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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Costas Meghir (Cowles Foundation, Yale University); Renata Narita (World Bank); Jean-Marc Robin (Dept. of Economics, Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | It is often argued that informal labor markets in developing countries promote growth by reducing the impact of regulation. On the other hand informality may reduce the amount of social protection offered to workers. We extend the wage-posting framework of Burdett and Mortensen (1998) to allow heterogeneous firms to decide whether to locate in the formal or the informal sector, as well as set wages. Workers engage in both off the job and on the job search. We estimate the model using Brazilian micro data and evaluate the labor market and welfare effects of policies towards informality. |
| Keywords: | Informality, Unemployment, Job search, Wage posting, Equilibrium wage distributions, On the job search, Method of moments |
| JEL: | J24 J3 J42 J6 O17 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1874&r=lab |
| By: | John Schmitt; Janelle Jones |
| Abstract: | The decline in the economy’s ability to create good jobs is related to deterioration in the bargaining power of workers, especially those at the middle and the bottom of the pay scale. The restructuring of the U.S. labor market – including the decline in the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage, the fall in unionization, privatization, deregulation, pro-corporate trade agreements, a dysfunctional immigration system, and macroeconomic policy that has with few exceptions kept unemployment well above the full employment level – has substantially reduced the bargaining power of U.S. workers, effectively pulling the bottom out of the labor market and increasing the share of bad jobs in the economy. In this paper, we define a bad job as one that pays less than $37,000 per year (in inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars); lacks employer-provided health insurance; and has no employer-sponsored retirement plan. By our calculations, about 24 percent of U.S. workers were in a bad job in 2010 (the most recently available data). The share of bad jobs in the economy is substantially higher than it was in 1979, when 18 percent of workers were in a bad job by the same definition. The problems we identify here are long-term and largely unrelated to the Great Recession. Most of the increase in bad jobs – to 22 percent in 2007 – occurred before the recession and subsequent weak recovery. |
| Keywords: | good jobs, bad jobs, retirement, pensions, health insurance, wages, labor, education |
| JEL: | J J3 J31 J32 J38 J5 J1 J11 J15 I I2 I24 I25 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2012-23&r=lab |
| By: | Traag Tanja; Lubbers Miranda Jessica; Velden Rolf van der (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate if peer relations affect a student’s risk of early school-leaving. Weuse the sociometric data collection from the Dutch “Secondary Education Pupil Cohort 1999” toidentify peer relations in a sample of almost 20,000 students in the first grade of secondaryeducation (mean age 13). This information is matched to data on educational attainment from 1999to 2010 for these students, to measure later early school-leaving by both the focal students aswell as their peers. Our results show that both being friends with future early school-leavers aswell as popularity among future early school-leavers increases the risk of students to be earlyschool-leavers later in their educational career while other characteristics of the peer groupsuch as gender composition, ethnic composition, average (non)cognitive skills and averagesocioeconomic background have no effects on the risk of early school-leaving. And whilecharacteristics like gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background play an important role inpeer selection, the future dropout status does not have a major impact on peer selection. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012023&r=lab |
| By: | Ulrich Zierahn (University of Kassel/ HWWI) |
| Abstract: | The New Economic Geography predicts a positive effect of market access on wages, as represented by the wage equation. Several studies provide empirical evidence in favor of the wage equation. However, a key problem is the endogeneity of market access: it is challenging to identify the causal effects of market access on wages, since market access itself depends on wages. Whereas most approaches rely on instrumental variables and strong assumptions on exogeneity, the present analysis relies on German reunification as an exogenous variation of market access in order to identify the effects. Since the market access shock due to reunfication was accompanied by a labor supply shock due to migrants and commuters from eastern Germany, the effects on wages, employment and unemployment are analyzed. The results provide evidence in favor of a labor demand shock due to the increase in market access and a labor supply shock due to migrants and commuters from eastern Germany. |
| Keywords: | New Economic Geography, wage equation, market access, natural experiment, differences-in-differences |
| JEL: | F15 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201239&r=lab |
| By: | Barbara Mueller (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET)); Juerg Schweri (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET)) |
| Abstract: | Using a longitudinal dataset based on the PISA 2000 survey, we analyze the effect of inter-firm and occupational mobility on post-training wages in Switzerland to assess the transferability of the human capital acquired in training. We show that OLS provides a lower bound estimate of the wage effects of inter-firm and occupational mobility. Inter-firm mobility has no significant wage effect in OLS regressions. However, those who stay in their occupational field earn about 5 percent more than their colleagues who change occupation. We find no evidence for adverse selection when accounting only for apprentices’ level of ability. Accounting for the endogeneity of mobility tends to increase the estimated wage differential between occupation stayers and changers, but not between firm stayers and movers. We conclude that occupation-specific human capital is an important component of apprenticeship training and accounts for a part of the returns to training. |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship; endogenous treatment; human capital; mobility; PISA; occupation; school-to-work transition; training |
