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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Asma Hyder (Business School, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad); Jere R. Behrman (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Many studies document significantly positive associations between schooling attainment and wages in developing countries. But when individuals enter occupations subsequent to completing their schooling, they not only face an expected work-life path of wages, but a number of other occupational characteristics, including wage risks and disability risks, for which there may be compensating wage differentials. This study examines the relations between schooling on one hand and mean wages and these two types of risks on the other hand, based on 77,685 individuals from the wage-earning population as recorded in six Labor Force Surveys of Pakistan. The results suggest that schooling is positively associated with mean total wages and wage rates, but has different associations with these two types of risks: Disability risks decline as schooling increases but wage risks, and even more, wage rate risks increase as schooling increases. The schooling-wage risks relation, but not the schooling-disability risks relation,is consistent with there being compensating differentials. |
| Keywords: | Wages, Risks, Labor Markets, Job Disabilities, Compensating Differentials,Developing Country, Schooling |
| JEL: | J31 J28 O53 |
| Date: | 2011–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:11-013&r=lab |
| By: | Mari Kangasniemi; Antti Kauhanen |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of performance-related pay (PRP) on gender wage differences using Finnish linked employer-employee panel data. Controlling for unobserved person and firm effects, we find that bonuses increase women’s earnings slightly less than men’s, but the economic significance of the difference is negligible. Piece rates and reward rates, however, tend to increase gender wage differentials. Thus, the nature of a performance related pay plan is important for gauging the impact of PRP on gender wage differentials. A comparison with OLS results shows the importance of controlling for unobserved person and firm effects. |
| Keywords: | gender wage differences, performance-related pay, person and firm effects, panel data |
| JEL: | J16 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2011–04–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1249&r=lab |
| By: | Keuschnigg, Christian; Fisher, Walter |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the consequences of pension reform for life-cycle unemployment and retirement. We find that (i) improving actuarial fairness in pension assessment not only boosts old age participation but also reduces unemployment among prime age workers and raises welfare; (ii) strengthening the tax benefit link boosts life-cycle labor supply on all margins and welfare; (iii) excluding unemployment benefits from the pension assessment base reduces unemployment, encourages later retirement and boosts efficiency; and (iv) extending the calculation period favors employment of young workers, might possibly lead to more unemployment among older ones, encourages postponed retirement and most likely yields positive welfare gains. |
| Keywords: | Pensions, tax benefit link, retirement, unemployment. |
| JEL: | H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2011:19&r=lab |
| By: | Ralitza Dimova; Ira N. Gang (Osteuropa-Institut, Regensburg (Institut for East European Studies)); John Landon-Lane |
| Abstract: | In Central and Eastern European women started the process of transition from socialist to market economies with a status quo that differed markedly from women in both de-veloped western and traditional developing economies. They enjoyed an equal or higher level of education than men, virtually no unemployment, only temporary labor force departures, lavish maternity and child related benefits. Using panel data constructed from the 1995 and 1997 Bulgarian Integrated Household Surveys, our results reveal striking gender differences with respect to the reallocation of male and female employ-ees to and out of the public and private sectors. |
| Keywords: | Employment, Mobility, Gender, Household |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J31 J62 P2 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:298&r=lab |
| By: | Ran Abramitzky; Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a novel dataset to test the important theoretical prediction that the level of investment in schooling is increasing in the rate of return to education. We exploit a unique episode where different Israeli kibbutzim shifted from equal sharing to productivity-based wages in different years, resulting in sharp increases in the return to education. We use a difference-in-differences approach comparing educational outcomes of high school students in kibbutzim that reformed early (the treatment group) and late (the control group), before and after the early reforms (but before the late reforms). The treatment group is shown to be nearly identical to the control group in observable characteristics and pre-reform mean outcomes. We find that students in kibbutzim that reformed early increased their investment in education, as reflected by outcomes such as whether they graduated high school and their average matriculation scores. This effect is stronger for males, and is mainly driven by students whose parents have lower levels of education. It is also stronger for students in kibbutzim that reformed to a greater degree. We use various falsification tests to support our identification strategy and to show that our results are not driven by other factors such as differential time trends or differential exit rates. Our findings support the prediction that education is highly responsive to changes in returns, especially for students from weaker backgrounds. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17093&r=lab |
