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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Bergin, Adele; Kelly, Elish; McGuinness, Seamus |
| Abstract: | This paper utilises data from the National Employment Surveys to analyse movements in both earnings and labour costs during the period 2006 through to 2009. It finds that, despite an unprecedented fall in output and rise in unemployment, both average earnings and average labour costs increased marginally over the period. Although some factors, such as a rise in the incidence of part-time working and falls in construction employment, served to depress wages, these influences were more than outweighed by increases in both the share of and returns to graduate employment and a rising return to large firm employment. This analysis suggests that a good deal of the downward wage rigidity observed within Irish private sector employment since the onset of the recession has largely been driven by factors consistent with continued productivity growth. Nevertheless, particularly within the male labour market, a substantial proportion of the movements in wages cannot be explained by changes in either labour market composition or the returns to individual/job characteristics. The large unexplained component in the data is attributed to a general reluctance of firms to cut wages in order to avoid productivity losses associated with worker dissatisfaction or higher rates of labour turnover. In support of this view, the study demonstrates that firms will adopt strategies such as reducing staff numbers, hours worked and bonus payments, in preference to reducing wages. |
| Keywords: | cost/recession/data/employment/unemployment/wages/Productivity/growth/labour market |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:ec9&r=lab |
| By: | Marcassa, Stefania |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the conditional probability of leaving unemployment of French married individuals from 1991 to 2002. We find that the effect of spousal labor income on unemployment duration is asymmetric for men and women. In particular, the probability of men to find a job is increasing in wife labor income, while it is decreasing in husband’s earnings for women. To adjust for endogenous selection into marriage, we use the occupation of the fathers in-law as an instrumental variable for the spousal wage. Finally, we show that introducing a breadwinner stigma in a joint job search model generates the positive correlation observed for men in the data. |
| Keywords: | unemployment duration; hazard models; labor income; marriage; joint search theory |
| JEL: | J12 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1204&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Bingley; Lorenzo Cappellari; Niels Westergård-Nielsen |
| Abstract: | We investigate the relationship between life-cycle wages and flexicurity in Denmark. We separate permanent from transitory wages and characterise flexicurity using membership of unemployment insurance funds. We find that flexicurity is associated with lower wage growth heterogeneity over the life-cycle and greater wage instability, changing the nature of wage inequality from permanent to transitory. While we are in general unable to formally test for moral hazard against adverse selection into unemployment insurance membership, robustness checks suggest that moral hazard is the relevant interpretation. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment insurance, wage dynamics, wage inequality, wage instability. |
| JEL: | J31 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:itt:wpaper:2012-13&r=lab |
| By: | Barbara Pertold-Gebicka (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Although much attention has been paid to the polarization of national labor markets, with employment and wage growth occurring in both low- and high- but not middle-skill occupations, there is little consistent evidence on cross-country differences in this process. I analyze job polarization in 12 European countries using an occupational skill-intensity measure, which is independent of country-specific labor supply conditions. Extensive cross-country differences in the extent of polarization correspond to variation in economic conditions and to dissimilarities in the employment protection legislation. |
| Keywords: | polarization, employment protection, skill requirements, occupational structure |
| JEL: | J21 J24 K31 |
| Date: | 2012–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2012-13&r=lab |
| By: | Jan Fidrmuc; Juan de Dios Tena |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of the national minimum wage (NMW) in the UK on the employment of young workers. We utilize the regression discontinuity approach to assess the impact of age-related increases in the NMW when workers turn 18 and 22. The previous literature has found little evidence of an adverse impact of the NMW on the UK labour market, both when considering the age-related increases or the regular annual increases that apply to all NMW rates. We fail to find any effect of turning 22 on employment. However, we find a significant and negative effect of male workers turning 21. We also find a negative effect for both genders upon turning 18. The age-related NMW rates may have an adverse effect on employment of young workers, with this effect possibly occurring already well in advance of reaching the threshold age. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage, Employment, Unemployment, Young workers |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wsrepe:ws121209&r=lab |
| By: | Bennmarker, Helge (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Nordström Skans, Oskar (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Vikman, Ulrika (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of conditioning benefits on program participation among older long-term unemployed workers. We exploit a Swedish reform which reduced UI duration from 90 to 60 weeks for a group of older unemployed workers in a setting where workers who exhausted their benefits received unchanged transfers if they agreed to participate in a work practice program. Our results show that job finding increased as a result of the shorter duration of passive benefits. The time profile of the job-finding effects suggests that the effects are due to deterrence effects during the program-entry phase. We find no evidence of wage reductions, suggesting that the increased job-finding rate was driven by increased search intensity rather than lower reservation wages. |
| Keywords: | Activation; program evaluation; UI; duration |
| JEL: | J26 J64 J65 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2012_007&r=lab |
| By: | NAKABAYASHI, Masaki (Education, Experience, and Tenure: Intra-FirmWage Dynamics in the Japanese Steel Industry) |
