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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Hanushek, Eric A. (Stanford University); Woessmann, Ludger (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Zhang, Lei (Tsinghua University) |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | vocational education, apprenticeship, employment, wages, life-cycle, adult education, International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) |
| JEL: | J24 J64 J31 I20 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6083&r=lab |
| By: | Wen Fan (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | While much empirical work concerns job tenure, this paper introduces the concept of school tenure -- the length of time one student has been in a given school. I examine whether and how school tenure impacts students’ output using rich cohort data on England’s secondary schools. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates suggest that, on average, students benefit from longer own school tenure but suffer from that of their peers. Using the number of times the student moved school during the academic year as an instrument for school tenure to deal with potential endogeneity, the resulting Two-Stage Least Squares (TSLS) estimates suggest the effects of school tenure are positive and heterogeneous across students. While advantaged students are more likely to gain from own longer school tenure, disadvantaged ones are benefit if their peers have longer tenure. |
| Keywords: | school tenure; school moving; peer effects |
| Date: | 2011–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201124&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Ramon Garcia |
| Abstract: | Youth unemployment in Spain is a persistent phenomenon that has worsened during the current crisis. And at the levels now being registered (46.1% in 2Q11), the measures to fight it can be delayed no longer. The evidence presented in this document indicates that there are serious shortcomings in Spain's education system and labour market, which explain the country's relatively high level of youth unemployment. The former include early school leaving and the imbalance between job supply and demand at the different education levels attained, which complicates youngsters' access to the labour market and has a negative impact on their professional career. While the most significant among the latter are the segmentation of the labour market and the ineffectiveness of active labour market policies. Therefore, extenuating youth unemployment requires coordinated action between education and the labour market trough measures as the ones suggested in this document. |
| Keywords: | Youth unemployment, early school leaving, overqualification, temporariness, active labour market policies |
| JEL: | C25 I21 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1131&r=lab |
| By: | Lindahl, Lena (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Many countries have had to tackle escalating youth unemployment in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, but compared with other countries in the European Union, youth unemployment has increased particularly sharply in Sweden. Currently, Swedish 20-24 year olds are more than three times as likely to be unemployed than are adult workers, which is the greatest such ratio within the EU-15. The bulk of youth unemployment spells starts directly after upper secondary school ends, which in turn suggests special attention should be directed to the interaction of vocational education and labor markets. This paper discusses in the light of international research findings how to ease the transition from school into the labor market for vocational students. The evidence discussed in the paper centers on which educational structures lead to good labor market outcomes for vocational students and especially what we know about the relative merits of workplace- and school-based education and the role of employer contacts. |
| Keywords: | - |
| Date: | 2011–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2011_013&r=lab |
| By: | Catherine Pollak (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, IRDES - Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé - Institut de la Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé); Nicolas Sirven (IRDES - Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé - Institut de la Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the effect of job quality on pathways to productive activities of older workers in Europe. Using comparative panel data from SHARE, we analyse the medium term effects of working conditions of workers aged 50-64 on three participation outcomes (staying in employment, participating in social activities and providing informal care) with a trivariate probit model. Several aspects of job quality appear to play a role for participation in society as a whole, including participation in social activities. Care-giving on the other hand appears independent from the considered job quality indicators, but very gender specific. However, trade-offs between full time work and care activities appear in some cases. Therefore, better working conditions and the opportunity for work time arrangements should be developed if one aims to foster participation of older workers in the society. |
| Keywords: | Job quality, ageing, early retirement, social participation, informal care. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00639928&r=lab |
| By: | Haelermans, Carla (Maastricht University); Borghans, Lex (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | A meta-analysis is used to study the average wage effects of on-the-job training. This study shows that the average reported wage effect of on-the-job training, corrected for publication bias, is 2.6 per cent per course. The analyses reveal a substantial heterogeneity between training courses, while wage effects reported in studies based on instrumental variables and panel estimators are substantially lower than estimates based on techniques that do not correct for selectivity issues. Appropriate methodology and the quality of the data turn out to be crucial to determine the wage returns. |
| Keywords: | on-the-job training, meta-analysis, publication bias |
| JEL: | J21 J24 M53 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6077&r=lab |
| By: | Olivier Marie; Judit Vall Castello |
| Abstract: | We analyze the employment effect of a law that provides for a 36 percent increase in the generosity of disability insurance (DI) for claimants who are, as a result of their lack of skills and of the labour market conditions they face, deemed unlikely to find a job. The selection process for treatment is therefore conditional on having a low probability of employment, making evaluation of its effect intrinsically difficult. We exploit the fact that the benefit increase is only available to individuals aged 55 or older, estimating its impact using a regression discontinuity approach. Our first results indicate a large drop in employment for disabled individuals who receive the increase in the benefit. Testing for the linearity of covariates around the eligibility age threshold reveals that the age at which individuals start claiming DI is not continuous: the benefit increase appears to accelerate the entry rate of individuals aged 55 or over. We obtain new estimates excluding this group of claimants, and find that the policy decreases the employment probability by 8 percent. We conclude that the observed DI generosity elasticity of 0.22 on labour market participation is mostly due to income effects since benefit receipt is not work contingent in the system studied. |
| Keywords: | Disability insurance, labour market participation, income effect, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J40 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1094&r=lab |
| By: | Etkes, Haggay |
| Abstract: | This study provides circumstantial evidence for the impact of permits for employment in Israel on the Palestinian labor force in the West Bank during the late Intifada period and its aftermath (2005–2008). The study utilizes a unique dataset that merges data from the Palestinian Labor Force Survey with Israeli administrative data on permits for employment in Israel. The study quantifies the increase in Palestinian employment in the Israeli and Palestinian economies and the decrease in Palestinian unemployment, as well as the drop in the return to schooling which coincided with an increase in the number of permits issued. These results reflect the short-run benefits for the un-skilled Palestinian labor force as well as the adverse long-run effects of Palestinian employment in Israel on human capital accumulation. |
| Keywords: | Palestinian; labor; employment; Israel |
| JEL: | J08 J21 J01 J24 F51 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34681&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Olivetti; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | The gender wage gap varies widely across countries and across skill groups within countries. Interestingly, there is a positive cross-country correlation between the unskilled- to-skilled gender wage gap and the corresponding gap in hours worked. Based on a canonical supply and demand framework, this positive correlation would reveal the presence of net demand forces shaping gender differences in labor market outcomes across skills and countries. We use a simple multi-sector framework to illustrate how differences in labor demand for different inputs can be driven by both within-industry and between-industry factors. The main idea is that, if the service sector is more developed in the US than in continental Europe, and unskilled women tend to be over-represented in this sector, we expect unskilled women to suffer a relatively large wage and/or employment penalty in the latter than in the former. We find that, overall, the between-industry component of labor demand explains more than half of the total variation in labor demand between the US and the majority of countries in our sample, as well as one-third of the correlation between wage and hours gaps. The between-industry component is relatively more important in countries where the relative demand for unskilled females is lowest. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, education, demand and supply, industry structure |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1093&r=lab |
| By: | Alex Bryson; Petri Böckerman; Pekka Ilmakunnas |
| 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, pain, high involvement management, high performance work system, performance-related pay, training, team working, information sharing |
| JEL: | I10 J28 J81 M52 M53 M54 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1095&r=lab |
| By: | Jaromir Cekota (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe); Claudia Trentini (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the educational attainment, labour market participation and living conditions of young Roma adults in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania based on data from the generations and gender surveys and other sources of information. It shows that in spite of a small improvement in the educational attainment of young Roma in comparison to the generation of their parents, the educational achievement and employment gaps have increased considerably during the post-communist period. The paper also compares living conditions of the Roma with other population groups. It concludes with a discussion of policy challenges. |
| Keywords: | minorities, Roma, discrimination, employment, education, transition |
| JEL: | I31 J15 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ece:dispap:2011_2&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Gianelle |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how employment intermediaries affected the inter-firm network of worker mobility in an region of Italy in response of the reform that first allowed for temporary employment agencies in 1997. We map worker reallocations from a matched employer-employee dataset onto a directed graph, where vertices indicate firms, and links denote transfers of workers between firms. Using network-based methodologies we find that temporary employment agencies significantly increase network integration and practicability, while fastly increasing control over hiring channels. The policy implications of the results are discussed, highlighting the potential of network analysis as monitoring tool for regional and local labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Inter-firm networks, labour mobility, temporary employment agencies |
| JEL: | D85 C46 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:618&r=lab |
| By: | Piero Cipollone (World Bank and Bank of Italy); Alfonso Rosolia (Bank of Italy and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between education and mortality in a young population of Italian males. In 1981 several cohorts of young men from specific southern towns were unexpectedly exempted from compulsory military service after a major quake hit the region. Comparisons of exempt cohorts from least damaged towns on the border of the quake region with similar ones from neighbouring non-exempt towns just outside the region show that, by 1991, the cohorts exempted while still in high school display significantly higher graduation rates. The probability of dying over the decade 1991-2001 was also significantly lower. Several robustness checks confirm that the findings do not reflect omitted quake-related confounding factors, such as the ensuing compensatory interventions. Moreover, cohorts exempted soon after high school age do not display higher schooling or lower mortality rates, thus excluding that the main findings reflect direct effects of military service on subsequent mortality rather than a causal effect of schooling. We conclude that increasing the proportion of high school graduates by 1 percentage point leads to 0.1-0.2 percentage points lower mortality rates between the ages of 25 and 35. |
| Keywords: | education, mortality, health, schooling, human capital |
| JEL: | I20 I12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_811_11&r=lab |
