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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Ludger Woessmann; Lei Zhang |
| Abstract: | Policy debates about the balance of vocational and general education programs focus on the school-to-work transition. But with rapid technological change, gains in youth employment from vocational education may be offset by less adaptability and thus diminished employment later in life. To test our main hypothesis that any relative labor-market advantage of vocational education decreases with age, we employ a difference-in-differences approach that compares employment rates across different ages for people with general and vocational education. Using micro data for 18 countries from the International Adult Literacy Survey, we find strong support for the existence of such a trade-off, which is most pronounced in countries emphasizing apprenticeship programs. Results are robust to accounting for ability patterns and to propensity-score matching. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17504&r=lab |
| By: | David Hummels; Rasmus Jørgensen; Jakob R. Munch; Chong Xiang |
| Abstract: | We estimate how offshoring and exporting affect wages by skill type. Our data match the population of Danish workers to the universe of private-sector Danish firms, whose trade flows are broken down by product and origin and destination countries. Our data reveal new stylized facts about offshoring activities at the firm level, and allow us to both condition our identification on within-job-spell changes and construct instruments for offshoring and exporting that are time varying and uncorrelated with the wage setting of the firm. We find that within job spells, (1) offshoring tends to increase the high-skilled wage and decrease the low-skilled wage; (2) exporting tends to increase the wages of all skill types; (3) the net wage effect of trade varies substantially across workers of the same skill type; and (4) conditional on skill, the wage effect of offshoring exhibits additional variation depending on task characteristics. We then track the outcomes for workers after a job spell and find that those displaced from offshoring firms suffer greater earnings losses than other displaced workers, and that low-skilled workers suffer greater and more persistent earnings losses than high-skilled workers. |
| JEL: | F16 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17496&r=lab |
| By: | Nakabayashi, Masaki |
| Abstract: | The impact of schooling, an observable signal, on wages decreases as the employers “publicly” learn about the workers’ ability from their experience. This symmetric employer learning hypothesis is empirically questioned by, first, the asymmetry in learning of the current and the potential employers, and second, the complementarity between schooling and work experience that could enshroud learning effect. A microanalysis of the Japanese steel industry shows that, (1) experience before entering into long-term employment is complementary to schooling, and (2) the employer learning effect dominates the complementarity effect after entering into long-term employment; the internal labor market facilitates the employer learning. |
| Keywords: | employer learning, schooling and wages, internal labor market effect |
| JEL: | N35 J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30749&r=lab |
| By: | Longhi, Simonetta; Taylor, Mark P. |
| Abstract: | We use data from the Labour Force Survey to show that employed and unemployed job seekers in Great Britain originate from different occupations and find jobs in different occupations. We find substantial differences in occupational mobility between job seekers: employed job seekers are most likely to move to occupations paying higher average wages relative to their previous occupation, while unemployed job seekers are most likely to move to lower paying occupations. Employed and unemployed job seekers exhibit different patterns of occupational mobility and, therefore, do not accept the same types of jobs. |
| Date: | 2011–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2011-25&r=lab |
| By: | Raquel Fernández; Joyce Cheng Wong |
| Abstract: | Women born in 1935 went to college significantly less than their male counterparts and married women’s labor force participation (LFP) averaged 40% between the ages of thirty and forty. The cohort born twenty years later behaved very differently. The education gender gap was eliminated and married women’s LFP averaged 70% over the same ages. In order to evaluate the quantitative contributions of the many significant changes in the economic environment, family structure, and social norms that occurred over this period, this paper develops a dynamic life-cycle model calibrated to data relevant to the 1935 cohort. We find that the higher probability of divorce and the changes in wage structure faced by the 1955 cohort are each able to explain, in isolation, a large proportion (about 60%) of the observed changes in female LFP. After combining all economic and family structure changes, we find that a simple change in preferences towards work can account for the remaining change in LFP. To eliminate the education gender gap requires, on the other hand, for the psychic cost of obtaining higher education to change asymmetrically for women versus men. |
| JEL: | D91 E2 J12 J16 J22 Z1 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17508&r=lab |
| By: | Cervini, María; Ramos , Xavier; Silva, José I. |
