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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Cristina Mocanu; Ana-Maria Zamfir; Eliza-Olivia Lungu; Eva Militaru |
| Abstract: | Education is one of the most important factors of allocation and matching on the labour market2. However, there are important cross-national differences with respect to unemployment rate of those with tertiary education, youth transition to the world of work and quality of jobs in which educated school leavers are employed3 4. School-to-work transition is a recently developed concept that is associated with change and uncertainty. For most young people, the integration on the labour market is long and difficult. School leavers are more vulnerable to unemployment due to the fact that they have to compete with more experienced workers for jobs while employers anticipate higher training costs for them. Moreover, as some skills acquired in school are not adapted to job requirements, young people experience difficulties at the labour market entry. On the other hand, labour market conditions are important determinants for youth transition performance. While there is a rich literature on school-to-work transition in Western countries, there is still a gap of knowledge in Eastern European ones. This paper explores patterns of labour market entry of higher education graduates in several Eastern European countries. We analyse HUGESCO data set that provides information on higher education graduates leaving education in 2002 and 2003 in four post-communist countries: Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovenia. School leavers were interviewed in 2008 and offered information on their first and current job. We restrict our sample to individuals which have had paid work after graduation and explore three indicators for assessing the quality of their school-to-work transition: speed of labour market entry, stability and adequacy of insertion. Transition speed is measured by the duration to the first job, while stability of insertion is assessed by the duration of first employment spell. Both indicators are explored by using survival rate analyses. Finally, adequacy of insertion is measured by education-job mismatch at the first job. We study cross-national differences for the three indicators and their relation with individual, structural and institutional variables, including economic conditions, employment protection legislation index (OECD), mechanisms of finding employment, as well as features of the education system. This paper is organised as follows. The second chapter provides a review of the most important contributions in the field of school-to-work transition, with a special accent on higher education graduates. The third section includes a presentation of our data and methodology and the paper ends with the discussion of our results and conclusions together with outlining the theoretical and practical implications of our outcomes. |
| Keywords: | higher education, transition speed, employment spell, job mismatch, survival rate, labour market regulation |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2012/15&r=lab |
| By: | Belley, Philippe (Kansas State University); Havet, Nathalie (CNRS, GATE); Lacroix, Guy (Université Laval) |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the early career patterns of young male and female workers. It investigates potential dynamic links between statistical discrimination, mobility, tenure and wage profiles. The model assumes that it is more costly for an employer to assess female workers' productivity and that the noise/signal ratio tapers off more rapidly for male workers. These two assumptions yield numerous theoretical predictions pertaining to gender wage gaps. These predictions are tested using data from the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. As predicted by our statistical discrimination model, we find that men and women have the same wage at the start of their career, but that female wages grow at a slower rate, creating a gender wage gap. Also consistent with our model, we find that mean wages are higher for workers who keep their job, while wage growth is stronger for workers who change job. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, job transitions, tenure, returns to mobility, experience |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J41 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6893&r=lab |
| By: | Laporte, Christine<br /> Mueller, Richard |
| Abstract: | This study uses the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) to compare hourly wage differences observed between apprentices who complete their programs and apprentices who discontinue their programs. The primary objective is to estimate the magnitude of the wage difference between these groups while taking into account a broad range of characteristics. Furthermore, wage comparisons are refined further by disaggregating apprentices into four mutually exclusive groups, defined on the basis of program completion and certification. |
| Keywords: | Education, training and learning, Labour, Wages, salaries and other earnings, Job training and educational attainment, Adult education and training |
| Date: | 2012–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2012345e&r=lab |
| By: | John P. Conley (Vanderbilt University); Ali Sina Onder (Uppsala University); Benno Torgler (QUT) |