| By: | Volker Tjaden; Felix Wellschmied |
| Abstract: | Standard search models are inconsistent with the amount of frictional wage dis- persion found in U.S. data. We resolve this apparent puzzle by modeling skill development (learning by doing on the job, skill loss during unemployment) and duration dependence in unemployment benets in a random on the job search model featuring two-sided heterogeneity. The model's key parameters are calibrated using micro data on employment mobility and wages from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Our model is consistent with the amount of frictional wage dispersion found in the data. Skill develop- ment on the job is the most important driver behind this result. Meanwhile, firm heterogeneity never accounts for more than 20% of overall wage inequality within an age cohort. |
| Keywords: | Frictional wage dispersion; Search model; Heterogeneity |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse04_2011&r=lab |
| By: | Gärtner, Manfred |
| Abstract: | This note demonstrates that when developing countries remove barriers to migration and integrate their labour markets, children may be driven out of schools and into informal or paid employment in the comparatively rich countries. In industrialized countries, the same mechanism might force individuals or families to hold multiple jobs, into public welfare programs or into government-subsidized employment. |
| Keywords: | Labour market, migration, integration, child labour, subsistence, minimum wage. |
| JEL: | J13 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2011:23&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno Contini; Ambra Poggi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the existence of negative jobless duration dependence and the impact of jobless spells on future wages. Our findings are relatively out of line compared to analogous explorations. We find evidence of very long unemployment duration of the young male labor force, much higher than reported anywhere else in Western Europe. Despite our findings on unemployment duration, negative unemployment duration dependence is modest. While the probability of re-employment decreases also in Italy as elapsed joblessness becomes longer, such decay is small. Finally, we show that young Italian males experiencing jobless periods in their early careers face small re-employment wage losses. Such losses do increase with the duration of joblessness, but here, once again, they are lower than reported in Unites States, Canada, UK, France and Spain. |
| Keywords: | joblessness, duration dependence, long term unemployment, two stage least squares, selection problems. |
| JEL: | J64 J24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:103&r=lab |
| By: | Benito, Andrew (Bank of England); Saleheen, Jumana (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines labour supply adjustment – both hours worked and participation decisions. The analysis focuses on the response of each to financial shocks, employing data from the British Household Panel Survey. Results suggest that employees whose financial situation deteriorates relative to what they expected, increase their labour supply in response. That response is consistent with models of self-insurance that incorporate labour supply flexibility. The shock reflects several factors including financial wealth and a partner’s employment situation. The response is significantly larger for those who change job, consistent with the importance of hours constraints within jobs. The propensity to participate in the labour market also appears to respond to the financial shock but that is somewhat less robust than the hours response. |
| Keywords: | Labour supply; self-insurance. |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2011–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0426&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno Contini |
| Abstract: | Why did employment growth - high in the last decade– take place at the expense of young workers in the countries of Central and Southern Europe ? This is the question addressed in this paper. Youth unemployment has approached or exceeded 20% despite a variety of factors, common to most EU countries. According to neo-classical economics all would be expected to exert a positive impact on its evolution: population ageing and the demographic decline, low labor cost of young workers, flexibility of working arrangements, higher educational attainment, low unionization of young workers, early retirement practices of workers 50+. But neither seems to provide a convincing explanation. Historically based institutions and political tradition, cultural values, social capital – factors that go beyond the standard explanation of economic theory – provide a more satisfying interpretation. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:102&r=lab |
