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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Ainhoa Aparicio |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the implications of transitory changes in labor market conditions for low versus high educated workers on the decision to acquire education. To identify this effect, I use the improvement in the labor market prospects of low educated workers motivated by the increases in employment and wages in the construction sector during the recent housing boom. The estimation strategy is based on the fact that changes in the labor market driven by the construction sector affect only men. Increases in construction activity are found to increase men's propensity to drop out of high-school, relative to women. According to this finding, policies promoting education should strengthen when in the presence of transitory shocks in the labor market that make dropping out more attractive. |
| Keywords: | High-school dropout; housing boom; Spain |
| JEL: | J24 J22 I20 L74 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:158&r=lab |
| By: | Lamo, Ana (European Central Bank); Messina, Julián (World Bank); Wasmer, Etienne (Sciences Po, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that specialized education reduces workers' mobility and hence their ability to cope with economic changes. We illustrate this point using labor force data from two countries having experienced important macroeconomic turbulence; a large economy with rigid labor markets, Poland, and a small open economy with increased flexibility, Estonia. We find that holding a vocational degree is associated with much longer unemployment duration spells and higher likelihood of leaving activity for older workers. We then build a theoretical framework in which young agents' careers are heavily determined by the type of initial education, and analyze the transition to a new steady-state after a sectoral demand shift. Quantitative exercises suggest that the over-specialization of the labor force in Poland led to much higher and persistent unemployment compared to Estonia during the period of EU enlargement. Traditional labor market institutions (wage rigidity and employment protection) lead to an increase of the unemployment gap, but to a lesser extent. |
| Keywords: | transition countries, vocational education, specific skills, EU enlargement |
| JEL: | J4 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5250&r=lab |
| By: | David de la Croix (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and CORE); Olivier Pierrard (Banque centrale du Luxembourg and IRES, UCL); Henri Sneessens (Université du Luxembourg, CREA and IRES (UCL)) |
| Abstract: | This paper re-examines the effects of population aging and pension reforms in an OLG model with labor market frictions. The most important feature brought about by labor market frictions is the connection between the interest rate and the unemployment rate. Exogenous shocks (such as aging) leading to lower interest rates also imply lower equilibrium unemployment rates, because lower capital costs stimulate labor demand and induce firms to advertize more vacancies. These effects may be reinforced by increases in the participation rate of older workers, induced by the higher wage rates and the larger probability of finding a job. These results imply that neglecting labor market frictions and employment rate changes may seriously bias the evaluation of pension reforms when they have an impact on the equilibrium interest rate. |
| Keywords: | Overlapping Generations, Search Unemployment, Labor Force Participation, aging, Pensions, Labor Market |
| JEL: | E24 H55 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–09–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2010037&r=lab |
| By: | Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique); Christine Erhel (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the determinants of labour market statuses (choice between part time employment, full time employment, and non employment) and yearly transitions between non employment and employment in Europe, using cross sectional 2006 EU-SILC database. The results show a strong positive effect of initial education level on full time employment integration and on the probability to find a job when initially in non employment. Gender and family variables also exert a strong influence on labour market statuses and mobility: being a woman, and even more a mother of a young child, increases the probability to be in non employment, or in part time employment, and also to experience a bad transition. In terms of policies, the article shows that the use of childcare has a positive impact on parents'employment and transitions. Finally, the heterogeneity inside the EU appears high, with significant country effects on both statuses and flows. |
| Keywords: | labour market status; labour market flows; European comparison; childcare |
| Date: | 2010–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00484577_v1&r=lab |
| By: | J. Ignacio García Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo Olavide, FCEA y FEDEA); Sergi Jiménez Martín (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona GSE and FEDEA.); Alfonso R. Sánchez Martín (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo Olavide) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the sensitivity of the labour market decisions of workers close to retirement with respect to the incentives created by public regulations. We improve upon the extensive prior literature on the effect of pension incentives on retirement in two ways. First, by modeling the transitions between employment, unemployment and retirement in a simultaneous manner, paying special attention to the transition from unemployment to retirement (which is particularly important in Spain). Second, by considering the influence of unobserved heterogeneity in the estimation of the effect of our (carefully constructed) incentive variables. Using administrative data, we find that, when properly defined, economic incentives have a strong impact on labour market decisions in Spain. Unemployment regulations are shown to be particularly influential for retirement behaviour, along with the more traditional determinants linked to the pension system. Pension variables also have a major bearing on both workers’ reemployment decisions and on the strategic actions of employers. The quantitative impact of the incentives, however, is greatly affected by the existence of unobserved heterogeneity among workers. Its omission leads to sizable biases in the assessment of the sensitivity to economic incentives, a finding that has clear consequences for the credibility of any model-based policy analysis. We confirm the importance of this potential problem in one especially interesting instance: the reform of early retirement provisions undertaken in Spain in 2002. We use a difference-in-difference approach to measure the behavioural reaction to this change, finding a large overestimation when unobserved heterogeneity is not taken into account. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, unemployment, incentives, Pension system, Unobserved heterogeneity, Spain. |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:10.10&r=lab |
| By: | Dube, Arindrajit; Lester, T. William; Reich, Michael |
| Abstract: | We provide the ï¬rst test of the effects of U.S. minimum wages on labor market flows (accession, separation and turnover rates). Using county pairs straddling borders with minimum wage differences, we ï¬nd large negative effects on all three measures, but no disemployment effects on teens or restaurant workers. Separation and accessions among restaurant workers falls considerably among fast food establishments, among teens and young adults, and for jobs with less than one quarter tenure. The teen, young adult, and female compositions of the restaurant workforce do not change in response to minimum wage increases. Among all teen workers (including those not working in restaurants), we ï¬nd similar patterns of lower turnover coupled with employment effects close to zero. We show that these results are consistent with a wage-posting model, under conditions containing a substantial extent of friction and a high market-level labor supply elasticity. |
| Keywords: | J23, J32, J48, J63 |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:1622839&r=lab |
