New Economics Papers
on Neuroeconomics
Issue of 2013‒01‒12
two papers chosen by



  1. Cognitive skills, tasks and job mobility By Warnke, Arne Jonas; Ederer, Peer; Schuller, Philipp
  2. Dynamic Analysis and the Economics of Happiness: Rationale, Results and Rules By Piper, Alan T.

  1. By: Warnke, Arne Jonas; Ederer, Peer; Schuller, Philipp
    Abstract: The authors investigate on the basis of primary and secondary data the relationship between individual cognitive skills and the complexity of the particular work those individuals perform. Additionally, the relationship between skills and mobility between more or less complex jobs in an highly homogenous industrial environment is analyzed. The primary data consists of a survey conducted in 2011 of anonymously tested 305 participants in selected factories of four different companies. The survey consists of a newly developed dynamic problem solving test and a standard general intelligence test. Skill measurement is supplemented by information about tasks and personal background. Results are compared to larger scale secondary data sources. Special focus is placed on different employment groups within a company: assemblers, craftsmen, technicians and engineers. Using this data, we can show that non-routine content of individual work is strongly related to cognitive skills. Also, higher cognitive skill levels predict upward occupational mobility. Finally, we demonstrate that the established task-based approach helps to explain why the occupational mobility between some occupational groups is lower than between others. These findings can be useful for the discovery of opportunities for occupational upward mobility in a homogenous environment. --
    JEL: J24 J62 J60
    Date: 2012
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc12:62026&r=neu
  2. By: Piper, Alan T.
    Abstract: This paper provides a sustained introduction for the use of dynamic panel methods when analysing life satisfaction. As well as being able to address the issue of serial correlation, dynamic panel analysis also has the advantage of being able to treat variables as exogenous or endogenous, important for happiness, and can generate both contemporaneous and long run estimates for independent variables. A key result found initially for young people, but which is robust to different age ranges and countries, is that happiness is largely contemporaneous although there is a small, persistent effect of the past on current happiness. Additionally, decision rules are provided for the analysis of happiness using dynamic panel analysis.
    Keywords: Dynamic Panel Analysis; Happiness; Life Satisfaction
    JEL: I31 C33
    Date: 2012–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43248&r=neu

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