| By: | Amiti, Mary; Cameron, Lisa |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the effect of reducing import tariffs on intermediate inputs and final goods on the wage skill premium within firms in Indonesia – a country with a high share of unskilled workers. We present a new finding that reducing input tariffs reduces the wage skill premium within firms that import their intermediate inputs. However, we do not find significant effects from reducing tariffs on final goods on the wage skill premium within firms. |
| Keywords: | import tariffs; intermediate inputs; wage inequality |
| JEL: | F10 F12 F13 F14 F16 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8382&r=lab |
| By: | Michele Raitano; Francesco Vona (Sapienza University of Rome.) |
| Abstract: | Recent literature agrees that the degree of intergenerational mobility substantially differs across European countries, ranked between the “mobile” Nordic countries and the “immobile” Anglo-Saxon and Southern ones. In this paper we will compare the intergenerational transmission of advantages in 8 European countries using EU-SILC dataset. Considering parental occupations as background variable, our main aims are to assess whether residual returns to background on offspring’s labour incomes persist after controlling for intermediated background-related outcomes (education and occupation) and to disentangle the role played by upward and downward occupational mobility on earnings. Our empirical analyses show that cross-country differences occur in the labour markets rather than in the educational stream. Consistently with previous findings, residual background effects on earnings are not significant in Nordic and Continental countries whereas they appear large in Anglo-Saxon and Southern ones. When the impact of backward and upward mobility is assessed, in all countries but Nordic ones penalties for upgrading emerge mostly in top occupations and are higher in less-mobile countries. These patterns are smoothened but preserved in bottom occupations and robust to different labour income measures. |
| Keywords: | Residual Returns to Background, Earning Impact of Occupational Mobility, International comparison, Intergenerational Inequality |
| JEL: | D31 I21 J24 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dsc:wpaper:13&r=lab |
| By: | Sa A. Bui; Steven G. Craig; Scott A. Imberman |
| Abstract: | In this paper we determine how the receipt of gifted and talented (GT) services affects student outcomes. We identify the causal relationship by exploiting a discontinuity in eligibility requirements and find that for students on the margin there is no discernable impact on achievement even though peers improve substantially. We then use randomized lotteries to examine the impact of attending a GT magnet program relative to GT programs in other schools and find that, despite being exposed to higher quality teachers and peers that are one standard deviation higher achieving, only science achievement improves. We argue that these results are consistent with an invidious comparison model of peer effects offsetting other benefits. Evidence of large reductions in course grades and rank relative to peers in both regression discontinuity and lottery models are consistent with this explanation. |
| JEL: | H75 I2 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17089&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Denny (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question of whether higher levels of education contribute to greater tolerance of homosexuals. Using survey data for Ireland and exploiting a major reform to education, the abolition of fees for secondary schools in 1968, it is shown that increases in education causes individuals to be significantly more tolerant of homosexuals. Ignoring the endogeneity of education leads to much lower estimates of the effect of education. Replicating the model with data for the United Kingdom generates very similar results. |
| Keywords: | education, homophobia, tolerance, social returns |
| Date: | 2011–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201108&r=lab |
| By: | Keisuke Kawata (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a simple search model in which sector-specific trainings are endogenously determined with or without a negotiation between a worker and an employer, and characterizes the allocation of two types of training. If a worker and an employer can negotiate over the amount of skill training, the training hours to acquire a skill specific to this employer's sector may be longer or shorter in the decentralized allocation than in the socially efficient allocation. Meanwhile, if they cannot negotiate, the training hours are definitely longer in the decentralized allocation than in the socially efficient allocation. |
| Keywords: | Excess entry; sector-specific skills, job search, wage bargaining |
| JEL: | J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1121&r=lab |
| By: | Bruno Contini; Elisa Grand |
