|
on Labour Economics |
|
Issue of 2014‒03‒15
thirty-one papers chosen by Erik Jonasson National Institute of Economic Research |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Increasing the minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers. Most of them would receive higher pay that would increase their family’s income, and some of those families would see their income rise above the poverty threshold. But some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated, the income of most workers who became jobless would fall substantially, and the share of low-wage workers who were employed would probably fall slightly. |
| Date: | 2014–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:44995&r=lab |
| By: | Bednar, Steven (Elon University); Gicheva, Dora (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We introduce the idea that easily inferable demographic characteristics such as gender may not be sufficient to define type in the supervisor-employee mentoring relationship. We use longitudinal data on athletic directors at NCAA Division I programs to identify through observed mobility the propensity of top-level administrators to hire and retain female head coaches, above and beyond an organization’s culture. We show that supervisor gender appears to be unrelated to female friendliness in this setting. Overall, our findings indicate that more focus should be placed on the more complex manager type defined by attitudes in addition to attributes. |
| Keywords: | type-based mentoring; hiring practices; female-friendly workplaces |
| JEL: | J44 J71 M51 |
| Date: | 2014–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:uncgec:2014_001&r=lab |
| By: | Petra Marotzke (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In line with earlier literature, I document a U-shaped relationship between age and wage dispersion in the U.S.. To explain this outcome, I consider a life-cycle model of labor market search with strategic wage bargaining, heterogeneous firm-worker matches, and endogenous search effort. Three factors shape the age-inequality profile of wages in the model economy: the time until retirement, match heterogeneity, and the workers’ bargaining power. Young workers switch employers often and are gradually matched to better jobs, which leads to the initial reduction in the variance of log wages. Middle-aged and older workers switch employers less frequently and have a longer search history. As workers are differently successful in the labor market, the variance of match productivities rises in the second half of the working life. The calibrated model captures the U-shape of the age-inequality profile of wages in conjunction with the hump-shaped age profile of average wages, as well as employment-to-employment transitions that decrease with age. |
| Keywords: | Search Frictions, Wage Dispersion, Life Cycle, Wage Bargaining |
| JEL: | J31 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1406&r=lab |
| By: | Adrian Chadi (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EU, University of Trier); Clemens Hetschko (School of Business and Economics, Freie Universitaet Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate a crucial event for job satisfaction: changing the workplace. For representative German panel data, we show that the reason why the previous employment ended is strongly linked to the satisfaction with the new job. When workers initiate a change of employer, they experience relatively high job satisfaction, though only in the short-term. To test causality, we exploit plant closure as exogenous trigger of job switching and find no causal effect of job changes on job satisfaction. Our findings concern research on workers' well-being as well as labor market and human resource policies. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, job changes, new job, honeymoon-hangover effect, plant closure |
| JEL: | I31 J28 J63 M50 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:201405&r=lab |
| By: | Laouénan, Morgane (IRES, Université catholique de Louvain) |
| Abstract: | The wage gap between African-Americans and white Americans is substantial in the US and has slightly narrowed over the past 30 years. Today, blacks have almost achieved the same educational level as whites. There is reason to believe that discrimination driven by prejudice plays a part in explaining this residual wage gap. Whereas racial prejudice has substantially declined over the past 30 years, the wage differential has slightly converged overtime. This 'prejudice puzzle' raises other reasons in explaining the absence of convergence of this racial differential. In this paper, I assess the impact which of the boom of jobs in contact with customers has on blacks' labor market earnings. I develop a search-matching model with bargaining to predict the negative impact which of the share of these contact jobs has on blacks' earnings in the presence of customer discrimination. I test this model using the IPUMS, the General Social Survey and the Occupation Information Network. My estimates show that black men's relative earnings are lower in areas where the proportions of prejudiced individuals and of contact jobs are high. I also estimate that the decreased exposure to racial prejudice is associated with a higher convergence of the residual gap, whereas the expansion of contact jobs partly explains the persistence of the gap. |