| By: | Kemal Kizilca (NIPE and Ankara University); João Cerejeira (Universidade do Minho - NIPE); Miguel Portela (Universidade do Minho - NIPE and IZA); Carla Sá (Universidade do Minho - NIPE and CIPES) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of an increase in the minimum wage on the gender gap at various levels of employee compansation, namely, base wage, fringe benefits, overtime payments and probability of getting these extra income components. Using the matched employer-employee database for the Portuguese labor market, we explore the 1998 amendment to the MW law that increased the minimum wage applied to employees younger than 18 years of age from 75% to 100% of the full minimum. Estimation results based on a difference-in-difference-differences strategy indicate a widening of the gender gap, caused by redistribution of fringe benefits and overtime payments following the amendment. We discuss three possible sources of redistribution: (i) discrimination, (ii) a change in the skill composition of the working males and females after the increase, and (iii) industrial differences in response to the changes in the wage floor. Estimations support the third channel as the main contributing factor while we cannot eliminate the possibility of the effect of discrimination. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, overtime payments, fringe benefits, gender gap |
| JEL: | J31 J32 J71 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:34/2010&r=lab |
| By: | Manoli, Dayanand (University of California, Los Angeles); Weber, Andrea (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new empirical evidence on intertemporal labor supply elasticities. We use administrative data on the census of private sector employees in Austria and variation from mandated discontinuous changes in retirement benefits from the Austrian pension system. We first present graphical evidence documenting delays in retirement in response to the policy discontinuities. Next, based on the empirical evidence, we develop a model of career length decisions. Using an estimator that exploits the graphical evidence, we estimate an intertemporal labor supply elasticity of 0.30; this relatively low estimate reflects that the disutility of labor supply rises relatively quickly with additional years of work. |
| Keywords: | life-cycle labor supply, retirement decisions, intertemporal labor supply elasticity, policy discontinuities |
| JEL: | J22 J26 E24 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5248&r=lab |
| By: | Marit Rønsen and Ragni Hege Kitterød (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | In spite of extended parental leaves, tremendous improvement in day-care availability, and a cultural climate that is supportive of women's full-time work, Norwegian women still have one of the highest female part-time rates in Europe. Longer working hours among women would clearly alleviate the lack of labour in many sectors of the economy, but this reserve may be difficult to mobilise as previous research have shown that large proportions of female full-time workers are discontent with their working hours. In this article we examine whether this is true even today, and identify factors that may facilitate or impede working-hours satisfaction among female full-timers based on recent data from the Norwegian Labour Force Surveys. Contrary to past research, we find that most women are satisfied with their full-time hours. Still, young children in the household are a strong deterrent of full-time contentment, as is long working hours for the spouse, if women are married. Full-time contentment also varies with occupation, but the main job-deterrent seems to be non-standard working hours such as shift and rota. |
| Keywords: | Female labour supply; working-hours preferences; working-hours contentment; full-time work |
| JEL: | J22 J24 J28 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:632&r=lab |
| By: | Priscila Casari (FACE-UFG, Ciências Econômicas) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to estimate the labor supply in the secondary market, given the socioeconomic characteristics of workers and job characteristics such as heterogeneity and stability. Therefore, data used is PNAD (2008). The population studied is workers with one or two jobs and the labor supply is estimated by a Tobit model. The results indicate that the time constraint, the heterogeneity in occupations and stability contribute to the increase in labor supply in the secondary job market in both urban and rural areas. Moreover, there is evidence that income from the main job is insufficient even for workers with more schooling. |
| Keywords: | second job, labor supply, tobit |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ufb:wpaper:019&r=lab |
| By: | Rob Simmons; Babatunde Buraimo; Alex Bryson |
| Abstract: | We establish the effects of salaries on worker performance by exploiting a natural experiment in which some workers in a particular occupation (football referees) switch from short-term contracts to salaried contracts. Worker performance improves among those who move onto salaried contracts relative to those who do not. The finding is robust to the introduction of worker fixed effects indicating that it is not driven by better workers being awarded salary contracts. Nor is it sensitive to workers sorting into or out of the profession. Improved performance could arise from the additional effort workers exert due to career concerns, the higher income associated with career contracts (an efficiency wage effect) or improvements in worker quality arising from off-the-job training which accompanies the salaried contracts. |
| Keywords: | incentives; salaries; productivity; sports |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006863&r=lab |
| By: | Dostie, Benoit (HEC Montreal) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate returns to classroom and on-the-job firm-sponsored training in terms of value-added per worker using longitudinal linked employee-employer Canadian data from 1999 to 2006. We estimate a standard production function controlling for endogenous training decisions because of perceived net benefits and time-varying market conditions using dynamic panel GMM methods. We find that employees who undertook classroom training are 11 percent more productive than otherwise similar employees. We show that returns to on-the-job training are on average lower (3.4 percent). We provide evidence that these lower returns are due to on-the-job training being more closely related to turnover and more geared toward subjects that are less productivity-enhancing. |
| Keywords: | productivity, on-the-job training, classroom training, turnover, subjects of training |
| JEL: | C23 D24 J31 J63 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5258&r=lab |
| By: | Billger, Sherrilyn M. (Illinois State University); Lamarche, Carlos (University of Oklahoma) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a relatively new panel data quantile regression technique to examine native-immigrant earnings differentials 1) throughout the conditional wage distribution, and 2) controlling for individual heterogeneity. No previous papers have simultaneously considered these factors. We focus on both women and men, using longitudinal data from the PSID and the BHPS. We show that country of origin, country of residence, and gender are all important determinants of the earnings differential. For instance, a large wage penalty occurs in the U.S. among female immigrants from non-English speaking countries, and the penalty is most negative among the lowest (conditional) wages. On the other hand, women in Britain experience hardly any immigrant-native wage differential. We find evidence suggesting that immigrant men in the U.S. and the U.K. earn lower wages, but the most significant results are found for British workers emigrating from non-English speaking countries. The various differentials we report in this paper reveal the value of combining quantile regression with controls for individual heterogeneity in better understanding immigrant wage effects. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, earnings, quantile regression, panel data |
