|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Martin Berka; Michael B. Devereux; Thomas Rudolph |
| Abstract: | We study a newly released data set of scanner prices for food products in a large Swiss online supermarket. We find that average prices change about every two months, but when we exclude temporary sales, prices are extremely sticky, changing on average once every three years. Non-sale price behavior is broadly consistent with menu cost models of sticky prices. When we focus specifically on the behavior of sale prices, however, we find that the characteristics of price adjustment seems to be substantially at odds with standard theory. |
| Keywords: | Pricing ; Profit |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddgw:83&r=hme |
| By: | Galina Hale; Tali Regev |
| Abstract: | Analyzing university faculty and graduate student data for the top-ten U.S. economics departments between 1987 and 2007, we find that there are persistent differences in gender composition for both faculty and graduate students across institutions and that the share of female faculty and the share of women in the entering PhD class are positively correlated. We find, using instrumental variables analysis, robust evidence that this correlation is driven by the causal effect of the female faculty share on the gender composition of the entering PhD class. This result provides an explanation for persistent underrepresentation of women in economics, as well as for persistent segregation of women across academic fields. |
| Keywords: | Economics - Study and teaching ; Universities and colleges ; Economists |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2011-19&r=hme |
| By: | Hallward-Driemeier, Mary; Rijkers, Bob; Waxman, Andrew |
| Abstract: | In a crisis, do employers place the burden of adjustment disproportionately on female employees? Relying on household and labor force data, existing studies of the distributional impact of crises have not been able to address this question. This paper uses Indonesia's census of manufacturing firms to analyze employer responses and to identify mechanisms by which gender differences in impact may arise, notably differential treatment of men and women within firms as well as gender sorting across firms that varied in their exposure to the crisis. On average, women experienced higher job losses than their male colleagues within the same firm. However, the aggregate adverse effect of such differential treatment was more than offset by women being disproportionately employed in firms hit relatively less hard by the crisis. The null hypothesis that there were no gender differences in wage adjustment is not rejected. Analyzing how employer characteristics impact labor market adjustment patterns contributes to the understanding of who is vulnerable in volatile times. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Gender and Development,Labor Policies,Population Policies,Gender and Law |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5789&r=hme |
| By: | Anke Hassel |
| Abstract: | What do the recent trends in German economic development convey about the trajectory of change? Has liberalization prepared the German economy to deal with new challenges? What effects will liberalization have on the coordinating capacities of economic institutions? This paper argues that coordination and liberalization are two sides of the same coin in the process of corporate restructuring in the face of economic shocks. Firms seek labour cooperation in the face of tighter competitive pressures and exploit institutional advantages of coordination. However, tighter cooperation with core workers sharpened insider-outsider divisions and were built upon service sector cost cutting through liberalization. The combination of plant-level restructuring and social policy change forms a trajectory of institutional adjustment of forming complementary economic segments which work under different rules. The process is driven by producer coalitions of export-oriented firms and core workers’ representatives rather than by firms per se. |
| Keywords: | Varieties of Capitalism, institutional change, labour market, industrial relations |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eiq:eileqs:42&r=hme |
| By: | Woll, Cornelia (Centre d'études et de recherches internationales) |
| Abstract: | The highly politicized debate about the recent Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) Directive of the European Union led many observers to suspect an ideological battle between countries seeking to impose transnational regulation on financial service industries such as hedge funds and liberal market economies insisting on the benefits of market discipline in order to protect their financial centers. The battle that appeared to particularly pit France against the United Kingdom can thus be interpreted as an example of a regulatory paradigm shift in the aftermath of the crisis. This article cautions against such an ideas-centered account of financial regulation and points to the economic interests that drove the French and German agendas. However, contrary to the assumptions of traditional political economy approaches, national preferences were not simply defined by the aggregate of a country’s economic interests. Rather, industry success in shaping government positions on alternative investment regulation crucially depended on how a given industry fit into the government’s overarching geo-political agenda. By highlighting this feedback loop between government strategy and industry lobbying, the paper proposes a strategic analysis of financial regulation, as opposed to accounts that consider positions to be pre-determined by ideas or socio-economic structures. |