| Keywords: | wage differential, racial prejudice, search model |
| JEL: | J15 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8006&r=lab |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | Since the recession ended in June 2009, employment has risen sluggishly and the unemployment rate has fallen only partway back to its prerecession level. That slow recovery of the labor market largely reflects the slow growth in the demand for goods and services. Moreover, a significant part of the improvement in the unemployment rate is attributable to a decline in labor force participation—the result of an unusually large number of people having stopped looking for work. |
| Date: | 2014–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:45011&r=lab |
| By: | Milla Sanes; John Schmitt |
| Abstract: | While the unionization of most private-sector workers is governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the legal scope of collective bargaining for state and local public-sector workers is the domain of states and, where states allow it, local authorities. This hodge-podge of state-and-local legal frameworks is complicated enough, but recent efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and other states have left the legal rights of public-sector workers even less transparent. In this report, we review the legal rights and limitations on public-sector bargaining in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as of January 2014. Given the legal complexities, we focus on three sets of workers who make up almost half of all unionized public-sector workers: teachers, police, and firefighters, with some observations, where possible, on other state-and-local workers. For each group of workers, we examine whether public-sector workers have the right to bargain collectively; whether that right includes the ability to bargain over wages; and whether public-sector workers have the right to strike. |
| Keywords: | labor, employment, jobs, unions, collective bargaining, state laws, public-sector workers, teachers, fire fighters, police officers |
| JEL: | J J5 J50 J58 J15 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2014-05&r=lab |
| By: | Kopf, Eva (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Zabel, Cordula (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "A major unemployment and welfare benefit reform took place in Germany in 2005. One objective of this reform was to more strongly encourage an adult worker model of the family, with an emphasis on activating the formerly inactive. Our hypothesis is, however, that assignments to activation programmes, such as training or workfare, will in practice still tend to replicate patterns for the division of labour in the household that couples have become accustomed to. The views of case workers in employment offices and those of benefit recipients themselves about the division of labour in the household may influence the allocation process to labour market programmes. We classify couples based on each partner's cumulative income across the ten years prior to benefit receipt. We compare women's programme entries between former male breadwinner households, dual earner households, no-earner households, and female breadwinner households. We analyse large-scale administrative data, applying eventhistory analysis. Our findings are that in western Germany, assignments to activation programmes do indeed replicate couples' prior division of labour in the household. In eastern Germany, by contrast, women in former male breadwinner households are actually allocated to several programmes at higher rates than women in households without a clear former division of labour." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Ehefrauen, Geschlechterrolle, Rollenverständnis, arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahme, Familienpolitik, regionaler Vergleich, Arbeitslosengeld II-Empfänger, Arbeitsteilung, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Trainingsmaßnahme, Arbeitsgelegenheit, Teilnehmer - Quote, arbeitslose Frauen, Case Management, Hartz-Reform, Aktivierung, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien, IAB-Leistungsempfängerhistorik, allein Stehende, Ostdeutschland, Westdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | C41 D13 I38 J12 J64 J65 J68 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201406&r=lab |
| By: | Alexander C. Lembcke |
| Abstract: | I evaluate the impact of the UK Working Time Regulations 1998, which introduced mandatory paid holiday entitlement. The regulation gave (nearly) all workers the right to a minimum of 4 weeks of paid holiday per a year. With constant weekly pay this change amounts effectively to an increase in the real hourly wage of about 8.5% for someone going from 0 to 4 weeks paid holiday per year, which should lead to adjustments in employment. For employees I use complementary log-log regression to account for right-censoring of employment spells. I find no increase in the hazard to exit employment within a year after treatment. Adjustments in wages cannot explain this result as they are increasing for the treated groups relative to the control. I also evaluate the long run trend in aggregate employment, using the predicted treatment probabilities in a difference-in-difference framework. Here I find a small and statistically significant decrease in employment. This effect is driven by a trend reversal in employment, coinciding with the treatment. |
