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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Maertens, Miet; Verhofstadt, Ellen |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114373&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Sullivan (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Ted To (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies the importance of non-wage job characteristics to workers by estimating a structural on-the-job search model. The model generalizes the standard search framework by allowing workers to search for jobs based on both wages and job-specific non-wage utility flows. Within the structure of the search model, data on accepted wages and wage changes at job transitions identify the importance of non-wage utility through revealed preference. The parameters of the model are estimated by simulated minimum distance using the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). The estimates reveal that utility from non-wage job characteristics plays an important role in determining job mobility, the value of jobs to workers, and the gains from job search. More specifically, non-wage utility accounts for approximately one-third of the total gains from job mobility. These large non-pecuniary gains from search are missed by search models which assume that the wage captures the entire value of a job to a worker. |
| Keywords: | job search, non-wage job characteristics, wage growth, revealed preference, compensating differentials |
| JEL: | D1 D9 J4 J6 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec110070&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew Shephard (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | An empirical equilibrium job search model with wage posting is developed to analyze the labor market impact of UK tax reforms. The model allows for a rich characterization of the labor market, with hours responses, accurate representations of the tax and transfer system, and both worker and firm heterogeneity. The model is estimated with pre-reform longitudinal survey data using a semi-parametric estimation technique, and the impact of actual tax reform policies is simulated. The model predicts that the British Working Families’ Tax Credit and contemporaneous reforms increased employment, with equilibrium effects found to play a relatively minor role. |
| Keywords: | Labour market equilibrium, job search, wage dispersion, unemployment, monopsony, incidence, tax credits |
| JEL: | H29 J08 J30 J20 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cepsud:1336&r=lab |
| By: | Olga N. Shemyakina (University of Sheffield, UK) |
| Abstract: | Shortly following its independence in 1991, Tajikistan suffered a violent civil war. This study explores the effect of this conflict on education and labour market outcomes for men and women. The study uses the 2003 and 2007 Tajik Living Standards Measurement Surveys and employs the regional and cohort-level exposures to the conflict to identify these relationships. The results suggest that the conflict had a large and lasting impact on education. In the conflict affected regions, women who were of school age during the war are significantly less likely to complete both nine and eleven years of schooling as compared to women of the similar age from the lesser affected areas. Thus, the gap in education created during the war may have become permanent. Further, these young women were also more likely to have held a job in the last 14 days. The increased workforce participation among young women signals that creation of new local jobs is likely to be welcomed by women if the government were to pursue job-creating policies. Conditional on being employed, men and women in the more conflict affected areas do not receive wages that are significantly different from wages received by men and women in the lesser affected areas. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:106&r=lab |
| By: | A. Tampieri |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a theory on how students.social background affects their school attainment and job opportunities. We study a setup where students differ in ability and social background, and we analyse the interaction between a school and an employer. Students with disadvantaged background are penalised compared to other students: they receive less teaching and/or are less likely to be hired. A surprising result is that policy aiming to subsidise education for disadvantaged students might in fact decrease their job opportunities. |
| JEL: | C73 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp779&r=lab |
| By: | Hou, Linke; Wang, Xiaobing; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Abstract: | This study establishes a life-cycle model that a representative agent chooses optimal time of education to maximize his/her life earning, which implies that there may exist nonlinear relation between education and earning. Using the data of Chinese off-farm wage employment, we find that the duration of schooling years will increase by 1.7 years with 1 percent increase in rate of return to education. The empirical results also indicate that controversies about return to education might arise from model misspecification without consideration of nonlinearity and sample selection. |
| Keywords: | return to schooling, life-cycle model, rational expectation, China, Labor and Human Capital, I20, J43, Q01, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114530&r=lab |
| By: | Mary C. Daly; Bart Hobijn; Theodore S. Wiles |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Current Population Survey from 1980 through 2010 we examine what drives variation and cyclicality in the growth rate of real wages over time. We employ a novel decomposition technique that allows us to divide the time series for median weekly earnings growth into the part associated with the wage growth of persons employed at the beginning and end of the period (the wage growth effect) and the part associated with changes in the composition of earners (the composition effect). The relative importance of these two effects varies widely over the business cycle. When the labor market is tight job switchers get high wage increases, making them account for half of the variation in median weekly earnings growth over our sample. Their wage growth, as well as that of job-stayers, is procyclical. During labor market downturns, this procyclicality is largely offset by the change in the composition of the workforce, leading aggregate real wages to be almost noncyclical. Most of this composition effect works through the part-time employment margin. Remarkably, the unemployment margin neither accounts for much of the variation nor for much of the cyclicality of median weekly earnings growth. |
| Keywords: | Wages ; Labor market |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2011-23&r=lab |
| By: | Lorenzo Cappellari (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between life-cycle wages and flexicurity in Denmark. We separate permanent from transitory wages and characterise flexicurity using membership of unemployment insurance funds. We find that flexicurity is associated with lower wage growth heterogeneity over the life-cycle and greater wage instability, changing the nature of wage inequality from permanent to transitory. While we are in general unable to formally test for moral hazard against adverse selection into unemployment insurance membership, robustness checks suggest that moral hazard is the relevant interpretation. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance, wage dynamics, wage inequality, wage instability. |
| JEL: | J31 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie4:ieil0064&r=lab |
| By: | Tushar Agrawal (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates returns to education in India using a nationally representative survey. We estimate the standard Mincerian wage equation separately for rural and urban sectors. To account for the possibility of sample selection bias, Heckman two-step procedure is used. The findings indicate that returns to education increase with the level of education and differ for rural and urban residents. Private rates of returns are higher for graduation level in both the sectors. In general, the disadvantaged social groups of the society tend to earn lower wages. We find family background is an important determinant affecting the earnings of individuals. Using quantile regression method, we show the effect of education is not the same across the wage distribution. Returns differ considerably within education groups across different points of the wage distribution. Returns to education are positive at all quantiles. The results show that the returns are lower at the bottom quantiles and are higher at the upper quantiles. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education; Wage Differential; Quantile Regression; India |
| JEL: | C13 I20 I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2011-017&r=lab |
| By: | Berlinschi, Ruxanda; Van Herck, Kristine |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114248&r=lab |
| By: | Wolthoff, Ronald (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of the period length in a search model of the labor market and argues that it has profound implications for the market equilibrium. In the model, job offers and job destruction shocks arrive according to a Poisson process in continuous time, but institutional factors and/or informational frictions may delay workers' transitions into or out of a job. This effectively creates discrete time periods of arbitrary length, with continuous time being the limit case when the period length goes to zero. Longer periods introduce the possibility of simultaneity or recall of job offers, affecting the labor share, the amount of wage dispersion, as well as the allocation of workers over jobs with different productivity levels. Misspecification of the period length may therefore lead to inconsistent estimates of structural parameters and wrong conclusions on optimal policy. |
| Keywords: | simultaneous search, on-the-job search, wage dispersion, labor market frictions |
| JEL: | J64 J31 D83 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6002&r=lab |
| By: | Makoto Kakinaka (International University of Japan); Hiroaki Miyamoto (International University of Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a long-run relationship between the labor force participation rate and the unemployment rate in Japan. By using cointegration analysis, we demonstrate that there exists a long-run relationship between the two variables for male workers but not for female workers. Furthermore, using labor force data by age group, we find the added-worker effect for young males and the discouraged worker effect for middle-aged and old male groups. |
| JEL: | E24 J60 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2011_15&r=lab |