| Abstract: | Using life cycle publication data of 9,368 economics PhD graduates from 127 U.S. institutions, we investigate how unemployment in the U.S. economy prior to starting graduate studies and at the time of entry into the academic job market affect economics PhD graduates' research productivity. We analyze the period between 1987 and 1996 and find that favorable conditions at the time of academic job search have a positive effect on research productivity (measured in numbers of publications) for both male and female graduates. On the other hand, unfavourable employment conditions at the time of entry into graduate school affects female research productivity negatively, but male productivity positively. These findings are consistent with the notion that men and women differ in their perception of risk in high skill occupations. In the specific context of research-active occupations that require high skill and costly investment in human capital, an ex post poor return on undergraduate educational investment may cause women to opt for less risky and secure occupations while men seem more likely to “double down” on their investment in human capital. Further investigation, however, shows that additional factors may also be at work. |
| Keywords: | Research Productivity, Human Capital, Graduate Education, Gender Differences |
| JEL: | J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:293&r=lab |
| By: | Bredemeier, Christian (TU Dortmund); Juessen, Falko (TU Dortmund) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, there is a vivid political debate on introducing a general statutory minimum wage. In this paper, we study the effects of minimum wages on labor supply using a structural household model where we distinguish between married and single households. In the model, labor supply of married women reacts positively and relatively strongly to minimum wages which we model as a wage subsidy as proposed in the German political debate. By contrast, other population subgroups show ambiguous reactions. An empirical analysis for Germany shows that minimum wages would affect total labor supply only weakly. Yet, in our baseline experiments, average labor supply of married women increases by 3-5%, whereas hours supplied by married female recipients of the minimum wage may increase by up to 28%. Further, we find that costs of a subsidized minimum wage increase sharply in its level while its effects on labor supply level out. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, wage subsidies, labor supply, gender |
| JEL: | J22 J16 J38 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6892&r=lab |
| By: | Korthals Roxanne (METEOR) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of tracking in secondary school on student performance and educational opportunities, taking into account whether prior performance is considered when students are selected in the different tracks. The sample consists of data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009 for around 185,000 students in 31 comparable countries. The results are controlled for student- and school-level confounders. The results indicate that when tracking is implemented, it does not have a direct relation with performance. However, system and school interactions reveal that a highly differentiated system is best for student performance when schools always take into account prior performance to decide on student acceptance. In systems with a fewtracks, admission rules have less of an impact and tracking is only mildly associated with performance. Equality of opportunity is best provided for in a system with many tracks, especially when schools always consider entrance requirements. However, caution is warranted in interpreting these results since selection issues could play a role. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umamet:2012050&r=lab |
| By: | Costas Meghir (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Yale University); Renata Narita; Jean-Marc Robin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and 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: | Wages, informality, developing countries |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:12/16&r=lab |
| By: | Eduardo Lora; Deisy Johanna Fajardo |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically explores the effects of payroll taxes, value-added taxes and corporate income taxes on a variety of labor market outcomes such as employment, unemployment, informality, and wages. Using national-level data on labor variables for 15 Latin American countries, the results indicate that the effects of each tax are distinctly different and may depend on several aspects of labor and tax institutions. Payroll taxes reduce employment and increase labor costs when their benefits are not valued by workers, but otherwise increase labor participation and do not raise labor costs. Value-added taxes increase informality and reduce skilled labor demand. In contrast, corporate income taxes may help reduce informality, especially among low-education workers but, when tax enforcement capabilities are strong, may reduce labor participation and employment of medium- and high-education workers. |
| JEL: | H24 H25 J21 J30 J32 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4791&r=lab |
| By: | Hunt, Jennifer |
| Abstract: | Using a state panel based on census data from 1940-2010, I examine the impact of immigration on the high school completion of natives in the United States. Immigrant children could compete for schooling resources with native children, lowering the return to native education and discouraging native high school completion. Conversely, native children might be encouraged to complete high school in order to avoid competing with immigrant high-school dropouts in the labor market. I find evidence that both channels are operative and that the net effect is positive, particularly for native-born blacks, though not for native-born Hispanics. An increase of one percentage point in the share of immigrants in the population aged 11-64 increases the probability that natives aged 11-17 eventually complete 12 years of schooling by 0.3 percentage points, and increases the probability for native-born blacks by 0.4 percentage points. I account for the endogeneity of immigrant flows by using instruments based on 1940 settlement patterns. |
