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on Unemployment, Inequality and Poverty |
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Issue of 2006‒04‒01
four papers chosen by |
| By: | Luis Eduardo Arango; Carlos Esteban Posada |
| Abstract: | A pseudo-panel was built to estimate the determinants of the labor participation decision of married women between 1984 and 2000. Past participation decisions, education level, labor income taxes, children between 1 and 2 years of age, and the presence of other people unemployed at home are the main explanatory variables of married women’s labor participation in Colombia . The interest rate variable does not offer any insight into that decision. |
| Keywords: | married women, labor participation, state-dependence, fertility. |
| JEL: | C21 C23 C25 J22 J13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:357&r=ltv |
| By: | Saïd Hanchane (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - http://www.univ-aix.fr/lest - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II] - []); Tarek Mostafa (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - http://www.univ-aix.fr/lest - [CNRS : UMR6123] - [Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I][Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II] - []) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the equilibrium on the market for schooling where both public and private schools coexist and where individuals are differentiated by income and ability. We study the distribution of students across sectors while examining the conditions for the existence of a majority voting equilibrium in the context of non single peaked preferences. Finally, we examine the existence of a hierarchy of school qualities, as a consequence of the discriminating pricing strategy used by private schools to internalize the effect of peer groups. |
| Keywords: | Education market; Majority voting equilibrium; Peer group effect; Pricing discrimination; Educational opportunity |
| Date: | 2006–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00009533_v2&r=ltv |
| By: | Cunningham, Wendy; Kristensen, Nicolai |
| Abstract: | Despite the existence of minimum wage legislation in most Latin American countries, there is little empirical evidence demonstrating its impact on the distribution of wages. In this study the authors analyze cross-country data for 19 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to gain an understanding of if and how minimum wages affect wage distributions in LAC countries. Although there is no single minimum wage institution in the LAC region, the authors find regional trends. Minimum wages affect the wage distribution in both the formal and, especially, the informal sector, both at the minimum wage and at multiples of the minimum. The minimum does not uniformly benefit low-wage workers: in countries where the minimum wage is relatively low compared to mean wages, the minimum wage affects the more disadvantaged segments of the labor force, namely informal sector workers, women, young and older workers, and the low skilled, but in countries where the minimum wage is relatively high compared to the wage distribution, it primarily affects wages of the high skilled. This indicates that the minimum does not generally lift the wages of all, but instead, it offers a wage into which employers can " lock in " wages that are already near that level. Thus, minimum wage legislation is more far-reaching than originally thought, affecting both the uncovered informal sector and those earning above the minimum. In addition, the relative level of the minimum wage i s important for determining whose wages are affected. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Income,Wages, Compensation & Benefits,Corporate Social Responsibility,Child Labor |
| Date: | 2006–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3870&r=ltv |
| By: | Daniela Del Boca; Daniela Vuri |
| Abstract: | In Italy the participation of women has not increased very much in the last few decades relative to other developed countries and it is still among the lowest in Europe. The female employment rate stands almost 13 percentage points below the EU average and 22 below the Lisbon target. One of the most important reasons is related to the characteristics of child care system. In this paper we analyze the characteristics of the child care system in Italy and its relationship to the labor market participation decision of mothers. We present a simple discrete choice framework in which the two decisions can be jointly considered, which also allows for simple forms of rationing. We go on to estimate a bivariate probit model of the child care and employment decisions and interpret the results within the framework of our model. We find evidence that rationing is an important factor in interpreting price eects on utilization rates and employment decisions. |
| Keywords: | Labor Market Decisions, Fertility, Child care |
| JEL: | J2 C3 D1 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpc:wplist:wp08_06&r=ltv |