| By: | Natalie Chen; Paola Conconi; Carlo Perroni |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies of intergenerational social mobility have found that women are more mobile than men. To explain this finding, we describe a model of multitrait matching and inheritance, in which individuals’ attractiveness in the marriage market depends on their market and non-market characteristics. We show that the observed gender differences in social mobility can arise if market characteristics are relatively more important in determining marriage outcomes for men than for women and are more persistent across generations than non-market characteristics. Paradoxically, the female advantage in social mobility may be due to their adverse treatment in the labor market. A reduction in gender discrimination in the labor market leads to an increase in homogamy in the marriage market, lowering social mobility for both genders. |
| Keywords: | social mobility; matching; inheritance; gender earnings gap. |
| JEL: | C78 D13 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/98413&r=lab |
| By: | Dries, Liesbeth; Ciaian, Pavel; Kancs, D'Artis |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114430&r=lab |
| By: | Mariana Alfonso; Ana Santiago; Marina Bassi |
| Abstract: | Enseña Chile (ECh) is one model in the direction of helping close the achievement gap between low-income and high-income students in Chile, and is a first adaptation of the Teach for America (TFA) model in Latin America. This paper provides the first evidence on the impact of the implementation, and is the first evaluation of Teach For America model to shed light on how it affects non-cognitive skills. While it is still premature to speculate the full effect of ECh corps members on student academic achievement and cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, preliminary results from the follow-up wave seem to suggest that ECh-treated schools have made greater gains in Spanish and Mathematics test scores, as well as in non-cognitive abilities such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, intellectual and meta-cognitive abilities. One could expect these effects to help improve the overall comprehension of other subjects in the future. Further, the impact on motivation and studying abilities could also impact the student's schooling outcomes beyond their exposure to the Enseña Chile teachers. The forthcoming analysis will provide a fuller picture of the effect of ECh corps members on student achievement, cognitive and non-cognitive abilities, and a wide array of other measures, as well as the heterogeneity of the impacts and their effect over time. |
| Keywords: | Education :: Educational Assessment, Education :: Teacher Education & Quality |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:32738&r=lab |
| By: | Marco Tonello (Catholic University Milan & University of Milan-Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on mechanisms of “peer interactions” among native and non-native students. We present a theoretical framework based on Lazear (2001) education production model and on the “sub-cultural” sociological theory and we test the theoretical predictions exploiting a dataset of Italian junior high school. Results show that non-native school share has small and negative impacts on Language test scores of natives’ peers, while it does not significantly affect Math test scores. The negative effects to natives’ attainment are concentrated in schools characterized by low levels of non-natives’ isolation or where non-natives’ school share is above 10%. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, native and non-native students, social interactions |
| JEL: | J15 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/10/doc2011-21&r=lab |
| By: | Raphaela Hyee (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model that combines intra-household bargaining with competition on the marriage market to analyse women's and men's incentives to invest in education. Once married, spouses bargain over their share of total household income. They have the option of unilateral divorce and subsequent remarriage. Through this channel, the marriage market situation (the quality of prospective spouses and the distribution of resources in other couples) influences the distribution within existing couples. Individuals differ in their educational attainment, and more educated individuals contribute more to household income. I use this model to study the impact of changes in the rates of educational attainment of men and women on intra-household distribution. An increase in the number of women who obtain a university degree over an above the number of men who do so benefits men without degrees; university educated men, however, are not able to translate this change on the marriage market into a significantly larger share of household income. Hence, men's incentive to invest in education <i>decreases</i> if more women become educated. Even without assuming any heterogeneity in tastes between men and women, equilibria arise in which men and women decide to become educated at different rates. |
| Keywords: | Family bargaining, Gender education gap, Investment in education |
| JEL: | D13 D31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp683&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-Pascal Guironnet, University of Caen Basse-Normandie, France - CREM-CNRS; Matthieu Bunel, University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM-CNRS |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a simultaneously study of the impact of gender and localization inequalities on the earnings of under-graduates. Using multilevel modeling, the framework draws both individual-level (i.e., pertaining to the individual elements of groups) and aggregate-level (i.e., pertaining to the group as a whole) data under a single specification, in order to study their potential interactions. These inequalities are studied with respect to young workers who left higher education in 2004 and who had a full-time job in the private sector three years after graduation (i.e., in 2007). To take into account the process of selection for employment, our multilevel model uses the Heckman two-step procedure. Following this approach, Occupational Groups (OG) are found to capture 59.4% of the earning heterogeneity whereas Employment Area (EA) nests capture 7.6%. This 59.4% figure is explained by two phenomena: (i) OG are dominated by seniors, and (ii) OG are dominated by males with higher earnings. These group characteristics also influence gender inequalities: there is a higher wage penalty for females in (i) OG dominated by males, and (ii) OG dominated by senior workers. In contrast to the gender gap, immigrant inequalities manifest closer links to EA. Policy implications are derived from our results. |
| Keywords: | Multilevel Models, Earnings, Gender Inequality, Local Labor Market |
| JEL: | I23 R23 D31 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201118&r=lab |
| By: | Eduardo Morales-Ramos |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates private returns to education in Mexico by means of the Mincer model. The natural ability bias that the literature reports in this type of estimations is tried to be solved using the control function method. Through this method some variables relevant to wage determination are included in the model, such as natural ability index, mother's education, household infrastructure, height and health. Results suggest that the returns to education by year of schooling in Mexico are between 8.2 % and 8.4 %. On the other hand, results by level of education suggest that more education is associated with higher returns. The highest return to education in both absolute and relative terms is provided by Postgraduate education followed by Graduate education. In general, results suggest that there is a convex relationship between education level and wage. |
| Keywords: | Private returns to education, natural ability bias, natural ability index, mother's education, Mexico. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2011-07&r=lab |
| By: | El Mekkaoui de Freitas, Najat; Duc, Cindy; Briard, Karine; Mage-Bertomeu, Sabine; Legendre, Berangère |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to analyse the question of career interruptions and to evaluate their impact on pension retirement for French private sector workers. Using the last French survey on households' wealth (2003-2004), we first study the career set-backs for individuals born between 1937 and 1949. We highlight the new trends in professional paths. The risk of unemployment and job flexibility has sharply risen. As a consequence, some cohorts appear to be more exposed to career interruptions. Second, we determine how pension rights for French employees are affected by different career accidents. We consider unemployment, part-time employment and inactivity periods. Our results show how, by compensating for some career accidents, the French legislation allows individuals to receive, in some cases, the same level of social security pension that they would have received with a smooth professional path. |
| Keywords: | France; Social Security; Retirement; Pension; Part Time; |
| JEL: | J32 J22 D14 H55 E24 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/7049&r=lab |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Oddbjørn Raaum (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | To identify relative wage impacts of immigration, we make use of certification and licensing requirements in the Norwegian construction sector that give rise to exogenous variation in immigrant employment shares across trades. Individual panel data reveal substantially lower wage growth for workers in trades with rising immigrant employment than for other workers. Selective attrition from the sector masks the causal wage impact unless accounted for by individual fixed effects. For low and semi-skilled workers, effects of new immigration are comparable for natives and older immigrant cohorts, consistent with perfect substitutability between native and immigrant labor within trade. Finally, we present evidence that immigration reduces price inflation, as price increases over the sample period were significantly lower in activities with growth in the immigrant share than in activities with no or small change in immigrant employment. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011016&r=lab |
| By: | Herzfeld, Thomas; Dries, Liesbeth; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | A standard model of labour adjustment in times of economic transition assumes a constant impact of variables like sectoral income differences, unemployment or the relative size of the agricultural sector. This paper shows for a panel of 29 European and Asian transition countries that the standard model fails to take the heterogeneity of determinants of sectoral labour adjustment properly into account. A random coefficients model reveals quite heterogeneous influences of the intersectoral income ratio, the relative size of agricultural employment, the unemployment rate, and the general level of economic development on a measure of sectoral labour adjustment across transition countries. Moreover, for selected determinants the estimated coefficients show opposing signs. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114540&r=lab |