| JEL: | C25 J24 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0081&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Pfeifer (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University Lüneburg and IZA Bonn, Germany); Simon Janssen (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich); Philip Yang (Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Labor Economics); Uschi Backes-Gellner (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | We use a long panel data set for four cohorts of male blue-collar workers entering into an internal labor market to analyze the effect of age on the probability of participating in different employer-financed training measures. We find that training participation probabilities are inverted u-shaped with age and that longer training measures are undertaken earlier in life and working career. These findings are consistent with predictions from a human capital model that incorporates amortization period and screening effects. |
| Keywords: | Age; Human capital; Internal labor markets; Training |
| JEL: | J14 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0080&r=lab |
| By: | Büchner Charlotte; Cörvers Frank; Traag Tanja; Velden Rolf van der (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes four different transmission mechanisms, through which father’s earnings affectson’s earnings: the educational attainment, cognitive skills, the cultural capital of the familyand the social capital in the neighborhood. Using a unique data set that combines panel data froma birth cohort with earnings data from a large nationwide income survey and national tax files,our findings show that cognitive skills and schooling of the son account for 50% of the father-sonearnings elasticity. Education by far accounts for the largest part, while cognitive skills mainlywork indirectly through educational attainment. Social capital of the neighborhood and culturalcapital of the parents account for an additional 6% of the intergeneration income persistence.From these two additional mechanisms, social capital appears to play a stronger role than thecultural capital of the parents. This means that 44% of the intergenerational persistence is dueto other unobserved characteristics for example personality traits or spillover effects of familyassets. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012028&r=lab |
| By: | Tony Dobbins (Bangor Business School); Alexandra Plows (School of Social Sciences, Bangor University); Huw Lloyd-Williams (College of Business, Social Sciences and Law, Bangor University) |
| Abstract: | This paper tracks workers experiences of and responses to redundancy, and the impact on the local labour market, following the closure of a large employer, Anglesey Aluminium (AA), on Anglesey in North Wales. We draw on these findings to produce a critical challenge to Human Capital Theory (HCT) and its influence on sustaining neo-liberal policy orthodoxy with its focus on supplying skilled and employable workers in isolation from other necessary ingredients in the policy recipe. We conclude that HCT and associated policy orthodoxy has contributed to market failure. Ex-AA workers faced a paradox of being overqualified but underemployed. Some workers re-skilled but there were insufficient (quality) job opportunities commensurate with the employment they had left. In picking up the pieces following redundancy, many workers found themselves part of an expanding labour precariat with little choice but to make do and mend. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital Theory, Job Quality, Opportunity Bargain, Precariat, Redundancy, Restructuring. |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bng:wpaper:12007&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I examine how student academic achievements and behavior were affected by a school finance policy experiment undertaken in elementary schools in Israel. Begun in 2004, the funding formula changed from a budget set per class to a budget set per student, with more weight given to students from lower socioeconomic and lower educational backgrounds. The experiment altered teaching budgets, the length of the school week, and the allocation of time devoted to core subjects. The results suggest that spending more money and spending more time at school and on key tasks all lead to increasing academic achievements with no behavioral costs. I find that the overall budget per class has positive and significant effects on students' average test scores and that this effect is symmetric and identical for schools that gained or lost resources due to the funding reform. Separate estimations of the effect of increasing the length of the school week and the subject-specific instructional time per week also show positive and significant effects on math, science, and English test scores. However, no cross effects of additional instructional time across subjects emerge, suggesting that the effect of overall weekly school instruction time on test scores reflects only the effect of additional instructional time in these particular subjects. As a robustness check of the validity of the identification strategy, I also use an alternative method that exploits variation in the instruction time of different subjects. Remarkably, this alternative identification strategy yields almost identical results to the results obtained based on the school funding reform. Additional results suggest that the effect on test scores is similar for boys and girls but it is much larger for pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds and it is also more pronounced in schools populated with students from homogenous socioeconomic backgrounds. The evidence also shows that a longer school week increases the time that students spend on homework without reducing social and school satisfaction and without increasing school violence. |
| JEL: | I21 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18369&r=lab |
| By: | Oliver Hutengs; Georg Stadtmann |
