any empirical evidence of links between early retirement and youth unemployment. Most economists would today dismiss the idea immediately as another version of the naïve 'lump-of-labor fallacy'. In its most basic form, this proposition holds that there is a fixed supply of jobs and that any reduction in labor supply will reduce unemployment by offering jobs to those who are looking for ones. Taken to the extreme, this view would support that the idea that a high level of employment of one group of individuals can only be at the expense of another group: if for instance were the population of a country to increase, younger individuals would be unemployed as older individuals would not 'release' enough jobs for the new entrants. The absurdity of this view in the long term is simply seen by considering the fact that the size of a country does not bear any relation to the share of population unemployed. </p> |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/02&r=lab |
| By: | Gabriel Rodríguez (Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú); Firouz Fallahi |
| Abstract: | We analyze the degree of persistence of the unemployment rates of the 10 Canadian provinces using quarterly data for the period 1976:1-2005:4. We apply a two-break minimum Lagrange Multiplier unit root statistic, which, unlike standard unit root statistics (without or with breaks), makes it possible to .nd the stationarity of the different unemployment rates, giving support to the theory of the natural rate. We use the methodology of Bai and Perron (1998, 2003) to estimate a linear model with multiple structural changes to estimate the different degrees of persistence over the different regimes. The results suggest that the degree of persistence decreases when multiple breaks are allowed. Issues regarding the Canadian labor market, the insurance benefits program, inter-provincial transfers, and inter-provincial mobility are discussed as potential explanations for the results. |
| Keywords: | Persistence, Unemployment, Unit Root, Break Dates, Canadian Provinces. |
| JEL: | C22 C52 R11 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pcp:pucwps:wp00286&r=lab |
| By: | van der Klaauw, Bas (VU University Amsterdam); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | To increase their transition from welfare to work, benefit recipients in the municipality of Rotterdam were exposed to various financial incentives, including both carrots to sticks. Once their benefit spell exceeded one year, welfare recipients were entitled to a reemployment bonus if they found a job that lasted at least six months. However, they could also be punished for noncompliance with eligibility requirements and face a sanction, i.e. a temporary reducing of their benefits. In this paper we investigate how benefit sanctions and reemployment bonuses affect job finding rates of welfare recipients. We find that benefit sanctions were effective in bringing unemployed from welfare to work more quickly while reemployment bonuses were not. |
| Keywords: | welfare to work, financial incentives, timing-of-events, dynamic selection |
| JEL: | J64 C21 C41 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5055&r=lab |
| By: | Gian Luca Clementi (New York University and RCEA); Thomas Cooley (New York University and NBER) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we describe the important features of executive compensation in the US from 1993 to 2006. Some confirm what has been found for earlier periods and some are novel. Notable facts are that: the compensation distribution is highly skewed; each year, a sizeable fraction of chief executives lose money; the use of security grants has increased over time; the income accruing to CEOs from the sale of stock increased; regardless of the measure we adopt, compensation responds strongly to innovations in shareholder wealth; measured as dollar changes in compensation, incentives have strengthened over time, measured as percentage changes in wealth, they have not changed in any appreciable way. |
| Keywords: | CEO, Pay–Performance Sensitivity, Stock, Options |
| JEL: | G34 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.89&r=lab |
| By: | Schellenberg, Grant; Ostrovsky, Yuri |
| Abstract: | In spite of the importance of registered pension plans (RPPs) in discussions of Canada's retirement income system, very few Canadian studies have examined the financial outcomes experienced by RPP members and RPP non-members. Using data from the Longitudinal Administrative Database (LAD), this paper compares the distributions of earnings replacement rates achieved by retired men who were or were not members of a registered pension plan (RPP) in 1991 and/or 1992. The distributions of earnings replacement rates of men who were not RPP members are far more dispersed than those of men who were RPP members. And while the average earnings replacement rates of the two groups are generally comparable, the median earnings replacement rates of RPP non-members are lower than those of RPP members as a result of asymmetry in the distributions. |
| Keywords: | Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Seniors, Work and retirement |
| Date: | 2010–07–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2010326e&r=lab |
| By: | Rekha Jain |
| Abstract: | Telecom sector in India has been growing very fast and changing very rapidly in service delivery mechanisms used, target segments addressed, technogical platforms for service delivery etc. Globally also the growth scenario is very positive. This means that this sector offers employment opportunities that are attractive. In order to exploit these opportunities, the sector needs people with the approppriate employment profiles that match the changing requirements both in atributes and numbers. However, the current education system is not equipped to provide the requisite profiles. This paper identifies and quantifies the skill gap both in terms of focus areas and numbers by segmenting the sector. It suggest directions in which the change must happen. It also reviews innovative approaches in the private and government sector in India and abroad with a view to assess the adapatability of these approaches on a larger scale in India. [W.P. No.2008-08-02] |
| Keywords: | Telecom, employment, implications, education, training, skills, profiles |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2654&r=lab |
| By: | David A. Green; Kathryn Harrison |
| Abstract: | <p>We examine the setting of minimum wages, arguing that they can best be understood as a reflection of voters' notions of fairness. We arrive at this conclusion through an empirical investigation of the implications of three models, considered in the context of policy setting by sub-units in a federation: a competing interests group model; a constrained altruism model; and a fairness based model. In the latter model, voters are interested in banning what they view to be unfair transactions, with the notion of fairness based on comparisons to the "going" unskilled wage. We use data on minimum wages set in the ten Canadian provinces from 1969 to 2005 to carry out the investigation. A key implication of the models that is borne out in the data is that minimum wages should be set as a positive function of the location of the unskilled wage distribution. Together, the results indicate that minimum wages are set according to a "fairness" standard and that this may exacerbate movements in inequality.</p> |
