|
on Labour Economics |
| By: | Vodopivec, Milan (World Bank); Arunatilake, Nisha (Institute for Policy Studies of Sri Lanka) |
| Abstract: | Sri Lanka’s population is predicted to age very fast during the next 50 years, bringing a slowdown of labor force growth and after 2030 its contraction. Based on an original, 2006 representative survey of old people in Sri Lanka conducted as a part of this study, the paper examines labor market consequences of this process, focusing on retirement pathways and the determinants of labor market withdrawal. The paper finds that a vast majority of Sri Lankan old workers are engaged in the informal sector, work long hours, and are paid less than younger workers. Moreover, as one of the first findings of its kind, the paper shows that labor market duality that characterizes most developing countries carries over to old age: (i) previous employment is the most important predictor of the retirement pathway; (ii) older workers fall into two categories: civil servants and formal private sector workers, who generally stop working before they reach 60 because they are forced to do so by mandatory retirement regulations, and casual workers and the self-employed, who are forced to work until very old age (or death) due to poverty and who stop working primarily because of poor health; and (iii) the option of part-time work is used primarily by workers who held regular jobs in their prime age employment, but not by casual workers and self-employed. |
| Keywords: | population aging, labor supply of old workers, labor demand for old workers |
| JEL: | J11 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3456&r=lab |
| By: | Yu, Li; Hurley, Terrance M; Kliebenstein, James; Orazem, Peter |
| Abstract: | Economists have long puzzled over the fact that large firms pay higher wages than small firms, even after controlling for worker’s observed productive characteristics. One possible explanation has been that firm size is correlated with unobserved productive attributes which confound firm size with other productive characteristics. This study investigates the size-wage premium in the context of firms competing within a single market for a relatively homogeneous product: hogs. We pay particular attention to the matching process by which workers are linked to farms of different size and technology use, and whether the matching process may explain differences in wages across farms. The study relies on four surveys of employees on hog farms collected in 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005. We find that there are large wage premia paid to workers on larger farms that persist over time. Although more educated and experienced workers are more likely to work on larger and more technologically advanced hog farms, the positive relationships between wages and both farm size and technology adoption remain large and statistically significant even after controlling for differences in observable worker attributes and in the observed sorting process of workers across farms. |
| Keywords: | Pork, Hog Farms, Wages, Technology, Propensity Score, Size, Wage Premium |
| JEL: | J4 |
| Date: | 2008–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12921&r=lab |
| By: | Wolf Dieter Heinbach; Markus Spindler |
| Abstract: | Collective bargaining agreements still play an important role in the German wage setting system. Both existing theoretical and empirical studies find that collective bargaining leads to higher wages compared to individually agreed ones. However, the impact of collective bargaining on the wage level may be very different along the wage distribution. As unions aim at compressing the wage distribution, one might expect that for covered workers' wages in the lower part of the distribution workers' individual characteristics may be less important than the coverage by a collective contract. In contrast, the relative importance of workers' individual characteristics may rise in the upper part of the wage distribution, whereas the overall wage difference might decline. Using the newly available German Structure of Earnings Survey (GSES) 1995 and 2001, a cross-sectional linked employer-employee-dataset from German official statistics, this study analyses the difference between collectively and individually agreed wages using a Machado/Mata (2005) decomposition type technique. |
| Keywords: | collective bargaining; wage structure; wage decomposition; quantile regression |
| JEL: | J31 J51 C13 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoh:hohdip:294&r=lab |
| By: | Jongkon Kumlaï (GED, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | L’objectif de cette étude consiste à mettre en évidence la relation complexe entre les mobilités professionnelle et salariale dans un secteur à bas salaires, afin d’appréhender l’instabilité chronique du salaire, principale sources d’inégalité salariale. Pour dépasser les limites méthodologiques de l’hétérogénéité, un modèle probit multinomial à régimes endogènes est considéré, pour lequel les estimations sont convergentes, sans biais et axiomatiquement efficientes. Les enquêtes socio-économiques de panel, effectuées entre 2005 et 2007, permettent d’appréhender le fonctionnement dynamique du marché du travail urbain en Thaïlande. Les résultats montrent que le modèle de correction des effets endogènes est plus pertinent que celui de sélection exogène, car la majorité des paramètres des fonctions de gains semblent être sous-estimés. L’étude montre qu’il existe une corrélation positive entre le changement d’emploi et le bas salaire. Ainsi, les employés à bas salaires sont plus susceptibles de changer d’emploi, un résultat statistiquement confirmé par la significativité du coefficient de corrélation. Ensuite, il s’agit de savoir si la mobilité d’emploi à bas salaires est profitable aux employés mobiles de ce secteur. Les pertes salariales sont de l’ordre de 4,3 pour cent pour les personnes mobiles à bas salaires. Les personnes plus touchées par ces pertes en termes monétaires englobent les plus instruits, les travailleurs ayant une ancienneté importante, les individus ayant une longue durée de chômage, les personnes exerçant un travail à temps plein, et ceux qui travaillent dans les grandes entreprises. L’ampleur des coûts d’opportunité supportés par les personnes à bas salaires exige des programmes d’action spécifiques, afin de minimiser les effets négatifs de ces phénomènes. The main purpose of this study consists in highlighting a complex relation between the professional mobility and the wage change in a low wage sector. Moreover, we try to bring answers to the persistent wage instability within this group using an analysis of wage mobility. To take into account the specific technical limits of the unobserved heterogeneity, we consider a probit multinomial endogenous switching approach, instead of using the linear model. The socio-economic panel data, collected between 2005 and 2007, enables us to carry out an empirical analysis leading to show the dynamic of the urban labor market in Thailand. Thus, several observations directly drive to the main conclusion according to which the endogenous selection model is more relevant than that of exogenous transformation. In fact, the majority of parameters from the wage functions seem to be underestimated under the linear approach. Therefore, it is technically accurate to adopt the relevant multinomial switching model. The fundamental result from this study links to the fact that there is a positive correlation between the job mobility and the low wages: the low wage employees are more likely to perform a high job change, shown by the significant level of the correlation parameter of errors terms. Moreover, since the wage penalty from job mobility under exogenous model seems to be relatively low, it is particularly high along the lines of the endogenous approach. In this case, the wage losses are estimated about 4.3 percent for the low wage mover referred to stayers at the same sector. Most people implied in these wage losses include the employees with high educated level, the prime workers, those who have more tenure from the last job, those who come from the long spell of unemployment, those who have a full-time job and particularly those who work within a big companies. The extent of the wage penalties calls upon the specific programs of public policies in order to minimize the negative effects on wage instability in this specific sector.(Full text in french) |
