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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Blunch, Niels-Hugo (Washington and Lee University) |
| Abstract: | Previous studies of labor market outcomes such as employment and wages have mostly been limited to investigating the impact of formal schooling only and, as a consequence, have seldom considered skills or alternative routes to acquiring skills, such as adult literacy programs, or other types of education. This paper examines these issues for Ghana, by estimating the joint effects of formal schooling, literacy and numeracy skills, and adult literacy programs on employment and wage outcomes. Wage and employment status equations are estimated jointly, allowing employment status to be endogenous. Substantial returns to basic cognitive skills are established, while the education system – especially the lower levels of formal education – is found to be relatively successful in creating these skills. At the same time the results hint at there being substantial returns to skills other than basic literacy and numeracy. These skills appear to be produced mostly from technical and vocational education and training and at higher levels of formal education. Adult literacy participants are less likely to be economically inactive and more likely to be self-employed, hinting at the income-generating activities component of these programs having indirect effects on wages through its effect on labor market participation, especially for females, individuals with no formal education, and in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | wage equations, employment status, human capital, literacy and numeracy, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, formal education, adult literacy programs, Ghana |
| JEL: | I31 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3906&r=lab |
| By: | Nils Braakmann (Institute of Economics, University of Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that differences in various non-cognitive traits, specifically the “big five”, positive and negative reciprocity, locus of control and risk aversion, contribute to gender inequalities in wages and employment. Using the 2004 and 2005 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel, evidence from regression and decomposition techniques suggests that gender differences in psychological traits are more important for inequalities in wages than in employment. Differences in the “big five”, in particular in agreeableness, conscientiousness and neurocitism matter for both wages and employment. For the latter, the results also show a large effect of differences in external locus of control. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gap, non-cognitive traits, decomposition |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:112&r=lab |
| By: | Khamis, Melanie (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a puzzle in the literature on labor markets in developing countries: labor legislations not only have an impact on the formal labor market but also an impact on the informal sector. It has even been argued that the impact on the informal sector in the case of the minimum wage is stronger than on the formal sector. Using quasi-experiments of minimum wage changes and thereby exploiting geographical variation of the minimum wage bite, I find evidence for this hypothesis. Informal workers, workers without social security contribution, experienced significant wage increases when the minimum wage was raised while formal workers did not. This result highlights that non-compliance with one labor legislation, the social security contribution, does not necessarily imply non-compliance to other labor laws such as the minimum wage. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, informal economy, quasi-experiments |
| JEL: | J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3911&r=lab |
| By: | Di Tommaso, M. L. (University of Turin); Strøm, Steinar (University of Turin); Sæther, Erik Magnus (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) |
| Abstract: | When entering the job market, nurses choose among different kind of jobs. Each of these jobs is characterized by wage, sector (primary care or hospital) and shift (daytime work or shift). This paper estimates a multisector-job-type random utility model of labor supply on data for Norwegian registered nurses in 2000. The empirical model implies that labor supply is rather inelastic; 10 percent increase in the wage rates for all nurses is estimated to yield 3.3 percent increase in overall labor supply. This modest response shadows for much stronger inter job-type responses. Our approach differs from previous studies in two ways: First, to our knowledge, it is the first time that a model of labour supply for nurses is estimated taking explicitly into account the choices that RN’s have regarding work place and type of job. Second, it differs from previous studies with respect to the measurement of the compensations for different types of work. So far, it has been focused on wage differentials. But there are more attributes of a job than the wage. Based on the estimated random utility model we therefore calculate the expected value of compensation that makes a utility maximizing agent indifferent between types of jobs, here between shift work and daytime work. It turns out that Norwegian nurses working shifts may be willing to work shift relative to daytime work for lower wage than the current one. |
| Keywords: | Nurse labor supply: multi-sector; shift-work |
| JEL: | I11 J22 J33 |
| Date: | 2008–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2008_008&r=lab |
| By: | Julen ESTEBAN-PRETEL; NAKAJIMA Ryo; TANAKA Ryuichi |
| Abstract: | The proportion of part-time, dispatch, and temporary workers has increased in many developed economies in recent years. These workers receive lower average wages and benefits, and are subject to lower employment stability. This paper analyzes the effects of initially taking such jobs on the employment careers of young workers. We build an on-and-off-the-job search model, using Japanese data to perform a structural estimation of the model parameters and simulate career paths, in order to study the effects of the initial choice of employment on the probability of having a regular job in the future and on the welfare of the worker. We find that although contingent jobs are neither stepping stones towards regular employment nor dead-ends, starting a career in a contingent job has a lasting effect on the welfare of the individual in Japan. |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:09002&r=lab |