| By: | Antonio Accetturo (Bank of Italy); Luigi Infante (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Activity and employment rates for immigrant women in many industrialized countries display a great variability across national groups. The aim of this paper is to assess whether this well-known fact is due to a voluntary decision (i.e. large reservation wages by the immigrants) or to an involuntary process in that the labour market evaluation of their skills is low. This is done by estimating the reservation wages for each individual in the dataset. Our results show that low activity and employment rates for certain national groups are not associated with high reservation wages. This implies that low participation should not be interpreted as a voluntary decision. |
| Keywords: | Reservation wages, female labour supply, cross-national differences |
| JEL: | J22 J61 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_815_11&r=lab |
| By: | Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from PISA 2006 on science, mathematics and reading to analyse immigrant school gaps – negative difference between immigrants’ and natives’ scores - and the structural features of educational systems in two adjacent countries, Italy and France, with similar migration inflows and with similar schooling institutions, based on tracking. Our results show that tracking and school specific programs matter; in both countries, the school system upholds a separation between students with different backgrounds and ethnicities. Residential segregation or discrimination seem also to be at work, especially in France. Given the existing school model, a teaching support in mathematics and science in France and in reading in Italy would help immigrant students to converge to natives’ standards. |
| Keywords: | International migration; educational systems; PISA |
| JEL: | F22 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:073&r=lab |
| By: | Charlotte Cabane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | In this study I use the German Socio-Economic Panel to evaluate the impact of leisure sport participation on the unemployment duration. The empirical literature on sport participation has focused on labour market outcomes and job quality while the impact of this activity on job search has not been studied. However, sports participation fosters socialization which, through the networking effect, accelerates the exit from unemployment. Furthermore, there may be a selection effect of individuals with higher non-cognitive skills (which may optimize their job search). These hypotheses are tested using a duration model, taking into account unobservable heterogeneity. Because the timing of participation in sports activities is relevant, various measure of sport participation are tested as well as other activities. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment duration, non-cognitive skills, sport. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00639307&r=lab |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro; Lokshin, Michael; Ridao-Cano, Cristobal; Umapathi, Nithin |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates average and marginal returns to schooling in Indonesia using a non-parametric selection model estimated by local instrumental variables, and data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey. The analysis finds that the return to upper secondary schooling varies widely across individual: it can be as high as 50 percent per year of schooling for those very likely to enroll in upper secondary schooling, or as low as -10 percent for those very unlikely to do so. Returns to the marginal student (14 percent) are well below those for the average student attending upper secondary schooling (27 percent). |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Secondary Education,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5878&r=lab |
| By: | J. Ignacio García-Pérez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); J. Antonio Robles-Zurita (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | Grade retention practices are at the forefront of the educational debate. In this paper, we use PISA 2009 data for Spain to measure the effect of grade retention on students’ achievement. One important problem when analyzing this question is that school outcomes and the propensity to repeat a grade are likely to be determined simultaneously. We address this problem by estimating a Switching Regression Model. We find that grade retention has a negative impact on educational outcomes, but we confirm the importance of endogenous selection, which makes observed differences between repeaters and non-repeaters appear 14.6% lower than they actually are. The effect on PISA scores of repeating is much smaller (-10% of non-repeaters’ average) than the counterfactual reduction that non-repeaters would suffer had they been retained as repeaters (-24% of their average). Furthermore, those who repeated a grade during primary education suffered more than those who repeated a grade of secondary school, although the effect of repeating at both times is, as expected, much larger. |
| Keywords: | Grade retention, educational scores, PISA |
| JEL: | D63 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:1109&r=lab |
| By: | Josheski, Dushko; Lazarov , Darko |
| Abstract: | Canadian labor market data are being used in this paper. These series are quarterly data from 1980 Q1 to 2000 Q4. This series are stationary by test for cointegration I(0), meaning that there exist equilibrium relationship between the time series labour productivity (prod), employment (e), unemployment rate (U), real wages (rw).This notion was definitively confirmed with VEC model. VEC model shows long run coefficient, and if the system is in disequilibrium , alteration of the variables will only be -0.003 for real wages or -0.3%, -0.001 for unemployment or -0.1%, -0.000 for productivity or -0%,and -0% for employment. This means that Canadian labour market is in equilibrium working at natural rate of unemployment and by equilibrium wages. |
| Keywords: | employment; real wages; labour productivity; VAR ; VECM |
| JEL: | J40 |
| Date: | 2011–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34685&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Blundell; Marco Francesconi; Wilbert van der Klaauw |
| Abstract: | This paper formulates a simple model of female labor force decisions which embeds an in-work benefit reform and explicitly allows for announcement and implementation effects. We explore several mechanisms through which women can respond to the announcement of a reform that increases in-work benefits, including sources of intertemporal substitution, human capital accumulation, and labor market frictions. Using the model’s insights and information of the precise timing of the announcement and implementation of a major UK in-work benefit reform, we estimate its effects on single mothers’ behavior. We find large and positive announcement effects on employment decisions. We show that this finding is consistent with the presence of frictions in the labor market. The impact evaluations of this reform which ignore such effects produce implementation effect estimates that are biased downwards by 15 to 35 percent. |
| Date: | 2011–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esx:essedp:698&r=lab |
| By: | Lundborg, Petter (Lund University); Nordin, Martin (Lund University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Linneaus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we focus on possible causal mechanisms behind the intergenerational transmission of human capital. For this purpose, we use both an adoption and a twin design and study the effect of parents' education on their children's cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, and health. Our results show that greater parental education increases children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as well as their health. These results suggest that the effect of parents' education on children's education may work partly through the positive effect that parental education has on children's skills and health. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission, human capital, education, health, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, adoptees, twins |
| JEL: | I12 I11 J14 J12 C41 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6099&r=lab |
| By: | Olivier Lharidon, University of Rennes 1 - CREM-CNRS; Franck Malherbet, Ecole Polytechnique |
| Abstract: | In this note, we extend the traditional search and matching framework to take account of the different levels at which negotiations may take place. We show that, in the absence of any distortion, sector-level bargaining ought to be less efficient than bargaining taking place at the other levels. This type of inefficiency leaves room for labor market policies. We show that a well designed combination of employment protection, hiring subsidy and payroll tax is able to restore efficiency. In addition, this result suggests that the relationship between the labor market performance and the level at which bargaining takes place is conditional on labor market institutions. |
| Keywords: | Search and Matching Models, Bargaining Levels, Labor Market Policies |
| JEL: | J41 J48 J51 J60 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201124&r=lab |
| By: | Coupe, Tom; Olefir, Anna; Alonso, Juan Diego |
| Abstract: | Using a rich data set of almost the entire population of Ukrainian secondary schools, the authors estimate the effect of school size and class size on the performance of secondary schools on Ukraine's External Independent Test. They find that larger schools tend to have somewhat better performance, both in terms of test scores and in terms of test participation. The size of this effect is relatively small, however, especially in rural areas for which the estimates are likely to be more clean estimates. Class size is found to be insignificant in most specifications and, if significant, of negligible size. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Secondary Education,Teaching and Learning,Education For All,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5879&r=lab |
| By: | Giles, John T. (World Bank); Wang, Dewen (World Bank); Cai, Wei (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper highlights the employment patterns of China’s over-45 population and, for perspective, places them in the context of work and retirement patterns in Indonesia, Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom. As is common in many developing countries, China can be characterized as having two retirement systems: a formal system, under which urban employees receive generous pensions and face mandatory retirement by age 60, and an informal system, under which rural residents and individuals in the informal sector rely on family support in old age and have much longer working lives. Gender differences in age of exit from work are shown to be much greater in urban China than in rural areas, and also greater than observed in Korea and Indonesia. Descriptive evidence is presented suggesting that pension eligible workers are far more likely to cease productive activity at a relatively young age. A strong relationship between health status and labor supply in rural areas is observed, indicating the potential role that improvements in access to health care may play in extending working lives and also providing some basis for a common perception that older rural residents tend to work as long as they are physically capable. The paper concludes with a discussion of measures that may facilitate longer working lives as China’s population ages. |
| Keywords: | retirement, population aging, labor supply, pensions, China, Indonesia, Korea |
| JEL: | J26 J14 O15 O17 O57 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6088&r=lab |
| By: | Benoit Dostie; Pierre Thomas Léger |
| Abstract: | We use longitudinal linked employer-employee data and find that the probability of participating in firm-sponsored classroom training diminishes rapidly for workers aged 45 years and older. Although the standard human capital investment model predicts such a decline, we also consider the possibility that returns to training decline with age. Taking into account endogenous training decisions, we find that the training wage premium diminishes only slightly with age. However, estimates of the impact of training on productivity decrease dramatically with age, suggesting that incentives for firms to invest in classroom training are much lower for older workers. |
| Keywords: | Firm-Sponsored Classroom Training, Wages, Productivity, Aging, Linked Employer-Employee Data |
| JEL: | C23 D24 J31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1136&r=lab |
| By: | Nicolas Jacquemet (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Jean-Marc Robin (Sciences Po - Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We propose a search-matching model of the marriage market that extends Shimer and Smith (2000) to allow for labor supply. We characterize the steady-state equilibrium when exogenous divorce is the only source of risk. The estimated matching probabilities that can be derived from the steady-state flow conditions are strongly increasing in both male and female wages. We estimate that the share of marriage surplus appropriated by the man increases with his wage and that the share appropriated by the woman decreases with her wage. We find that leisure is an inferior good for men and a normal good for women. |
| Keywords: | Marriage search model, collective labor supply, structural estimation. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00639313&r=lab |