| Abstract: | This paper explores a process which I denote as “young workforce disposal” (YWD). YWD reflects the fact that many young people enter the labor market as dependent employees, at some later time they are dismissed and (presumably) move into never-ending unemployment. Long term unemployment may last two, three, four years, but, in the end, it should lead to re-entry in working activities. If it does not, i.e. if we observe young men separating from their jobs for whatever reason, and, for as long as ten or more years, disappearing from the labor force altogether, then it becomes problematic to define such events simply as long term unemployment. YWD seems to be an appropriate denomination, as it conveys the idea that young workers become a disposable commodity. Workforce disposal is evident and dramatic in Italy: out of 100 new young entries, about 70 are still in the labor market 10 years after entry if their first job spell was at least one year long. For those – three times as many - who have started their career with a short employment spell (< 3 months), 10-year survival does not reach 50%. A simple model of the short-medium run development of the YWD process is estimated: labor cost dynamics explains about 50% of the survival process. A comprehensive, structural, exploration of its long run evolution is, instead, problematic for lack of longitudinal data going back to the Seventies. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:101&r=lab |
| By: | Philip DeCicca; Justin D. Smith |
| Abstract: | We investigate short and long-term effects of early childhood education using variation created by a unique policy experiment in British Columbia, Canada. Our findings imply starting Kindergarten one year late substantially reduces the probability of repeating the third grade, and meaningfully increases in tenth grade math and reading scores. Effects are highest for low income students and males. Estimates suggest that entering kindergarten early may have a detrimental effect on future outcomes. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17085&r=lab |
| By: | Jordi Galí; Frank Smets; Rafael Wouters |
| Abstract: | We reformulate the Smets-Wouters (2007) framework by embedding the theory of unemployment proposed in Galí (2011a,b). We estimate the resulting model using postwar U.S. data, while treating the unemployment rate as an additional observable variable. Our approach overcomes the lack of identification of wage markup and labor supply shocks highlighted by Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (2008) in their criticism of New Keynesian models, and allows us to estimate a "correct" measure of the output gap. In addition, the estimated model can be used to analyze the sources of unemployment fluctuations. |
| JEL: | D58 E24 E31 E32 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17084&r=lab |
| By: | Aurelijus Dabušinskas; Tairi Rõõm |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we give a comprehensive overview of wage and price adjustment practices in Estonia, drawing from two managerial surveys which were conducted in autumn 2007 and summer 2009 within the framework of the Wage Dynamics Network (WDN), a joint research project by the Eurosystem/ESCB. Our discussion covers a broad range of results, including firm-level descriptive evidence for several institutional and structural characteristics of the Estonian economy such as unionisation and collective bargaining coverage, labour intensity of production, remuneration methods, product market competition, etc., and insights into the wage and price setting behaviour of Estonian firms. To illustrate this behaviour, we give an overview of the frequency and timing of wage and price changes; the extent of downward nominal and real wage rigidity; the determinants of wages paid to newly employed workers; and finally, the nature of firms\' adjustments to cost push and negative demand shocks |
| Keywords: | survey data, wage setting, price setting, Estonia |
| JEL: | E3 J3 |
| Date: | 2011–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre-André Chiappori (Columbia University - Department of Economics); Bernard Salanié (Columbia University - Department of Economics); Yoram Weiss (Tel-Aviv University - Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Several theoretical contributions have argued that the returns to schooling within marriage play a crucial role for human capital investments. Our paper quantifies the evolution of these returns over the last decades. We consider a frictionless matching framework á la Becker-Shapley-Shubik, in which the gain generated by a match between two individuals is the sum of a systematic effect that only depends on the spouses' education classes and a match-specific term that we treat as random; following Choo and Siow (2006), we assume the latter component has an additively separable structure. We derive a complete, theoretical characterization of the model. We show that if the supermodularity of the surplus function is invariant over time and errors have extreme value distributions with time-invariant but education-dependent variances, the model is overidentified. We apply our method to US data on individuals born between 1943 and 1972. Our model fits the data very closely; moreover, we find that the deterministic part of the surplus is indeed supermodular and that, in line with theoretical predictions, the "marital college premium" has increased for women but not for men over the period. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clu:wpaper:1011-04&r=lab |