| By: | Parsons, Donald O. (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Job displacement insurance typically includes both unemployment benefits and lump-sum severance pay, and each has provoked policy concerns. Unemployment insurance concerns have centered on distorted job search/offer acceptance decisions by the worker, severance-induced firing cost concerns on excessive labor hoarding by firms. A single period private contracting model is used to investigate the interaction of these two seemingly distinct issues. Viewed singly, familiar results emerge. The absence of separation benefits of any kind leads to excessive labor hoarding as a primitive form of earnings insurance. In a limited information environment, the distribution of job displacement insurance between the two benefit types becomes important. Unemployment insurance benefits must be limited (relative to first-best levels) and severance pay made more generous. Firing cost considerations are less familiar. Because the firm wants to provide benefits, they cannot be "contracted around." Although formally driven by the sum of (unsubsidized) severance pay and expected unemployment benefits, the second-best firing cost program limits severance pay only. Together the two constraints create an unpromising contracting environment. The firing cost constraint is the more easily relaxed by government action – subsidies of sufficient size to one or another of the separation programs will work. Offer acceptance requires restrictions on leisure (workfare). Unfortunately, if first-best benefits are mandated, efficiency requires that both be eased. |
| Keywords: | job displacement, unemployment insurance, severance pay, moral hazard, firing costs |
| JEL: | J65 J41 J33 J08 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6003&r=lab |
| By: | Danielle Venn |
| Abstract: | Many workers experience large fluctuations in before-tax labour earnings from one year to the next, due to changes in working hours, movements in and out of work and changes in pay. Youth entering the labour market and workers in non-standard jobs (such as temporary employment or self-employment) are the most likely to experience both large increases and large decreases in earnings. Other workers, such as those with a low level of education, poor health or approaching retirement, have only an increased chance of experiencing a large drop in earnings. It is often difficult for workers to predict changes in earnings and assess whether these are temporary or permanent. Additionally, private insurance and financial markets are poorly equipped to protect households against earnings fluctuations. Large drops in individual earnings are associated with an increased risk of household poverty and financial stress, with the impact largest in the poorest households. Tax and welfare systems can help buffer households against volatile earnings. Taxes play a prominent role in reducing the impact of earnings fluctuations among full-time workers, while transfers such as unemployment benefits and social assistance are more important when volatility is due to movements into or out of work.<BR>De nombreux travailleurs connaissent d'importantes fluctuations de leurs gains liés au travail, avant impôts, d'une année à l'autre, en raison de variations de leur temps de travail, des flux d'entrée et de sortie de l'emploi et des variations de rémunération. Les jeunes qui entrent sur le marché du travail et les travailleurs qui occupent des emplois atypiques (emplois temporaires ou travail indépendant, par exemple) sont les plus susceptibles de connaître aussi bien de fortes augmentations que de fortes diminutions de leurs gains. Les autres travailleurs, par exemple ceux qui ont un faible niveau de formation, sont en mauvaise santé ou approchent de la retraite ont uniquement une probabilité accrue de subir une forte diminution de leurs gains. Il est souvent difficile pour les travailleurs d'anticiper l'évolution de leurs gains et de savoir si les changements auront un caractère temporaire ou permanent. En outre, l'assurance privée et les marchés financiers sont mal équipés pour protéger les ménages contre les fluctuations de leurs gains. Les baisses importantes des gains individuels sont associées à un risque accru de pauvreté et de difficultés financières pour les ménages, en particulier pour les ménages les plus pauvres. Les systèmes fiscaux et de prestations peuvent contribuer à protéger les ménages contre la volatilité des gains. La fiscalité joue un rôle déterminant pour ce qui est de réduire l'impact des fluctuations des gains des travailleurs à plein temps, tandis que les transferts – tels que les allocations chômage et l'aide sociale – jouent un rôle plus important lorsque la volatilité des gains est due aux mouvements d'entrée et de sortie de l'emploi. |
| Date: | 2011–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:125-en&r=lab |
| By: | Fredrik Andersson; John Haltiwanger; Mark Kutzbach; Henry Pollakowski; Daniel Weinberg |
| Abstract: | This paper explores rich longitudinal data to gain a better understanding of the importance of spatial mismatch in lower-paid workers’ job search. The data infrastructure at our disposal allows us to investigate the impact on a variety of job search-related outcomes of localized and individual-specific job accessibility measures using identification strategies that mitigate the impact of residential self-selection. Our results suggest that better access to jobs causes a statistically significant, but modest decrease in the duration of joblessness among lowerpaid displaced workers, while an abundance of competing searchers for those jobs increases duration modestly. Search durations for older workers, Hispanic workers, and those displaced from manufacturing jobs are especially sensitive to job accessibility. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-30&r=lab |
| By: | Mariana Alfonso; Ana Santiago |
| Abstract: | Having a good teacher is the most important school-related factor for student achievement, to the point of closing the gap between low and high-income students. However, the empirical literature is almost silent regarding teacher selection. This paper estimates a teacher selection model using recruitment data from Enseña Perú, a program that recruits top university graduates from all majors and places them in vulnerable schools. Our results suggest that candidates with volunteering experience and who finished their college degree in the top third of their class are significantly more likely to be selected into the program. Teacher recruitment policy that identifies these qualities, which might be related to leadership, high motivation, social commitment and deep content knowledge, could considerably improve the quality of the teaching force. |
| Keywords: | Education :: Teacher Education & Quality |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35739&r=lab |
| By: | Anna R. Haskins (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | Though sociologists have examined the consequences of mass imprisonment of African-American men on the incarcerated men, their families, and their communities, no study has considered its impact on racial disparities in educational achievement. Analyzing the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and its rich paternal incarceration data, this study asks whether children with fathers who have been in prison are less prepared for school both academically and behaviorally as a result, and whether racial disparities in imprisonment explain some of the gap in white and black children‘s educational outcomes. Using a variety of estimation strategies, I show that experiencing paternal incarceration by age 5 is associated with lower child school readiness in behavioral but not cognitive skills. While the main effect of incarceration does not vary by race, boys with incarcerated fathers in their early childhood years have substantially worse behavioral skills at school entry. Because of the negative effects of incarceration on boys‘ behavioral skills and the much higher exposure of black children to incarceration, mass incarceration facilitates the intergenerational transmission of male behavioral disadvantage, and plays a role in explaining the persistently low achievement of black boys. |
| Keywords: | imprisionment, families, boys, education, race, educational achievement |
| JEL: | D10 I39 J12 J13 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:1338&r=lab |
| By: | David Bardey; Fernando Jaramillo |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: We analyze whether the introduction of unemployment insurance (UI hereafter) benefits in developing countries would reduce the effort made by unemployed to secure a new job in the formal sector. We show that one shot UI benefits unambiguously increase the effort to secure a new job in the formal sector. The relative strength of income/substitution effects only determine how leisure and informal activities are affected. Consequently, our (partial equilibrium) analysis reveals that short term UI benefits in developing countries do not reduce incentives to secure a new formal job and therefore cannot be interpreted as a subsidy to the informal sector. |
| Date: | 2011–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:009015&r=lab |
| By: | Böckerman, Petri; Bryson, Alex; Ilmakunnas, Pekka |
| Abstract: | Employees exposed to high involvement management (HIM) practices have higher subjective wellbeing, fewer accidents but more short absence spells than “like” employees not exposed to HIM. These results are robust to extensive work, wage and sickness absence history controls. We present a model which highlights the possibility of higher short-term absence in the presence of HIM because it is more demanding than standard production and because multi-skilled HIM workers cover for one another’s short absences thus reducing the cost of replacement labour faced by the employer. We find direct empirical support for the assumptions in the model. Consistent with the model, because long-term absences entail replacement labour costs for HIM and non-HIM employers alike, long-term absences are independent of exposure to HIM. |
| Keywords: | health; subjective wellbeing; sickness absence; job satisfaction; high involvement management; high performance work system |
| JEL: | M53 J81 J28 M54 M52 I10 |
| Date: | 2011–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33847&r=lab |
| By: | S. Chandrasekhar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | We provide estimates of workers residing in rural (urban) India and commuting to urban (rural) areas for work. The estimates are based on National Sample Survey Organisation's survey of Employment and Unemployment (2009-10). In 2009-10, a total number of 8.05 million workers not engaged in agriculture commuted from rural to urban areas for work while 4.37 million workers not engaged in agriculture commuted from urban to rural areas for work. We argue that the size of the rural and urban labour force should be adjusted to account for the workers who commute to a location different from their usual place of residence. |
| Keywords: | Rural Urban Movement of Workers |
| JEL: | R23 J61 C80 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2011-019&r=lab |