| Abstract: | Contemporary major Japanese firms recruit new graduates and promote from within, providing a rare example of the gports of entryh policy, and were once recognized as innovative organizations. This microanalysis of a steel company in the 1930-60s shows that 1) the internal labor market had been enhanced, but 2) mid-career recruiting was active and employeesf fertility decision depended on previous experience as well as tenure B3by the 1960s, while 3) the return on education surged and in-house training was linked to educational background from the 1950s, indicating that extended schooling replaced mid-career experience after the 1970s under technology-education complementarity. |
| Keywords: | employer Internal labor markets; return on schooling; specific human capital; Japan. |
| JEL: | J31 J24 N35 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:itk:issdps:f157&r=lab |
| By: | Phan, Diep (Beloit College); Coxhead, Ian (University of WI) |
| Abstract: | "Shock therapy" transitions in Eastern Europe facilitated movement of skilled workers into privatized industries offering high wage premia relative to state industries. Other transitional economies (notably China and Vietnam) have been slower to relinquish control over key industries and factor markets. Some costs of this piecemeal approach are now becoming apparent. We examine the spillover of continuing capital market distortions into the market for a complementary factor, skilled labor. Using Vietnamese data we find that capital market segmentation creates a two-track market for skills, in which state sector workers earn high salaries while non-state workers face lower demand and lower compensation. Growth is reduced directly by diminished allocative efficiency and incentives to acquire education, and indirectly by higher wage inequality and rents for workers with access to state jobs. |
| JEL: | F16 J31 P23 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:wisagr:566&r=lab |
| By: | Nils Saniter |
| Abstract: | In this paper I investigate the causal returns to education for different educational groups in Germany by employing a new method by Klein and Vella (2010) that bases identification on the presence of conditional heteroskedasticity. Compared to IV methods, key advantages of this approach are unbiased estimates in the absence of instruments and parameter interpretation that is not bounded to local average treatment effects. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) I find that the causal return to education is 8.5% for the entire sample, 2.3% for graduates from the basic school track and 11% for graduates from a higher school track. Across these groups the endogeneity bias in simple OLS regressions varies significantly. This confirms recent evidence in the literature on Germany. Various robustness checks support the findings. |
| Keywords: | Return to education, wage equation, control function approach, second moment exclusion restriction |
| JEL: | C3 I21 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1213&r=lab |
| By: | Grip Andries de; Dupuy Arnaud; Jolles Jelle; Boxtel Martin van (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses longitudinal test data to analyze the relation between retirement andcognitive development. Controlling for individual fixed effects, we find that retirees facegreater declines in information processing speed than those who remain employed.However, remarkably, their cognitive flexibility declines less, an effect that appears to bepersistent 6 years after retirement. Both effects of retirement on cognitive developmentare comparable to those of a five to six-year age difference. They cannot be explained by(1) a relief effect after being employed in low-skilled jobs, (2) mood swings or (3) changesin lifestyle. Controlling for changes in blood pressure, which are negatively related tocognitive flexibility, we still find lower declines in cognitive flexibility for retirees. Sincethe decline in information processing speed after retirement holds particularly for thelow educated, activating these persons after retirement could lower the social costs ofan aging society. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2012003&r=lab |
| By: | Madsen, Erik Strøjer (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Education as a road to growth has been on the political agenda in recent years and promoted not least by the institutions of higher education. At the same time the universities have been squeezed for resources for a long period and the average class size has increased as a result. However, the production technology for higher education is not well known and this study highlights the relation between class size and student achievement using a large dataset of 80.000 gradings from the Aarhus School of Business. The estimations show a large negative effect of larger classes on the grade level of students. The type of exam also has a large and significant effect on student achievements and oral exam, take-home exam and group exam reward the student with a significantly higher grade compared with an on-site written exam |
| Keywords: | No; keywords |
| JEL: | A23 C23 I23 |
| Date: | 2011–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2011_005&r=lab |
| By: | Michael S. Christian (Bureau of Economic Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This study updates Christian's (2010) human capital account for the United States to the year 2009, refining the underlying data and putting the account into international context by reviewing applications in the rest of the world. It also measures the sensitivity of human capital measures to alternative assumptions about income growth rates, discount rates, the treatment of taxes, smoothing and imputation of labor force and school enrollment data, and the valuation of non-market time. It concludes with an application to the measurement of the output of the education sector. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bea:wpaper:0073&r=lab |
| By: | Tito Nícias Teixeira da Silva Filho |
| Abstract: | The unemployment rate is one of the most closely watched economic indicators. However, it has important limitations and shortcomings as a measure of the state of the labour market. This could help to explain the fact that in traditional Phillips curves unemployment explains but a small part of inflation. This paper tries to mitigate such problems going deeper into labour market indicators. With that aim alternative unemployment rates are built and assessed, along with disaggregated unemployment rates and other labour market indicators. The evidence shows that some of those indicators have considerably greater explanatory power over inflation than the traditional unemployment rate and, therefore, should be followed closely by policymakers. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:279&r=lab |
