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on Labour Economics |
| By: | David R. Howell (Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, New York, NY) |
| Keywords: | immigration; wages; labor markets; labor supply |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epa:cepawp:2007-2&r=lab |
| By: | Blázquez Cuesta, Maite (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); García Pérez, José Ignacio (Universidad Pablo Olavide, FCEA & FEDEA) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse how the decentralization process of the Spanish educational system has affected the school-to-work transition of youths over the last years. Using individual data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey for the period 1993-2002, we estimate a simultaneous equation model for the unemployment and employment hazard rates of these workers. We include public expenditure on education, at the regional level, as an explanatory factor in both hazards. Furthermore we account for cross-regional differences regarding the decision-making authority over education. Our results reveal that for both, university and non-university levels, public expenditure on education significantly improves the chances of Spanish youths in finding the first job after completing the educational system. However, it seems that the decentralization of university education has negative effects on youths’ labor market prospects in terms of exiting from unemployment, while no effects are observed for the case of non-university education. |
| Keywords: | connections, educational expenditure, decentralization, unemployment hazard, employment hazard |
| JEL: | I20 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:200708&r=lab |
| By: | Donald R. Davis; James Harrigan |
| Abstract: | Globalization threatens "good jobs at good wages", according to overwhelming public sentiment. Yet professional discussion often rules out such concerns a priori. We instead offer a framework to interpret and address these concerns. We develop a model in which monopolistically competitive firms pay efficiency wages, and these firms differ in both their technical capability and their monitoring ability. Heterogeneity in the ability of firms to monitor effort leads to different wages for identical workers - good jobs and bad jobs - as well as equilibrium unemployment. Wage heterogeneity combines with differences in technical capability to generate an equilibrium size distribution of firms. As in Melitz (2003), trade liberalization increases aggregate efficiency through a firm selection effect. This efficiency-enhancing selection effect, however, puts pressure on many "good jobs", in the sense that the high-wage jobs at any level of technical capability are the least likely to survive trade liberalization. In a central case, trade raises the average real wage but leads to a loss of many "good jobs" and to a steady-state increase in unemployment. |
| JEL: | F1 F16 J2 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13139&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-François Angers; Denise Desjardins; Georges Dionne; Benoit Dostie; François Guertin |
| Abstract: | We propose a parametric model based on the Poisson distribution that permits to take into account both unobserved worker and workplace heterogeneity as long as both effects are nested. By assuming that workplace and worker unobserved heterogeneity components follow a gamma and a Dirichlet distribution respectively, we obtain a closed form the unconditional density function. We estimate the model to obtain the determinants of absenteeism using linked employer-employee Canadian data from the Workplace and Employee Survey (2003). Coefficient estimates are interpreted in the framework of the typical labor-leisure model. We show that omitting unobserved heterogeneity on either side of the employment relationship leads to notable biases in the estimated coefficients. In particular, the impact of wages on absences is underestimated in simpler models. |
| Keywords: | Absenteeism, Linked Employer-Employee Data, Employer-Employee Unobserved Heterogeneity, Count Data Models, Dirichlet Distribution |
| JEL: | J22 J29 C23 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0714&r=lab |
| By: | Jaenichen, Ursula (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Stephan, Gesine (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Targeted wage subsidies paid to employers are an important element of active labour market policies in Germany. This paper uses propensity score matching to investigate their effect on subsidised hard-to-place workers. In a first scenario, we estimate the average treatment effect of a subsidy on previously unemployed individuals. A second scenario analyses the effects of a subsidy on employment probabilities conditional on takingup employment. The third scenario investigates the additional effect of a subsidy on individuals, who have participated in a short-term training measure beforehand. Summing up and in line with the literature, the results show that subsidies have a favourable effect on the employment prospects of participants." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Arbeitsmarktpolitik - Erfolgskontrolle, Hartz-Reform, schwervermittelbare Arbeitslose, Eingliederungszuschuss, Trainingsmaßnahme |
| JEL: | J68 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2007–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200716&r=lab |
| By: | Christophe Nordman (DIAL, IRD, Paris); François-Charles Wolff (LEN, Université de Nantes, CNAV, INED) |