| Keywords: | economic policy;; financial markets;; liberalization;; regulation; |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:sciepo:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hae2n8o0n&r=hme |
| By: | Kepa M. Ormazabal (UPV/EHU) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I would like to bring back to light the forgotten critique of Marx to the widely accepted view that Ricardo succeeded in refuting the universal validity of the labor theory of value in "Principles", chapter 1, sections IV and V. By the hand of Marx, I contend that the arguments of Ricardo are unsuccessful. Nothing of what Ricardo says in his "Principles" implies anything for the question as to whether or not value consists in objectified labor. The problem that Ricardo faces in "Principles". chapter I sections IV and V, without being aware of it, is all about the distribution of profit and, consequently, about the distribution of an already created value through a system of competitive money prices, but not a problem about the creation on the nature of value, which are the themes of the labor (and note wages) theory of value. |
| Keywords: | labor theory of value, Ricardo, Marx |
| Date: | 2011–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:ikerla:201153&r=hme |
| By: | Thorvardur Tjörvi Ólafsson; Ásgerdur Pétursdóttir; Karen Á. Vignisdóttir |
| Abstract: | This price setting survey among Icelandic firms aims to make two contributions to the literature. First, it studies price setting in an advanced economy within a more turbulent macroeconomic environment than has previously been done. The results indicate that price adjustments are to a larger extent driven by exchange rate fluctuations than in most other advanced countries. The median Icelandic firm reviews its prices every four months and changes them every six months. The main sources of price rigidity and the most commonly used price setting methods are the same as in most other countries. A second contribution to the literature is our analysis of the nexus between price setting and exchange rate movements, a topic that has attracted surprisingly limited attention in this survey-based literature. A novel aspect of our approach is to base our analysis on a categorisation of firms in the domestic market by their direct exposure to exchange rate movements captured by imported input costs as a share of total production costs. More exposed firms are found to be more likely to use state-dependent pricing, to adjust their prices in response to exchange rate changes, and to rely on increasing prices rather than decreasing costs to restore profit margins after an exchange rate depreciation. They also review their prices more often but nevertheless, surprisingly, have the same price change frequency as the median firm. On the other hand, price review frequency declines and time-dependent pricing increases as domestic labour costs rise relative to total production costs. The results provide important insight into inflation dynamics due to an interaction between high and asymmetric exchange rate pass-through and price indexation. This interaction causes an exchange rate depreciation to spread to sectors less exposed to such changes through the use of price indexation. Exchange rate pass-through, price indexation and backward-looking behaviour in price setting therefore pose challenges for monetary policy in Iceland. |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ice:wpaper:wp54&r=hme |
| By: | Supriya Garikipati |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of microcredit on male and female time use and draws on this analysis to explore the linkages between credit and women’s empowerment. A study of time use can help understand these linkages because credit targeted at women with the intent of influencing their livelihoods must also influence the way they allocate their work time. Its other advantages are that it does not suffer from much time lag and can be objectively measured. We use survey data from rural India. Our findings show that while microcredit has little impact on women’s time use, it helps their husbands shift away from wage-work, which is associated with bad pay and low status, to self-employment. We find that this is because women’s loans are typically used to enhance male ownership of household’s productive assets. Further, we find that only women who use loans in self-managed enterprises are able to allocate more time to self-employment. We conclude that if credit is to increase the value of women’s work time then it is not access to loan but use of loan that matters. Specifically, women’s control over loan created assets is critical. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/96915&r=hme |
