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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Shouyong Shi |
| Abstract: | I construct a theoretical framework in which firms offer wage-tenure contracts to direct the search by risk-averse workers. All workers can search, on or off the job. I characterize an equilibrium and prove its existence. The equilibrium generates a non-degenerate, continuous distribution of employed workers over the values of contracts, despite that all matches are identical and workers observe all offers. A striking property is that the equilibrium is block recursive; that is, individuals' optimal decisions and optimal contracts are independent of the distribution of workers. This property makes the equilibrium analysis tractable. Consistent with stylized facts, the equilibrium predicts that (i) wages increase with tenure, (ii) job-to-job transitions decrease with tenure and wages, and (iii) wage mobility is limited in the sense that the lower the worker's wage, the lower the future wage a worker will move to in the next job transition. Moreover, block recursivity implies that changes in the unemployment benefit and the minimum wage have no effect on an employed worker's job-to-job transitions and contracts. |
| Keywords: | Directed search; On-the-job search; Wage-tenure contracts |
| JEL: | E24 C78 J6 |
| Date: | 2008–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-343&r=lab |
| By: | Guido Menzio (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Espen Moen (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Management (NSM)) |
| Abstract: | We consider a frictional labor market in which firms want to insure their senior employees against income fluctuations and, at the same time, want to recruit new employees to fill their vacant positions. Firms can commit to a wage schedule, i.e. a schedule that specifies the wage paid by the firm to its employees as function of their tenure and other observables. However, firms cannot commit to the employment relationship with any of their workers, i.e. firms can dismiss workers at will. We find that, because of the firm’s limited commitment, the optimal schedule prescribes not only a rigid wage for senior employees, but also a downward rigid wage for new hires. Moreover, we find that, while the rigidity of the wage of senior workers does not affect the allocation of labor, the rigidity of the wage of new hires magnifies the response of unemployment and vacancies to negative shocks to the aggregate productivity of labor. |
| Keywords: | Competitive Search, Risk Sharing, Unemployment, Business Cycles |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:08-040&r=lab |
| By: | Ronald Bachmann; Sebastian Braun |
| Abstract: | Using an administrative data set containing daily information on individual workers’ employment histories, we investigate how workers’ labour market transitions are affected by international outsourcing. In order to do so,we estimate hazard rate models for match separations, as well as for worker flows from employment to another job, to unemployment, and to nonparticipation. Outsourcing is found to have no significant impact on overall job stability in the manufacturing sector, but it is associated with increased job stability in the service sector. Furthermore, the effect of outsourcing varies strongly across skill levels and age groups.This is especially the case in the manufacturing sector, where the hazard of transiting to nonemployment rises with international outsourcing for medium-skilled and older workers. |
| Keywords: | Job stability, labour market transitions; worker flows, outsourcing,duration analysis |
| JEL: | F16 J63 J23 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0053&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Pastore (Seconda Università di Napoli, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Relatively little is known about the youth labour market in Mongolia. This report addresses the issue by taking advantage of a recent ad hoc School To Work Survey (SWTS) on young people aged 15-29 years carried out in 2006 by the National Statistical Office of Mongolia (NSO) with the International Labour Office’s (ILO) financial and technical assistance. Chapter 1 studies the macroeconomic conditions of the country: economic transition from a planned to a market economy has caused the emergence of unprecedented problems, such as macroeconomic instability, the emergence of the private sector and the ensuing need for new and higher skills. Chapter 2 focuses on the youth labour market by looking at the determinants at an individual and family level of educational attainment, employment, unemployment and inactivity. Educational attainment is relatively high and increasing, as compared to other countries in the area, which mirrors the perceived need for new and higher skills, confirmed by the declared aspirations of young people. Nonetheless, important constraints seem to affect the supply of education, especially in rural areas. In addition, the country is unable to provide young people with a sufficient number of decent jobs. This translates into high youth unemployment in urban areas and very low productivity jobs in rural areas, especially in the livestock sector. Chapter 3 applies the ILO school-to-work classification disentangling young people: a) with completed transition; b) “in transition”; and c) whose transition has not yet started. Only 0.9 per cent of the sample has completed their transition into decent jobs. The “in transition” group has about three times the unemployment rate, due to the very high portion of young workers wishing to change their job or experiencing important work deficits. Four types of work deficit have been identified: a) about 60 per cent of young employed workers work informally; b) about 74 per cent have a fixed-term contract; c) 12 per cent do not pay income tax; and, d) about 40 per cent work more than 50 hours per week. Chapter 4 studies the size and composition of the demand for skills. It is based on answers to the specific employers and managers’ module of the Mongolian SWTS. The evidence confirms firms’ needs for higher skills and work experience than those actually possessed by young people. There also seems to be a mismatch between job search methods preferred by employers and by young people. This report concludes with a number of policy suggestions for policy-makers and practitioners at all levels, such as: a) the need to increase the quantity and quality of the supply of skills, especially in rural areas; b) a more active role of the Public Employment Service (PES) in providing information, counselling and training not only to the unemployed, but also the discouraged workers and jobseekers who are still at school; c) a closer integration between the educational system, governmental institutions at all levels and social partners to reduce imperfect and asymmetric information on job vacancies, as well as to increase and diversify the supply of on-the-job and off-the-job training for young people. |
| Keywords: | Economic Transition; School-To-Work Transitions; Youth Labour Supply and Demand; Earnings; Gender Pay Gap; Urban/Rural Divide; Mongolia |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:emwpap:2008-14&r=lab |
| By: | Bernard Decaluwé (Université Laval - Département d'Economie); Fida Karam (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Recently, much research interest is directed towards the impact of migration on the sending country. However, we think that this literature does not successfully analyse the effects of migration on unemployment and wage rates especially in urban areas. It studies the effect of one king of migration flow, mainly international migration, on labour market in the country of origin and shows that international migration is able to reduce the unemployment rate and/or raise the wage rates. However, it is common to find labour markets affected simultaneously by inflows and outflows of workers. Using a detailed CGE model applied to the Moroccan economy, we show that if we take simultaneously into account Moroccan emigration to the European Union, immigration from Sub-Saharan Africa into Moroccan urban areas and rural-urban migration, the impact on Moroccan urban labour market disaggregated by professional categories is ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | Imperfect labor market, migration, computable general equilibrium model. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00331322_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Ilan Tojerow (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels.) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this paper is to present new empirical elements to the debate on sources of wage differentials. We investigate issues specifically related to the role of employer’s characteristics in the wage setting process. Findings show that combined industry effects explain almost no share of the gender wage gap in Belgium. Our results also suggest that a substantial part of the gender wage gap is due to women’s segregation in less profitable firms. Finally, our results show that rent-sharing account for a large fraction of industry wage differentials. To gain an accurate perspective, theories on wages are described extensively |
| Keywords: | industry wage differentials, rent sharing, gender wage gap. |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:08-20rs&r=lab |
| By: | Torge Middendorf |
| Abstract: | We use the European Community Household Panel, a harmonized data set covering the countries of the European Union, to provide detailed estimates of the returns to education. Our results can be summarized as follows. Firstly, average returns to education have been mostly stable during the second half of the 1990s and are highest in Portugal and Ireland and lowest in the UK and Italy. Secondly, returns to schooling are significantly negatively related to the educational attainment of the population. Thirdly, for most countries we find significant cohort effects and these are in general uniform across countries implying lower returns to education for younger cohorts. Fourthly, in most countries schooling exerts a significantly stronger impact on wages at the top of the wage distribution, aggravating within-group inequality. Finally, we provide evidence that the more pronounced the difference in returns to education along the wage distribution, the higher the average return to education. |
| Keywords: | Returns to schooling, cohort effects, quantile regression |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0065&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre-Guillaume Méon (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels); Ariane Szafarz (DULBEA, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies labor market discriminations as an agency problem. It sets up a principal-agent model of a firm, where the manager is a taste discriminator and has to make unobservable hiring decisions that determine the shareholder’s profits because workers differ in skills. The paper shows that performance-based contracts may moderate the manager’s propensity to discriminate, but that they are unlikely to fully eliminate discrimination. Moreover, the model predicts that sectors with high skill leverages discriminate less. Finally, the impacts of unknown taste for discrimination, of a wage gap between groups, and of a diversity premium are investigated. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, agency theory, hiring. |
| JEL: | J71 D21 M12 M51 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dul:wpaper:08-19rs&r=lab |
| By: | Christoph Bühler (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Dirk Konietzka (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Russia. It compares the process of entering working life during socialism (1966-1990) and the transition period (1991-2005) by utilizing information from 6,455 males and females of the "Education and Employment Survey for Russia". The results document influences both of change and of continuity. The introduction of labor markets and a mismatch between qualifications acquired at school and demanded by employers led to increasing risks of unemployment after education and first jobs at the lower levels of the occupational hierarchy. However, as the general character of the educational system and the internal structures of many firms did not change, traditional paths of mobility from educational degrees to particular occupational positions continued to exist. Thus, the transition from school-to-work in Russia did not experience an abrupt change but a gradual adjustment to the new economic order. |