| By: | David Card |
| Abstract: | Immigration is often viewed as a proximate cause of the rising wage gap between high- and low-skilled workers. Nevertheless, there is controversy over the appropriate framework for measuring the presumed effect, and over the magnitudes involved. This paper offers an overview and synthesis of existing knowledge on the relationship between immigration and inequality, focusing on evidence from cross-city comparisons in the U.S. Although some researchers have argued that a cross-city research design is inherently flawed, I show that evidence from cross-city comparisons is remarkably consistent with recent findings from aggregate time series data. Both designs provide support for three key conclusions: (1) workers with below high school education are perfect substitutes for those with a high school education; (2)“high school equivalent†and “college equivalent†workers are imperfect substitutes; (3) within education groups, immigrants and natives are imperfect substitutes. Together these results imply that the impacts of recent immigrant inflows on the relative wages of U.S. natives are small. The effects on overall wage inequality (including natives and immigrants) are larger, reflecting the concentration of immigrants in the tails of the skill distribution and higher residual inequality among immigrants than natives. Even so, immigration accounts for a small share (5%) of the increase in U.S. wage inequality between 1980 and 2000. |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14683&r=lab |
| By: | Marianne Bertrand; Claudia Goldin; Lawrence F. Katz |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the relative importance of various explanations for the gender gap in career outcomes for highly-educated workers in the U.S. corporate and financial sectors. The careers of MBAs, who graduated between 1990 and 2006 from a top U.S. business school, are studied to understand how career dynamics differ by gender. Although male and female MBAs have nearly identical (labor) incomes at the outset of their careers, their earnings soon diverge, with the male earnings advantage reaching almost 60 log points at ten to 16 years after MBA completion. We identify three proximate reasons for the large and rising gender gap in earnings: differences in training prior to MBA graduation; differences in career interruptions; and differences in weekly hours. These three determinants can explain the bulk of gender differences in earnings across the years following MBA completion. The presence of children is the main contributor to the lesser job experience, greater career discontinuity and shorter work hours for female MBAs. Some MBA mothers, especially those with well-off spouses, decide to slow down within a few years following their first birth. Disparities in the productive characteristics of male and female MBAs are small, but the pecuniary penalties from shorter hours and any job discontinuity are enormous for MBAs. |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14681&r=lab |
| By: | Carmen Pages; Lucia Madrigal; Florencia Lopez Boo |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between part-time work and job satisfaction using a recent household survey from Honduras. In contrast to previous work for developed countries, this paper does not find a preference for part-time work among women. Instead, both women and men tend to prefer fulltime work, although the preference for working longer hours is stronger for men. Consistent with an interpretation of working part-time as luxury consumption, the paper finds that partnered women with children, poor women or women working in the informal sector are more likely to prefer full-time work than single women, partnered women without children, non-poor women or women working in the formal sector. These results have important implications for the design of family and child care policies in low-income countries. |
| Keywords: | Job Satisfaction, Gender, Part-time work, Job Flexibility. |
| JEL: | C13 J16 J28 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4604&r=lab |
| By: | Santos Raposo, P.M.; Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | December 1, 1996 Portugal introduced a new law on working hours which gradually reduced the standard workweek from 44 hours to 40 hours. We study how this mandatory working hours reduction affected employment and earnings of workers involved. We find for workers who were affected by the new law that working hours decreased, while hourly wages increased, keeping monthly earnings approximately constant. We also find that the working hours reduction did not lead to an increased job loss of workers directly affected. Finally, we find that workers who themselves were not directly affected were influenced by the working hours reduction indirectly. If they worked in a firm with many workers working more than 40 hours before the change in law was introduced. |
| Keywords: | Workweek reduction;policy reform;employment dynamics;earnings |
| JEL: | J22 J31 J63 J81 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200881&r=lab |
| By: | Arias, Omar (World Bank); Khamis, Melanie (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs recently developed econometric models of marginal treatment effects to analyze the relevance of labor market comparative advantage and segmentation in the participation and earnings performance of workers in formal and informal jobs in Argentina. A novel household data set on informality and self-employment and information on labor inspections targeting informal work was collected for this purpose. We account for endogeneity and selectivity issues in our estimations. Our results offer evidence for both comparative advantage and segmentation. No significant differences between the earnings of formal salaried workers and the self-employed are found, once accounted for positive selection bias into formal work. This is consistent with labor market comparative advantage considerations. On the contrary, informal salaried employment carries significant earnings penalties, alongside negative selection bias and modest positive sorting. These results are more consistent with segmentation. |