| Abstract: | We study wage effects of two important elements of non-wage labour costs: firing costs and payroll taxes. We exploit a reform that introduced substantial reduction in these two provisions for unemployed workers aged less than thirty and over forty five years. Theoretical insights are gained with a matching model with heterogeneous workers, which predict a positive effect on wages for new entrant workers but an ambiguous effect for incumbent workers. Difference-in-differences estimates, which account for the endogeneity of the treatment status, are consistent with our model predictions and suggest that decreased firing costs and payroll taxes have a positive effect on wages of new entrants. We find larger effects for older than for younger workers and for men than for women. Calibration and simulation of the model corroborate such positive effect for new entrants and also show a positive wage effect for incumbents. The reduction in firing costs accounts, on average, for one third of the overall wage increase. |
| Keywords: | Dismissal costs; payroll tax; evaluation of labour market reforms; difference-in-difference; matching model; Spain |
| JEL: | D31 J31 C23 |
| Date: | 2011–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34033&r=lab |
| By: | Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Nearly two years after the official end of the "Great Recession," the labor market remains historically weak. One candidate explanation is supply-side effects driven by dramatic expansions of Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit durations, to as many as 99 weeks. This paper investigates the effect of these UI extensions on job search and reemployment. I use the longitudinal structure of the Current Population Survey to construct unemployment exit hazards that vary across states, over time, and between individuals with differing unemployment durations. I then use these hazards to explore a variety of comparisons intended to distinguish the effects of UI extensions from other determinants of employment outcomes. The various specifications yield quite similar results. UI extensions had significant but small negative effects on the probability that the eligible unemployed would exit unemployment, concentrated among the long-term unemployed. The estimates imply that UI benefit extensions raised the unemployment rate in early 2011 by only about 0.1-0.5 percentage points, much less than is implied by previous analyses, with at least half of this effect attributable to reduced labor force exit among the unemployed rather than to the changes in reemployment rates that are of greater policy concern. |
| JEL: | H53 I38 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17534&r=lab |
| By: | Benjamin Elsner (Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin); |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of a large emigration wave on real wages in the source country. Following EU enlargement in 2004, a large share of the workforce of the Central and Eastern Europe emigrated to Western Europe. Using data from Lithuania for the calibration of a factor demand model I show that emigration had a significant short-run impact on real wages in the source country. In particular, emigration led to a change in the wage distribution between young and old workers. The wages of young workers increased by 6%, whereas the wages of old workers decreased by around 1%. On the contrary, I find no effect on the wage distribution between workers of different education levels. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, EU Enlargement, European Integration, Wage Distribution |
| JEL: | F22 J31 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp379&r=lab |
| By: | Chen, Natalie; Conconi, Paola; Perroni, Carlo |
| 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 multi-trait 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: | Gender Earnings Gap; Inheritance; Matching; Social Mobility |
| JEL: | C78 D13 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8605&r=lab |
| By: | Lionel Fontagné (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Michela Limardi (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA) |
| Abstract: | Many Developing Countries ratified ILO Fundamental Conventions and authorized local labour unions. Multinational companies producing in these countries pay more when NGOs campaigns take place and reputation counts. However, whether this external pressure from NGOs benefit local workers outside MNEs affiliates in host countries remains an open issue. Segmented and weak local labour unions often rely on external funding from the North and technical assistance by labour NGOs. They need to increase their visibility in the labour intensive sectors targeted by Northern donations and activism. To address these issues we develop a bargaining model adapted to peculiarities of labour market institutions in developing countries, i.e. external funding and the complementarity with labour NGOs. This model is estimated on data on Indonesian manufacturing firms, before and after the authorisation of labour unions, in sensitive and non sensitive sectors. We find that, in sectors with visibility for labour unions, the net outcome on wages of the presence of NGOs is negative. The external fundings imply a distortion in the objective of labour unions, confronted with the constraint of increasing the employment in the formal sector. |
| Keywords: | Labour standards ; NGOs ; Wage determination |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00630096&r=lab |
| By: | CHAGAS LOPES, MARGARIDA; LEAO FERNANDES , GRAÇA |