| Keywords: | Russia, early aduldhood, educational systems, employment, occupational qualifications, transitional society, unemployment |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-018&r=lab |
| By: | Thomas Cornelißen; John S. Heywood; Uwe Jirjahn |
| Abstract: | We present a sorting model in which workers with greater ability and greater risk tolerance move into performance pay jobs and contrast it with the classic agency model of performance pay. Estimates from the German Socio-Economic Panel confirm testable implications drawn from our sorting model. First, prior to controlling for earnings, workers in performance pay jobs have higher job satisfaction, a proxy for on-the-job utility. Second, after controlling for the higher earnings associated with performance pay, the job satisfaction of those in performance pay jobs is the same as those not in such jobs. Third, those workers in performance pay jobs who have greater risk tolerance routinely report greater job satisfaction. While these findings support the sorting model, they would not be suggested by the classic agency model. |
| Keywords: | Performance Pay, Worker Heterogeneity, Ability, Risk Preferences, Sorting |
| JEL: | D80 J24 J28 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp136&r=lab |
| By: | Abbi M. Kedir |
| Abstract: | Using panel data from a developing country on individuals aged 16 to 59 who reported their monthly wages, we estimated a relationship between health (nutrition) measures (i.e. height and BMI) and wages (which proxies productivity/growth). We controlled for endogeneity of BMI and found heterogeneous returns to different human capital indicators. Our findings indicate that productivity is positively and significantly affected by education, height and BMI. The return to BMI is important both at the lower and upper end of the wage distribution for men while women at the upper end of the distribution suffer a wage penalty due to BMI. Height has been a significant factor affecting men’s productivity but not women. The results in general support the high-nutrition and high- productivity equilibrium story. Returns to schooling showed a declining trend as we move from lower to higher quantiles for both sub-samples. This might suggest that schooling is more beneficial for the less able. In addition, the returns to schooling of women are higher than men. The results have important implications for policy making in the form of nutrition interventions and targeted education on women. |
| Keywords: | height; BMI; schooling; heterogeneity; endogeneity; quantile; IV |
| JEL: | C23 I12 J24 O12 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:08/37&r=lab |
| By: | Guillaume Destré (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Louis Lévy-Garboua (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Michel Sollogoub (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | A model of informal training which combines learning from own experience and learning from others is proposed in this paper. It yields a closed-form solution that revises Mincer–Jovanovic's [Mincer, J., Jovanovic, B., 1981. Labor mobility and wages. In: Rosen, S. (Ed.), Studies in Labor Markets. Chicago University Press, Chicago, pp. 21–64] treatment of tenure in the human capital earnings function. We estimate the structural parameters of this non-linear model on a large French cross-section with matched employer–employee data. We find that workers on average can learn from others 10% of their own human capital on entering one plant, and catch half of their learning from others’ potential in just 2 years. The private marginal returns to education are declining with education as more educated workers have less to learn from others and share the social returns of their own education with their less qualified co-workers. The potential for learning from others on the job varies across jobs and establishments, and this provides a new distinction between imitation jobs and experience jobs. Workers in imitation jobs, who learn most from others, tend to have considerably longer tenure than workers in experience jobs. Although workers in experience jobs can learn little from others, we find that they learn a lot by themselves. We document several analogies between the imitation jobs/experience jobs “dualism” and the primary/secondary jobs and firms’ dualism implied by the dual labor market theory. However, our binary classification of jobs depicts the data more closely than the dual theory categorization into primary-type and secondary-type establishments. Competition prevails between jobs and firms but jobs differ by their learning technology. |
| Keywords: | Human capital earnings functions; Matched employer–employee data; Informal training; Learning from others; Learning from experience; Returns to tenure; Social returns of education; Labor market dualism |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00304283_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Sagrario Floro; Imraan Valodia; Hitomi Komatsu |
| Abstract: | Utilizing time use data for exploring the issue of employment (or lack thereof) – a critical pathway for increased incomes for the poor - has received little attention in economic analysis. Using data from the 2000 South African national time use survey, this paper examines the value of time use data in policy discussions related to understanding people’s employment status and job search. In particular, we argue that an understanding of how individuals organize their daily life can help identify productive work and workers in a more comprehensive way than conventional labor force surveys and can provide an useful assessment of the effects of employment conditions on coping strategies like job search. We assess whether labor force surveys provide a good estimation of participation in productive activities by exploring the time use patterns of 10, 465 women and men aged 16-64 years, particularly the unemployed, underemployed and employed respondents. The results show that 26.7 and 17.5 percent of unemployed men and women respectively actually engaged in SNA productive activities, spending more time than underemployed men and women. We also examine individuals’ responses to jobless growth that affect their labor force participation and time use. Building and developing social networks serves as an important coping strategy not only for enhancing social insurance but also for improving job prospects. Using an instrumental variable tobit model, we examine whether or not an unemployed person is likely to spend more time in social networking compared to other respondents. The findings, which are found to be robust, confirm the hypothesis. The results also show significant gender differences, with women spending less time in social networking than men. Women carry the burden of housework, which limits their time in developing social networks and in improving their employment prospects. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, time allocation, gender, unemployment, underemployment, social network |
| JEL: | J22 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:0908&r=lab |
| By: | Lena Jacobi; Sandra Schaffner |
| Abstract: | In Germany we observe a decline in regular employment and an increase in atypical forms of employment. Especially marginal part-time employment which is characterized by lower tax rates and lower social security contributions increased substantially after a reform in 2003 made this type of employment even more attractive to employers. In our paper we estimate the substitutability of regular employment by marginal part-time employment using data on the industry level before and after the reform.We detect high substitution elasticities with respect to three skill categories of regular employment in both time periods. The substitutability of unskilled full-time workers increased significantly after the reform. |
| Keywords: | Mini-Jobs, dynamic labor demand, elasticities, Hartz-reforms |
| JEL: | J23 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0056&r=lab |
| By: | Benjamin Balsmeier; Heiko Peters |
| Abstract: | It is becoming more and more important to be highly skilled in order to integrate successfully into the labor market. Highly skilled workers receive higher wages and face a lower risk of becoming unemployed, compared to poorly qualified workers. We analyze the determinants of successful high school graduation in Germany. As our main database, we use the youth file of GSOEP for the period extending from 2000 to 2007. Because the decision as to which secondary school track to attend - general school (Hauptschule), intermediate school (Realschule) or high school (Gymnasium) - is made after the end of elementary school (Grundschule) at age of ten, parents are responsible for this decision. Therefore, the characteristics of the child as well as those of its parents are the main determinants of educational attainment. We also include the characteristics of grandparents in our regression framework, something which has not been done in any previous study so far. In order to disentangle the determinants of successful graduation at high school, we use the Cox proportional hazard model. We find markedly different determinants of successful graduation for males and females. Furthermore, the results indicate a strong linkage between mothers and daughters, as well as between fathers and sons. |
| Keywords: | high school graduation, Cox proportional hazard model, Germany |
| JEL: | A21 C41 I21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp138&r=lab |
| By: | Kara M. Reynolds; John S. Palatucci |
| Abstract: | Background: The U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program provides workers who have lost their jobs due to increased trade with income support and training, job search, and relocation benefits. This paper uses the most recent data collected by the Department of Labor on TAA beneficiaries to provide one of the first evaluations of the effectiveness of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Using propensity score matching techniques, we find that the TAA program is of dubious value in terms of helping displaced workers find new, well-paying employment opportunities. |
| Keywords: | Trade Adjustment Assistance, displaced workers |
| JEL: | J08 J65 F16 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:1208&r=lab |
| By: | Skedinger, Per (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Swedish minimum wages are not regulated by law, but subject to bargaining between employers and trade unions and form part of collective agreements. This paper provides an overview of the Swedish minimum wage system, its characteristics and effects on employment and wages, and also discusses the challenges to the model represented by increasing low-wage competition from new EU member states and the verdict in the Laval case, related to this process and the first of its kind in post-enlargement EU. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wages; Low-wage competition; Laval case |
| JEL: | J31 J52 J61 J81 |
| Date: | 2008–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0774&r=lab |
| By: | Lucie Davoine (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique); Christine Erhel (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Mathilde Guergoat-Larivière (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | The report proposes a critical approach of European job quality indicators. It relies on both theoreti-cal and empirical analysis, and shows the necessity to introduce complementary variables, such as wages, working conditions and training duration. Comparative results for the EU 27 confirm the heterogeneity of job quality across Europe. Besides, time series analysis shows an upward trend of job quality in Europe since 1994, with a few exceptions. On the whole empirical investigations do not reveal any trade off between quantitative performances and job quality levels. |
| Keywords: | Labour market comparisons, job quality, European Employment Strategy, training and education policies, working conditions, gender |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00317280_v1&r=lab |
| By: | John Messier; Maria Floro |