| JEL: | J31 J61 C21 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5260&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandre, Fernando (University of Minho); Bação, Pedro (University of Coimbra); Cerejeira, João (University of Minho); Portela, Miguel (University of Minho) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore empirically the role of openness, technology and labour market rigidity in the determination of the effect of the exchange rate on employment in Portugal. We develop an index that allows us to measure labour market flexibility at the sector level. This index shows that labour market flexibility has been increasing in all manufacturing sectors and that the labour market in high technology sectors is more flexible than in low technology sectors. We use this index in the estimation of an employment regression, focusing on the effect of exchange rate movements. Our estimates indicate that employment in low-technology sectors, with a high degree of trade openness and facing less rigidity in the labour market are more sensitive to movements in exchange rates. |
| Keywords: | exchange rates, international trade, job flows, labour market rigidity, technology |
| JEL: | J23 F16 F41 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5251&r=lab |
| By: | Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization University of Hawaii-Manoa); Sumner La Croix (Department of Economics University of Hawaii-Manoa) |
| Abstract: | Hawaii is one of 27 states that do not require testing of public high school students regarding their understanding of economics. We report results for the first economics test administered to a large sample of students in Hawaii public high schools during the Spring 2004 semester. Our analysis focuses on evaluating the impact of a semester-long course in economics on student scores on a 20-question, multiple-choice economics test. We specify and estimate a regression analysis of exam scores that controls for other factors that could influence student performance on the exam. While student scores on the economics exam are relatively low, completion of an economics course and participation in a stock market simulation game each add about one point to student scores. |
| Keywords: | economic education, high school economics, stock market simulation |
| JEL: | A20 A21 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2010-01&r=lab |
| By: | Cory Koedel (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia) |
| Abstract: | We examine the link between math skills and labor-market outcomes using a resume-based field experiment. Specifically, we send fictitious resumes in response to online job postings, randomly assigning some resumes to indicate stronger math skills, and measure responses from employers. The resumes that are randomly assigned to indicate stronger math skills receive more callbacks than the comparison resumes. Our findings add to the body of evidence showing that stronger math skills positively affect labor-market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Math skills, math skills and employment, math skills field experiment, math skills resume experiment. |
| JEL: | J23 J24 I20 |
| Date: | 2010–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1013&r=lab |
| By: | Paula Albuquerque; José Passos |
| Abstract: | The conciliation of work and family life is a challenge to most women. In some countries, although not in southern Europe, women make significant use of part-time schedules as a way of balancing work and family life. Informal care, typically care by grandparents, is an alternative. It is cheap, trustworthy, and possibly compatible with non-standard labor schedules. In this paper we investigate how childcare by grandparents affects the probability of working of mothers in southern European countries. We empirically evaluate the verification and the significance of such an effect, accounting for a potentially endogenous grandparent-caring status. |
| Keywords: | labor market, women, childcare, grandparents, ageing. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp162010&r=lab |
| By: | Walker, Ian (Lancaster University); Zhu, Yu (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the impact of higher education qualifications on the earnings of graduates in the UK by subject studied. We use data from the recent UK Labour Force Surveys which provide a sufficiently large sample to consider the effects of the subject studied, class of first degree, and postgraduate qualifications. Ordinary Least Squares estimates show high average returns for women that does not differ by subject. For men, we find very large returns for Law, Economics and Management but not for other subjects. Quantile Regression estimates suggest negative returns for some subjects at the bottom of the distribution, or even at the median in Other Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities for men. Degree class has large effects in all subjects suggesting the possibility of large returns to effort. Postgraduate study has large effects, independently of first degree class. A large rise in tuition fees across all subjects has only a modest impact on relative rates of return suggesting that little substitution across subjects would occur. The strong message that comes out of this research is that even a large rise in tuition fees makes little difference to the quality of the investment – those subjects that offer high returns (LEM for men, and all subjects for women) continue to do so. And those subjects that do not (especially OSSAH for men) will continue to offer poor returns. The effect of fee rises is dwarfed by existing cross subject differences in returns. |
| Keywords: | college premium, rate of return |
| JEL: | I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5254&r=lab |
| By: | vinod Mishra; Russell Smyth |
| Abstract: | This paper examines economic returns to schooling for China’s Korean minority in the urban labour market using ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage least squares. The OLS estimates of the returns to schooling are similar to findings from recent studies for the Chinese urban labour market. We use father’s education, mother’s education and spouse’s education to instrument for education. The two-stage least squares estimates are considerably higher than the OLS estimates for returns to schooling and slightly higher than existing two-stage least squares estimates of the returns to schooling for the Chinese urban labour market. The two stage least squares estimates of the returns to schooling for the Korean minority living in urban areas are high compared with the Asian average and world average. The economic returns to schooling reported in this study assists to explain why private demand for education among the Korean minority in China is strong and provides a justification for the Korean minority’s focus on educational attainment. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2010-37&r=lab |
| By: | Rémi Bazillier (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - CNRS : UMR6221 - Université d'Orléans); Yasser Moullan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Interactions between social policies and migration are numerous. This paper proposes to analyze the influence of employment protection on bilateral migration. We show theoretically how employment protection may affect the probability to migrate, depending on (i) the effect of employment protection on wages, (2) the effect on the probability to be employed, and (3) relative preferences over wages or employment. Empirically, we show that employment protection differential between source and destination countries is an important determinant of bilateral migration. Bilateral migration of workers is negatively affected by this differential of employment protection. This effect is stronger for high-skilled workers. We also find that the effect of the differential is largely explained by the level of employment protection in destination countries. This factor does not have a significant impact in origin countries. These results are obtained controling econometrically for the high proportion of zero using Heckman two steps procedure. Overall, we find that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, migrants are not attracted by protective legislation. On the contrary, they tend to move where this protection is closer to the one of their origin country. |
| Keywords: | Migration, employment protection, labour markets |
