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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Hye Jin Rho |
| Abstract: | Employment in physically demanding jobs or in jobs with difficult working conditions is a major cause of early labor-market exit among older workers. Raising the retirement age is particularly concerning for near-retirement age workers with such jobs. Despite the fact that the retirement age increase is supposed to encourage workers to work longer, many workers would be physically unable to extend work lives in their jobs, and they would most likely be left with no choice but to receive reduced benefits. An increase in the retirement age or other cuts in Social Security benefits are also likely to put a greater burden on demographic groups that have higher proportions of workers in difficult jobs. In particular, physically demanding jobs and jobs that had difficult working conditions were more likely to be held by men, Latinos, the least educated (less than a high school diploma), immigrants, and the lowest wage earners. |
| Keywords: | social security, retirement, retirement age, |
| JEL: | H H6 H62 H63 H68 J J1 J14 J18 J3 J32 J38 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2010-19&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Dirk Vlasblom; Janneke Plantenga |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the effect of parental leave on individual careers. We use individual registration data of a Dutch non-profit firm (Utrecht University). Our outcomes show that even with a short period of flexible leave there are career effects. More specifically, these effects are not unambiguously positive: slightly longer job durations are found, but also a lower probability of wage increases. It also appears that there are differences in effects between men and women: for men the effects appear to be smaller and of a more temporary character than for women. Apparently, even in a highly flexible system as the Dutch, with a high take up rate of men, the labour-care balance is still not gender neutral and not career neutral. |
| Keywords: | Parental leave, Labour force participation, Labour career, Gender |
| JEL: | J22 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1014&r=lab |
| By: | Alena Bicakova |
| Abstract: | Using EU LFS data, we analyze gender unemployment gaps in eight new EU member states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, the three Baltic states and Slovenia – over the last decade. While there are substantial unemployment gaps in the four central European countries and, more recently, also in Slovenia, there is no statistical difference between female and male unemployment rates in the three Baltic states. The estimated cost of having children, in terms of the higher probability of unemployment and lower unemployment to employment transition rate, is the highest in countries with the longest and most substantial drop in the labor force participation of women after childbirth. We show that country differences in family leave policies can explain much of the cross-country variation in the gender unemployment gaps. |
| Keywords: | Gender Unemployment Gap; Labor Force Participation; Family Leave Policies |
| JEL: | J13 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp410&r=lab |
| By: | Parey, M. |
| Abstract: | This thesis employs microeconometric methods to understand determinants and eects of individual behavior relating to educational choice and consumer demand. Chapter 2 studies the intergenerational eects of maternal education on a range of children's outcomes, including cognitive achievement and behavioral problems. Endogeneity of maternal schooling is addressed by instrumenting with schooling costs during the mother's adolescence. The results show substantial intergenerational returns to education. The chapter studies an array of potential channels which may transmit the eect to the child, including family environment and parental investments. The following chapter 3 investigates the eect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for university graduates. As source of identifying variation, this work exploits the introduction and expansion of the European ERASMUS student exchange program. Studying abroad signicantly increases the probability of working abroad, and the chapter provides evidence on the underlying mechanisms. Chapter 4 compares labor market outcomes between rm-based apprenticeships and full-time vocational schooling alternatives, exploiting the idea that variation in apprenticeship availability aects the opportunities individuals have when they grow up. The chapter documents how variation in vacancies for apprenticeships aects educational choice. The results show that apprenticeship training leads to lower unemployment rates at ages 23 to 26, but there are no signicant dierences in wages. Chapter 5 develops a new approach to the measurement of price responsiveness of gasoline demand and deadweight loss estimation. It uses shape restrictions derived from economic theory to match a desire for exibility with the need for structure in the welfare analysis of consumer behavior. Using travel survey data, the chapter shows that these restrictions remove the erratic behavior of standard nonparametric approaches. Investigating price responsiveness across the income distribution, the middle income group is found to be the most responsive. |
| Date: | 2010–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/20002/&r=lab |
| By: | Niknami, Susan (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses extensive Swedish register data to analyze the intergenerational transmission of education between immigrant mothers and their daughters. The results show that the transmission is only slightly lower among daughters of immigrant mothers compared to native daughters. The educational relationship between mothers and daughters is further found to be nonlinear. For both groups, the intergenerational link is weaker among daughters of poorly educated mothers. Moreover, the average transmission differs across immigrant groups but these differences can be explained partly by dissimilar maternal educational backgrounds. In addition, the differences between women with an immigrant background and native women have decreased across the two generations. Finally, the educational attainment of an immigrant group has a positive but weak impact on daughters’ educational outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants; education; intergenerational transmission |