| Abstract: | Our paper explores and measures the quality of employment among urban, low-income households in Ecuador. It hopes to contribute to the literature by raising attention to the diversity of job quality within the informal sector and by highlighting the importance of quality of employment in the context of poverty reduction and development strategies. Building on the previous work on decent work indicators, we propose a job quality index measure and apply this measure to men and women workers in urban poor communities of Ecuador using a 2002 sample survey. We also show that there are differentiated patterns on job quality among women and men in these households. In addressing the importance of employment quality, this paper hopes to provide a better understanding of the issue, especially as it relates to poverty alleviation and to illustrate a way of measuring employment quality. |
| Keywords: | Measurement, Quality of Employment, Gender, Decent Work, Informal sector |
| JEL: | J21 O17 B54 I30 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:1008&r=lab |
| By: | Jaume Garcia; Climent Quintana |
| Abstract: | The problem of obesity is alarming public health authorities around the world. Therefore, it is important to study its determinants. In this paper we explore the empirical relationship between household income and body mass index (BMI) in nine European Union countries. Our findings suggest that the association is negative for women, but we find no statistically significant relationship for men. However, we show that the different relationship for men and women appears to be driven by the negative relationship for women between BMI and individual income from work. We tentatively conclude that the negative relationship between household income and BMI for women may simply be capturing the wage penalty that obese women suffer in the labor market. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdacee:13-08&r=lab |
| By: | Philipp Eisenhauer; Friedhelm Pfeiffer |
| Abstract: | In this study we assess the relationship between father and son earnings among (West) German Workers. To reduce the lifecycle and attenuation bias a novel sampling procedure is developed and applied to the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) 1984-2006. Our preferred point estimate indicates an intergenerational earnings elasticity of 1/3 . |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational Mobility, Lifecycle, Permanent Earnings, Wages |
| JEL: | J62 J32 J21 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp134&r=lab |
| By: | Miriam Abu Sharkh (Stanford University's Centre on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law) |
| Abstract: | “Flexicurity” denotes an optimal configuration of flexible labour legislation and secure social protection. But which combination of flexibility and security is advantageous, and for whom? Rather than staying within the confines of the often dichotomous “flexibility”-“rigidity” discourse, this paper outlines different configurations of employment protection laws (EPL), collective relation laws (CRL) and social protection around the millennium. Only the totality of legal statutes and loopholes mirrors the protection status of any given worker. In accord with this regime notion of socio-economic protection, these three continuous workers’ rights indices are used to typologize nation states globally employing cluster analyses. These clusters are scaled by their relative proximity and compared using both labour market and macroeconomic outcomes. Moving beyond misleading juxtapositions such as USA versus Europe, this analysis provides a richer understanding of diverse combinations of security and flexibility found across the world. To numerically and substantively stretch the discussion beyond its current confines rejects two common null-hypotheses and suggests a new synthesis: First, countries at the far end of the flexibility spectrum were not consistently the star performers measured by a variety of labour market and macroeconomic outcomes. This is true within the OECD and non-OECD groups as well as across this divide. The overall superiority of the most flexible country cluster within the OECD, the Anglo-Saxon Labour flex, versus all other models within the OECD, could not be confirmed. Rather, a certain group of European countries, the European Flexicurity cluster, does not perform significantly worse on employment performance or growth while maintaining significantly lower levels of inequality. The globally most flexible labour markets, the Low-Income Full-Flex, correlate with the worst results on almost all unemployment and poverty indicators. Assuming labour laws are endogenous to these outcomes, the high incidence of unemployment, poverty, inequality and grey work coupled with low growth questions the simple assumption that the absence of any legal protection for workers alone sparks prosperity. |
| Keywords: | labour flexibility / employment security / social security / developing countries / OECD countries |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:emwpap:2008-15&r=lab |
| By: | Libertad González; Francesc Ortega |
| Abstract: | In recent years, Spain has received unprecedented immigration flows. Between 2001 and 2006 the fraction of the population born abroad more than doubled, increasing from 4.8% to 10.8%. For Spanish provinces with above-median inflows (relative to population), immigration increased the high school dropout population by 24%, while only increasing the number of college graduates by 11%. We study the different channels by which regional labor markets have absorbed the large increase in the relative supply of low educated (foreign-born) workers. We identify the exogenous supply shock using historical immigrant settlement patterns by country of origin. Using data from the Labor Force Survey and the decennial Census, we find a large expansion of employment in high immigration regions. Specifically, most industries in high-immigration regions experienced a large increase in the share of low-education employment. We do not find an effect on regions’ sectoral specialization. Overall, and perhaps surprisingly, Spanish regions have absorbed immigration flows in the same fashion as US local economies. |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdacee:06-08&r=lab |
| By: | Ma, Yue; Hart, Robert A. |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a contract-based theory to explain the determination of standard hours, overtime hours and overtime premium pay. We expand on the wage contract literature that emphasises the role of firm-specific human capital and that explores problems of contract efficiency in the face of information asymmetries between the firm and the worker. We first explore a simple wage-hours contract without overtime and show that incorporating hours into the contract may itself produce efficiency gains. We then show how the introduction of overtime hours, remunerated at premium rates, can further improve contract efficiency. Our modelling outcomes in respect of the relationship between the overtime premium and the standard wage rate relate closely to earlier developments in hedonic wage theory. Throughout, we emphasise the intuitive reasoning behind the theory and we also supply relevant empirical evidence. Mathematical derivations are provided in an appendix. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric information; specific human capital; premium pay; overtime; wage-hours contracts |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-04&r=lab |
| By: | Marc Gurgand (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris); David Margolis (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a representative sample of individuals on France's main welfare program (the Revenu Minimum d'Insertion, or RMI) to estimate monetary incentives for employment among welfare recipients. Based on the estimated joint distribution of wages and hours potentially offered to each individual, we compute potential gains from working in a very detailedmanner. Relating these gains to observed employment, we then estimate a simple structural labor supply model. We find that potential gains are almost always positive but very small on average, especially for single mothers,because of the high implicit marginal tax rates embedded in the system. Employment rates are sensitive to incentives with extensive margin elasticitiesfor both men and women usually below one. Conditional on these elasticities, simulations indicate that existing policies devoted to reducing marginal tax rates at the bottom of the income distribution, such as the intéressement earnings top-up program, have little impact in this population due to their very limited scope. The recently introduced negative income tax (Prime pour l'emploi), seems to be an exception. |
| Keywords: | Welfare; labor earnings; transfers, tax-system |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00202299_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Regula Geel (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Johannes Mure (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich); Uschi Backes-Gellner (Institute for Strategy and Business Economics, University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | According to standard human capital theory firm financed training cannot be explained if skills are of general nature. Nevertheless, investments of firms into general training can be observed and there has been a large literature to explain this puzzle, mostly referring to imperfect labor market issues. In German speaking countries firms invest heavily into apprenticeship training although it is assumed to be general. In our paper, we study the question to what extent apprenticeship training is general at all. Our paper for the first time studies how specificity of training may be defined based on Lazear’s skill-weights approach. In our empirical part we use a unique German Qualification Survey, containing extensive information about the required skills at a workplace. We build occupationspecific skill-weights and find that the more specific the skill portfolio in an occupation is in comparison to the general labor market, the higher are the net costs firms have to bear for apprenticeship training in the respective occupations. At the same time, the more specific the skill requirements are in an occupation, the smaller is the probability of an occupational change during an employee’s entire career. Due to the new definition of occupational specificity, we thus find that apprenticeship training - formerly seen as general training - is very heterogeneous in its specificity. |
| Keywords: | Mobility, Skill-weights, Occupational specificity, Apprenticeship training |
| JEL: | J62 M53 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iso:educat:0038&r=lab |
| By: | Philippe Méhaut (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - CNRS : UMR6123 - Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II) |
| Abstract: | The French hospitals sector is split between sub-sectors, with different employment status (civil servant versus private employment contract). Industrial relations differs. Nevertheless, differences between the sub-sectors are not very important. Quality rules and health regulation could explain why different labour market institutions do not lead to a strong divide in employment and working conditions. |
| Keywords: | iinternal labour market, collective agreement, flexibility |
| Date: | 2008–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00335059_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Leman Yonca Gurbuzer (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I); Ozge Nihan Koseleci (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first empirical analysis on youth unemployment duration in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The study is based on micro data from the Household Survey Panel Series (2001-04). We formulate the problem within a duration model framework. Semi-parametric methods are used and compared to alternative approaches. The analyses are carried out separately for young men and women to take into account the traditional pattern of the domestic division of labour between genders. Our results indicate that the speed with which an unemployed young person finds employment is partly a function of his/her particular characteristics. We also find significant gender differences in factors affecting the prospects of access to employment. We further observe that for young men as well as young women there is strong evidence for non-monotonic duration dependence. These results turn out to remain robust to different specifications and to the introduction of unobserved heterogeneity. |