| By: | Caroli, Eve; Askenazy, Philippe |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of new work practices and information and communication technologies (ICT) on working conditions in France. We use a unique French dataset providing information on individual workers for the year 1998. New work practices include the use of quality norms, job rotation, collective discussions on work organization, and work time flexibility. Working conditions are captured by occupational injuries as well as indicators of mental strain. We find that individuals working under the new practices face greater mental strain than individuals who do not. They also face a higher probability of work injuries, at least for benign ones. In contrast, our results suggest that ICT contribute to make the workplace more cooperative and to reduce occupational risks and injuries. |
| Keywords: | New work practices; technology; working conditions; occupational injuries; Working Conditions; |
| JEL: | J81 L23 J28 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/7143&r=lab |
| By: | Li, Fei; Tian, Can |
| Abstract: | In this note, we consider the impact of job rotation in a directed search model in which firm sizes are endogenously determined, and match quality is initially unknown. A large firm benefits from the opportunity of rotating workers so as to partially overcome mismatch loss. As a result, in the unique symmetric subgame perfect equilibrium, large firms have higher labor productivity and lower separation rate. In contrast to the standard directed search model with multi-vacancy firms, this model can generate a positive correlation between firm size and wage without introducing any exogenous productivity shock or imposing non-concave production function assumption. |
| Keywords: | Directed Search; Job Rotation; Firm Size and Wage; Firm Size and Labor Productivity |
| JEL: | L11 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33875&r=lab |
| By: | Böheim, René (University of Linz); Leoni, Thomas (WIFO - Austrian Institute of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Sick workers in many countries receive sick pay during their illness-related absences from the workplace. In several countries, the social security system insures firms against their workers' sickness absences. However, this insurance may create moral hazard problems for firms, leading to the inefficient monitoring of absences or to an underinvestment in their prevention. In the present paper, we investigate firm' moral hazard problems in sickness absences by analyzing a legislative change that took place in Austria in 2000. In September 2000, an insurance fund that refunded firms for the costs of their blue-collar workers' sickness absences was abolished (firms did not receive a similar refund for their white-collar workers' sickness absences). Before that time, small firms were fully refunded for the wage costs of blue-collar workers' sickness absences. Large firms, by contrast, were refunded only 70% of the wages paid to sick blue-collar workers. Using a difference-in-differences-in-differences approach, we estimate the causal impact of refunding firms for their workers' sickness absences. Our results indicate that the incidences of blue-collar workers' sicknesses dropped by approximately 8% and sickness absences were almost 11% shorter following the removal of the refund. Several robustness checks confirm these results. |
| Keywords: | absenteeism, moral hazard, sickness insurance |
| JEL: | J22 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6005&r=lab |
| By: | Christine Valente (University of Sheffield, UK) |
| Abstract: | Between 1996 and 2006, Nepal experienced violent civil conflict as a consequence of a Maoist insurgency, which many argue also brought about an increase in female empowerment. This paper exploits within and between-district variation in the intensity of violence to estimate the impact of conflict intensity on two key areas of the life of women in Nepal, namely education and marriage. Overall conflict intensity had a small, positive effect on female educational attainment, whereas abductions by Maoists had the reverse effect. Male schooling was not significantly affected by either conflict measure. Conflict intensity and Maoist abductions during school age both increased the probability of early female marriage, but exposure to conflict during marriageable age does not appear to have affected women’s long-term marriage probability. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:105&r=lab |
| By: | Mario Mechtel (Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany); Niklas Potrafke (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We examine how electoral motives influence active labor market policies that promote (short term) job-creation. Such policies reduce measures of unemployment. Using German state data for the period 1985 to 2004, we show that election-motivated politicians pushed jobpromotion schemes before elections. |
| Keywords: | political business cycles, opportunistic politicians, active labor market policies |
| JEL: | P16 J08 H72 E62 H61 |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1139&r=lab |
| By: | Hazan, Moshe; Zoabi, Hosny |
| Abstract: | Conventional wisdom suggests that in developed countries income and fertility are negatively correlated. We present new evidence that between 2001 and 2009 the cross-sectional relationship between fertility and women's education in the U.S. is U-shaped. At the same time, average hours worked increase monotonically with women's education. This pattern is true for all women and mothers to newborns regardless of marital status. In this paper, we advance the marketization hypothesis for explaining the positive correlation between fertility and female labor supply along the educational gradient. In our model, raising children and home-making require parents' time, which could be substituted by services bought in the market such as baby-sitting and housekeeping. Highly educated women substitute a significant part of their own time for market services to raise children and run their households, which enables them to have more children and work longer hours. Finally, we use our model to shed light on differences between the U.S. and Western Europe in fertility and women's time allocated to labor supply and home production. We argue that higher inequality in the U.S. lowers the cost of baby-sitting and housekeeping services and enables U.S. women to have more children, spend less time on home production and work more than their European counterparts. |
| Keywords: | fertility; U.S. - Europe differences; Women's education |
| JEL: | E24 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8590&r=lab |
| By: | Roland G. Fryer, Jr |
| Abstract: | The racial achievement gap in education is an important social problem to which decades of research have yielded no scalable solutions. Recent evidence from "No Excuses" charter schools – which demonstrates that some combination of school inputs can educate the poorest minority children – offers a guiding light. In the 2010-2011 school year, we implemented five strategies gleaned from best practices in "No Excuses" charter schools – increased instructional time, a more rigorous approach to building human capital, more student-level differentiation, frequent use of data to inform instruction, and a culture of high expectations – in nine of the lowest performing middle and high schools in Houston, Texas. We show that the average impact of these changes on student achievement is 0.276 standard deviations in math and 0.059 standard deviations in reading, which is strikingly similar to reported impacts of attending the Harlem Children’s Zone and Knowledge is Power Program schools – two strict “No Excuses” adherents. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of the scalability of the experiment. |
| JEL: | H0 I0 I21 J0 K0 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17494&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Justino (Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex); Marinella Leone (Department of Economics, University of Sussex); Paola Salardi (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | The Timor Leste secession conflict lasted for 25 years. Its last wave of violence in 1999, following the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, generated massive displacement and destruction with widespread consequences for the economic and social development of the country. This paper analyzes the impact of the conflict on the level and access to education of boys and girls in Timor Leste. We examine the short-term impact of the 1999 violence on school attendance and grade deficit rates in 2001, and the longer-term impact of the conflict on primary school completion of cohorts of children observed in 2007. We compare also the educational impact of the 1999 wave of violence with the impact of other periods of high-intensity violence during the 25 years of Indonesian occupation. The short-term effects of the conflict are mixed. In the longer term, we find a strong negative impact of the conflict on primary school completion among boys of school age exposed to peaks of violence during the 25-year long conflict. The effect is stronger for boys attending the last three grades of primary school. This result shows a substantial loss of human capital among young males in Timor Leste since the early 1970s, resulting from household investment trade-offs between education and economic survival. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:100&r=lab |
| By: | M. Fort; N. Schneeweis; R. Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between education and fertility, exploiting compulsory schooling reforms in Europe as source of exogenous variation in education. Using data from 8 European countries, we assess the causal effect of education on the number of biological kids and the incidence of childlessness. We find that more education causes a substantial decrease in childlessness and an increase in the average number of children per woman. Our findings are robust to a number of falsification checks and we can provide complementary empirical evidence on the mechanisms leading to these surprising results. |
| JEL: | I2 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp787&r=lab |
| By: | Pryymachenko, Yana (Department of Economics, Lund University); Fregert, Klas (Department of Economics, Lund University); Andersson, Fredrik N. G. (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the scant empirical literature on the effects of emigration on source countries’ labour markets. Using a novel dataset by Brücker et al. (2009), we investigate whether emigration from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) members of European Union (EU) during the period 2000 to 2007 has contributed to the decline in unemployment observed in these countries. We find that along with structural changes that occurred in the CEE economies during the last decade, emigration indeed had a strong negative effect on unemployment in these countries. A 10 per cent increase in emigration rate leads to around 5 per cent decrease in unemployment rate. Given the minor effect of immigration on host countries’ unemployment found in the literature (including the studies examining the East-West European migration), this paper’s results indicate that the opening up of labour markets following the enlargement of EU in 2004 mainly has had positive effects. |