| Date: | 2010–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00488345_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Manley, David (University of St. Andrews); van Ham, Maarten (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether individuals living in neighbourhoods with high concentrations of unemployment are less likely to enter work if they are unemployed and more likely to lose their job if they are employed. The main challenge in the neighbourhood effects literature is the identification of causal neighbourhood effects. A particular problem is that individuals do not randomly select neighbourhoods to live in: the selection process is often linked to the labour market situation and potential of individuals. To get more insight in neighbourhood effects we run separate models for social renters and owner occupiers. This study uses anonymised individual level longitudinal data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study for 1991 and 2001 with multiple neighbourhood scales operationalised. Based on the results we argue that any apparent neighbourhoods effects that were present in models of the full population are at least partly an artefact of different neighbourhood selection mechanisms. The conclusions of the paper call for a more nuanced treatment of neighbourhood effects and the development of models that seek to include neighbourhood selection from the outset. |
| Keywords: | neighbourhood deprivation, neighbourhood effects, labour market outcomes, longitudinal data, Scotland |
| JEL: | I30 J60 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5271&r=lab |
| By: | Gail Pacheco (Department of Economics, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.); Don J. Webber (Department of Economics, Auckland University of Technology and Department of Economics, UWE, Bristol) |
| Abstract: | This paper demonstrates that the determinants of job satisfaction do not change if the worker has decision making freedom and that the impact of some individual characteristics on job satisfaction follow interesting patterns as we move through occupational statuses. |
| Keywords: | Bivariate probit; Job satisfaction; Participatory decision making |
| JEL: | J28 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwe:wpaper:1014&r=lab |
| By: | Dirk Oberschachtsiek (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and Institute of Economics, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany); Britta Ullrich (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we investigate the nexus between career risk aversion and unemployment duration based on German survey data (GSOEP). Using a direct measurement of career risk aversion, we do not find a statistically significant linear effect from risk aversion on unemployment duration. However, we find significant effects when controlling for a non-linear or time varying correlation between risk aversion and unemployment duration. Our results show that risk aversion is important when deciding when to leave unemployment. This research takes into account the high complexity involved in how risk aversion enters an individual’s decision process during a job search. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, risk aversion, duration model |
| JEL: | J64 J24 D81 C41 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:189&r=lab |
| By: | Martins, Pedro S. (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | EPIS is an original and large private-sector program aimed at improving student achievement and eroding early school leaving at Portuguese state schools. The program first screens students to focus only on those more likely to perform poorly; and then conducts a number of small-group sessions aimed at improving the non-cognitive skills (e.g. study skills, motivation, self-esteem) of the selected students. Our quasi-experimental evidence of the effects of EPIS is drawn from rich longitudinal student data and the different timings in the roll-out of the program, both within and across schools. The results indicate that the program reduced grade retention by at least 10 percentage points and did so in a cost effective way. |
| Keywords: | student achievement, program evaluation, matched school-student data |
| JEL: | I20 J08 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5266&r=lab |
| By: | Gerard Postiglione (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the capacity of colleges and universities to serve poor and vulnerable populations during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global recession—an Asia far more economically integrated than during past economic shocks, with more unified aspirations to be globally competitive and socially responsible—need not delay reforms in higher education. In fact, the global recession is an opportune time for higher education in the Asia and Pacific region to continue reforming governance and administration, access and equity, internal and external efficiency, and regional collaboration. This paper proposes a series of measures to increase the resilience of higher education systems in serving poor and vulnerable populations during the economic recession. These measures include: (i) tuition assistance, subsidies, and loans; (ii) information and guidance for first-generation college students on choosing appropriate programs of study; (iii) community-based vocational and technical higher education that provides jobs in a rapidly changing labor market; (iv) innovative forms of cost sharing between public and private institutions of higher education; (v) resource decisions made on the basis of performance-based objectives; (vi) intensification of philanthropic culture that provides scholarships for poor students; (vii) upgrading of research about problems confronting poor communities; and (viii) regional strategies across the Asia and Pacific region for closer instructional program collaboration among colleges and universities |
| Keywords: | higher education, economic shocks, reform |
| JEL: | I2 I20 I21 I22 I23 I28 I29 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:2316&r=lab |
| By: | Rodriguez-Planas, Nuria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent studies on the effectiveness of services and incentives offered to disadvantaged youth. We focus our analysis on three types of interventions: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards. The objective of this article is threefold. First, we explain alternative theoretical points of view in favor (or against – when applicable) each of these interventions. Then, we discuss how recent empirical work has affected that view, and we summarize the latest findings. We conclude with a discussion on what questions remain to be examined. Our hope is that this article will serve as a resource for those seeking to understand what educational interventions work and for whom, and to use as a starting point to illuminate the debate on where to go next. |
| Keywords: | cognitive and non-cognitive skills, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, at-risk youth, resilience, deviancy training, deterrence, primary- and high-school, post-secondary education, remedial programs, incentives on inputs and outputs |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5255&r=lab |
| By: | Mauro Caselli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses and quantifies the effects of trade liberalisation and skill-biased technical change, both exogenous and trade-induced, on the skill premium and real wages of unskilled and skilled workers in theMexican manufacturing sector, using industry- and firm-level data for 1984-1990 from the Encuesta Industrial Anual. The novelty of the paper lies in its strategy for identifying causality, which uses differences across industries over time in the relative price of machinery and equipment in the US as an instrument for skill-biased technical change. The effect of trade-induced SBTC on wages, and especially on wage inequality, appears substantial. The regressions show that trade liberalisation and changes in the relative price of equipment in the US, which induce exogenous SBTC in Mexico, explain one quarter of the increase in relative skilled wages between 1984 and 1990. This rise in the skill premium due to SBTC and trade liberalisation mainly reflect a rise in real skilled wages, although with some specifications it was amplified by a fall in the real wages of unskilled workers. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalisation, skill-biased technical change, wage inequality, real wages, Mexico, manufacturing |
| JEL: | F14 J30 L60 O30 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-28&r=lab |
| By: | Darwin Cortés (Universidad del Rosario); Guido Friebel (Goethe-Universität); Darío Maldonado (Universidad del Rosario) |