| Abstract: | Abstract Failure in Higher Education (HE) is the outcome of multiple time-dependent determinants. Interruptions in student’s individual school trajectories are one of them and that’s why research on this topic has been attracting much attention these days. From an individual point of view, it is expected that interruptions in school trajectory, whatever the reason, influence success in undergraduate programs either this success is measured by time required to obtain a degree, the scores obtained in some more “critical” subjects in these programs or the number of enrolment registrations. Nevertheless, performing a paid job during interruption may in given circumstances positively affect academic success on account of the combination between learning and occupational experience The study of interruptions’ impact on failure in HE is also important to help Education institutions at all grades to think about changes in organisational procedures, class timetables, syllabuses contents or teachers recruitment and training in order to fight this problem. From a social and political point of view, interruptions are also a matter of concern since failure in HE affects individual’s lifelong learning opportunities, distort public funding allocation efficiency to HE institutions and create lag effects in the desired/planned outcomes of HE production functions. So, research on the impact of interruptions on failure in HE is important to support policy measures definition related to the articulation between Upper Secondary and HE programs. In previous research we have shed some light into the determinants of failure in 1st year of HE studies using longitudinal data on ISEG’s undergraduate students. A further insight into this database revealed the existence of a meaningful number of students with interruptions in their school trajectories either in the transition from Upper Secondary to HE or within HE programs. In this paper our major concern is to find some evidence on interruptions effects on HE failure among ISEG students using a life cycle approach with control group. We are interested in knowing whether the above mentioned effects are gender and/or specific graduation program neutral. We also want to search if work experience may counter balance the effect of interruption on academic success. We hope to be able to derive some useful recommendations to address policy making in the fields of pedagogic methodologies in HE, articulation between academic and occupational learning in the framework of Bologna Chart and public funding/fellowship policies in HE. |
| Keywords: | Key words: Portuguese Higher Education; Interruption; Failure; Adult Students; Bologna Chart; Policy Implications |
| JEL: | A23 I23 |
| Date: | 2011–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34227&r=lab |
| By: | Susan Dynarski; Joshua M. Hyman; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of early childhood investments on college enrollment and degree completion. We use the random assignment in the Project STAR experiment to estimate the effect of smaller classes in primary school on college entry, college choice, and degree completion. We improve on existing work in this area with unusually detailed data on college enrollment spells and the previously unexplored outcome of college degree completion. We find that assignment to a small class increases the probability of attending college by 2.7 percentage points, with effects more than twice as large among blacks. Among those with the lowest ex ante probability of attending college, the effect is 11 percentage points. Smaller classes increase the likelihood of earning a college degree by 1.6 percentage points and shift students towards high-earning fields such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and medicine), business and economics. We confirm the standard finding that test score effects fade out by middle school, but show that test score effects at the time of the experiment are an excellent predictor of long-term improvements in postsecondary outcomes. We compare the costs and impacts of this intervention with other tools for increasing postsecondary attainment, such as Head Start and financial aid, and conclude that early investments are no more cost effective than later investments in boosting adult educational attainment. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17533&r=lab |
| By: | Uwe Jirjahn; Vanessa Lange |
| Abstract: | Using unique survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study examines the influence of reciprocal inclinations on workers¿ sorting into codetermined firms. Employees with strong negative reciprocal inclinations are more likely to work in firms with a works council while employees with strong positive reciprocal inclinations are less likely to work in such firms. We argue that these findings conform to hypotheses derived from the experimental literature. Moreover, the results show striking gender differences in the relationship between reciprocity and taste for representation. These differences can be partially explained by gender-specific differences in the average degree of labor force attachment. |
| Keywords: | Works council, negative reciprocity, positive reciprocity, sorting, gender |
| JEL: | J52 J53 M50 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp402&r=lab |
| By: | Paige Ouimet; Rebecca Zarutskie |
| Abstract: | We present evidence that some firms pursue M&A activity with the objective of obtaining a larger workforce. Firms most likely to be acquired for their large labor force, firms with the largest ex ante employment, are associated with more positive post-merger employment outcomes. Moreover, we find this relation is strongest when acquiring labor outside of an M&A is likely to be most difficult, due to tight labor conditions, or most valuable, in high human capital industries. We further find that high employment target firms are associated with relatively greater post-merger wage increases and lower post-merger employee turnover. We find no evidence that the positive relation between target ex ante employment and ex post employment change is driven by target asset size, market capitalization, industry, profitability or acquirer characteristics. Our findings do not exclude the possibility that a different subset of M&A activity may be motivated to penalize managers who have tolerated over-employment. Indeed, we find evidence consistent with this disciplinary motivation when considering acquisitions of targets in declining industries. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-32&r=lab |