| By: | Dabalen, Andrew L.; Paul, Saumik |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effects of civil war on years of education in the context of a school-going age cohort that is exposed to armed conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. Using year and department of birth to identify an individual's exposure to war, the difference-in-difference outcomes indicate that the average years of education for a school-going age cohort is .94 years fewer compared with an older cohort in war-affected regions. To minimize the potential bias in the estimated outcome, the authors use a set of victimization indicators to identify the true effect of war. The propensity score matching estimates do not alter the main findings. In addition, the outcomes of double-robust models minimize the specification errors in the model. Moreover, the paper finds the outcomes are robust across alternative matching methods, estimation by using subsamples, and other education outcome variables. Overall, the findings across different models suggest a drop in average years of education by a range of .2 to .9 fewer years. |
| Keywords: | Access&Equity in Basic Education,Population Policies,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Education For All,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6077&r=lab |
| By: | David Mayston; Juan Yang |
| Abstract: | University of York Beijing Normal University The efficiency of the process of investment in human capital through education is of considerable importance both to the individuals involved and to the wider economy. The paper develops an analytical framework in which issues of the efficiency of such investment can be considered alongside its interface with the operations of the labour market, and in which the risks posed by such educational investments when the labour market is less than fully efficient can be analysed. These issues are of particular relevance in the context of the major expansions in higher education which have taken place in recent years, not least in China, which is now second in its share of all 25 – 64 year olds internationally with tertiary education. The paper therefore complements its theoretical analysis with an empirical investigation of the risk factors which impact on the efficiency of this large-scale educational investment for individual graduates and for the wider economy |
| Keywords: | Human capital investment, higher education, graduate overeducation, risk factors, educational expansion in China. |
| JEL: | I21 I25 I28 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:12/15&r=lab |
| By: | Bratberg, Espen (University of Bergen,); Monstad, Karin (HEB-Uni Rokkansenteret) |
| Abstract: | Sickness absence has risen over the past years in Norway. One explanation put forward is that a tougher labor market represents a health hazard, while a competing hypothesis predicts that loss of job security works as a disciplinary device. In this analysis we aim to trace a causal impact of organizational turmoil or job insecurity on sickness absence, applying a difference-in-difference approach. Utilizing a negative financial shock that hit specific employers and workplaces, we find that sickness absence decreased considerably in the following year. The decrease is substantially larger among male than among female employees, and stronger for days of sickness absence than for its incidence. <p> Acknowledgements: The paper has benefited from comments at the 2011 Norwegian Social Insurance Research Meeting in Lillehammer and the 2012 HEB/HERO workshop in Geilo. We are also grateful for information from Ingvar Linde, Jan G. Myrvang, and chief executives of the eight municipalities impacted by the financial shock. Remaining errors are the authors’ sole responsibility. Financial support from the Norwegian Research Council (Grant 187912) is gratefully acknowledged. |
| Keywords: | Worker absenteeism; sickness absence; organizational schange; job security; difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | H53 I18 J22 J28 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2012_008&r=lab |
| By: | Colonna, Fabrizio; Marcassa, Stefania |
| Abstract: | Italy has the lowest labor force participation of women among European countries. Moreover, the participation rate of married women is positively correlated to their husbands’ income. We show that a high tax schedule together with tax credits and transfers raise the burden of two-earner households, generating disincentives to work. We estimate a structural labor supply model for women, and use the estimated parameters to simulate the effects of alternative revenue-neutral tax systems. We find that joint taxation implies a drop in the participation rate. Conversely, working tax credit and gender-based taxation boost it, with the effects of the former concentrated on low educated women. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation; Italian tax system; second earner tax rate; joint taxation; gender-based taxation; working tax credit |
| JEL: | J21 J22 H31 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1203&r=lab |
| By: | Kvaløy, Ola (UiS); Olsen, Trond (NHH) |
| Abstract: | When a worker is offered performance related pay, the incentive effect is not only determined by the shape of the incentive contract, but also by the probability of contract enforcement. We show that weaker enforcement may reduce the worker's effort, but lead to higher-powered incentive contracts. This creates a seemingly negative relationship between effort and performance pay. |
| Keywords: | . |
| JEL: | A10 |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:stavef:2012_011&r=lab |
| By: | Vikström, Johan (IFAU-Uppsala); Rosholm, Michael (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Svarer, Michael (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | We re-analyze the effects of a Danish active labour market program social experiment, that included a range of sub-treatments, including monitoring, job search assistance and training. Previous studies have shown that the overall effect of the experiment is positive. We apply newly developed non-parametric methods to determine which of the individual policies that explains the positive effect. The use of non-parametric methods to separate sub-treatment effects is important from a methodological point of view, since the alternative, namely parametric/distributional assumptions, is in conflict with the concept of experimental evidence. Our results are highly relevant in a policy perspective, as optimal labour market policy design requires knowledge on the effectiveness of specific policy measures |
| Keywords: | Active labour market policy; treatment effect; non-parametric bounds |
| JEL: | C14 C41 C93 |
| Date: | 2011–03–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2011_004&r=lab |
| By: | Papahristodoulou, Christos |