| Date: | 2008–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:hal-00308629_v2&r=lab |
| By: | Hervé Boulhol (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | There is ample evidence that a country's labour market institutions are important determinants of unemployment. This study generalises Davis' (1998) idea according to which the institutions of the trade partners matter also for a country's equilibrium unemployment rate as they generate comparative advantages. Moreover, the empirical investigation provides some evidence that the interactions between bilateral trade and relative labour market regulations affect the equilibrium unemployment rate. Given data limitations in this area, the ambition of this paper is merely to draw the attention to the general relevance of these interactions as complementing factors to other explanations of unemployment. Another interesting finding is that a fairly low regulated country like Canada can be negatively affected because its main trading partner is even less regulated, while a high regulated country like Germany appears rather sheltered because its trading partners are also highly regulated. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; trade; labour market institutions. |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00261478_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Arnaud Chéron (GAINS - Université du Maine); Jean-Olivier Hairault (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); François Langot (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris) |
| Abstract: | Phelps (1994) presented the case for a low-wage subsidy policy. Since the mid-1990s, France has experimented with this strategy. This paper evaluates the e®ect of this policy on employment and also on output and welfare. We construct an equilibrium search model incorporating wage posting and specific human capital investment, where unemployment and the distribution of both wages and productivity are endogenous. We estimate this model using French data. Numerical simulations show that the prevailing minimum wage allows a high production level to be reached by increasing training investment, even though the optimal minimum wage is lower. We show that payroll tax subsidies enhance welfare more than a reduction in the minimum wage when they are spread over a large range of wages in order to avoid specialization in low productivity jobs. |
| Keywords: | Employment, productivity, equilibrium search, laborcosts |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00270295_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Hart, Robert A.; Devereux, Paul J. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we compile a unique historical dataset that records strike activity in the British engineering industry from 1920 to 1970. These data have the advantage of containing a fairly homogenous set of companies and workers, covering a long period with varying labour market conditions, including information that enables the addition of union and company fixed effects, and providing geographical detail that allows a districtlevel analysis that controls for year and seasonal effects. We study the cyclicality of strike durations, strike incidence, and strike outcomes and distinguish between pay and non-pay strikes. Like the previous literature, we find evidence that strikes over pay have countercyclical durations. However, in the post-war period, the magnitude of this effect is much reduced when union and firm fixed effects are included. These findings suggest that it is important when studying strike durations to take account of differences in the composition of companies and unions that are involved in strikes at different points of the business cycle. We also find that strike outcomes tend to be more favourable to unions when the national unemployment rate is lower. |
| Keywords: | Outcome; Incidence; Duration; Cyclicality; Strikes |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-12&r=lab |
| By: | Pierre Cahuc (CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - INSEE - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique); André Zylberberg (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes optimum income taxation in a model with endogenous job destruction that gives rise to unemployment. It is shown that optimal tax schemes comprise both payroll and layoff taxes when the state provides public unemployment insurance and aims at redistributing income. The optimal layoff tax is equal to the social cost of job destruction, which amounts to the sum of unemployment benefits (that the state pays to unemployed workers) and payroll taxes (that the state does not get when workers are unemployed). |
| Keywords: | Layoff taxes, Optimal taxation, Job destruction. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00255794_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Huffman, Wallace |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to examine how the likely growth in the ethanol industry over the next decade will impact U.S. labor markets, especially migrant crop labor, which is largely immigrant labor. To build the background for making projections for 2008-2010 and beyond, the paper reviews and critiques: (i) the size and composition of the U.S. farm labor market, (ii) the demographics and wage of hired farm workers, (iii) the supply of farm workers, and (iv) the factors affecting the demand for farm labor, including new technologies. The final section provides some projections for agricultural labor markets, taking account not only of likely trends in energy prices but also new technologies that will affect labor demand in the future. |
| Keywords: | food prices, energy prices, migrant labor, immigrant labor, agricultural labor, labor intensive agriculture, agricultural technologies |
| JEL: | J2 O3 Q1 |
| Date: | 2008–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13000&r=lab |
| By: | Sonja C. Kassenboehmer; John P. Haisken-DeNew |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of unemployment on life satisfaction for Germany 1984–2006, using a sample of men and women from the German Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP). Across the board we find large significant negative effects for unemployment on life satisfaction.This paper expands on previous cornerstone research from Winkelmann and Winkelmann (1998) and explicitly identifies truly exogenous unemployment entries starting from 1991.We find that for women in East andWest Germany, company closures in the year of entry into unemployment produce strongly negative effects on life satisfaction over and above an overall effect of unemployment, providing prima facie evidence of a reduced outside work option, large investments in firm-specific human capital or a family constraint. The compensating variation in terms of income is dramatic, indicating enormous non-pecuniary negative effects of exogenous unemployment due to company closures. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, life satisfaction, company closing, gender |
| JEL: | Z1 J64 J65 J16 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0063&r=lab |
| By: | Gerda R. Neyer (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Jan M. Hoem (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In this research note we extend our previous study of the association between educational attainment and permanent childlessness in Sweden (Hoem et al., 2006) to cover Austria, and we make comparisons between the two countries. In both investigations we have defined educational attainment in terms of both educational level and educational field. We find largely the same pattern of childlessness by educational field in both countries; in particular at each educational level women educated for teaching jobs or for health occupations typically have lower childlessness than other lines of education. However, for most groups childlessness is higher in Austria, and for academic educations it is much higher. We attribute these differences to institutional differences in the two countries which may bring about a different culture of reproductive behavior. |
| Keywords: | Austria, education, fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-007&r=lab |
| By: | Devereux, Paul J.; Hart, Robert A. |
| Abstract: | Researchers using changes in compulsory schooling laws as instruments have typically estimated very high returns to additional schooling that are greater than the corresponding OLS estimates. Given that the first order source of bias in OLS is likely to be upward as more able individuals tend to obtain more education, such high estimates are usually rationalized as reflecting the fact that the group of individuals who are influenced by the law change have particularly high returns to education. That is, the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) is larger than the average treatment effect (ATE). However, studies of a 1947 British compulsory schooling law change that impacted about half the relevant population (so the LATE approximates the ATE) have also found very high IV returns to schooling (about 15%), suggesting that the ATE of schooling is greater than OLS estimates would suggest. This constitutes a puzzle: How can the OLS return to schooling be a significantly downward biased estimate of the ATE when the primary source of OLS bias should be upward? We utilize a source of earnings data, the New Earnings Survey Panel Data-set (NESPD), that is superior to the datasets previously used and conclude that there is no such puzzle: the IV estimates are small and much lower than OLS. In fact, there is no evidence of any return for women and the return for men is in the 4-7% range. We do, however, find that men benefit from greater schooling through a reduction in earnings variability. |
| Keywords: | Regression discontinuity design; British 1947 compulsory schooling law change; Returns to schooling |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-02&r=lab |
| By: | Etienne Dumont (CIRPEE - Université Laval); Bernard Fortin (CIRPEE - Université Laval); Nicolas Jacquemet (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris); Bruce Shearer (CIRPEE - Université Laval) |
| Abstract: | We analyse how physicians respond to contractual changes and incentives within a multitaskingenvironment. In 1999 the Quebec government (Canada) introduced an optional mixed compensationsystem, combining a xed per diem with a partial (relative to the traditional fee-for-service system)fee for services provided. We combine panel survey and administrative data on Quebec physiciansto evaluate the impact of this change in incentives on their practice choices. We highlight thedierentiated impact of incentives on various dimensions of physician behaviour by considering awide range of labour supply variables: time spent on seeing patients, time devoted to teaching,administrative tasks or research, as well as the volume of clinical services and average time perclinical service. Our results show that, on average, the reform induced physicians who changedfrom FFS to MC to reduce their volume of (billable) services by 6.15% and to reduce their hours ofwork spent on seeing patients by 2.57%. Their average time spent per service increased by 3.58%,suggesting a potential quality-quantity substitution. Also the reform induced these physicians toincrease their time spent on teaching and administrative duties (tasks not remunerated under thefee-for-service system) by 7.9%. |
| Keywords: | physician payment mechanisms; multitasking; mixed-payment systems; incentive con-tracts; labour supply; self-selection; panel estimation. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00305308_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Decoster A; De Swerdt K; Orsini K |