| By: | Bohachova, Olga (Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)); Boockmann, Bernhard (Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW)); Buch, Claudia M. (University of Tübingen) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, the employment response to the post-2007 crisis has been muted compared to other industrialized countries. Despite a large drop in output, employment has hardly changed. In this paper, we analyze the determinants of German firms' labor demand during the crisis using a firm-level panel dataset. Our analysis proceeds in two steps. First, we estimate a dynamic labor demand function for the years 2000-2009 accounting for the degree of working time flexibility and the presence of works councils. Second, on the basis of these estimates, we use the difference between predicted and actual employment as a measure of labor hoarding as the dependent variable in a cross-sectional regression for 2009. Apart from total labor hoarding, we also look at the determinants of subsidized labor hoarding through short-time work. The structural characteristics of firms using these channels of adjustment differ. Product market competition has a negative impact on total labor hoarding but a positive effect on the use of short-time work. Firm covered by collective agreements hoard less labor overall; firms without financial frictions use short-time work less intensively. |
| Keywords: | labor demand, economic crisis, short-time work, financial frictions, labor market institutions, employment adjustment |
| JEL: | J23 J68 G32 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6074&r=lab |
| By: | Benoit Dostie; Pierre Thomas Léger |
| Abstract: | We use longitudinal linked employer-employee data and find that the probability of participating in firm-sponsored classroom training diminishes rapidly for workers aged 45 years and older. Although the standard human capital investment model predicts such a decline, we also consider the possibility that returns to training decline with age. Taking into account endogenous training decisions, we find that the training wage premium diminishes only slightly with age. However, estimates of the impact of training on productivity decrease dramatically with age, suggesting that incentives for firms to invest in classroom training are much lower for older workers. <P> |
| Keywords: | Firm-Sponsored classroom training, impact of training, training wage premium, linked employer-employee data, productivity, aging, |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2011s-69&r=lab |
| By: | Charlotte Cabane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Andrew Clark (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | It is well known that non-cognitive skills are an important determinant of success in life. However, their returns are not simple to measure and, as a result, relatively few studies have dealt with this empirical question. We consider sports participation while at school as one way of improving or signalling the individual's non-cognitive skills endowment. We use four waves of Add Health data to study how sports participation by schoolchildren translates into labour-market success. We specifically test the hypotheses that participation in different types of sports at school leads to, ceteris paribus, very different types of jobs and labour-market insertion in general when adult. We take seriously the issue of endogeneity of sporting activities in order to tease out a causal relationship between childhood sporting activity and adult labour market success. As such, we contribute to the literature on the returns to non-cognitive skills. |
| Keywords: | Job quality, sport, non-cognitivr skills. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00639469&r=lab |
| By: | Marchiori, Luca (Central Bank of Luxembourg); Pierrard, Olivier (Central Bank of Luxembourg); Sneessens, Henri R. (University of Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the already vast literature on demography-induced international capital flows by examining the role of labor market imperfections and institutions. We setup a two-country overlapping generations model with search unemployment, which we calibrate on EU15 and US data. Labor market imperfections are found to significantly increase the volume of capital flows, because of stronger employment adjustments in comparison with a competitive economy. We next exploit the model to investigate how demographic asymmetries may have contributed to unemployment and welfare changes in the recent past (1950-2010). We show that a policy reform in one country also has an impact on labor markets in other countries when capital is mobile. |
| Keywords: | demographics, capital flows, overlapping generations, general equilibrium, unemployment |
| JEL: | J11 F21 D91 C68 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6094&r=lab |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Susanne Link; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | Decentralization of decision-making is among the most intriguing recent school reforms, in part because countries went in opposite directions over the past decade and because prior evidence is inconclusive. We suggest that autonomy may be conducive to student achievement in well-developed systems but detrimental in low-performing systems. We construct a panel dataset from the four waves of international PISA tests spanning 2000-2009, comprising over one million students in 42 countries. Relying on panel estimation with country fixed effects, we identify the effect of school autonomy from within-country changes in the average share of schools with autonomy over key elements of school operations. Our results show that autonomy affects student achievement negatively in developing and low-performing countries, but positively in developed and high-performing countries. These results are unaffected by a wide variety of robustness and specification tests, providing confidence in the need for nuanced application of reform ideas. |
| JEL: | H4 I20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17591&r=lab |
| By: | Casey Mulligan |
| Abstract: | During the recession of 2008-9, labor hours fell sharply, while wages and output per hour rose. Some, but not all, of the productivity and wage increase can be attributed to changing quality of the workforce. The rest of the increase appears to be due to increases in production inputs other than labor hours. All of these findings, plus the drop in consumer expenditure, are consistent with the hypothesis that labor market “distortions” were increasing during the recession and have remained in place during the slow “recovery.” Producers appear to be trying to continue production with less labor, rather than cutting labor hours as a means of cutting output. |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17584&r=lab |
| By: | Ylenia Brilli (DEFAP, Graduate School in Economics and Finance of Public Administration (Catholic University of Milan and University of Milano-Bicocca)); Daniela Del Boca (University of Turin, CHILD, Collegio Carlo Alberto and IZA); Chiara Pronzato (University of Turin, CHILD and Collegio Carlo Alberto) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of public childcare availability in Italy on mothers' working status and children's scholastic achievements. We use a newly available dataset containing individual standardized test scores of pupils attending second grade of primary school in 2008-09 in conjunction with data on public childcare availability. Public childcare coverage in Italy is scarce (12.7 percent versus the OECD average of 30 percent) and the service is "rationed": each municipality allocates the available slots according to eligibility criteria. We contribute to the existing literature taking into account rationing in public childcare access and the functioning of childcare market. Our estimates indicate that childcare availability has positive and significant effects on both mothers' working status and children's language test scores. The effects are stronger when the degree of rationing is high and for low educated mothers and children living in lower income areas of the country. |
| Keywords: | childcare, female employment, child cognitive outcomes |
| JEL: | J13 D1 H75 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2011-038&r=lab |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (University of Patras) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of ethnic identity on Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Georgian, and Russian wages in Greece. Treating ethnic identity as a composite of language, cultural habits, ethnic-self identification, societal interaction, and future citizenship plans, the estimations suggest that assimilation and integration are positively associated with immigrant wages, while separation and marginalisation are negatively associated with immigrant wages, after considering various demographic and pre- and post-immigration characteristics. In addition, dramatic wage growth for fully assimilated and integrated immigrants, and vast wage losses for totally separated and marginalised immigrants are estimated. A healthy Greek – as well as a European – immigration system should recognise labour immigration flows and the potential of repeat immigration and evaluate the cornerstone features of ethnic identity. |
| Keywords: | ethnic identity, earnings |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6078&r=lab |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Devicienti, Francesco (University of Turin); Maida, Agata (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | It is widely believed that rent-sharing reduces the incentives for investment when long term contracts are infeasible because some of the returns to sunk capital are captured by workers. We propose a simple test for the degree of hold-up based on the fraction of capital costs that are deducted from the quasi-rent that determines negotiated wages. We implement the test using a data set that combines Social Security earnings records for workers in the Veneto region of Italy with detailed financial information for employers. We find strong evidence of rent-sharing, with an elasticity of wages with respect to current profitability of the firm of 3-7%, arising mainly from firms in concentrated industries. On the other hand we find little evidence that bargaining lowers the return on investment. Instead, firm-level bargaining appears to split the rents after deducting the full cost of capital. |
| Keywords: | rent-sharing, hold-up, employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6086&r=lab |
| By: | Trzcinski, Eileen (Wayne State University, Detroit); Holst, Elke (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This article critically examines the theoretical arguments that underlie the literature linking personality traits to economic outcomes and provides empirical evidence indicating that labour market outcomes influence personality outcomes. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigated the extent to which gender differences occur in the processes by which highly positive and negative labour market outcomes are determined and in the processes underlying the development of one particular aspect of personality, locus of control. Gender differences were more pronounced in the results for years in managerial/ leadership positions than for locus of control. Negative labour market states were also marked by gender differences. We conclude by arguing that an explicitly value-laden analysis of the rewards associated with personality within the labour market could expose areas where the gendered nature of rewards by personality serves to perpetuate power relationships within the labour market. |
| Keywords: | labour market theory, power, gender, personality traits, locus of control, SOEP |
| JEL: | J01 J16 J24 J71 B54 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6090&r=lab |
| By: | Mendolicchio, Concetta (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Rhein, Thomas (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "We study the returns on education in Europe in a comparative perspective. We extend the model of de la Fuente [(2003). Human Capital in a Global and Knowledgebased Economy. part II: Assessment at the EU Country Level. Report for the European Commission], by estimating the values of the relevant parameters for men and women and introducing several variables specifically related to maternity leaves and benefits. As a preliminary step, we evaluate the effect of education on the wage profile. We estimate the Mincerian coefficients for 12 West European countries using the EU-SILC data for 2007 and use them as input in the optimisation problem of the individual to calibrate the model. Finally, we analyse the impact and relevance of several public policy variables. In particular, we evaluate the elasticities of the returns on education with respect to unemployment benefits, marginal and average tax rates, maternity leaves and childcare benefits." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Bildungsertrag - internationaler Vergleich, Humankapital, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Westeuropa, Österreich, Belgien, Dänemark, Frankreich, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Irland, Italien, Luxemburg, Niederlande, Portugal, Spanien, Schweden |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2011–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201120&r=lab |
| By: | Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro (Monash University); Mitnik, Oscar A. (University of Miami); Peralta-Alva, Adrian (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Schmeiser, Maximilian D. (Federal Reserve Board of Governors) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether a causal relationship exists between recent increases in female labor force participation and the increased prevalence of obesity amongst women. The expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the 1980s and 1990s have been established by prior literature as having generated variation in female labor supply, particularly amongst single mothers. Here, we use this plausibly exogenous variation in female labor supply to identify the effect of labor force participation on obesity status. We use data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and replicate labor supply effects of the EITC expansions found in previous literature. This validates employing a difference-in-differences estimation strategy in the NHIS data, as has been done in several other data sets. Depending on the specification, we find that increased labor force participation can account for at most 19% of the observed change in obesity prevalence over our sample period. Our preferred specification, however, suggests that there is no causal link between increased female labor force participation and increased obesity. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation, obesity, earned income tax credit |