| JEL: | J21 J62 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mon:ceddtr:144&r=lab |
| By: | Pastore, Francesco (University of Naples II); Verashchagina, Alina (University of Siena) |
| Abstract: | Unlike in many other transition countries, where the gender pay gap has remained stable while female employment rates have reduced, in the case of Belarus women’ activity rate has been practically unchanged despite an increase in the gender pay gap. This paper investigates why this is the case by looking at the determinants of female labour force participation in 1996 and 2001 (data from the Belarusian Household Survey). The selectivity corrected wage equation is estimated to compute an expected wage offer for women. The latter is included, in the second step, as a regressor in the structural female labour supply equation, estimated by probit. Several measures for the care of children and elderly people, proxies for the opportunity cost of working, affect female participation, but do not generate sample selection mechanisms. The estimated elasticity of female participation to wages is low, at about 0.45 in 1996 and 0.41 in 2001. Moreover the data allows detecting poverty trap mechanisms, whereas women in low-income households have much lower than average participation rates. At the same time the elasticity of female labour supply with respect to the own wage appears to be much higher for the low-paid groups of women. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, female participation, economic transition, Belarus |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 P20 P52 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3457&r=lab |
| By: | Stéphane Auray; Samuel Danthine |
| Abstract: | A matching model with labor/leisure choice and bargaining frictions is used to explain (i) differences in GDP per hour and GDP per capita, (ii) differences in employment and hours worked (per capita and per worker), (iii) differences in the proportion of part-time work across countries. The model predicts that the higher the level of rigidity in wages and hours the lower are GDP per capita, employment, part-time work and hours worked, but the higher is GDP per hour. In addition, it predicts that a country with a high level of rigidity in wages and hours and a high level of income taxation has higher GDP per hour and lower GDP per capita, employment and part-time work than a country with less rigidity and a lower level of taxation. This is due mostly to a lower level of employment. In contrast, a country with low levels of rigidity in hours and in wage setting but with a higher level of income taxtion has a lower GDP per capita and a higher GDP per hour than the economy with low rigidity and low taxation. In this configuration, the level of employment is similar in both economies but the share of part-time work is larger. The model accounts well qualitatively for the facts, and a plausible calibration accounts well qualitatively for the differences between the US, French and Dutch economies. |
| Keywords: | Models of search and matching, bargaining frictions, economic performance, labor market institutions, part-time jobs, labor market rigidities |
| JEL: | E24 J22 J30 J41 J50 J64 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0803&r=lab |
| By: | Chiang Hui-Yu (Graduate school of Economics, Osaka University); Noriaki Mamiko Takeuchi (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore the relationship between work-life balance policies and three outcomes of interest to employers and employees: the job tenure of women employees, turnover rate of women employees and retention rate of new women graduates. In the cross sectional analysis, we find that firms with work-life balance policies such as the full amount of maternity pay practice and flextime system are positively associated with the job tenure of women employees. We also find that the full amount of maternity pay practice has an effect on retention rate of new women graduates. However, we canft find the relationship between maternity pay practice and job tenure of women employees in fixed effects. Even though our hypothesis just receives partial support, our results still suggest that work-life balance policies such as the full amount of maternity pay and flextime system can produce positive outcomes for both employers and employees. |
| Keywords: | work-life balance; job tenure; turnover rate; retention rate |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:08e008&r=lab |
| By: | Bryan Engelhardt (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross) |
| Abstract: | I investigate how long it takes for released inmates to find a job, and when they find a job, how their incarceration rate changes. An on-the-job search model with crime is used to model criminal behavior, derive the estimation method and analyze several policies including a job placement program. The results show the unemployed are incarcerated twice as fast as the employed and take on average four months to find a job. Combining these results, it is demonstrated that reducing the average unemployment spell of criminals by two months reduces crime and recidivism by more than five percent. |
| Keywords: | crime, search, unemployment, wage dispersion |
| JEL: | C41 E24 J0 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0805&r=lab |
| By: | Manuel A. Hidalgo (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | We use recent developments in quantile regression to simulate counterfactuals densities that allows to decompose the Spanish wage inequality evolution over the 1980-2000 period between changes due to observable prices, labour market composition and non observable characteristics' prices. Our empirical results are threefold: first of all, the wage inequality decreases during each decade first half and increases during the second ones, second both changes in prices and composition has an important role in this evolution and third, changes in observable prices mirrors this behavior above and below the median while non observable inequality increases since 1985 onwards below the median, with an erratic trend above. Finally some tentative explanations are give that could reasonably explain our findings. |
| Keywords: | Wage inequality, counterfactuals, human capital. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:08.08&r=lab |
| By: | Bloemen, Hans (Free University of Amsterdam); Stancanelli, Elena (CNRS, Nice) |
| Abstract: | This paper is focused on couple households where the wife is the main earner. The economic literature on this subject is particularly scant. According to our estimates, the wife was the main earner in one of every six couple households in France in 2002, including wife-sole-earner households. The proportion of wives outearning their husbands was 18% for dual-earners. About 24% of American women in dual-earner households earned more than their husband in 2004. Using a model of household labour supply behaviour, we show that households where the wife is the main earner may come about either because the husband has a weaker preference for work than his wife, due possibly to her high wage, or because he is hit by adverse circumstances, such as, for example, a decline in the demand for men with his particular qualifications. Positive assortative mating may also come into play. Our empirical model specifies spouse labour-market participation equations within each household, endogenizing wages and allowing for random effects and correlations in spouses’ unobservables. We conclude that the determinants of wife-sole-earner households are quite distinct from those for dual-earner households where she outearns him. The probability of observing the first seems to be more related to labour market difficulties of the husband, while the latter is not. Dual-earners where she outearns him are more likely to be found among higher educated couples, and especially, among couple where the wife’s education level is high. |