| Abstract: | The adverse distributional effects of a flat tax are well known and have been documented by empirical research in several countries, including Belgium. Advocates of the flat tax argue, correctly, that many of these studies do not take into account agents’ behavioural reactions and possible feed back effects. One of the important effects in this context is the potential increase in labour supply and the resulting increase in the taxable base and decrease in unemployment allowances. In this study we calculate the cost recovery based on a micro-simulation model that includes a labour supply model. We find that there is indeed a clearly positive effect on labour supply and hence also on the tax base. By introducing a revenue-neutral flat tax, labour supply increases by approximately 47,000 full-time equivalents. However, the effect is limited because, compared to a static scenario, the cost recovery only allows the revenue-neutral flat tax to decrease from 38.5% to 37%. Furthermore, there is little or no impact of these employment effects on the strongly regressive nature of a flat tax reform. |
| Keywords: | flat tax, income distribution, microsimulation, labour supply |
| JEL: | C81 D31 H22 H24 J22 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em8/08&r=lab |
| By: | Christophe Hachon (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Using a capital-skill complementarity technology, we analytically show that an increase in the direct redistributivity of Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) pension systems has a positive impact on wages and on wage inequalities. We also show that life expectancyinequalities play an important role in the achievement of these results. Then, we calibrate our model and we and that, if life expectancy inequalities are suffciently high, a more redistributive pension system increases the wealth and the welfare of every agent of the economy. Moreover, such a policy decreases the tax rate of the pension system. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Pension System, Redistribution, Capital-Skill Complementarity |
| Date: | 2008–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00285040_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Stefanie Schurer |
| Abstract: | Empirical evidence from the psychology literature suggests that reactions towards health shocks depend strongly on the personality trait of locus of control, which is usually unobservable to the analyst. In this paper, the role of this discrete heterogeneity in shaping the effects of health shocks on labour supply is theoretically modelled by adopting the Grossman (1972) model. Using German longitudinal data, the predictions of the theoretical model are tested with a latent class binary choice model and an alternative identification strategy.A robust result across both specifications for various definitions of locus of control, health shocks and labour market outcomes is that internals have a smaller probability of leaving the labour market after experiencing a health shock than externals. |
| Keywords: | Health shocks, heterogeneity, Grossman model, finite mixture models, personality traits |
| JEL: | I12 D01 C25 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0071&r=lab |
| By: | Bernhard Boockmann; Daniel Gutknecht; Susanne Steffes |
| Abstract: | Changes in Dismissal Protection Legislation in Germany have been a subject to ongoing research in the past decade. The majority of these studies, however, has not been able to determine significant effects on job and worker flows in firms affected by the reforms. We estimate the impact of dismissal protection on individual employment stability using the 1999 reform as a "natural experiment".We provide insights into the effects of legislation on the firms’ matching behaviour. Our results hint at increased job security after the reform for those spells affected by it. This rise in stability was, however, accompanied by modest instability at start suggesting that firms facing additional firing costs tend to cease probation to shed unproductive job-worker matches. The latter effect, however, was not found to be significant. |
| Keywords: | J32, J65, C41 |
| JEL: | J32 J65 C41 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:45&r=lab |
| By: | Nadège Marchand (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines); Claude Montmarquette (Université de Montréal - Département de Sciences Economique - Université de Montréal) |
| Abstract: | Our study considers the question of training in firms using an experimental laboratory approach. We investigate the following questions : What conditions, excluding external certification, will bring workers and employers to cooperate and share a rent generated by the workers’ training ? What conditions will induce workers to accept the training offer, for employers to initially offer the training and to reward the trained workers in the last stage of the game ? We analyse the impact of the size of the rent created by training and the existence of an information system on employer reputation rewarding trained employees. Reputation does matter to induce cooperation, but in the absence of external institutions, coordination on the optimal outcome remains difficult. |
| Keywords: | general and speficic trainings in firms ; accreditation ; cooperation and reputation ; experimental econonmics |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00333521_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark; Andreas Knabe; Steffen Rätzel |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between the subjective well-being of both the employed and unemployed and regional unemployment rates. While employed men suffer from regional unemployment, unemployed men are significantly less negatively affected. This is consistent with a social-norm effect of unemployment in Germany. We find no evidence of such an offsetting effect for women. |
| Keywords: | Social norms, unemployment, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | I31 Z13 J64 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp132&r=lab |
| By: | Lacetera, Nicola (Case Western Reserve University); Macis, Mario (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of a legislative provision that grants a one-day paid leave of absence to blood donors who are employees in Italy. The analysis is based on a unique dataset with the complete donation histories of the blood donors in an Italian town. The cross-sectional variation in job market status and type of employers, and job switching over time by a subset of donors, are the sources of variation we employ to study whether donors are responsive to the paid-day-off incentive in the choice of their donation days, and in the frequency of their donations. Our results indicate that economic considerations do affect blood donation decisions, for donors donate in days of the week that, given the day-off benefit, maximize their material returns in terms of consecutive days off work. We also find evidence, however, consistent with heterogeneous motivations in different donors, since a subset of donors systematically do not take advantage of the material reward. Finally, we find that the day-off privilege leads donors who are employees to make, on average, one extra donation per year. We discuss the implications of our findings for policies aimed at increasing the supply of blood, and more generally for incentivizing pro-social behavior. |
| Keywords: | incentives, altruism, public good provision, pro-social behavior, public health |
| JEL: | D12 D64 I18 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3770&r=lab |
| By: | Congdon Fors, Heather (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | In recent years, a growing number of authors have turned their atten- tion to the question of why children work. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the more recent theoretical and empirical research into the topic of child labor, and to illustrate the fact that no one factor on its own can account for the phenomenon of child labor. Therefore, policies aimed at eradicating child labor will need to address the broad range of underlying factors that contribute to the incidence of child labor, such as poverty, market imperfections and access to education.<p> |
| Keywords: | child labor; subsistence poverty; market imperfections; policy instruments |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J22 O12 |
| Date: | 2008–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0324&r=lab |
| By: | Fabio Mariani (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at explaining why countries with comparable levels of education still experience notable differences in terms of R&D and innovation. High-skilled migration, ultimately linked to differences in R&D costs, might be responsible for the persistence of such a gap. In fact, in a model where human capital accumulation and innovation are strategic complements, we show that allowing labor outflows may strengthen educational incentives in the lagging economy if migration is probabilistic in nature, but at the same time reduces the share of innovative production. Income (growth) might be consequently affected, and a positive migration chance is very unlikely to act as a substitute for educational subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Education; Brain drain. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00308746_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Simon Luechinger; Alois Stutzer; Rainer Winkelmann |
| Abstract: | We discuss a new approach to specifying and estimating ordered probit models with endogenous switching, or with binary endogenous regressor, based on copula functions. These models provide a framework of analysis for self-selection in economic well-being equations, where assigment of regressors may be choice based, resulting from well-being maximization, rather than random. In an application to public and private sector job satisfaction, and using data on male workers from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find that a model based on Frank's copula is preferred over two alternative models with independence and normal copula, respectively. The results suggest that public sector workers are negatively selected. |
| Keywords: | Ordered probit, switching regression, Frank copula, job satisfaction, German Socio-Economic Panel |
| JEL: | I31 C23 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp135&r=lab |
| By: | Christophe Hachon (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | A growing empirical literature shows that life expectancy depends on the wage level. Using an overlapping generations model with a small open economy, we explain why this result can change theredistributive properties of unfunded pension systems. We use the concept of "net contribution" to measure this redistributivity of pension systems. We show that Beveridgian pension systems remainprogressive. However, the poorest do not necessarily benefit the most from pension systems. For Bismarkian pension systems, net contributions are regressive. It means that poor agents pay morefor the pension system than they receive from it. Conversely, rich agents receive more from the pension system than they pay for it. For mixed pension systems, it is possible that collected resources are redistributed in favour of the ends of the distribution of wages. |
| Keywords: | Pension system; inequality; length of life; netcontribution |
| Date: | 2008–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00279651_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Miguel Martinho; José M. R. Freire da Silva |
| Abstract: | Open plan schools have been largely contested in Portugal; many teachers, administrators and even parents consider this model of schooling inappropriate and therefore a failure. Recently however the Escola da Ponte, one of the open plan schools that has survived, was recognised as one of the country’s most innovative educational facilities. Curiously, one of the main reasons for the school’s “success”, in the opinion of its teaching staff, is precisely the open space design. |
| Keywords: | Portugal, flexibility, school building design, learning environment, educational buildings, educational architecture |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaa:2008/12-en&r=lab |