| Abstract: | We model the decisions of young individuals to stay in school or drop-out and engage in criminal activities. We build on the literature on human capital and crime engagement and use the framework of Banerjee (1993) that assumes that the information needed to engage in crime arrives in the form of a rumor and that individuals update their beliefs about the profitability of crime relative to education. These assumptions allow us to study the effect of social interactions on crime. We first show that a society with fully rational students is less vulnerable to crime than an otherwise identical society with boundedly rational students. We also investigate the spillovers from the actions of talented students to less talented students and show that policies that decrease the cost of education for talented students may increase the vulnerability of less talented students to crime. This is always the case when the heterogeneity of students with respect to talent is sufficiently small. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, The Economics of Rumors, Social Interactions, Urban Economics |
| JEL: | D82 D83 I28 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.129&r=lab |
| By: | Nickell, Steven J |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:oxford:http://economics.ouls.ox.ac.uk/14926/&r=lab |
| By: | Bino Paul G.D; Krishna Krishna M; Saritha C T Saritha C.T. |
| Abstract: | We examine why it is important to consider seemingly autonomous but more embedded socio-political-economic aspects in assessing the impact of changes in Science and Technology (S&T) on human capital. In capturing the linkage between S&T and human capital, as we show, the dynamics in labour market is enmeshed in the complex web of socio-political-economic systems. Perhaps, this mode of reasoning has varying effects depending on the nature of economic activity. While the effect of entanglement of socio-political-economic aspects on S&T-human capital linkage may have less dynamism for primary economic activities, this effect is quite apparent for secondary and tertiary activities, quite reflected in consequences such as migration of labour. Interestingly, we investigate this dynamics taking nursing labour market as a case, viewing its significance in the emerging health care systems. A significant change in S&T of health care is that it has become more diagnostic than heuristic based system, mainly driven by advancements in the bio-medical technology. This change has altered the scope of health care occupations, covering occupations such as physicians, nurses, and para-medical professionals. Of these, nursing as an occupation reports one of the highest rates of women participation. After 2000, the migration of nursing professionals from some of the least developed/developing countries to developed countries has shown a steady increase. This surge in migration may have its roots in changes in S&T of health care systems. However, this link remains incomplete if we exclude a host of factors, primarily state’s role in health care, changes in health care education, new institutions in human capital formation, wage dynamics, and an increasingly socially embedded labour market. In this paper, we examine these themes –perspectives and substantive issues- , using the literature and secondary and primary data. |
| Keywords: | S&T-human capital linkage, changes in health care system, nursing labour market, India, health professions, health care, para-medical professions, women participation, labour market, health care education, Health Studies, Labour Studies |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3102&r=lab |
| By: | Fitzenberger, Bernd (University of Freiburg); Osikominu, Aderonke (University of Freiburg); Paul, Marie (University of Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of training incidence and duration on employment transitions accounting for the endogeneity of program participation and duration. We specify a very flexible bivariate random effects probit model for employment and training participation and we use Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques for estimation. We develop a simulation approach that uses the estimated coefficients and individual specific effects from the MCMC iterations to calculate the posterior distributions of different treatment effects of interest. Our estimation results imply positive effects of training on the employment probability of the treated, lying between 12 and 21 percentage points ten quarters after program start. The effects are higher for women than for men and higher in West Germany than in East Germany. Further, we find that the effect of training versus waiting underestimates the effect of training versus no training in the medium and long run by a third. Finally, our results show that longer planned enrolment lengths of three and four quarters as opposed to just two quarters lead to an increase in employment rates in the medium and long run by four to eleven percentage points. |
| Keywords: | evaluation, active labor market programs, dynamic non-linear panel data models, MCMC |
| JEL: | J68 C33 C11 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5269&r=lab |
| By: | Hijzen, Alexander (OECD); Martins, Pedro S. (Queen Mary, University of London); Schank, Thorsten (University of Mainz); Upward, Richard (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses to what extent working conditions in foreign-owned firms differ from those in their domestic counterparts. It makes three main contributions. First, we replicate the consensus in the empirical literature by applying a standardised methodology to firm-level data for three developed (Germany, Portugal, UK) and two emerging economies (Brazil, Indonesia). We show that, consistent with previous evidence, foreign-owned firms offer substantially higher average wages than domestic firms and that this difference is particularly important in emerging economies. Second, we show that these positive wage effects of foreign takeovers reduce in size when controlling for changes in the composition of the workforce, although they tend to remain positive and statistically significant. However, the wage effects associated with worker movements from domestic to foreign firms are potentially important, particularly in emerging economies. Third, we look not only at wage outcomes but also consider other working conditions such as working hours, job stability and union coverage. We find that foreign takeovers of domestic firms tend to have a small positive effect on wages, but little effect on other aspects of working conditions. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, foreign wage premia |
| JEL: | F14 F16 F23 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5259&r=lab |
| By: | Oliver Bargain; Herwig Immervoll; Andreas Peichl; Sebastian Siegloch |
| Abstract: | Macro-level changes can have substantial effects on the distribution of resources at the household level. While it is possible to speculate about which groups are likely to be hardesthit, detailed distributional studies are still largely backward-looking. This paper suggests a straightforward approach to gauge the distributional and fiscal implications of large output changes at an early stage. We illustrate the method with an evaluation of the impact of the 2008-2009 crisis in Germany. We take as a starting point a very detailed administrative matched employer-employee dataset to estimate labor demand and predict the effects of output shocks at a disaggregated level. The predicted employment effects are then transposed to household-level microdata, in order to analyze the incidence of rising unemployment and reduced working hours on poverty and inequality. We focus on two alternative scenarios of the labor demand adjustment process, one based on reductions in hours (intensive margin) and close to the German experience, and the other assuming extensive margin adjustments that take place through layoffs (close to the US situation). Our results suggest that the distributional and fiscal consequences are less severe when labor demand reacts along the intensive margin. |
| Keywords: | Labor demand, tax-benefit system, crisis, income distribution |
| JEL: | D58 J23 H24 H60 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp326&r=lab |