| Keywords: | Education; Immigration |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9170&r=lab |
| By: | S. BAERT; B. COCKX; D. VERHAEST |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether young unemployed graduates who accept a job below their level of education accelerate or delay the transition into a job that matches their level of education. We adopt the Timing of Events approach to identify this dynamic treatment effect using monthly calendar data from a representative sample of Flemish (Belgian) youth who started searching for a job right after leaving formal education. We find that overeducation is a trap. This trap is especially important early in the unemployment spell. Our results are robust across various specifications and for two overeducation measures. |
| Keywords: | overqualification, underemployment, school-to-work transitions, duration analysis, dynamic treatment |
| JEL: | C21 C41 I21 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:12/787&r=lab |
| By: | Jepsen, Christopher (University College Dublin); Troske, Kenneth (University of Kentucky); Coomes, Paul A. (University of Louisville) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides among the first rigorous estimates of the labor-market returns to community college certificates and diplomas, as well as estimating the returns to the more commonly-studied associate's degrees. Using administrative data from Kentucky, we estimate panel-data models that control for differences among students in pre-college earnings and educational aspirations. Associate's degrees and diplomas have quarterly earnings returns of nearly $2,400 for women and $1,500 for men, compared with much smaller returns for certificates. There is substantial heterogeneity in returns across fields of study. Degrees, diplomas, and – for women – certificates correspond with higher levels of employment. |
| Keywords: | returns to school, community college, diploma, certificate |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6902&r=lab |
| By: | Blundell, Richard (University College London); Pistaferri, Luigi (Stanford University); Saporta-Eksten, Itay (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine the link between wage inequality and consumption inequality using a life cycle model that incorporates household consumption and family labor supply decisions. We derive analytical expressions based on approximations for the dynamics of consumption, hours, and earnings of two earners in the presence of correlated wage shocks, non-separability and asset accumulation decisions. We show how the model can be estimated and identified using panel data for hours, earnings, assets and consumption. We focus on the importance of family labour supply as an insurance mechanism to wage shocks and find strong evidence of smoothing of male's and female's permanent shocks to wages. Once family labor supply, assets and taxes are properly accounted for, there is little evidence of additional insurance. |
| Keywords: | consumption, labor supply, earnings, inequality |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6900&r=lab |
| By: | Korthals Roxanne (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of tracking in secondary school on student performanceand educational opportunities, taking into account whether prior performance isconsidered when students are selected in the different tracks. The sample consistsof data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009 for around185,000 students in 31 comparable countries. The results are controlled for student- andschool-level confounders. The results indicate that when tracking is implemented, it doesnot have a direct relation with performance. However, system and school interactionsreveal that a highly differentiated system is best for student performance when schoolsalways take into account prior performance to decide on student acceptance. In systemswith a few tracks, admission rules have less of an impact and tracking is only mildlyassociated with performance. Equality of opportunity is best provided for in a systemwith many tracks, especially when schools always consider entrance requirements.However, caution is warranted in interpreting these results since selection issues couldplay a role. |
| Keywords: | labour market entry and occupational careers; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2012014&r=lab |
| By: | Görg, Holger (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Görlich, Dennis (Kiel Institute for the World Economy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of offshoring on individual level wages and unemployment probabilities and pay particular attention to the question of whether workers on temporary contracts are affected differently than workers on permanent contracts. Data are taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), linked with industry-level data on offshoring of materials and services inputs calculated from the World Input Output Database (WIOD). In manufacturing we find that temporary workers face a significant reduction in wages as materials offshoring increases, while permanent workers' wages are unaffected or even tend to increase. Offshoring of core activities generally also tends to reduce the probability of becoming unemployed, and more so for temporary than for permanent workers. By contrast, offshoring of services inputs does not have any statistically significant effects on either wages or employment probabilities in manufacturing. In the service industries, workers are affected in terms of employment probabilities from offshoring of services inputs only, although, in contrast to manufacturing industries, there are no statistically significant effects on individual wages from any type of offshoring. |