| Abstract: | We estimate Okun coefficients for five different age cohorts for several Eurozone countries. We find a stable pattern for all countries: The relationship between business-cycle fluctuations and the unemployment rate is the strongest for the youngest cohort and gets smaller for the elderly cohorts. |
| Keywords: | Okun's law, labor market, youth unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 F50 C23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1243&r=lab |
| By: | Courtney C. Coile; Phillip B. Levine; Robin McKnight |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of exposure to higher unemployment rates in the pre-retirement years on subsequent mortality. Although past research has found that recessions reduce contemporaneous mortality, these short-term effects may reverse over time, particularly for older workers. If workers experience an economic downturn in their late 50s, they may face several years of reduced employment and earnings before “retiring” when they reach Social Security eligibility at age 62. They also may experience lost health insurance, and therefore higher financial barriers to health care, through age 65, when Medicare becomes available. All of these experiences could contribute to weaker long-term health outcomes. To examine these hypotheses, we use Vital Statistics mortality data between 1969 and 2008 to generate age-specific cohort survival probabilities at older ages. We then link these survival probabilities to labor market conditions at earlier ages. We also use data from the 1980-2010 March Current Population Surveys and the 1991-2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys to explore potential mechanisms for this health effect. Our results indicate that experiencing a recession in one’s late 50s leads to a reduction in longevity. We also find that this exposure leads to several years of reduced employment, health insurance coverage, and health care utilization which may contribute to the lower long-term likelihood of survival. |
| JEL: | I18 J26 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18361&r=lab |
| By: | Kornder Nils; Dronkers Jaap (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | As a follow-up of earlier analyses of the educational performance of all pupils with a migrationbackground with Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) waves 2003 and 2006, weanalyze the differences between the educational performance of 15-year old daughters and sons ofmigrants from specific regions of origin countries living in different destination countries. Weuse the newest PISA 2009 wave. Instead of analyzing only Western countries as destinationcountries, we analyze the educational performance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrantsin destination countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origincountries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. We test three hypotheses: 1) Thedaughters of migrants from poorer, more traditional regions perform much better in reading thancomparable sons of migrants from the same origin regions, while the daughters of migrants frommore affluent and liberal regions perform slightly better in reading than comparable sons ofmigrants from the same regions. 2) Individual socioeconomic background has a stronger effect onthe educational performance of daughters of migrants than on the performance of sons of migrants.3) The performance of female native pupils has a higher influence on the performance of migrantdaughters than the performance of male native pupils has on the performance of migrant sons. Thefirst hypothesis can only partly be accepted. Female migrant pupils have both higher reading andmath scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these gender differences among migrant pupilsare larger than among comparable native pupils. The additional variation in educationalperformance by region of origin is, however, not clearly related to the poverty or traditionalismof regions. Neither the second nor the third hypothesis can be accepted, given our results. |
| Keywords: | microeconomics ; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012022&r=lab |
| By: | Lionel Perini (Institute of economic research IRENE, Faculty of Economics, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates educational peer effects at the lower secondary level in Switzerland where different tracking systems coexist. Using a cross-sectional survey based on standardized questionnaires, the structure and magnitude of social interactions among classmates are analyzed. The results are used to find out if grouping students in a completely non-selective way could increase efficiency and equality of opportunity. Empirical findings suggest that mixing students in reading and science classes could enhance efficiency and equity while a similar practice in mathematics courses could only improve equity without any gain in efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, ability tracking, family background, equality of opportunity, quantile regression. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irn:wpaper:12-01&r=lab |
| By: | Allen N. Berger (University of South Carolina); Thomas Kick (Deutsche Bundesbank); Klaus Schaeck (Bangor Business School) |
| Abstract: | Little is known about how socioeconomic characteristics of executive teams affect corporate governance in banking. Exploiting a unique dataset, we show how age, gender, and education composition of executive teams affect risk taking of financial institutions. First, we establish that age, gender, and education jointly affect the variability of bank performance. Second, we use difference-in-difference estimations that focus exclusively on mandatory executive retirements and find that younger executive teams increase risk taking, as do board changes that result in a higher proportion of female executives. In contrast, if board changes increase the representation of executives holding Ph.D. degrees, risk taking declines. |
| Keywords: | Banks, executives, risk taking, age, gender, education |
| JEL: | G21 G34 I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bng:wpaper:12004&r=lab |