| By: | Benoit Dostie |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate returns to classroom and on-the-job firm sponsored training in terms of value-added per worker using longitudinal linked employee-employer Canadian data from 1999 to 2006. We estimate a standard production function controlling for endogenous training decisions because of perceived net benefits and time-varying market conditions using dynamic panel GMM methods. We find that employees who undertook classroom training are 11 percent more productive than otherwise similar employees. We show that returns to on-the-job training are on average lower (3:4 percent). We provide evidence that these lower returns are due to on-the-job training being more closely related to turnover and more geared toward subjects that are less productivity-enhancing. <P>Nous estimons dans cet article les rendements de la formation parrainée par l'employeur, en classe et en cours d'emploi, en termes de valeur ajoutée par travailleur en utilisant les données de l'Enquête sur le milieu de travail et les employés (EMTE) de Statistique Canada pour la période 1999-2006. Nous estimons une fonction de production où nous tenons compte de l'endogénéité des décisions de formation des entreprises due aux bénéfices escomptés et aux conditions de marché en utilisant une version dynamique de la méthode des moments généralisés. Nous trouvons que les employés ayant reçu de la formation en classe sont 11 % plus productif. Par contre, nous trouvons que les rendements de la formation en cours d'emploi sont inférieurs (3,4 %). Nous montrons que ces rendements inférieurs sont expliqués par le fait que la formation en cours d'emploi est reliée plus étroitement au roulement de la main d'oeuvre et que les sujets qui y sont traités ont moins d'impacts sur la productivité. |
| Keywords: | Productivity, On-the-job training, Classroom training, Turnover, Linked employer-employee data, Productivité, formation en cours d'emploi, formation en classe, roulement de la main-d'oeuvre, données employeur-employé liées |
| Date: | 2010–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2010s-44&r=lab |
| By: | Monika Mynarska (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.); Anna Matysiak (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to provide deeper insight into women’s fertility and employment decisions through the exploration of women’s values and beliefs. For our research, we selected Poland, where quantitative studies continuously point to a strong determination among mothers to participate in employment, despite marked institutional obstacles to combining work with childrearing. We demonstrated that motherhood is one of the major goals in women’s lives. Nevertheless, women seek to combine it with employment, and their ability to do so depends on the meaning attached to paid work. Using qualitative data, we identified three such meanings. “Work as an income source” and “work as an attractive activity” are considered desirable and compatible with motherhood, whereas “work as a professional career” precludes childrearing, and is rejected. In addition, our study illustrates how considering values and beliefs can contribute to our understanding of human behaviours, and demonstrates the usefulness of the qualitative approach for this purpose. |
| Keywords: | fertility, women’s labour force participation, values and beliefs, qualitative approach, methodological triangulation |
| JEL: | J16 J17 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isd:wpaper:31&r=lab |
| By: | Rob Simmons; David Berri |
| Abstract: | We investigate how team and individual performances of players in the National Basketball Association respond to variations in intra-team pay inequality. By breaking down team dispersion into conditional and expected components, we find that expected pay dispersion has a positive effect on team and individual performance. We find that team and individual performances are essentially orthogonal to conditional pay inequality, counter to the hypotheses of fairness and cohesion proposed in the literature both for sports and general occupations. A change in collective bargaining regime in 1996 had little impact on either team or player productivity. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006865&r=lab |
| By: | José Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal (University of Zaragoza); José Alberto Molina (University of Zaragoza and IZA); Raquel Ortega (University of Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a time use approach to analyze the average effect of aggregate unemployment on the daily life of individuals, focusing on the relationship between reduced market work and additional household production of unemployed individuals. Using the Spanish Time Use Survey 2002-2003, we find that, in general, the unemployed devote most of the reduced market time to additional leisure, and only a small proportion of time is devoted to household production activities. However, we find that the relationship between market work and household production with unemployment of individuals depends on regional unemployment rates, since in areas with high unemployment rates reduced market work is made up by additional time spent in household production. Our paper sheds light on the relationship between individuals’ time allocation decisions and aggregate macroeconomic variables. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Time Use, Aggregate Unemployment, Enjoyment Data |
| JEL: | D13 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zar:wpaper:dt2010-02&r=lab |
| By: | Even, William E. (Miami University); Macpherson, David A. (Trinity University) |
| Abstract: | This study argues that the promotion of union goals could have positive, negative, or neutral effects on risk adjusted return performance. Moreover, the union's ability and incentive to use pension assets to promote union goals will vary with the design of the pension. Using panel data on over 36,000 pension plans drawn from IRS Form 5500 filings, we empirically estimate the effects of unions on risk adjusted returns and find that the union effect on performance varies in ways that are consistent with our priors. In particular, unions have the largest negative effect among multi-employer defined contribution plans and the negative effect of unions can be eliminated by a switch to participant direction. Also, we find that unions improve performance for single employer defined contribution plans. |
| Keywords: | unions, rate of return, pension, defined benefit, defined contribution |
| JEL: | J32 J51 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5256&r=lab |
| By: | Dean Baker; David Rosnick |
| Abstract: | Social Security has made it possible for the vast majority of workers to enjoy a period of retirement in at least modest comfort without relying on their children for support. The average length of retirement has increased consistently since the program was started in 1937. However, the increase in the normal retirement age from 65 to 67 that is being phased in over the years 2003 to 2022 largely offsets the increase in life expectancy. As a result, workers who work long enough to collect their full benefits will see little gain in the expected length of their retirement over this period. These gains have gone overwhelmingly to workers in the top half of the income distribution. Consequently, the increase in retirement age will offset the gains in retirement lengths for the bottom half — even if there is no further inequality in improvements in life expectancy. If such inequality in improvements persist, then the bottom half of workers born in 1973 will have retirements no longer than those born in 1937. |
| Keywords: | social security, retirement, retirement age, life expectancy |
| JEL: | H H6 H62 H63 H68 J J1 J14 J18 J3 J32 J38 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2010-25&r=lab |
| By: | Juergen Bitzer (Department of Economics, University of Oldenburg); Ingo Geishecker (Department of Economics, University of Goettingen); Philipp Schroeder (Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | Job-Market signaling is ranked high among the explanations why in- dividuals engage voluntarily in OSS projects. If true, signaling implies the existence of a wage premium for OSS engagement. However, due to a lack of data this issue has not been tested previously. Based on a novel data set comprising detailed demographic and wage information for some 7,000 German IT employees, this paper fills this gap. In the empirical analysis, however, we find no support for the signaling hypoth- esis, a result that is robust to different measures of OSS involvement and different model specifications. |
| Keywords: | open source software, signaling, wage differentials |
| JEL: | J31 J24 D01 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:321&r=lab |