| JEL: | H31 I12 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6071&r=lab |
| By: | Kuhlenkasper, Torben; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of data from the German socio-economic panel to gain new insights into the determinants of unemployment duration in Germany. Due to substantial differences with respect to labour market outcomes we follow a stratified approach with respect to gender and ethnicity. To analyze unemployment duration comprehensively, dynamic duration time models are used in which covariate effects are allowed to vary smoothly with unemployment duration and others enter the model in an a-priori unspecified functional form. We control for unobserved heterogeneity by following a modern frailty approach. As fitting routine we use penalized spline smoothing effects using available software in R. We demonstrate with state-of-the-art regression models how effects of covariables change, either over duration time or within their range and reveal substantial differences across gender end ethnicities for the German labour market. Among others we find large effects of family characteristics for women and a minor importance of formal qualifications for immigrants. -- |
| Keywords: | Unemployment,Duration Time Models,Dynamic Effects,Penalized Splines,German Socio-Economic Panel,Ethnic Labour Market Segmentation |
| JEL: | C14 C23 C41 F22 J16 J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:111&r=lab |
| By: | Francois Keslair; Eric Maurin; Sandra McNally |
| Abstract: | The need for education to help every child rather than focus on average attainment has become a more central part of the policy agenda in the US and the UK. Remedial programmes are often difficult to evaluate because participation is usually based on pupil characteristics that are largely unobservable to the analyst. In this paper we evaluate programmes for children with moderate levels of 'special educational needs' in England. We show that the decentralized design of the policy generates significant variations in access to remediation resources across children with similar prior levels of difficulty. However, this differential is not reflected in subsequent educational attainment - suggesting that the programme is ineffective for 'treated' children. In the second part of our analysis, we use demographic variation within schools to consider the effect of the programme on whole year groups. Our analysis is consistent with no overall effect on account of the combined direct and indirect (spillover) effects. Thus, the analysis suggests that a key way that English education purports to help children with learning difficulties is not working. |
| Keywords: | education, special needs, evaluation, |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:ceedps:0129&r=lab |
| By: | Hilal Atasoy (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the adoption and use of information communication technologies (ICTs) by firms and their effects on employment and wages. I use a confidential data set from Turkey that includes detailed surveys focused on how ICTs and the Internet are used by firms. By using the rich survey data, I create an ICT index summarizing ICT adoption and use, along with the skills of the firms, where each category takes into account many applications. The firms with different levels of ICTs differ in many characteristics. I use the generalized propensity score matching method in order to compare firms that are similar in many dimensions such as industry, location, investments, profits, trade balance, and output. I find positive effects of ICTs on employment and wages that are diminishing after a certain level of ICTs. These significant effects are due to an increase in ICT-generated jobs and not due to an increase in non-ICT jobs in the short-run. The effects on non-ICT employment become significant a couple years after investments in ICTs. This implies a change in the skill composition of the firms with higher intensity of ICT use, especially in the short run. |
| Keywords: | Information communication technologies, skilled-biased technical change, employment |
| JEL: | J21 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1123&r=lab |
| By: | Basso, Gaetano (University of California, Davis); Dolls, Mathias (IZA); Eichhorst, Werner (IZA); Leoni, Thomas (WIFO - Austrian Institute of Economic Research); Peichl, Andreas (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession did not only affect European countries to a varying extent, its impact on national labour markets and on specific socio-economic groups in those markets also varied greatly. Institutional arrangements such as employment protection, unemployment insurance benefits and minimum income support, working time flexibility and wage setting played a crucial role in determining to what extent the economic crisis led to higher unemployment, wage cuts or income losses and rising poverty. As the crisis gained momentum, the action of automatic stabilisation mechanisms built into the national tax-benefit and social protection systems was accompanied by heterogeneous sets of discretionary policy measures. While these factors can explain cross-country variation in labour market developments, they also lead to an unequal distribution of economic risks associated with the crisis across socio-economic groups. The present paper aims to investigate and assess to what extent the financial and economic crisis that hit the global economy in 2008-2009 impacted these labour market developments and to what extent different socio-economic groups were affected. |
| Keywords: | automatic stabilisers, unemployment protection, tax systems, Europe, Great Recession |
| JEL: | H24 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6080&r=lab |
| By: | Hirokatsu Asano (Faculty of Economics, Asia University); Takahiro Ito (Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University); Daiji Kawaguchi (Faculty of Economics, Hitotsubashi University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explains the secular increase of contingent workers in Japan whose share of employment increased from 17 to 34 percent between 1986 and 2008. Changes in labor-forceand industrial compositions explain about one quarter of the increase of contingent workers. The uncertainty of product demand and the introduction of information and communication technologies increased firms' usage of contingent workers. The increase of contingent workers was concentrated among new entrants to the labor market, male workers of younger cohorts, and female workers of all cohorts, suggesting that the declining importance of the long-term employment relationship is a major cause for the increase of contingent workers. |
| Keywords: | Contingent Workers, Female Labor Supply, Uncertainty, ICT, Japan |
| JEL: | J23 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hir:idecdp:1-3&r=lab |
| By: | Corak, Miles (University of Ottawa) |
| Abstract: | The successful acquisition of a language is often characterized in terms of critical periods. If this is the case it is likely that children who migrate face different challenges in attaining high school credentials depending upon their age at immigration. This paper examines the education outcomes of a cohort of immigrants who arrived in Canada as children. The 2006 Census is used and it is found that there is in fact a distinct change in the chances that children will hold a high-school diploma according to the age at which they arrived in the country. The chances of being a high-school dropout do not vary according to age at arrival up to about the age of nine, with children arriving after that age facing a distinct and growing increase in the chances that they will not graduate from high school. The findings suggest that public policy addressing the long run success of immigrant children needs to be mindful of the variation in risks and opportunities by age, and the role of both early childhood investment and the structure of the education system faced by young adolescents in determining them. |
| Keywords: | education, immigration, children |
| JEL: | I29 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6072&r=lab |
| By: | Bellmann, Lutz (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Gerner, Hans-Dieter (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg); Upward, Richard (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We use a simple regression-based approach to measure the relationship between employment growth, hirings and separations in a large panel of German establishments over the period 1993-2009. Although the average level of hiring and separation is much lower in Germany than in the US, as expected, we find that the relationship between employment growth and worker flows in German establishments is very similar to the behaviour of US establishments described in Davis, Faberman & Haltiwanger (2006, 2011), and quite different to the behaviour of French establishments described in Abowd, Corbel & Kramarz (1999). The relationship is very stable over time, even during the most recent economic crisis, and across different types of establishment. |
| Keywords: | job turnover, worker turnover, hirings and separations |
| JEL: | J2 J23 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6081&r=lab |
| By: | Robertas Zubrickas |
| Abstract: | We argue that job performance appraisal is an agency problem with asymmetric transfer values: an employee is paid in proportion to the rating received from his line manager, who only partially internalizes the resultant payroll cost. This asymmetry in rating valuations is based on evidence that managers are not fully accountable for payroll expense, with the degree of unaccountability increasing in fi rm size. We develop a nested agency model of economic organization of a fi rm with unaccountable managers, which in equilibrium obtains the firm-size wage effects the large-fi rm wage premium and inverse relationship between fi rm size and wage dispersion. |
| Keywords: | Compression of ratings, managerial incentives, soft budget constraint, firm-size wage effects, principal-agent model |
| JEL: | J30 D21 M52 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:iewwpx:474&r=lab |
| By: | Andersson, Lina (Linnaeus University); Hammarstedt, Mats (Linnaeus University); Hussain, Shakir (University of Birmingham); Shukur, Ghazi (Jönköping International Business School & Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the importance of ethnic origin and local labour markets conditions for self-employment propensities in Sweden. In line with previous research we find differences in the self-employment rate between different immigrant groups as well as between different immigrant cohorts. We use a multilevel regression approach in order to quantify the role of ethnic background, point of time for immigration and local market conditions in order to further understand differences in self-employment rates between different ethnic groups. We arrive at the following: The self-employment decision is to a major extent guided by factors unobservable in register data. Such factors might be i.e. individual entrepreneurial ability and access to financial capital. The individual’s ethnic background and point of time for immigration play a smaller role for the self-employment decision but are more important than local labour market conditions. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; immigrant background; local labour market |
| JEL: | J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0261&r=lab |
| By: | Herwartz, Helmut; Niebuhr, Annekatrin |
| Abstract: | The labor market effects of the recent financial and economic crisis are rather heterogeneous across countries and regions. Such differences in labor market performance among industrialized countries are an issue of ongoing research. The objective of this paper is to analyse labor market disparities among European regions and to provide evidence on the factors behind these differences. Whereas previous research focused on effects of national labor market institutions, we also take structural characteristics of regions into account and investigate differences in labor demand responsiveness and their potential determinants. The data set covers the NUTS2 regions in the EU15 for the period 1980 to 2008. We apply an error correction model that is combined with a spatial modeling approach in order to account for interaction among neighboring labor markets. Our findings point to substantially distinct labor demand responses to changes in output and wages among European countries and regions. Moreover, the rate of adjustment to disequilibrium is subject to a signifcant variation across units of observation. Whereas evidence on the significance of region specific variables as explanatory factors is weak, labor market institutions, especially regulations that affect the determination of wages, explain an important fraction of the disparities. -- |
| Keywords: | Regional labor markets,labor demand,institutions,Europe,error correction model |
| JEL: | C23 J23 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:112&r=lab |
| By: | Artz, Georgeanne M.; Kimle, Kevin; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the roles of specialized versus general skills in explaining variation in the returns to an agriculture degree across majors inside and outside the agricultural industry. The focus on returns by sector of employment is motivated by the finding that most agricultural majors are employed in non-agricultural jobs. A sample of alumni graduating from a large Midwestern Public University between 1982 and 2006 shows that alumni with majors more specialized in agriculture earned a premium from working in the agriculture industry, but this advantage has diminished over time. More generally trained agriculture majors earn more outside than inside agriculture, and their advantage has increased over time. During sectoral downturns in the agriculture economy, more specialized majors suffer large pay disadvantages compared to more generally trained agriculture majors and majors in other colleges. These findings suggest that greater levels of specialization may limit a graduate’s ability to adjust to changing economic circumstances. Agriculture degree programs could benefit from curriculum innovations focused on developing more generalized skills. |