| By: | Fort, Margherita; Schneeweis, Nicole; Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | education; fertility; instrumental variables |
| JEL: | I2 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8609&r=lab |
| By: | Michaillat, Pascal |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theory characterizing the effects of fiscal policy on unemployment over the business cycle. The theory is based on a model of equilibrium unemployment in which jobs are rationed in recessions. Fiscal policy in the form of government spending on public-sector jobs reduces unemployment, especially during recessions: the fiscal multiplier---the reduction in unemployment rate achieved by spending one dollar on public-sector jobs---is positive and countercyclical. Although the labor market always sees vast flows of workers and a great deal of matching, recessions are periods of acute job shortage without much competition for workers among recruiting firms. Hence hiring in the public sector reduces unemployment effectively because it does not crowd out hiring in the private sector much. An implication is that empirical studies should control for the state of the economy when fiscal policies are implemented to estimate accurately the amplitude of fiscal multipliers in recessions. |
| Keywords: | business cycle; fiscal multiplier; job rationing; matching frictions; unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E62 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8610&r=lab |
| By: | Freije, Samuel; Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys; Rodriguez-Oreggia, Eduardo |
| Abstract: | The 2008-09 economic crisis has had a long-lasting negative impact on the Mexican economy. This paper examines labor market dynamics in Mexico in light of the crisis. The labor market has been characterized in recent years by low relative unemployment, but high levels of informal jobs, low-growth, and almost stagnant real wages. In this context, the crisis destroyed a wide number of formal jobs, and even informal, increasing the unemployment rates to pre-crisis levels. Manufacturing was the sector that endured the largest job losses during the crisis and wages decreased for all sectors. The government of Mexico implemented a variety of programs to cope with the crises. However, these measures were too limited to counteract the large negative impact of the crisis on labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Population Policies,Labor Standards,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2011–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5840&r=lab |
| By: | Timm Bönke; Giacomo Corneo; Holger Lüthen |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the magnitude, pattern, and evolution of lifetime earnings inequality in Germany. Based on a large sample of earning biographies from social security records, we show that the intra-generational distribution of lifetime earnings of male workers has a Gini coefficient around .2 for cohorts born in the late 1930s and early 1940s; this amounts to about 2/3 of the value of the Gini coefficient of annual earnings. Within cohorts, mobility in the distribution of yearly earnings is substantial at the beginning of the lifecycle, decreases after-wards and virtually vanishes after age forty. Earnings data for thirty-one cohorts reveals striking evidence of a secular rise of intra-generational inequality in lifetime earnings: West-German men born in the early 1960s are likely to experience about 80 % more lifetime inequality than their fathers. In contrast, both short-term and long-term intra-generational mobility have been rather stable. Longer unemployment spells of workers at the bottom of the distribution of younger cohorts contribute to explain 30 to 40 % of the overall increase in life-time earnings inequality. |
| Keywords: | Lifetime Earnings, Earnings Distribution, Inequality, Mobility, Germany |
| JEL: | D31 D33 H24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1160&r=lab |
| By: | Gete, Pedro; Porchia, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal hiring and firing decisions of a firm under two different firing costs regulations: 1) Dual labor markets characterized by high firing costs for workers with seniority above a threshold ("permanent workers") and by low costs for "temporary workers". 2) The Single Labor Contract, a policy proposal to make firing costs increasing in seniority at the job. We focus on the option value implied by the regulations and obtain some new results: the optimal firing rule is a constant function of worker's productivity only for permanent workers. For temporary workers it varies with seniority at the job because the firm tries to keep alive the option to fire at low cost. In the Dual regulation the workers more likely to be fired are those close to become permanent. On the contrary, the Single Contract transfers that maximum firing to the new hires. Thus, fired workers are fired sooner under the Single Contract. However, if both regulations have the same average firing cost for workers who become permanent, temporary workers are less likely to be fired in the Single Contract. Moreover, this new regulation increases hiring and average employment duration. It also reduces turnover among temporary workers, but at the expense of higher turnover among permanent workers who are more often replaced by temporary workers. |
