|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Görlitz, Katja (RWI); Tamm, Marcus (RWI) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question to which extent the complementarity between education and training can be attributed to differences in observable characteristics, i.e. to individual, job and firm specific characteristics. The novelty of this paper is to analyze previously unconsidered characteristics, in particular, personality traits and tasks performed at work which are taken into account in addition to the standard individual specific determinants. Results show that tasks performed at work are strong predictors of training participation while personality traits are not. Once working tasks and other job related characteristics are controlled for, the skill gap in training participation drops considerably for off-the-job training and vanishes for on-the-job training. |
| Keywords: | training, personality traits, working tasks, Oaxaca decomposition |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6278&r=lab |
| By: | Addy, Samuel N.; Nzaku, Kilungu; Ijaz, Ahmad |
| Abstract: | Job satisfaction is an important measure of utility that employees derive from their jobs and is related to various features of the job such as pay, security, intrinsic values of work, working conditions, career growth opportunities, working hours, and the like. This paper analyzes the relationship between underemployment and overall job satisfaction among other personal and job characteristics of the workforce in Alabama using survey data from Alabama workforce development regions. A logistic model is used to analyze the determinants of job satisfaction in Alabama including underemployment. Estimation results show a negative relationship between underemployment and job satisfaction. Personal and work-related attributes such as education, age, work hours, and gender are also shown to influence employee job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119809&r=lab |
| By: | Ioannis Kaplanis; Vassilis Monastiriotis |
| Abstract: | Employment flexibility is commonly associated to greater labour mobility and thus faster cross-regional adjustments. The literature however offers very little hard evidence on this and quite limited theoretical guidance. This paper examines empirically the relationship between employment flexibility and cross-regional adjustment (migration) at the regional and local levels in the UK. Employment flexibility is associated to higher labour mobility (but only at a rather localised scale) and at the same time seems to reduce the responsiveness of migration to unemployment. This suggest that rising flexibility may be linked to higher persistence in spatial disparities, as intra-regional adjustments are strengthened while extraregional adjustments weakened. |
| Keywords: | Employment flexibility, regional migration, labour market adjustment |
| JEL: | R11 R23 J08 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0100&r=lab |
| By: | Eva Wachsen (Faculty of Economics and Management, Innovation Economics, Berlin University of Technology); Blind, K. |
| Abstract: | Labor market flexibility continues to be one of economics, politics and society highly debated topic. In recent years, the impact of increased labor market flexibility on research and innovation has gained more and more attention. Previous studies have shown, depending on the measurement of flexibility as well as on the data that both positive and negative influences can be found. However, the financial flexibility in terms of wage rigidities has hardly been explored empirically. With the use of a unique dataset combining comprehensive information from both employers and employees we can accomplish variables not only to numerical and functional, but also to financial wage flexibility. In a panel probit model, we show that the influences of most of the indicators of wage flexibility are positive and vary by type of innovation. While the variables of wage bargaining has a higher impact on process innovations, information about specific wage levels, however, affects in particular the development of new products. The same applies to a separate consideration of wage bargaining levels. Aspects of numerical and functional labor market flexibility, in contrast, act negative on all types of innovation. Thereby, part time employees affect particularly processes, while flexible employment contracts have a stronger influence on product innovations. It seems that new products depend more on employment status and the resulting motivation of the employees. |
| Keywords: | Labor market flexibility, innovation, wages, collective bargaining |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:aiaswp:wp115&r=lab |
| By: | Emanuel Ornelas |
| Abstract: | Labor market consequences are at the forefront of most debates on the merits of trade liberalization. Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have become the primary form of trade liberalization in most countries, and several studies have shown that discriminatory and nondiscriminatory trade liberalization can lead to very different outcomes. Yet to date there has not been any attempt to study the specific labor market implications of preferential liberalization. In this article I argue that the labor market consequences of unilateral or multilateral non-discriminatory trade liberalization and those stemming from integration in the context of PTAs can indeed be quite distinct, and therefore the latter must be given closer scrutiny. I provide a short summary of both the theoretical literature on trade and the labor market and the literature on preferential liberalization. Relying on the insights from those two—largely independent—lines of research, I then discuss why liberalization through PTAs can have consequences for the labor market that are considerably different from the effects of lowering trade barriers in a non-discriminatory fashion. Examples of areas where those differences are likely to be meaningful include the nature of labor market adjustment costs, the incentives for firms to start exporting, and the effects on "job rents." |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalization, unemployment, trade diversion, labor frictions |