| By: | Makoto Kakinaka (International University of Japan); Hiroaki Miyamoto (International University of Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of extensive and intensive margins of labor adjustment overbusiness cycle in Japan. We find that the intensive margin accounts for much of total hours worked variation, and its contribution to the fluctuation of total hours worked is about 77%. This result is in sharp contrast with those in the U.S. and European countries where the extensive margin mainly accounts for the overall variability in total hours worked. The implication of a recent rise in non-regular employment for firms' labor adjustment behavior is also discussed. |
| Keywords: | intensive and extensive margins, labor adjustment, Japanese labor market |
| JEL: | C10 E32 J23 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2012_14&r=lab |
| By: | Robert E. Hall |
| Abstract: | According to the standard model, advertising is remarkably sensitive to profit margins. Firms advertise to stimulate demand for their products. They advertise high-margin products aggressively and low-margin ones hardly at all. In macroeconomics, variations in profit margins over the business cycle have a key role. A widening of margins can explain the rise in unemployment in recessions. A higher margin implies a lower real wage. A variety of models ranging from Keynesian to search-and-matching map a decline in wages to higher unemployment. But a rise in profit margins should expand advertising by a lot. Really a lot. Advertising should be highly counter-cyclical. Instead, it is somewhat pro-cyclical. The ratio of advertising spending to private GDP falls when the economy contracts. I show that wages do decline in recessions. The labor share of income falls. On the other hand, the behavior of advertising refutes the hypothesis that profit margins rise. Hence there must be another factor that lowers the wage without raising profit margins. The only influence that fits the facts is a rise in a product-market friction that has the same effect as an increase in sales taxes. |
| JEL: | D43 E12 E32 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18370&r=lab |
| By: | Hernández, Pedro |
| Abstract: | Exporter wage premium has been widely studied in the literature on international trade. The aim of this paper is analyze whether there is also a producer quality wage premium at firm level, and if so, analyze whether its origin is similar to the exporter wage premium. In other words, I test whether firms that increase their product quality become more productive and pay higher wages (as with the learning by exporting hypothesis, we can speak of learning by producing quality), or, in contrast, more-productive firms with higher wages opt to increase product quality because their higher productivity means these kinds of decisions and investments can be taken with more guarantees (self-selection hypothesis). |
| Keywords: | Wage differentials; International trade; Exports; Product quality |
| JEL: | F16 J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41082&r=lab |
| By: | Kris Warner |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the decline in unionization in the United States that began to occur in about 1960. While various explanations have been put forward to explain this – with many focusing on some form of structural changes to the economy or to the workforce, usually related to globalization or technological progress – this paper focuses on the role that employer opposition to unions has played, together with relatively weak labor law. In order to fully flesh out the experience of the United States, it looks to the experience of Canada as the country most similar to it. |
| Keywords: | unions, employment, labor, collective bargaining, canada, labor law, economics |
| JEL: | J J3 J5 J50 J53 J58 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2012-21&r=lab |
| By: | De Spiegelaere, Stan; Van Gyes, Guy; Vandekerckhove, Sem; Van Hootegem, Geert |
| Abstract: | Promoting the innovative potential of employees is a main challenge for HR professionals. Previous studies already stressed the role of job design for employee innovativeness. Building on the work of Karasek & Theorell (1990), we focus on the relation between job design, work engagement and innovative work behaviour (IWB). The results show that job control is positively related to both IWB and work engagement, job demands are negatively related to work engagement, yet their relation to IWB is more ambiguous. Significant interaction effects between job demands and job control variables in both the relation with work engagement and IWB are found, yet their nature differs significantly. We find that active jobs (high control and high demands) are related to lower levels of IWB in comparison to low-strain jobs (high control, low demands), which has major managerial consequences. |
| Keywords: | Innovative Work Behavior; Job Design; Time Pressure; Work Engagement; Employee Innovation |
| JEL: | D23 D29 D01 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41105&r=lab |
| By: | Sally Sambrook (Bangor Business School) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide clarification of the concepts of academic study leave and the sabbatical, which are somewhat contested in the increasingly complex, managerialist and performative higher education context. A critical review of academic literature is employed to help clarify our understanding of the concepts, but also to identify potential contradictions. In addition, examples are provided, drawn from university web pages. The analysis identifies similarities and differences between the two concepts suggesting complimentary and competing meanings. The paper illuminates the shifting concept of the sabbatical, a term rooted in religious history, to more contemporary notions of academic study leave. This shift is not without difficulty given the complexity and increasing ambiguity associated with academic work. Defining characteristics of sabbatical/academic study leave can help provide clearer operational definitions to assist academic managers and faculty better manage and enhance these two subtly different experiences. This is of growing importance as scholars are confronted with escalating demands for publications in top ranked journals, which are increasingly used as objective measures in the bludgeoning use of performance management systems, to the potential detriment to other dimensions of academic practice, particularly teaching and enhancing the student experience. |