| Abstract: | (english) According to the glass ceiling hypothesis evidenced in developed countries, there exist larger gender pay gaps at the upper tail of the wage distribution. In this paper, we investigate the relevance of a glass ceiling effect in Morocco using a matched worker-firm data set of more than 8000 employees and 850 employers. We estimate linear and quantile earnings regressions which account for firm heterogeneity and perform a quantile decomposition. We also focus on the within-firm gender earnings gap using information on the firms’ characteristics. Our results show that the gender earnings gap is higher at the top of the distribution than at the bottom in Morocco. The gender gap widens in the upper tail of the earnings distribution when controlling for firm specific components. The glass ceiling effect is also reinforced over time in Morocco as high wage male workers benefit from higher earnings growth than women. _________________________________ (français) Selon l’hypothèse du plafond de verre mise en évidence dans les pays développés, il existe un écart salarial selon le genre plus important en haut de la distribution des salaires. Dans cet article, nous examinons la pertinence de l’existence d’un plafond de verre dans le cas marocain à partir de données appariées employeurs-employés regroupant plus de 8 000 travailleurs répartis dans 850 entreprises manufacturières. Nous estimons des équations de gains linéaires et par quantiles conditionnels prenant en compte l’hétérogénéité des entreprises et nous proposons une décomposition des gains par quantiles. Nous examinons également les déterminants de l’écart de revenus selon le genre intraentreprise en utilisant l’information sur les caractéristiques des établissements. Nos résultats montrent que l’écart de revenus selon le sexe est plus élevé en haut de la distribution des gains qu’en bas de celle-ci. L’écart de gains se creuse en haut de la distribution lorsque sont contrôlées les caractéristiques spécifiques des entreprises. L’effet de plafond de verre pourrait également se renforcer au cours du temps dans ces entreprises marocaines dans la mesure où les hommes à hauts salaires bénéficient d’une croissance des gains plus élevée que leurs homologues féminins. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, glass ceiling, quantile regressions, matched worker-firm data, Écart de revenus selon le genre, plafond de verre, régressions de quantile, données appariées employeurs-employés, Maroc. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 O12 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200704&r=lab |
| By: | Brown, Alessio J G; Merkl, Christian; Snower, Dennis J. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses theoretically and empirically how employment subsidies should be targeted. We contrast measures involving targeting workers with low incomes/abilities and targeting the unemployed under the criteria of "approximate welfare efficiency" (AWE). Thereby we can identify policies that (a)improve employment and welfare, (b)do not raise earnings inequality and (c)are self-financing. We construct a microfounded, dynamic model of hiring and separations and calibrate it with German data. The calibration shows that hiring vouchers can be AWE, while low-wage subsidies do not satisfy AWE. Furthermore, hiring vouchers targeted at the long-term unemployed are more effective than those targeted at low-ability workers. |
| Keywords: | duration; employment; hiring voucher; low wage subsidy; self-financing; targeting; unemployment |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J38 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6334&r=lab |
| By: | Federica Origo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of the joint adoption of employment, wage and working time flexibility in workplaces, paying attention to the existence of complementarities. To better understand the role of country-specific institutional features, we compare the adoption of flexibility in Italy and Great Britain, two EU countries characterized by quite different product and labour market regulation. Empirical analysis based on establishment-level data shows that the probability of adopting any forms of flexibility is highly influenced by both firm characteristics and institutional variables, mainly by employment protection, union power and firm-level bargaining. Country-specific patterns also emerge: in Italy employment and wage flexibility are complement and they are both substitute for time flexibility; in Great Britain the flexibility mix is less clear cut. These results suggest that both policy makers and social partners should be aware that incentives or restrictions to specific forms of flexibility are likely to produce effects also on the use of other flexible work arrangements. |
| Keywords: | flexibility, complementarities, institutions, multivariate probit |
| JEL: | J41 J49 J59 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brg:wpaper:0702&r=lab |
| By: | Judith K. Hellerstein; David Neumark; Melissa McInerney |
| Abstract: | We contrast the spatial mismatch hypothesis with what we term the racial mismatch hypothesis -- that the problem is not a lack of jobs, per se, where blacks live, but a lack of jobs into which blacks are hired, whether because of discrimination or labor market networks in which race matters. We first report new evidence on the spatial mismatch hypothesis, using data from Census Long-Form respondents. We construct direct measures of the presence of jobs in detailed geographic areas, and find that these job density measures are related to employment of black male residents in ways that would be predicted by the spatial mismatch hypothesis -- in particular that spatial mismatch is primarily an issue for low-skilled black male workers. We then look at racial mismatch, by estimating the effects of job density measures that are disaggregated by race. We find that it is primarily black job density that influences black male employment, whereas white job density has little if any influence on their employment. This evidence implies that space alone plays a relatively minor role in low black male employment rates. |
| JEL: | J71 J78 R12 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13161&r=lab |
| By: | Kristjan-Olari Leping; Ott Toomet |
| Abstract: | We analyse the ethnic wage gap in Estonia, a former Soviet republic and current EU member, which hosts a substantial Russianspeaking minority. The analysis covers a lengthy period from the final years of the Soviet Union until the first years of EU membership. We document the rise of a substantial wage gap among males in favour of the Estonian-speaking population. This result is robust with respect to controls for language skills, education, industry and occupation. The main factors causing the unexplained wage gap include different ethnicity-specific returns to education and working in the capital city. The gap for young and established workers is of equal size.We argue that the most plausible explanations are establishmentlevel segregation, possibly related to sorting and screening discrimination. Unobserved human capital, related to the segregated school system, may also play a certain role. |