| Keywords: | emigration; unemployment; Central and Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2011_032&r=lab |
| By: | Martin D. Dooley; A. Abigail Payne; A. Leslie Robb |
| Abstract: | We use a unique set of linked administrative data sets to explore the determinants of persistence and academic success in university. The explanatory power of high school grades greatly dominates that of other variables such as university program, gender, and neighbourhood and high school characteristics. Indeed, high school and neighbourhood characteristics, such as average standardized test scores for a high school or average neighbourhood income, have weak links with success in university. |
| Keywords: | university success, high school, neighbourhood. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2011-08&r=lab |
| By: | Manuel Fernández (World Bank, Washington, DC); Ana María Ibáñez (Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia); Ximena (Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the use of labour markets to mitigate the impact of violent shocks on households in rural areas in Colombia. We examine changes in the labour supply from on-farm to off-farm labour as a means of coping with the violent shock and the ensuing redistribution of time within households. We also identify the heterogeneous response by gender. Because the incidence of violent shocks is not exogenous, we use instrumental variables which capture several dimensions of the cost of exercising terror. As a response to the violent shocks, households decrease the time spent on on-farm work and increase their supply of labour to off-farm activities (i.e., non-agricultural ones). Men carry the bulk of the adjustment in the use of time inasmuch as they supply the most hours to off-farm nonagricultural work and formal labour markets. Labour markets are not fully absorbing the additional labour supply. Women in particular are unable to find jobs in formal labour markets and men have increased time dedicated to leisure and household chores. Additional off-farm supply is not fully covering drops in consumption. Our results suggest that in rural Colombia, labour markets are a limited alternative for coping with violent shocks. Thus, policies in conflict-affected countries should go beyond short-term relief and aim at preventing labour markets from collapsing and at supporting the recovery of agricultural production. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:103&r=lab |
| By: | Andries De Grip (Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn); Jan Sauermann (Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA), Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effects of work-related training on worker productivity. To identify the causal effects from training, we combine a field experiment that randomly assigns workers to treatment and control groups with panel data on individual worker performance before and after training. We find that participation in the training programme leads to a 10 percent increase in performance. Moreover, we provide experimental evidence for externalities from treated workers on their untreated teammates: An increase of 10 percentage points in the share of treated peers leads to a performance increase of 0.51 percent. We provide evidence that the estimated effects are causal and not the result of employee selection into and out of training. Furthermore, we find that the performance increase is not due to lower quality provided by the worker. |
| Keywords: | Training, field experiment, peer effects, productivity |
| JEL: | J24 M53 C93 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0067&r=lab |
| By: | Manudeep Bhuller, Magne Mogstad and Kjell G. Salvanes (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique data set with nearly career-long earnings histories to provide evidence on the returns to schooling in current and lifetime earnings. We use these results to assess the importance of life-cycle bias in earnings regressions using current earnings as a proxy for lifetime earnings. To account for the endogeneity of schooling, we apply three commonly used identification strategies. Our estimates demonstrate a strong life-cycle bias, often exceeding the bias from assuming that schooling is exogenous. We further explore the problems caused by life-cycle bias in research on the economic returns to schooling, and discuss possible remedies. |
| Keywords: | Returns to schooling; life-cycle bias; lifetime earnings; current earnings; errors-in-variables model |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:666&r=lab |
| By: | Duha T. Altindag |
| Abstract: | I investigate the impact of unemployment on crime using a country-level panel data set from Europe that contains consistently-measured crime statistics. Unemployment has a positive influence on property crimes. Using earthquakes, industrial accidents and the exchange rate movements as instruments for the unemployment rate, I find that 2SLS point estimates are larger than OLS estimates. |
| Keywords: | Crime; Europe; Unemployment; Earthquakes; Industrial accidents; Instrumental variables |
| JEL: | K42 J00 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abn:wpaper:auwp2011-13&r=lab |
| By: | H. Lehmann; A. Muravyev |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes the evolution of labor markets and labor market institutions and policies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well as of Central Asia over the last two decades. The main focus is on the evolution of labor market institutions, which are among candidate explanations for the very diverse trajectories of labor markets in the region. We consider recent contributions that attempt to assess the effect of labor market institutions on labor market performance of TEs, including the policy-relevant issue of complementarity of institutions. |
| JEL: | J21 P20 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp783&r=lab |
| By: | Petra Marotzke (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | While macroeconomic volatility in the US economy decreased since the early 1980's, individual earnings volatility and wage inequality increased. This paper argues that increasing financial development can contribute to both changes. I develop a real business cycle model with sectoral productivity shocks and labor as well as credit market frictions. Credit market frictions take the form of collateral-based credit constraints. It is shown that there are interactions between the labor and the credit market that matter for the development of wages and output. When workers are not perfectly mobile between sectors, financial development comes along with an increase in the volatility of individual earnings and in wage inequality, although aggregate output volatility is lower. |
| Keywords: | Financial development, labor market frictions, sectoral shocks, volatility, wage inequality |
| JEL: | E32 E44 J60 |
| Date: | 2011–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1138&r=lab |
| By: | Nidhiya Menon (Department of Economics & IBS, MS 021, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110); Yana van der Meulen Rodgers (Women’s and Gender Studies Department, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil conflict affected women’s decisions to engage in employment. Using three waves of Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, we employ a difference-in-difference approach to identify the impact of war on women’s employment decisions. Results indicate that as a result of the Maoist-led insurgency, women’s employment probabilities were substantially higher in 2001 and 2006 relative to the outbreak of war in 1996. These employment results also hold for selfemployment decisions, and they hold for smaller sub-samples that condition on husband’s migration status and women’s status as widows or household heads. Numerous robustness checks of the difference-in-difference estimates based on alternative empirical methods provide compelling evidence that women’s likelihood of employment increased as a consequence of the conflict. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:104&r=lab |
| By: | Susana Carpio; David Giuliodori; Graciana Rucci; Rodolfo Stucchi |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the probability of receiving employer-paid training and other training independent of who finances it for permanent and temporary workers in Chile. The authors use data from the Social Protection Survey, EPS, allowing them to construct a panel of workers with information from 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2009. The results suggest that having a temporary contract in Chile reduces the probability of receiving employer-paid training. The survey also finds that this deficit is not compensated by other types of training. This finding is important for two reasons. First, the proportion of temporary workers that obtain an open-ended contract is low. Second, the productivity growth in Chile after 1997 is practically zero and human capital accumulation is one of the factors that might help to recover the path of productivity growth. |
| Keywords: | Labor :: Training & Development, Labor :: Workforce & Employment, IDB-WP253 |
| JEL: | J24 J08 J41 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35358&r=lab |
| By: | Eugenio C. Severin; Christine Capota |
| Abstract: | The introduction of technology in education is gaining momentum worldwide. One model of incorporating technology into education that has gained tremendous traction in Latin America and the Caribbean is One-to-One computing. The term "One-to-One" refers to the ratio of digital devices per child so that each child is provided with a digital device, most often a laptop, to facilitate learning. The objective of this document is to provide an overview of One-to-One implementations with a regional focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. It also proposes a systemic approach to improve the quality of education in contexts of mass laptop distributions to students and teachers. |
| Keywords: | Education :: e-Learning, Education :: Teacher Education & Quality, Science & Technology :: New Technologies |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:35818&r=lab |
| By: | Martin D. Dooley; A. Abigail Payne; A. Leslie Robb |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first Canadian study of the link between cost to the student and the choice of university. Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial increase in the differences among Ontario universities in “net cost” defined as tuition and fees minus the expected value to an academically strong student of a guaranteed merit scholarship. Our estimates generally indicate no relationship between net cost and the overall share of strong applicants that a university is able to attract. An increase in net cost is associated with an increase in the ratio of strong students from high income neighborhoods to strong students from middle income and low income neighborhoods in Arts and Science programs but not in Commerce and Engineering. Finally, more advantaged students are more likely to attend university, but merit aid is not of disproportionate benefit to those from more economically advantaged backgrounds given registration. |