| Keywords: | Real Options; Dual Labor; Single Contract |
| JEL: | D21 J40 E24 D20 J01 D92 A10 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34055&r=lab |
| By: | Gabriela López Noria |
| Abstract: | Taking advantage of the liberalization process under NAFTA, this paper assesses the relative importance of the degree of trade openness and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in explaining inter-industry wage differentials for the case of Mexico. Using INEGI's National Survey of Urban Employment for the period 1994-2004, the empirical analysis is conducted on two stages. In the first stage, individual wages are regressed on worker characteristics, job and firm attributes, informality and a set of industry indicators. In the second stage, inter-industry wage differentials (derived from the coefficient estimates of the industry indicators) are regressed on trade and FDI variables. The main findings show that trade openness does not have a robust and statistically significant effect on inter-industry wage differentials, whereas for the case of FDI, a positive nonlinear relationship is found to exist. |
| Keywords: | Wage Inequality, Trade Liberalization, Foreign Direct Investment, NAFTA. |
| JEL: | F16 G31 J23 M52 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2011-10&r=lab |
| By: | Kris Inwood (Department of Economics University of Guelph); Chris Minns (Department of Economic History London School of Economics); Mary MacKinnon (Department of Economics McGill University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses newly available census evidence to portray changes in labour market outcomes in Canada between 1891 and 1911. Multiple census cross-sections allow for the documentation of how the location, occupation, and earnings of Canadian and foreign-born cohorts changed over time. The westward movement of young anglophones after 1901 contributed to the formation of a national labour market. Anglophone, francophone, and foreign-born cohorts all experienced significant occupational mobility between 1891 and 1911, but francophones and immigrants remained over-represented at the bottom of the occupational ladder. Greater occupational and geographical mobility supported higher rates of earnings growth among Anglophones. |
| Keywords: | labour market, census, Canada, ethnicity, anglophone, francophone, occupations, earnings regression, 1891, 1901, 1911 |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J62 N31 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gue:guelph:2010-14.&r=lab |
| By: | Fousseynou Bah (CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II : EA4625) |
| Abstract: | This article aims to establish a link between the unemployment duration and the inter vivos transfers received by the unemployed individuals. We present a model where the transfer shapes the receiver's job search strategy while the donor bases it on the receiver's unemployment duration. Ultimately, a recursion arises and leads to a simulteanous determination of the transfer and the duration. The model aims to apprehend the job search behaviour in a context where the unemployment compensation system is weak or absent, like in some developing countries. We will take Mali as a study case. |
| Keywords: | unemployment; inter-vivos transfer; job search; household economics. |
| Date: | 2011–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00630262&r=lab |
| By: | Emilia Del Bono; Andrea Weber; Rudolf Winter-Ebmer |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of job displacement on fertility in a sample of white collar women in Austria. Using instrumental variables methods we show that unemploy- ment incidence as such has no negative effect on fertility decisions, but the very fact of being displaced from a career-oriented job has; fertility rates for women affected by a plant closure are signiffcantly below those of a control group, even after six years. |
| Keywords: | fertility, unemployment, plant closings, human capital |
| JEL: | J13 J64 J65 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2011_01&r=lab |
| By: | Campbell, Carl |
| Abstract: | This study demonstrates that a model with efficiency wages and imperfect information produces a Phillips curve relationship. Equations are derived for labor demand and the efficiency wage-setting condition, and shifts in these curves in response to aggregate demand shocks result in a relationship with the characteristics of a Phillips curve. The Phillips curve differs from the efficiency wage-setting condition in that the Phillips curve is a more parsimonious expression and has a coefficient on expected inflation equal to 1. Also derived from this model is the counterpart curve to the Phillips curve in unemployment – inflation space. |
| Keywords: | Phillips curve; Efficiency wages; Imperfect information |
| JEL: | E24 E31 |
| Date: | 2011–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34121&r=lab |
| By: | Anne Lauringson |
| Abstract: | The current study shows that the disincentive effects of unemployment benefits exist even during a period of deep recession. The study uses recent data for unemployment benefit recipients in Estonia – a country where the rise in unemployment during the global financial crisis was the highest in the entire European Union. Both a higher benefit level and a longer maximum duration of benefits decrease exits from unemployment to employment. Yet, compared to the pre-crisis period, the effects of unemployment benefits are slightly milder and more homogenous. In addition, unemployed people directed to active measures tend to exhibit a lower hazard of leaving unemployment just before the period of an active measure and during the period of receiving an active measure. |