| JEL: | F16 F15 F13 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1117&r=lab |
| By: | Koch, Susanne; Fertig, Michael |
| Abstract: | "The so-called 'One-Euro-Jobs' are an important workfare program for unemployed persons receiving benefits according to Germany's Social Code II ('Sozialgesetzbuch Zweites Buch'), aiming at needy benefit recipients who can not be integrated into regular employment by means of other active labor market measures. This study evaluates the employment effects of these 'One-Euro-Jobs' for the city of Munich. The authors use administrative data and apply propensity score matching to estimate the treatment effects on the following outcomes: regular employment and neediness according to Social Code II. Our empirical results show that in Munich not only persons marginally attached to the labor market are allocated to One-Euro-Jobs. Moreover, One-Euro-Jobs decrease the participants' employment prospects significantly compared to similar non-participants, while unemployment benefit II receipt is increased due to participation. Additionally, we can show that One-Euro-Jobs partly financed by the city of Munich yield results worse than programs lacking communal co-financing." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsgelegenheit - Erfolgskontrolle, berufliche Reintegration, Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, Wirkungsforschung, Arbeitsmarktchancen, Geschlechterverteilung, Propensity Score Matching, Job-Center, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien, Teilnehmerstruktur, Altersstruktur, München, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | I38 C81 |
| Date: | 2012–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabfob:201201&r=lab |
| By: | Elena Stancanelli (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques); Arthur Van Soest (Tilburg University, Netspar) |
| Abstract: | Existing studies show that individuals who retire replace some private consumption by home production, but do not consider joint behaviour of couples. Here we analyze the causal effect of retirement of each partner on hours of home production of both partners in a couple. Our identification strategy exploits the earliest age retirement laws in France, enabling a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach. We find that own retirement significantly increases own hours of home production and the effect is larger for men than for women. Moreover, retirement of the female partner significantly reduces male hours of home production but not vice versa. |
| Keywords: | House work, Ageing,Retirement,Regression Discontinuity |
| JEL: | D13 J22 J14 C1 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1128&r=lab |
| By: | Marianna Marino (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,); Pierpaolo Parrotta (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark); Dario Pozzoli (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | We find evidence that workforce educational diversity promotes entrepreneurial behavior of employees as well as the formation of new firms, whereas diversity in demographics hinders transitions to selfemployment. Ethnic diversity favors entrepreneurship in financial and business services. |
| Keywords: | Labor diversity, entrepreneurship, transitions to self-employment |
| JEL: | C26 J24 L26 |
| Date: | 2012–01–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2012-04&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Fritsch; Alexander Kritikos; Alina Rusakova |
| Abstract: | Based on representative data, the German Micro-Census, we provide an overview of the development of self-employment and entrepreneurship in Germany between 1991 and 2010, the first two decades after reunification. We investigate the socioeconomic background of these individuals, their education, previous employment status, and their income level. We observe a unique increase in self-employment in Germany by 40 percent which can partly be attributed to the transformation process of East Germany and to the shift to the service sector. We notice a yearly start-up rate of 1 percent among the working population (almost 20 percent of them being restarters), a decision that pays for the majority of individuals in terms of income. Contrary to other countries, in Germany there is a positive relationship between educational levels and the probability of starting a business. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, self-employment, start-ups, Germany |
| JEL: | L26 D22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1184&r=lab |