| Keywords: | marginal treatment effects, occupational choice, segmentation, earnings, comparative advantage, informality, labor markets |
| JEL: | C31 J24 J31 J42 O17 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3916&r=lab |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes (San Diego State University, IZA); Sara de la Rica (Universidad del País Vasco, FEDEA, IZA) |
| Abstract: | Learning about the impact that immigration has on the labor market of the receiving nation is a topic of major concern, particularly in Spain, where immigration has more than doubled from 4 percent to roughly 10 percent of the population within a decade. Yet, very little is known about the impact that large immigrant inflows have had on the labor market outcomes of Spanish natives. Furthermore, most studies assume that natives and immigrants are perfect substitutes within skill groups –a questionable assumption given recent findings in the literature. In this paper, we first document that foreign-born workers are not perfect substitutes of similarly skilled native Spanish workers, which may help explain why immigration has not significantly lowered natives’ wages. Instead, immigration has affected the occupational distribution of natives. Specifically, owing to the comparative advantage of foreign-born workers in manual as opposed to interactive tasks, natives relocated to occupations with a lower content of manual tasks –such as technical and alike professional occupations, clerical support jobs, and sales and service occupations. Yet, possibly owing to the significant and simultaneous reduction in the manual to interactive task supply resulting from the increase in the share of native female workers, the increase in the relative supply of manual to interactive tasks from foreign-born workers does not appear to have significantly changed the overall manual to interactive task supply in the Spanish economy. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0816&r=lab |
| By: | Bellemare, Charles (Université Laval); Lepage, Patrick (Université Laval); Shearer, Bruce S. (Université Laval) |
| Abstract: | We present results from a real-effort experiment, simulating actual work-place conditions, comparing the productivity of workers under fixed wages and piece rates. Workers, who were paid to enter data, were exposed to different degrees of peer pressure under both payment systems. The peer pressure was generated in the form of private information about the productivity of their peers. We have two main results. First, we find no level of peer pressure for which the productivity of either male or female workers is significantly higher than productivity without peer pressure. Second, we find that very low and very high levels of peer pressure can significantly decrease productivity (particularly for men paid fixed wages). These results are consistent with models of conformism and self-motivation. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, fixed wages, piece rates, gender |
| JEL: | M52 C91 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3948&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Ecole Polytechnique, Département d'économie, Palaiseau, F-91128, France); François Poinas (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France; CNRS, GATE, UMR 5824, Ecully, F-69130, France) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a exible dynamic model of education choices and early ca- reer employment outcomes of the French population. Individuals are allowed to choose between 4 options: continue to the next grade, accept a perma- nent contract, accept a temporary contract, or withdraw from the labor force (a residual state). Our analysis focuses on the comparison between French Second-Generation Immigrants whose parents are born in Africa and French- natives. We nd that schooling attainments explain around two thirds of the dierences in access to early career employment stability. However, one third cannot be linked to observed investment in human capital. |
| Keywords: | Second-generation immigrants, schooling attainments, fixed term employment |
| JEL: | I2 J15 J24 J41 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0836&r=lab |
| By: | Satoshi Shimizutani (Institute for International Policy Studies); Takashi Oshio (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | Evidence on the effect of the social security earnings test on the labor supply of the elderly continues to be mixed. We utilize microlevel data compiled by the Japanese government in order to examine the labor supply effect for those aged 6569 before and after two majo reforms of the social security earnings test in Japan: its elimination in 1985 and its revival in 2002. We provide little evidence that the changes in the earnings test affected the wage distribution of the elderly after controlling for changes in the attributes of workers and firms. At the same time, the direct survey responses to the effect of the revival in 2002 reveals a large effect on the labor supply of the elderly. These empirical findings indicate the risk that a traditional bunch analysis underestimates the labor supply effect when it is obscured by measurement errors or labor market rigidities. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:0822&r=lab |
| By: | Christian Belzil (Department of Economics, Ecole Polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7176 - Polytechnique - X); François Poinas (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | We estimate a flexible dynamic model of education choices and early career employment outcomes of the French population. Individuals are allowed to choose between 4 options: continue to the next grade, accept a permanent contract, accept a temporary contract, or withdraw from the labor force (a residual state). Our analysis focuses on the comparison between FrenchSecond-Generation Immigrants whose parents are born in Africa and French-natives. We find that schooling attainments explain around two thirds of thedifferences in access to early career employment stability. However, one third cannot be linked to observed investment in human capital. |