| By: | Mônica Viegas Andrade (Cedeplar/UFMG); Kenya Valéria M. de Souza Noronha (Cedeplar/UFMG); Abhishek Singh (International Institute for Population Studies); Cristina Guimarães Rodrigues (FEA/USP); Sabu S. Padmadas (University of Southampton, Highfield) |
| Abstract: | Antenatal care encompasses a broad spectrum of clinical procedures and care provided to pregnant women. Ideally, all pregnant women should have proper access to effective antenatal care irrespective of their social, economic, cultural and geographical background. This paper investigates the extent of inequalities in antenatal care and takes a step further in analysing some medical procedures followed during antenatal care in Brazil and India. Data are drawn from the 2006 Brazilian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the third round of the DHS equivalent Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) conducted during 2005-06. Concentration index and concentration curves were estimated to quantify the degree of socioeconomic inequalities in antenatal care. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine the association between socioeconomic inequalities and antenatal care. The findings demonstrate evidence of wider socioeconomic inequalities in antenatal care utilisation and medical procedures in Brazil and India. Antenatal coverage is relatively much higher in Brazil and distributed uniformly across different socioeconomic groups than in India. The Indian case, however, presents problems of scale and equity in overall coverage and extent of utilisation whereas in Brazil, despite high utilisation of care, there is still considerable variation in the use of 6 or more ANC visits. The analyses suggest that Brazil overall has succeeded in reducing socioeconomic inequalities guaranteeing universal coverage to most essential antenatal services. This is different in India where antenatal utilisation is restricted mostly in southern and western geographical regions, yet the gap between the rich and the poor is substantial. The comparison between Brazil and India enabled a systematic examination of antenatal care taking into account different institutional and health policy regimes and socioeconomic background. |
| Keywords: | Antenatal Care, Brazil, India, Socioeconomic Inequality, Health Inequalities. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td446&r=hme |
| By: | John Foster; J. Stan Metcalfe |
| Abstract: | The standard neoclassical approach to economic theorizing excludes, by definition, economic emergence and the related phenomenon of entrepreneurship. We explore how the most economic of human behaviours, entrepreneurship, came to be largely excluded from mainstream economic theory. In contrast, we report that evolutionary economists have acknowledged the importance of understanding emergence and we explore the advances that have been made in this regard. We go on to argue that evolutionary economics can make further progress by taking a more 'naturalistic' approach to economic evolution. This requires that economic analysis be fully embedded in complex economic system theory and that associated understandings as to how humans react to states of uncertainty be explicitly dealt with. We argue that 'knowledge,' because of the existence of uncertainty is, to a large degree 'conjectural' and, thus, is closely linked to our emotional states. Our economic behaviour is also influenced by the reality that we, and the systems that we create, are dissipative structures. Thus, we introduce the notions of 'energy gradients' and 'knowledge gradients' as essential concepts in understanding economic emergence and resultant economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Length 34 pages |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2011-12&r=hme |
| By: | Raymundo M. Campos Vázquez (El Colegio de México); Andrés Hincapie (Yale University); Rubén I. Rojas Valdés (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study family income inequality in Mexico from 1988 to 2010. Female labor supply increased during this period, especially for married women. The share of wives’ income among married couples grew from 13 percent in 1988 to 23 percent in 2010. However, the correlation of husbands’ and wives’ earnings has been fairly stable with a value close to 0.28, one of the highest correlations recorded across countries. We follow Cancian and Reed’s (1999) methodology in order to analyze whether wives’ income equalizes total family income distribution. We investigate several counterfactuals and conclude that the recent increment in female employment has contributed to a decrease in family income inequality mainly through a rise in wives’ labor supply in poor families. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, female employment, female earnings, Latin America, Mexico |
| JEL: | J12 J21 J31 O15 O54 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emx:ceedoc:2011-07&r=hme |
| By: | Das, Maitreyi Bordia; Maru, Vivek |