| Keywords: | unemployment benefits, disincentive effects, economic crisis, Estonia |
| JEL: | J64 J65 C41 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:82&r=lab |
| By: | Yann Algan; Pierre Cahuc; Andrei Shleifer |
| Abstract: | We use several data sets to consider the effect of teaching practices on student beliefs, as well as on organization of firms and institutions. In cross-country data, we show that teaching practices (such as copying from the board versus working on projects together) are strongly related to various dimensions of social capital, from beliefs in cooperation to institutional outcomes. We then use micro-data to investigate the influence of teaching practices on student beliefs about cooperation both with each other and with teachers, and students’ involvement in civic life. A two-stage least square strategy provides evidence that teaching practices have an independent sizeable effect on student social capital. The relationship between teaching practices and student test performance is nonlinear. The evidence supports the idea that progressive education promotes social capital. |
| JEL: | I2 Z1 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17527&r=lab |
| By: | Murtin, Fabrice; Wacziarg, Romain |
| Abstract: | Over the last two centuries, many countries experienced regime transitions toward democracy. We document this democratic transition over a long time horizon. We use historical time series of income, education and democracy levels from 1870 to 2000 to explore the economic factors associated with rising levels of democracy. We find that primary schooling, and to a weaker extent per capita income levels, are strong determinants of the quality of political institutions. We find little evidence of causality running the other way, from democracy to income or education. |
| Keywords: | democracy; GMM; human capital; modernization |
| JEL: | N30 N40 O43 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8599&r=lab |
| By: | Çokgezen, Murat |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates attitudes of Turkish university students towards markets and influence of taking a course in economics on these attitudes, and compares the results with students in other countries. The study results show that the opinions of university students in Turkey about the justice of market relations are negative compared to students from other countries; and, unlike other countries’ students, taking a course in economics does not change this attitude. |
| Keywords: | attitudes; markets; economics education; Turkey |
| JEL: | A13 A20 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32346&r=lab |
| By: | Onusic, Luciana |
| Abstract: | A growing number of courses have been created lately in higher education in Brazil. The quality of these courses must be maintained to ensure that professionals are prepared for the labour market. The present work aims to identify, through a case study, the factors that contribute so that the student does not abandon the course s/he chose in a public higher education institution, FEA/USP. The students who participated in this study are those who started the courses in Management, Accountancy, Actuarial Science and Economics in 2007. In order to develop this work, some steps were followed: review of relevant literature and development of a model used in the research. Then a quantitative study was structured to conducted with the students from FEA/USP, and finally, a quantitative analysis was performed using quantitative analysis techniques in order to examine the results obtained. The model chosen to frame this study was the one proposed by Bloemer (1998), which was previously applied to financial institutions. In the present study, the model was used in a higher education institution with constructs of quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty. To assess the relationship among the above-mentioned constructs, structural equations technique were used. As a result of the analysis, it could be observed that student’s loyalty comes directly from his or her general satisfaction with the course, which is influenced by the course’s perceived quality. It is important to observe that the aspects that most distinguish loyal students from non-loyal ones are satisfaction with professors,, administrative processes and with administration in general. |
| Keywords: | Higher education; Varied Analysis; Loyalty and Quality |
| JEL: | A22 I23 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34102&r=lab |
| By: | Fanti, Luciano; Gori, Luca |
| Abstract: | We study the stability issue in a Cournot duopoly with codetermined firms. We show that when both firms codetermine employment together with decentralised employees’ representatives, a rise in wages acts as an economic de-stabiliser (stabiliser) when the wage is fairly low (high), while under profit maximisation a rise in wages always stabilises the market equilibrium. Moreover, increasing the union’s bargaining power has a de-stabilising effect, except when the wage is low and the firm’s power is already high. |
| Keywords: | Bifurcation; Codetermination; Cournot; Duopoly; Employment |
| JEL: | L13 D43 C62 |
| Date: | 2011–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34144&r=lab |