| Keywords: | earnings; business cycle; urban; Rural; Agricultural sector; College Major; Curriculum; Specific Skills; General Skills |
| JEL: | A2 J31 J43 |
| Date: | 2011–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:34591&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel Weinberg |
| Abstract: | A 2004 report by the author reviewed data from Census 2000 and concluded "There is a substantial gap in median earnings between men and women that is unexplained, even after controlling for work experience (to the extent it can be represented by age and presence of children), education, and occupation." This paper extends the analysis and concludes that once those characteristics are controlled for, no further explanatory power is attributable to race or Hispanic origin. |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-37&r=lab |
| By: | Hilal Atasoy (Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes information communication technology (ICT) use and skills of workers, and their effects on employment opportunities. I employ a confidential data set provided by Statistical Institute of Turkey that includes detailed surveys on ICT use by households and individuals. The data contains information on ICT skills: starting from the most basic ones such as using an excel spreadsheet and uploading or transferring files, to more advanced skills such as knowing a programming language and solving computer problems. Workers that have ICT skills are more likely to be employed when individual and household level observables are held constant. However, this positive relationship is due to the workers who gained these skills at work. This data suggests there is no causal direction from ICT skills to employment and the positive relationship is due to endogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Information communication technologies, ICT skills, employment |
| JEL: | J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1124&r=lab |
| By: | Bauer, Thomas (RWI); Grave, Barbara S. (RWI) |
| Abstract: | German universities are regarded as being under-financed, inefficient, and performing below average if compared to universities in other European countries and the US. Starting in the 1990s, several German federal states implemented reforms to improve this situation. An important part of these reforms has been the introduction of indicator-based funding systems. These financing systems aimed at increasing the competition between universities by making their pubic funds dependent on their relative performance concerning different output measures, such as the share of students obtaining a degree or the amount of third party funds. This paper evaluates whether the indicator-based funding created unintended incentives, i.e. whether the reform caused grade inflation. Estimating mean as well as quantile treatment effects, we cannot support the hypothesis that increased competition between universities causes grade inflation. |
| Keywords: | grade inflation, higher education funding, university competition |
| JEL: | H52 I21 I22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6073&r=lab |
| By: | Antonella D'Agostino; Stefania Fruzzetti; Giulio Ghellini; Laura Neri |
| Abstract: | Recently the quality of Higher Education (HE) system and its evaluation have been key issues of the political and scientific debate on education policies all over Europe. In the wide landscape that involves the entire HE system we draw attention on the third level of its organization, i.e. the Ph.D. In particular, this paper discusses the necessity of monitoring the recruitment process of Ph.D. system because it represents a fundamental aspect of the Ph.D. system as a whole. We introduce a set of concepts related to the recruitment process and then we make them computable with synthetic indicators. The study provides an empirical analysis based on doctoral schools of four academic years at the University of Siena. Proposed indicators are finally used for detecting weakness and strength of each Ph.D. school. |
| Keywords: | Ph.D. schools, Ph.D.s. recruitment, diversity, external attractiveness, polarization |
| JEL: | I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:619&r=lab |
| By: | Charles A. Fleischman; John M. Roberts |
| Abstract: | We construct new estimates of potential output and the output gap using a multivariate approach that allows for an explicit role for measurement errors in the decomposition of real output. Because we include data on hours, output, employment, and the labor force, we are able to decompose our estimate of potential output into separate trends in labor productivity, labor-force participation, weekly hours, and the NAIRU. We find that labor-market variables—especially the unemployment rate—are the most informative individual indicators of the state of the business cycle. Conditional on including these measures, inflation is also very informative. Among measures of output, we find that although they add little to the identification for the cycle, the income-side measures of output are about as informative as the traditional product-side measures about the level of structural productivity and potential output. We also find that the output gap resulting from the recent financial crisis was very large, reaching -7 percent of output in the second half of 2009. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2011-46&r=lab |
| By: | Kvist, Anette Primdal (University of Aarhus); Nielsen, Helena Skyt (University of Aarhus); Simonsen, Marianne (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Danish register-based data for the population of children born in 1990-1997 to investigate the effects on parents of having a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD). Ten years after birth, parents of children diagnosed with ADHD have a 75% higher probability of having dissolved their relationship and a 7-13% lower labor supply. Exploiting detailed information about documented risk factors behind ADHD, we find that roughly half of this gap is due to selection. However, a statistically and economically significant gap is left, which is likely related to the impact of high psychic costs of coping with a child with ADHD. |
| Keywords: | ADHD, child health, marital dissolution, labor supply |
| JEL: | I12 J12 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6092&r=lab |
| By: | Sébastien Massoni (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Jean-Christophe Vergnaud (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | The Action Lecture program is an innovative teaching method run in some nursery and primary schools in Paris and designed to improve pupils' literacy. We report the results of an evaluation of this program. We describe the experimental protocol that was built to estimate the program's impact on several types of indicators. Data were processed following a Differences-in-Differences (DID) method. Then we use the estimation of the impact on academic achievement to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis and take a reduction of the class size program as a benchmark. The results are positive for the Action Lecture program. |
| Keywords: | Economics of education, evaluation, cost-effectiveness analysis, field experiment. |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00639571&r=lab |
| By: | Kazuya Kamiya (Faculty of Ecocnomics, University of Tokyo); Meg Sato (Crawford School of Economics & Government, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Holmstrom and Milgrom (1991) proposed a multitask principal-agent model in which the principal's utility is determined by several tasks the agent engages in. Their results depend on externalities between tasks and several assumptions related to the agent's effort. In this paper, we override certain assumptions (such as, the agent's effort can be negative and disutility is a non-increasing function of the effort up to some level) and obtain the similar outcomes in deriving fixed wage contracts and e¤ort allocation problems. We further introduce timing, outputs that are unverifiable (such as leadership and collegial work), and firm-specific knowledge as observed in actual labor markets and practices. This restructure also allows us to develop a multitask model without externalities, allowing us to study an optimal wage profile and find the optimal timing to sign a contract. Our model predicts that in industries where unverifiable outputs are valued, the more frequently the wage contract is renewed. |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2011cf825&r=lab |
| By: | Cruces, Guillermo (CEDLAS-UNLP); Glüzmann, Pablo (CEDLAS-UNLP); López-Calva, Luis Felipe (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of recent crises in Argentina (including the severe downturn of 2001-2002) on health and education outcomes. The identification strategy relies on both the inter-temporal and the cross-provincial co-variation between changes in regional GDP and outcomes by province. These results indicate significant and substantial effects of aggregate fluctuations on maternal and infant mortality and low birth weight, with countercyclical though not significant patterns for enrollment rates. Finally, provincial public expenditures on health and education are correlated with the incidence of low birth weight and school enrollment for teenagers, with worsening results associated with GDP declines. |
| Keywords: | crisis, infant mortality, maternal mortality, low birth weight, poverty, Argentina |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6096&r=lab |
| By: | Kweka, Josaphat; Fox, Louise |
| Abstract: | The household enterprise sector has a significant role in the Tanzanian economy. It employs a larger share of the urban labor force than wage employment, and is increasingly seen as an alternative to agriculture as a source of additional income for rural and urban households. The sector is uniquely placed within the informal sector, where it represents both conditions of informal employment and informal enterprise. This paper presents a case study on Tanzania using a mixed approach by combining both quantitative and qualitative analysis to examine the important role of household enterprises in the labor force of Tanzania, and to identify key factors that influence their productivity. Household enterprise owners are similar to typical labor force participants although primary education appears to be the minimum qualification for household enterprise operators to be successful. Access to location matters -- good, secure location in a marketplace or industrial cluster raises earnings - and access to transport and electricity is found to have a significant effect on earnings as well. In large urban areas, the biggest constraint faced by household enterprises is the lack of access to secure workspace to run the small business. Although lack of credit is a problem across all enterprises in Tanzania, household enterprises are more vulnerable because they are largely left out of the financial sector either as savers or borrowers. Although HEs are part of the livelihood strategies of over half of households in Tanzania, they are ignored in the current development policy frameworks, which emphasize formalization, not productivity. Tanzania has a large number of programs and projects for informal enterprises, but there is no set of policies and program interventions targeted at the household enterprise sector. This gap exacerbates the vulnerability of household enterprises, and reduces their productivity. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Labor Markets,Population Policies,Debt Markets |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5882&r=lab |
| By: | Winkler, Anne E. (University of Missouri-St. Louis); Levin, Sharon (University of Missouri-St. Louis); Stephan, Paula (Georgia State University); Glänzel, Wolfgang (K.U.Leuven) |
| Abstract: | There is good reason to think that non-elite programs in economics may be producing relatively more research than in the past: Research expectations have been ramped-up at non-PhD institutions and new information technologies have changed the way academic knowledge is produced and exchanged. This study investigates this question by examining publishing productivity in economics (and business) using data from the Web of Science (Knowledge) for a broad set of institutions – both elite and non-elite – over a 17-year period, from 1991 through 2007. Institutions are grouped into six tiers using a variety of sources. The analysis provides evidence that non-elite institutions are gaining on their more elite counterparts, but the magnitude of the gains are small. Thus, the story is more of constancy than of change, even in the face of changing technology and rising research expectations. |
| Keywords: | higher education, research productivity, publishing trends, inequality |
| JEL: | A14 I23 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6082&r=lab |
| By: | Stefano Bartolini; Ennio Bilancini |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between social participation and the hours worked in the market. Social participation is the component of social capital that measures individuals’ engament in groups, associations and non-governmental organizations. We provide a model of consumer choice where social participation may be either a substitute or a complement to material consumption – depending on whether participation is instrumentally or non-instrumentally motivated – and where a local environment with greater social participation increases the return to individual participation. We carry out an empirical investigation of this framework using survey data on United States for the period 1972-2004. We find that non-instrumental social participation substantially decreases the hours worked, while instrumental social participation substantially increases them. Moreover, evidence is consistent with the idea that a local environment with greater social participation fosters individual social participation. |