| Abstract: | The institutional landscape of local dispute resolution in Bangladesh is rich: it includes the traditional process of shalish, longstanding and impressive civil society efforts to improve on shalish, and a somewhat less-explored provision for gram adalat or village courts. Based on a nationally representative survey, qualitative evidence from focus groups, and a telephone survey of 40 Union Parishad chairpersons (a little less than 1 percent of the total Union Parishads), it provides both an empirical mapping of local conflict and justice and pointers to possible policy reforms. It suggests a number of opportunities for strengthening local justice and argues that the village courts may pose a useful bridge between Bangladesh's informal and formal justice institutions. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Law,Judicial System Reform,Legal Institutions of the Market Economy,Legal Products,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures |
| Date: | 2011–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5781&r=hme |
| By: | Brian Nolan (School of Applied Social Science, University College Dublin); Ive Marx (Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp); Wiemer Salverda (AIAS, Universiteit van Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the key issue for the GINI project of how best to approach the measurement of income inequality and wage inequality to enhance comparability across different studies. It focuses fi rst on income inequality, dealing with the defi nition of income, the income recipient unit, and the unit of analysis. The summary measures used to capture inequality are also discussed, with an emphasis on capturing trends at different points in the distribution, and sources for comparative data on inequality levels and trends are discussed. The paper then turns to inequality in earnings among employees and discusses the same set of issues in that context. The above bears directly on any analysis of inequality itself but it is also important for an analysis of the direct impacts of inequality at micro-level. For a (multilevel) analysis based on aggregate inequality as an input the paper provides an understanding of the need for comparable concepts and defi nitions across countries and links to data sources as well as aggregate levels. It also links to practical experiences of researchers with different datasets. For this and the datasets see the Data Portal at "gini-research.org":http://www.gini-rese arch.org |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aia:ginidp:dp9&r=hme |
| By: | Thorsten Beck; Patrick Behr; Andreas Madestam |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of group identity in the credit market. Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of first-time borrowers to loan officers of a large Albanian lender, we test for own-gender bias in the loan officer-borrower match. We find that borrowers pay on average 29 basis points higher interest rates when paired with a loan officer of the other sex. The results indicate the presence of a taste-based rather than a statistical bias, as borrowers’ likelihood of going into arrears is independent of loan officer gender. Ending up with an opposite-sex loan officer also affects demand for credit, with borrowers being 11.5 percent less likely to return for a second loan. The bias is more pronounced when the social distance, as proxied by difference in age between the loan officer and the borrower, increases and when financial market competition declines. This is consistent with theories that predict a taste-based bias to be stronger when the psychological costs of being biased are lower and the disretion in setting interest rates is higher. Taken together, the findings suggest that own-gender preferences can have substantial welfare effects. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:igi:igierp:411&r=hme |
| By: | Christian Cordes; Peter J. Richerson; Georg Schwesinger |
| Abstract: | In infant industries, a great share of new market opportunities is depleted by firms that spinoff from incumbents. A model emphasizing the relation between incumbents' evolving corporate cultures and the generation of spinoffs explains this regularity in industry evolution. Organizations reach a critical size that entails the collapse of a cooperative culture and triggers the exodus of personnel founding own firms. Thereby, organizations with a cooperative culture active in a dynamic business environment provide ideal training grounds for potential founders. We relate our findings to empirical evidence on developmental patterns in industries, such as genealogies and performance of spinoffs. |
| Keywords: | Spinoff Formation, Critical Firm Size, Firm Performance, Industry Evolution, Corporate Culture Length 23 pages |
| JEL: | C61 D21 L25 L26 M13 M14 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2011-11&r=hme |
| By: | Thomas Kau\^e Dal'Maso Peron; Francisco Aparecido Rodrigues |
| Abstract: | Financial market is an example of complex system, which is characterized by a highly intricate organization and the emergence of collective behavior. In this paper, we quantify this emergent dynamics in the financial market by using concepts of network synchronization. We consider networks constructed by the correlation matrix of asset returns and study the time evolution of the phase coherence among stock prices. It is verified that during financial crisis a synchronous state emerges in the system, defining the market's direction. Furthermore, the paper proposes a statistical regression model able to identify the topological features that mostly influence such an emergence. The coefficients of the proposed model indicate that the average shortest path length is the measurement most related to network synchronization. Therefore, during economic crisis, the stock prices present a similar evolution, which tends to shorten the distances between stocks, indication a collective dynamics. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1109.1167&r=hme |