| By: | M. Bigoni; M. Fort; M. Nardotto; T. Reggiani |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the effect of two stylized and antithetic non-monetary incentive schemes on students’ effort. We collect data from a field experiment where incentives are exogenously imposed, performance is monitored and individual characteristics are observed. Students are randomly assigned to a tournament scheme that fosters competition between coupled students, a cooperative scheme that promotes information sharing and collaboration between students and a control treatment in which students can neither compete, nor cooperate. In line with theoretical predictions, we find that competition induces higher effort with respect to cooperation and cooperation does not increase effort with respect to the baseline. However, this is true only for men, while women do not seem to react to non-monetary incentives. |
| JEL: | A22 C93 I20 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp752&r=lab |
| By: | Alessandra Minello; Nicola Barban |
| Abstract: | The general aim of this paper is to investigate the educational aspirations of the children of immigrants living in Italy and attending the last year of primary school (8th grade). We look at the educational aspirations both as a predictor of educational choice and as a measure of social integration. We consider both secondary school track and university aspirations as indicators of educational preferences in the short and long run. Data have been collected during the 2005-2006 school year and they come from the ITAGEN survey: the first Italian nation-wide extensive survey on children with at least one foreign-born parent. First, we analyze association between aspirations and structural characteristics (e.g. migration status and country of origin) and social aspects such as family socioeconomic status, and friendship ties. These aspects seem to be determinants in defining both short and long time aspirations, while long-term aspirations are not associated with migration status. Second, we investigate the relevance of context in delineating educational aspirations. To develop this second aspect we perform multilevel analysis that takes into account both individual and school level variables. Our hypothesis, confirmed both for short and long aspirations, is that attending a school where most of the Italian pupils have high educational aspirations may lead children of immigrants to enhance their own aspirations. |
| Keywords: | educational aspirations, immigrant integration, ITAGEN, friendship ties, scholastic context |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:046&r=lab |
| By: | Ralitza Dimova; Gil S. Epstein; Ira N. Gang (Osteuropa-Institut, Regensburg (Institut for East European Studies)) |
| Abstract: | We examine agricultural child labor in the context of emigration, transfers, and the abil-ity to hire outside labor. We start by developing a theoretical background based on Basu and Van, (1998), Basu, (1999) and Epstein and Kahana (2008) and show how hir-ing labor from outside the household and transfers to the household might induce a re-duction in children’s working hours. Analysis using Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data on the Kagera region in Tanzania lend support to the hypothesis that both emigration and remittances reduce child labor. |
| Keywords: | child labor, emigration, transfers, Tanzania |
| JEL: | D62 F22 I30 J13 J20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:297&r=lab |
| By: | Tairi Rõõm (Bank of Estonia, Estonia pst. 13, 15095 Tallinn, Estonia.); Aurelijus Dabušinskas (Bank of Estonia, Estonia pst. 13, 15095 Tallinn, Estonia.) |
| Abstract: | The time series of various economic variables often exhibit asymmetry: decreases in the values tend to be sharp and fast, whereas increases usually occur slowly and gradually. We detect signs of an analogous asymmetry in firms’ wage setting behaviour on the basis of managerial surveys, with employers tending to react faster to negative than to positive shocks in the same variables. As well as describing the presence of asymmetry in the speed of wage adjustment, we investigate which companies are more likely to demonstrate it in their behaviour. For this purpose, we apply the Heckman selection model and develop a methodology that improves identification by exploiting heteroscedasticity in the selection equation. The estimation results imply that companies operating in a more competitive environment have a higher propensity to react asymmetrically. We also find that businesses relying on labour-intensive production technology are more likely to react faster to negative shocks. Both of these findings support the hypothesis that this behaviour results from companies’ attempts to protect profit margins. JEL Classification: J30, J31, J33. |
| Keywords: | wage dynamics, asymmetry, wage setting, survey. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20111340&r=lab |
| By: | Fritzsch, Jana; Möllers, Judith; Buchenrieder, Gertrud |