| Keywords: | social participation, relational goods, social capital, work hours, instrumental and non-instrumental motivations |
| JEL: | A13 D62 J22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:620&r=lab |
| By: | Juergen Jung (Department of Economics, Towson University); Chung Tran (Research School of Economics, The Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | We study the dynamic general equilibrium effects of introducing a social pension program to elderly informal sector workers in developing countries who lack formal risk sharing mechanisms against income and longevity risk. To this end, we formulate a stochastic dynamic general equilibrium model that incorporates defining features of developing countries: a large informal sector, private transfers as an informal safety net, and a non-universal social security system. We find that the extension of retirement benefits to informal sector workers results in efficiency losses due to adverse effects on capital accumulation and the allocation of resources across formal and informal sectors. Despite these losses recipients of social pensions experience welfare gains as the positive insurance effects attributed to the extension of a social insurance system dominate. The welfare gains crucially depend on the skill distribution, private intra-family transfers and the specific tax used to finance the expansion. |
| Keywords: | Informal Sector, Family Social Safety Nets, Social Pension, General Equi-librium, and Welfare. |
| JEL: | E6 E21 E26 H30 H53 H55 I38 O17 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2011-06&r=lab |
| By: | Pearson, Matthew (University of CA, Davis); Schipper, Burkhard C. (University of CA, Davis) |
| Abstract: | In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values and 400 participants, we collected information on the female participants' menstrual cycles and the use of hormonal contraceptives. We find that naturally cycling women bid significantly higher than men and earn significantly lower profits than men except during the midcycle when fecundity is highest. We suggest an evolutionary hypothesis according to which women are predisposed by hormones to generally behave more riskily during their fecund phase of their menstrual cycle in order to increase the probability of conception, quality of offspring, and genetic variety. We also find that women on hormonal contraceptives bid significantly higher and earn substantially lower profits than men. This may be due to progestins contained in hormonal contraceptives or a selection effect. We discuss how our study differs from Chen, Katuscak, and Ozdenoren (2009). |
| JEL: | C72 C91 C92 D44 D81 D87 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:ucdeco:11-10&r=lab |
| By: | [no author] |
| Abstract: | Most theoretical and empirical work on consumption, labor supply and saving decisions has been based on the paradigm that households behave as single agents. While this approach is often convenient, it relies on very restrictive assumptions. In recent years, there has been significant progress in developing a more satisfactory theory of decision making within households. The main contribution of this thesis is to explore the significance of intrahousehold risk sharing in the presence of uninsurable, idiosyncratic risk. If individuals are unable to rely on complete asset markets, the extent to which they can cope with uncertainty crucially hinges on the set of risk sharing channels. Despite its vast empirical significance, insurance from the family as one of these channels has mostly been overlooked in the literature. The first chapter investigates the significance of family insurance for savings and labor supply. An economy in which individuals can share risk within households generates aggregate precautionary savings that are substantially smaller than in a similar economy that lacks access to insurance from the family. Intrahousehold risk sharing has its largest impact among wealthpoor households. While the wealth-rich use mainly savings to smooth consumption across unemployment spells, wealth-poor households rely on spousal labor supply. The second chapter documents some stylized facts for the distributions of earnings and wealth across single and married households and presents a theoretical framework that can successfully account for the data. Assortative matching, the effective tax bonus for married couple and directed bequests are found to be key determinants for higher per-capita earnings and net worth among married individuals. The third chapter explores how intrahousehold insurance interacts with the design of unemployment benefit programs. My findings indicate that fiscal policy can take very distinct effects depending on whether intra-household risk sharing is available or not. I also find potential efficiency gains from gender-based taxation. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:euiflo:urn:hdl:1814/19154&r=lab |
| By: | Fisher, Hayley |
| Abstract: | I examine the effect of marriage penalties in the US income tax system on marital status. I construct a simulated instrument that exploits variation in the tax code over time and between US states to deal with potential endogeneity between the marriage penalty a couple faces and their marital status. I find that a $1000 increase in the marriage penalty faced reduces the probability of marriage by 1.7 percentage points, an effect four times larger than previously estimated. Those in the lowest education groups respond by as much as 2.7 percentage points, with the average response declining as education increases. |
| Keywords: | marriage penalty; cohabitation; marriage |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:syd:wpaper:2123/7884&r=lab |
| By: | Krug, Gerhard (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Rebien, Martina (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Using a search theoretical model, we analyse the effects of the information flow via social networks (friends, relatives and other personal contacts) by comparing monetary and non-monetary outcomes in obtaining jobs via networks versus formal methods. Propensity-score matching on survey data from the low-skilled unemployed is used to identify causal effects. The analysis takes into account unobserved heterogeneity by applying Rosenbaum bounds. Because of the potential ambiguity when comparing outcomes in accepted jobs, we also examine the effectiveness of job searches using social networks as a source of information compared to not using networks. We find no evidence for causal effects on monetary outcomes and, at best, only weak evidence for effects on non-monetary job outcomes." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsuche, soziales Netzwerk, Niedrigqualifizierte, Arbeitslose, Langzeitarbeitslose, Arbeitsplatzsuchtheorie |
| JEL: | J64 J31 |
| Date: | 2011–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201123&r=lab |
| By: | Oliver Baumann; Nils Stieglitz |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the value of high-powered incentives for motivating search for novelty in business organizations. While organizational search critically depends on the individual efforts of employees, motivating search effort is challenged by problems of unobservable behavior and the misalignment of individual and organizational interests. Prior work on organizational design thus suggests that stronger incentives can overcome these problems and make organizations more innovative. To address this conjecture, we develop a computational model of organizational search that rests on two opposing effects of high-powered incentives: On the one hand, they promote higher effort by increasing the potential rewards from search; on the other hand, they increase the competition among ideas, as the ability of an organization to implement and remunerate good ideas is limited by its resource base. Our results indicate that low-powered incentives are effective in generating a sufficient stream of incremental innovations, but that they also result in a shortage of more radical innovations. Stronger incentives, in contrast, do not systematically foster radical innovations either, but instead create a costly oversupply of good ideas. Nonetheless, higher-powered incentives can still be effective in small firms and if strong persistence is required to develop a new idea. Based on the analysis of our model, we develop a set of propositions that appear to be consistent with extant evidence and point to new avenues for empirical research. |
| Keywords: | Organizational search, incentives, innovation, agent-based simulation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:11-08&r=lab |
| By: | Jonathan Meer (Texas A&M University); Harvey S. Rosen (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how undergraduates’ financial aid packages affect their subsequent dona-tive behavior as alumni. The empirical work is based upon a rich set of micro data on alumni giving at an anonymous research university, which we call Anon U. We focus on three types of financial aid, scholarships, loans, and campus jobs. A novel aspect of our modeling strategy is that, consistent with the view of some professional fundraisers, we allow the receipt of a given form of aid per se to affect alumni giving. At the same time, our model allows the amount of the support to affect giving behavior nonlinearly. Our main findings are: 1) Individuals who took out student loans are less likely to make a gift, other things being the same. Further, individuals who take out large loans make smaller con-tributions as alumni, conditional on making a gift. This effect is unlikely to be due to the fact that repaying the loan reduces the alumnus’s capacity to give. We conjecture that, rather, it is caused by an “annoyance effect” — alumni resent the fact that they are burdened with loans. 2) Scholar-ship aid reduces the size of a gift, conditional on making a gift, but has little effect on the proba-bility of making a donation. Students who received scholarships are also less likely to be in the top 10 percent of givers in their class in a given year. The negative effect of receiving a scholar-ship on the amount donated decreases in absolute value with the size of the scholarship. Again, we do not find any evidence of income effects, i.e., that scholarship recipients give less because they have relatively low incomes post graduation. 3) Aid in the form of campus jobs does not have a strong effect on donative behavior. |
| Keywords: | alumni, donations, financial aid, college |
| JEL: | D02 D63 I20 I23 I22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cepsud:1361&r=lab |
| By: | Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Guzi, Martin (IZA); Kahanec, Martin (Central European University, Budapest); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the impact of unemployment benefits on immigration. A sample of 19 European countries observed over the period 1993-2008 is used to test the hypothesis that unemployment benefit spending (UBS) is correlated with immigration flows from EU and non-EU origins. While OLS estimates reveal the existence of a moderate correlation for non-EU immigrants only, IV and GMM techniques used to address endogeneity issues yield, respectively, a much smaller and an essentially zero causal impact of UBS on immigration. All estimates for immigrants from EU origins indicate that flows within the EU are not related to unemployment benefit generosity. This suggests that the so-called "welfare migration" debate is misguided and not based on empirical evidence. |
| Keywords: | immigration, unemployment benefit spending, welfare magnets, European Union |
| JEL: | H53 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6075&r=lab |
| By: | Antoinette Schoar; Luo Zuo |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how early career experiences affect the career path and promotion of managers as well as the managerial style that they develop when becoming CEOs. We identify the impact of an exogenous shock to managers’ careers, in particular the business cycle at the career starting date. Economic conditions at the beginning of a manager’s career have lasting effects on the career path and the ultimate outcome as a CEO. CEOs who start in recessions take less time to become CEOs, but end up as CEOs in smaller firms, receive lower compensation, and are more likely to rise through the ranks within a given firm rather than moving across firms and industries. Moreover, managers who start in recessions have more conservative management styles once they become CEOs. These managers spend less in capital expenditures and R&D, have lower leverage, are more diversified across segments, and show more concerns about cost effectiveness. While looking at the role of early job choices on CEO careers is more endogenous, the results support the idea that certain types of starting positions are feeders for successful long-run management careers: Starting in a firm that ranks within the top ten firms from which CEOs come from is associated with favorable outcomes for a manager – they become CEOs in larger companies and receive higher compensation. |
| JEL: | D21 D23 G3 G31 G32 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17590&r=lab |
| By: | Li, Jinjing (Maastricht University); Sologon, Denisa Maria (CEPS/INSTEAD) |
| Abstract: | This paper advances a structural inter-temporal model of labour supply that is able to simulate the dynamics of labour supply in a continuous setting and to circumvent two main drawbacks of most of the existing models. The first limitation is the inability to incorporate individual heterogeneity as every agent is sharing the same parameters of the utility function. The second one is the strong assumption that individuals make decisions in a world of perfect certainty. Essentially, this paper offers an extension of marginal-utility-of-wealth-constant labour supply functions known as "Frisch functions" under certainty and uncertainty with homogenous and heterogeneous preferences. Two alternative models are proposed for capturing individual heterogeneity. First, a "fixed effect vector decomposition" model, which allows the individual specific effects to be correlated with the explanatory variables included in the labour supply model, and second, a mixed fixed and random coefficient model, which incorporates a higher degree of individual heterogeneity by specifying individual coefficients. Uncertainty is controlled for by introducing an expectation correction into the model. The validation of each simulation model is realized in comparison with the standard Heckman model. The lifetime models based on the fixed effect vector decomposition yield the most stable and unbiased simulation results, both under certainty and uncertainty. Due to its improved accuracy and stability, this lifetime labour supply model is particularly suitable for enhancing the performance of the pension models, thus providing a better reference for policymaking. |