| By: | Carlos Robalo Marques (Banco de Portugal, Research Department, R. do Ouro, 27, 1100 Lisboa, Portugal.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the persistence of aggregate wages and prices in Portugal assuming a model of a unionized economy with imperfect competition. An impulse response analysis is conducted where the structural shocks are identified by taking into account the long-run properties of the model, as well as the cointegrating and weak-exogeneity properties of the system. Real wages and wage inflation emerge as especially persistent following an import price shock, while price inflation is more persistent following an unemployment shock. At the business cycle horizon variation in the forecast errors of wages is attributable mainly to unemployment shocks (about 80 percent), whereas variation in the forecast errors of prices is attributable mainly to import price shocks (about 60 percent) and to unemployment shocks (around 20 percent). Productivity shocks explain somewhat less than 10 percent of the variation in forecast errors of wages and prices. JEL Classification: C32, C51, E31, J30. |
| Keywords: | wages, prices, impulse response function, persistence, structural error-correction model. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080945&r=lab |
| By: | James W. Boudreau (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Agents on the same side of a two-sided matching market (such as the marriage or labor market) compete with each other by making self-enhancing investments to improve their worth in the eyes of potential partners. Because these expenditures generally occur prior to matching, this activity has come to be known in recent literature (Peters, 2007) as pre-marital investment. This paper builds on that literature by considering the case of sequential pre-marital investment, analyzing a matching game in which one side of the market invests first, followed by the other. Interpreting the first group of agents as workers and the other group as firms, the paper provides a new perspective on the incentive structure that is inherent in labor markets. It also demonstrates that a positive rate of unemployment can exist even in the absence of matching frictions. Policy implications follow, as the prevailing set of equilibria can be altered by restricting entry into the workforce, providing unemployment insurance, or subsidizing pre-marital investment. |
| Keywords: | Matching, pre-marital investment, unemployment. |
| JEL: | C78 H30 E24 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2008-45&r=lab |
| By: | Oberschachtsiek, Dirk (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "This paper investigates how founders' experience and professional background affect the duration of periods of self-employment, and to what extent the duration is affected by a balanced skill set in particular. In this context, an occupational choice framework based on a competing risk setting is used that considers an exit choice as a time varying incident. Particularly, a tailor-made variable is used reflecting the balancing property of the individuals' professional background. The results show that most self-employed individuals find themselves unemployed again. Industrial experience, experience in the service or product, high motivation and professional background as a crafts master are clearly associated with comparative advantages in self-employment. It turns out that a broad range of competences is not sufficient in order to prolong the expected duration. However, a comprehensive set of skills combined with sales/business experience can extend the duration of self-employment." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | berufliche Selbständigkeit - Dauer, Unternehmenserfolg - Determinanten, Humankapital, unternehmerische Qualifikation, Fachkenntnisse, berufliche Qualifikation, Berufserfahrung, Selbständige, Unternehmer, Überbrückungsgeld - Inanspruchnahme, Berufsverlauf, Arbeitslosigkeit, Unternehmensgründung, Arbeitslose, abhängig Beschäftigte, Niedersachsen, Lüneburg, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | C41 J24 J44 J62 J64 |
| Date: | 2008–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200840&r=lab |
| By: | Mehar, Ayub |
| Abstract: | Regional-based quota in public sector employment was always considered as one of the important cause of the ethnic politics in Pakistan and particularly in Karachi. The majority of educated youth and middle classers in Pakistan belong to the urban areas and big cities where public sector employment is a frictional part of the total employment. However, households’ economic statuses in those areas are closely related with the employment status of the households’ members. This study has one objective only: to test the hypothesis that socio-economic variation between the ethnic groups was the origin of the emerging ethnic politics in Karachi. The disparities in income, employment and social status have been compared between the nine ethnic groups of Karachi. It is noteworthy that statistical evidences have rejected the hypothesis that rise in ethnic politics was a consequence of socio-economic discrepancies between the ethnic groups. |
| Keywords: | Household income; Gini coeffecient; ethnic politics; unemployment |
| JEL: | I31 J71 Z10 |
| Date: | 1998 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11286&r=lab |
| By: | Mellander, Erik (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation); Sandgren-Massih, Sofia (Department of Economonics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | A regression model is considered where earnings are explained by schooling and ability. It is assumed that schooling is measured with error and that there are no data on ability. Regressing earnings on observed schooling then yields an estimate of the return to schooling that is subject to positive omitted variable bias (OVB) and negative measurement error bias (MEB). The effects on the OVB and the MEB from using family background variables as proxies for ability are investigated theoretically and empirically. The theoretical analysis demonstrates that the impact on the OVB is uncertain, while the MEB invariably increases in magnitude. The empirical analysis shows that the MEB generally dominates the OVB. As the measurement error increases and/or more family background variables are added, the total bias rapidly becomes negative, driving the estimated return further and further away from the true value. |
| Keywords: | Missing data; proxy variables; measurement error; consistent estimates of omitted variable bias and measurement error bias |
| JEL: | C13 C20 C52 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_022&r=lab |
| By: | Gunnar Andersson (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Marit Rønsen; Lisbeth B. Knudsen; Trude Lappegård; Gerda R. Neyer (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Kari Skrede; Kathrin Teschner (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Andres Vikat (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Previous analyses of period fertility suggest that the trends of the Nordic countries are sufficiently similar to speak of a common "Nordic fertility regime". We investigate whether this assumption can be corroborated by comparing cohort fertility patterns in the Nordic countries. We study cumulated and completed fertility of Nordic birth cohorts based on the childbearing histories of women born in 1935 and later derived from the population registers of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. We further explore childbearing behaviour by women’s educational attainment. The results show remarkable similarities in postponement and recuperation between the countries and very small differences in completed fertility across educational groups. Median childbearing age is about 2−3 years higher in the 1960−64 cohort than in the 1950−54 cohort, but the younger cohort recuperates the fertility level of the older cohort at ages 30 and above. A similar pattern of recuperation can be observed for highly educated women as compared to women with less education. An interesting finding is that of a positive relationship between educational level and the final number of children when women who become mothers at similar ages are compared. Country differences in fertility outcome are generally rather low. Childlessness is highest in Finland and lowest in Norway, and the educational differentials are largest in Norway. Despite such differences, the cohort analyses in many ways support the notion of a common Nordic fertility regime. |
| Keywords: | Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, cohort fertility |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-008&r=lab |
| By: | Johansson, Elly-Ann (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Lindahl, Erica (Department of Economics, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Mixed-aged classes (MA-classes) are a common phenomenon around the world. In Sweden, these types of classes increased rapidly during the 1980:s and 1990:s. But the scientific evidence of the benefits of MA-classes is not convincing. In this paper, we estimate the effect of attending an MA-class during grades 4–6 on students’ cognitive skills. Using a unique survey with information on students, parents and teachers, we are able to control for many factors that could otherwise bias the results. We find a negative effect on the short-run cognitive skills, as measured by grade 6 cognitive tests. |
| Keywords: | Education; mixed-age classes; multi-grade classes |
| JEL: | I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_021&r=lab |
| By: | Mieke Meurs; Juna Miluka; Thomas Hertz |
| Abstract: | In some post-socialist countries, the post-socialist economic downturn had a negative impact on human development indicators. Education is one area of concern. In this paper, we examine secondary schooling dynamics in Albania, where enrollment declines have occurred. Drawing on the existing literature on household investment in schooling, we examine factors underlying the recent changes. We find that, as in other counties, parental education has a significant impact on the choice to attend secondary school. But we also find that factors specifically related to transition, including household economic resources, local employment prospects, opportunity costs of children’s time, and access to school are significant predictors of schooling decisions in Albania. These findings suggest a number of areas where policy interventions may positively affect long-term outcomes. |
| JEL: | P36 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:1308&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Hiller (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| 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:paris1:halshs-00275734_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Maria Floro; John Messier |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, there has been a marked increase in the informalization of employment in developing countries. The risk and insecurity associated with a growing number of informal sector jobs have important consequences in inducing or maintaining vulnerability. This paper explores the incidence of high indebtedness or financial stress among urban, low-income households in Ecuador and demonstrates its interconnectedness with the quality of employment. The implications are non-trivial in the sense that high debt service burden, as with the lack of credit access, can undermine investment and maintain low productivity and earnings. It can also lead to higher probability of loan default and to increase in interest rates or termination of credit line. There are also longer term welfare consequences in terms of households’ ability to cope with future shocks such as illness. The analysis is based on a 2002 sample of men and women in urban, poor households in Ecuador. By means of tobit and regression analyses, the paper demonstrates that labor market informalization has led to higher incidence of indebtedness. Moreover, there are differentiated patterns of debt servicing among women and men in urban, poor households. The results provide a more nuanced yet illuminating picture of the interconnectedness of employment, financial stress and vulnerability. We argue that informalization of employment has consequences in other dimensions of vulnerability of households such as high debt servicing, and therefore requires rethinking of current economic and social policies in order to effectively reduce poverty. |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:0808&r=lab |