| Abstract: | Changes in the rural labour market, especially the increase of rural non-farm employment are recognised as one dimension of structural change. Labour allocation decisions are driven by economic incentives such as wage differentials, but also non-economic motives may play a decisive role. This paper summarises theoretical insights and presents an integrated conceptual framework reflecting the drivers of employment shifts. Methodologically, the conceptual framework is implemented in fuzzy logic to analyse the household potential to diversify its income activities. The empirical analysis draws on a survey of 1,077 farm households in rural Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia. [ ] This report is structured as follows: Chapter 2 presents a review of theory, an integrated theoretical framework as well as an overview of current trends of employment diversification. Chapter 3 then introduces fuzzy logic methodology and presents the model that is implemented to assess the non-farm income diversification potential in the survey countries. This is followed by a brief description of the database in Chapter 4. Simulation results are presented in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6. The last chapter summarises the main outcomes and gives policy recommendations. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamodp:134&r=lab |
| By: | Sultana, R. |
| Abstract: | Studies of compensating discrimination (known in the U.S. as affirmative action) have not accounted for the role of envy. Yet envy affects utility. I consider the compensatingdiscrimination policies that individuals acknowledging envy would choose when behind a veil of ignorance. The institutional background for my study is India, where low castes have been provided with preferential access to public education and reserved public sector jobs. Although the Indian case is background, the conclusions apply more generally. I define envy as occurring when people with the same abilities have different incomes because of unequal education and employment opportunities. This is the case when, because of adverse discrimination, low-caste people are denied access to education and public-sector jobs, and also when, because of compensating discrimination, it is high-caste people who are correspondingly denied equal access. A benchmark case with neither adverse nor discriminatory discrimination is efficient and equitable (envy-free). Adverse and compensating discrimination both compromise efficiency and fairness. I derive the conditions that determine attitudes of a population behind the veil of ignorance to compensatingdiscrimination policies. |
| Keywords: | Caste system, discrimination, envy, affirmative action, fairness |
| JEL: | A12 D61 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1106&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Baumann (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Bryan Engelhardt (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross); Victor Matheson (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical examination of impact the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States on local employment. In contrast to ex ante economic impact reports that suggest large increases in employment due to the tournament, an ex post examination of employment in 9 host metropolitan areas finds no significant impact on employment from hosting World Cup games. Furthermore, an analysis of employment in specific sectors of the economy finds no impact from hosting games on employment in the leisure and hospitality and professional and business services sectors but a statistically significant negative impact on employment in the retail trade sector. |
| Keywords: | World Cup, soccer, impact analysis, mega-event, tourism |
| JEL: | L83 O18 R53 J21 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spe:wpaper:1113&r=lab |
| By: | Brown, W. |
| Abstract: | A revival of trade unions was widely expected when Blair’s New Labour government took over from the Conservatives in Britain in 1997. This did not occur. Collective bargaining continued to retreat. The paper discusses the implications of the changing economic context for the government’s legal innovations, notably statutory trade union recognition and a minimum wage. It describes the consequences for industrial relations. It concludes that New Labour’s legacy may lie in its nurturing of the institutions of social partnership and the use of conciliation. |
| JEL: | J50 J52 J58 |
| Date: | 2011–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1121&r=lab |
| By: | Alberto F. Alesina; Paola Giuliano; Nathan Nunn |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to better understand the historical origins of current differences in norms and beliefs about the appropriate role of women in society. We test the hypothesis that traditional agricultural practices influenced the historical gender division of labor and the evolution and persistence of gender norms. We find that, consistent with existing hypotheses, the descendants of societies that traditionally practiced plough agriculture, today have lower rates of female participation in the workplace, in politics, and in entrepreneurial activities, as well as a greater prevalence of attitudes favoring gender inequality. We identify the causal impact of traditional plough use by exploiting variation in the historical geo-climatic suitability of the environment for growing crops that differentially benefited from the adoption of the plough. Our IV estimates, based on this variation, support the findings from OLS. To isolate the importance of cultural transmission as a mechanism, we examine female labor force participation of second-generation immigrants living within the US. |
| JEL: | J16 N30 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17098&r=lab |