| Keywords: | offshoring, temporary work, job security, wages |
| JEL: | J31 F14 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6897&r=lab |
| By: | Mathieu Bunel (University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM UMR CNRS 6211, France); Gilles Reveaud (Institut d’Etudes Européennes, Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis) |
| Abstract: | We used a French employer–employee representative survey to estimate, within private firms covered by union contracts, the union member wage premium. Our estimates are based on several methods: ordinary least squares with averaged individual characteristics at the workplace level, the propensity score and separated equations. We found no wage penalty for free riders, except for blue collar and office workers. But even for these workers, the estimated wage premium is very small. Globally, in France, union membership does not seem to be motivated by monetary raisons. This situation could explain the low level of union membership observed. |
| Keywords: | Union wage premium, union membership, employer-employee data, propensity score method, separated equations method |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201232&r=lab |
| By: | Montizaan Raymond; Vendrik Maarten (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects of social comparisons accompanying a substantialreform of the Dutch pension system on the job satisfaction of workers who are close toretirement. The reform implies that public sector workers born on January 1, 1950, orlater face a substantial reduction in their pension rights, while workers born before thisthreshold date can still retire under the old, more generous rules. Using unique matchedsurvey and administrative panel data on male public sector workers born in 1949 and1950, we find strong and persistent effects on job satisfaction that are sizable comparedto income effects on well-being. The drop in satisfaction is strongly affected by socialcomparisons with colleagues. Treated workers are less affected by the reform when thetreatment group is larger in the organization where they are employed. Moreover, thesocial comparison effect is especially prevalent in organizations that stimulate theiremployees to work in teams. We also find evidence that workers compare their ownreplacement rate with the average replacement of comparable individuals in theirorganization, but the major part of the social comparison effect is non-monetary. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2012013&r=lab |
| By: | Smith, James P. (RAND) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with several salient issues about immigrants to the United States and their education. These issues include a comparison of the schooling accomplishments of immigrants and the native-born that emphasizes the considerable diversity in the schooling accomplishments among different immigrant sub-groups and between legal and undocumented migrants. I also examine the role of the foreign-born who come to the United States for post-secondary schooling. Finally, I show that the educational generational progress among all groups of immigrants to the United States has been quite impressive during the 19th and 20th centuries. |
| Keywords: | immigration, education |
| JEL: | I20 I23 I28 J10 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6899&r=lab |
| By: | Nestor Gandelman; Virginia Robano |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the relationship between parents’ educational attainment and income and children’s schooling in Uruguay between 1982 and 2010. This relationship is interpreted as a measure of intergenerational social mobility, and the paper reports evidence that it has decreased over time. The paper finds that the probability that the children of the more educated remain among the more educated has grown, with analogous results for the less educated. As a result, the improvements in education of the 1980s and 1990s were unevenly distributed, with a bias against the disadvantaged. The paper also finds that while entrepreneurship status and belonging to the middle class matter in terms of social mobility as measured by compulsory education, i. e. , primary school and the first three years of secondary school, they do not have a notable effect on non- compulsory education, i. e. , the last three years of secondary school and higher. |
| JEL: | I24 J62 L26 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4794&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>An upper secondary qualification (ISCED 3) has become the norm for young people in OECD countries. Today it is considered the minimum qualification for successful participation in the labour market and for integration in society.</LI> <LI>In 2010, across OECD countries, 19.1% of 25-34 year-olds without an upper secondary qualification were unemployed, compared with 9.8% of young adults of the same age who had an upper secondary qualification.</LI> <LI>From 2004 to 2008, increasing upper secondary graduation rates coincided with declining numbers of 20-24 year-olds who were neither in education nor employed; but during the economic crisis, an upper secondary qualification no longer provided sufficient insurance against unemployment and poverty.</LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:7-en&r=lab |