| Keywords: | health education and welfare, university, choice, cost. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2011-07&r=lab |
| By: | Harold E. Cuffe; William T. Harbaugh; Jason M. Lindo; Giancarlo Musto; Glen R. Waddell |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of a school-based incentive program on children's exercise habits. The program offers children an opportunity to win prizes if they walk or bike to school during prize periods. We use daily child-level data and individual fixed effects models to measure the impact of the prizes by comparing behavior during prize periods with behavior during non-prize periods. Variation in the timing of prize periods across different schools allows us to estimate models with calendar-date fixed effects to control for day-specific attributes, such as weather and proximity to holidays. On average, we find that being in a prize period increases riding behavior by sixteen percent, a large impact given that the prize value is just six cents per participating student. We also find that winning a prize lottery has a positive impact on ridership over subsequent weeks; consider heterogeneity across prize type, gender, age, and calendar month; and explore differential effects on the intensive versus extensive margins. |
| JEL: | I12 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17478&r=lab |
| By: | Colen, Liesbeth; Maertens, Miet |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114286&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Bogliacino (European Commission, Joint Research Center - Institute for Perspective Technological Studies, Sevilla & Centro de Estudios Para America Latina y el Caribe-Universidad EAFIT, Rise Group); Mariacristina Piva (Università Cattolica, Milano and Piacenza); Marco Vivarelli (Università Cattolica, Milano and Piacenza & SPRU-University of Sussex & IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to test the employment effect of business R&D expenditures, using a unique longitudinal database covering 677 European manufacturing and service firms over the period 1990-2008. Main result from the whole sample dynamic LSDVC (Least Squared Dummy Variable Corrected) estimate is the labour-friendly nature of companies’ R&D, the coefficient of which turns out to be statistically significant, although not very large in magnitude. However, the positive and significant job creation effect of R&D expenditures is detectable in services and high-tech manufacturing but absent in the more traditional manufacturing sectors. This means that we should not expect positive employment effects from increasing R&D in the majority of industrial sectors. This evidence should be kept in mind by European innovation policy makers having employment as one of their specific aims. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, employment, manufacturing, services, LSDVC |
| JEL: | O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2011/9/doc2011-20&r=lab |
| By: | David S. Kaplan; Joyce Sadka |
| Abstract: | We analyze the outcomes of 332 cases from a labor court in Mexico in which a judge awarded money to a plaintiff who claimed to have been fired by a firm without cause. The judgments were enforced in only 40% of the cases. A plaintiff may try to enforce a judgment by petitioning the court to seize the firm's assets when the firm refuses to pay. Thirty eight percent of the enforced judgments required at least one seizure attempt. We estimate the parameters of post judgment games in which the worker does not know if a seizure attempt would ultimately succeed and show that these models explain the data well. We then simulate the effects of a policy that reduces worker costs of a seizure attempt. We find that this policy would increase the probability of enforcement, either by increasing the probability that the worker attempts an asset seizure or by inducing firms to pay voluntarily to avoid such seizure attempts. However, reducing worker costs of seizure attempts can only have a modest effect on enforcement probabilities because a high percentage of firms are able to avoid payment in spite of worker efforts to force collection. |
| Keywords: | Labor :: Labor Policy, Public Sector :: Judicial Administration & Legal Reform, Labor :: Workforce & Employment, Social Development :: Social Policy & Protection, Labor Courts, Severance Payments, Enforcement of Labor Law |
| JEL: | J65 K31 K41 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:38198&r=lab |
| By: | G. Brunello; M. Fort; N. Schneeweis; R. Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the contribution of health related behaviors to the education gradient, using an empirical approach that addresses the endogeneity of both education and behaviors in the health production function. We apply this approach to a multi-country data set, which includes 12 European countries and has information on education, health and health behaviors for a sample of individuals aged 50+. Focusing on self reported poor health as our health outcome, we find that education has a protective role both for males and females. When evaluated at the sample mean of the dependent variable, one additional year of education reduces self-reported poor health by 7.1% for females and by 3.1% for males. Health behaviors - measured by smoking, drinking, exercising and the body mass index - contribute to explaining the gradient. We find that the effects of education on smoking, drinking, exercising and eating a proper diet account for at most 23% to 45% of the entire effect of education on health, depending on gender. |
| JEL: | J1 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp788&r=lab |
| By: | Nordström Skans, Oskar (IFAU - Insitute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); J. Brösamle, Klaus (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the relationship between career path characteristics of civil servants and their career success. Following a description of the institutional setting and some qualitative evidence on typical paths to the top, we use data that follows the careers of all Swedish civil servants for up to 24 years to document a clear link between early mobility and later success. Controlling for a wide range of other factors, incidents of inter-organizational mobility within the administration, but also interchanges between the administrative and other sectors are positively associated with becoming a senior government offcial. We also show that the positive association between mobility and future success is smaller for more educated workers, which is consistent with signalling effects driving the link between mobility and career success. |
| Keywords: | public sector employment; job mobility; internal labour markets; signalling; promotions; Swedish civil service. |
| JEL: | J45 J62 M51 |
| Date: | 2011–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2011_013&r=lab |
| By: | E. Marelli; R. Patuelli; M. Signorelli |
| Abstract: | In this paper we empirically assess the evolution for the EU regions of both employment and unemployment before and after the Global Crisis. After a review of the literature on the theories and key determinants of regional unemployment, we shall overview the main findings concerning the labour market impact of the Global Crisis. The empirical analysis will initially be carried out at the national level including all EU countries; subsequently, we shall focus on the EU regions (at the NUTS-2 level), in order to detect possible changes in the dispersion of regional unemployment rates after the crisis. Our econometric investigations aim to assess the effect, on labour market performance, of previous developments in regional labour markets time series, as well as the importance of structural characteristics of the labour markets, in terms of the sectoral specialization of the regional economies. In fact, the local industry mix may have played a crucial role in shaping labour market performance in response to the crisis. In addition, we consider further characteristics of the regional labour markets, by including indicators of the level of precarization of labour and of the share of long-term unemployed, as indicators of the efficiency of the local labour markets. From a methodological viewpoint, we exploit eigenvector decomposition-based spatial filtering techniques, which allow us to greatly reduce unobserved variable bias – a significant problem in cross-sectional models – by including indicators of latent unobserved spatial patterns. Finally, we render a geographical description of the heterogeneity influence of past labour market performance over the crisis period, showing that the past performance has a differentiated impact on recent labour market developments. |
| JEL: | C21 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp791&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Verwimp; Jan Van Bavel |
| Abstract: | Next to the taking of lives and the destruction of infrastructure, violent conflict also affects the long-term growth path of a country by its effect on human capital accumulation. This paper investigates the effect of exposure to violent conflict on the completion of primary schooling. We use a nationwide household survey that collected detailed education, migration, gender and wealth data and combine this with secondary sources on the location and timing of the conflict. Depending on specification we find that the odds to complete primary schooling for a child exposed to the violence declined by 40 to 50% compared to a non-exposed child. The schooling of boys from non-poor households is affected most by conflict, followed by boys and girls from poor households. The schooling of girls from non-poor households is least affected. Forced displacement is found to be one of the channels through which the impact is felt. We perform robustness checks for our results. |
| Keywords: | schooling; violent conflict; gender; Africa |
| JEL: | O12 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/98377&r=lab |
| By: | Gaetano D’Adamo (Department of Economic Structure, University of Valencia, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interactions between wages in the public sector, the traded private sector and the closed sector in ten EU Transition Countries during the period 2000-2010. The theoretical literature on wage spillovers, as well as the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis, suggest that the internationally traded sector should be the leader in wage setting, with sheltered and public sector wages adjusting. Using a Cointegrated VAR approach we show that a large heterogeneity across countries is present, and non-traded and public sector wages are often leaders in wage determination or at least affect traded sector wages in the short run. In some countries, public sector wages are weakly exogenous, with the private sectors adjusting. This result is relevant from a policy perspective since wage spillovers, leading to costs growing faster than productivity, may affect the international cost competitiveness of the traded sector and thus the catching-up process may be accompanied by accumulation of large international imbalances. |