| Keywords: | marriage, work behaviour, household economics |
| JEL: | D1 J12 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3455&r=lab |
| By: | Miki Kohara (Associate Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how Japanese wives react to their husbandsf involuntary job loss, and tests the existence of complementarity of a wifefs labor supply to her husbandfs. Utilizing panel data on Japanese households from 1993 to 2004, we found that wivesf labor supply is stimulated when husbands suffer involuntary job loss. The detailed statistics show that not only do working wives raise their labor hours but also nonworking wives begin to participate in the labor market. The added worker effect is evident during the period of job insecurity in Japan following the mid-1990s. |
| Keywords: | Added worker effects, Female labor supply, Within-family risk-sharing, Household panel data, Japan |
| JEL: | D12 J22 C23 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:08e007&r=lab |
| By: | Budria, Santiago (University of Madeira); Pereira, Pedro T. (University of Madeira) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the transition to the labour market of participants in vocational training in Madeira Island. In a first stage, we investigate how the employment status at different dates (one month, one year, and two years after the completion of the training program) depends on relevant variables, such as age, gender, education and the content and duration of the training. In a second stage, we use the individuals’ self-assessment regarding the effectiveness of the training program along three dimensions: employment, job-related skills and productivity. We find that respondents score training activities high in every dimension. Moreover, we find that training is more effective among the educated, indicating that vocational training is far from being remedial. We also find that long training programs and training in the area of tourism are particularly effective. |
| Keywords: | job-related skills, productivity, employment, training, ordered logit |
| JEL: | C35 I21 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3462&r=lab |
| By: | Olga Lazareva (New Economic School (NES), Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR), Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)); Konstantin Sonin (Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm; Centre for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR), Moscow) |
| Abstract: | The move of five million Russian and Russian-speaking people from the former Soviet Union countries to Russia which took place during 1990s has been studied by demographers, sociologists and to a lesser extent by economists. This paper presents a study of the labor market outcomes for the Russian migrants to Russia, using the data from a representative survey of the Russian population in 2004 and 2005. Author focuses on the location choice by Russian immigrants and tests the hypothesis of skill sorting across regions. It is shown that in the regions with low fraction of immigrant population immigrants are doing better in terms of employment opportunities than local population while in the regions with high fraction of immigrants they are doing worse than locals. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that immigrants choose regions where the demand for their skills is high and compete for the jobs with fellow immigrants rather than with locals. Wage premiums for the migrants are found in some occupations but not in others. The results of the analysis indicate that the Russian migration to Russia has played some equilibrating role in the regional labor markets in presence of high barriers for internal labor migration. |
| Keywords: | migration, regional labor markets, wages, employment |
| JEL: | J61 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0117&r=lab |
| By: | Quella, Núria (ITAM, Mexico); Rendon, Silvio (Stony Brook University) |
| Abstract: | In multilingual labor markets agents with high proficiency in more than one language may be selected into occupations that require high levels of skill in communicating with customers or writing reports in more than one language. In this paper we measure this effect in Catalonia, where two languages, Catalan and Spanish, coexist. Using census data for 1991 and 1996, and controlling for endogeneity of Catalan knowledge, we find that proficiency in speaking, reading and writing Catalan reinforces selection into communication intensive jobs/positions such as entrepreneurial, trade, and service activities; white-collar occupations; and permanent employment. Interestingly, the effect of language on occupational selection is stronger for women than for men. |
| Keywords: | occupational selection, language, labor markets |
| JEL: | J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3446&r=lab |
| By: | Kodama, Masahiro |
| Abstract: | Using a Dynamic General Equilibrium (DGE) model, this study examines the effects of monetary policy in economies where minimum wages are bound. The findings show that the monetary-policy effect on a binding-minimum-wage economy is relatively small and quite persistent. This result suggests that these two characteristics of monetary policy in the minimum-wage model are rather different from those in the union-negotiation model which is often assumed to account for industrial economies. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, Sticky wage, Business cycles, Developing countries, Minimum wages |
| JEL: | E32 E52 J3 O11 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper142&r=lab |
| By: | Levin, Jörgen (Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics); Olin, Mikael (Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics) |
| Abstract: | This report focuses on trade and exchange rate policies in Tanzania. The composition of Tanzanian exports has changed dramatically since early 2000. In examining the determinants of trade with a particular focus on Tanzanian exports, we found that changes in the real exchange rate did not have a significant impact on exports. However, supply-side effects and trading partner economic performance are more important, as is the distance to market (or transport cost). The second part of this report discusses the impact of trade reforms on employment and poverty in the Tanzanian economy. In the long-term scenarios poorer households seem to gain more from trade liberalisation compared to the richer household groups. In the short-term, trade liberalisation would be beneficial to female workers and poor households, if labour is able to move between sectors. If wages are rigid, trade liberalisation will lead to unemployment and wages for casual labour will drop significantly. A nominal wage increase during liberalisation can have a significant impact on unemployment, driving casual workers’ wages down further. If the trade union adjusts worker premiums during trade reform, this would not only save some of the jobs of members, but also benefit non-unionised workers in other sectors as well. The alternative option of a reduction in export taxes would have a stronger impact on export supply, poor households would gain more than with liberalisation.. |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalisation; labour markets; poverty; Tanzania |
| JEL: | C68 F01 F16 |
| Date: | 2008–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2008_001&r=lab |
| By: | Paul Carlin (Department of Economics, Indiana Unviersity-Purdue University Indianapolis); Michael Kidd; Patrick Rooney (Department of Economics, Indiana Unviersity-Purdue University Indianapolis); Brian Denton |
| Abstract: | The paper contributes to the growing literature on wage determination within academia. The data arise from a pay-equity study carried out in a single Midwestern U.S. university over the 1996-7 academic year. The focus is upon understanding differences between male-female pay, and in particular why females earn approximately 20% less than their male counterparts. Do gender differences in the balance between research, teaching and service hold the key? Econometric results suggest that objective measures of productivity and subjective peer review ratings both play a significant role in male earnings determination. Interestingly academic productivity, however measured, fails to plays a significant role in the female wage specifications. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Earnings Gap, Productivity |