| Abstract: | Using a Non-Linear Integer Programming (NLIP) model, I examine if wage differences between Super talents and Normal players improve the performance of four teams which participate in a tournament, such as in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) group matches. With ad-hoc wage differences, the optimal solutions of the model show that higher wage equality seems to improve the performance of all teams, irrespectively if the elasticity of substitution between Super- and Normal- players is high or low. In addition to that, a U-type performance exists in two teams with the highest and the second high elasticity of substitution. With team data from the 2011-12 UCL group matches and from the Italian Serie A over 2010-12 seasons, the wage dispersion has no effect on team performances. |
| Keywords: | Players; Teams; Wages; Performance; Tournament |
| JEL: | L83 C60 J30 |
| Date: | 2012–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39149&r=lab |
| By: | Haan, Peter; Prowse, Victoria |
| Abstract: | How can public pension systems be reformed to ensure fiscal stability in the face of increasing life expectancy? To address this pressing open question in public finance, we use micro data to estimate a structural life-cycle model of individuals' employment, retirement and consumption decisions. Our modeling approach allows life expectancy and the nature of the public pension system to influence the decisions of forward-looking individuals planning for retirement. We calculate that, in the case of Germany, an increase of 4.34 years in the full pensionable age or a cut of 37.7% in the per-year value of public pension benefits would offset the fiscal consequences of the 6.4 year increase in age 65 life expectancy anticipated to occur over the next 40 years. Of these two approaches to coping with the fiscal impact of improving longevity, increasing the full pensionable age generates the largest responses in labor supply and retirement behavior. |
| Keywords: | Life Expectancy; Public Pension Reform; Retirement; Employment; Life-cycle Models; Consumption; Tax and Transfer System |
| JEL: | D91 J22 J64 J26 J11 |
| Date: | 2012–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39282&r=lab |
| By: | Bratberg, Espen (University of Bergen); Nilsen, Øivind Anti (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Vaage, Kjell (University of Bergen) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses whether children’s exposure to parents receiving disability benefits induces a higher probability of receiving such benefits themselves. Most OECD countries experience an increasing proportion of the working-age population receiving permanent disability benefits. Using data from Norway, a country where around 10% of the working-age population rely on disability benefits, we find that the amount of time that children are exposed to their fathers receiving disability benefits affects their own likelihood of receiving benefits positively. This finding is robust to a range of different specifications, including family fixed effects. |
| Keywords: | Disability; intergenerational correlations; siblings fixed effects. |
| JEL: | H55 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2012_010&r=lab |
| By: | Nicole Woo; Janelle Jones; John Schmitt |
| Abstract: | The Social Security payroll tax cap is the earnings level above which no further Social Security taxes are collected. The cap is currently at $110,100, though legislation has been introduced in Congress to apply the Social Security payroll tax to earnings above $250,000 (but not between the current cap and this level). This issue brief updates earlier work, finding that 5.8 percent of workers would be affected if the Social Security cap were eliminated entirely and 1.4 percent would be affected if the current tax were applied to earnings over $250,000. It breaks down these numbers further by gender, race or ethnicity, age, and state of residence. |
| Keywords: | social security, retirement, wage cap |
| JEL: | H H5 H55 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2012-16&r=lab |
| By: | Kornder Nils; Dronkers Jaap (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | As a follow-up of earlier analyses of the educational performance of all pupils with amigration background with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)waves 2003 and 2006, we analyze the differences between the educational performanceof 15-year old daughters and sons of migrants from specific regions of origin countriesliving in different destination countries. We use the newest PISA 2009 wave. Instead ofanalyzing only Western countries as destination countries, we analyze the educationalperformance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrants in destinationcountries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origincountries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. We test three hypotheses:1) The daughters of migrants from poorer, more traditional regions perform much betterin reading than comparable sons of migrants from the same origin regions, while thedaughters of migrants from more affluent and liberal regions perform slightly betterin reading than comparable sons of migrants from the same regions. 2) Individualsocioeconomic background has a stronger effect on the educational performance ofdaughters of migrants than on the performance of sons of migrants. 3) The performanceof female native pupils has a higher influence on the performance of migrant daughtersthan the performance of male native pupils has on the performance of migrant sons.The first hypothesis can only partly be accepted. Female migrant pupils have bothhigher reading and math scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these genderdifferences among migrant pupils are larger than among comparable native pupils. Theadditional variation in educational performance by region of origin is, however, notclearly related to the poverty or traditionalism of regions. Neither the second nor thethird hypothesis can be accepted, given our results. |
| Keywords: | labour market entry and occupational careers; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2012004&r=lab |
| By: | Nagore Iriberri; Pedro Rey-Biel |
| Abstract: | We study how gender differences in performance under competition are affected by the provision of information regarding rival’s gender and/or differences in relative ability. In a laboratory experiment, we use two tasks that differ regarding perceptions about which gender outperforms the other. We observe women’s underperformance only under two conditions: 1) tasks are perceived as favoring men and 2) rivals’ gender is explicitly mentioned. This result can be explained by stereotype-threat being reinforced when explicitly mentioning gender in tasks in which women already consider they are inferior. Omitting information about gender is a safe alternative to avoid women’s underperformance in competition. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, competition, feedback information, gender perception, stereotype-threat |