| JEL: | I20 J15 J62 |
| Date: | 2010–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2010_007&r=lab |
| By: | Barbara Gebicka |
| Abstract: | Public funding drives much of the recent growth of college degree supply in Europe, but few indicators are available to assess its optimal level. In this paper, I investigate an indicator of college skills usage - the fraction of college graduates employed in "college" occupations. Gottschalk and Hansen (2003) propose to iden- tify "college" occupations based on within-occupation college wage premia; I build on their strategy to study the local-labor-market relationship between the share of college graduates in the population and the use of college skills. Empirical results based on worker-level data from Czech NUTS-4 districts suggest a positive rela- tionship, thus supporting the presence of an endogenous influence of the number of skilled workers on the demand for them. |
| Keywords: | Occupational allocation; demand for skills; productivity spillovers |
| JEL: | J20 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp407&r=lab |
| By: | Derek C. Jones; Srecko Goic |
| Abstract: | New survey data for more than 470 employees (more than 80% of production workers) in a single Croatian manufacturing firm exhibits large variation in participation in innovative work practices (IWPs) notably online teams, offline teams, employee ownership, and incentive pay. Amongst IWPs, probit estimates reveal that membership in offline teams most often yields favorable outcomes for firms, notably enhanced provision of discretionary effort by employees and more likelihood of peer monitoring, as well as improved worker outcomes, including enhanced job satisfaction and higher employee involvement. Other IWPs usually are associated with similar favorable outcomes for firms and workers. Participation in sets of IWPs, that include offline teams and financial incentives, is found to yield benefits to both employees and firms. Our findings provide support for the proposition that IWPs will produce mutual gains and also help to identify key channels through which different IWPs work. Women also perceive that they are less empowered and report less willingness to engage in peer monitoring. |
| Keywords: | innovative work practices; employee ownership; Croatia; econometric case study. |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2010-993&r=lab |
| By: | Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The general-equilibrium effects of performance-related teacher pay include long-term incentive and teacher-sorting mechanisms that usually elude experimental studies but are captured in cross-country comparisons. Combining country-level performance-pay measures with rich PISA-2003 international achievement micro data, this paper estimates student-level international education production functions. The use of teacher salary adjustments for outstanding performance is significantly associated with math, science, and reading achievement across countries. Scores in countries with performance-related pay are about one quarter standard deviations higher. Results avoid bias from within-country selection and are robust to continental fixed effects and to controlling for non-performance-based forms of teacher salary adjustments. |
| Keywords: | student achievement, teacher performance pay, international, PISA |
| JEL: | I20 J33 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5101&r=lab |
| By: | Roland G. Fryer, Jr |
| Abstract: | There are large and important differences between blacks in whites in nearly every facet of life - earnings, unemployment, incarceration, health, and so on. This chapter contains three themes. First, relative to the 20th century, the significance of discrimination as an explanation for racial inequality across economic and social indicators has declined. Racial differences in social and economic outcomes are greatly reduced when one accounts for educational achievement; therefore, the new challenge is to understand the obstacles undermining the development of skill in black and Hispanic children in primary and secondary school. Second, analyzing ten large datasets that include children ranging in age from eight months old to seventeen years old, I demonstrate that the racial achievement gap is remarkably robust across time, samples, and particular assessments used. The gap does not exist in the first year of life, but black students fall behind quickly thereafter and observables cannot explain differences between racial groups after kindergarten. Third, we provide a brief history of efforts to close the achievement gap. There are several programs -- various early childhood interventions, more flexibility and stricter accountability for schools, data-driven instruction, smaller class sizes, certain student incentives, and bonuses for effective teachers to teach in high-need schools, which have a positive return on investment, but they cannot close the achievement gap in isolation. More promising are results from a handful of high-performing charter schools, which combine many of the investments above in a comprehensive framework and provide an "existence proof" -- demonstrating that a few simple investments can dramatically increase the achievement of even the poorest minority students. The challenge for the future is to take these examples to scale. |
| JEL: | I20 J01 J15 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16256&r=lab |
