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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Berggren, Niclas (The Ratio Institute); Elinder, Mikael (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We investigate to what extent tolerance, as measured by attitudes toward different types of neighbors, affects economic growth. Data from the World Values Survey enable us to investigate tolerance–growth relationships for 54 countries. We provide estimates based on cross-sectional as well as panel-data regressions. In addition we test for robustness with respect to model specification and sample composition. Unlike previous studies, by Richard Florida and others, we find that tolerance toward homosexuals is negatively related to growth. For tolerance toward people of a different race, we do not find robust results, but the sign of the estimated coefficients is positive, suggesting that inclusion of people irrespective of race makes good use of productive capacity. We propose mechanisms to explain these divergent findings, which clarify why different kinds of tolerance may be of different economic importance. |
| Keywords: | Tolerance; Growth; Diversity; Human Capital; Creativity; Innovatio |
| JEL: | O40 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0846&r=hrm |
| By: | Catherine Eckel; Cathleen Johnson; Claude Montmarquette |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the study is to collect information that can be used to design a policy to induce the poor to invest in human capital. We use laboratory experimental methodology to measure the preferences and choices of the target population of a proposed government policy. We recruited 256 subjects in Montreal, Canada; 72 percent had income below 120 percent of the Canadian poverty level. The combination of survey measures and actual decisions allows us to better understand individual heterogeneity in responses to different subsidy levels. Two behavioral characteristics, patience and attitude towards risk, are key to understanding the determinants of educational investment for the low-income individuals in this experiment. The decision to save for a family member’s education is somewhat different from that of investing in one’s own education. Again, patient participants were more likely to save for a family member’s education, but in contrast to investing in one’s own education, a subject’s attitude towards risk played no role. <P>Le but de cette étude est de recueillir des informations pour concevoir une politique publique afin d’inciter les pauvres à investir en capital humain. Nous utilisons l’approche expérimentale pour mesurer les préférences et les choix de la population ciblée. Nous avons recruté 256 sujets à Montréal. 72 % avaient un revenu inférieur à 120 % pour cent du seuil de faible revenu de Statistique Canada. La combinaison de mesures d'enquête et les décisions réelles nous permettent de mieux comprendre l'hétérogénéité individuelle dans les réponses aux différents niveaux de subvention. Deux caractéristiques comportementales, la patience (désir d’épargne) et l'attitude envers le risque, sont essentielles à la compréhension des déterminants de l'investissement éducatif pour les personnes à faible revenu dans cette expérience. La décision d’investir dans l'éducation d'un membre de la famille est quelque peu différente de celle d'investir dans sa propre éducation. Encore une fois, les participants les plus patients sont les plus susceptibles d'épargner pour l'éducation d'un membre de la famille, mais au contraire, investir dans sa propre éducation, l'attitude d'un sujet vis-à-vis le risque ne joue aucun rôle. |
| Keywords: | Intertemporal choice, field experiments, risk attitudes, working poor, choix intertemporels, expériences sur le terrain, les attitudes vis-à-vis le risque, travailleurs pauvres |
| JEL: | C93 D91 D81 |
| Date: | 2010–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2010s-33&r=hrm |
| By: | Alexander Haupt (University of Plymouth); Tim Krieger (University of Mainz); Thomas Lange (University of Konstanz) |
| Abstract: | In this note, we present a novel channel for a brain gain. Students from a developing country study in a developed host country. A higher permanent migration probability of these students appears to be a brain drain for the developing country in the first place. However, it induces the host country to improve its education quality, as a larger share of the generated bene ts accrue in this host country. A higher education quality raises in turn the human capital of the returning students. As long as the permanent migration probability is not too large, this positive effect causes both aggregate and per-capita human capital to increase in the developing country. Thus, a brain gain occurs. |
| Keywords: | Brain gain, education policy, human capital, return migration |
| JEL: | F22 I28 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:wpaper:27&r=hrm |
| By: | Kai Sebastian Meinke |
| Abstract: | This paper is based on my thesis from the year 2008. It uses the German Microcensus (MC) to study the effects of continuing vocational training (CVT) on employment, the risk of unemployment, and wages. To control for education, profession and heterogeneity in the sectors and industrial branches in Germany individuals are separated into sub-groups. The results of my estimations indicate high returns to continuous vocational training in terms of lower risk to be unemployed, higher chances to be reemployed and higher chances to stay into an existing employment. The results also indicate that repeated short activities in CVT are more beneficial then long activities typically carried out by the German employment agency during the period of the Microcensus 2003 |