| JEL: | C72 C91 D81 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1288&r=lab |
| By: | Michael P. Cameron (University of Waikato); Rebecca Williams (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | In 2003, New Zealand significantly reorganised high school education by moving to a standards-based assessment approach. This paper investigates whether the economics standards are associated with economic understanding using 2008-2011 data from students at the University of Waikato. We find that there is significant association between NCEA economics and economic literacy. However, some standards have a much closer association with economic literacy, in particular AS90631 and AS90632. These standards are the only standards associated with economic literacy for both high aptitude and low aptitude students. An optimal high school course in economics should include these standards as a minimum. |
| Keywords: | economic literacy; NCEA; standards-based assessment; New Zealand |
| JEL: | A21 A22 |
| Date: | 2012–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:12/05&r=lab |
| By: | Kayam, Saime S. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I consider two heterogeneous economies that engage in a currency union. The small economy adopts the currency of the large and is highly dependent on its wealthier partner for trade. The effects of a currency union, deficit financing and institutional restraints on inflation are analyzed in a dual economy with different wage-setting mechanisms. In the model, Northern Cyprus is the small economy and Turkey, being the only country that acknowledges it as an independent state is its larger partner. Features of the labour markets determine the wages. We make a conjecture that wage determination in Northern Cyprus (NC) is conducted with reference to centralized-bargaining and that decentralized bargaining sets the wages in Turkey (TR). Hence, the differences in wage-setting procedures cause a dual labour market. In order to incorporate monetary dependence into the analysis, we let the Turkish central bank to decide on the economic policy measures, in this case the inflation rate and unemployment. The institutional restraints such as economic sanctions increase the inflexibility in the NC and cause shocks to affect the economy more. In order to compensate for the losses that might be endured by the government in NC, TR finances the budget deficit of NC. Therefore, TR government needs to consider the burden of this financing issue. |
| Keywords: | currency union; monetary policy; labour market institutions; politics |
| JEL: | E62 F15 F16 L11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39154&r=lab |
| By: | Turturean, Monica |
| Abstract: | Today’s world is facing many problems caused by the economic crisis leading thus to an education crisis. Witnessing major changes in the curricula, at different ways of assessment, at teaching and learning in transdiciplinary manner which took by surprise the students who, in turn, feel disarmed and unable to cope with these changes that take place in a very fast rate. And internet has a big influence in students learning and their performance. Many universities try to introduce the internet and new technologies to facilitate student learning, to enhance their motivation for study and to improve their academic performance. Given that, if we want to provide an education of excellence, we have to know the student professional motivation, which determines them to obtain academic performance, to enhance their learning using internet to successfully cope with the challenges of knowledge-based society. |
| Keywords: | motivation; academic performance; internet technology; critical thinking; active learning |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2012–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39250&r=lab |
| By: | Ben Youssef, Adel; Dahmani, Mounir; Omrani, Nessrine |
| Abstract: | Driven by ICT, universities are changing in depth the nature and forms of learning processes, which are intended to prepare students to a better entry into the labour market. In this paper, we focus on the evolution of students' use of ICT in such an institution characterized by organizational changes and we analyse the determinants of students' e-skills using a 2010 dataset of French university students. We show that students' involvement in the use of ICT increases their e-skills. ICT learning by doing and ICT learning by using also increase some categories of students' e-skills. In addition, collaborative and cooperative learning are positively associated with students' advanced e-skills. -- |
| Keywords: | Students,ICT,E-skills,Multinomial logit model,Labour market,New Organizational Practices |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:12031&r=lab |
| By: | Sánchez Martín, A.; Jiménez Martín, S.; Robalino, D.; Todeschini, F. |
| Abstract: | Governments often impose choices regarding the levels of savings and the composition of the portfolio of assets in mandatory pension systems; either the share of pay-as-you-go vs. financial assets or the structure of default portfolios to which a majority of workers stick. Yet, it is well known that the optimal savings rate and the structure of the portfolio of assets depend on individual preferences and the properties of human capital. For example, workers whose labor income is very volatile or is highly correlated with the returns on risky financial assets should tilt their portfolios towards safe assets early in life. In this paper we explore the potential welfare gains derived from incorporating this basic principle into the design of the default portfolios offered by DC pension plans, based on the case of the Chilean pension system. We estimate the properties of labor earnings for several representative individuals, simulate their optimal life-cycle portfolio choices and compare with the current institutional defaults. We find very sizable welfare improvements for several of the groups of workers studied. The results suggest that policymakers should take into account education and occupation when defining portfolio defaults. These principles apply more generally to the choice between pay-as-you-go vs. financial assets – and we argue – could improve incentive for some groups to contribute. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2012-04&r=lab |
