|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Jahn, Elke J. (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Pozzoli, Dario (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | It is a well-known fact that temporary agency workers have to accept high pay penalties. However, remarkably little is known about the remuneration of workers who are frequently employed in this sector or who are employed for a substantial length of time. Based on a rich administrative data set, we estimate the effects of the intensity of agency employment on the temp wage gap and post-temp earnings in Germany. Using a two-stage selection-corrected method in a panel data framework, we show that the wage gap for temps with low treatment intensity is high but decreases with exposure to the sector. It seems that temps are able to accumulate human capital while being employed in this sector. Temps who move to permanent jobs have to accept a sizeable wage disadvantage at first, indicating that temporary agency employment might stigmatise workers. However, agency employment does not seem to leave a long-lasting scar. |
| Keywords: | temporary agency employment, treatment intensity, dose response function approach, wages, Germany |
| JEL: | J30 J31 J42 J41 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5837&r=lab |
| By: | Carolina Castagnetti (Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Pavia); Luisa Rosti (Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Pavia) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the gender pay gap among Italian university graduates on entry to the labour market and stresses the importance of gender stereotypes on subjective assessment of individual productivity. Our data show that in contexts where the stereotype is most likely to occur, the unexplained component of the gender pay gap is higher. Moreover, we find evidence that being excellent at school does not ensures that a woman will be rewarded as an equivalently performing man, but serves to counteract the gender bias in on-the-job evaluations. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pav:wpaper:245&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Dickens (Department of Economics, University of Sussex; Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics); Rebecca Riley (National Institute of Economic and Social Research; LLAKES, Institute of Education); David Wilkinson (National Institute of Economic and Social Research) |
| Abstract: | A regression discontinuity approach is used to analyse the effect of the legislated increase in the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) that occurs at age 22 on various labour market outcomes. Using data from the Labour Force Survey we find a 2- 4% point increase in the employment rate of low skilled individuals. Unemployment declines among men and inactivity among women. We find no such effect before the NMW was introduced and no robust impacts at age 21 or 23 years. Our results are robust to a range of specification tests. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage Legislation, Low Wage |
| JEL: | J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:2111&r=lab |
| By: | Rene Boeheim; Klemens Himpele; Helmut Mahringer; Christine Zulehner |
| Abstract: | We examine the gender wage gap in Austria using new matched employer-employee data from 2007. We investigate the gap at the conditional wage distribution of men and women, and decompose it into the parts which are attributed to different characteristics and different returns to these characteristics. We find that women earn on average about 14% less than men for given characteristics, and that about 50% of the gender wage gap cannot be attributed to observable characteristics. The extent of different returns for women and men increase over the wage distribution where wage bargaining is predominantly on an individual basis (in contrast to low wage jobs, where collective bargaining contracts are binding). |
| Keywords: | gender wage differentials, quantile regressions, decomposition, matched employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J13 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2011_07&r=lab |
| By: | Halla, Martin (University of Linz); Zweimüller, Martina (University of Linz) |
| Abstract: | This paper interprets accidents occurring on the way to and from work as negative health shocks to identify the causal effect of health on labor market outcomes. We argue that in our sample of exactly matched treated and control workers, these health shocks are quasi-randomly assigned. A fixed-effects difference-in-differences approach estimates a negative and persistent effect on subsequent employment and income. After initial periods with a higher incidence of sick leave, treated workers are more likely unemployed, and a growing share of them leaves the labor market via disability retirement. Those treated workers, who manage to stay in employment, incur persistent income losses. The effects are stronger for sub-groups of workers who are typically less attached to the labor market. |
| Keywords: | health, employment, income |
| JEL: | I10 J22 D31 J31 J24 J26 J64 J28 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5833&r=lab |
| By: | Antecol, Heather (Claremont McKenna College); Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. (University of Melbourne); Helland, Eric (Claremont McKenna College) |
| Abstract: | Legal cases are generally won or lost on the basis of statistical discrimination measures, but it is workers' perceptions of discriminatory behavior that are important for understanding many labor-supply decisions. Workers who believe that they have been discriminated against are more likely to subsequently leave their employers and it is almost certainly workers' perceptions of discrimination that drive formal complaints to the EEOC. Yet the relationship between statistical and self-assessed measures of discrimination is far from obvious. We expand on the previous literature by using data from the After the JD (AJD) study to compare standard Blinder-Oaxaca measures of earnings discrimination to self-reported measures of (i) client discrimination; (ii) other work-related discrimination; and (iii) harassment. Overall, our results indicate that conventional measures of earnings discrimination are not closely linked to the racial and gender bias that new lawyers believe they have experience on the job. Statistical earnings discrimination is only occasionally related to increases in self-assessed bias and when it is the effects are very small. Moreover, statistical earnings discrimination does not explain the disparity in self-assessed bias across gender and racial groups. |
| Keywords: | labor market discrimination, lawyers, gender and racial bias, wages |
| JEL: | J71 J15 J16 J44 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5831&r=lab |
| By: | Avouyi-Dovi, Sanvi (Bank of France); Fougère, Denis (CREST); Gautier, Erwan (Bank of France) |
| Abstract: | Using several unique data sets on wage agreements at both industry and firm levels in France, we document stylized facts on wage stickiness and the impact of wage-setting institutions on wage rigidity. First, the average duration of wages is a little less than one year and around 10 percent of wages are modified each month by a wage agreement. Data patterns are consistent with predictions of a mixture of Calvo and Taylor models. The frequency of wage change agreements is rather staggered over the year but the frequency of effective wage changes is seasonal. The national minimum wage has a significant impact on the probability of a wage agreement and on the seasonality of wage changes. Negotiated wage increases are correlated with inflation, the national minimum wage increases and the firm profitability. |
| Keywords: | wage stickiness, wage bargaining, minimum wage, downward nominal wage rigidity |
| JEL: | J31 J50 E30 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5835&r=lab |