| Keywords: | UK Working Time Regulation, Employment and labour regulation, UK LFS |
| JEL: | J08 J23 J45 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1262&r=lab |
| By: | Casey B. Mulligan |
| Abstract: | Hours, employment, and earnings taxes are economically distinct, and all three are either introduced or expanded by the Affordable Care Act beginning in 2014. The tax wedges push some workers to work more hours per week (for the weeks that they are on a payroll), and others to work less, with an average weekly hours effect that tends to be small and may be in either direction. A conservative estimate of the law’s average employment rate impact is negative two or three percent. The ACA’s tax wedges and ultimately its behavioral effects vary substantially across groups, with the elderly experiencing hardly any new disincentive and unmarried household heads experiencing tax wedges that are about twice the average. My estimates suggest that 3-4 percent of the workforce will work less than the legislated 30-hour threshold solely to avoid the implicit and explicit full-time employment taxes. |
| JEL: | E24 I13 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19936&r=lab |
| By: | Albrecht, James (Georgetown University); van Vuuren, Aico (VU University Amsterdam); Vroman, Susan (Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | Derek Neal (JPE 2004) used the NLSY79 to show that the observed median log wage gap between young white and young black women in 1990 underestimated the true, selection-corrected gap, i.e., the gap we would have expected to see had all of these women been employed in 1990. In this paper, we use the NLSY97 to update his analysis. The observed median log wage gap increased substantially between 1990 and 2011, as did the selection-corrected gap. These increases are explained to a considerable extent by changes in the distribution of educational attainment across young white and black women. |
| Keywords: | racial log wage gap, selection, women |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8005&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Beckmann; Thomas Cornelissen |
| Abstract: | Based on German individual-level panel data, this paper empirically examines the impact of self-managed working time (SMWT) on employee effort. Theoretically, workers may respond positively or negatively to having control over their own working hours, depending on whether SMWT increases work morale, induces reciprocal work intensification, or encourages employee shirking. We find that SMWT employees exert higher effort levels than employees with fixed working hours, but after accounting for observed and unobserved characteristics and for endogeneity, there remains only a modest positive effect. This effect is mainly driven by employees who have a strong work ethic, suggesting that intrinsic motivation is complementary to SMWT. Moreover, reciprocal work intensification does not seem to be an important channel of providing extra effort. Finally, we find no SMWT effect among women with children in need of parental care indicating that these workers primarily choose SMWT to accommodate family obligations. |
| Keywords: | Self-managed working time, employee effort, reciprocity, work ethic, intrinsic motivation, family obligations, complementarity |
| JEL: | J24 J81 M50 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp636&r=lab |
| By: | Joachim Jarreau (Aix-Marseille University (Aix-Marseille School of Economics), CNRS & EHESS) |
| Abstract: | Many OECD countries have changed the rules for immigrants in recent decades, generally making harder to enter and to stay. France is one example. This paper studies the immigrants' response to the 2004 reform of the immigration law, which made it harder for foreigners to obtain resident status. The strategy for identification exploits a discontinuity in exposure to the reform, determined by the time of entry. The first result is that the 2004 reform prompted a wave of departures among low-skilled, unemployed, unmarried men. This effect is observed among those with previous work experience in France and searching for work, indicating that the difficulty to find a job without resident status creates an incentive for outmigration. Second, the obtention of resident status lowers significantly but marginally the labor supply of women, consistently with an adjustment role of women's work, and with a small substitution effect of labor income with welfare benefits. Overall, these results suggest that restrictions on access to resident status prompted outmigration, but not among the population with the most elastic labor supply. Thus, the reform did not reach its main objectives: selection occurred, but not of those less willing to work; cutting access to benefits increased labor supply, but only marginally. |
| Keywords: | Immigration Policy, Labor Markets, Welfare Magnets. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J65 |
| Date: | 2014–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1403&r=lab |