| JEL: | J3 J7 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iup:wpaper:wp200703&r=lab |
| By: | Munshi, Farzana (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | How does globalization affect inter-occupational wage inequality within countries? This paper empirically examines this issue by focusing on two dimensions of globalization, openness to trade and openness to capital, using a relatively new dataset on occupational wages. Estimates from dynamic models for 52 countries for the 1983-2002 period suggest that openness to trade contributes to an increase in occupational wage inequality within developed countries, but that the effect diminishes with an increased level of development. In the context of developing countries, the results suggest that the effect of openness to trade on wage inequality is insignificant and does not vary with the level of development. Our results also suggest that openness to capital does not affect occupational wage inequality in either developed or developing countries.<p> |
| Keywords: | openness to trade; openness to capital; foreign direct investment; occupational wage inequality; panel data; dynamic model |
| JEL: | C33 F15 F16 F23 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0302&r=lab |
| By: | Simon Luechinger; Stephan Meier; Alois Stutzer |
| Abstract: | High rates of unemployment entail substantial costs to the working population in terms of reduced subjective well-being. This paper studies the importance of individual economic security, in particular, job security, in workers' well-being by exploiting sector-specific institutional differences in the exposure to economic shocks. Public servants have stricter dismissal protection and face a lower risk of their organization's bankruptcy than do private sector employees. The empirical results for individual panel data for Germany and repeated cross-sectional data for the United States and the European Union show that the sensitivity of subjective well-being to fluctuations in unemployment rates is much lower in the public sector than in the private. This suggests that increased economic insecurity constitutes an important welfare loss associated with high general unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment ; Job security |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbpp:08-1&r=lab |
| By: | Appleton, Simon; Song , Lina; Knight, John; Xia, Qingjie |
| Abstract: | Why is it that, as the Chinese Communist Party has loosened its grip, abandoned its core beliefs, and marketized the economy, its membership has risen markedly along with the economic benefits of joining? We use three national household surveys, spanning eleven years, to answer this question with respect to labour market rewards in urban China. We conceptualize individual demand for Party membership as an investment in “political capital” that brings monetary rewards in terms of higher wages. This wage premium has risen with the growing wage differentials associated with the emergence of a labour market and the continuing value of political status in the semi-marketized transitional economy. However, a demand-side explanation does not explain the fact that the wage premium is higher for the personal characteristics that reduce the probability of membership. We develop an explanation in terms of a rationing of places and a scarcity value for members with those characteristics. |
| Keywords: | China; Communist Party; labour market; economic transition; wages |
| JEL: | J08 J31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8345&r=lab |
| By: | Behncke, Stefanie; Frölich, Markus; Lechner, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the chances of job placements improve if unemployed persons are counselled by caseworkers who belong to the same social group, defined by gender, age, education, and nationality. Based on an unusually informative dataset, which links Swiss unemployed to their caseworkers, we find positive employment effects of about 4 percentage points if caseworker and unemployed belong to the same social group. Coincidence in a single characteristic, e.g. same gender of caseworker and unemployed, does not lead to detectable effects on employment. These results, obtained by statistical matching methods, are confirmed by several robustness checks. |
| Keywords: | age; gender; public employment services; Social identity; social interactions; unemployment |
| JEL: | C31 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6784&r=lab |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Kung, Fan-chin |
| Abstract: | The modern literature on city formation and development, for example the New Economic Geography literature, has studied the agglomeration of agents in size or mass. We investigate agglomeration in sorting or by type of worker, that implies agglomeration in size when worker populations differ by type. This kind of agglomeration can be driven by asymmetric information in the labor market, specifically when firms do not know if a particular worker is of high or low skill. In a model with two types and two regions, workers of different skill levels are offered separating contracts in equilibrium. When mobile low skill worker population rises or there is technological change that favors high skilled workers, integration of both types of workers in the same region at equilibrium becomes unstable, whereas sorting of worker types into different regions in equilibrium remains stable. The instability of integrated equilibria results from firms, in the region to which workers are perturbed, offering attractive contracts to low skill workers when there is a mixture of workers in the region of origin. |
| Keywords: | Adverse Selection; Agglomeration |
| JEL: | R13 R12 D82 |
| Date: | 2008–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8388&r=lab |
| By: | Dante Contreras; Luiz de Mello; Esteban Puentes |
| Abstract: | Chile’s labour force participation is low by comparison with most countries in the OECD area, especially among females and youths. In the case of women, labour supply has risen steadily over time for prime-age and older individuals, against a background of relative stability for men. With regards to youths, participation rates are trending down, primarily as a result of rising school enrolment, especially for males, while remaining fairly low and stable over the years for young females. The main policy challenge in this area is to raise female labour supply further, for both prime-age individuals and youths, as a means of making a better use of labour inputs in support of long-term growth. This can be achieved essentially by removing provisions in the labour code that constrain the allocation of working time and by improving access to affordable child care for mothers with young children. Policies aimed at fostering human capital accumulation for the population as a whole would also contribute, because educational attainment is one of the most powerful determinants of labour force participation. This paper relates to the 2007 Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/chile). <P>Encourager l’activité au Chili <BR>Le taux d'activité du Chili est faible par comparaison avec la plupart des pays de la zone OCDE, surtout parmi les femmes et les jeunes. Dans le cas des femmes, l'offre de main-d'oeuvre a augmenté régulièrement avec le temps dans les classes d'âge de forte activité et au-delà, tandis qu'elle restait relativement stable chez les hommes. En ce qui concerne les jeunes, les taux d'activité sont orientés à la baisse, principalement du fait des progrès de la scolarisation, surtout chez les hommes, alors qu'ils restent assez faibles et stables chez les femmes. Le principal enjeu dans ce domaine est de renforcer l'offre de travail des femmes, à la fois dans les classes d'âge de forte activité et chez les jeunes, afin de mieux utiliser le facteur travail en le mettant au service de la croissance à long terme. Cela suppose essentiellement que l'on supprime du code du travail les contraintes qui pèsent sur l'affectation du temps de travail et que l'on développe l'offre de services de garde d'un coût abordable pour les mères de jeunes enfants. Le niveau d'instruction étant l'un des principaux déterminants de l'activité, des mesures qui tendraient à renforcer l'accumulation de capital humain dans l'ensemble de la population auraient également leur utilité. Ce document se rapporte à l’Étude économique du Chili 2007 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/chili). |