| Keywords: | wage decomposition, ethnicity, Estonia, former Soviet Union |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J71 P23 P36 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:53&r=lab |
| By: | Matteo PICCHIO (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates whether and on the extent to which temporary jobs have been a springboard to regular jobs in Italy. Using the 2000, 2002, and 2004 waves of the Survey of Italian Households' Income and Wealth several dynamic unobserved effects probit models for the probability of having a permanent job are estimated. The main results show that a temporary position, rather than being unemployed, significantly increases the probability of having a permanent job 2 years later of about 13.5-16 percentage points. The robustness of this stepping stone effect is then assessed relaxing the parametric assumptions on unobserved individual heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | dynamic unobserved effects, individual heterogeneity, probit model, stepping stone, temporary employment, unemployment |
| JEL: | C23 C25 C35 J29 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:286&r=lab |
| By: | Boris Vujčić (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb and Croatian National Bank); Vedran Šošić (Croatian National Bank) |
| Abstract: | Countries of Central and Eastern Europe experienced a rapid increase of return to education with the advent of the transition. This is well-documented for most of the countries but, until now, there were no empirical studies of the dynamics of wage premiums in post-transition Croatia. This paper, therefore, intends to fill in that gap. We look at the dynamics of wage premiums in Croatia and estimate how much the return to education has changed between 1996 and 2004 on the basis of labor force survey data. We compare these results with similar ones for selected transition countries and then we look at some possible explanations of our findings. Contrary to most transition countries, premiums for education in Croatia began to grow only at the end of the 1990's. In a way, wage adjustment in Croatia has been delayed. However, by 2004, it reached the level of premiums found in other transition countries and advanced market economies, thus creating market incentives for investment in education. We also look at additional features of the wage structure, such as non-linearities in the return to education associated with attainment of credentials and return to experience. |
| Keywords: | Croatia, human capital, returns to education |
| JEL: | J31 P23 P52 |
| Date: | 2007–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zag:wpaper:0708&r=lab |
| By: | Cordula Zabel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how well imputed educational histories perform in the analysis of first birth rates in the West German context. The focus here is on the quality of estimates when only rudimentary information on the timing of education is available. In many surveys, information on respondents’ educational histories is restricted to the highest level of educational attained by the time of interview and the date at which this highest degree was attained. Skeleton educational histories can be imputed simply from such rudimentary information. The German Life History Study has complete educational histories. We use these to compare estimates based on the complete histories with estimates based on corresponding imputed histories. We find that the imputed histories produce relatively reliable estimates of the effect on first-birth rates of having a university degree vs. having a vocational certificate. Estimating corresponding rates for women who have no such education proved to cause greater difficulties. |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2007-022&r=lab |
| By: | Münich, Daniel; Svejnar, Jan |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use 1991-2005 panel data on the unemployed, vacancies, inflow into unemployment, and outflow from unemployment in five former communist economies and in the western part of Germany (a benchmark western economy) to examine the evolution of unemployment together with that of inflows into unemployment and vacancies. The comparison of the transition economies with an otherwise similar and spatially close market economy is useful because it enables us to identify the main differences and similarities in the evolution of the key variables, and thus draw conclusions as to whether different or similar factors cause high unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Communism; Labour; Transition; Unemployment |
| JEL: | C33 J4 J6 P2 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6315&r=lab |
| By: | Eldridge, Lucy P. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | An ongoing debate surrounding BLS productivity data is that official labor productivity measures may be overstating productivity growth because of an increase in unmeasured hours worked outside the traditional workplace. This paper uses both the ATUS and May CPS Work Schedules and Work at Home Supplements to determine whether the number of hours worked by nonfarm business employees are underestimated and increasing over time due to unmeasured hours worked at home. We find that 8 - 9 percent of nonfarm business employees bring some work home from the workplace. In addition, those who bring work home report working longer hours than those who work exclusively in a workplace, resulting in a 0.8 – 1.1 percent understatement of measured hours worked. However, we find no conclusive evidence that productivity trends were biased over the 1997-2005 period due to work brought home from the workplace. |
| Keywords: | Work at Home, Productivity, Time Use |
| JEL: | J22 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec070050&r=lab |