| JEL: | J38 H73 D78 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/09&r=lab |
| By: | BERGER Frédéric; ISLAM Nizamul; LIEGEOIS Philippe |
| Abstract: | In this study, the household labour supply is modelled as a discrete choice problem assuming that preference for leisure and consumption can be described by a quadratic utility function which allows for non-convexities in the budget set. We assess behavioural responses to the significant changes in the tax-benefit system during 2001-2002 in Luxembourg. Only moderate impact is found, on average, on the efficiency of the economy as measured by the labour supply effects. The impact is indeed concentrated on richer single women. These increase significantly their labour force, which more than doubles the non-behavioural effect of the tax reform on disposable income and boosts the gains in well-being for that part of population. |
| Keywords: | Labour supply; Discrete choice; Households; Microsimulation; Tax reform |
| JEL: | C25 H24 H31 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-10&r=lab |
| By: | HILDEBRAND Vincent; VAN KERM Philippe |
| Abstract: | Evidence of the association between wages and body size –typically measured by the body mass index– appears to be sensitive to estimation methods and samples, and varies across gender and ethnic groups. One factor that may contribute to this sensitivity is the non-linearity of the relationship. This paper analyzes data from the European Community Household Panel survey and uses semi-parametric techniques to avoid functional form assumptions and assess the relevance of standard models. If a linear model for women and a quadratic model for men fit the data relatively well, they are not entirely satisfactory and are statistically rejected in favour of semiparametric models which identify patterns that none of the parametric specifications capture. Furthermore, when we use height and weight in the models directly, rather than equating body size with the body mass index, the semi-parametric models reveal a more complex picture with height having additional effects on wages. We interpret our results as consistent with the existence of a wage premium for physical attractiveness rather than a penalty for unhealthy weight. |
| Keywords: | Body Mass Index; Obesity; Wages; Partial linear models; ECHP |
| JEL: | C14 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2010-09&r=lab |
| By: | Joan Gil; Toni Mora |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the extent to which peer influence on adolescent weight differs in a typical southern European country and in the United States, two geographical areas characterised by different economic, socio-cultural and environmental patterns. Our study is based on a survey of secondary school students containing a rich set of personal data and a wide range of school characteristics and parental backgrounds. After accounting for a large set of control factors and controlling for a combination of school- and neighbourhood-specific fixed effects, instrumental variable estimation and alternative definitions of peers, our results support a more powerful positive and significant effect of friends’ mean BMI on adolescent weight than that reported in previous US-based research. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2010-18&r=lab |
| By: | Finn Christensen (Department of Economics, Towson University); James Manley (Department of Economics, Towson University); Louise Laurence (Department of Economics, Towson University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the widespread awarding of faculty merit pay at a large public university accurately reflects productivity. We show that pairwise voting on a quality standard by a committee can in theory be consistent with observed allocation patterns. However, the data indicate only nominal adherence to a quality standard. Departments with more severe compression issues are more likely to award merit pay as a countermeasure and some departments appear to be motivated by nonpecuniary incentives. Much of the variance in merit pay allocation remains unexplained. These results suggest reform is needed to improve transparency in the merit system. |
| JEL: | D7 I20 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2010-13&r=lab |
| By: | Jose Apesteguia; Ghazala Azmat; Nagore Iriberri |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether the gender composition of teams affect their economic performance. We study a large business game, played in groups of three, where each group takes the role of a general manager. There are two parallel competitions, one involving undergraduates and the other involving MBAs. Our analysis shows that teams formed by three women are significantly outperformed by any other gender combination, both at the undergraduate and MBA levels. Looking across the performance distribution, we find that for undergraduates, three women teams are outperformed throughout, but by as much as 10pp at the bottom and by only 1pp at the top. For MBAs, at the top, the best performing group is two men and one woman. The differences in performance are explained by differences in decision-making. We observe that three women teams are less aggressive in their pricing strategies, invest less in R&D, and invest more in social sustainability initiatives, than any other gender combination teams. Finally, we find support for the hypothesis that it is poor work dynamics among the three women teams that drives the results. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Teams; Performance; Decision-Making. |
| JEL: | D21 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1225&r=lab |
| By: | Rakesh Basant; Gitanjali Sen |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how socio-economic, especially socio-religious affiliations, and demographic characteristics of individuals influence participation in higher education (HE). It argues that appropriate measures of ‘deficits’ in participation should inform the nature and scope of affirmative action. The analytical and policy relevance of distinguishing between stock and flow measures, the differences in eligibility for HE across groups are emphasized. After controlling for relevant factors, the ‘hierarchy of participation in higher education’ that emerges from detailed analysis suggests that deficits for some marginalized groups are not high enough to justify reservation for these groups on the basis of low participation. [W.P. No. 2009-11-01] |
| Keywords: | India, Asia, Education, Affirmative Action, Reservation, Caste |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2672&r=lab |