| By: | Ricardo Monge-González; Juan A. Rodríguez; John Hewitt; Keynor Ruiz; Jeffrey Orozco |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the direct impact of Internet diffusion on total labor demand, the demand for skilled labor, and the demand for female labor. Using data from a sample of manufacturing firms in Costa Rica from 2006 to 2007, the study finds that both process and product innovations are positively related to employment growth and that the use of the Internet by workers for business purposes does not impact demand for labor. The positive impact of product innovation on labor demand increases when workers use the Internet for business purposes. This relationship was not found in cases of skilled and female labor demand. These findings underscore the Internet's importance in improving the impact of product innovation on employment growth and suggest that employee use of the Internet is neither a labor displacement innovation nor a gender or skill-biased innovation. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology :: Research & Development, Science & Technology :: New Technologies, Science & Technology :: Telecommunications, skills, gender, information technologies, communication technologies |
| JEL: | D22 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:71298&r=lab |
| By: | Hélène Blake (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Clémentine Garrouste (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | How does the retirement age affect the physical and mental health of seniors? We identify this effect based on the 1993 reform of the French pension system, which was heterogeneously introduced among the population. With each cohort, the French government gradually increased the incentive to work using two tools: the contribution period required for entitlement to a full pension and the number of reference earning years taken to calculate pensions. We use a unique database on health and employment in France in 1999 and 2005, when the cohorts affected by the reform started to retire. A difference-in-differences approach, with the control group comprising public sector employees (not concerned by the 1993 reform), finds that the people more affected by the reform, and hence with a stronger incentive to work, were those posting less of an improvement and even a deterioration in their health between 1999 and 2005. Subsequently, taking the reform as a tool to filter out the potential influence of health on employment choices, we show that retirement improves physical and social health. The more physically impacted are the low-educated individuals. |
| Keywords: | Retirement ; Health ; Pension Reform |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00703706&r=lab |
| By: | Antonio Ciccone; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | We find that over the period 1950-1990, US states absorbed increases in the supply of schooling due to tighter compulsory schooling and child labor laws mostly through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production. Shifts in the industry composition towards more schooling-intensive industries played a less important role. To try and understand this finding theoretically, we consider a free trade model with two goods/industries, two skill types, and many regions that produce a fixed range of differentiated varieties of the same goods. We find that a calibrated version of the model can account for shifts in schooling supply being mostly absorbed through within-industry increases in the schooling intensity of production even if the elasticity of substitution between varieties is substantially higher than estimates in the literature. |
| Keywords: | Schooling supply, Within-industry absorption, Industry composition |
| JEL: | F1 J3 R1 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1295&r=lab |
| By: | Mariann RIGO (Department of Economics, Central European University, Budapest and UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Vincent VANDENBERGHE (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Fabio WALTENBERG (Departamento de Economia and Centro de Estudos sobre Desigualdade e Desenvolvimento (CEDE), Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Brazil) |
| Abstract: | The Belgian population is ageing due to demographic changes; so does the workforce of firms active in the country. Such a trend is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. And it will be reinforced by the willingness of public authorities to expand employment among individuals aged 50 or more. But are older workers employable? The answer depends to a large extent on the gap between older workers’ productivity and their cost to employers. To address this question we use a production function that is modified to reflect the heterogeneity of labour with workers of different age potentially diverging in terms of marginal products. Using unique firm-level panel data we produce robust evidence on the causal effect of ageing on productivity (value added) and labour costs. We take advantage of the panel structure of data and resort to first-differences to deal with a potential time-invariant heterogeneity bias. Moreover, inspired by recent developments in the production function estimation literature, we also address the risk of simultaneity bias (endogeneity of firms’ age-mix choices in the short run) using i) the structural approach suggested by Ackerberg, Caves & Frazer (2006), ii) alongside more traditional system-GMM methods (Blundell & Bond, 1998) where lagged values of labour inputs are used as instruments. Our results indicate a negative impact of larger shares of older workers on productivity that is not compensated by lower labour costs, resulting in a lower productivity-labour costs gap. An increment of 10%-points of their share causes a 1.3-2.8% contraction of this gap. We conduct several robustness checks that largely confirm this result. This is not good news for older individuals’ employability and calls for interventions in the Belgian private economy aimed at combating the decline of productivity with age and/or better adapting labour costs to age-productivity profiles. |
| Keywords: | Ageing, Old Labour Productivity and Employability, Panel Data Analysis |
| JEL: | J24 C33 D24 |
| Date: | 2012–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2012011&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Rei (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: | In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, inter-continental trade brought with it a novel form of organizing business: the multinational firm. Headquartered in Europe and operating in Asia, the success of the East India Companies depended largely on the management of overseas outposts, as well as their labor force. Using a dataset of 115 workers hired in Europe to work in Asia, I present the internal structure of civil servants careers and wages in the Dutch East India Company in the eighteenth century. This early modern firm mimics well current theories of internal labor markets: there are stable career paths, fast tracks in promotions, and sizable returns to tenure. |
| Keywords: | Merchant empires, careers, returns to tenure |
| JEL: | J31 N33 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:1208&r=lab |