| By: | Devashish Mitra (Department of Economics, Syracuse University, NBER and IZA); Priya Ranjan (Department of Economics, University of California-Irvine) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, in order to study the impact of offshoring on sectoral and economywide rates of unemployment, we construct a two sector general equilibrium model in which labor is mobile across the two sectors, and unemployment is caused by search frictions. We find that, contrary to general perception, wage increases and sectoral unemployment decreases due to offshoring. This result can be understood to arise from the productivity enhancing (cost reducing) effect of offshoring. If the search cost is identical in the two sectors, or even if the search cost is higher in the sector which experiences offshoring, the economywide rate of unemployment decreases. We also find multiple equilibrium outcomes in the extent of offshoring and therefore, in the unemployment rate. Furthermore, a firm can increase its domestic employment through offshoring. Also, such a firm's domestic employment can be higher than a firm that chooses to remain fully domestic. When we modify the model to disallow intersectoral labor mobility, the negative relative price effect on the sector in which firms offshore some of their activity becomes stronger. In such a case, it is possible for this effect to offset the positive productivity effect, and result in a rise in unemployment in that sector. In the other sector, offshoring has a much stronger unemployment reducing effect in the absence of intersectoral labor mobility than in the presence of it. Finally, allowing for an endogenous number of varieties provides an additional indirect channel, through which sectoral unemployment goes down due to the entry of new firms brought about by offshoring. |
| Keywords: | Offshoring; Imperfect competition; Unemployment; Job search; Vacancies |
| JEL: | F12 F16 J64 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irv:wpaper:060719&r=lab |
| By: | Michael D. Giandrea (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Kevin E. Cahill (Analysis Group, Inc.); Joseph F. Quinn (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Are today’s youngest retirees following in the footsteps of their older peers with respect to gradual retirement? Recent evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) suggests that most older Americans with full-time career jobs later in life transitioned to another job prior to complete labor force withdrawal. This paper explores the retirement patterns of a younger cohort of individuals from the HRS known as the “War Babies.” These survey respondents were born between 1942 and 1947 and were 57 to 62 years of age at the time of their fourth bi-annual HRS interview in 2004. We compare the War Babies to an older cohort of HRS respondents and find that, for the most part, the War Babies have followed the gradual-retirement trends of their slightly older predecessors. Traditional one-time, permanent retirements appear to be fading, a sign that the impact of changes in the retirement income landscape since the 1980s continues to unfold. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Gradual Retirement |
| JEL: | J26 J14 J32 H55 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec070060&r=lab |
| By: | Shane Mathew Worner |
| Abstract: | Using the first two waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, this paper explores the relationship between educational attainment and age at first marriage. Theory suggests that there are two effects driving the relationship, namely the Enrolment effect and the Human Capital effect. Using a Proportional Hazards model we analyse the effect of an individual’s education level on the timing of first marriage. Controlling for other institutional factors, cohort effect and social/ family background we find that the higher an individual’s education level, the older they are when they first marry. We find that the effect of education is much stronger for females than for males. |
| Keywords: | marriage, education, proportional hazard |
| JEL: | I2 J1 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:550&r=lab |
| By: | Benoît S.Y. Crutzen (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam); Otto H. Swank (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam); Bauke Visser (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Organization differ in the degree to which they differentiate employees by ability. We analyse how the effect of differentiation on employee morale may explain this variation. By comparing employees using ordinary talk, a manager boosts the self-image of some, but hurts that of others. Whether the net effect is positive for the organization depends on the degree of synergy between employees and on the shape of their objective function. An implication for relative performance pay is that it yields a double dividend or constitutes a double-edged sword. |
| Keywords: | Comparisons; Confidence; Teams; Cheap talk |
| JEL: | D82 L23 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20070040&r=lab |
| By: | Filip Abraham; Jozef Konings; Stijn Vanormelingen |
| Abstract: | In recent years, Europe has witnessed an accelerated process of economic integration. Trade barriers were removed, the euro was introduced and ten new member states have joined the European Union. This paper analyzes how this process of increased economic integration has affected labor and product markets. To this end, we use a panel of Belgian manufacturing firms to estimate price-cost margins and union bargaining power and show how various measures of globalization affect them. Our findings can be summarized as follows: On average, firms set prices about 30% above marginal costs, but there is substantial variation across sectors, with the lowest mark-up around 19% and the highest around 52%. In addition, we find evidence that unions bargain over both wages and employment. We estimate an index of bargaining power, which reflects the fraction of profits that is passed on to workers into higher wages. Depending on the sector, this fraction varies between 6% and 18% and it increases with the markups of firms. Finally, we find that globalization puts pressure on both markups and union bargaining power, especially when there is increased competition from the low wage countries. This suggests that increased globalization is associated with a moderation of wage claims in unionized countries, which should be associated with positive effects on employment. |
| Keywords: | Mark-ups, Trade Unions, International Trade |
| JEL: | F16 J50 L13 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:18107&r=lab |