| Keywords: | Microcensus, Mikrozensus, Employment, Continuous Vocational Training, Employment, Agency, Job Center, Mincer, Human Capital Theory |
| JEL: | J31 J10 J14 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1643&r=hrm |
| By: | Go Kotera (Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a simple model is proposed to endogenize voting behavior that incorporates a sense of duty to vote. We assume that a sense of duty to vote is an increasing function of a person’s human capital and the public faith in politics, and those with a higher sense of duty often vote. Then, we examine the relationship between income redistribution policy and human capital accumulation. From our assumption, the voter turnout is expected to gradually increase as human capital accumulates. However, we show that, in some cases, the positive relationship between voter turnout and human capital accumulation is not necessarily hold. In addition, the effect of growing inequality on the redistribution policy is investigated. |
| Keywords: | Voter turnout, Human capital, Income distribution, Redistribution |
| JEL: | D31 D72 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:716&r=hrm |
| By: | Fietze, Simon (University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg); Holst, Elke (DIW Berlin); Tobsch, Verena (University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | The higher the hierarchical level, the fewer women are represented in management positions. Many studies have focused on the influence of human capital and other "objective" factors on career opportunities to explain this phenomenon. We are now looking at the impact of self-reported personality traits on gender differences in career chances and compare women and men in management positions and other white-collar employees in Germany's private sector 2007. While bivariate results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) show that there are significant gender differences in personality traits, multivariate estimations and the decomposition of the gender career gap clearly indicate that these differences cannot account for gender differences in career opportunities. The decomposition shows that only 8.6 percent of the inequality of career chances between women and can be explained by differences in personality. Nevertheless, personality traits might indeed play a role, albeit more indirectly: Some of the stronger career effects, such as long working hours, and labour market segregation, can also reflect differences in personality traits. These might have been influenced at an early stage by a gender-biased environment. Our results strongly stress the need for a gender-neutral environment outside and inside companies in order to enforce equal career opportunities for women and men. |
| Keywords: | personality, gender, career, leadership |
| JEL: | J16 J44 J71 M12 M14 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5110&r=hrm |
| By: | Tu, Jiong (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - Labour Program) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effectiveness of Canadian immigration policy by analyzing the differences in the returns to education between first, second and third generation immigrant men. Regression results indicate that the second generation with high school education and lower do not earn significantly less than the equally educated third generation. However, the second generation with at least postsecondary education experience a wage deficit to the third generation. I explain the well-educated second generation’s difficulty in translating their intellectual ability into productivity by their ethnic and linguistic distance from the Canadian mainstream, and by a negative city-specific effect. Regression results using sub-samples categorized by subsequently interacting educational attainments with ethnicity, mother tongue and city of residence support these explanations. I then suggest that assimilation policies targeting the well-educated first and second generation immigrants be designed to promote the acceptance of their human capital by the Canadian labour market. |
| Keywords: | immigrant, second generation, wages, education, ethnicity, Canada |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5128&r=hrm |
| By: | Kenneth L. Sørensen; Rune M. Vejlin (School of Economics and Management, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates a wage growth equation containing human capital variables known from the traditional Mincerian wage equation with year, worker and firm fixed effects included as well. The paper thus contributes further to the large empirical literature on unobserved heterogeneity following the work of Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999). Our main contribution is to extend the analysis from wage levels to wage growth. The specification enables us to estimate the individual specific and firm specific fixed effects and their degree of explanation on wage growth. The analysis is conducted using Danish longitudinal matched employer-employee data from 1980 to 2006. We find that the worker fixed effect dominates both the firm fixed effect and the effect of the observed covariates. Worker effects are estimated to explain seven to twelve per cent of the variance in wage growth while firm effects are estimated to explain four to ten per cent. We furthermore find a negative correlation between the worker and firm effects, as do nearly all authors examining wage level equations. |