| By: | Gianna Barbieri (Ministry of Education); Claudio Rossetti (LUISS University); Paolo Sestito (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | In the Italian system teachers are allocated to schools according to a seniority-based centralized system with no role of individual schools in attracting, selecting and retaining teachers. Largely because of the rather limited pay scale, seniority-based rights to move to a particular school and geographical location represent one of the main career opportunities for tenured teachers. This paper examines the main drivers of the resulting (voluntary) mobility of Italian teachers. We find that the teachers' place of birth (after securing a tenured position, teachers try find work near their place of birth) and several features related to the student mix and the social context of the school are very important. Teachers systematically try to move away from schools where teaching is likely to be more difficult, for example where the students come from a lower socio-economic background and have poorer educational abilities even though teachers could have a more important role in boosting students' human capital accumulation. The centralized allocation system does not appear to equalize opportunities among different school environments. Furthermore, the absence of any criteria other than seniority in regulating teachers' locational preferences produces high staff turnover and a widespread lack of motivation among teachers who, all too often, are simply waiting in one school until they can move on to another. |
| Keywords: | The labour market for teachers, teacher mobility, geographical mobility, school characteristics |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I28 J45 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_761_10&r=lab |
| By: | Niall O’Higgins |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at developments in and around the transition of young people from education to work in the ECA region in recent years. The purpose of the paper is to aid understanding of the current situation and to suggest areas where action is most needed and is likely to be most effective. The first section considers developments in the general economic context of relevance to young people. Section 2 goes onto consider the current situation of (and trends in) factors affecting young people’s entry into work. Section 3 assesses policies affecting youth employment and unemployment and section concludes identifying key issues and areas where action is needed and where it is likely to be effective. [IZA DP No. 5094] |
| Keywords: | youth labour markets, Europe and Central Asia, active labour market policies, vocational education and training, joblessness |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2740&r=lab |
| By: | Roland G. Fryer, Jr |
| Abstract: | After decades of narrowing, the achievement gap between black and white school children widened in the 1990s – a period when the labor market rewards for education were increasing. This presents an important puzzle for economists. In this chapter, I investigate the extent to which economic models of segregation, information-based discrimination, peer dynamics, and identity can explain this puzzle. Under a reasonable set of assumptions, models of peer dynamics and identity are consistent with the time-series data. Segregation and models of discrimination both contradict the trends in important ways. |
| JEL: | J01 J15 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16257&r=lab |
| By: | Julian Cristia (Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA); Alejo Czerwonko (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA); Pablo Garofalo (Department of Economics, Pablo Garofalo, Houston, TX, USA) |
| Abstract: | In policy circles a lively debate exists regarding the effects on educational outcomes of introducing computers in schools. A number of empirical studies have measured its effect on test scores. There is a lack of empirical evidence, however, on the effects of this type of intervention on drop-out and repetition rates, variables that have a direct impact on years of education. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature. To this end, we analyze rich longitudinal censal data from Peru as well as information regarding a specific program that deployed computers in 350 schools in the year 2004. Results indicate null impacts of increasing computer access on repetition, drop-out rates and initial enrollment. The large sample sizes allow us to detect even very modest effects. These results, together with previous evidence on the lack of effects on tests scores, point to a limited potential of computers in improving education outcomes. |
| Keywords: | ICT, Test Scores, Education, Peru |
| JEL: | I20 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:ovewps:0110&r=lab |
| By: | Greg Kaplan |
| Abstract: | This paper uses an estimated structural model to argue that the option to move in and out of the parental home is an important insurance channel against labor market risk for youths who do not attend college. Using data from the NLSY97, I construct a new monthly panel of parent-youth coresidence outcomes and use it to document an empirical relationship between these movements and individual labor market events. The data is then used to estimate the parameters of a dynamic game between youths and their altruistic parents, featuring coresidence, labor supply and savings decisions. Parents can provide both monetary support through explicit financial transfers, and non-monetary support in the form of shared residence. To account for the data, two types of exogenous shocks are needed. Preference shocks are found to explain most of the cross-section of living arrangements, while labor market shocks account for individual movements in and out of the parental home. I use the model to show that coresidence is a valuable form of insurance, particularly for youths from poorer families. The option to live at home also helps to explain features of aggregate data for low-skilled young workers: their low savings rates and their relatively small consumption responses to labor market shocks. An important implication is that movements in and out of home can reduce the consumption smoothing benefits of social insurance programs. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmsr:449&r=lab |