| By: | Bergemann, Annette (Department of Economics, Mannheim University); van den Berg, Gerard J. (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Women without work after childbirth are at risk of losing their connection to the labor market. However, they may participate in adult education programs. We analyze the effect of this on the duration to work and on the wage rate, by applying conditional difference-in-differences approaches. We use Swedish matched longitudinal register data sets covering the full population. The Swedish adult education program is unprecedented in its size, and enrollment is universally available at virtually no cost. We focus on low-skilled women who have recently given birth. We take account of program accessibility, selection issues, course heterogeneity, the income received during adult education, parental leave, and child care fees. Adult education shows positive effects for the unemployed with respect to both the employment probability and wages. To explain the actual program participation rate, we model the enrollment decision from the mothers´ point of view, using the estimates to calibrate a job search model. We conclude that non-pecuniary factors cause mothers non to enter adult education. |
| Keywords: | Evaluation of adult education; job search model; female labor supply; wages; participation; unemployment; schooling; conditional difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | C14 H43 J24 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_005&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias Krapf (University of Zurich, Switzerland); Heinrich W. Ursprung (University of Konstanz, Germany); Christian Zimmermann (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA) |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of pregnancy and parenthood on the research productivity of academic economists. Combining the survey responses of nearly 10,000 economists with their publication records as documented in their RePEc accounts, we do not find that motherhood is associated with low research productivity. Nor do we find a statistically significant unconditional effect of a first child on research productivity. Conditional difference-in-differences estimates, however, suggest that the effect of parenthood on research productivity is negative for unmarried women and positive for untenured men. Moreover, becoming a mother before 30 years of age appears to have a detrimental effect on research productivity. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, research productivity, gender gap, research productivity, life cycle |
| JEL: | J13 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:01_14&r=lab |
| By: | Kohlbrecher, Britta; Merkl, Christian; Nordmeier, Daniela (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Many labor market models use both idiosyncratic productivity and a vacancy free entry condition. This paper shows that these two features combined generate an equilibrium comovement between matches on the one hand and unemployment and vacancies on the other hand, which is observationally equivalent to a constant returns Cobb-Douglas function commonly used to model match formation. We use German administrative labor market data to show that the matching function correlation solely based on idiosyncratic productivity and free entry is very close to the empirical matching function. Consequently, we argue that standard matching function estimations are seriously biased if idiosyncratic productivity plays a role for match formation. In this case, they are not suitable for the calibration of labor market models." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsmarkttheorie, Matching, offene Stellen, Arbeitslose |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201405&r=lab |
| By: | Frieder Kropfhäußer; Marco Sunder |
| Abstract: | We estimate the relationship between changes in the body mass index (bmi) and wages or satisfaction, respectively, in a panel of German employees. In contrast to previous literature, the dynamic models indicate that there is an inverse u-shaped association between bmi and wages among young workers. Among young male workers, work satisfaction is affected beyond the effect on earnings. Our finding of an implied optimum bmi in the overweight range could indicate that the recent rise in weight does not yet constitute a major limitation to productivity. |
| Keywords: | Obesity, earnings, System-GMM estimator, dynamic panel model, SOEP |
| JEL: | J24 J28 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp635&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Marmora (Department of Economics, Temple University); Moritz Ritter (Department of Economics, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how unemployment late in workers' careers affects the timing of their retirement. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation from 1996 to 2011, we document that unemployed workers permanently leave the labor force at a significantly higher rate than employed workers. This effect is stronger once workers become eligible for social security benefits and it is significantly dampened by the eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits. Unemployed workers, particularly those workers in households with below median wealth, also have a significantly higher social security uptake rate shortly after turning 62 than employed workers. We find little evidence for housing or stock market effects on the timing of retirement. |