| By: | Crépon, Bruno (CREST-INSEE); Ferracci, Marc (CREST-INSEE); Jolivet, Grégory (University of Bristol); van den Berg, Gerard J. (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | When treatments may occur at different points in time, most evaluation methods assume – implicitly or explicitly – that all the information used by subjects about the occurrence of a future treatment is available to the researcher. This is often called the “no anticipation” assumption. In reality, subjects may receive private signals about the date when a treatment may start. We provide a methodological and empirical analysis of this issue in a setting where the outcome of interest as well as the moment of information arrival (notification) and the start of the treatment can all be characterized by duration variables. Building on the "Timing of Events" approach, we show that the causal effects of notification and of the treatment on the outcome are identified. We estimate the model on an administrative data set of unemployed workers in France which provides the date when job seekers receive information from caseworkers about their future treatment status. We find that notification has a significant and positive effect on unemployment duration. This result violates the standard "no anticipation" assumption and rules out a "threat effect" of training programs in France. |
| Keywords: | evaluation of labor market programs, training, duration model, timing of events, anticipation |
| JEL: | C31 C41 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5265&r=lab |
| By: | Marc Demeuse (INAS - Institut d'Administration scolaire - Université de Mons); Antoine Derobertmasure (INAS - Institut d'Administration scolaire - Université de Mons); Nathanaël Friant (INAS - Institut d'Administration scolaire - Université de Mons) |
| Abstract: | The school quasi-market in French-speaking Belgium is characterised by segregation of various types. Efforts to apply measures that encourage greater social mixing have met with stiff resistance and various difficulties. In 2008 and 2009, a significant amount of turbulence was caused by the application of the "social mixing" law influencing the registration procedures for students in secondary education. The purpose of this article is to present some results from a prospective research project that investigated the possibility of modifying the formula for financing schools, the foundation of the quasi-market mechanism. To do this, a generalised formula for allocating funds to schools according to need is proposed on the basis of legislation currently in force in the French Community of Belgium. Then, the solution tested is presented with a financing formula that takes into account indicators of the social composition of the school population. Various scenarios of differentiated financing of schools according to these indicators are presented, through simulations using real data on the effects of these scenarios in terms of gains and losses first for all schools, and then for different contrasting schools thereafter. Finally, the implications of these scenarios are discussed and put into perspective with respect to the different solutions considered since 2005 in French-speaking Belgium. |
| Keywords: | Prospective; social mixing; regulation; education |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00496944_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Mauro Caselli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of trade liberalisation and technical change on real and relative wages. It builds a model with monopolistic competition, heterogeneous firms and two countries, North and South, and solves it numerically. Skill-biased technical change, caused by decreases in the price of imported equipment as a result of reduced trade costs or falls in its world price, tends to increase the relative wages of skilled workers. This increase in the skill premium can occur even in skill-scarce developing countries, as has often been observed in reality, even though Stolper-Samuelson effects pull the other way. What drives the rise in skilled wages when imported equipment becomes cheaper is the rise in demand for skilled workers in the most productive firms in each sector. Whether or not real unskilled wages increase absolutely after trade liberalisation appears to depend on whether trade costs are ad valorem or per-unit. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalisation, skill-biased technical change, wage inequality, real wages, equipment-skill complementarity. |
| JEL: | F12 O33 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-27&r=lab |
| By: | Effrosyni Adamopoulou |
| Abstract: | In Western Europe and the US, the last couple of decades have witnessed a large increase in the new forms of marriages, usually called quasi-marriages, like cohabitation. Today in many European countries more than 15% of all couples are cohabiting. Furthermore, cohabiting couples differ from married ones. They tend to share household tasks and market works more equally than married couples. The aim of this paper is to account for the rise in cohabitation as well as the cross-sectional differences between cohabiting and married couples. To this end, we build a two-period model of marriage and cohabitation with home production. Using this framework, we analyze, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of the narrowing of the gender wage gap and the improvement in household production technology on the agents’ marital decisions. |
| Keywords: | Marriage, Cohabitation, Marital institutions, Household production technology, Gender wage gap |
| JEL: | D10 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1026&r=lab |
| By: | Pal, Sarmistha (Brunel University); Kingdon, Geeta (Institute of Education, University of London) |
| Abstract: | Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set the agenda for the attainment of universal literacy by 2015 primarily to be delivered by the state sector. This agenda tends to ignore the significant private school growth around the world since early 1990s, thus initiating the policy debate as to whether private school growth may foster 'education for all'. Despite growing literature on the difficulties of attaining MDGs, there is hardly any attempt to assess the role of private sector in this respect. Using India as an important case in point, we intend to bridge this gap of the literature. Results using a unique district-level panel data-set from 17 major states of India for the period 1992-2002 that we compile highlight a significant positive impact of private school growth on literacy while its effect on gender gap in literacy remains rather limited in our sample. Compared to 15-19 year olds, private school effect of literacy is stronger among 10-14 year old children. Interesting variations across the regions and also among the marginalised ethnic groups are noted. The paper offers explanations for the findings. |
| Keywords: | private school growth, universal literacy, gender gap, Millennium Development Goals, India, Asia |
| JEL: | I21 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5274&r=lab |
| By: | Canavire Bacarreza, Gustavo Javier (Georgia State University); Rios Avila, Fernando (Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the heterogeneous effects of domestic violence over labor markets in an ethnically fragmented country such as Bolivia. Among developing countries, Bolivia “excels” in having one of the highest levels of domestic violence in the region. Anecdotal evidence and empirical evidence suggest that response to domestic violence is not homogeneous across different ethnic groups. Using information from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Bolivia, we examine the heterogeneous impacts of domestic violence over one of the key labor market outcomes such as employment. We employ a probabilistic decision model and treatment regression techniques to examine this effect. We claim that the impact of domestic violence on labor markets is limited among indigenous people, given that violence is, to some extent, socially recognized and accepted. We find that for most of the cases, indigenous women are less responsive to domestic violence than non-indigenous ones, except for groups with a high income level. Our results are robust for alternative methodologies to address possible endogeneity problems. |
| Keywords: | labor markets, domestic violence, Bolivia, indigenous |