| By: | Patricia Fernández-Kelly (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | More than 20 years ago, as part of my dissertation research, I sat behind a sewing machine at a Mexican maquiladora in Ciudad Juarez. That border city was the cradle of outsourcing in the region for American companies aiming to reduce production costs and improve their competitive edge in the world market. For approximately two months I sewed biases around the cuff openings of men’s shirts for such well known American companies as Billy the Kid, Devon, and Sears Roebuck. My wage was nine times smaller than the minimum wage of $1.90 paid to workers in the neighboring city of El Paso, Texas, one of the most depressed in the United States, but still more expensive from the point of view of employers than its Mexican counterpart, just 15 minutes across the international line. The year was 1978 and Ciudad Juarez was experiencing a boom resulting from a new trend in globalization. Women were becoming the new face of the international proletariat. |
| Date: | 2006–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0605&r=lab |
| By: | Bouckenooghe,D.; Devos,G. |
| Abstract: | This inquiry, by means of the case study method, explored how the conceptions of principals about their role of school leader contribute to a better understanding of their behavior and the impact on school climate. The results showed that differences of how principals conceive their role as a leader affect indirectly through their leadership practices (i.e. initiating structure and supportive leadership), the unity in vision, collegial relations, collaboration, innovativeness and satisfaction of teachers. Based on a content analysis of interviews with 46 Belgian school leaders we distinguished three profiles: (1) the ‘people minded profile’ with an emphasis on people, educational matters and thus on creating a professional teaching community; (2) the ‘administrative minded profile’ with the focus on paperwork and the implementation of formal procedures and rules; and (3) the ‘moderate minded profile’ with no explicit preference for people, educational or administrative matters. Drawing on three prototypical cases we described in depth that these types of principals often work under different school climate conditions. We relied on semi-structured interviews to gather data on principals’ thoughts about their role as school leaders. Also, survey questionnaires were administered among 700 teachers in 46 schools to assess several features of school climate (i.e. goal orientedness, participation, formal and informal relationships, innovativeness), satisfaction of teachers, and leadership role behavior (i.e. initiating structure and supportive leadership behavior). |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vlg:vlgwps:2007-15&r=lab |
| By: | Juan Pablo Pagano (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Máximo Rossi (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Patricia Triunfo (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | The present work studies the incidence of obesity and socioeconomic status on the prevalence of hypertension on the elderly of Montevideo, Uruguay. Based on data from the Survey on Health, Well-being and Aging (SABE project, PAHO-WHO), a bivariate probit model is estimated controlling by the potential endogeneity of obesity. The results obtained confirm the appropriateness of the joint estimation of both outcomes, and led us to state that being obese raises the probability of suffering from hypertension in 50 percentage points. This effect should have been understated in the probit estimation. At the same time, the instruments chosen that pick up religiosity, smoking and eating habits were relevant and valid with the expected coefficient signs. Tobacco consumption reduces the probability of being obese, showing that either smokers have different metabolism that make them burn more calories than non-smokers, or that smokers tend to ingest less amounts of food given the well-known appetite-suppressant effect of tobacco. On the other hand, the results show a positive association between obesity and religiosity, probably meaning that religion acts as a support once the problem is present, more than a mechanism of self-control or censorship. Finally, the thermic effect of food is confirmed, in the sense that as more meals one eats per day less the probability of being obese. The results do not show a significative association between poor health, measured through morbidity (presence of chronic disease hypertension), and low socioeconomic status. Given the fact that the variable that captures socioeconomic status is positive and statistically significative in the obese equation, the negative effects on health status of a worst socioeconomic status might operate through nutritional outcomes. On the other hand, there might be a problem of selection bias, in the sense that individuals of lower status have higher probability of early death (survival effect), and that public provision of health services with an emphasis on the elderly, reduce the gap between purchasing power and access to health care services. |
| Keywords: | obesity, hypertension, endogeneity, elderly |
| JEL: | I10 I12 J14 |
| Date: | 2007–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0207&r=lab |
| By: | Arnstein Aassve (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Maria Iacovou (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the factors associated with poverty among young people across 13 countries of the pre-enlargement European Union, and examines how these factors differ between countries. Previous research has shown that young people in most European countries face a higher-than-average risk of poverty; this is to be expected, since young adulthood is a time when people undergo rapid transitions in multiple spheres (education; the labour market; the family), many of which may pre-dispose the young person to poverty. Here, we use data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), making use of random effects models and discrete time hazard regressions to examine the role of several factors on a young person's probability of being poor; and on his or her probability of entering and exiting poverty. We also carry out parallel analysis using measures of non-monetary deprivation. Our results show that while many factors are correlated with young people's risks of poverty or deprivation, the largest risk factor by far is moving out of the parental home. |
| Keywords: | europe, poverty, young people |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2005-23&r=lab |
| By: | Kumar, Sanjeeva |