| By: | Cordula Zabel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the determinants of partnership formation among lone mothers in Russia, using data from the Russian Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and the Education and Employment Survey (EES). The central research question is whether difficult economic circumstances pressure lone mothers to enter new partnerships sooner than they would under other circumstances, limiting their freedom of choice of type of living arrangement. The empirical results show that while occupation influences lone mothers’ rates of partnership formation both before and after 1991, a significant effect of employment status does not appear until after 1991. Apart from economic factors, demographic factors such as the age and number of children are also shown to have an important impact on lone mothers’ rates of partnership formation. Comparisons to patterns of partnership formation among childless women are also presented. |
| Keywords: | Russia |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-020&r=lab |
| By: | Arne Bigsten (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.); Sven Tengstam (Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between income diversification and income change within Zambian smallholder households, and investigates what the constraints of income diversification are in this group. A panel data set of roughly 7000 smallholder farmer households interviewed in 2001 and 2004 is used. Different combinations of the four main income generating activities – farm income, agricultural wage work, non-agricultural wagework, and own-business income – are analyzed. |
| Keywords: | food security, policy, Zambia, Africa, smallholder, income |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:icpwrk:zm-fsrp-wp-031&r=lab |
| By: | Henno Theisens; Francisco Benavides; Hanna Dumont |
| Abstract: | Designing school buildings to respond to change is not a new idea. But perhaps what is different today is the kind and degree of change which we have to anticipate. The OECD is carrying out projects that can help in the planning and design of future educational facilities – exploring trends in education and studying innovative learning environments. Education planners have long grappled with the type of change connected with demography, for example changing local patterns in the number of school places needed over a period of time. But new challenges lie in the complexity and uncertainty which are characteristic of the 21st century world. The findings of the OECD’s project “Schooling for Tomorrow: Trends Shaping Education” show some sources of this uncertainty, including falling birth rates, increasing economic globalisation and growing numbers of single parent families. Such issues suggest that policy makers and education providers alike need to address questions about what education is and how it should be delivered. Another OECD project, a study of innovative learning environments, is looking at how schools can respond to changes in the type of teaching and learning that make individuals lifelong learners. Developing individuals as self-directed learners, who are able to acquire expert knowledge in different fields and to change careers, benefits the economy and society generally. Research into learning shows both the importance of allowing students to take control of their own learning and that learning must be a social, cultural, intrapersonal and an active process. Research also demonstrates that an understanding of complex subjects can be best achieved in settings where the learner is engaged with others in the community, in activities where knowledge is being applied. The learning environments that support this must be fundamentally different from what has gone before, with less emphasis on teachers addressing a group of students in a traditional classroom setting. However, just how the physical environment must respond is a complicated issue. To meet the needs of 21st century learning, the physical environment will have to be agile so that it is capable of providing a mixed range of learning settings from large group spaces to smaller, more individual tutorial type spaces. However, the interaction between a building’s users and the physical infrastructure is complex. The physical environment is always a constraint, but a key question might be to what extent does it offer the teachers the freedom and empowerment to do with it what they want. The different learning settings may be facilitated by clever use of furniture which can be easily rearranged in a variety of ways thus providing a range of spaces within spaces. These are all issues that future work of the Programme on Educational Building will explore further, building on the current OECD work on innovative learning environments. |
| Keywords: | innovation, technology and innovation, school building design, educational buildings, educational architecture |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaa:2008/11-en&r=lab |
| By: | Justine Coulidiati-Kiëlem (GED, Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV) |
| Abstract: | Cette étude a pour but d'identifier les caractéristiques des régions stables dans la performance mesurée par la réussite au BEPC, et tenant compte des ressources qui leur ont été allouées pour leur fonctionnement. La stabilité dans le temps de la performance des établissements est abordée en considérant les scores obtenus au BEPC sur un certain nombre d'années. Les résultats saillants montrent que pour les quatre années au collège, le redoublement en 6ème, en 5ème et, dans une moindre mesure, en 4ème ont un effet négatif et significatif sur la réussite au BEPC. Par contre, le redoublement en 3ème est positivement corrélé au succès au BEPC, ce qui laisse penser qu’à ce niveau d’étude le redoublement permet un renforcement des connaissances attendues. A cet égard, il est alors important de repérer les mesures des attitudes scolaires qui permettent de relever le niveau des redoublants de la 3ème. Les professeurs titulaires du CAP-CEG et ceux dont le statut est "Autres" ont des contributions positives et significatives pour la variable dépendante. La proportion de filles, particulièrement celles titulaires d’une allocation de bourse, a un effet négatif sur la réussite scolaire incitant à une recherche plus poussée sur la mixité et les modes efficaces d’appui aux filles et, d’une façon générale, aux élèves issus de milieux défavorisés. This study aims to identify the characteristics of stable regions in performance measured by success in BEPC, and taking into account the resources allocated to them for their operation. The stability in time of the performance of schools is addressed by considering the BEPC scores on a number of years. Highlights results show that for four years in college, repetition at the 6th in the 5th and to a lesser extent in the 4th have a significant and negative effect on the success BEPC. But the repetition in the 3rd is positively correlated with success at BEPC, which suggests that this level of study repetition allows a strengthening of knowledge expected. In this regard, it is important to identify the measures of attitudes school to raise the level of repeaters of the 3rd. The professors of CAP-CEG and those whose status is “Other” have positive and significant contributions to the dependent variable. The proportion of girls, particularly those holding a scholarship grant, has a negative effect on academic achievement incentives for more research on the mixed modes and effective support to girls and, in general, the students from disadvantaged backgrounds.(Full text in french) |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mon:ceddtr:146&r=lab |
| By: | Woessmann, Ludger; Becker, Sascha O. |
| Abstract: | Martin Luther urged each town to have a girls' school so that girls would learn to read the Gospel, evoking a surge of building girls' schools in Protestant areas. Using county- and town-level data from the first Prussian census of 1816, we show that a larger share of Protestants decreased the gender gap in basic education. This result holds when using only the exogenous variation in Protestantism due to a county's or town's distance to Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Reformation. Similar results are found for the gender gap in literacy among the adult population in 1871. |
| Keywords: | Protestantism; education; gender gap |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-20&r=lab |
| By: | Geraint Johnes |
| Abstract: | Changes in the characteristics and skills of British youths between the mid-1980s and mid-2000s are evaluated using a method recently developed by Altonji et al. The main finding is that skills have increased over time in successive cohorts of young people. The improvement is, however, uneven, and those at the bottom end of the skills distribution have benefitted less than others. This implies, other things being equal, that the distribution of earnings will widen over the coming years. |
| Keywords: | skills |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:005764&r=lab |
| By: | Peter Cramton; Hamid Mehran; Joseph Tracy |
| Abstract: | By the early 1990s, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) had become as prevalent in unionized firms as in nonunionized firms. However, little research has been devoted to examining the implications of ESOPs for collective bargaining or, more generally, for cross ownership. In this paper, we extend the signaling model of Cramton and Tracy (1992) to allow partial ownership by the union. We demonstrate that ESOPs create incentives for unions to become weaker bargainers. As a result, the model predicts that ESOPs will lead to a reduction in strike incidence and in the fraction of labor disputes that involve a strike. We examine these predictions using U.S. bargaining data from 1970 to 1995. The data suggest that ESOPs do increase the efficiency of labor negotiations by shifting the composition of disputes away from costly strikes. Consistent with improved bargaining efficiency, we find that the announcement of a union ESOP leads to a 50 percent larger stock market reaction when compared with the announcement of a nonunion ESOP. |
| Keywords: | Employee fringe benefits ; Stock options ; Collective bargaining |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:347&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Vercellone (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | In the transition toward a cognitive capitalism, the transformations of the social organisation of production are strictly connected to those of income distribution. This evolution is deeply characterised by the re-emerging of the rent under different forms. The aim of this article is to provide a marxist interpretation of these mutations and their social and economic implications. The analysis is organised in two sections. In the first section we are going to examine the definitions of the categories of wages, rent and profit, and claim that the lines separating rent from profit are flexible and mobile both theoretically and historically. To illustrate this point we rely on suggestions found in Marx's Capital volume III, where he drafts a theory of the becoming-rent of capital that provides new insights into the related theory of the general intellect. In the second section, we will provide a synthetic framework for the interpretation of transformations of the labour-capital relation that led simultaneously to an increase in the power of rent and the collapse of a distinction between rent and profit in the transition from industrial to cognitive capitalism. |
| Keywords: | Income distribution, Wage, Rent, Profit, General intellect, Cognitive capitalism |
| Date: | 2008–02–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00265584_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Carlo Mazzaferro; Marco Savegnago |
| Abstract: | In this paper we assess, through a financial measure (Net Present Value Ratio), the extent of the lifetime earning redistribution operated by the Notional Defined Contribution in a sample of individuals representative of the Italian population born from 1975 to 2000. Controlling mortality by the level of education we identify at least three channels of redistribution: among genders (from men to women), along educational lines (from low to high educated) and among income quintiles (from poor to rich). This happens because some groups systematically live less than average (men, loweducated and poor) while others live more than average (women, high educated and rich). This finding is not trivial: even if the NDC system assure long term financial sustainability, it harms the most disadvantaged groups like poor and low-educated people. |