| Keywords: | child care, garde d'enfants, Chile, Chili, taux d'activité, pre-school education, labour force participation |
| JEL: | J13 J21 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:608-en&r=lab |
| By: | Makino, Kumiko |
| Abstract: | This paper tries to understand the current status of South African labor market, which is changing in contradictory directions, i.e. a strengthening of the rights and protection of workers at the same time as the flexibilization of employment, in the context of the characteristics of labor and social security legislation in South Africa, as well as the nature of labor and social security reforms after democratization. We put emphasis on the corporatist nature of labor policy-making as the factor influencing the course of reforms; it is argued that the apparently contradictive changes can be explained consistently by the corporatist labor policy-making process which has been practiced notwithstanding the problem of representativeness. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Labor market, Social security, Corporatism, Employment |
| JEL: | I38 J21 J30 J50 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper140&r=lab |
| By: | Claudia Gutierrez (Institute for Advanced Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the changes in inequality and poverty in the period 1999-2005 in Bolivia through the analysis of the changes in the labour market. A decomposition method based on micro-simulation techniques was applied. The decomposition works with an income generation model at the household level, which is a set of equations for the individual earnings and for the labour supply and occupational choices for each member of the household. We decomposed the observed change in inequality into four components: i) a shift in the income distribution related to a change in employment rates and the shares of wage and non-wage labour among the employed population (participation effect); ii) a shift related to changes in the remuneration of observed characteristics of the employed population (price effect); iii) a shift related to a change in the distribution of error terms of estimated earn-ings functions (error term effect); and iv) a residual change in inequality not cap-tured by the first three simulated changes in the income distribution. According to our results the increase in inequality of 3 points of the Gini coefficient, was ex-plained by approximately 1 point for the participation, price and error term effects and 2 points for the residual change. The increase in the unemployment rate, the shift in the participation of the non wage earners, the rise in wages and the more unequal distribution of unobserved productive talents deteriorated the income dis-tribution in this period in Bolivia. Regarding the poverty incidence, the observed variation was a reduction by 3 points explained mainly by the residual change. The low magnitude of the simulated effects as determinants of the decline in poverty in those years can be explained by the rising participation of the non labour incomes in the total household income. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, Inequality, Microsimulation, Bolivia |
| JEL: | O54 R20 P46 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:200801&r=lab |
| By: | Dolado, Juan José; Felgueroso, Florentino |
| Abstract: | There are relevant gender differences in the labour-market status of health sciences graduates in Spain: (i) female physicians have lower participation rates than male physicians plus they are subject to higher occupational mismatch, and (ii) moonlighting is more frequent among male physicians. In this paper we investigate whether such differences are related to the monopsonistic features of the labour market of health-care professionals. This provides an interesting case study since, among all university graduates, Spanish physicians are the ones most often coupled to partners with the same educational level and/or same type of studies. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Mismatch; Monopsony; Moonlighting; Physicians |
| JEL: | J24 J42 J44 J61 J70 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6803&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Morris (Health Economics Research Group, Brunel University); Matt Sutton (Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen); Hugh Gravelle (National Primary Care Research & Development Centre, Centre for Health Economics, University of York); Bob Elliott (Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen); Arne Hole (National Primary Care Research & Development Centre, Centre for Health Economics, University of York); Ada Ma (Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen); Bonnie Sibbald (National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester); Diane Skatun (Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the determinants of annual net income and wages (annual net income/hours) of general practitioners (GPs) using a unique, anonymised, non-disclosive dataset derived from tax returns for 21,657 GPs in England for the financial year 2002/3. The average GP had a gross income of £189,300, incurred expenses of £115,600, and earned an annual net income of £73,700. The mean wage was £35 per hour. Net income and wages depended on gender, experience, list size, partnership size, whether or not the GP worked in a dispensing practice, whether or not they worked in a Primary Medical Service (PMS) practice, and the characteristics of the local population (limiting long term illness rate, proportion from ethnic minorities, population density, Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000). The findings have implications for discrimination by GP gender and country of qualification, economies of scale by practice size, incentives for competition for patients, compensating differentials for local population characteristics, and the attractiveness of PMS versus General Medical Services contracts. |
| Keywords: | Physician, family. General practitioner. Income. Wages. Contract. |
| JEL: | I11 J31 J44 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chy:respap:36cherp&r=lab |
| By: | Arai, Mahmood (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University); Moa Bursell , Moa (Dept. of Sociology, Stockholm University); Nekby, Lena (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Using a two stage correspondence test methodology, this study tests employer priors against job-applicants with Arabic names compared to job-applicants with Swedish names. In the first stage, employers are sent CVs of equal observable quality. Thereafter, in the second stage, the CVs with Arabic names are given an advantage of, on average, two more years of relevant work experience. This setup allows us to test the strength of unfavorable priors against job-applicants with Arabic names and to what degree these priors are revised, on average, when resumes are enhanced. Results indicate no significant differences in call-backs for female applicants when CVs with Arabic names are enhanced. The call-back gap for men however remains large and significant despite a positive adjustment of CVs with Arabic names. This implies that negative priors against male job applicants with Arabic names are not revised by an increase in observable merits. |
| Keywords: | Correspondence Testing; Ethnic Discrimination; Biased Testing; Gender |