| By: | D'Antoni, Jeremy M.; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | Farm operators and spouses have increasingly engaged in off-farm work in recent years. Many studies have analyzed the role of government payments; however, little is known about the impact of health insurance coverage. This study builds on previous literature by using copulas to test for dependence in the labor allocation decisions of the operator and spouse, addressing the importance of fringe benefits to the farm household, and determining how these considerations affect our knowledge of the impact of government payments on off-farm labor. The results indicate that the off-farm hours worked by the operator and spouse are dependent. We then find significant evidence of endogeneity in the health insurance coverage variable. Using the predicted probability of insurance coverage, we find a positive and highly significant relationship with the hours worked off-farm. Further, we find that both coupled and decoupled payments are negatively correlated with the hours worked off-farm. |
| Keywords: | Health insurance coverage, endogeneity, copula, off-farm labor supply, dependence, bivariate tobit, coupled farm programs payments, decoupled farm program payments, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Labor and Human Capital, Public Economics, C34, I13, J12, J22, J38, J43, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119646&r=lab |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Barankay, Iwan (University of Pennsylvania); Rasul, Imran (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Many organizations rely on teamwork, and yet field evidence on the impacts of team-based incentives remains scarce. Compared to individual incentives, team incentives can affect productivity by changing both workers' effort and team composition. We present evidence from a field experiment designed to evaluate the impact of rank incentives and tournaments on the productivity and composition of teams. Strengthening incentives, either through rankings or tournaments, makes workers more likely to form teams with others of similar ability instead of with their friends. Introducing rank incentives however reduces average productivity by 14%, whereas introducing a tournament increases it by 24%. Both effects are heterogeneous: rank incentives only reduce the productivity of teams at the bottom of the productivity distribution, and monetary prize tournaments only increase the productivity of teams at the top. We interpret these results through a theoretical framework that makes precise when the provision of team-based incentives crowds out the productivity enhancing effect of social connections under team production. |
| Keywords: | rank incentives, team-based incentives, teams, tournaments |
| JEL: | D23 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6279&r=lab |
| By: | Pamela Giustinelli (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | Predicting group decisions with uncertain outcomes involves the empirically difficult task of disentangling individual decision makers' beliefs and preferences over outcomes' states from the group's decision rule. This paper addresses the problem within the context of a consequential family decision concerning the high school track of adolescent children in presence of curricular strati cation. The paper combines novel data on children's and parents' probabilistic beliefs, their stated choice preferences, and families' decision rules with standard data on actual choices to estimate a simple model of curriculum choice featuring both uncertainty and heterogeneous cooperative-type decisions. The model's estimates are used to quantify the impact on curriculum enrollment of policies affecting family members' expectations via awareness campaigns, publication of education statistics, and changes in curricular specialization and standards. The latter exercise reveals that identity of policy recipients--whether children, parents, or both--matters for enrollment response, and underlines the importance of incorporating information on decision makers' beliefs and decision rules when evaluating policies. |
| Keywords: | Choice under Uncertainty, Multilateral Choice, Heterogeneous Decision Rules, Curricular Tracking, Curriculum Choice, Child-Parent Decision Making, Subjective Probabilities, Stated and Revealed Preferences, Choice-Based Sampling |
| JEL: | C25 C35 C50 C71 C81 C83 D19 D81 D84 I29 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2011-030&r=lab |
| By: | Clarke, George |
| Abstract: | Why have so few countries in Sub-Saharan Africa been successful in export-oriented manufacturing? This paper uses firm-level data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys to discuss this. The paper shows that although firms in most African countries are relatively unproductive, they are more productive on average than firms in other countries at similar levels of development. Further, even though many Africans earn subsistence wages working for informal firms, formal firms have higher labor costs than firms in other low-income countries. The paper discusses several possible reasons for this including the effect of the poor institutional environment on profits and the effect of limited competition on productivity measurement. |
| Keywords: | Africa; Zambia; Productivity; Manufacturing; Wages; East Asia |
| JEL: | O25 O14 O12 |
| Date: | 2012–01–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36122&r=lab |
| By: | Parrott, Scott; Mehlhorn, Joey; Davidson, Kelly |
| Abstract: | Online simulation and training games were used in two undergraduate courses in agribusiness to help improve student understanding and course objectives. Students responded positively to the teaching activities. The activities also extended the out of class learning environment. |