| By: | Giancarlo Gasperoni (University of Bologna, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium) |
| Keywords: | university reform, Bologna Process, graduates’ performance, graduates’ employment condition |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:laa:wpaper:3&r=lab |
| By: | Andrea Cutillo; Claudio Ceccarelli |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the wage returns from internal migration for recent graduates in Italy. We employ a switching regression model that accounts for the endogeneity of the individual’s choice to relocate to get a job after graduation: the omission of this selection decision can lead to biased estimates, as there is potential correlation between earnings and unobserved traits exerting an influence on the decision to migrate. The empirical results sustain the appropriateness of the estimation technique and show that there is a significant pay gap between migrants and non-migrants; migrants seem to be positively selected and the migration premium is downward biased through OLS estimates. The endogeneity of migration shows up both as a negative intercept effect and as a positive slope effect, the second being larger then the first: bad knowledge of the local labor market and financial constraints lead migrants to accept a low basic wage but, due to relevant returns to their characteristics, they finally obtain an higher wage then the others. |
| Keywords: | internal relocation; endogeneity; pay gap; migration premium. |
| JEL: | J31 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:137&r=lab |
| By: | Maria De Paola; Francesca Gioia (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | Does the choice of the field of study depend on individual risk aversion? The direction of the relationship between individual risk attitudes and type of college major chosen is potentially ambiguous. On the one hand, risk adverse individuals may prefer majors allowing high returns on the labour market; on the other hand, if these majors expose students to a higher probability of dropping out, those who are more risk adverse may be induced to choose less challenging fields. Using data from a sample of students enrolled in 2009 at a middle-sized Italian public University, we find that, controlling for a large number of individual characteristics, including cognitive abilities, personality traits and family background, more risk adverse students are more likely to choose any other field (Humanities, Engineering and Sciences) compared to Social Sciences. We interpret this result considering that some of these fields, such as Humanities, allow to reduce the risk of dropping out, while others (such as Engineering and Sciences)involve a lower risk on the labour market. It also emerges that the effect of risk aversion on major choice is related to student ability. Risk adverse students characterized by high abilities tend to prefer Engineering, while the propensity of risk adverse students to enrol in Humanities decreases when ability increases, suggesting that the attention paid to labour market risks and drop out risks varies according to student skills. |
| Keywords: | Risk aversion, College choice, Education |
| JEL: | I21 Z13 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201107&r=lab |
| By: | Marius Brülhart (HEC - LAUSANNE - École des HEC, Université de Lausanne Département d'économétrie et économie politique - Université de Lausanne); Céline Carrere (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Federico Trionfetti (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | We study the responses of regional employment and nominal wages to trade liberalization, exploiting the natural experiment provided by the opening of Central and Eastern European markets after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. Using data for Austrian municipalities, we examine differential pre- and post-1990 wage and employment growth rates between regions bordering the formerly communist economies and interior regions. If the 'border regions' are defined narrowly, within a band of less than 50 kilometers, we can identify statistically significant liberalization effects on both employment and wages. While wage responses preceded employment responses, the employment effect over the entire adjustment period is estimated to be around three times as large as the wage effect. The implied slope of the regional labor supply curve can be replicated in a new economic geography model that features obstacles to labor migration due to immobile housing and to heterogeneous locational preferences. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalization; spatial adjustment; regional labor supply; natural experiment |
| Date: | 2011–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00607748&r=lab |
| By: | Marco PECORARO (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and SFM, Université de Neuchâtel) |
| Abstract: | Using two periods’ panel data from the Swiss Graduate Survey, this study examines the incidence and wage effects of overeducation. Contrary to most prior research, we account for graduate heterogeneity in perceived skills mismatch when measuring overeducation and correct for potential omitted ability bias in the estimated pay penalty associated with overeducation. We find that graduates who are overeducated and mismatched in skills (i.e. genuinely overeducated) are the most penalized in terms of earnings. This evidence is still valid when using the fixed effects approach, while the pay penalty is no more significant for graduates who are overeducated but matched in skills (i.e. apparently overeducated). This indicates that the wage effects for apparently overeducated graduates are mainly due to the omission of unobserved ability. |
| Keywords: | Overeducation, skills mismatch, wages, panel data analysis |
| Date: | 2011–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2011019&r=lab |
| By: | Daly, Mary C. (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco); Hobijn, Bart (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco); Valletta, Rob (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco) |
| Abstract: | The U.S. economy is recovering from the financial crisis and ensuing deep recession, but the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high. Some have argued that the persistent elevation of unemployment relative to historical norms reflects the fact that the shocks that hit the economy were especially disruptive to labor markets and likely to have long lasting effects. If such structural factors are at work they would result in a higher underlying natural or nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment, implying that conventional monetary and fiscal policy should not be used in an attempt to return unemployment to its pre-recession levels. We investigate the hypothesis that the natural rate of unemployment has increased since the recession began, and if so, whether the underlying causes are transitory or persistent. We begin by reviewing a standard search and matching model of unemployment, which shows that two curves – the Beveridge curve (BC) and the Job Creation curve (JCC) – determine equilibrium unemployment. Using this framework, our joint theoretical and empirical exercise suggests that the natural rate of unemployment has in fact risen over the past several years, by an amount ranging from 0.6 to 1.9 percentage points. This increase implies a current natural rate in the range of 5.6 to 6.9 percent, with our preferred estimate at 6.25 percent. After examining evidence regarding the effects of labor market mismatch, extended unemployment benefits, and productivity growth, we conclude that only a small fraction of the recent increase in the natural rate is likely to persist beyond a five-year forecast horizon. |
| Keywords: | equilibrium unemployment, Beveridge curve, structural unemployment, mismatch |
| JEL: | E24 J3 J6 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5832&r=lab |
| By: | FLORES-LAGUNES Alfonso; CHOE Chung; LEE Sang-Jun |