| By: | HASHIMOTO Yuki |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on <i>kenshusei tokku</i> or the special district for foreign trainees—a type of Special District for Structural Reform designated as subject to special rules regarding the acceptance of foreign trainees—and examines the impact on firms taking advantage of such rules as well as on the local labor market. In <i>kenshusei tokku</i>, the first of which was established in 2003, qualified firms with less than 50 employees are allowed to accept up to six foreign trainees, twice as many as under the regular rules. By matching micro-level data from the Census of Manufactures from 1999 to 2007 with the list of qualified firms, we can clarify characteristics of such firms as compared to non-qualified firms within the special districts and firms in other areas. It has been found that the average rate of non-regular workers for qualified firms has decreased, contrary to the general trend of increasing dependence on non-regular workers, after their district was designated as <i>kenshusei tokku</i>. This result suggests that there is some degree of substitution between foreign trainees and Japanese non-regular workers. |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:11048&r=lab |
| By: | D'AMATO, Marcello (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy); DI PIETRO, Christian (CELPE - Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy, University of Salerno - Italy) |
| Abstract: | The implications of individual heterogeneity for the evolution of wealth distribution are studied in a standard model of occupational choice with financial market imperfections and local non convexities in education investment technology. We consider heterogeneity in the cost of educational investment, interpreted as genetic variation at the level of lineage. Ergodicity of the wealth distribution is obtained whenever the (exogenous)distribution of education costs entails the presence of ability types for which the educational investment is inefficient vis a vis financial investment, regardless of how ”large” the support is. Conversely, poverty traps can emerge only if investment is efficient for every single agent in the economy. We show that under quite general conditions, the accumulation of wealth at the lineage level does not eliminate financial market imperfections over the long run, motivating our exploration of policy implications. In particular heterogeneity requires more persitent policies to achieve similar results as in the standard case. On the other hand policies can be effective in environments where they would fail under the assumption of homogeneous costs. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility; inequality dynamics; occupational choice; educational investment; borrowing constraints |
| JEL: | D31 D91 I21 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sal:celpdp:0119&r=lab |
| By: | Halkos, George; Tzeremes, Nickolaos |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how European football clubs’ current value and debt levels influence their performance. The Simar and Wilson (J Econometrics, 136: 31–64, 2007) procedure is used to bootstrap the data envelopment analysis DEA scores in order to establish the influence of football clubs’ current value and debt levels on their obtained efficiency performances. The results reveal that football clubs’ current value levels have a negative influence on their performances, indicating that football clubs’ high value doesn’t ensure higher performance. At the same time, the empirical evidence suggests that there is no influence associated of football clubs’ debt to their efficiency levels. |
| Keywords: | European football clubs; Data Envelopment Analysis; Truncated regression; Bootstrapping |
| JEL: | C69 C14 L83 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31173&r=lab |
| By: | Fiorillo, Damiano; Nappo, Nunzia |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of job satisfaction in Italy with particular emphasis on social relations. Our econometric analysis is based on four waves (1993, 1995, 1998 and 2000) of the Multipurpose Household Survey conducted annually by the Italian Central Statistics Office. The results of ordered probit regressions and robustness tests show that volunteering and meetings with friends are significantly and positively correlated with job satisfaction, with religious participation playing the biggest role. Our findings also show that meetings with friends increase job satisfaction through self-perceived health. |
| Keywords: | Job satisfaction; social relations; social capital; health; statistical matching; Italy |
| JEL: | J28 C31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31133&r=lab |
| By: | Dieter Kuhn (University of Basel) |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2011/02&r=lab |
| By: | Grubel, Herbert; Grady, Patrick |