| By: | Sangeeta Pratap (Hunter College); Erwan Quintin (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Abstract: | Financial crises cause a significant reallocation of labor as relative prices change drastically and economies confront a variety of shocks. Using household survey data for Mexico, we show that gross and net labor flows between industries and occupations increase substantially during the 1994-95 crisis. We also find significant wage losses associated with moving: individuals who switch industry or occupation during the crisis lose more than 10% of hourly earnings compared to similar workers who do not move. This suggests that crises are times of labor market turbulence, during which human capital is destroyed in the process of directing workers to different economic activities. This phenomenon could account for a significant part of the large fall in TFP that typically accompanies crises in emerging economies. We describe a map from our earnings estimates to aggregate TFP and show that productivity losses associated with occupation and industry changes can explain about 40% of the observed fall in TFPin Mexico in 1995. |
| Keywords: | Financial crises, labor market turbulence, total factor productivity, output fluctuations |
| JEL: | D14 D43 D91 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:htr:hcecon:428&r=lab |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | Using Japanese panel data for 2006-2009, this study attempts to examine how the pass rate of law school students taking the new bar examination influences the number of applicants for the law school in the following years. The major finding is that the higher the law school student pass rate, the greater the number of applicants for the law school becomes. Furthermore, the positive effect of the pass rate is larger for a prestigious university’s law school than for other schools. It follows that the “brand” and the school’s current performance are complementary in increasing demand for places in the law school. |
| Keywords: | Brand; Bar examination; Demand; Law school |
| JEL: | K40 L89 D83 |
| Date: | 2010–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:24257&r=lab |
| By: | Lorenz Goette; David Huffman |
| Abstract: | Traditionally, models of economic decision-making assume that individuals are rational and emotionless. This chapter argues that the neglect of emotion in economic models explains their inability to predict important aspects of the labor market. We focus on one example: the scarcity of nominal wage cuts. [IZA Discussion Paper No. 1895] |
| Keywords: | wage rigidity, affect, emotions, money illusion, loss aversion |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2743&r=lab |
| By: | Herbst, Chris M. (Arizona State University); Tekin, Erdal (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, child care subsidies have become an integral part of federal and state efforts to move economically disadvantaged parents from welfare to work. Although previous empirical studies consistently show that these employment-related subsidies raise work levels among this group, little is known about the impact of subsidy receipt on child well-being. In this paper, we identify the causal effect of child care subsidies on child development by exploiting geographic variation in the distance that families must travel from home in order to reach the nearest social service agency that administers the subsidy application process. Using data from the Kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, our instrumental variables estimates suggest that children receiving subsidized care in the year before kindergarten score lower on tests of cognitive ability and reveal more behavior problems throughout kindergarten. However, these negative effects largely disappear by the time children reach the end of third grade. Our results point to an unintended consequence of a child care subsidy regime that conditions eligibility on parental employment and deemphasizes child care quality. |
| Keywords: | development, subsidy, child care |
| JEL: | I18 I2 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5102&r=lab |
| By: | Chris M. Herbst; Erdal Tekin |
| Abstract: | In recent years, child care subsidies have become an integral part of federal and state efforts to move economically disadvantaged parents from welfare to work. Although previous empirical studies consistently show that these employment-related subsidies raise work levels among this group, little is known about the impact of subsidy receipt on child well-being. In this paper, we identify the causal effect of child care subsidies on child development by exploiting geographic variation in the distance that families must travel from home in order to reach the nearest social service agency that administers the subsidy application process. Using data from the Kindergarten cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, our instrumental variables estimates suggest that children receiving subsidized care in the year before kindergarten score lower on tests of cognitive ability and reveal more behavior problems throughout kindergarten. However, these negative effects largely disappear by the time children reach the end of third grade. Our results point to an unintended consequence of a child care subsidy regime that conditions eligibility on parental employment and deemphasizes child care quality. |
| JEL: | I18 I2 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16250&r=lab |
| By: | Larochelle-Côté, Sébastien; Myles, John; Picot, Garnett |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the extent to which family income during working years is replaced during the retirement years. It does so by tracking cohorts as they age from their mid-50s to their late 70s, using a taxation-based longitudinal data source that covers 26 years from 1982 to 2007. Earlier work by the same authors examined this question with respect to the 50% of the population with strong labour force attachment during their mid-50s. This paper extends that work to include almost all Canadians (80% to 85% of the population). The adult-equivalent-adjusted family income available to the median Canadian during his or her late 70s is about 80% of that observed when the same person was in his or her mid-50s (a replacement rate of 0.8). Replacement rates in retirement are negatively correlated with income earned around age 55. Median replacement rates are 1.1 among individuals in the bottom income quintile, 0.75 in the middle quintile, and 0.7 in the top quintile. In retirement, public pensions and other transfers more than replace earnings and other income of bottom quintile individuals. However, some individuals have very low replacement rates. For example, 20% of individuals in the middle income quintile had replacement rates below 0.6. More recent cohorts had higher family incomes in retirement than did earlier cohorts as a result of higher earnings and private-pension income. |