| By: | Dräger, Vanessa (IZA); Marx, Paul (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Although the negative economic effects of temporary employment are widely discussed, cross-country research on firms’ demand for temporary employment is rare. National studies indicate that workload fluctuations are one major motive for firms to employ temporary workers. By studying a novel data set of 18,500 firms from 20 countries, we show that workload fluctuations increase the probability of hiring temporary workers by eight percentage points in rigid labour markets, but no such effect is observed in flexible labour markets. This conditioning effect of employment protection is in line with a recently developed search-and-matching model. Our results are robust to subgroups, subsamples and alternative estimation strategies. |
| Keywords: | temporary employment, employment protection, labour demand, firm-level data |
| JEL: | J23 J28 J21 J63 J68 J82 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6894&r=lab |
| By: | Hyunjoon Park (Department of Sociology and Education, University of Pennsylvania); Jere R. Behrman (Department of Economics and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania); Jaesung Choi (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Despite women’s significant improvement in educational attainment, underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) college majors persists in most countries. We address whether one particular institution – single-sex schools – may enhance female – or male – students’ STEM careers. Exploiting the unique setting in Korea where assignment to all-girls, all-boys or coeducational high schools is random, we move beyond associations to assess causal effects of single-sex schools. We use administrative data on national college entrance mathematics examination scores and a longitudinal survey of high school seniors that provide various STEM outcomes (mathematics and science interest and self-efficacy, expectations of a four-year college attendance and a STEM college major during the high school senior year, and actual attendance at a four-year college and choice of a STEM major two years after high school). We find significantly positive effects of all-boys schools consistently across different STEM outcomes, whereas the positive effect of all-girls schools is only found for mathematics scores. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Economic Shocks, Child Schooling |
| JEL: | N37 E30 I21 |
| Date: | 2012–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:12-038&r=lab |
| By: | Felix Hüfner; Caroline Klein |
| Abstract: | The strength of the German labour market response to the financial crisis of 2008-09 demonstrated the benefits of past labour market reforms, which raised work incentives, improved job matching and increased working hour flexibility. Going forward, the government should build on this success and address the remaining challenges which include raising the labour participation of females and older workers (which among other things will necessitate adjustments to the tax and education system) and fostering migration, notably of skilled workers. The significant ageing-related decline in the labour force exemplifies the urgency of further structural reforms in this area. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 Economic Survey of Germany, www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/germany.<P>Le marché du travail en Allemagne : préparer l´avenir<BR>La résilience dont a fait preuve le marché du travail allemand face à la crise financière de 2008-09 témoigne du bien-fondé des réformes passées, qui ont permis d’améliorer les incitations au travail, de garantir une meilleure adéquation entre offres et demandes d’emploi et de renforcer la flexibilité du temps de travail. Les pouvoirs publics allemands doivent s’appuyer sur ce succès pour relever les défis qui subsistent, à savoir augmenter le taux d’activité des femmes et des seniors (ce qui impliquera notamment des ajustements sur le plan de la fiscalité et du système éducatif) et encourager l’immigration, surtout des travailleurs qualifiés. La contraction importante de la main-d’oeuvre sous l’effet du vieillissement de la population témoigne de l’urgence de nouvelles réformes structurelles dans ce domaine. Ce document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE sur l’Allemagne 2012, www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/allemagne. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, migration, Germany, labour force participation rates, female employment, labour shortages, older workers, chômage, Allemagne, travailleurs âgés, emploi des femmes, migration, taux d’activité, besoins de main d’oeuvre |
| JEL: | J11 J21 J22 J24 J26 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2012–09–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:983-en&r=lab |
| By: | Böhlmark, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)); Grönqvist, Erik (Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU)); Vlachos, Jonas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | The role of school principals largely resembles that of corporate managers and the leadership they provide are often viewed as a crucial component for educational success. We estimate the impact of individual principals on various schooling outcomes, by constructing a principal-school panel data set that allows us to track individual principals as they move between schools. We find that individual principals have a substantive impact on school policies, working conditions and student outcomes. Particularly, students who attend a school with a one standard deviation better principal receive on average 0.12 standard deviations higher test scores. Despite having very rich background information on principals, it is difficult to determine which principal characteristics that form the basis for successful school management. We also find a somewhat mixed picture on what management style characterizes a successful principal. We further show that the scope for principal discretion – for better or for worse – is larger in small schools, in voucher schools and in areas with more school competition. |