| JEL: | J15 J16 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2008_0004&r=lab |
| By: | Dionisius, Regina (BIBB); Mühlemann, Samuel (University of Bern); Pfeifer, Harald (BIBB); Walden, Günter (BIBB); Wenzelmann, Felix (BIBB); Wolter, Stefan (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education) |
| Abstract: | For the first time it has been made possible to merge a German and a Swiss firm-level data set that include detailed information about costs and benefits of apprenticeship training. Previous analyses based only on aggregate data showed that the net costs of training apprentices are substantial in Germany, whereas apprenticeship training is on average profitable during the training period for firms in Switzerland, even though the two training systems are rather similar. This paper analyzes the reasons for these differences with matching methods. We simulate the impact of changes in certain parameters such as wages, apprenticeship system-related factors and allocation of tasks to apprentices on the cost-benefit ratio using the counterfactual values of the other country. The results show that most of the difference in the net costs of training between the two countries can be explained by a higher share of productive tasks allocated to apprentices in Switzerland and the differences in relative wages. |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship training, cost and benefit analysis |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J44 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3465&r=lab |
| By: | Raj Chetty |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on why unemployment insurance (UI) benefits affect search behavior and develops a simple method of calculating the welfare gains from UI using this evidence. I show that 60 percent of the increase in unemployment durations caused by UI benefits is due to a "liquidity effect" rather than distortions in marginal incentives to search ("moral hazard") by combining two empirical strategies. First, I find that increases in benefits have much larger effects on durations for liquidity constrained households. Second, lump-sum severance payments increase durations substantially among constrained households. I derive a formula for the optimal benefit level that depends only on the reduced-form liquidity and moral hazard elasticities. The formula implies that the optimal UI benefit level exceeds 50 percent of the wage. The "exact identification" approach to welfare analysis proposed here yields robust optimal policy results because it does not require structural estimation of primitives. |
| JEL: | H0 J6 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13967&r=lab |
| By: | Marie-Hélène Cloutier; John Cockburn; Bernard Decaluwé |
| Abstract: | Education is often promoted as the solution to poverty in the developing world. Yet, fiscal discipline has led to reductions in public spending on education. We examine the poverty impacts of a cut in public subsidies to higher education, accompanied by corresponding tax cuts, in a general equilibrium framework applied to Vietnam. This policy is shown to have strong and complex impacts through various channels: a direct increase in the private costs of higher education, a reduction in education investments, a shift in the economy's skills mix in favor of unskilled workers, a rise in the wage premium for skilled workers, education and consumer price changes, etc. When all of these contrasting impacts are taken into account, we find that a higher education subsidy cut reduces welfare and increases poverty in Vietnam. While rural and agricultural households would benefit from this reform, urban and non-agricultural households would lose out. |
| Keywords: | Computable general equilibrium model, public expenditures, education, Vietnam, welfare, poverty |
| JEL: | C68 H42 H52 I21 I32 J24 O53 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0804&r=lab |
| By: | Black, Sandra E. (University of California, Los Angeles); Devereux, Paul (University College Dublin); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Does it matter when a child starts school? While the popular press seems to suggest it does, there is limited evidence of a long-run effect of school starting age on student outcomes. This paper uses data on the population of Norway to examine the role of school starting age on longer-run outcomes such as IQ scores at age 18, educational attainment, teenage pregnancy, and earnings. Unlike much of the recent literature, we are able to separate school starting age from test age effects using scores from IQ tests taken outside of school, at the time of military enrolment, and measured when students are around age 18. Importantly, there is variation in the mapping between year and month of birth and the year the test is taken, allowing us to distinguish the effects of school starting age from pure age effects. We find evidence for a small positive effect of starting school younger on IQ scores measured at age 18. In contrast, we find evidence of much larger positive effects of age at test, and these results are very robust. We also find that starting school younger has a significant positive effect on the probability of teenage pregnancy, but has little effect on educational attainment of boys or girls. There appears to be a short-run positive effect on earnings of beginning school at a younger age; however, this effect has essentially disappeared by age 30. This pattern is consistent with the idea that starting school later reduces potential labor market experience at a given age for a given level of education; however, this becomes less important as individuals age. |
| Keywords: | education, earnings, IQ, teenage childbearing |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3452&r=lab |
| By: | Jörn Hendrich Block |
| Abstract: | The relationship between CEO pay and performance has been much analyzed in the management and economics literature. This study analyzes the structure of executive compensation in family and non-family firms. In line with predictions of agency theory, it is found that the share of base salary is higher with family-member CEOs than it is with nonfamily member CEOs. Furthermore, family-member CEOs receive a lower share of option pay. The paper’s findings have implications for family business research and the executive compensation literature. To make the findings robust, the statistical analysis is performed with both Bayesian and classical frequentist methods. |
| Keywords: | Executive compensation, family firms, stock options, agency theory, Bayesian analysis |
| JEL: | G30 J30 M52 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2008-033&r=lab |
| By: | Song, Lina |
| Abstract: | This paper tests three hypotheses concerning intra-household resource allocation in rural China. First, whether increasing the women's bargaining power alters household expenditure patterns. Second, whether households allocate fewer resources to daughters than to sons. Third, whether increasing the bargaining power of women reduces pro-boy discrimination. We find that expenditure patterns do vary with proxies for women's bargaining power. Pro-boy discrimination is suggested by: lower female outlay equivalent ratios for adult goods; greater sensitivity of household health spending to young boys than to young girls; and high male sex ratios. No evidence is found to support the third hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | intrahousehold allocation; women; bargaining power; China |
| JEL: | D13 D61 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8348&r=lab |
| By: | Alrubaie, falah.K.Ali |