| Keywords: | Older Workers, Retirement, Social Security, Unemployment |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tem:wpaper:1401&r=lab |
| By: | Marc Teignier (Facultat d'Economia i Empresa; Universitat de Barcelona (UB)); David Cuberes (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the quantitative effects of gender gaps in entrepreneurship and labor force participation on aggregate productivity and income per capita. We simulate an occupational choice model with heterogeneous agents in entrepreneurial ability, where agents choose to be workers, self-employed or employers. The model assumes that men and women have the same talent distribution, but we impose several frictions on women's opportunities and pay in the labor market. In particular, we restrict the fraction of women participating in the labor market. Moreover, we limit the number of women who can work as employers or as self-employed and, finally, women who become workers receive a lower wage. Our model shows that gender gaps in entrepreneurship and in female workers' pay affect aggregate productivity negatively, while gender gaps in labor force participation reduce income per capita. Specifically, if all women are excluded from entrepreneurship, average output per worker drops by almost 12% because the average talent of entrepreneurs falls down, while if all women are excluded from the labor force income per capita is reduced by almost 40%. In the cross-country analysis, we find that gender gaps and their implied income losses differ importantly across geographical regions, with a total income loss of 27% in Middle East and North Africa and a 10% loss in Europe. |
| Keywords: | Span of control, Aggregate productivity, Entrepreneurship talent, Gender inequality |
| JEL: | E2 J21 J24 O40 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ewp:wpaper:308web&r=lab |
| By: | Bisello, Martina |
| Abstract: | In this paper we empirically test the predictions of Peri and Sparber (2009) model of comparative advantage in tasks performance to evaluate whether in the United Kingdom immigration affected the way natives specialise in the task they perform on the job. Using Labour Force Survey and UK Skills Survey data from 1997 through 2006, we find that less-educated natives responded to immigration inflows of similarly educated workers by increasing their supply of communication tasks, relative to manual tasks. We also show that this effect varies across demographic groups, being higher among men, young people and workers with primary education (or less). |
| Date: | 2014–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2014-12&r=lab |
| By: | Alexander C. Lembcke |
| Abstract: | I consider how the availability of a personal computer at home changed employment for married women. I develop a theoretical model that motivates the empirical specifications. Using data from the U.S. CPS from 1984 to 2003, I find that employment is 1.5 to 7 percentage points higher for women in households with a computer. The model predicts that the increase in employment is driven by higher wages. I find having a computer at home is associated with higher wages, and employment in more computer intensive occupations, which is consistent with the model. Decomposing the changes by educational attainment shows that both women with low levels of education (high school diploma or less) and women with the highest levels of education (Master's degree or more) have high returns from home computers |
| Keywords: | Married womens labor supply, computer skills and labor supply, US CPS |
| JEL: | J24 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1260&r=lab |
| By: | Lichter, Andreas; Peichl, Andreas; Siegloch, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | Firms' labor demand responses to wage changes are of key interest in empirical research and policy analysis. However, despite extensive research, estimates of labor demand elasticities remain subject to considerable heterogeneity. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive meta-regression analysis to re-assess the empirical literature on labor demand elasticities. Building on 942 elasticity estimates from 105 different studies, we identify sources of variation in the absolute value of this elasticity. Heterogeneity due to the theoretical and empirical speci cation of the labor demand model, di fferent datasets used or sectors and countries considered explains more than 80% of the variation in the estimates. We further find substantial evidence for the presence of publication selection bias, as estimates of the own-wage elasticity of labor demand are upwardly inflated. -- |
| Keywords: | labor demand,wage elasticity,meta-analysis |