| JEL: | J15 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5273&r=lab |
| By: | Alexey Kushnir (Pennsylvania State University) |
| Abstract: | Some labor markets have recently developed formal signalling mechanisms, e.g. the signalling for interviews in the job market for new Ph.D. economists. We evaluate the effect of such mechanisms on two-sided matching markets by considering a game of incomplete information between firms and workers. Workers have almost aligned preferences over firms: each worker has “typical” commonly known preferences with probability close to one and “atypical” idiosyncratic preferences with the complementary probability close to zero. Firms have some commonly known preferences over workers. We show that the introduction of a signalling mechanism is harmful for this environment. Though signals transmit previously unavailable information, they also facilitate information asymmetry that leads to coordination failures. As a result, the introduction of a signalling mechanism lessens the expected number of matches when signals are informative. |
| Keywords: | Signaling, Cheaptalk, Matching |
| JEL: | C72 C78 D80 J44 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.121&r=lab |
| By: | Dorner, Matthias (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Heining, Jörg (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Jacobebbinghaus, Peter (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Seth, Stefan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "The Research Data Centre of the German Federal Employment Agency provides high quality micro data on the German labour market. With the Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB), it offers a new data set suited for the analysis of individual working careers. Compared to its predecessor, the IAB Employment Samples (IABS), the SIAB contains both a longer observation period and more information on individual labour market histories. It can be regarded as the most comprehensive administrative micro-level data set on employment histories that is currently available for Germany." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))<br><br><b>Additional Information</b><ul><li><a href='http://doku.iab.de/fdz/reporte/2010/DR_01-10_EN.pdf'>Here you can find the documentation of the sample (FDZ-Datenreport 1/2010) .</a></li></ul> |
| Keywords: | Integrierte Arbeitsmarktbiografien, Datenaufbereitung, Datenqualität, Datenzugang, Stichprobe |
| Date: | 2010–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfme:201009_en&r=lab |
| By: | Graziella Bertocchi (University of Modena, CEPR, CHILD e IZA); Arcangelo Dimico (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of slavery on the current performances of the US economy. Over a cross section of counties, we find that the legacy of slavery does not affect current income per capita, but does affect current income inequality. In other words, those counties that displayed a higher proportion of slaves are currently not poorer, but more unequal. Moreover, we find that the impact of slavery on current income inequality is determined by racial inequality. We test three alternative channels of transmission between slavery and inequality: a land inequality theory, a racial discrimination theory and a human capital theory. We find support for the third theory, i. e., even after controlling for potential endogeneity, current inequality is primarily influenced by slavery through the unequal educational attainment of blacks and whites. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of racial inequality along the educational dimension, we complete our investigation by analyzing a panel dataset covering the 1940-2000 period at the state level. Consistently with our previous findings, we find that the educational racial gap significantly depends on the initial gap, which was indeed larger in the former slave states. |
| Keywords: | Slavery, development, inequality, institutions, education |
| JEL: | D02 H52 J15 O11 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:26_10&r=lab |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Heckman, James J. (University of Chicago); Vytlacil, Edward (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the marginal returns to college for individuals induced to enroll in college by different marginal policy changes. The recent instrumental variables literature seeks to estimate this parameter, but in general it does so only under strong assumptions that are tested and found wanting. We show how to utilize economic theory and local instrumental variables estimators to estimate the effect of marginal policy changes. Our empirical analysis shows that returns are higher for individuals more likely to attend college. We contrast the returns to well-defined marginal policy changes with IV estimates of the return to schooling. Some marginal policy changes inducing students into college produce very low returns. |
| Keywords: | returns to schooling, marginal return, average return, marginal treatment effect |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5275&r=lab |
| By: | Stancanelli, Elena G. F. (University of Cergy-Pontoise); Stratton, Leslie S. (Virginia Commonwealth University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes households' demand for time inputs to domestic services, modeling simultaneously the decision to purchase services in the market and the time spent on weekend and weekday days by each partner on routine household chores. By focusing on cleaning, laundry, and ironing, we reduce the likelihood that preferences matter and increase the overlap with market services. Particular emphasis is placed on estimating the effects of prices, as captured by own and partner wages and the market price for domestic services. We exploit time-diary data for Great Britain and France, relying on cross-country comparisons to generalize our findings. The results indicate that prices strongly influence market purchases, and that maid service is a closer substitute for household time on weekends than weekdays, but is also correlated with 'her' weekday time. More generally, we find that women's wages have a stronger association with the inputs to domestic work than any other price measure. |
| Keywords: | time use, domestic work, gender |
| JEL: | J22 J16 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5253&r=lab |
| By: | Asadul Islam; Russell Smyth |
| Abstract: | This study examines the economic returns to beauty and unprotected sex in the commercial sex market in Bangladesh. The results show that there is a beauty premium for commercial sex work, but it is within the bounds of the economic returns to beauty for women in occupations that do not involve sex work. We find that there is an earnings premium for sex workers who sell unprotected sex and that more attractive sex workers charge a higher premium for unprotected sex. This result is consistent with either attractive sex workers having more bargaining/negotiating power or attractiveness and risky sex being complements for males in the presence of attractive women. The results are robust to a number of empirical specifications including controls for sex workers’ disposition, client characteristics and a number of fixed effects to control for other attributes of sex workers and their clients. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2010-41&r=lab |
| By: | Bellmann, Lutz (IAB, Nürnberg); Hohendanner, Christian (IAB, Nürnberg); Hujer, Reinhard (Goethe University Frankfurt) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the influence of regional determinants on the decision of employers to provide within-firm further training. We estimate the effects of the regional population density, the unemployment rate and the regional concentration of an industry against the background of several determinants of further training at the establishment level. To account for the clustered and longitudinal structure of our data – with annual observations of firms and firms nested within regions – we apply multi-level random effects logit models. Our empirical analysis is based on the IAB-Establishment Panel 2001 to 2007. |
| Keywords: | multi-level panel analysis, human capital, further training, regional labour markets |
| JEL: | J24 I21 C33 R12 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5257&r=lab |
| By: | Berger F; Islam N; Liégeois P |
| 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. |
| JEL: | C25 H24 H31 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em5/10&r=lab |