| Abstract: | Failure of participants to complete training programs is pervasive in existing active labor market programs both in developed and developing countries. The proportion of dropouts in prototypical programs ranges from 10 to 50 percent of all participants. From a policy perspective, it is of interest to know if dropouts benefit from the time they spend in training since these programs require considerable resources. We shed light on this issue by estimating the average employment effects of different lengths of exposure to a program by dropouts in a Korean job training program. To do this, we employ parametric and semiparametric methods to estimate effects from continuous treatments using the generalized propensity score, under the assumption that selection into different lengths of exposure is based on a rich set of observed covariates. We find that participants who drop out later—thereby having longer exposures—exhibit higher employment probabilities one year after receiving training, and that marginal effects of additional exposure to training are initially fairly small, but increase sharply past a certain threshold of exposure. One implication of these results is that this and similar programs could benefit from providing incentives for participants to stay longer in the program. |
| Keywords: | Training Programs; Dropouts; Developing Countries; Continuous Treatments; Generalized Propensity Score; Dose-Response Function |
| JEL: | C21 I38 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-34&r=lab |
| By: | Martin Schindler; Mariya Aleksynska |
| Abstract: | This paper documents a new database of labor market regulations during 1980-2005 in 91 countries, including low-, middle- and high-income countries, and contains information on unemployment insurance systems, minimum wage regulations, and employment protection legislation. In this paper, we provide details regarding the data, methodology and sources. Descriptive statistics indicate that there exists substantial heterogeneity in labor market institutions across regions and income groupings, and that much of the sample variation is driven by institutional changes over time in low- and middle-income countries. All indicators are at an annual frequency, allowing for the dating of major changes in regulation, and are based on data from a variety of sources, including the ILO, OECD and national agencies. |
| Date: | 2011–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:11/154&r=lab |
| By: | Sonja Fagernäs (Department of Economics, University of Sussex); Panu Pelkonen (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | Whether to hire teachers locally on a contract basis, or via competitive examinations and training as government officials, is a major policy question in developing countries. Recruitment practices can have implications for the competence, motivation and the cost of teachers. This study relies on a Discrete Choice Experiment to assess the job preferences of a sample of 700 future elementary school teachers in the state of Uttarakhand in India. The students have been selected using either district-wide competitive examination or from a pool of locally hired, experienced contract teachers (para-teachers). Skills in English, Arithmetic and Vocabulary are also tested. We find a trade-off between skills and preferences, as teacher students hired using competitive examination have higher skills, but prefer posts in less remote regions. Most of the differences in job preferences between the two groups can be explained by geographic origin of the teachers, skills, experience and education. |
| Keywords: | Education, Para-teachers, Discrete Choice Experiment, Skills, Preferences, India |
| JEL: | H75 I28 J24 J28 J41 J45 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:1811&r=lab |
| By: | Sonja Fagernäs (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | A birth certificate establishes a child's legal identity and is the sole official proof of a child's age. However, quantitative estimates on the economic significance of birth registration are lacking. Birth registration laws were enacted by the majority of U.S. states in late 19th and early 20th centuries. Controlling for state of birth and cohort effects, the differential timing of birth registration laws across US states is used to identify whether birth registration changed the effectiveness of child labor legislation between 1910 and 1930. The incidence of child labor declined significantly in the early 20th century. The study finds that if a birth registration law had been enacted by the time a child was born, the effectiveness of minimum working age legislation in prohibiting under-aged employment more than doubled. This effect was stronger for children residing in non-agricultural areas. |
| Keywords: | Birth registration, Child Labor, Law and Economics, Economic history, USA |
| JEL: | J88 K4 N32 O10 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:2311&r=lab |
| By: | Guido Friebel Dario Maldonado |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: We undertake a first step to investigating a reform that has been applied in numerous universities across Europe: the right to select students. We ask to what extent this right will increase the effciency of the university. While it seems evident that giving universities the right to select students that match best with the human capital of professors should increase efficiency measures in the productivities of students in the labor market, we point to a potentially negative effect. We argue that allowing universities to select the students they prefer can reduce the incentives of the universities to improve the human capital of their professors. |
| Date: | 2011–07–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:008807&r=lab |
| By: | Urban Sila (Bank of Slovenia); Ricardo M. Sousa (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether workers adjust hours worked in response to windfall gains using data from the European Household Panel. The results suggest that unexpected variation in income has a negative (although small) effect on working hours. In particular, after receiving an unanticipated windfall gain, individuals are more likely to drop out of the labour force and the effects become larger as the size of windfall increases. Furthermore, the empirical findings show that the impact of windfall gains on labour supply: (i) is more important for young and old individuals, (ii) is mostly negative for married individuals with young children, (iii) but can be positive for single individuals at the age of around 40 years. |
| Keywords: | windfall gains, working hours |
| JEL: | E37 E62 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:20/2011&r=lab |
| By: | Giulietti, Corrado; Ning, Guangjie; Zimmermann, Klaus F |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the determinants of self-employment among rural to urban migrants in China. Two self-selection mechanisms are analysed: the first relates to the manner in which migrants choose self-employment or paid work based on the potential gains from either type of employment; the second takes into account that the determinants of the migration decision can be correlated with employment choices. Using data from the 2008 Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia (RUMiCI) survey, a selection model with endogenous switching is estimated. Earnings estimates are then used to derive the wage differential, which in turn is used to model the employment choice. The procedure is extended to account for migration selectivity and to compare individuals with different migration background and employment histories. The results indicate that self-employed individuals are positively selected with respect to their unobserved characteristics. Furthermore, the wage differential is found to be an important driver of the self-employment choice. |
| Keywords: | European Union; rural to urban migration; selection bias magnets; self-employment; wages |