| Keywords: | lifetime labour supply, dynamic microsimulation |
| JEL: | C20 D90 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6098&r=lab |
| By: | Healy, Joshua (NILS, Flinders University); Mavromaras, Kostas G. (NILS, Flinders University); Sloane, Peter J. (Swansea University) |
| Abstract: | Skill shortages are often portrayed as a major problem for the economies of many countries including the Australian economy. Yet, there is surprisingly little evidence about their prevalence, causes and consequences. This paper attempts to improve our understanding about these issues by using econometric methods to analyse the Business Longitudinal Database, an Australian panel data-set with information about skill shortages in small- and medium-sized businesses during 2004/05. We use this information to: (1) explore the incidence of skill shortages and the business attributes that are associated with them; (2) identify which businesses face more complex skill shortages, as measured by the number of different causes reported simultaneously; and, uniquely, (3) examine how this complexity affects businesses' responses to skill shortages and aspects of their subsequent performance. We show that complex skill shortages are more likely than simpler (single-cause) skill shortages to persist and to trigger defensive responses from businesses. We reject the conception of skill shortages as a homogenous phenomenon, and demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between skill shortages according to whether they have simple or complex causes. |
| Keywords: | skill shortages, small medium enterprises |
| JEL: | J0 J20 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6097&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Altomonte; Giorgio Barba Navaretti; Filippo di Mauro; Gianmarco Ottaviano |
| Abstract: | As policymakers refocus on growth, the ability to take a firm-level view is key to disentangling the various factors at the root of competitiveness, and thus to designing appropriate policies. â?¢ Firm-level data provides critical information for the design of appropriate competitiveness measures that complement traditional macro analysis. â?¢ More work remains to be done assembling firm-level information, but the variance of the distribution of firm characteristics already conveys important information in addition to standard averages. â?¢ New indicators should be developed to translate the distribution of firm characteristics into indicators of competitiveness designed to capture not only average performance but also the heterogeneity of firm performance. This Policy Contribution builds on ongoing research within EFIGE (www.efige.org), a project to help identify the internal policies needed to improve the external competitiveness of the European Union. |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bre:polcon:643&r=lab |
| By: | B. Douglas Bernheim; Andrey Fradkin; Igor Popov |
| Abstract: | According to previous research, changing the default contribution rate for a 401(k) pension plan has a powerful effect on the distribution of contributions among relatively new employees. Potential explanations include the following: (1) opting out may entail significant effort and inconvenience; (2) the default rate may serve as a psychological anchor, influencing choices because of its salience or imprimatur; (3) workers may procrastinate, putting off the opt-out decision; (4) workers may be inattentive. We examine the welfare implications of defaults under each of these theories. Because three of them involve non-standard behavioral hypotheses, we adopt and implement the framework for behavioral welfare economics proposed by Bernheim and Rangel (2009). In each case we begin by developing theoretical principles, and then confront the theory with data to reach concrete quantitative conclusions. |
| JEL: | D14 D60 D91 J26 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17587&r=lab |
| By: | Jean Bonnet, University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM-CNRS, France; Thomas Brau, University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM-CNRS, France; Antonia Guijarro Madrid, Associate professor Accounting and Finance Department, Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT). Spain |
| Abstract: | The creation of an innovative firm as a way to remedy the professional dissatisfactions of salaried people has been evoked early in the literature (Shapero 1975, 1977). In this paper, while covering the « elementary components » of global dissatisfactions we focus on eight specific fields: creativity, intellectual stimulation and variety related to the expression of intellectual capacities ; management, independence, prestige characterizing the attachment to executive job ; altruism and tangible work related to the purpose of work (helping others and getting concrete results of one’s labor). Results show that the creation of innovative firms takes place as an effective way to solve in some fields « what was not going well » in the salaried work. These results make it possible to detect profiles of salaried people looking for professional change who might be interested by the wide possibilities offered by the innovative firm for their choice of new orientations. |
| Keywords: | Innovative entrepreneurship, Psychology of the entrepreneur, Job satisfaction, Professional dissatisfactions, Professional values |
| JEL: | L26 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201121&r=lab |
| By: | Sugata Marjit (City University of Hong Kong); Amit K. Biswas |
| Abstract: | Stringent regulations coupled with corruption generate and sustain extra legal or informal transactions in the developing countries. Does trade related reform discourage informal activities and corruption? This paper attempts to analyze such a phenomenon. An import competing firm allocates production between a high wage formal and a low wage informal segment. Illegal use of labour in the informal sector is characterized by a probability of punishment which depends on the size of the informal output. In such a structure, as tariff comes down, total employment contracts but the informal sector expands. However, lowering of interest rate, possibly through the liberalization of capital account, tends to reduce the size of the informal segment. Hence, trade reforms may have conflicting impact on informality and corruption. |
| Keywords: | Trade Liberalization, Informal sector, corruption |
| JEL: | F11 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:tradew:22896&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel M. Hungerman |
| Abstract: | This paper considers substituting one charitable activity for another in the context of religious practice. I examine the impact of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal on both Catholic and non-Catholic religiosity. I find that the scandal led to a 2-million-member fall in the Catholic population that was compensated by an increase in non-Catholic participation and by an increase in non-affiliation. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest the scandal generated over 3 billion dollars in donations to non-Catholic faiths. Those substituting out of Catholicism frequently chose highly dissimilar alternatives; for example, Baptist churches gained significantly from the scandal while the Episcopal Church did not. These results challenge several theories of religious participation and suggest that regulatory policies or other shocks specific to one religious group could have important spillover effects on other religious groups. |
| JEL: | H41 Z12 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17589&r=lab |
| By: | Hasan, Dr. Syed Akif; Subhani, Dr. Muhammad Imtiaz |
| Abstract: | Service industry is now focusing more and more on providing valuable training opportunities to its employees in order to improve the quality of its services and benchmarking them as its competitive advantage. This research has attempted to understand the effects of the Business Embedded Training Model and the Traditional Training Model on employees’ job motivation. A sample of 80 organizations and 1000 respondents was taken and Group t-Test and Log Linear Logit techniques were used to evaluate that which training model is preferred over the other by the service industry and which training model has more positive effects on employees’ job motivation. The study revealed that Business Embedded Training Model has more positive effects on employees’ motivation than the Traditional Training Model. |
| Keywords: | Training; Motivation; Performance; Employee Satisfaction |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34728&r=lab |
| By: | Yuan-Cheih Chang; Phil Yihsing Yang; Tung-Fei Tsai-Lin; Hui-Ru Chi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how universities can develop a new organizational structure to cope with the rise of academic entrepreneurship. By deploying the Pasteurian quadrant framework, knowledge creation and knowledge utilization in universities are measured. The relationships between university antecedents, Pasteurian orientation, and research performance are analyzed. A survey of university administrators and faculty members collected 634 responses from faculty members in 99 departments among 6 universities. The findings indicate that university antecedents of strategic flexibility and balancing commitment contribute to a greater Pasteurian orientation in university departments. The higher degree of Pasteurian orientation has significantly positive impacts on the performance both of knowledge creation and knowledge utilization. Moreover, the Pasteurian orientation acts as a mediator between university antecedents and research performance. Using cluster analysis, the departments are categorized into four groups. The differences between university- and department- factors in these four groups are examined and discussed. We conclude that not all university departments should move toward the Pasteurian group, and there are specific organizational and disciplinary factors resulting in mobility barriers among groups. Policies to encourage academic entrepreneurship should consider these mobility barriers, along with this new governance of science. |
| Keywords: | Academic entrepreneurship, Pasteur’s quadrant, research excellence, research commercialization |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:11-07&r=lab |
| By: | S. Balia ; |
| Abstract: | This work aims to assess risk perception of smokers in reporting survival expectations and subjective health. In particular, the analysis investigates individuals’ perception of smoking effects in the short and long-term and whether they believe that such detrimental effects can be reversed. Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, which contain a numerical measure of subjective survival probability, are used to estimate a simultaneous recursive system of equations for survival expectation, subjective health and smoking. Endogeneity and unobservable heterogeneity are addressed using a finite mixture model. This approach identifies two types of individuals that differ in level of optimism, risk perception and rationality in addiction. One important result is that for both types past smokers perceive smoking consequences as reversible, with some difference between the short and long-term. We also find evidence of differences among current and past smokers in the way they evaluate the opportunity cost of tobacco consumption. |
| Keywords: | survival expectations; subjective health; risk; smoking; EM algorithm |
| JEL: | I12 C0 C30 C41 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:11/30&r=lab |
| By: | Bozani, Vasiliki (University of Crete); Drydakis, Nick (University of Patras) |
| Abstract: | The current paper is a means of demonstrating our knowledge about macroeconomic theories, and its key variables, phenomena, and history. Given the key role that the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) has in the macroeconomic theory as well as its role in determining employment theories, it is raised the need for a thorough evaluation of its origins and a brief explanation of some of the claims surrounding it. In these grounds, this study aims at integrating and generalizing findings and presenting the changes within the macroeconomic field over the years by investigating theories, identifying methodological strengths and the weaknesses in the body of the macroeconomic research about the concept of NAIRU. In order to help the reader to avoid misunderstandings we define the best descriptors and identify the best sources to use in the review literature related to our topic, we rely on primary sources in reviewing the literature, we examine critically all aspects of the research design and analysis, and we consider contrary findings and alternative interpretations in synthesizing quantitative literature. |
| Keywords: | NAIRU, macroeconomic policies |
| JEL: | E24 E61 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6079&r=lab |