| Keywords: | Income, pensions, spending and wealth, Seniors, Labour, Work transitions and life stages, Work and retirement |
| Date: | 2010–07–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2010328e&r=lab |
| By: | Thuan Quang Thai (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research); Evangelos M. Falaris (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between long term child health and human capital. Child health may suffer if a child is inadequately nourished or is exposed to disease early in life and this may affect subsequent accumulation of human capital. We use data from rural Vietnam to examine the impact of child health on delay in starting school and schooling progress taking into account that choices of families affect children’s health and schooling. Our instrument is early life rainfall shocks that have differential effects arising from regional economic diversity. Our estimates indicate that better child health results in meaningfully improved schooling outcomes. |
| Keywords: | child health, z-score, school entry delay, schooling gap, rainfall shocks, Vietnam |
| JEL: | I12 J24 J13 O15 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:10-04.&r=lab |
| By: | Gould, Eric; Kaplan, Todd R |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the issue of whether workers learn productive skills from their co-workers, even if those skills are unethical. Specifically, we estimate whether Jose Canseco, a star baseball player in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, affected the performance of his teammates by introducing them to steroids. Using panel data, we show that a player’s performance increases significantly after they played with Jose Canseco. After checking 30 comparable players from the same era, we find that no other baseball player produced a similar effect. Furthermore, the positive effect of Canseco disappears after 2003, the year that drug testing was implemented. These results suggest that workers not only learn productive skills from their co-workers, but sometimes those skills may derive from unethical practices. These findings may be relevant to many workplaces where competitive pressures create incentives to adopt unethical means to boost productivity and profits. Our analysis leads to several potential policy implications designed to reduce the spread of unethical behavior among workers. |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects; Corruption; Crime; Externalities |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2010–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:24232&r=lab |
| By: | Tamar Khitarishvili |
| Abstract: | The economic returns to education in transition countries have been extensively evaluated in the literature. The present study contributes to this literature by estimating the returns to education in Georgia during the last transition period 2000-04. We find very low returns to education in Georgia and little evidence of an increasing trend in the returns. This picture contrasts with somewhat higher rates of return to education in the mid-1990s in Georgia and the recent estimates from other transition countries. A further analysis of the shifts in the supply and demand for education sheds light on possible causes. In particular, on the supply side, the decline in the quality of education in the 1990s has negated the improvements in the provision of skills needed by market economies during this period. On the demand side, the expansion of the Georgian economy has taken place in the direction of fields such as public administration and education that employ a highly educated workforce but do not remunerate well. Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that education is not a valuable asset in Georgia. The role of education is largely manifested in its impact on the employability of individuals, an issue that has been overlooked in the transition literature. Once this impact is taken into account, education is shown to play an increasingly important role in influencing the earnings of the working population in Georgia. The paper uses the ordinary least squares approach, instrumental variables approach, and sample selection correction, taking into account conditional and unconditional marginal effects of education on earnings. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education; Human Capital; Sample Selection; Instrumental Variables; Transitional Economies; Georgia |
| JEL: | I21 J24 P2 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_608&r=lab |
| By: | Natalia Nehrebecka (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw; Department of Statistics, National Bank of Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines employment transitions among men and women in Poland aged between 20 and 65 based on the data from the CHER (Consortium of Household Panels for European Socio-Economic Research). The research results show that the state of the person in a given year is not only dependent upon his/her state in the previous year, but also upon whether he/she was in that state the years before. Moreover, the study proves that the impact of individual characteristics of persons on the conditional probability of retaining a given status depends on the persons’ employment record, which confirms the rejection of the null hypothesis regarding the „interdependence of states”. As a result of this study, we can determine that, as expected, being in a given state, just like entry in to that state, are conditioned by demographic characteristics and the human capital of the respondent, as well as by the characteristics of the household, although the impact of these variables depends on the occupational background of that person. This implies that every individual may get trapped in non-employment and, ideally, policy should intervene as soon as the individual begins non-employment period. This article also includes statistics describing the duration of each status and time spent outside of the status by persons with different combinations of characteristics calculated based on the parameter estimation of the model. |