| Keywords: | Second-generation immigrants ; schooling attainments ; fixed term employment |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00355660_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Kamila Fialová (Komerční Banka, Prague; Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Martina Mysíková (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences, Prague) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to quantify the impact of social benefits on labor market participation in the Czech Republic. It applies the logistic regression to estimate the probability of labor market participation depending on social benefits related to net wage of the individuals, controlling for individual and household characteristics (age, presence of spouse and children etc.). The work disincentives via social benefits do exist and proved to be relatively strong. When trying to understand the reasons for recently decreasing participation rate in the Czech Republic, the often called “generous” Czech social benefit system appears to be relevant. |
| Keywords: | inactivity trap, labor market participation, social benefits |
| JEL: | I38 J21 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2009_04&r=lab |
| By: | Burda, Michael C. (Humboldt University, Berlin); Hamermesh, Daniel S. (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Using time-diary data from four countries we show that the unemployed spend most of the time not working for pay in additional leisure and personal maintenance, not in increased household production. There is no relation between unemployment duration and the split of time between household production and leisure. U.S. data for 2003-2006 show that almost none of the lower amount of market work in areas of long-term high unemployment is offset by additional household production. In contrast, in those areas where unemployment has risen cyclically reduced market work is made up almost entirely by additional time spent in household production. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, time use, household production, paid work |
| JEL: | E24 J22 D13 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3955&r=lab |
| By: | Julen ESTEBAN-PRETEL; NAKAJIMA Ryo; TANAKA Ryuichi |
| Abstract: | Unemployment in Japan nearly tripled during the 1990s. Underlying this upsurge lie an increase in the probability of workers to lose their jobs and a decrease in the probability that the unemployed find jobs. This paper analyzes the sources responsible for these labor market changes in Japan in the decade of the 1990s. We build, calibrate and simulate a neo-classical growth model with search frictions in the labor market. Using actual TFP data, the model is able to reproduce the path of unemployment and the job flows, as well as that of output. We find it to be the decrease in productivity, coupled with the reduction in hours worked, which curtails the profits of firms, inducing a drop in employment and an increase in unemployment. |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:09003&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Burda; Daniel S. Hamermesh |
| Abstract: | Using time-diary data from four countries we show that the unemployed spend most of the time not working for pay in additional leisure and personal maintenance, not in increased household production. There is no relation between unemployment duration and the split of time between household production and leisure. U.S. data for 2003-2006 show that almost none of the lower amount of market work in areas of long-term high unemployment is offset by additional household production. In contrast, in those areas where unemployment has risen cyclically reduced market work is made up almost entirely by additional time spent in household production. |
| JEL: | D13 E24 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14676&r=lab |
| By: | Iskhakov, Fedor (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper simulates a set of proposed policies from the Norwegian pension reform within a structural dynamic model of health and retirement estimated on the Norwegian labour market data. The paper focuses on the two main elements of the reform, namely the new pension entitlement accrual rules linking benefits more closely to earnings and the new pension benefit drawing rules designed to eliminate the incentives distortions with respect to the time of retirement. The effects of these proposals are investigated in terms of labour market outcomes, social welfare and income distribution. It is shown that while the proposed pension reform succeeds in urging the older workers to postpone their retirement and induces an increase in total social welfare, individuals in good health who retire early experience a negative change in their discounted utility. In addition, an increase in social welfare is accompanied with an increase in income inequality. |
| Keywords: | Pension reform; incentive neutral retirement; pension entitlement accrual rules; labour market outcomes; social welfare; income inequality; structural dynamic model; health; retirement |
| JEL: | C61 H55 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2008_014&r=lab |
| By: | Büttner, Thomas (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Jacobebbinghaus, Peter (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Ludsteck, Johannes (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "The occupational skill structure depends on the business cycle if employers respond to shortages of applicants during upturns by lowering their hiring standards. The notion and relevance of hiring standards adjustment was advanced by Reder (1955) and investigated formally in a search-theoretic framework by Mortensen (1970). Devereux (2002) implements empirical tests for these theories and finds affirmative evidence for the U.S labour market. We replicate his analysis using German employment register data. Regarding the occupational skill composition we obtain somewhat lower but qualitatively similar responses to the business cycle despite of well known institutional differences between the U.S. and German labour market. The responsiveness of occupational composition wages to the business cycle is considerably lower in Germany." (author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Konjunkturabhängigkeit, berufliche Qualifikation, Qualifikationsanforderungen, Personalanpassung, Personaleinstellung, Lohnhöhe, Geschlechterverteilung |