| By: | Blazy, Clémentine |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at comparing French and Californian social businesses' financial structure and their access to equity and equity-like funding. The author finds from the study of an 800-French social businesses sample that these French organizations suffer from a lack of access to this type of capital. This puts them at risk in their early stages and makes it difficult to develop at a larger scale. As seen from France, the Californian social business sector seems more flourishing, and the access to equity funding a less acute issue. This paper tries to put this first impression to test and to know both institutionally and factually about social businesses in California, their financial structure depending upon their stages, and the type of financial tools they have (or don't have) access to. Although the social investors' community is much more numerous in California than in France, and that many major financial institutions and foundations have recently taken several decisive steps towards a highly structured "impact investing" market, the author identifies several nuances to be made. Among them, the fact that the french legal frame incentivizes the diversion from part of the flow of capital towards these businesses, whereas the american legal structure still refrains in part these types of investments. Moreover, the numerous social investors' community in California is also extremely scattered in their investment strategy, infringing in a way the flow of capital the social businesses can have access to: social investment is still a nascent field and entails today a wide scope of definitions, depending on the investor. |
| Keywords: | equity; long term; debt; ROI; social enterprise; social business; corporate finance; finance; impact investing; social investor; CRA; ERISA; Social Innovation Fund; institutional |
| JEL: | M0 G32 M13 |
| Date: | 2011–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33220&r=hme |
| By: | Kundu, Amit; Mukherjee, Arghya Kusum |
| Abstract: | Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojona (SGSY), a government sponsored micro credit programme of India, has been designed to ameliorate income poverty among the rural poor, particularly women, through human capital development and strengthening female agency. In this backdrop the basic objectives of the paper are to see: (a) whether the programme has any impact on health of the programme participants across Socio Religious Communities (SRCs)(b) Whether the programme has any significant role in improving education across SRCs. (c) Whether SGSY programme has been able to enhance female agency irrespective of caste and community affiliation. The District of Murshidabad, West Bengal, has been chosen as the field of study. All the selected SHG members were two years old. The initial sampling was done in 2006 to know about the pre-SHG participation socio economic condition. The resurvey was conducted in 2008. The study shows that from 2004 to 2008, the programme has significant impact on female agency across all SRCs except Muslims, but the role of the programme in forming human capital is insignificant irrespective of SRCs. If household specific unobserved heterogeneity is removed, then significant impact of the programme on female agency becomes insignificant across all SRCs except UCs. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance ; SGSY Scheme of the Government of India; Unobserved heterogeneity; Fixed effects |
| JEL: | C23 I38 J16 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33258&r=hme |
| By: | Viktor Slavtchev (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Chair of "Business Dynamics, Innovation and Economic Change" and GK-EIC "The Economics of Innovative Change", Jena); Simon Wiederhold (ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the question of whether government procurement can work as a de facto innovation policy tool. We develop an endogenous growth model with quality-improving in-novation that incorporates industries with heterogeneous innovation sizes. Government de-mand in high-tech industries increases the market size in these industries and, with it, the in-centives for private firms to invest in R&D. At the economy-wide level, the additional R&D induced in high-tech industries outweighs the R&D foregone in all remaining industries. The implications of the model are empirically tested using a unique data set that includes federal procurement in U.S. states. We find evidence that a shift in the composition of government purchases toward high-tech industries indeed stimulates privately funded company R&D. |
| Keywords: | public demand, technological change, endogenous growth |
| JEL: | E62 H54 H57 O31 O32 O41 |
| Date: | 2011–09–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2011-036&r=hme |