| Abstract: | The study examines the fate of community forestry in the real-world context of pressures through the state and from the market, by using a combination of discourse analysis, actor analysis and net-work analysis.It deals with the views and interactions of a wide range of groups, including attention to important divisions of genders and class. It identifies and characterises eight relevant discourses, and examines, including from interviews, how these have been used by diverse users in diverse contexts; including how actors may manoeuvre within and between discourses. Overall the study shows the eight discourses at work, in alliance, in conflict and in evolution. |
| Keywords: | social forestry, forest management, discourse analysis, India |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iss:wpaper:440&r=lab |
| By: | Roy Chowdhury, Prabal |
| Abstract: | We consider group-lending with joint liability where the provision of loans is conditional on prior savings. In a dynamic model with moral hazard and endogenous group-formation, we examine the effect of such schemes on the allocation of loans between strongly and weakly empowered borrowers. We find that he savings requirement may help to screen out weak borrowers. Further, as long as the borrowers are not too similar, it increases the incentive for ``positive assortative matching (PAM).'' For intermediate interest rates, group-lending leads to ``PAM'' with a screening out of weak borrowers. It is thus feasible, whereas individual lending, which does not allow for such screening, is not. Interestingly, for relatively high interest rates, individual lending may dominate group-lending. |
| Keywords: | Assortative matching; empowered borrowers; joint liability lending; savings. |
| JEL: | O12 O20 O15 O17 G21 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3405&r=lab |
| By: | Voicu, Bogdan (Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy of Science); Voicu, Malina (Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy of Science); Strapkova, Katarina (Institute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Division of the housework within the couple is the topic of this paper. We are specifically interested if the gender is still salient in the sharing of the domestic works, and which is its relative importance when controlling for various factors such as education, income, spouses’ occupational status, the type of social policies within the respective society, its level of development etc. We focus our research on the European societies, exploiting the data of the European Quality of Life Survey 2003. We inspect the differences between societies and search for individual level and country level explanations of the time spent for housework. Multilevel analysis is employed to test the hypotheses depicted from the existing literature. |
| Keywords: | housework; gender roles ; Europe ; EQLS ; multilevel analysis |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:iriswp:2007-07&r=lab |
| By: | William Greene |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ste:nystbu:07-16&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Deborah A. Cobb-Clark; Vincent A. Hildebrand; Mathias Sinning |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the source of the gap in the relative wealth position of immigrant households residing in Australia, Germany and the United States. Our results indicate that in German and the United States wealth differentials are largely the result of disparity in the educational attainment and demographic composition of the native and immigrant populations, while income differentials are relatively unimportant in understanding the nativity wealth gap. In contrast, the relatively small wealth gap between Australian and foreign-born households, exists because immigrants to Australia do not translate their relative educational and demographic advantage into a wealth advantage. On balance, our results point to substantial cross-nationality disparity in the economic well-being of immigrant and native families, which is largely consistent with domestic labor markets and the selection policies used to shape the nature of immigration flow. |
| Keywords: | International migration, wealth accumulation |
| JEL: | F22 D31 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:554&r=lab |
| By: | Manacorda, Marco; Galiani, Sebastian; Berlinski, Samuel |
| Abstract: | The authors study the effect of pre-primary education on children ' s subsequent school outcomes by exploiting a unique feature of the Uruguayan household survey (ECH) that collects retrospective information on preschool attendance in the context of a rapid expansion in the supply of pre-primary places. Using a within household estimator, they find small gains from preschool attendance at early ages that magnify as children grow up. By age 15, treated children have accumulated 0.8 extra years of education and are 27 percentage points more likely to be in school compared with their untreated siblings. Instrumental variables estimates that control for nonrandom selection of siblings into preschool lead to similar results. The authors speculate that early grade repetition harms subsequent school progression and that pre-primary education appears as a successful policy option to prevent early grade failure and its long lasting consequences. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Youth and Governance,Early Childhood Development,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4240&r=lab |
| By: | Marco Castillo; Ragan Petrie; Maximo Torero |
| Abstract: | We present a series of experiments to understand the nature and extent of discrimination in urban Lima, Peru. The experiments exploit varying degrees of information on performance and personal characteristics as people sort into groups to test for statistical versus taste-based discrimination. This allows us to examine the nature of discrimination. Our sample is similar to the racial and socio-economic diversity of young adults in urban Lima. This allows us to look at the extent of discrimination. We use a unique method to measure race, along four racial dimensions common in Peru, and find that race is clearly observable. This gives us confidence that we can examine discrimination based on race. While behavior is not correlated with personal, socio-economic or racial characteristics, people do use personal characteristics to sort themselves into groups. Beauty is a robust predictor of being a desirable group member as is being a woman. Being unattractive or looking indigenous makes one less desirable and looking white increases one’s desirability. Interestingly, indigenous subjects are three times more likely to be classified as unattractive, suggesting that beauty might mask discrimination. We find that once information on performance is provided, almost all evidence of discrimination is eliminated, except in the most-preferred group. The evidence in these cases is consistent with taste-based, rather than statistical, discrimination. |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exc:wpaper:2007-01&r=lab |