| By: | Petri Böckerman; Mika Maliranta |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of outsourcing on employee well-being through the use of the Finnish linked employer-employee data. The direct negative effect of outsourcing is attributable to greater job destruction and worker outflow. In terms of perceived well-being, the winners in international outsourcing are those who are capable of performing interactive tasks (i.e., managers, professionals and experts), especially when offshoring involves closer connections to other developed countries. |
| JEL: | J28 F23 |
| Date: | 2012–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1271&r=lab |
| By: | Chakraborty, Indraneel (Department of Economics); Stepanchuk, Serhiy (Magyar Nemzeti Bank); Holter, Hans A. (Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Americans work more than Europeans. Using micro data from the U.S. and 17 European countries, we study the contributions from demographic subgroups to these aggregate level dierences. We document that women are typically the largest contributors to the discrepancy in work hours. We also document a negative empirical correlation between hours worked and dierent measures of taxation, driven by men, and a positive correlation between hours worked and divorce rates, driven by women. Motivated by these observations, we develop a life-cycle model with heterogeneous agents, marriage and divorce and use it to study the impact of two mechanisms on labor supply: (i) dierences in marriage stability and (ii) dierences in tax systems. We calibrate the model to U.S. data and study how labor supply in the U.S. changes as we introduce European tax systems, and as we replace the U.S. divorce and marriage rates with their European equivalents. We nd that the divorce and tax mechanisms combined explain 58% of the variation in labor supply between the U.S. and the European countries in our sample. |
| Keywords: | Aggregate Labor Supply; Taxation; Marriage; Divorce; Heterogeneous Households |
| JEL: | E24 E62 H24 H31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2012_010&r=lab |
| By: | Bannayan, Haif; Guaqueta, Juliana; Obeidat, Osama; Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Porta, Emilio |
| Abstract: | The Jordan Education Initiative, launched in 2003 under the umbrella of the World Economic Forum, is a public-private partnership, or multi-stakeholder partnership, that integrates information and communication technologies into the education process as a tool for teaching and learning in grades 1-12. This initiative fits within the ongoing reform of the education system in Jordan that began in the 1990s. The Jordan Education Initiative's main objective is to help Jordanian students develop critical knowledge economy skills crucial for competitiveness and economic growth. The Initiative also seeks to build the capacity of the local information technology industry for the development of innovative learning solutions, and to build a sustainable model of reform supported by the private sector that could be scaled nationally and replicated in other developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Education For All,Secondary Education |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6079&r=lab |
| By: | Mora Rodriguez, Jhon James; Muro, Juan |
| Abstract: | In the presence of selection bias, traditional estimators of pseudo panel data are inconsistent. In this paper, the authors derive the conditions under which consistence is achieved in pseudo-panel estimation and propose a simple test of selection bias. Specifically, they propose a Wald test for the null hypothesis that there is no selection bias. Under rejection of the null hypothesis, the authors can consistently estimate pseudo-panel parameters. They use cross sections and pseudo-panel regressions to test for selection bias and estimate the returns to education in Colombia. The authors corroborate the existence of selection bias and find that returns to education are around twenty percent. -- |
| Keywords: | Repeated cross-section models,selectivity bias testing,human capital |
| JEL: | C23 C52 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201226&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Beckmann; Dieter Kuhn (University of Basel) |
| Keywords: | Temporary agency work, firm performance, flexibility strategy, screening strategy |
| JEL: | C23 J24 J42 J82 M55 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2012/03&r=lab |
| By: | Givord, Pauline |
| Abstract: | This dissertation proposes four independent evaluations of French public policies, using recent micro-econometrics methods. Following a first chapter that presents a French summary of the dissertation, the second chapter studies the impact of the French "ecological bonus/malus" (feebate) policy on total CO2 emissions. The evaluation of the impact of this policy on final emissions requires to model not only the choice for new vehicles (and their sensitiveness to prices), but also the mileage done by vehicles. As the policy was implemented in a very span of time, it provides a credible source of identification for the sensitivity of consumers to financial incentives. The estimates suggest that the policy has a counterintuitive impact, as it increases total CO2 emissions. The third chapter examines the capacity of fiscal policies to foster employment and economic activities in targeted areas, through the French ZFU (enterprises zones). With precise local data we could evaluate the impact of tax exemptions provided to firms implemented in the second wave of enterprise zones. Enterprise zones have a significant but small impact on business creation and employment by comparison with other similar disadvantaged areas. The fourth chapter considers consequences of temporary contracts on professional trajectories. A dynamic fixed-effect model is used to deal with unobserved heterogeneity. According to these estimates, fixed-term contracts significantly increase the transition intensity to permanent contract relatively to unemployment. By contrast, temporary agency work does not significantly improve transition to regular jobs. The fifth chapter deals with the impact of minimum wages increases on earnings inequalities. The "Fillon law" decided an harmonization of these levels in 2002, that took place over a three-year period. This exogenous increase is used to measure the potential spread-up impact of the minimum wage over the whole earnings distributions. Estimates are based on an unconditional quantile regression method. They suggest small impact up-to the seventh decile of the distribution of earnings for male workers, but none significant impact for earnings of female workers. |