| JEL: | J23 C10 C83 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14016&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Baranowska-Rataj (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics); Anna Matysiak (Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the discussion on the effects of the number of children on female employment in Europe. Previous research has usually either (1) compared these effects across countries assuming exogeneity of family size or (2) used methods which deal with endogeneity of family size but focused on single countries. We combine these two approaches by taking a cross-country comparative perspective and applying quasi-experimental methods. We use instrumental variable models, with multiple births as instruments, and the harmonized data from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). We first examine the cross-country variation in the effects of family size on maternal employment across the groups of European countries with similar welfare state regimes. Next, to measure the impact of welfare state regimes in a more precise way, we implement the Index for the Conditions of Work and Family Reconciliation, i.e. a synthetic indicator that captures the impact of family policies, social norms and labour market conditions. This step gives us an opportunity to investigate whether the revealed cross-country differences in the magnitude of the effect of the family size on maternal employment can be attributed to the diversity of European institutional arrangements as well as cultural and structural conditions for combining employment and family duties. |
| Keywords: | family size effects, reconciliation of work and parenthood, female labour supply |
| JEL: | J13 J18 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isd:wpaper:64&r=lab |
| By: | García Serrano, Carlos; Malo, Miguel A |
| Keywords: | labour market segmentation, labour market, labour flexibility, temporary employment, labour contract, social dialogue, trend, Spain, case study, segmentation du marché du travail, marché du travail, flexibilité du travail, emploi temporaire, contrat de travail, dialogue social, tendance, Espagne, étude de cas, segmentación del mercado de trabajo, mercado de trabajo, flexibilidad del trabajo, empleo temporal, contrato de trabajo, diálogo social, tendencia, España, estudio de casos |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:481498&r=lab |
| By: | Doerrenberg, Philipp; Duncan, Denvil; Zeppenfeld, Christopher |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether risk-taking in a lottery depends on the opportunity to respond to the lottery outcome through additional labor effort and/or tax evasion. Previous empirical attempts to answer this question face identification issues due to self selection into jobs that facilitate tax evasion and labor effort exibility. We address these identification issues using a laboratory experiment (N = 180). Subjects have the opportunity to invest earned income in a lottery and, depending on randomly assigned treatment states, have the opportunity to respond to the lottery outcome through evasion and/or extra labor effort. We find strong evidence that ex-post access to labor opportunities reduces ex-ante risk willingness while access to tax evasion has no effect on risk behavior. We discuss possible explanations for this result based on the existing literature. -- |
| Keywords: | Tax Evasion,Labor Supply,Risk Behavior,Lab Experiment |
| JEL: | G11 H21 H24 H26 J22 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14014&r=lab |
| By: | KAMATA Isao |
| Abstract: | An increasing number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) include "labor clauses" that require or urge the signatory countries to commit to maintaining a certain level of labor standards. This paper, starting by classifying more than 200 currently effective RTAs depending on the nature and extent of labor provisions, empirically analyzes the effect of a RTA with labor clauses on domestic labor conditions in the signatory countries as well as the effect on trade growth between the countries, using data for up to 220 countries for the period 1995-2012. The study finds that (i) intensive trade with the partner(s) of a labor-clause-inclusive RTA may have a positive impact on labor earnings that concentrate on middle-income countries; but also that (ii) labor clauses may reduce the trade-promoting effect of the RTA for the middle-income countries, especially when the RTA partner is a high-income country. These results offer a policy implication that the inclusion of labor clauses in a trade agreement should involve non-negligible costs for possible benefits that may not be expected for every country. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:14012&r=lab |
| By: | Verme, Paolo; Barry, Abdoul Gadiry; Guennouni, Jamal; Taamouti, Mohamed |
| Abstract: | During the past 20 years, Morocco has implemented a wide range of macroeconomic, social, and labor market reforms that have delivered in terms of growth of gross domestic product and household welfare. Yet, these positive developments are not reflected by the main labor market indicators, a phenomenon observed elsewhere in developed and developing economies alike and labeled as"jobless growth."For the first time for Morocco, this paper uses quarterly panel data to investigate the question of labor mobility in an effort to determine whether people have moved to better sectors and jobs. The results point to significant labor mobility between labor statuses with quite distinct features across population groups. All groups experience some form of labor market mobility every quarter and women are as mobile as men. However, the transitions that women experience are very different from the transitions than men experience and women's performance is worse than men’s performance in almost all aspects of labor mobility. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Population Policies,Labor Policies,Housing&Human Habitats,Markets and Market Access |