| Keywords: | sabbatical, academic study leave, concept analysis, managerialism, performativity, higher education |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bng:wpaper:12009&r=lab |
| By: | Mauricio Soto; Frank Eich; Charleen Gust |
| Abstract: | Pension reform is a key policy challenge in Russia. This paper examines how pension spending could increase in Russia in the absence of reforms, quantifies the impact of some recent proposals, and suggests some alternatives that would ensure public pension benefits - relative to wages - not fall from current levels while containing spending. |
| Keywords: | Aging , Pension reforms , Pensions , Population , Russian Federation , |
| Date: | 2012–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:12/201&r=lab |
| By: | Olper,Alessandro,; Raimondi,Valentina; Cavicchioli,Daniele; Vigani,Mauro |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the determinants of labour out-migration from agriculture across 149 EU regions over the 1990–2008 period. The central aim is to shed light on the role played by payments from the common agricultural policy (CAP) on this important adjustment process. Using static and dynamic panel data estimators, we show that standard neoclassical drivers, like relative income and the relative labour share, represent significant determinants of the intersectoral migration of agricultural labour. Overall, CAP payments contributed significantly to job creation in agriculture, although the magnitude of the economic effect was rather moderate. We also find that pillar I subsidies exerted an effect approximately two times greater than that of pillar II payments. |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:fmwppr:133&r=lab |
| By: | Christoph Wunder; Guido Heineck |
| Abstract: | We analyze how well-being is related to working time preferences and hours mismatch. Selfreported measures of life satisfaction are used as an empirical approximation of true wellbeing. Our results indicate that well-being is generally lower among workers with working time mismatch. Particularly underemployment is detrimental for well-being. We further provide first evidence on spillovers from the partner’s working time mismatch. However, the spillover becomes insignificant once we control for the partner’s well-being. This suggests that well-being is contagious, and the spillover is due to interdependent utilities. Females experience the highest well-being when their partner is working full-time hours. Male wellbeing is unaffected over a wide interval of the partner’s working hours. |
| Keywords: | Subjective well-being, life satisfaction, working time preferences, working time mismatch, spillovers, utility interdependence |
| JEL: | I31 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp471&r=lab |
| By: | Davide Furceri; Ernesto Crivelli; Joël Toujas-Bernate |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide new estimates of employment-output elasticities and assess the effect of structural and macroeocnomic policies on the employment-intensity of growth. Using an unbalanced panel of 167 countries over the period 1991 - 2009, the results suggest that structural policies aimed at increasing labor and product market flexibility and reducing government size have a significant and positive impact on employment elasticities. In addition, the results also suggest that in order to maximize the positive impact on the responsiveness of employment to economic activity, structural policies have to be complemented with macroeconomic policies aimed at increasing macroeconomic stability. |
| Date: | 2012–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:12/218&r=lab |
| By: | Basab Dasgupta; Christian Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of loan regulation in rural India on child labor with an overlapping-generations model of formal and informal lending, human capital accumulation, adverse selection, and differentiated risk types. Specifically, we build a model economy that replicates the current outcome with a loan rate cap and no lender discrimination by risk using a survey of rural lenders. Households borrow primarily from informal moneylenders and use child labor. Removing the rate cap and allowing lender discrimination markedly increases capital use, eliminates child labor, and improves welfare of all household types. |
| Keywords: | Loans ; Child labor ; India |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2012-027&r=lab |
| By: | Mirco Tonin; Michael Vlassopoulos |
| Abstract: | Contributing to a social cause can be an important driver for workers in the public and non-profit sector as well as in firms that engage in Corporate Social Responsibility activities. This paper compares the effectiveness of social incentives to financial incentives using an online real effort experiment. We find that social incentives lead to a 20% rise in productivity, regardless of their form (lump sum or related to performance) or strength. When subjects can choose the mix of incentives half sacrifice some of their private compensation to increase social compensation, with women more likely than men. Furthermore, social incentives do not attract less productive subjects, nor subjects that respond more to exogenously imposed social incentives. Our calculations suggest that a dollar spent on social incentives is equivalent to increasing private compensation by at least half a dollar. |
| Date: | 2012–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ceu:econwp:2012_12&r=lab |
| By: | C. Monfardini; S. G. See |
| Abstract: | Higher birth order positions are often associated with poorer outcomes, possibly due to fewer resources received within the household. Using a sample of PSID-CDS children, we investigate whether the birth order effects in their outcomes are due to unequal allocation of the particular resource represented by maternal quality time. OLS regressions show that the negative birth order effects on various test scores are only slightly diminished when maternal time is included among the regressors. This result is confirmed when we account for unobserved heterogeneity at the household level, exploiting the presence of siblings in the data. Our evidence therefore suggests that birth order effects are not due to differences in maternal quality time received. |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J13 J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp846&r=lab |