| Keywords: | Principals; School Management |
| JEL: | D10 I10 J10 |
| Date: | 2012–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0931&r=lab |
| By: | Casares, Miguel; Moreno, Antonio; Vázquez Pérez, Jesús |
| Abstract: | Wage stickiness is incorporated to a New-Keynesian model with variable capital to drive endogenous unemployment uctuations de ned as the log di¤erence between aggregate labor supply and aggregate labor demand. We estimated such model using Bayesian econometric techniques and quarterly U.S. data. The second-moment statistics of the unemployment rate in the model give a good t to those observed in U.S. data. Our results also show that wage-push shocks, demand shifts and monetary policy shocks are the three major determinants of unemployment fl uctuations. Compared to an estimated New-Keynesian model without unemployment (Smets and Wouters, 2007): wage stickiness is higher, labor supply elasticity is lower, the slope of the New-Keynesian Phillips curve is flatter, and the importance of technology innovations on output variability increases. |
| Keywords: | sticky wages, unemployment, business cycles, New-Keynesian models. |
| JEL: | C32 E30 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:dfaeii:8761&r=lab |
| By: | Barry Bosworth |
| Abstract: | The paper uses micro-survey data from successive waves of the Panel Study on Income Dynamics to investigate the distribution of wealth and job losses during the 2007-09 recession for difference segments of the population and the effect of the recession on the retirement decisions of older workers. Estimates of wealth losses are constructed for major socioeconomic group and compared with those of the Survey of Consumer Finances. The panel dimension of the data is used to measure change in the labor force status of workers and to estimate the determinants of the decision to transition from participation in the labor force to retirement. the study concludes that retirement decisions are influenced both by variations in labor market conditions and by the value of household wealth but that labor market exerts a larger impact. |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2012-4&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Lavy; Edith Sand |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the influence of social relationships on educational attainment and social outcomes of students in school. More specifically, we investigate how losing different types of social relationships during the transition from elementary to middle school affect students' academic progress and general well-being. We use social relationships identified by the students themselves in elementary school, as part of a unique aspect of the Tel Aviv school application process which allows sixth-grade students to designate their middle schools of choice and to list up to eight friends with whom they wish to attend that school. The lists create natural “friendship hierarchies” that we exploit in our analysis. We designate the three categories of requited and unrequited friendships that stem from these lists as follows: (1) reciprocal friends (students who list one another); and for those whose friendship requests did not match: (2) followers (those who listed fellow students as friends but were not listed as friends by these same fellow students) and (3) non-reciprocal friends (parallel to followers). Following students from elementary to middle school enables us to overcome potential selection bias by using pupil fixed-effect methodology. Our results suggest that the presence of reciprocal friends and followers in class has a positive and significant effect on test scores in English, math, and Hebrew. However, the number of friends in the social network beyond the first circle of reciprocal friends has no effect at all on students. In addition, the presence of non-reciprocal friends in class has a negative effect on a student’s learning outcomes. We find that these effects have interesting patterns of heterogeneity by gender, ability, and age of students. In addition, we find that these various types of friendships have positive effects on other measures of well-being, including social and overall happiness in school, time allocated for homework, and whether one exhibits violent behavior. |
| JEL: | D8 J0 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18430&r=lab |
| By: | Schmerer, Hans-Jörg (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper proposes a multi-industry trade model with integrated capital and goods markets. Labor market imperfections in line with Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) give rise to unemployment and a channel for the government to influence markets through institutional changes. Labor market interventions feedback into the product market through changes in a country's competitiveness. Moreover, the distinction between high- and low-skill workers facilitates the analysis of skill-biased institutional changes that have stronger impact on certain skill groups. The comparative static exercise in this paper shows that high-skilled benefit from low-skill biased labor market reforms through higher wages. Lower labor costs reduce unemployment of the low-skilled and increases the reforming country's competitiveness. One-sided labor market interventions have feedback effects through adjustments at the extensive margin, which affect all workers at home and abroad irrespective of their level of skill. Governments in the non-reforming countries may react to this loss in competitiveness by initiating cooperative labor market reforms instead." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | F16 E24 J6 F21 |
| Date: | 2012–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201224&r=lab |
| By: | Diego Restuccia; Guillaume Vandenbroucke |