| JEL: | J62 J31 J41 C24 |
| Date: | 2009–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:200902&r=lab |
| By: | Guido Menzio (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Shouyong Shi (Department of Economics, University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a general stochastic model of directed search on the job. Like in the analogous models of random search on the job, the state of the economy in our model includes the infinite-dimensional distribution of workers across different employment states (unemployment, and employment at different wages). Unlike the analogous models of random search on the job, our model admits an equilibrium in which the agents’ value and policy functions does not depend on the distribution of workers. We refer to this type of equilibrium as a Block Recursive Equilibrium. Therefore, while solving the equilibrium of a random search model in a stochastic environment is a difficult task both analytically and computationally, solving the Block Recursive Equilibrium of our model is as easy as solving a representative agent model. |
| Keywords: | Directed Search, On the Job Search, Heterogeneity, Aggregate Fluctuations |
| JEL: | E24 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2009–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:09-005&r=lab |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana (London School of Economics); Barankay, Iwan (University of Pennsylvania); Rasul, Imran (University College London) |
| Abstract: | We present evidence on the effect of social connections between workers and managers on productivity in the workplace. To evaluate whether the existence of social connections is beneficial to the firm's overall performance, we explore how the effects of social connections vary with the strength of managerial incentives and worker's ability. To do so, we combine panel data on individual worker's productivity from personnel records with a natural field experiment in which we engineered an exogenous change in managerial incentives, from fixed wages, to bonuses based on the average productivity of the workers managed. We find that when managers are paid fixed wages, they favor workers to whom they are socially connected irrespective of the worker's ability, but when they are paid performance bonuses, they target their effort towards high ability workers irrespective of whether they are socially connected to them or not. Although social connections increase the performance of connected workers, we find that favoring connected workers is detrimental for the firm's overall performance. |
| Keywords: | natural field experiment, managerial incentives, favoritism |
| JEL: | J33 M52 M54 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3917&r=lab |
| By: | Blomquist, Sören (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies); Selin, Håkan (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Recently, a voluminous literature estimating the taxable income elasticity has emerged as an important field in empirical public economics. However, to a large extent it is still unknown how the hourly wage rate, an important component of taxable income, reacts to changes in marginal tax rates. In this study we use a rich panel data set and a sequence of tax reforms that took place in Sweden during the 1980’s to estimate the elasticity of the hourly wage rate with respect to the net-of-tax rate. While carefully accounting for the endogeneity of marginal tax rates as well as other factors that determine wage rates we do find a statistically significant response both among married men and married women. The hourly wage rate elasticity with respect to the net-of-tax rate is estimated to 0.14-0.16 for males and 0.41-0.57 for females. In addition, we obtain uncompensated taxable labor income elasticities of around 0.21 for men and 0.96-1.44 for women. In contrast to earlier studies, we also find significant income effects for males. Accordingly, for males the compensated taxable labor income elasticity is about 4 percentage points higher than the uncompensated one. |
| Keywords: | Income taxation; hourly wage rates; work effort; taxable income |
| JEL: | H24 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2009_001&r=lab |
| By: | Dimitri Paolini |
| Abstract: | This article studies the behavior of the firm when it is searching to fill a vacancy. The principal hypothesis is that the firm can offer two kinds of contracts to the workers, short-term or long-term contracts. We suppose that the worker’s bargaining power over the wage is different according to the type of contract. We utilize this framework to study the firms’ optimal policy choice and its welfare implications. |
| Keywords: | Search, Temporary Employment. |
| JEL: | J31 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:200819&r=lab |
| By: | Bernt Bratsberg (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Oddbjørn Raaum (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research); Knut Røed (The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The lifecycle employment profiles of minority labor migrants who came to Norway in the early 1970s diverge significantly from those of native comparison persons. During the early years, employment in the migrant group was nearly complete and exceeded that of natives. But, about ten years upon arrival, immigrant employment started a sharp and steady decline, and by 2000 their employment rate was 50 percent, compared to 87 percent for the native comparison group. We find that immigrant employment is particularly sensitive to the business cycle, and that the economic downturns of the 1980s and 1990s accelerated their exit from the labor market. We trace part of the decline to the migrants initially being overrepresented in shrinking industries and occupations. But we also identify considerable disincentives embedded in the social security system that contribute to poor lifecycle employment performance of immigrants with many dependent family members. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0817&r=lab |