| JEL: | J23 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8473&r=lab |
| By: | Sonja Fagernäs; Panu Pelkonen |
| Abstract: | Whether to hire teachers locally on a contract basis, or via competitive examinations as government officials, is a major policy question in developing countries. We use a Discrete Choice Experiment to assess the job preferences of 700 future elementary school teachers in the state of Uttarakhand in India. The students have been selected using either competitive examination or from a pool of locally hired contract teachers. Skills in English, Arithmetic and Vocabulary are also tested. We find a trade-off between skills and preferences, as students hired using competitive examination have higher skills, but prefer posts in less remote regions. |
| Keywords: | Discrete choice experiment, education, para-teachers, preferences, skills |
| JEL: | H75 J24 J41 J45 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0083&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Haan; Victoria Prowse |
| Abstract: | How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we estimate a life-cycle model in which the optimal employment, retirement and consumption decisions of forward-looking individuals depend, inter alia, on life expectancy and the design of the public pension system. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, the fiscal consequences of the 6.4 year increase in age 65 life expectancy anticipated to occur over the 40 years that separate the 1942 and 1982 birth cohorts can be offset by either an increase of 4.43 years in the full pensionable age or a cut of 37.7% in the per-year value of public pension benefits. Of these two distinct policy approaches to coping with the fiscal consequences of improving longevity, increasing the full pensionable age generates the largest responses in labor supply and retirement behavior. |
| Keywords: | Life expectancy, Public Pension Reform, Retirement, Employment, Life-cycle models, Consumption, Tax and transfer system |
| JEL: | D91 J11 J22 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:556&r=lab |
| By: | John Abowd; Martha Stinson |
| Abstract: | We quantify sources of variation in annual job earnings data collected by the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to determine how much of the variation is the result of measurement error. Jobs reported in the SIPP are linked to jobs reported in an administrative database, the Detailed Earnings Records (DER) drawn from the Social Security Administration’s Master Earnings File, a universe file of all earnings reported on W-2 tax forms. As a result of the match, each job potentially has two earnings observations per year: survey and administrative. Unlike previous validation studies, both of these earnings measures are viewed as noisy measures of some underlying true amount of annual earnings. While the existence of survey error resulting from respondent mistakes or misinterpretation is widely accepted, the idea that administrative data are also error-prone is new. Possible sources of employer reporting error, employee under-reporting of compensation such as tips, and general differences between how earnings may be reported on tax forms and in surveys, necessitates the discarding of the assumption that administrative data are a true measure of the quantity that the survey was designed to collect. In addition, errors in matching SIPP and DER jobs, a necessary task in any use of administrative data, also contribute to measurement error in both earnings variables. We begin by comparing SIPP and DER earnings for different demographic and education groups of SIPP respondents. We also calculate different measures of changes in earnings for individuals switching jobs. We estimate a standard earnings equation model using SIPP and DER earnings and compare the resulting coefficients. Finally exploiting the presence of individuals with multiple jobs and shared employers over time, we estimate an econometric model that includes random person and firm effects, a common error component shared by SIPP and DER earnings, and two independent error components that represent the variation unique to each earnings measure. We compare the variance components from this model and consider how the DER and SIPP differ across unobservable components. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-20&r=lab |
| By: | Gilberto Antonelli (AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium, University of Bologna); Andrea Cammelli (AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium, University of Bologna); Furio Camillo (University of Bologna, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium); Angelo di Francia (AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium); Silvia Ghiselli (AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium); Matteo Sgarzi (AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium) |
| Abstract: | In a phase of depression and systemic crisis investments are essential assets in organizing the recovery, and the more so when innovation is relevant. This is why universities, companies, households and graduates implement strategies for overcoming the present crisis, leading to structural changes and competition both at the local and international level. In this framework, tracer studies on graduates transition to the labour markets provides fundamental insights and information not only to the organizations responsible for their training, but also to the economic system as a whole. Moreover, any such study is all the more useful when it can draw upon reliable and up-to-date information. This paper emphasizes three main points. First we present the results achieved by the AL model in tracing the transition path of graduates from the time they enrolled at the university until a few years after earning the degree. The survey is carried out every year by the AL and makes it possible to analyze the most recent labour market trends through the scrutiny of the career opportunities available for the graduates after 1, 3 and 5 years on from graduation. More specifically, we will present the results of the 2008 survey. This survey involved also all first and second level graduates from the 2007 vintage. Second, we examine the revision in our survey method, adopted in order to face the need to monitor a much higher number of post-reform graduates (more than 140 thousand overall) and the call of the Ministry and the universities to keep the information as much detailed as possible in assessing the employment outcomes for each single degree course, without losing feasibility in terms of costs and data collection time. In fact, we resorted to a mixed method: the computer assisted web interviewing (CAWI) and the computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). This is why it became necessary to measure and assess the effect of this approach on the answers given by interviewed graduates. In third place, we outline the results of some preliminary experiments carried on in order to allow for specific and recurrent comparisons between the results achieved with the AL model and other similar models dealing with the employment conditions of Italian graduates. |
| Keywords: | Graduates’ employment; Graduates’ employability; Bologna Process; University reform; University governance; Assessment of the higher education system; CAWI and CATI survey techniques; Propensity score matching; Data quality control; Counter factual analysis; Labour supply, Human capital. |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:laa:wpaper:1&r=lab |
| By: | Ester Faia (Department of Money and Macro, Goethe University Frankfurt); Lorenza Rossi (Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Pavia) |