| Abstract: | Between 1940 and 2000 there has been a substantial increase of educational attainment in the United States. What caused this trend? We develop a model of human capital accumulation that features a non-degenerate distribution of educational attainment in the population. We use this framework to assess the quantitative contribution of technological progress and changes in life expectancy in explaining the evolution of educational attainment. The model implies an increase in average years of schooling of 24 percent which is the increase observed in the data. We find that technological variables and in particular skill-biased technical change represent the most important factors in accounting for the increase in educational attainment. The strong response of schooling to changes in income is informative about the potential role of educational policy and the impact of other trends affecting lifetime income. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment, schooling, skill-biased technical progress, human capital. |
| JEL: | E1 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2012–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-464&r=lab |
| By: | Laura Cavalli (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | This work aims at understanding whether, and the extent to which, the intention of having other children is influenced by aspects related to the employment sector chosen by “new” mothers (those who already have one child less than 2 years old). Using Italian data from the Birth Sample Survey conducted by the Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT) in 2005, this work models new mothers’ preferences for family formation and for “working conditions”, namely the sector of employment, taking into account the potential endogeneity of the latter. Working in the public sector, which benefits from stronger employment protection, tends to influence the desired and the realized fertility of working mothers. This could be due to the existence of a lower level of wage discrimination compared to the private sector, to the higher level of job security and to the existence of family friendly policies. However, the choice of the working sector could be endogenous. In fact, once the selection effect is taken into account and the choice of working sector and the desired fertility are modelled together, the correlation among unobservable women’s characteristics affecting the two choices is found to be negative: women who desire more children seem to be less likely to self-select into the public sector. This last finding could be the result of more productive women’s working strategies: given that they are those more work oriented (and less family-oriented), they tend to enter into the public sector, a less gender discriminated sector. |
| Keywords: | Desired Fertility, Total Demand for Children, Working Mothers, Public-Private Sector, Seemingly Unrelated Regression models |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:27/2012&r=lab |
| By: | Jordi Galí |
| Abstract: | I revisit the General Theory's discussion of the role of wages in employment determination through the lens of the New Keynesian model. The analysis points to the key role played by the monetary policy rule in shaping the link between wages and employment, and in determining the welfare impact of enhanced wage flexibility. I show that the latter is not always welfare improving. |
| Keywords: | wage flexibility, monetary policy rules, employment stability. |
| JEL: | E32 |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1339&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>Privately managed schools tend to attract more advantaged student populations; but the difference between the socio-economic profiles of public and private schools is narrowed when privately managed schools receive higher levels of public funding.</LI> <LI>The difference between the socio-economic profiles of publicly and privately managed schools tends to be twice as large in school systems that use universal vouchers as in systems that use targeted vouchers.</LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:20-en&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel Horn (Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, TÁRKI Social Research Institute (TÁRKI)) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that preferences for educational redistribution are not driven by income but by the level of education. While income and preferences for educational redistribution follow the conventional story – rich want less spending –, the level of education associates positively with spending on education, which effect is altered by the selectivity of the education system. Highly educated citizens are relatively more likely to support government spending on education in countries where the system is selective compared to highly educated people’s preferences in countries with comprehensive systems. |
| Keywords: | spending on education, selectivity, preferences on government spending, ISSP1996, ISSP2006 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:ginidp:dp43&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | <UL> <LI>While the reading proficiency of Canadian 15-year-olds closely predicts reading proficiency at age 24, young adults can shape their reading skills after the end of compulsory schooling.</LI> <LI>In the transition to young adulthood, reading skills generally improve – but more for some groups than for others. Immigrants, in particular, manage to close performance gaps between the ages of 15 and 24.</LI> <LI>Participation in some forms of formal post-secondary education is consistently and substantially related to improvements in reading skills between the ages of 15 and 24.</LI></UL> |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:19-en&r=lab |