| By: | Robert B. Archibald (Department of Economics, College of William and Mary); David H. Feldman (Department of Economics, College of William and Mary) |
| Abstract: | Much of the literature on the causes of rising costs in higher education focuses on specific features and pathologies of decision-making within colleges and universities. We argue that this inward-looking focus on the specifics of higher education as an industry is a form of tunnel vision that can lead to poor public policy decisions. In this paper we show that cost disease and capital-skill complementarity are two crucially important causes of rising costs in higher education. These two economy-wide forces are something higher education shares with other skilled-labor-intensive services. |
| Keywords: | discrete games, cost disease, capital-skill complementarity |
| JEL: | I22 I23 |
| Date: | 2007–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:53&r=lab |
| By: | Alexandre Léné (CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - [CNRS : UMR8019] - [Université des Sciences et Technologie de Lille - Lille I]) |
| Abstract: | Labour poaching is a potential problem in work-linked training systems. Once trained, young people can be poached by rival firms, which threatened the training firm's investment. A distinction is made between two types of workforce poaching. It is shown that it may be rational for some firms to train young people, even if they then lose part of their workforce. However, this situation is not socially optimal: it does not exclude underinvestment or skilled labour shortages. This may justify government intervention. However, the introduction of subsidies can have perverse effects. |
| Keywords: | training ; skills; poaching ; labour |
| Date: | 2007–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00150509_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Chakrabarty, Sayan; Grote, Ulrike |
| Abstract: | Does the labeling of tradable products like carpets which have been produced without child labor contribute to decreased vulnerability of poor households and their children? This paper analyzes which factors determine the probability of a child to work in the carpet industry, and examines the influence of non governmental organizations (NGOs) like Rugmark which are engaged in the social labeling process. Data was obtained from interviews with 417 households in North India. Based on their calorie intake, the households were dissected into two groups, one very poor group below and another one above the subsistence level. The econometric analysis shows that a child living in a very poor household is more likely to work when his/her calorie intake increases (nutritional efficiency wage argument), while the opposite is true for a child from the above-subsistence household group. In addition, it has been found that social labeling has no significant influence on the very poor households. In contrast, at the above-subsistence level, social labeling has a significant positive welfare influence on the households. Furthermore, the occurrence of child labor is more likely for NGOs without monitoring. |
| Keywords: | Social Labeling, Child Labor, Carpet Industry, India |
| JEL: | D13 C81 I20 J22 O12 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-366&r=lab |
| By: | Jean-Pierre Lachaud (CED, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | L’étude considère que l’identification de la distribution et de la dynamique spatiale des activités et des opportunités économiques, en relation avec l’accès au marché du travail, est fondamentale pour la politique économique, et examine les déterminants de l’évolution de la pauvreté provinciale à Madagascar, au cours de la période 2001-2005. Premièrement, les équations du ratio de bien-être des ménages mettent en évidence le rôle du capital humain – malgré la baisse de sa rentabilité –, la contrainte plus sévère des facteurs démographiques dans les villes, et l’effet de la participation aux marchés du travail. A cet égard, dans les provinces rurales du centre et du sud-est/ouest, la croissance du taux d’emploi a été compensée par une dégradation du mode de participation au marché du travail, alors que l’inverse a prévalu dans le milieu rural du nord-ouest/est et nord – une situation aussi fonction du processus migratoire et des transferts. Dans les villes, les ajustements en termes d’offre de travail, de chômage et de qualité des emplois, surtout dans la province d’Antananarivo, ont contribué à réduire le niveau de vie des ménages. Deuxièmement, la décomposition des effets des dotations et des rendements des facteurs montre qu’en milieu rural, où les dépenses par tête ont augmenté de 6,8 pour cent, la variation des rendements du travail est le déterminant majeur de la contribution de l’emploi, l’accroissement des rendements des agriculteurs ayant joué un rôle de premier plan. Cette dynamique a permis de contrebalancer la baisse du rendement du capital humain du chef de ménage, l’effet de la démographie des ménages étant marginal. Toutefois, dans la province rurale d’Antananarivo, où le ratio de bien-être a décliné, la contribution négative de l’emploi et de l’instruction n’a pas été contrebalancée par l’effet positif de la démographie. Dans les villes, le déclin de -16,9 pour cent des dépenses par tête s’explique principalement par la contribution des dotations, bien que, pour les rendements, des compensations inter-composantes complexifient l’appréhension de leur rôle. Ainsi, dans toutes les provinces, les dotations relatives à l’instruction, ont non seulement baissé, mais aussi équivalent le plus souvent à la moitié des dotations totales. Quant à la variation négative des dotations liées à l’emploi – hormis à Toliara –, elle résulte d’une baisse de la proportion d’employés rémunérés par ménage, de l’élévation du sous-emploi, et de la dynamique défavorable de certains statuts du travail des membres des ménages, en