| By: | Conrads, Julian (University of Cologne); Irlenbusch, Bernd (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | In his classic article "An Essay on Bargaining" Schelling (1956) argues that ignorance might actually be strength rather than weakness. We test and confirm Schelling's conjecture in a simple take-it-or-leave bargaining experiment where the proposer can choose between two possible offers. Option A always gives the proposer a higher payoff than option B. The payoff of the responder depends on the (randomly determined) state of nature, i.e., in state s2 payoffs of the two players are aligned while they are not in state s1. The responder is always informed about the actual state. The proposer knows the actual state in our first treatment but not in the second. We find that proposers indeed benefit from ignorance because the responders accept almost all offers (even the unfavorable ones) if the payoffs of the responder have not been transparent for the proposer. In additional treatments we investigate situations where the proposer can deliberately remain ignorant. One could assume that remaining ignorant on purpose would be punished by the responder at least if an unfavorable outcome results. Surprisingly, we find that strategically remaining ignorant tends to be beneficial for the proposer particularly if the responder does not know with certainty whether it was the proposer's intention to remain ignorant or whether it was not her intention. |
| Keywords: | strategic ignorance, bargaining, intentions, experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C78 C91 D63 D82 D83 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6087&r=lab |
| By: | Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki |
| Abstract: | In the standard Okishio-Morishima approach, the existence of profits is proved to be equivalent to the exploitation of labour. Yet, it can also be proved that the existence of profits is equivalent to the ‘exploitation’ of any good. Labour and commodity exploitation are just different numerical representations of the productiveness of the economy. This paper presents an alternative approach to exploitation theory which is related to the New Interpretation (Duménil 1980; Foley 1982). In this approach, labour exploitation captures unequal social relations among producers. The equivalence between the existence of profits and labour exploitation holds, whereas it is proved that there is no relation between profits and commodity ‘exploitation’. |
| Keywords: | Exploitation; Profits; Generalised Commodity Exploitation Theorem; New Interpretation |
| JEL: | B51 D46 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34650&r=lab |
| By: | Moeen, Mahka (University of MD); Somaya, Deepak (University of IL); Mahoney, Joseph T. (University of IL) |
| Abstract: | In the extant vertical integration literature, the question of how the firm's portfolio of outsourced work is managed across suppliers has been relatively understudied. We seek to advance this area of research by examining factors that influence how concentrated the firm's outsourcing is among its set of suppliers. Using data on the outsourcing of patent legal services, we find empirical evidence that outsourced knowledge-based service work is concentrated in the hands of fewer suppliers when: (1) it requires greater firm-specific knowledge; (2) there is a higher level of interrelatedness across outsourced projects; (3) the firm's reliance on outsourcing is high; (4) its outsourced projects are focused on a narrower (capability) domain; and (5) the technological dynamism of this domain is low. Our study suggests that examining portfolio-level phenomena in outsourcing is a useful complement to the predominant focus on transaction-level outcomes in prior research because it provides insights into how firms manage tradeoffs across their entire set of outsourced projects. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:illbus:11-0106&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Carlos Barcena-Ruiz (UPV/EHU); Maria Begoña Garzon (UPV/EHU) |
| Abstract: | The literature on foreign direct investment has analyzed firms' location decisions when they invest in R&D to reduce production costs. Such firms may set up new plants in other developed countries while maintaining their domestic plants. In contrast, here we considerer firms that close down their domestic operations and relocate to countries where wage costs are lower. Thus, we assume that firms may reduce their production costs by investing in R&D and also by moving their plants abroad. We show that these two mechanisms are complementary. When a firm relocates it invests more in R&D than when it does not change its location and, therefore, its production cost is lower in the first case. As a result, investment in R&D encourages firms to relocate. When firms do not invest in R&D on relocation, R&D discourages firms to relocate since the investment made by the firms that remain in the country partially offsets the labor cost advantage obtained by the firms that move their plants abroad. |
| Keywords: | Relocation, R&D, Trade Unions, Social welfare, Imperfect competition |
| JEL: | D6 F16 J51 L13 |
| Date: | 2011–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:ikerla:201152&r=lab |
| By: | Fehr, Ernst (University of Zurich); Hart, Oliver (Harvard University); Zehnder, Christian (University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | Previous experimental work provides encouraging support for some of the central assumptions underlying Hart and Moore (2008)’s theory of contractual reference points. However, existing studies ignore realistic aspects of trading relationships such as informal agreements and ex post renegotiation. We investigate the relevance of these features experimentally. Our evidence indicates that the central behavioral mechanism underlying the concept of contractual reference points is robust to the presence of informal agreements and ex post renegotiation. However, our data also reveal new behavioral features that suggest refinements of the theory. In particular, we find that the availability of informal agreements and ex post renegotiation changes how trading parties evaluate ex post outcomes. Interestingly, the availability of these additional options affects ex post evaluations even in situations in which the parties do not use them. |
| Keywords: | contracts, reference points, fairness, renegotiation, informal agreement |
| JEL: | C91 D86 J41 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6095&r=lab |
| By: | H. Evans;; A. Basu; |
| Abstract: | We highlight the role of local instrumental variable (LIV) methods in exploring treatment effect heterogeneity using an empirical example of evaluating the use versus non-use of prehospital intubation (PHI) in patients with traumatic injury on inpatient mortality. We find evidence that the effect of PHI on inpatient mortality varies over levels of unobserved confounders giving rise to a phenomenon known as essential heterogeneity. Under essential heterogeneity, the traditional instrumental variable (IV) method, when using a continuous IV, estimates an effect that is an arbitrary weighted average of the casual effects for marginal groups of patients whose PHI receipt are directly influenced by the IV levels. Instead, the LIV methods estimate the distribution of treatment effects for every margin that is identified by data and allow for predictable aggregation to recover estimates for meaningful treatment effect parameters such as the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) and the Effect on the Treated (TT). LIV methods also allow exploring heterogeneity in treatment effects over levels of observed confounders. In the PHI analysis, we estimate an ATE of 0.074. We find strong evidence of positive self-selection in practice based on observed and unobserved characteristics, whereby patients who were most likely to be harmed by PHI were also less likely to receive PHI. However, the degree of positive self-selection mitigates in regions with higher rates of PHI use. We also explore factors associated with the prediction of significant harm by PHI. We provide clinical interpretation of results and discuss the importance of these methods in the context of comparative effectiveness research. |
| Keywords: | Instrumental variables; local IV methods; heterogeneity; prehospital intubation; mortality |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:11/26&r=lab |
| By: | Card, David (University of California, Berkeley); Ibarrarán, Pablo (Inter-American Development Bank); Villa, Juan Miguel (University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | The guide outlines the main evaluation challenges associated with ALMP’s, and shows how to obtain rigorous impact estimates using two leading evaluation approaches. The most credible and straightforward evaluation method is a randomized design, in which a group of potential participants is randomly divided into a treatment and a control group. Random assignment ensures that the two groups would have had similar experiences in the post-program period in the absence of the program intervention. The observed post-program difference therefore yields a reliable estimate of the program impact. The second approach is a difference in differences design that compares the change in outcomes between the participant group and a selected comparison group from before to after the completion of the program. In general the outcomes of the comparison group may differ from the outcomes of the participant group, even in the absence of the program intervention. If the difference observed prior to the program would have persisted in the absence of the program, however, then the change in the outcome gap between the two groups yields a reliable estimate of the program impact. This guideline reviews the various steps in the design and implementation of ALMP’s, and in subsequent analysis of the program data, that will ensure a rigorous and informative impact evaluation using either of these two techniques. |
| Keywords: | active labor market programs, policy evaluation, randomized trials, difference in difference, average treatment effect on the treated, development effectiveness |
| JEL: | C21 C93 H43 I38 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6085&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Laura Mancini; Chiara Monfardini; Silvia Pasqua |
| Abstract: | The intergenerational transmission of preference and attitudes has been less investigated in the literature than the intergenerational transmission of education and income. Using the Italian Time Use Survey (2002-2003) conducted by ISTAT, we analyse the intergenerational transmission of reading habits: are children more likely to allocate time to studying and reading when they observe their parents doing the same activity? The intergeneration transmission of attitudes towards studying and reading can be explained by both cultural and educational transmission from parents to children and by imitating behaviours. The latter channel is of particular interest, since it entails a direct influence parents may have on child's preference formation through their role model, and it opens the scope for active policies aimed at promoting good parents' behaviours. We follow two fundamental approaches to estimation: a "long run" model, consisting of OLS intergenerational type regressions for the reading habit, and "short run" household fixed effect models, where we aim at identifying the impact of the role model exerted by parents, exploiting different exposure of sibling to parents' example within the same household. Our long run results show that children are more likely to read and study when they live with parents that are used to read. Mothers seem to be more important than fathers in this type of intergenerational transmission. Moreover, the short run analysis shows that there is an imitation effect: in the day of the survey children are more likely to read after they saw either the mother or the father reading. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational transmission of preferences; parental role model; imitation; household fixed effects |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:218&r=lab |
| By: | Isabel Busom; Beatriz Corchuelo; Ester Martínez-Ros |
| Abstract: | The measurement of the effects that public support to private R&D has on R&D investment and output has attracted substantial empirical research in the last decade. The focus of this research has mostly focused on testing for possible crowding out effects. There is virtually no study aiming at understanding how and why these effects may or may not be occurring. In addition, the effects of the two most common tools of public support, direct funding through grants and loans, and tax incentives, have been studied separately. We contribute to existing work by focusing on the determinants of the use by firms of these two mechanisms and their potential link to sources of market failures. We think this is an important step to assess impact estimates. Using firm-level data from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we find that firms that face financial constraints, as well as newly created firms, are less likely to use R&D tax credits and more likely to apply for and obtain direct public funding. We also find that large firms that care about knowledge protection are more likely to apply for and obtain direct funding, while SMEs are more likely to use tax incentives. Our results show that direct funding and tax credits, as currently designed, are not perfect substitutes because firms are heterogeneous, and suggest that from a social perspective, and provided that crowding out effects can be ruled out for both instruments, some combination of both may be preferable to relying on only one |
| Keywords: | R&D subsidies, R&D tax credits, R&D, CIS, Policy evaluation |
| JEL: | H25 L60 O38 O31 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:idrepe:id-11-03&r=lab |
| By: | Runge, C. Ford; Gonzalez-Valero, Juan |
| Abstract: | This article proposes a set of sustainability indicators based on a combination of economic, social and health data that meet three tests: the indicators are simple, measurable and capable of being extended to workers in the field. They result from a scoring model which ranks the progress of agricultural projects in three key areas: (1) sustaining improvements in agricultural productivity while minimizing negative impacts on soil and water quantity and quality or biodiversity; (2) sustaining expected farm-level profits while minimizing worker health and safety risks; and (3) sustaining improvements in rural economic and social conditions while distributing these benefits widely. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umciwp:117537&r=lab |