| Keywords: | MEE data, fixed effects, wage growth |
| JEL: | J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–08–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2010-13&r=hrm |
| By: | Ciriaci, Daria; Muscio, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | Universities have come under increasing pressure to become key drivers of economic development in the age of the knowledge economy. Yet we know very little about the impact of university quality and scientific excellence on the probability of graduates finding jobs. This paper investigates the determinants of Italian graduates’ employability 1-year and 3-years after graduation, with special reference to university quality measured in terms of research performance. Our results confirm that the ‘better’ the university, the higher the likelihood that graduates will be employed. We also observe strong effects associated with field of study, and wide regional differences. |
| Keywords: | University quality; returns to education; labour market outcomes, employment |
| JEL: | I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22845&r=hrm |
| By: | Benoît Mahy; Mélanie Volral |
| Abstract: | This paper models and estimates the impact of quantitative and qualitative training financed by the firm on labour demand in Belgium. It assumes profit maximising firms producing under a short run monopolistic competition regime, where training can increase labour demand through its positive net effect on labour productivity or decrease it through higher direct labour costs and wages. The estimation of our model on a panel of 17,812 firms over the period 1999-2007 allowing to control for the potential simultaneity between training and labour demand and for unobserved workplace characteristics reveals a small positive impact of training variables on labour demand. This suggests that productivity effects dominate cost effects. |
| Keywords: | Training; Labour Demand; Labour Productivity; Wage Determination |
| JEL: | M53 J23 J24 J30 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:2013/59297&r=hrm |
| By: | Bing Ma (UMBC) |
| Abstract: | An extensive literature in labor economics recognizes that the life-cycle labor force participation of a woman is highly associated with her family choices. There is, however, virtually no study going further to incorporate female occupational choices. This paper attempts to fill this gap in labor supply literature by examining the interrelatedness of occupation, marital status and fertility choices of women over the life cycle. A discrete choice dynamic utility maximization model is constructed to investigate how relevant determinants influence a woman’s career and family path and how these decisions interplay with each other. Using longitudinal data on women from the 1979 youth cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I estimate my model through the maximum likelihood estimation method in a dynamic programming fashion which takes into account the uncertainties from random arrivals of job opportunities, unexpected failure of birth control and temporary shocks to family earnings. The estimation results of structural parameters indicate that women’s lifecycle patterns of occupation, marriage and contraceptive behaviors vary significantly with their observable characteristics such as age, education, ability, race, and the presence of young children. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital; Occupational Choice; Life Cycle Model; Marriage; Fertility. |
| JEL: | J24 D91 J12 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umb:econwp:10123&r=hrm |
| By: | Gibson, John (University of Waikato); McKenzie, David (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Brain drain has long been a common concern for migrant-sending countries, particularly for small countries where high-skilled emigration rates are highest. However, while economic theory suggests a number of possible benefits, in addition to costs, from skilled emigration, the evidence base on many of these is very limited. Moreover, the lessons from case studies of benefits to China and India from skilled emigration may not be relevant to much smaller countries. This paper presents the results of innovative surveys which tracked academic high-achievers from five countries to wherever they moved in the world in order to directly measure at the micro level the channels through which high-skilled emigration affects the sending country. The results show that there are very high levels of emigration and of return migration among the very highly skilled; the income gains to the best and brightest from migrating are very large, and an order of magnitude or more greater than any other effect; there are large benefits from migration in terms of postgraduate education; most high-skilled migrants from poorer countries send remittances; but that involvement in trade and foreign direct investment is a rare occurrence. There is considerable knowledge flow from both current and return migrants about job and study opportunities abroad, but little net knowledge sharing from current migrants to home country governments or businesses. Finally, the fiscal costs vary considerably across countries, and depend on the extent to which governments rely on progressive income taxation. |
| Keywords: | brain drain, brain gain, highly skilled migration |
| JEL: | O15 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5124&r=hrm |