| Abstract: | We study Ramsey policies and optimal monetary policy rules in a model with sticky prices and unionized labour markets. Collective wage bargaining and unions monopoly power dampen wage fluctuations and amplify employment fluctuations relatively to a DNK model. The optimal monetary policy must trade-off between stabilizing inflation and reducing inefficient unemployment fluctuations induced by unions' monopoly power. In this context the monetary authority uses inflation as a tax on unions' rents. The optimal monetary policy rule targets unemployment alongside inflation. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pav:wpaper:249&r=lab |
| By: | Christine Greenhalgh (Oxford University); Mark Rogers (Oxford University); Philipp Schautschick (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | A common assumption in innovation policy circles is that creative and inventive firms will help to sustain employment and wages in high wage countries. The view is that firms in high cost production locations that do not innovate are faced with loss of market share from import competition, so jobs move to producers in developing countries with lower labour costs. Domestic firms are encouraged to innovate, and to obtain intellectual property assets to protect their innovations, so that they can sustain local employment and pay high wages. Policies to subsidise R&D and to encourage intellectual property protection are partly justified on these grounds. Nevertheless the available evidence concerning the employment and wage benefits of such activity is rather sparse. In this paper we first survey some existing literature on innovation and jobs. We outline arguments for using both patents and trade marks as indicators of innovation. We then construct a large sample of UK firms observed from 2000 to 2006, matching records of patents and trade marks to company data. We begin by estimating a cross section employment growth equation for 2003-2006 to discover if there is any impact of stocks of trade marks acquired in 2000-2003. We then explore in more detail the impact of recent trade mark and patenting activity on the level of employment and the average rate of pay in these firms. We do this using the data as a six year panel, estimating both an employment function and a relative earnings equation at the firm level. Our aim throughout is to identify and calibrate the assumed positive effects that underpin modern innovation policy. |
| Keywords: | patents, trademarks, innovation, labot costs, wages, firms |
| JEL: | D21 E22 H32 K13 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:indrel:1319&r=lab |
| By: | Sebastian Nielen; Alexander Schiersch |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the relationship between the utilization of temporary agency workers by firms and their competitiveness measured by unit labor costs, using a rich, newly built, data set of German manufacturing enterprises. The analysis is conducted by applying different panel data models while taking the inherent selection problem into account. Making use of dynamic panel data models allows us to control for firm specific fixed effects as well as for potential endogeneity of explanatory variables. The results indicate a U-shaped relationship between the extent that temporary agency workers are used and the competitiveness of firms. |
| Keywords: | temporary agency work, competitiveness, firm performance, manufacturing |
| JEL: | D24 L23 L60 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1135&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (European Commission); Matteo Lucchese (Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo"); Mario Pianta (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo") |
| Abstract: | The patterns and mechanisms of job creation in business services are investigated in this article by considering the role of innovation, demand, wages and the composition of employment by professional groups. A model is developed and an empirical test is carried out with parallel analyses on a group of selected business services, on other services and on manufacturing sectors,considering six major European countries over the period 1996-2007. Within technological activities a distinction is made between those supporting either technological competitiveness, or cost competitiveness. Demand variables allow identifying the special role of intermediate demand. Job creation in business services appears to be driven by efforts to expand technological competitiveness and by the fast growing intermediate demand coming from other industries; conversely, process innovation leads to job losses and wage growth has a negative effect that is lower that in other industries. Business services show an increasingly polarised employment structure. |
| Keywords: | Business Services, Innovation, Employment. |
| JEL: | J20 J23 O30 O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:11_07&r=lab |
| By: | Bernard Fingleton; Simonetta Longhi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates individual wage equations in order to test two rival non-nested theories of economic agglomeration, namely New Economic Geography (NEG), as represented by the NEG wage equation and urban economic (UE) theory, in which wages relate to employment density. The paper makes an original contribution by evidently being the first empirical paper to examine the issue of agglomeration processes associated with contemporary theory working with micro-level data, highlighting the role of gender and other individual-level characteristics. For male respondents, there is no significant evidence that wage levels are an outcome of the mechanisms suggested by NEG or UE theory, but this is not the case for female respondents. We speculate on the reasons for the gender difference. |
| Keywords: | urban economics, new economic geography, household panel data |
| JEL: | C21 C31 C33 D1 O18 R20 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0081&r=lab |
| By: | Kronenberg, Kristin |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes determinants of business relocation and identifies regional characteristics which attract relocating firms. Results indicate that the relocation decisions of firms are sector-dependent, and the migratory behavior of firms in knowledge-intensive sectors notably differs from that in less knowledge-intensive sectors. Generally, its age and size keep a firm from relocating, whereas firms paying high average salaries have a higher probability to move out of their present location. Relocating firms are generally attracted by densely populated municipalities with high wage levels, and predominantly service firms are drawn to municipalities which are specialized in the firm’s own sector and appeal to individuals, while they avoid moving to municipalities in which only few sectors are present. Sector-specific wages may either attract, or deter firms, suggesting that this variable may capture both the cost and the quality of the locally available workforce. |
| Keywords: | firm relocation; mobility; location choices; nested logit |
| JEL: | R30 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32147&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Artis; Marianne Sensier |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses turning points in the economic cycle of Welsh unitary authorities by applying a mathematical algorithm to the claimant count unemployment data. All but one unitary authority has now emerged from recession (Anglesey being the exception). We also date the business cycle for the UK and country-level employment data and Wales has emerged from recession but Scotland is yet to exit recession. We estimate a logistic model which utilises housing sector and survey data to forecast the Welsh employment cycle. The model predicts that employment in Wales will continue to grow into 2011. |
| Keywords: | classical business cycles, forecasting |
| JEL: | C22 E32 E37 E40 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0079&r=lab |
| By: | Debora Di Gioacchino; Paola Profeta |