| Keywords: | Social security; Notional Defined Contribution; Italy |
| JEL: | H55 J14 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:08091&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the nature and the length of economic adjustments to selected structural reforms, drawing on a variety of approaches: descriptive analysis and simulations using Dynamic General Equilibrium and macro-economic neo-Keynesian models. The descriptive analysis suggests that the correlation between reforms, including a change in the tax wedge, the replacement ratio or anti-competitive product market regulation and the structural unemployment rate peaks only after 5 to 10 years. Lowering employment and price adjustment costs in the euro area to their respective US levels would only have a relatively limited effect on the speed of adjustment to labour market and tax reforms. Monetary policy reaction can speed up the adjustment to a new equilibrium, though to a varying degree in the different OECD countries or regions. In particular, reforms in individual euro area countries are likely to trigger only little or no policy reaction, unless there is an area-wide effort to implement reforms. <P>Vitesse d’ajustement à des réformes sur le marché du travail et de la fiscalité <BR>Cet article examine la nature et la durée des ajustements économiques à un certain nombre de réformes structurelles, utilisant plusieurs approches : analyse descriptive et simulations des modèles dynamique d’équilibre général et macro-économiques néo-keynésiens, L’analyse descriptive suggère que la corrélation entre des réformes, notamment une modification du coin fiscal, du taux de remplacement et des régulations anticoncurrentielles sur le marché des produits et le taux de chômage structurel n’atteint son effet maximum qu’après 5 à 10 ans. Diminuer les coûts d’ajustement sur l’emploi et les prix de la zone euro à leur niveau observé aux États-Unis ne se traduirait que par des effets limités sur la vitesse d’ajustements aux réformes sur le marché du travail ou aux réformes fiscales. Une réaction de politique monétaire peut accélérer l’ajustement à un nouvel équilibre, mais de manière plus ou moins marquée dans les différents pays ou régions de l’OCDE. En particulier, les réformes menées au niveau des pays individuels généreront probablement peu ou pas de réaction monétaire, sauf en présence d’un effort concerté de mise en oeuvre de réformes au niveau de la zone. |
| Keywords: | réforme structurelle, United States, États-Unis, monetary policy, politique monétaire, zone Euro, euro area, structural reforms, adjustment, Taylor rule, DSGE model, modèle DSGE |
| JEL: | C5 E00 E5 G10 |
| Date: | 2008–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:647-en&r=lab |
| By: | Stefan Bender; Michael Fertig; Katja Görlitz; Martina Huber; Alexandra Schmucker |
| Abstract: | This paper explains the main features of an innovative linked employer-employee data set with a particular focus on continuous training in Germany, calledWeLL. The data set comprises establishment data that can be linked to longitudinal information on the associated employees. The employer survey and the first wave of the employee survey were conducted in 2007. Both surveys focus on the collection of training information together with a variety of employee and employer background characteristics. In addition, it is possible to link these data with other survey and administrative data for a large number of respondents. |
| Keywords: | Employee training, establishment data, linked employer-employee data |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0067&r=lab |
| By: | Caroline Elliott; Kwok Tong Soo |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the determinants of the choice of UK universities by overseas undergraduate applicants. We use data on overseas applicants in Business Studies and Engineering from 2002 to 2007, to 97 UK universities. Estimating using a Hausman-Taylor model to control for the possible correlation between our explanatory variables and unobservable university level effects, we find that the fees charged may influence the application decision of some students, but that any relationship between levels of fees and applications is nonlinear. The quality of education provided is positively and significantly related to the number of applications. Proximity to London and the existing popularity of a university among home applicants, are also significant predictors of university applications. |
| Keywords: | UK universities; demand estimation; overseas students |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:005738&r=lab |
| By: | Carmit Segal |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that low-stakes test scores, available in surveys, may be partially determined by test-taking motivation, which is associated with personality traits but not with cognitive ability. Therefore, such test score distributions may not be informative regarding cognitive ability distributions. Moreover, correlations, found in survey data, between high test scores and economic success may be partially caused by favorable personality traits. To demonstrate these points, I use the coding speed test that was administered without incentives to National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY) participants. I suggest that due to its simplicity its scores may especially depend on individuals' test-taking motivation. I show that controlling for conventional measures of cognitive skills, the coding speed scores are correlated with future earnings of male NLSY participants. Moreover, the coding speed scores of highly motivated, though less educated, population (potential enlists to the armed forces) are higher than NLSY participants' scores. I then use controlled experiments to show that when no performance-based incentives are provided, participants' characteristics, but not their cognitive skills, affect effort invested in the coding speed test. Thus, participants with the same ability (measured by their scores on an incentivized test) have significantly different scores on tests without performance- based incentives. |
| Keywords: | Test Scores, Motivation, Cognitive Skills, Non-Cognitive Skills, Earnings |
| JEL: | J24 J31 C91 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1124&r=lab |
| By: | László Limbacher |
| Abstract: | Hungary’s Belvárosi Tanoda Secondary School offers an informal, flexible environment and alternative teaching methods for students who have had problems in other schools. The Belvárosi Tanoda (which translates as downtown school) is a second chance school for students who have dropped out of upper secondary education. It has been providing alternative education for 16- to 25-year-olds since 1990. While most Hungarian schools are run by their local government, Belvárosi Tanoda is maintained by a private foundation, with the state covering about half of its operating costs. The school charges no tuition fees since most of its students are in financial need. |
| Keywords: | Hungary, secondary schools, school building design, learning environment, educational buildings, school infrastructure |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaa:2008/13-en&r=lab |
| By: | Annett Fleischer (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Restrictive immigration and integration policies in Germany increasingly force African migrants to develop strategies and practices to acquire legal residence and obtain an essential work permit. Our account of Cameroonian men in Germany contributes to the discussion about the role of the nation state in transnational migration processes. Since national policies in the receiving country determine the right to settle and the risk of expulsion, the German nation state plays a decisive role for African migrants. The present paper emphasises the impact of national migration policies on Cameroonian men’s marriage strategies. Diminishing options for legalising their status in Germany by other means make Cameroonians increasingly dependent on sustaining a three-year marriage to a German wife. Mainly based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Cameroon and Germany, the present article explores the distribution of marriage over space and time as a means of securing the right to work and stay in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Cameroon, Germany, international migration, marriage |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-006&r=lab |
| By: | Bénédicte Gendron (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I, LIRDEF - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en didactique et formation - IUFM de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | The creation of the vocational baccalauréat track in 1985 contributed to a main innovation in the French initial secondary education system. In its objective and in its innovative way of learning combining sandwich courses (work and school places learning), this program offer students who were at school in a failure situation a path for continuing their studies or a springboard to jump into a new career or professional plan. This diploma has been implemented in different ways: through student status or in apprenticeships, and through the responsibility of the Ministry of Education in vocational high schools but also, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture like in the Maisons Familiales Rurales (MFR). First, this paper will present the institutional framework: what is the Vocational Baccalauréat (VETBac) diploma, its roles and purposes? And as the national French system of education from the Ministry of education has been the subjects of number of articles in European VET reviews (Gendron, 2005), it will be presented more in details the MFR system less known and its philosophy. The second part, briefly developed here, will give some views of the convergence and divergence of the conditions of competence development of vocational baccalauréat trainees or students with a workplace learning focus in those two previous organizations. |
| Keywords: | Key words : vocational education and training, competencies development, apprenticeship, workplace learning. |
| Date: | 2008–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:paris1:halshs-00264800_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Jan M. Hoem (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Lesia Nedoluzhko (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | In studies of differences in fertility between migrants and non-migrants, marriage interferes because migration can be motivated by an impending marriage or can entail entry into a marriage market with new opportunities. One would therefore expect elevated fertility after migration, although a competing theory states that on the contrary fertility ought to be reduced in the time around the move because migration temporarily disturbs the life of the migrant. In any case marriage appears as a process that is intermediary between migration and childbearing. To handle such issues it pays to have a technique that allows the analyst to separate any disruptive effects of migration from any boosting effects of marriage in studies of childbearing. The purposes of the present paper is (i) to remind us that such a technique is available, in fact is straightforward, and (ii) to apply the technique to further analyze a set of data on migration and first-time parenthood in Kyrgyzstan recently used by the second author and Gunnar Andersson. The technique has the neat feature that it allows us to operate with several “clocks” at the same time. In the analysis of first births we keep track of time since migration (for migrants) and time since marriage formation (for the married) beside the respondent’s age (for women at childbearing ages); in other connections there may be more clocks. For such analyses we make use of a flexible graphical housekeeping device that allows the analyst to keep track of a feature like whether migration occurs before or after marriage, or at the same time. This is a half-century-old flow chart of statuses and transitions and is not much more complex that the famous Lexis diagram, which originated with Gustav Zeuner, as we now know. These reflexions were first presented at a symposium dedicated to Professor Zeuner. |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2008-015&r=lab |