| Keywords: | two-equation and three-equation probit model with endogenous switching, initial conditions problem, labour market, transitions |
| JEL: | J48 J21 J64 C25 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2010-11&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas J. Dohmen |
| Abstract: | High rewards or the threat of severe punishment do not only provide incentives to exert high levels of effort but also create pressure. Such pressure can cause paradoxical performance effects, namely performance decrements despite strong incentives and high motivation. By analyzing the performance of professional football players on a well-defined task, namely to score on a penalty kick, the paper provides empirical evidence for the existence of such detrimental incentive effects. Two pressure variables are considered in particular: (1) the importance of success and (2) the presence of spectators. There are plenty of situations in which pressure arises in the workplace. Knowing how individuals perform under pressure conditions is crucial for labor economists because it has implications for the design of the workplace and the design of incentive schemes. [IZA Discussion Paper No. 1905] |
| Keywords: | choking under pressure, paradoxical performance effects of incentives, social pressure |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2742&r=lab |
| By: | Sumon Kumar Bhaumik; Manisha Chakrabarty |
| Abstract: | In this paper, using data from the 61st round of the (Indian) National Sample Survey, we examine the relative impacts of personal-household and state-level characteristics (including government policy) on the likelihood of transition from one educational level to the next. Our analysis suggests that the most important factors driving these transition likelihoods are personal and household characteristics like gender and education of household heads. However, state-level characteristics and government policies have a significant impact on these transition likelihoods as well, especially for transitions from the lowest levels of education to somewhat higher levels. The odds of making the transition to higher education, especially tertiary education, are systematically lower for women than for men, for individuals in rural areas than those in urban areas, and for Muslims than for Hindus. An important conclusion of our analysis is that there is significant scope for government policy to address educational gaps between various demographic and other groups in the country. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment, likelihood of transition, government policy |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2010-987&r=lab |
| By: | Daniele Pacifico |
| Abstract: | In this paper we evaluate in monetary terms the benefits from attending a post-secondary degree in an Italian university. We also propose a microsimulation model that takes into account the spatial distribution of scholarships, fees and other monetary and in-kind services related to the university sector. In this way, it is possible to obtain a good approximation of the real net benefit gained from attending a post-secondary Italian degree and to study its distributive impact on both the users and the whole Italian population. We will provide evidence that the benefits from public higher education have universalistic features. However, the tax-system that is applied by each university is slightly regressive whilst subsidies have a high potential in terms of redistribution, even though the allocated funds are not enough to create any significant effect. Given these results, a new tax-policy is proposed to overcome some of the problems of the present system. |
| Keywords: | microsimulation; inequality; in-kind benefits; higher education; university; tuition fees; subsidy |
| JEL: | C15 D31 H23 H42 H52 I23 I38 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0069&r=lab |
| By: | Stegmaier, Jens (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Unions are an important indicator of various measures of firm performance in Anglo-Saxon countries. The same holds for the German analogue of workplace unionism - the works council. Using the IAB Establishment Panel I examine the impact of works councils and shop-floor participation on further training and training intensity. As some studies suggest that the impact of workplace representation varies with firm size, I also test for differences between large and small/medium-sized establishments. Pooled logit and count data models are employed to analyze firms' further training activity and training intensity. Because the treatment variables may suffer from endogeneity I also adopt linear and nonlinear instrumental variables techniques. The analysis reveals a positive impact of works councils on firm-provided further training, but provides slightly weaker evidence of firm-size differentials of workplace representation." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J53 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–08–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201014&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Cappelli |
| Abstract: | The extensive literature on knowledge management spans several fields, but there are remarkably few studies that address the basic question as to whether knowledge management practices improve organizational performance. I examine that question using a national probability sample of establishments, clear measures of IT-driven knowledge management practices, and an experimental design that offers a unique approach for addressing concerns about endogeneity and omitted variables. The results indicate that the use of company intranets, data warehousing practices, performance support systems, and employee competency databases have significant and meaningful effects on a range of relevant business outcomes. |
| JEL: | L23 O31 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16248&r=lab |
| By: | Dalen, H.P. van (Tilburg University); Henkens, K. (Tilburg University); Hendrikse, W.; Schippers, J.J. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:tilbur:urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-4068206&r=lab |