| By: | Mônica Viegas Andrade (Cedeplar/UFMG); Kenya Valéria M. de Souza Noronha (Cedeplar/UFMG); Renata de Miranda Menezes (Cedeplar/UFMG); Michelle Nepomuceno Souza (Cedeplar/UFMG); Carla de Barros Reis (Cedeplar/UFMG); Diego Resende Martins (Cedeplar/UFMG); Lucas Gomes (Cedeplar/UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Brazil presents severe socioeconomic inequalities among regions and individuals. Several studies analyze the determinants of these inequalities and its effects on social welfare indicators, such as health. This paper measures the socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare utilization in Brazil and in Brazilian regions over the period 1998-2008, using the Brazilian household survey, Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD). Health concentration curves and indexes – CC and CI – were estimated. This methodology takes into account differences throughout the income distribution. The results show a consistent improvement during the period. These improvements were largest among individuals without health insurance, suggesting an improvement at Brazilian Health System (SUS) services. The estimation of CC and IC suggests a small magnitude of inequality in outpatient and hospital services. The dental service is the only one, among the healthcare utilization variables, with relevant magnitude of inequality favoring of the richest groups. The analysis of healthcare access suggests the presence of constrained demand more concentrated among the poorest groups, especially for the population without health insurance. This study moves forward in the health equity literature since it analyzes equity at SUS in the last ten years considering differences among socioeconomic groups and Brazilian regions. |
| Keywords: | Healthcare inequalities. Brazilian Health System. Brazilian regions. |
| JEL: | I10 P24 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td445&r=hme |
| By: | Haryo Aswicahyono; Chris Manning |
| Abstract: | Employment generation has been a challenge in Indonesia since the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC), especially in labor-intensive manufacturing. We examine the direct and indirect impact of exports on jobs, based on an analysis of input-output tables over the period 1985-2005, and compare these findings with the earlier pre-crisis period. The paper finds that fewer jobs were created through exports in manufacturing industries in after the AFC, because of slower growth in manufacturing exports and a shift away from light industry. However, there was an increase in service sector jobs, partly because of linkages with the main export industries in manufacturing and primary industry. Besides intensified competition from other lower-middle income Asian economies, the main constraints to job creation through exports appear to have been on the supply side; these include too poor infrastructure, an uncertain investment climate and tight labor regulations. |
| Keywords: | exports, employment creation, manufacturing growth, input-output analysis, Indonesia, Southeast Asia |
| JEL: | F16 J23 O14 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2011-11&r=hme |
| By: | Andreas Chai; Alessio Moneta |
| Abstract: | Using data spanning over four decades (1960-2000), this paper employs Engel's needsbased approach to analyzing household expenditure patterns to find evidence for the existence of a stable hierarchy of expenditure patterns at low levels of household income. Second, we investigate how rising household income influences the manner in which total expenditure is distributed across Engel's expenditure categories. Our results suggest that i) total household expenditure is distributed across Engel's expenditure categories in an increasingly even manner as household income increases and ii) over time, there has been an acceleration in the rate at which household expenditure patterns become diversified as household income rises. Finally, we consider how the shape of Engel Curves may help shed light on the relationship between goods and the underlying needs they serve. |
| Keywords: | Hierarchy of needs; Engel Curves; Engel's Law Length 29 pages |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2011-13&r=hme |
| By: | Roberto Ricciuti (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Elena Zardo (IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome) |
| Abstract: | Haiti e la Repubblica Dominicana, gli stati che occupano rispettivamente la parte sinistra e destra dell’isola di Hispaniola, rappresentano un caso di divergenza economica e di inversione delle posizioni relative di reddito: se nell’epoca coloniale Haiti era più ricca dell’attuale Repubblica Dominicana, attualmente Haiti è uno dei paesi più poveri dell’emisfero Nord, mentre la seconda è un paese in via di sviluppo con un discreto livello di reddito pro-capite. In questo lavoro analizziamo le possibili cause istituzionali della divergenza, soffermandoci sul ruolo della diversa percentuale di europei presenti nelle due parti dell’isola dal XVII secolo e della diversa allocazione della terra dal XIX secolo. |
| Keywords: | istituzioni, sviluppo, politica economica |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:13/2011&r=hme |