| Abstract: | Modern economies devote a relevant share of their resources to education. However, even among industrialised countries, there are differences in the traits of the education system and in its outcome in terms of human capital composition. The question we pose in this paper is why the composition of human capital is so diversied. The answer we propose is that the education system responds to the economy’s structure of production. Skills are required by firms according to their needs and are supplied through the education system. We analyse the political economy of education in a two-period model in which heterogeneous firms, specialised in two different sectors, try to induce the government to finance the type of education which is complementary to their production. In the first period, the policy-maker decides the skill composition of new-workers which will determine the supply of skills in the second period. Firms may lobby to obtain their preferred skill composition. We show that in the political equilibrium in which firms in both sectors get organised, the policy-maker chooses the same skill composition that would be chosen by the social planner. Moving to endogenous lobbying, we are able to show that, if there are no costs of lobbying, then both sectors will lobby in equilibrium. However, in the more realistic case in which if lobbying is costly it may be that only one sector will find it profitable to offer monetary contribution; which sector gets organised depends on sectors’ share in total output, relative productivity and prices of the two sectors. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous lobbying, human capital composition, structure of production. |
| JEL: | I2 D72 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:138&r=lab |
| By: | Graevenitz, Georg von; Weber, Richard |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship education has two purposes: To improve students’ entrepreneurial skills and to provide impetus to those suited to entrepreneurship while discouraging the rest. While entrepreneurship education helps students to make a vocational decision its effects may conflict for those not suited to entrepreneurship. This study shows that vocational and the skill formation effects of entrepreneurship education can be identified empirically by drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. This is embedded in a structural equation model which we estimate and test using a robust 2SLS estimator. We find that the attitudinal factors posited by the Theory of Planned Behavior are positively correlated with students’ entrepreneurial intentions. While conflicting effects of vocational and skill directed course content are observed in some individuals, overall these types of content are complements. This finding contradicts previous results in the literature. We reconcile the conflicting findings and discuss implications for the design of entrepreneurship courses. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education; entrepreneurial intention; theory of planned behavior; structural equation models; two stage least squares. |
| JEL: | L11 L13 O34 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:msmdpa:12280&r=lab |
| By: | Wuppermann, Amelie Catherine |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:dissen:13187&r=lab |
| By: | Loganathan, Nanthakumar; Muhammad Najit Sukemi (Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu); Mori Kogid (School of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaysia Sabah) |
| Abstract: | The Malaysian economy has gone through a process of profound changes for the past 30 years. From the global economics perspective, the decade started with inflation pressures, deep recession in the middle of 1980s and 1990s, and decline of trade balance and with high level of unemployment rate in 1980s. The aim of this paper is to trace out more about the asymmetrical integration between trade balance and unemployment dynamics for Malaysia using Granger non-causality test analysis. The major finding of this paper shows that increased in trade balance has a negative Granger non-causality effects on rigidity of unemployment dynamics for the case of Malaysia. This indicates that trade liberalization is also able to increase aggregate productivity in the differentiated sectors and able increase efficiency on economic performance will simultaneous increase in term of employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled labor in Malaysia. Trade balance can be also become an additional favorable effects of reducing Malaysia’s unemployment scenario in future |
| Keywords: | Granger non-causality analysis, trade balance, unemployment |
| JEL: | M00 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:1icm11:2011-050_140&r=lab |
| By: | Maurizio Franzini (Università di Roma “La Sapienza”); Mario Pianta (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino "Carlo Bo") |
| Abstract: | Inequality within advanced countries has returned to levels typical of a century ago. At the global level it remains extremely high despite the rapid growth of major developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. This makes inequality a major economic issue, social problem and political challenge in today’s capitalism. However, economic inequality is the object of limited research efforts and attracts modest attention in the political arena.This is the result of several factors. Mainstream approaches view inequality as a necessary condition – or, at best, an unfortunate side effect - for achieving the more general objectives of economic growth and market efficiency. Most studies emphasise that inequality is to a large extent the consequence of international forces laying beyond the reach of policies by nation-states. More importantly, today’s inequality is the result of a variety of processes that have seriously increased its complexity, with major changes in its nature and mechanisms, compared to past decades. To the fundamental divide between capital and labour in the distribution of income between social classes and groups, new mechanisms have been added, that have fuelled income inequalities among individuals, rooted in the rise of top incomes, technological change, international production, labour markets, influence of families of origin and lack of intergenerational mobility. In this paper we propose an overall interpretation of the trajectory of inequality. The functional income distribution that leads to inequalities in factor incomes, with an increasing divide between the growing share of profits and financial rents – free to move across national borders, escape taxation and search for speculative gains – and the dwindling share of wages, nation-bound and unable to escape taxes. The specificity of top incomes – that combine rents, profits and “superstar” labour compensation complicates this picture with the effects of pro-rich policy changes. Inequalities have also strongly increased within wages, resulting from several factors. Education has an obvious influence, but plays a much smaller role than mainstream views would expect. Skill differences are increasingly important, and need to be examined in the context of specific professional groups, rather than with wide generalisations. Industry specificities, technology and international production do play a role, but in complex ways, depending on the nature of innovative strategies, local competences, market power and demand dynamics. Labour market arrangements – unionisation, presence of minimum wages or national contracts, diffusion of temporary or part-time labour contracts, etc. – are increasingly important factors in explaining the low pay of many young and low-skilled workers. Outside labour markets and the opportunities for social mobility promised by education, the family of origin remains a major determinant of individuals’ education and incomes, with an increasingly strong persistence of inequality across generations. The interpretation we provide offers a new explanation of the nature of today’s economic inequalities, of its consequences, and possible remedies. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Distribution, Welfare. |