| Keywords: | student outcomes, technology in the classroom, simulation and teaching, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, A20, A22, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119746&r=lab |
| By: | Watson, Marissa; Cesar, Escalante; Ames, Glenn; Wolfe, Kent; Kane, Sharon |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the potential for the National Farm to School Program to effectively engage with Georgiaâs public schools in order to reduce local food insecurity and improve the quality of nutrition provided to students. A survey was conducted with the specific goals of assessing: first, the current and future impact Farm to School has and will potentially have on the Georgia economy through schools purchase of local foods; second, the potential market for farmers; third, school administrators willingness to buy local food by Georgia; forth, the level of infrastructure available within schools to prepare fresh, whole foods; and fifth, the perceived opportunities and challenges to buying and preparing local food. University of Georgia collaborated with the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Organics to develop a survey that met the objectives as defined above. There were twenty-five questions total and most answers were formatted in a multiple-choice selection with an option to write any additional comments. The survey was distributed by the Department of Education to 158 public schools in Georgia, and collected, a total of 93 responses. From the data, it was concluded that the willingness to participate exists, as well as the tools necessary for participation. What appears to be missing is the infrastructure that would allow schools to purchase food easily and frequently. Most schools noted that they would be willing to interact with an online platform that would put them in contact with local growers and sellers. |
| Keywords: | Farm to School, Georgia, Local foods, public schools, survey data for local buying, food security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119776&r=lab |
| By: | Ghazala Azmat; Nagore Iriberri |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of providing relative performance feedback information on individuals' performance and affective response, under both piece-rate and flat-rate incentives. In a laboratory setup, agents perform a real effort task and when receiving feedback, they are asked to rate their happiness, arousal and feeling of dominance. Control subjects learn only their absolute performance, while the treated subjects additionally learn the average performance in the session. Under piece-rate, performance is 17 percent higher when relative performance feedback is provided. Furthermore, although feedback increases the performance independent of the content (i.e., performing above or below the average), the content is determinant for the affective response. When subjects are treated, the inequality in the happiness and the feeling of dominance between those subjects performing above and below the average increases by 8 and 6 percentage points, respectively. Under flat-rate, we do not find any effect on either of the outcome variables. |
| Keywords: | Relative performance, feedback, piece-rate, flat-rate, happiness |
| JEL: | C91 M52 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1116&r=lab |
| By: | Espey, Molly; Boys, Kathryn A. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea12:119816&r=lab |
| By: | Bos, Marieke (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies to what extent immigrants have less access to main- stream credit than their native counterparts. For this purpose I use a large, unique data set with a panel of Swedish pawnshop customers. The data al- low me to investigate to what extent pawnshop customers actively apply for mainstream bank credit and how successful they are by comparing credit ap- plications from immigrants and natives and the corresponding bank decisions. I do not …nd that immigrants have a di¤erent propensity to apply for main- stream bank credit. However, I do …nd that banks have a lower propensity to grant loans to immigrants from African descent compared to their Nordic-born counterparts. Robustness tests based on data from recent immigrants only suggest that the demand for credit varies with the duration of residence while di¤erences in loan-granting rates are enduring. |
| Keywords: | Consumer credit; lending policy; alternative credit; pawn credit; immigrants |
| JEL: | C34 C35 D63 D81 G21 |
| Date: | 2012–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2012_001&r=lab |
| By: | Thöni, Christian (University of St. Gallen); Gächter, Simon (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | Substantial evidence suggests the behavioral relevance of social preferences and also the importance of social influence effects ("peer effects"). Yet, little is known about how peer effects and social preferences are related. In a three-person gift-exchange experiment we find causal evidence for peer effects in voluntary cooperation: agents' efforts are positively related despite the absence of material payoff interdependencies. We confront this result with major theories of social preferences which predict that efforts are unrelated, or negatively related. Some theories allow for positively-related efforts but cannot explain most observations. Conformism, norm following and considerations of social esteem are candidate explanations. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, voluntary cooperation, peer effects, reflection problem, gift exchange, conformism, social norms, social esteem |
| JEL: | C92 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6277&r=lab |