| Abstract: | This publication provides an estimate of the fiscal burden created by recent immigration into Canada and proposes reforms to existing immigrant selection policies to eliminate the burden. It uses a 2006 Census database to estimate the average incomes and taxes paid on these by immigrants who arrived in Canada over the period from 1987 to 2004. It also estimates other taxes they paid and the value of government services they absorbed. The study concludes that in the fiscal year 2005/06 the immigrants on average received an excess of $6,051 in benefits over taxes paid. Depending on assumptions about the number of recent immigrants in Canada, the fiscal burden in that year is estimated to be between $23.6 billion and $16.3 billion. These estimates are not changed by the consideration of other alleged benefits brought by immigrants. To curtail this growing fiscal burden from immigration, the study proposes that temporary work visas be granted to applicants who have a valid offer for employment from employers, in occupations and at pay levels specified by the federal government and determined in cooperation with private-sector employers. Immediate dependents may accompany successful applicants. The temporary visas are renewable and lead to landed immigrant status if certain specified employment criteria are met. |
| Keywords: | Canadian immigration; fiscal impacts of immigration to Canada; Immigration policy |
| JEL: | H22 H40 J65 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31109&r=lab |
| By: | Iyer, S.; Velu, C.; Xue, J.; Chakravarty, T. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines innovations to religious and non-religious service provision by religious organizations in India. We present a stylized Hotelling-style model in which two religious organizations position themselves at opposite locations to differentiate themselves on the religious spectrum in order to compete to attract adherents. Moreover, the model predicts that economic inequality can make both organizations increase their provision of non-religious services to retain adherents. In order to test our propositions, we present unique primary survey data on the economics of religion that we have collected from 2006-2008 on 568 Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Jain religious organizations spread across seven Indian states. We use these data to provide qualitative and descriptive statistics from the survey that is consistent and provides initial support for our propositions. We show that these organizations have substantially increased their provision of religious and non-religious services, but that there are significant variations by religion. We also provide quantitative evidence based on econometric testing to highlight that Indian religious organizations are maximizing the differences in their ideology with respect to other organizations, and are also providing higher education and health services as economic inequality increases in India. |
| JEL: | Z12 |
| Date: | 2011–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1135&r=lab |
| By: | Kumaraku, Klajdi; Naqvi, Nadeem; Rexhepi, Sara |
| Abstract: | Adam Smith (1776) devoted the first three chapters to the division of labor in his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. This process, carried far enough, eventually results in a divergence between the distributions of supplies and demands of such horizontally-differentiated distinct types of human capital embodied in different persons, leading to the emergence of Embodied Human Capital Unemployment. We illustrate the relevance of this new concept of unemployment to the U.S economy in the first decade of the 21st Century. This helps achieve a deeper understanding of the current global economic crisis, and inter alia to identification of potentially effective, and potentially ineffective, public policies. (111 words). |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; Human Capital; International Trade; Economic Crisis; China; India; U.S.A.; International Capital Mobility |
| JEL: | F16 E24 F02 F21 |
| Date: | 2011–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31161&r=lab |
| By: | Rosas, Juan (Francisco); Herriges, Joseph A.; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | Universities spend almost $2 billion subsidizing their collegiate sports programs. Even the most popular women’s sport, basketball, fails to break even. An application of Becker’s theory of customer discrimination is used to calculate the relative preference for men’s basketball for both men and women. Median willingness to pay for men’s basketball relative to women’s basketball is 180% greater for men and 37% greater for women. Pricing each sport at its revenue maximizing price, revenues from women’s basketball are only 43% of that for men, even at a school with historically strong demand for women’s sports. |
| Keywords: | Basketball; Becker; reservation price; revenue; customer discrimination; cross marketing; NCAA |
| JEL: | D12 L83 M31 |
| Date: | 2011–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:33822&r=lab |
| By: | Nepal, R.; Jamasb, T. |
| Abstract: | This paper quantitatively explores high-level links between power sector reforms and wider institutional reforms in the economy for a set of 27 diverse countries in rapid political and economic transition since 1990. Panel-data econometrics based on bias corrected dynamic fixed effect analysis (LSDVC) is performed to assess the impact of reforms on macroeconomic and power sector outcomes. The results indicate that power sector reform is indeed a more complicated process than initially perceived. The results also show that power sector reform is greatly inter-dependent with reforms in other sectors in the economy. We conclude that the success of power sector reforms on outcomes in developing countries will largely depend on the extent in which countries are able to synchronize inter-sector reforms in the economy. |
| JEL: | C33 P28 Q4 |
| Date: | 2011–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1125&r=lab |