| JEL: | D31 D33 E24 I38 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:11_08&r=lab |
| By: | Mai Dao; Ruo Chen |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of real exchange rate fluctuations on sectoral and regional employment in China from 1980 to 2008. In contrast to theoretical predictions, employment in both the tradable and non-tradable sectors contracts following a real appreciation. Our results are robust across different sub-samples, levels of sectoral disaggregation, and are more pronounced for regions with higher export exposure. We attribute our findings to the importance of services as intermediate input in exportable production. We test this channel of exchange rate transmission using regional input-output tables linked with employment data at the region-sector level. The results of this paper have important implications for China’s labor market adjustment should the Chinese RMB strengthen in the future. To mitigate the costs of short-run labor market adjustment, appropriate demand management and structural reforms in the non-traded sectors should play an important role. |
| Keywords: | China , Economic models , Employment , Labor markets , Real effective exchange rates , |
| Date: | 2011–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:11/148&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Brochu (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON); Louis-Philippe Morin (Department of Economics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON) |
| Abstract: | Using the Amercian General Social Survey, we explore the link between union membership and perceived job insecurity. This finding is mainly atributed to the primary and secondary sectors and for recessionary periods. Instrumental-variables estimation and the use of attitudinal proxy variables suggest that the positive correlation union membership and perceived job insecurity is not due to self-selection. |
| Keywords: | Union, Perceived Job Insecurity |
| JEL: | J51 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ott:wpaper:1106e&r=lab |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between inter-industry, intra-industry and inter-regional clustering and demand for labor by companies in Portugal. Is expected at the outset that there is more demand for work where the agglomeration is greater. It should be noted, as a summary conclusion, the results are consistent with the theoretical developments of the New Economic Geography, namely the demand for labor is greater where firms are better able to cluster that is where transport costs are lower and where there is a strong links "backward and forward" and strong economies of agglomeration. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; Portuguese regions; labor; interregional mobility. |
| JEL: | R30 O18 R40 C23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32203&r=lab |
| By: | Clémence Berson (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) |
| Abstract: | Les modèles de discrimination sur le marché du travail reproduisent difficilement sa persistance sans faire d'hypothèses fortes. Cela conduit de surcroît à une ségrégation des travailleurs selon leurs caractéristiques non productives. Dans cet article, le modèle se sert de l'oligopsonie et de l'hétérogénéité des préférences des travailleurs pour obtenir une persistance de la discrimination. Les entreprises embauchent les deux types de travailleurs et offrent un salaire plus faible aux travailleurs discriminés. Par conséquent, l'existence de discrimination sur le marché permet aux entreprises n'ayant pas de goût pour la discrimination de faire des profits non nuls. Elles n'ont donc pas d'incitation à faire sortir les entreprises discriminantes du marché. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination; oligopsony; wage gap |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00605976&r=lab |
| By: | Marina Della Giusta (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Nigar Hashimzade (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Sarah Jewell (Department of Economics, University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | We focus on the role of conformity with social norms and concern with relative income in the decision to supply unpaid care for parents. Individuals have different propensities to be influenced by both relative income and social norms, and face a time constraint on the provision of both paid work (which increases their income) and unpaid care. We estimate our model with a sample drawn from the British Household Panel Survey to assess these effects empirically, estimating both the supply of unpaid care and the effect on utility of different preferences for relative income and unpaid care. We find that providing care decreases individual utility: long care hours are bad for carers (and care recipients). Women feature disproportionately amongst care providers and their motivations for care provision differ to men's, both in respect to the importance attached to relative income and to conformity with social norms. After controlling for other factors, men are more envious than women (attach more weight to relative income) and indi¤erent to social norms in relation to caring, whereas the opposite holds for women, so status races are bad for the supply of care within families and particularly men's supply. This is an issue as caring (in right amounts) can be good for carers too if they agree with caring norms, even when they prefer paid work to caring (as men do). We discuss implications for care provision and working arrangements. |
| Keywords: | care, unpaid work, social norms, relative income |
| JEL: | J22 Z13 D01 D13 |
| Date: | 2011–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2011-03&r=lab |
| By: | Niehues, Judith (University of Cologne); Peichl, Andreas (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Previous estimates of unfair inequality of opportunity (IOp) are only lower bounds because of the unobservability of the full set of endowed circumstances beyond the sphere of individual responsibility. In this paper, we suggest a new estimator based on a fixed effects panel model which additionally allows identifying an upper bound. We illustrate our approach by comparing Germany and the US based on harmonized micro data. We find significant and robust differences between lower and upper bound estimates – both for gross and net earnings based either on periodical or permanent income – for both countries. We discuss the cross-country differences and similarities in IOp in the light of di¤erences in social mobility and persistence. |
| Keywords: | redistribution, fairness, equality of opportunity, wage inequality |
| JEL: | D31 D63 H24 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5834&r=lab |
| By: | Luciano Fanti (Department of Economics, University of Pisa, Italy); Nicola Meccheri (Department of Economics, University of Pisa, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This work aims to investigate if the conventional wisdom, that a decrease in the degree of product differentiation always reduces firms’ profits, remains true in a differentiated duopoly model with decentralized, or firm-specific, monopoly unions. It is shown that, provided that unions are sufficiently wage-oriented, that is, they sufficiently prefer wages to employment, the conventional result can actually be reversed under both Cournot and Bertrand competition, implying that incentives for firms towards less differentiation may arise. Moreover, the range of product differentiation values, for which the “reversal result” applies, is larger when firms compete in quantities than in prices. |
| Keywords: | unionized duopoly, product differentiation, profits |
| JEL: | J43 J50 L13 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:37_11&r=lab |