| Keywords: | Cointegrated VAR, wage setting, public sector |
| JEL: | C32 E62 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1122&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Verwimp; Jan Van Bavel |
| Abstract: | Next to the taking of lives and the destruction of infrastructure, violent conflict also affects the long-term growth path of a country by its effect on human capital accumulation. This paper investigates the effect of exposure to violent conflict on the completion of primary schooling. We use a nationwide household survey that collected detailed education, migration, gender and wealth data and combine this with secondary sources on the location and timing of the conflict. Depending on specification we find that the odds to complete primary schooling for a child exposed to the violence declined by 40 to 50% compared to a non-exposed child. The schooling of boys from non-poor households is affected most by conflict, followed by boys and girls from poor households. The schooling of girls from non-poor households is least affected. Forced displacement is found to be one of the channels through which the impact is felt. We perform robustness checks for our results. |
| Keywords: | schooling; violent conflict; gender; Africa |
| JEL: | O12 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/98414&r=lab |
| By: | Selcuk Eren; Hugo Benitez-Silva; Eva Carceles-Poveda |
| Abstract: | Immigration is having an increasingly important effect on the social insurance system in the United States. On the one hand, eligible legal immigrants have the right to eventually receive pension benefits but also rely on other aspects of the social insurance system such as health care, disability, unemployment insurance, and welfare programs, while most of their savings have direct positive effects on the domestic economy. On the other hand, most undocumented immigrants contribute to the system through taxed wages but are not eligible for these programs unless they attain legal status, and a large proportion of their savings translates into remittances that have no direct effects on the domestic economy. Moreover, a significant percentage of immigrants migrate back to their countries of origin after a relatively short period of time, and their savings while in the United States are predominantly in the form of remittances. Therefore, any analysis that tries to understand the impact of immigrant workers on the overall system has to take into account the decisions and events these individuals face throughout their lives, as well as the use of the government programs they are entitled to. We propose a life-cycle Overlapping Generations (OLG) model in a general equilibrium framework of legal and undocumented immigrants' decisions regarding consumption, savings, labor supply, and program participation to analyze their role in the financial sustainability of the system. Our analysis of the effects of potential policy changes, such as giving some undocumented immigrants legal status, shows increases in capital stock, output, consumption, labor productivity, and overall welfare. The effects are relatively small in percentage terms but considerable given the size of our economy. |
| Keywords: | Legal and Undocumented Immigration; Social Security; Remittances; Life-cycle Models; OLG Models; General Equilibrium Models |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_689&r=lab |
| By: | Yahong Zhang |
| Abstract: | What are the effects of financial market imperfections on unemployment and vacancies? Since standard DSGE models do not typically model unemployment, they abstract from this issue. In this paper I augment a standard monetary DSGE model with explicit financial and labour market frictions and estimate the model using US data for the period 1964:Q1-2010:Q3. I find that the estimated degree of financial frictions is higher when financial data and shocks are included. The model matches the aggregate volatility in the data reasonably well. In particular, for the labour market, the model is able to generate highly volatile unemployment and vacancies, and a relatively rigid real wage. Further, I find that the financial accelerator mechanism plays an important role in amplifying the effects of financial shocks on unemployment and vacancies. Overall, financial shocks explain about 37 per cent of the fluctuations in unemployment and vacancies. |
| Keywords: | Economic models; Financial markets; Labour markets |
| JEL: | E32 E44 J6 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:11-12&r=lab |
| By: | Elisa Gamberoni (World Bank); Erik von Uexkull (International Labour Office, Employment Sector); Sebastian Weber |
| Abstract: | Employment effects of the 2008/9 global economic crisis have differed significantly across countries. As a consequence, an active public debate has emerged on the impact of external shocks and the role of public institutions and policies in mitigating them. We contribute to this debate by analyzing the role of integration into the global economy and different labour market institutions during past phases of global economic downturns as well as domestic banking and debt crises. We find that domestic debt and banking crises were much more severe in terms of their impact on employment than global economic downturns. On average, the reduction in employment growth was more than twice as strong. Openness to trade is found to have initially deepened the contractionary effects on employment, but also allowed for a faster recovery. High severance pay dampened the employment effects of both domestic crises and global economic downturns. High unemployment benefits were associated with stronger reductions in employment growth, but the effect seems to be non-linear and driven mainly by countries in the highest 20th percentile of unemployment benefits. |
| Keywords: | labour market / employment / economic recession / economic implication |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:emwpap:2010-68&r=lab |
| By: | Leonardo Becchetti (University of Rome Tor Vergata); Riccardo Massari (University of Rome La Sapienza); Paolo Naticchioni (University of Cassino) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to identify and quantify the contribution of a set of covariates in affecting levels and over time changes of happiness inequality. We make use of a recent methodology that allows decomposing the overall change in happiness inequality into composition and coefficient effects of each covariate. We focus on the increase in happiness inequality observed in Germany between 1991 and 2007 in the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) database, deriving the following findings. First, trends in happiness inequality are mainly driven by composition effects, while coefficient effects are negligible. Second, among composition effects, education has an inequality-reducing impact, while changes in labour market conditions and demographic composition contribute to explain the rise in happiness inequality. Third, the increase in income inequality cannot be considered as a driver of the increase in happiness inequality. A clear cut policy implication of our paper is that policies enhancing education and labour market performance are crucial to reduce happiness inequality and the potential social tensions arising from it. |
| Keywords: | happiness inequality, income inequality, education, decomposition methods |
| JEL: | I31 I28 J17 J21 J28 |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:css:wpaper:2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Kimhi, Ayal |
| Abstract: | This article examines the importance of non-farm income in reducing per-capita income inequality among agricultural households in southern Ethiopia, with an emphasis on the gender dimension. Using a modified technique of inequality decomposition by income sources applied to household survey data, it was found that female non-farm labor income is the only income source that significantly reduces per-capita income inequality. More precisely, a uniform increase in female non-farm labor income, among households that already have income from this source, reduces inequality. Encouraging women to devote more time to non-farm income-generating activities, and creating market mechanisms that increase earnings in these activities, could potentially lift households out of poverty and at the same time reduce income inequality as a whole. The impact on inequality could be stronger if policies are directed at asset-poor households and less-educated households in particular. One of the policies that could be useful in this regard is female educational enhancements. This could open more opportunities for women in the hired labor market, improve women's position within the household, and promote overall income inequality as well as gender equality. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114756&r=lab |
| By: | Olper, Alessandro; Raimondi, Valentina; Cavicchioli, Daniele; Vigani, Mauro |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the determinants of labour out-migration from agriculture across 153 EU regions over the 1990-2008 period. The central aim is to shed light on the role played by CAP payments on this important adjustment process. Using static and dynamic panel data methods, we show that standard neo-classic drivers, like the relative income and the relative labour share, represented significant determinants of the inter-sectoral migration of the agricultural labour. Overall, CAP payments have contributed significantly to job creation in agriculture, although the magnitude of the economic effect is quite small. Moreover, Pillar I subsidies have exerted an effect from three to five times stronger than Pillar II payments. |
| Keywords: | Out-farm Migration, CAP Payments, Labour Markets, Panel Data Analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, Q12, Q18, O13, J21, J43, J60, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae11:114597&r=lab |
| By: | Sylvie Demurger (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure de Lyon); Shi Li (School of Economics and Business Administration - Beijing Normal University / Beijing); Juan Yang (School of Economics and Business Administration - Beijing Normal University / Beijing) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the changes in public-private sector earnings differentials for local residents in urban China between 2002 and 2007. We find that earnings gaps across ownership sectors decreased during this period and that the convergence trend has been in favor of the private and semi-public sectors as opposed to the public sector. This trend is in sharp contrast to what occurred at the turn of the 21st century when employees the government and state-owned enterprises were found to enjoy a privileged situation. Differences in endowments are found to play a growing role in explaining earnings differentials. However, although it is becoming less of an issue, segmentation across ownership remains important, especially for high-wage earners. |