| Abstract: | the three dimensions of value-added, employment, labour productivity, Represent the most important vector defining the nature of sectoral development in terms of the rate and content and mode, in this scope the industrial manufacturing sector progression to other productive activities for a sector of higher productivity, investment in this sector ensuring a structural shift and create many job opportunities that absorb surplus agricultural labour along with the natural increase in the labour force, to increase the flexibility of the sector about the changes in each of the relative contributions of labour and capital; productivity, which increases the rate of overlap between changes taking place in three dimensions mentioned whenever the growing role This sector in the national economy, and can be seen when comparing the prevailing event in both developed and developing economies. Based on these facts, this study has demonstrated that the industrial manufacturing sector in Iraq have failed at the level of branches and patterns and productive scales , in the provision of adequate opportunities for productive employment increases achieved in the labour force (natural and derived from the agricultural sector) and this was due to the relative inflexible Manufacturing activities are productive and technological content in high absorb workers, particularly chemical and oil industries, which dominate the major contributing added value achieved in this sector, as well as the relative decline in the rates of absorption of the activities with high employment flexibility (light manufacturing activities) in connection with the growing trend patterns towards intensive capital, enhance the imbalance in the labour market between the qualifications and conditions required before the one hand, and a non- proportionality structure professional work and got between the high productivity and low productivity activities on the other, non-interaction of the branches the patterns of industrial manufacturing sector and torn between two separated limb , first petroleum industry intensive capital and enhanced export, which is linked to international market conditions, and secondly, include assembly Industries and other consumer industries and import substitutes, which linkages with foreign inputs sources ,and the almost total absence of the active role of intermediate and capital industries, especially in industries and means of production, has weakened the ability of the manufacturing activities based on the creation of productive linkages or deepened within the productive potential of local, and that any positive change can happen in employment drop rapidly due to the loss or weakness of the existing workshops, and the surpluses generated by increased productivity, not supplying local production capacities Capacity better, but working to support consumer demand and speculation unproductive. Thus, the imbalance structural conditions in the industrial sector at the level of branches and patterns in this sector ,We Calls for non continuation in industrial expansion based on repetition and duplication, and attention instead to develop designs to distribution industries, according to activities and spot and regulations, and patterns, provided that this is a disclosure of the potential abilities to deepen the linkages for productivity and spots., in this regard, we suggest that industrial base is being built around a number of key core seen industrial compounds, based on Integrated technological links horizontally and vertically. |
| Keywords: | أثر التغيرات الهيكلية في قطاع الصناعة التحويلية على اتجاهات الإنتاجية والتشغيل في الاقتصاد العراقي |
| JEL: | L60 |
| Date: | 2000–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8392&r=lab |
| By: | Juan J. Dolado; Florentino Felgueroso; Miguel Almunia |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the gender distribution of research fields in economics by means of a new dataset about researchers working in the world top-50 Economics departments, according to the rankings of the Econphd.net website. We document that women are unevenly distributed across fields and test some behavioral implications from theories underlying such disparities. Our main findings are that the probability that a woman works in a given field is positively related to the share of women in that field (path-dependence), and that the share of women in a field decreases with their average quality. These patterns, however, are weaker for younger female researchers. Further, we document how gender segregation of fields has evolved over different Ph.D. cohorts. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2008-15&r=lab |
| By: | Abidoye, Babatunde; Orazem, Peter; Vodopivec, Milan |
| Abstract: | Sri Lanka's Termination of Employment of Workmen Act (TEWA) requires that firms with 15 or more employees justify layoffs and provide generous severance pay to displaced workers. Smaller firms are exempt from the TEWA. In addition, although formally subject to the law, firms in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) may also have been exempt from the law due to allegedly lax enforcement in EPZs. We construct a theoretical model showing that firms subject to TEWA will tend to mass at the threshold of 14 workers while awaiting an atypically large productivity shock that will enable them to cross the threshold. We test these predictions using 1995-2003 panel data on employment of all private formal sector firms collected by the Employees Provident Fund of Sri Lanka. We find that nonEPZ firms below the threshold are less likely to grow than are firms with 14 workers. Once crossing the threshold, however, nonEPZ firms grow faster, consistent with the existence of a large productivity shock needed to induce growth beyond 14 workers. In contrast, EPZ firm growth above and below the threshold does not differ significantly from firm growth at the threshold. Both below and above the threshold, EPZ firms grow significantly more rapidly than non-EPZ firms. |
| Keywords: | severance, firing costs, layoff restrictions, Sri Lanka, employment growth, export promotion,threshold |
| JEL: | J3 |
| Date: | 2008–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:12922&r=lab |
| By: | Piacentini, Mario |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the presence of a network externality which might explain the persistence of low schooling achievements among internal migrants. A simple analytical framework is presented to show how an initial human capital disparity between migrants and non migrants can translate into persistent skill inequality if origin shapes the composition of social networks. We test empirically whether young migrantsschooling decisions are affected by the presence of covillagers at destination, using data on life-time histories of migration and education choices from a rural region of Thailand. Different modelling approaches are used to account for the self-selection of young migrants, for potential endogeneity of the network size, and for unobserved heterogeneity in individual preferences. The size of the migrant network is found to negatively affect the propensity of young migrants to pursue schooling while in the city. This fi nding suggests that policies seeking to minimising strati cation in enclaves might have a socially multiplied impact on schooling participation, and, ultimately, affect the socio-economic mobility of the rural born. |
| Keywords: | human capital; schooling; networks; migration; inequality |
| JEL: | O1 O10 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8376&r=lab |
| By: | Osipian, Ararat |
| Abstract: | Higher education in the U.S. may be characterized by complexity and plurality of forms. The Ivy League universities and those trying to replicate them, or so-called “wanna be” universities, coexist with numerous large public institutions, four-year colleges and community colleges. While the former are actively involved in business-driven projects in research and services, the latter are quite distant from these processes. Nevertheless, all of them serve the industries, first of all by training professionals for these industries. In this sense community colleges are not less linked to businesses than major research universities. Curriculum in community colleges is tailored to meet the demands of specific industries and more so often local labor markets. Woshburn (2005) presents the negative sides of the impact of industries on the academia in the book titled University Incorporated: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education. This book would be of high interest for policymakers, managers, and theorists. While policymakers, university administrators, and business managers will appreciate good description of forms of cooperation of industries and universities as well as problems that such cooperation creates or exacerbates and some of the prescriptions, offered by the author, theorists will find wealth of material on which to build some concepts and theories of social and ethical responsibility versus commercialization and perhaps even some interesting niches for possible corrupt activities in higher education. |