| By: | Adam Swadley; Mine Yücel |
| Abstract: | A key selling point for the restructuring of electricity markets was the promise of lower prices, that competition among independent power suppliers would lower electricity prices to retail customers. There is not much consensus in earlier studies on the effects of electricity deregulation, particularly for residential customers. Part of the reason for not finding a consistent link with deregulation and lower prices was that the removal of the transitional price caps led to higher prices. In addition, the timing of the removal of price caps coincided with rising fuel prices, which were passed on to consumers in a competitive market. Using a dynamic panel model, we analyze the effect of participation rates, fuel costs, market size, a rate cap and a switch to competition for 16 states and the District of Columbia. We find that an increase in participation rates, price controls, a larger market, and high shares of hydro in electricity generation lower retail prices, while increases in natural gas and coal prices increase rates. The effects of a competitive retail electricity market are mixed across states, but generally appear to lower prices in states with high participation and raise prices in states that have little customer participation. |
| Keywords: | Price regulation |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:1105&r=hme |
| By: | Jósef Sigurdsson; Rannveig Sigurdardottir |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence about wage stickiness and the nature of wage setting. We use a unique micro dataset on monthly frequency, covering wages in the Icelandic private sector for the period from 1998-2010, and draw the following conclusions. First, the mean frequency of wage change is 10.8% per month. When weighted for heterogeneity across industries and occupations the result is almost identical; the frequency of change is 10.5% per month. Second, only 0.5% of monthly wage changes are decreases. Third, the mean duration of wage spells is 8.9 months. Onefifth of wage spells last longer than a year while other spells last for one year or shorter. Fourth, wage setting displays strong features of time-dependence: half of all wage changes are synchronised in January, but other adjustments are staggered through the year. Fifth, there is limited evidence of state-dependence: frequency of wage increases, size of increases, frequency of wage decreases and size of decreases do not correlate with inflation. However, both frequency and size of wage decreases have significant correlation with unemployment. Sixth, the hazard function for wages is mostly flat during the first months but has a large twelve-month spike. These facts align with a model of time-dependent wage contracts of fixed duration. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ice:wpaper:wp55&r=hme |
| By: | Emin Dinlersoz; Henry Hyatt; Sang Nguyen |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the evolution of wages along the life-cycle of U.S. manufacturing plants. Real wages start out low for new plants, and increase along with productivity as plants survive and age. As plants experience productivity decline and approach exit, real wages fall. However, for failing plants real wages do not fall as quickly as they rise in the case of new entrants. These empirical regularities are captured in a dynamic model of labor quality and quantity choice by plants subject to adjustment costs in wages and employment. The model’s parameters are estimated to assess the magnitude of adjustment costs and the degree of asymmetry in the cost of upward versus downward adjustments. |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-24&r=hme |
| By: | Erick CESPEDES RANGEL |
| Abstract: | La matriz de contabilidad social presentada en este documento tiene como principales aportes 1) lograr una clasificación de las actividades considerando que estas pueden formales o informales, 2) diferenciar el consumo intermedio para las actividades formales e informales, 3) clasificar al valor agregado en remuneración al trabajo y remuneración al capital, eliminando así la cuenta denominada ingreso mixto en el sistema de cuentas nacionales; 4) desagregar por actividades el pago de parafiscales (SENA, ICBF y Cajas de Compensación Familiar); 5) crear una cuenta asociada a la remuneración de los recursos naturales de subsuelo y 6) clasificar a Ecopetrol aparte de las demás firmas. |
| Date: | 2011–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000118:008957&r=hme |
| By: | Biddle, Jeff E. (Michigan State University); Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Using CPS data from 1979-2009 we examine how cyclical downturns and industry-specific demand shocks affect wage differentials between white non-Hispanic males and women, Hispanics and African-Americans. Women's and Hispanics' relative earnings are harmed by negative shocks, while the earnings disadvantage of African-Americans may drop with negative shocks. Negative shocks also appear to increase the earnings disadvantage of bad-looking workers. A theory of job search suggests two opposite-signed mechanisms that affect these wage differentials. It suggests greater absolute effects among job-movers, which is verified using the longitudinal component of the CPS. |