| Abstract: | Cette thèse présente quatre tentatives indépendantes d'évaluations de politiques publiques, mettant en application les méthodes microéconométriques récentes. Précédé d'un premier chapitre présentant un grand résumé en français, le deuxième chapitre s'intéresse à l'impact de la réforme dite du bonus/malus écologique sur les émissions de CO2. Évaluer l'impact de cette mesure sur les émissions finales de CO2 demande de modéliser non seulement les choix d'achat de véhicule, mais également l'usage de ces véhicules. La rapidité de mise en oeuvre de la mesure offre une source d'identification crédible de la sensibilité des choix des consommateurs aux incitations financières. Les estimations suggèrent cependant un bilan très décevant de la mesure : du fait de forts effets volumes, le bonus/malus s'est traduit par une augmentation substancielle des émissions de CO2. Le troisième chapitre évalue la capacité de dispositifs fiscaux à redynamiser l'emploi et l'activité économique locale des zones ciblées, à travers le dispositif des Zones Franches Urbaines. L'accès à des données locales précises permet d'évaluer l'impact des exonérations fiscales accordées aux entreprises s'installant dans les ZFU de deuxième génération. Celles-ci auraient un impact positif mais faible sur la création d'entreprise et l'emploi en comparaison avec les autres zones défavorisées similaires. Le quatrième chapitre s'intéresse aux conséquences des contrats temporaires sur les trajectoires professionnelles. En contrôlant des biais d'hétérogénéité individuelle par un modèle à effets fixes, on montre que les CDD augmentent significativement les transitions vers l'emploi stable par rapport au chômage. En revanche, le travail intérimaire n'améliore que marginalement ces transitions. Le cinquième chapitre traite des effets des augmentations du salaire minimum créées par loi Fillon sur les inégalités salariales. Alors que la mise en place progressive des accords de réduction de temps de travail avaient créés plusieurs niveaux de rémunération minimale, leur convergence sur trois ans fournit une source d'identification. Les estimations utilisent une méthode de régression de quantiles inconditionnelles. Les augmentations de salaire minimum auraient un effet (faible) jusqu'au septième décile des distributions de salaire des hommes, mais négligeable pour ceux des femmes. |
| Keywords: | Evaluation, salaire minimun, ZFU, emploi temporaire, Emmissions de CO2; |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:sciepo:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9je5h30d2n&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Botero; Alejandro Ponce; Andrei Shleifer |
| Abstract: | Generally speaking, better educated countries have better governments, an empirical regularity that holds in both dictatorships and democracies. We suggest that a possible reason for this fact is that educated people are more likely to complain about misconduct by government officials, so that, even when each complaint is unlikely to succeed, more frequent complaints encourage better behavior from officials. Newly assembled individual-level survey data from the World Justice Project show that, within countries, better educated people are more likely to report official misconduct. The results are confirmed using other survey data on reporting crime and corruption. Citizen complaints might thus be an operative mechanism that explains the link between education and the quality of government. |
| JEL: | D73 D78 O43 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18119&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | Using several microeconomic data sets from the United States and the Netherlands, and the examples of height and beauty, this study examines whether: 1) Absolute or relative differences in a characteristic are what affect labor-market and other outcomes; and 2) The effects of a characteristic change when all agents acquire more of it—become taller or better-looking. Confronted with a choice among individuals, decision-makers respond more to absolute than to relative differences among them. Also, an increase in the mean of a characteristic’s distribution does not alter market responses to differences in it. |
| JEL: | J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18123&r=lab |
| By: | Andr s Simonovits (Institute of Economics Research Center for Economic and Regional Studies Hungarian Academy of Sciences Mathematical Institute of Budapest University of Technology Department of Economics of CEU) |
| Abstract: | In our model, the government operates a mandatory proportional (contributive) pension system to substitute for the low life-cycle savings of the low-paid myopes. The socially optimal contribution rate is high (equalizing young- and old-age consumption for them), while an appropriate cap on pension contributions makes room for the saving of high-paid far-sighted workers. In our parameterization (with a Pareto earning distribution), the optimal cap can be determined but its aggregate impact is negligible. |
| Keywords: | pensions, contribution rate, contribution cap, maximum for taxable earnings |
| JEL: | H53 H24 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1208&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksson, Tor (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the spread of new work and pay practices in Danish private sector firms during the last two decades. The data source is two surveys directed at firms and carried out ten years apart. The descriptive analysis shows that large changes in the way work is organized in firms have occurred during both decades, whereas the progression of pay practices predominantly took place in the nineties. There is considerable firm heterogeneity in the frequency of adoption of the practices. In particular, the prevalence of both incentive pay and work practices is higher in multinational companies and firms engaged in exporting |
| Keywords: | High performance work practices; Pay practices; Performance pay |
| JEL: | M52 |
| Date: | 2012–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2011_011&r=lab |
| By: | Conde-Ruiz, J. Ignacio; Gonzalez, Clara I. |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Spanish pension reform enacted in 2011. We use an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping generations in order to project revenues and expenditures of the pension system for the next four decades. Specifically, we analyze the impact of changes in the replacement rate, in the period of calculation and the delay of the retirement age. We obtain results under two alternative migration scenarios: (i) a combination of the latest figures released by the INE, which forecast a reduced annual immigration net flow of some 70,000 persons; and (ii) a revised scenario featuring a more generous hypothesis concerning this net flow. We demonstrate that the results show that these three changes instigated by the reform could imply a savings of about 3 percentage points of GDP in 2051. However, we couldn't include in the evaluation the sustainability factor (that transform the Spanish system in a defined contribution scheme) that will start in 2027 due to the lack of details in the text of the Reform. Finally, we analyze the changes in average pensions by gender, skill, and nationality. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2012-03&r=lab |