| By: | José V. Blanes (Dep. Economics, Quantitative methods and economic History. University Pablo de Olavide); Francisco Requena (Dept. of Applied Economics. Faculty of Economics. University of Valencia); Guadalupe Serrano (Dept. of Economic Analysis. Faculty of Economics. University of Valencia) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of an immigration shock, which is still on course, in the productive structure of Spanish regions in a Heckscher-Ohlin framework. Immigration alters relative factor endowment composition across Spanish regions. The persistence of rigidities in the regional labour markets conditions the absorption of this labour supply shock and gives the clues to understand and anticipate future changes in regional labour markets. Moreover, we test the extent of production techniques homogeneity across regions and industries. We provide evidence that immigration had no perverse effects on regional labour markets over the period 1995-2002. Firstly, a large proportion of the observed changes came from a generalised skill biased technological change that decreases primary educated employment. Secondly, there is evidence that supports the existence of a Rybczynksi effect in the factor mix-output mix relationship. Finally, our findings also support the existence of factor price equalisation across Spanish regions. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Technological change, Rybczynksi effect, Factor Price Equalisation |
| JEL: | F16 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1123&r=lab |
| By: | Taylor, Mark P. |
| Abstract: | We identify patterns of self-employment entry, exit and survival in a sample of EU countries and examine factors that explain individuals self-employment experiences within and between countries. We estimate a range of models, including dynamic random effects models that endogenise the initial condition. Our results highlight similarities and differences between countries, and illustrate the importance of age and previous labour market experiences in determining self-employment flows. We also find a high degree of persistence in self-employment across countries, which is most pronounced in France and Germany and least pronounced in Spain. Our results suggest that flows into self-employment are positively associated with the strictness of employment protection legislation. |
| Date: | 2011–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2011-26&r=lab |
| By: | Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa |
| Abstract: | Is it true that communist countries had well-developed human capital, or is it just a myth? What were human capital stocks at the beginning of transition to market economy? What happened to human capital formation during the transition? We attempt to answer these questions using evidence from Bulgaria. This is also a story about how a communist government had coped with labour market problems in a small closed economy. Unfortunately, during communism, there had been quite insufficient public information on human capital. Therefore, in the first place, we collect, synthesize and analyze all available information from official statistical publications as well as internal reference books and administrative documents, which used to be classified during communism, and at present are available at the Central State Archives. Next, we construct human capital indicators based on educational data for the communist period and track the dynamics in human capital formation for both communism and transition. Finally, we identify key policy and political measures which have affected human capital formation. Main findings show that communism started with extremely underdeveloped human resources. During the entire period the government had tried to provide favorable conditions for human capital formation. Communist policy measures gave significant results in the 60s, but had been ineffective in sustaining better education in the long run. As a result, the start of transition was characterized by poor levels of human capital due to an educational crisis in the last decade of communism (then, about 60% of the population in Bulgaria was with primary or lower-level of education). We assume that lack of economic incentives at individual level had determined weak pursuit of better education. |
| Keywords: | human capital; communism; transition; human capital formation; determinants of human capital; labour market policies in communism |
| JEL: | I2 E24 O15 P2 J48 J24 N34 J0 |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34231&r=lab |
| By: | Nora Mislan, Nora, M.; Azlina Mohd Kosnin, Azlina, M.K.; Yeo Kee Jiar, Yeo, K.J.; Rio Sumarni Shariffudin, Rio Sumarni, S. |
| Abstract: | The importance of equality among people cannot be over-stressed as it is already now which includes children with disabilities. Hence, the Individualised Education Plan (IEP) for special education was born. The objective of this research is to investigate parents' expectations towards the implementation. To gather data, semi-structured interviews are deployed to seven teaches and five parents while questionnaires are given to 17 teachers and 26 parents. The findings show that parents are satisfied with the services that teachers gave and showed in the IEP implementation. They also have high expectations towards the teachers and other issues such as the placement of specialists to provide more support and better understanding from the teachers. These results mean that misunderstanding could surface between both the teachers and parents. Therefore, collaboration between both parties should be worked out so that the IEP process could take place smoothly. Also, the schools should look into hiring specialist into the program as teachers would be able to learn from them. |
| Keywords: | Parents; expectations; individualized education plan |
| JEL: | H75 D83 |
| Date: | 2010–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34058&r=lab |