particulier, le poids croissant du chômage à Antananarivo et à Mahajanga. Enfin, malgré le contraste provincial du rôle des rendements des facteurs, la contribution positive de l’emploi au ratio de bien-être dans les deux provinces du sud-est/ouest (Fianarantsoa et Toliara) et celles du nord-ouest (Mahajanga et Toamasina) est principalement annihilée par la baisse du rendement du capital humain. The study considers that the identification of the distribution and the spatial dynamics of the activities and economic opportunities, in relation to the access to the labour market, is fundamental for the economic policy, and examines the determinants of the evolution of the provincial poverty in Madagascar, during the period 2001-2005. Firstly, the equations of the household’s welfare ratio highlight the role of the human capital – in spite of the fall of its return –, the more intense constraint of the demographic factors in the cities, and the effect of the participation in the labour markets. In this respect, in the rural provinces of the centre and the south-east/west, the growth of the rate of employment was compensated by a growing vulnerability in the labour market, whereas the reverse prevailed in the rural areas of north-west/east and north – a situation also related to the migratory process and remittances. In the cities, the adjustments in terms of labour supply, underemployment and quality of jobs, especially in the province of Antananarivo, contributed to reduce the standard of living of the households. Secondly, the decomposition of the effects of the endowments and the returns of the factors shows that in rural areas, where the expenditure per capita increased by 6.8 percent, the variation of the labour returns is the major determinant of the contribution of employment, the increase of the farmers’ earnings having played a significant role. This dynamics resulted in counterbalancing the fall of the return of the human capital of the household head, the effect of the demography of the households being marginal. However, in the rural province of Antananarivo, where the welfare ratio declined, the negative contribution of employment and education was not counterbalanced by the positive effect of demography. In the cities, the decline of -16.9 percent of the expenditure per capita is explained mainly by the contribution of the endowments, although, for the returns, inter-components compensation’s complex the apprehension of their role. Thus, in all the provinces, the endowments relating to the instruction, not only dropped, but are also equivalent to half of the total endowments. As for the negative variation of the endowments related to employment – except in Toliara –, it results from a fall of the proportion of employees remunerated per household, the rise in underemployment, and the unfavorable dynamics of some labour statutes, in particular, the growing weight of unemployment in Antananarivo and Mahajanga. Lastly, in spite of the provincial contrast of the role of the returns of the factors, the positive contribution of employment to the welfare ratio in the two provinces of the south-east/west (Fianarantsoa and Toliara) and those of the north-west (Mahajanga and Toamasina) are mainly neutralized by the fall of the return of the human capital.(Full text in french) |
| JEL: | I32 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mon:ceddtr:136&r=lab |
| By: | Jean Bourdon (IREDU - Institut de recherche sur l'éducation : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education - [CNRS : FRE5211] - [Université de Bourgogne]); Markus Frölich (SIAW-HSG - [University of St. Gallen]); Katharina Michaelowa (Institut für Politikwissenschaft - [University of Zurich]) |
| Abstract: | Primary school enrolment rates are very low in francophone Africa. In order to enhance education supply, many<br />countries have launched large teacher recruitment programmes in recent years, whereby teachers are no longer engaged on civil servant positions, but on the basis of (fixed-term) contracts typically implying considerably lower salaries and a sharply reduced duration of professional training. While this policy has led to a boost of primary enrolment, there is a concern about a loss in the quality of education. In this paper we analyse the impact on educational quality, by estimating nonparametrically the quantile treatment effects for Niger, Togo and Mali, based on very informative data, comparable across these countries. We find that contract teachers do relatively better for low ability children in low grades than for high ability children in higher grades. When positive treatment effects were found, they tended to be more positive at the low to medium quantiles; when negative effects were found they tended to be more pronounced at the high ability quantiles. Hence, overall it seems that contract teachers do a relatively better job for teaching students with learning difficulties than for teaching the ‘more advanced' children. This implies that contract teachers tend to reduce inequalities in student outcomes. At the same time, we also observe clear differences between the countries. We find that, overall, effects are positive in Mali, somewhat mixed in Togo (with positive effects in 2nd and negative effects in 5th grade) and negative in Niger. This ordering is consistent with theoretical expectations derived from a closer examination of the different ways of implementation of the contract teacher programme in the three countries. In Mali and, to some extent, in Togo, the contract teacher system works more through the local communities. This may have led to closer monitoring and more effective hiring of contract teachers. In Niger, the system was changed in a centralized way with all contract teachers being public employees, so that there is no reason to expect much impact on local monitoring. In addition, the extremely fast hiring of huge numbers of contract teachers may also have contributed to relatively poor performance in Niger. These results are expected to be relevant for other sub-Saharan African countries, too, as well as for the design of new contract teacher programmes in the future. |
| Keywords: | Subsaharan Africa ; Primary school ; Enrolment ; Teachers ; Recruitment programme ; Civil servants ; Teacher training ; Quality of education ; Mali ; Togo ; Niger |
| Date: | 2007–05–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00150147_v1&r=lab |