| Keywords: | corruption; education; methodology; university |
| JEL: | K42 I22 |
| Date: | 2007–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8461&r=lab |
| By: | Sabine Chaupain-Guillot; Olivier Guillot; Eliane Jankeliowitch-Laval |
| Abstract: | À partir des données de la vague 7 (2000) de l’European Community Household Panel (ECHP), cet article s’intéresse aux choix d’activité des mères en Europe et à leur décision, lorsqu’elles ont de jeunes enfants à charge, de recourir ou non aux services de garde. L’étude porte sur l’ensemble des États membres de l’UE-15. Après un bref survol des politiques de conciliation entre vie familiale et vie professionnelle mises en oeuvre dans les pays européens et l’exposé de différents résultats descriptifs, les comportements des mères, dans chacun de ces pays, sont analysés à l’aide de deux modèles Logit polytomiques (non ordonnés). Le premier modèle se focalise sur la décision d’offre de travail (une distinction étant introduite entre activité à temps partiel et activité à temps complet). Dans le second modèle, on oppose les trois situations suivantes : (1) non-emploi ; (2) emploi et garde intra-ménage ou non rémunérée ; (3) emploi et garde rémunérée. Les résultats des estimations montrent que l’ampleur des effets des principaux facteurs pris en compte (taux de salaire, niveau de rémunération du conjoint, nombre d’enfants à charge et âge du plus jeune enfant) varie assez fortement selon les pays. S’agissant de l’impact de la présence d’un enfant de moins de 3 ans sur la probabilité d’emploi des mères, les différences observées semblent pouvoir s’expliquer en partie par les caractéristiques des dispositifs de conciliation entre vie familiale et vie professionnelle. |
| Keywords: | activité féminine, travail à temps partiel, garde des jeunes enfants, Union européenne. |
| JEL: | J22 J13 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2008-03&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Hiller (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, Ecole d'économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the co-evolution of labor relationships and workers preferences. According to recent experimental economics findinggs on social preferences, the workforce is assumed to be heterogeneous. It is composed by both cooperative and non-cooperative workers. In addition, firms differ by the type of contract they offer (explicit or implicit). Finally, both the distribution of preferences and the degree of contractual completeness are endogeneized. Preferences evolve through a process of cultural transmission and the proportion of implicit contracts is driven by an evolutionary process. The complementarity between the transmission of cooperation and the implementation of implicit contracts leads to multiple equilibria which allow for path-dependence. This property is illustrated by the evolutions of American and Japanese labor contracts during the Twentieth century. |
| Keywords: | Explicit contract, implicit contract, cultural transmission, preferences for reciprocity, path dependence. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00275734_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Osipian, Ararat |
| Abstract: | This paper considers corruption in higher education in Ukraine as reflected in the national media, including such aspects as corruption in admissions to higher education institutions and corruption in administering the newly introduced standardized test. The major focus is on the opinions of the leading figures of the education reform on corruption in education. The national media presents points of view of both supporters of the reform and those in opposition to the reform. Despite disbelief that the standardized test faces among the leading educators and legislators, including politicians and rectors of higher education institutions, the government continues implementation of the reform. Even though the standardized test is not expected to solve the problem of corruption in education, as follows from the media reports and comments, its full scale country-wide implementation at this point appears to be a question of time. |
| Keywords: | bribery; corruption; higher education; mass media; opinions; Ukraine |
| JEL: | P36 D73 P37 |
| Date: | 2007–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8464&r=lab |
| By: | Osipian, Ararat |
| Abstract: | Corruption in higher education has long been neglected as an area of research in the US. The processes of decentralization, commoditization, and privatization in higher education rise questions of accountability, transparency, quality, and access. Every nation solves problems of access, quality, and equity differently. Thus, although prosecuting corruption in higher education is part of the legal process in every country, the ways in which legal actions are undertaken differ. This paper addresses the question: How is corruption in higher education understood and defined in legal cases, what particular cases receive more attention, and how these cases correlate with the major educational reforms, changes, and socio-economic context in the nation? Specifically, it analyses records of selected legal cases devoted to corruption in the US higher education. Decentralized financing of higher education anticipates cost sharing based in part on educational loans. The US higher education sector grows steadily, and so do opportunities for abuse, including in educational loans. The rapid expansion of education sector leaves some grey areas in legislation and raises issues of applicability of certain state and federal laws and provisions to different forms of misconduct, including consumer fraud, deception, bribery, embezzlement, etc. Higher Education Act, False Claims Act, and Consumer Protection Act cover corruption as related to the state and the public sector; corruption as related to client, business owner, and an agent; and corruption as related to consumer-business relations. However, the legal frame is simplistic, while the system of interrelations in the higher education industry is rather complex. |
| Keywords: | bribery; corruption; deception; fraud; higher education; law; loans; US |
| JEL: | I28 K42 I22 |
| Date: | 2007–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8471&r=lab |
| By: | Robert Bandy; Mark Wilhelm (Department of Economics, Indiana Unviersity-Purdue University Indianapolis) |
| Abstract: | Models of young adults’ prosocial behavior—charitable giving and volunteering—are estimated as functions of family structure and income during the stages of childhood. Estimating a model of any subsequent outcome (prosocial or otherwise) as a function of stage-specific family structure and income imposes a set of restrictions on the underlying dynamic model of the child development process. Such restrictions have been implicitly and unknowingly imposed by the family structure specifications used in past research, and in some cases the past restrictions may not be sensible a priori. We consider several specifications used in past research, propose several new specifications with a priori sensible restrictions, and use Bayesian model comparison methods to choose among them. The models are estimated using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its new module the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study. The results indicate that the development of charitable giving and volunteering behavior is associated with family instability and low income in adolescence. |
| Keywords: | Charitable Giving, Donations, Volunteering, Altruism, Warm Glow |
| JEL: | D64 H40 J12 |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iup:wpaper:wp200702&r=lab |