| Keywords: | women, minorities, beauty, search models |
| JEL: | E29 J71 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5945&r=hme |
| By: | Mathieu Lefebvre (CREPP - Center of Research in Public Economics and Population Economics - Université de Liège); Pierre Pestieau (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CREPP - Center of Research in Public Economics and Population Economics - Université de Liège, CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - Université Catholique de Louvain, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Grégory Ponthière (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, ENS - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris) |
| Abstract: | Cette note a pour objectif d'illustrer, dans le cas de la Belgique et de ses régions, un problème particulier posé par la mesure de la pauvreté. Etant donné que la mortalité varie selon le niveau de revenu - les personnes aux revenus plus élevés vivant plus longtemps, en moyenne, que les personnes aux revenus plus faibles - les taux de pauvreté calculés pour les classes âgées dépendent non seulement de ce que l'on pourrait appeler la vraie pauvreté, mais aussi de la sélection induite par la mortalité différentielle selon le revenu. En calculant les taux de pauvreté que l'on observerait si des personnes avec différents niveaux de revenus avaient toute la même espérance de vie, on peut ainsi estimer la vraie pauvreté, en neutralisant les interférences dues à la mortalité différentielle. Cet ajustement des mesures de pauvreté est particulièrement intéressant pour la Belgique, où les écarts de longévité entre Flamands et Francophones et entre riches et moins riches sont importants. |
| Keywords: | Mesure de pauvreté ; mortalité différentielle ; revenu imputé |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:hal-00612606&r=hme |
| By: | Marco Crocco (Cedeplar/UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the article is to analyze the relationship between a financial system and the city in which it is located. In order to do so, initially an inedited theoretical discussion regarding the analysis of the relationship between the degree of centrality of a city and the behavior of financial systems is made. This analysis is carried out bearing in mind the concept of both liquidity preference and the endogeneity of money supply derived from Keynes (1937). An empirical investigation of the Brazilian case follows. In the investigation, it is proposed a hierarchy of the financial system for every municipality in Brazil. Based on this hierarchy the behavior of the bank system is analyzed. The paper concludes arguing that space is an important element on the definition of the ways bank branches work in different regions, with clear consequences for the economic development of the regions. |
| Keywords: | Urban hierarchy, Financial System, Centrality. |
| JEL: | B59 E51 E52 E59 O23 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td444&r=hme |
| By: | Zaman, Asad; Saglam, Ismail |
| Abstract: | This paper illustrates on a simple model of production economy how the concept of partial equilibrium can be in an unresolvable conflict with the general equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Demand curve; Partial equilibrium; General equilibrium |
| JEL: | D01 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33256&r=hme |
| By: | Lars Osberg; Andrew Sharpe |
| Abstract: | This report presents new estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being (IEWB) and its four domains (consumption flows, stocks of wealth, economic equality and economic security) for Canada and the provinces for the 1981-2010 period. It finds that the IEWB advanced at a 0.78 per cent average annual growth rate over the period, below the 1.32 per cent growth for GDP per capita. Both the consumption and wealth domains experienced solid advances over the period, but these developments were offset by declines in the equality and economic security domains. The recent recession caused a decline in the IEWB for Canada, driven by declines in wealth and economic security. |
| Keywords: | well-being, economic measurement, IEWB, consumption, wealth, equality, economic security |
| JEL: | E01 I31 E21 E24 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:1111&r=hme |
| By: | Lars Osberg; Andrew Sharpe |
| Abstract: | This report presents new estimates of the Index of Economic Well-being (IEWB) and its four domains (consumption flows, stocks of wealth, economic equality, and economic security) for 14 OECD countries for the 1980-2009 period. It finds that in 2009 Norway had the highest level of economic well-being and Spain the lowest. Canada ranked ninth among the fourteen countries. Over the 1980-2009 period Denmark enjoyed the most rapid increase in economic well-being, and the Netherlands the slowest. In all 14 countries rate of advance of the IEWB was less than that of GDP per capita. Economic well-being, therefore, has not advanced as rapidly as GDP per capita. |
| Keywords: | well-being, economic measurement, IEWB, consumption, wealth, equality, economic security |
| JEL: | E01 I31 E21 E24 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:1112&r=hme |