| By: | Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro; Mauricio Moura; Caio Piza |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of property-titling on labor supply. The role of legal ownership security is isolated by comparing the effect that being part of, or excluded from, a land title program in a unique quasi-experiment in two similar communities in the Brazilian city of Osasco. Our main innovation is the estimation of the distributive impact of land title on hours worked via the quantile regression methodology and the weighting estimator of Firpo (2007). The estimates suggest that the impact of land-titling on labor supply is heterogeneous and greater for those households with fewer hours worked before the program. |
| Keywords: | Brazil , Economic models , Labor markets , Labor supply , Land tenure , Real estate prices , |
| Date: | 2011–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:11/131&r=lab |
| By: | Beshears, John (Stanford University); Choi, James J. (Yale University); Laibson, David (Harvard University); Madrian, Brigitte C. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | We document the loan provisions in 401(k) savings plans and how participants use 401(k) loans. Although only about 22% of savings plan participants who are allowed to borrow from their 401(k) have such a loan at any given point in time, almost half had used a 401(k) loan over a longer, seven-year horizon. The probability of having a loan follows a hump-shaped pattern with respect to age, job tenure, account balance, and salary, but conditional on having a loan, loan size as a fraction of 401(k) balances declines with respect to these variables. Participants are less likely to use loans in plans that charge a higher interest rate, and loans are smaller when plans allow fewer simultaneously outstanding loans, impose a shorter maximum possible loan duration, or charge a lower interest rate. |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp11-023&r=lab |
| By: | Liu, Xiaodong; Patacchini, Eleonora; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We develop two different social network models with different economic foundations. In the local-aggregate model, it is the sum of friends' efforts in some activity that affects the utility of each individual while, in the local-average model, it is costly to deviate from the average effort of friends. Even though the two models are fundamentally different in terms of behavioral foundation, their implications in terms of Nash equilibrium are relatively close since only the adjacency (social interaction) matrix differs in equilibrium, one being the row-normalized version of the other. We test these alternative mechanisms of social interactions to study peer effects in education, sport and screen activities for adolescents in the United States using the AddHealth data. We extend Kelejian's (2008) J test for spatial econometric models helping differentiate between these two behavioral models. We find that peer effects are not significant for screen activities (like e.g. video games). On the contrary, for sport activities, we find that students are mostly influenced by the aggregate activity of their friends (local-aggregate model) while, for education, we show that both the aggregate performance at school of friends and conformism matter, even though the magnitude of the effect is higher for the latter. |
| Keywords: | conformism; econometrics of networks; peer effects; Social networks |
| JEL: | A14 D85 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8477&r=lab |
| By: | Robert C. Allen; Tommy E. Murphy; Eric B. Schneider |
| Abstract: | Part of a long-run project to put together a systematic database of prices and wages for the American continents, this paper takes a first look at standards of living in a series of North American and Latin American cities. From secondary sources we collected price data that –with diverse degrees of quality– covers various years between colonization and independence and, following the methodology now familiar in the literature, we built estimations of price indexes for Boston, Philadelphia, and the Chesapeake Bay region in North America and Bogotá, Mexico, and Potosí in Latin America exploring alternative assumptions on the characteristics of the reference basket. We use these indexes to deflate the (relatively more scarce) figures on wages, and compare the results with each other, and with the now widely known series for various European and Asian cities. We find that real wages were higher in North America than in Latin America from the very early colonial period: four times the World Bank Poverty Line (WBPL) in North America while only two times the WBPL in Latin America. These wages place the North American colonies among the most advanced countries in the world alongside Northwestern European countries and the Latin American colonies among the least developed countries at a similar level to Southern European and Asian countries. These wage differences existed from the early colonial period because wages in the American colonies were determined by wages in the respective metropoles and by the Malthusian population dynamics of indigenous peoples. Settlers would not migrate unless they could maintain their standard of living, so wages in the colonies were set in the metropole. Political institutions, forced labour regimes, economic geography, disease environments and culture shaped the size of the economy of each colony but did not affect income levels. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:402&r=lab |
| By: | Francesca Pancotto; Filippo Pericoli (Department of Economics, University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | A sustainable path of relative competitiveness among the EMU countries is a key factor for the survivorship of the currency union in the long run. We analyze unit labor costs in the European Union with VECM methodology to evaluate relative competitiveness of euro area countries, controlling for exchange rate on the adjustment dynamics, for the economy as a whole and for the manufacturing sector, considered as a proxy of the tradable sector. Results show a lack of convergence of member countries, which is more pronounced for the tradable sector. Persisting idiosyncratic dynamics may be driven by different bargaining policies and institutional structures of national labor markets, and by differential path of technological advance deterring convergence of long run productivity. |
| Keywords: | Unit labor costs, Exchange Rates, Convergence, Competitiveness, Manufacturing Sector |
| JEL: | E31 O47 C32 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dsc:wpaper:14&r=lab |
| By: | Eleni Karagiannaki |
| Abstract: | In this paper we document the evolution of the annual flow of inheritances in the UK during the period 1984-2005 and provide estimates for the overall magnitude and the distribution of inherited wealth. Our results indicate that the period under examination the annual flow of inheritance increased markedly, from £22 billion in 1984 to £56 billion in 2005. The main drivers behind this increase were the rise in house prices and to a lesser extent the increase in the proportion of inheritances which included housing assets. Our results, based on analysis of survey data, show that the distribution of inheritances is characterized by a very high degree of inequality (comparable by and large to that observed in personal wealth) and that this has increased over time. However, the inequality increasing effect from the greater inequality in the distribution of inheritance was counterbalanced by the increase in the percentage of the population who received an inheritance. Our results also show that inheritance is positively associated with socio-economic status and that the disparities between groups became slightly more pronounced over time (mainly across educational groups). However, our evidence also shows that inheritance for the majority of recipients is fairly small and that large inheritances are limited to a very small minority of the population. |
| Keywords: | inheritance, wealth, intergenerational transfers, inequality |
| JEL: | D10 D31 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/146&r=lab |