| Date: | 2014–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6795&r=lab |
| By: | Foreman-Peck, James (Cardiff Business School); Zhou, Peng (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | The present research shows how entrepreneurial culture contributes to the widely noted difference in entrepreneurial propensities between men and women. The consequences of the assumed differential importance of household and family generate testable hypotheses about the gender effects of entrepreneurial culture. The principal hypothesis is that there is a greater chance of females in ‘unentrepreneurial’ cultures being relatively entrepreneurial compared to males. Also women from different entrepreneurial cultures show greater similarity of behaviour (lower variance) than men. But proportionate gender gaps within entrepreneurial cultures are less than those between males of different cultures. These hypotheses are tested on US immigrant data from the 2000 census and are not rejected. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Culture; Gender; Migrants |
| JEL: | D01 J15 J23 J61 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2014/1&r=lab |
| By: | Muto, Ichiro; Shintani, Kohei |
| Abstract: | We present an empirical analysis on the New Keynesian Wage Phillips Curve (NKWPC), which is derived by Gali (2011) as a micro-founded structural relationship between wage inflation and the unemployment rate under a sticky wage framework using data for Japan and the US. We find that the empirical fit of the NKWPC is generally superior for Japan. We also find that the slope of the NKWPC is much steeper in Japan than in the US. These results suggest that wages are less sticky in Japan than in the US. Inflation indexation plays a key role in the US, but is less important in Japan. Rolling estimations indicate that the NKWPC has flattened over time in Japan. Analysis of recent data indicates that in both countries the role of inflation indexation is quantitatively smaller than before, although this result might be influenced by low and stable inflation rates over the past few decades. |
| Keywords: | Wage; Unemployment rate: New Keynesian model; Phillips curve |
| JEL: | E24 E31 E32 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53934&r=lab |
| By: | Pavlina R. Tcherneva |
| Abstract: | It is common knowledge that John Maynard Keynes advocated bold government action to deal with recessions and unemployment. What is not commonly known is that modern "Keynesian policies" bear little, if any, resemblance to the policy measures Keynes himself believed would guarantee true full employment over the long run. This paper corrects this misconception and outlines "the road not taken"; that is, the long-term program for full employment found in Keynes's writings and elaborated on by others in works that are missing from mainstream textbooks and policy initiatives. The analysis herein focuses on why the private sector ordinarily fails to produce full employment, even during strong expansions and in the presence of strong government action. It articulates the reasons why the job of the policymaker is, not to "nudge" private firms to create jobs for all, but to do so itself directly as a matter of last resort. This paper discusses various designs of direct job creation policies that answer Keynes's call for long-run full employment policies. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment as a Monetary Phenomenon; Long-run Full Employment; John Maynard Keynes; Social Economy; Aggregate Demand Management |
| JEL: | B3 E2 E6 H1 H31 J68 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_789&r=lab |
| By: | Andersson, Ola (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Huysentruyt, Marieke (London School of Economics); Miettinen, Topi (Hanken School of Economics at HECER); Stephan, Ute (Aston Business School) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effects of organizational culture and personal value orientations on performance under individual and team contest incentives. We develop a model of regard for others and in-group favoritism predicting interaction effects between organizational culture and personal values in the contest games. The predictions are tested in a computerized lab experiment with exogenous control of both organizational culture and incentives. In line with our theoretical model we find that prosocial (proself) orientated subjects exert more (less) effort in team contests in the primed prosocial organizational culture condition, relative to the neutrally primed baseline condition. Further, when the prosocial organizational culture is combined with individual contest incentives, prosocial subjects no longer outperform their proself counterparts. These findings provide a first, affirmative, causal test of person-organization fit theory. They also suggest the importance of a 'triple-fit' between personal preferences, organizational culture and incentive mechanisms for prosocially orientated individuals. |
| Keywords: | Tournaments; Organizational culture; Personal values; Person-organization fit; Teams; Economic incentives |
| JEL: | C91 D02 D23 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2014–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1010&r=lab |