| By: | Paige Ouimet; Rebecca Zarutskie |
| Abstract: | We present evidence that young employees are an important ingredient in the creation and growth of firms. Our results suggest that young employees possess attributes or skills, such as willingness to take risk or innovativeness, which make them relatively more valuable in young, high growth, firms. Young firms disproportionately hire young employees, controlling for firm size, industry, geography and time. Young employees in young firms command higher wages than young employees in older firms and earn wages that are relatively more equal to older employees within the same firm. Moreover, young employees disproportionately join young firms that subsequently exhibit higher growth and raise venture capital financing. Finally, we show that an increase in the regional supply of young workers increases the rate of new firm creation. Our results are relevant for investors and executives in young, high growth, firms, as well as policymakers interested in fostering entrepreneurship. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-31&r=lab |
| By: | Marcelle, Chauvet; Jeremy, Piger |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession of 2007-2009 has not only caused a large wealth loss, it was also followed by a sluggish subsequent recovery. Two years after officially emerging from the recession, the economy was still growing at a low pace and payroll employment was far from reaching its previous peak. However, assessment of the employment situation was markedly different across different series. The two most important employment series, payroll employment (ENAP) and civilian employment (TCE), have recently been displaying divergent patterns. This has been a source of great uncertainty regarding labor market conditions. This paper investigates the differences in the cyclical dynamics of these series and the implications for monitoring business cycle on a current basis. Univariate and multivariate Markov switching models are applied to revised and real time unrevised data. We find that the main differences across these series occur around recessions. The employment measures have diverged considerably around the last three recessions in 1990-1991, in 2001, and in 2007-2009, but especially during their subsequent recoveries. In particular, while the probabilities of recession for models that include ENAP depict jobless recoveries, the probabilities of recessions from models with TCE fall right around the trough of the last three recessions, as determined by the NBER. This significantly impacts the identification of turning points in multivariate models in sample and in recursive real time analysis, with models that use TCE being more accurate compared to the NBER dating, and delivering faster call of troughs in real time. Models that include ENAP series, on the other hand, yield delays in signaling business cycle troughs, especially the most recent ones. |
| Keywords: | Employment; Business Cycle; Turning Point; Real Time; Markov-Switching; Dynamic Factor Model; Jobless Recovery |
| JEL: | E32 C22 |
| Date: | 2010–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34103&r=lab |
| By: | Nora Mislan, Nora, M.; Azlina Mohd Kosnin, Azlina, M. K.; Yeo Kee Jiar, Yeo, K. J.; Rio Sumarni Shariffudin, Rio Sumarni, S. |
| Abstract: | The role of teachers involved is very important for an individualised education plan (IEP) to serve its purpose to children with special needs. This is because they are engaged directly in the programme's implementation and in determining the children's learning. Additionally, the role would require them to forge collaboration with the parents for a successful programme. The objective of this research is to investigate the teachers' perceived role in the IEP. Two types of instruments were used; semi-structured interview on seven teachers and questionnaires on 17. Results indicate that the teachers believe they understood their roles and have met them. They also feel that involving parents in the programme is important. Planning and reporting on activities carried out is also important, but they should be receptive and sensitive in the process. Furthermore, they admit that they could improve further become more effective. To this, it is concluded that the school plays and important role in support of the teachers' growth and competency in the field. |
| Keywords: | Teachers; individualized education plan; collaboration |
| JEL: | L84 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34059&r=lab |
| By: | John Thanassoulis |
| Abstract: | This study outlines a new theory linking industrial structure to optimal employment contracts and value reducing risk taking. Firms hire their executives using optimal contracts derived within a competitive labour market. To motivate effort firms must use some variable remuneration. Such remuneration introduces a myopic risk taking problem: an executive would wish to inflate early expected earnings at some risk to future profits. To manage this some bonus pay is deferred. Convergence in size amongst the largest firms makes the cost of managing the myopic risk taking problem grow faster than the cost of managing the moral hazard problem. Eventually the optimal contract jumps from one achieving zero myopic risk taking to one tolerating the possibility of myopic risk taking. Under some conditions the industry partititions: the largest firms hire executives on contracts tolerant of myopic risk taking, smaller firms ensure myopia is ruled out. |
| Keywords: | Myopic risk taking, Moral hazard, Compensation, Bonuses, Bankers' pay, Tail risk, Industrial structure |
| JEL: | G21 G34 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:571&r=lab |