| Keywords: | labor market; earnings differentials; segmentation; enterprise ownership; China |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00627719&r=lab |
| By: | Almeida, Rita K. (World Bank); Susanli, Z. Bilgen (Isik University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how stringent de facto firing regulations affect firm size throughout the developing world. We exploit a large firm level dataset across 63 countries and within country variation in the enforcement of the labor codes in countries with very different de jure firing regulations. Our findings strongly suggest that firms facing a stricter enforcement of firing regulations are on average smaller. We interpret this finding as supportive of the fact that more stringent de facto firing regulations tend to reduce average employment. We also find robust evidence that this effect is stronger for more labor intensive manufacturing firms, especially those operating in low-technology sectors. Evidence also shows that this negative correlation does not hold in countries with a very weak rule of law. |
| Keywords: | firing regulations, developing countries, labor markets, enforcement, micro data |
| JEL: | J21 J24 K20 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6006&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Gianelle (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | This essay investigates the network structure of inter-firm worker mobility in Veneto, an industrial region of Northern Italy, using comprehensive employer-employee matched data. The empirical network reveals a small world pattern that hinges critically upon a few hub firms. Main hubs are found to be: (1) long-established manufacturing companies; (2) wholesale companies; and (3) companies supplying workforce to third parties. The methodology of investigation provides a toolkit for monitoring labour market evolution, and should enable industry policies supporting labour reallocation mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | regional labour markets, worker reallocation, complex networks, small world, hub dependence |
| JEL: | D85 J63 R12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2011_13&r=lab |
| By: | Janet W. Looney |
| Abstract: | The majority of OECD countries now implement one form or another of standards-based assessment and evaluation. The core logic of standards-based systems rests upon the alignment of three key elements: standards defining the knowledge and skills – or competences – students are expected to have attained at different stages of their education; curricula, which cover the objectives identified in standards; and student assessments and school evaluations which measure attainment of standards. If systems are misaligned, it is impossible to draw valid conclusions about the success of student learning or to develop effective strategies for school improvement. Yet, no system can achieve perfect alignment. This report proposes that rather than thinking of alignment literally, as a lining up of the various elements and actors across systems, it may be more appropriate to approach it as a matter of balance and coherence. The discussion touches on both the technical and social dimensions of alignment.<BR>La majorité des pays de l’OCDE met désormais en oeuvre un système d’évaluation fondé sur des normes, quelle que soit la forme de ce système. La logique de base des systèmes d’évaluation fondés sur des normes repose sur l’alignement de trois éléments clés : des normes définissant les connaissances et les compétences que les élèves sont censés avoir acquis à différents stades de leur éducation; des programmes qui couvrent les objectifs identifiés dans les normes ; et des évaluations des étudiants et des écoles, qui mesurent le niveau des normes. Si les éléments clés de ces systèmes sont mal alignés, il est impossible de tirer des conclusions valables sur la réussite de l’apprentissage des élèves ou de développer des stratégies efficaces pour l’amélioration des écoles. Cependant, aucun système ne peut parvenir à un alignement parfait. Ce rapport propose qu’au lieu de penser l’alignement de manière littérale, à savoir une succession de divers éléments et d’acteurs au travers des systèmes, il serait plus approprié de l’aborder en termes d’équilibre et de cohérence. La discussion porte sur les dimensions techniques et sociales de l’alignement. |
| Date: | 2011–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:64-en&r=lab |
| By: | John H. Tyler |
| Abstract: | The past decade has seen increased testing of students and the concomitant proliferation of computer-based systems to store, manage, analyze, and report the data that comes from these tests. The research to date on teacher use of these data has mostly been qualitative and has mostly focused on the conditions that are necessary (but not necessarily sufficient) for effective use of data by teachers. Absent from the research base in this area is objective information on how much and in what ways teachers actually use student test data, even when supposed precursors of teacher data use are in place. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing usage data generated when teachers in one mid-size urban district log onto the web-based, district-provided data deliver and analytic tool. Based on information contained in the universe of web logs from the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years, I find relatively low levels of teacher interaction with pages on the web tool that contain student test information that could potentially inform practice. I also find no evidence that teacher usage of web-based student data is related student achievement, but there is reason to believe these estimates are downwardly biased. |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17486&r=lab |
| By: | Alfano, Marco (Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration, University College London); Arulampalam, Wiji; Kambhampati, Uma |
| Abstract: | This paper makes a significant contribution on both conceptual and methodological fronts, in the analysis of the effect of maternal autonomy on school enrolment age of children in India. The school entry age is modelled using a discrete time duration model where maternal autonomy is entered as a latent characteristic, and allowed to be associated with various parental and household characteristics which also conditionally affect school entry age. The model identification is achieved by using proxy measures collected in the third round of the National Family Health Survey of India, on information relating to the economic, decision-making, physical and emotional autonomy of a woman. We concentrate on three very different states in India – Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Our results indicate that female autonomy is not associated with socio-economic characteristics of the woman or her family in Kerala (except maternal education), while it is strongly correlated to these characteristics in both Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Secondly, while female autonomy is significant in influencing the school starting age in UP, it is less important in AP and not significant at all in Kerala. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:970&r=lab |
| By: | Ekberg, Jan (Centre for Labour Market Policy Research (CAFO)) |
| Abstract: | Since the end of 2008 there is an economic recession in the world inducing a contraction in the Swedish economy. The recession has to a great extent been a recession in the manufactory sector. During the same period the number employed in the Swedish manufactory sector decreased by about 14 percent. A recovery started in 2010. The study shows that while immigrants born in Europe have not suffered more than natives since late 2008, immigrants born outside Europe have experienced a sharp deterioration in labour market situation compared to natives. The study presents some explanations. From late 2010 the situation has stabilized. There is also a comparison with the labour market situation for immigrants during the recession in the beginning of 1990s. The employment gap between natives and immigrants born outside Europe has not widened as much in the recession 2008 – 2010 as it did during the early 1990s. |
| Keywords: | Recession; Immigration |
| JEL: | J01 |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vxcafo:2011_002&r=lab |
| By: | Lauren Rinelli McClain (Savannah State University); Alfred DeMaris (Bowling Green State University) |
| Abstract: | We use the package deal framework to study the trajectory of father involvement over time as a function of union status, while also examining reporting differences in father involvement by parent gender. Data on 4,224 mother-father pairs are from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. Average father involvement at the child’s first birthday is 3.25 days per week and declines at a rate of .17 days per year. Mothers, on average, report father involvement to be .57 days less than fathers report. Parents who remain in a continuous coresidential union, who transition from cohabitation to marriage, or who transition from a noncoresidential state to a coresidential union experience the highest levels of father involvement and the lowest levels of discrepancy between mothers’ and fathers’ reports. Cohabiting fathers exhibit higher average levels of father involvement than married fathers. We discuss the place of cohabiting families in light of our findings. |
| Keywords: | father involvement, fatherhood, gender, cohabiting, marriage |
| JEL: | D10 I39 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:1337&r=lab |
| By: | De Silva, Dakshina G.; McComb, Robert P.; Schiller, Anita R. |
| Abstract: | Employment in electricity generation from renewable resources has expanded rapidly in the US and in Texas during the last decade. Availability of the Production Tax Credit has been an important driver of this growth. Using a fully-disclosed establishment-level employment and payroll data set for Texas at the NAICS-6 level, we analyze the differences in average wages between firms generating electricity from fossil fuels and those generating electricity from wind power. We compare relative average wages before and after the rapid expansion of wind power development that followed the ex ante renewal of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) in 2006. Using QCEW data, our main finding using both least squares and the nonparametric estimation technique proposed by Racine and Li (2004), is that average payrolls for wind power generators increased relative to fossil fuel-based electricity generators after 2006. As far as we know, this is the first paper that attempts to estimate the indirect impact of the PTC on wind energy industry wages. |
| Keywords: | Wages; Production Tax Credits; Wind energy; Clean Energy |
| JEL: | J31 Q28 Q20 |
| Date: | 2011–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33861&r=lab |