| By: | Crépon, Bruno (CREST-INSEE); Ferracci, Marc (University of Marne-la-Vallée); Jolivet, Grégory (University of Bristol); van den Berg, Gerard J. (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | This paper implements a method to identify and estimate treatment effects in a dynamic setting where treatments may occur at any point in time. By relating the standard matching approach to the timing-of-events approach, it demonstrates that effects of the treatment on the treated at a given date can be identified even though non-treated may be treated later in time. The approach builds on a "no anticipation" assumption and the assumption of conditional independence between the duration until treatment and the counterfactual durations until exit. To illustrate the approach, the paper studies the effect of training for unemployed workers in France, using a rich register data set. Training has little impact on unemployment duration. The contamination of the standard matching estimator due to later entries into treatment is large if the treatment probability is high. |
| Keywords: | Treatment; program participation; unemployment duration; training; propensity score; matching; contamination bias |
| JEL: | J64 |
| Date: | 2009–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2009_001&r=lab |
| By: | Furtado, Delia (University of Connecticut); Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos (University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | Marriage to a native has a theoretically ambiguous impact on immigrant employment rates. Utilizing 2000 U.S. Census data, this paper empirically tests whether and how marriage choice affects the probability that an immigrant is employed. Results from an ordinary least squares model controlling for the usual measures of human capital and immigrant assimilation suggest that marriage to a native increases an immigrant's employment probability by approximately four percentage points. The estimated impact of marriage to a native increases to 11 percentage points in models which take into account the endogeneity of the intermarriage decision. |
| Keywords: | intermarriage, employment, immigration |
| JEL: | J12 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3951&r=lab |
| By: | Kahanec, Martin (IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA, DIW Berlin and Bonn University) |
| Abstract: | The 2004 and 2007 enlargements of the European Union were unprecedented in a number of economic and policy aspects. This essay provides a broad and in-depth account of the effects of the post-enlargement migration flows on the receiving as well as sending countries in three broader areas: labour markets, welfare systems, and growth and competitiveness. Our analysis of the available literature and empirical evidence shows that (i) EU enlargement had a significant impact on migration flows from new to old member states, (ii) restrictions applied in some of the countries did not stop migrants from coming but changed the composition of the immigrants, (iii) any negative effects in the labour market on wages or employment are hard to detect, (iv) post-enlargement migration contributes to growth prospects of the EU, (v) these immigrants are strongly attached to the labour market, and (vi) they are quite unlikely to be among welfare recipients. These findings point out the difficulties that restrictions on the free movement of workers bring about. |
| Keywords: | migration, migration effects, EU Eastern enlargement, free movement of workers |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3913&r=lab |
| By: | Bassi, Francesca (University of Padova); Padoan, Alessandra (Regione Veneto); Trivellato, Ugo (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | The paper deals with measurement error, and its potentially distorting role, in information on industry and professional status collected by labour force surveys. The focus of our analyses is on inconsistent information on these employment characteristics resulting from yearly transition matrices for workers who were continuously employed over the year and who did not change job. As a case-study we use yearly panel data for the period from April 1993 to April 2003 collected by the Italian Quarterly Labour Force Survey. The analysis goes through four steps: (i) descriptive indicators of (dis)agreement; (ii) testing whether the consistency of repeated information significantly increases when the number of categories is collapsed; (iii) examination of the pattern of inconsistencies among response categories by means of Goodman's quasi-independence model; (iv) comparisons of alternative classifications. Results document sizable measurement error, which is only moderately reduced by more aggregated classifications. They suggest that even cross-section estimates of employment by industry and/or professional status are affected by non-random measurement error. |
| Keywords: | industry, professional status, measurement errors, survey data |
| JEL: | C12 C13 J21 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3908&r=lab |
| By: | Rinne, Ulf (IZA); Uhlendorff, Arne (IZA); Zhao, Zhong (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role of training vouchers and caseworkers in public training programs. Using a rich administrative data set, we apply matching and regression methods to measure the effect of the Hartz reform in Germany, which introduced training vouchers and imposed more selective criteria on participants. Besides estimating the overall reform effect, we isolate the effect induced by changes in the composition of program participants due to stricter selection by the caseworkers (selection effect) from the effect based on the introduction of vouchers (voucher effect). Analyzing the most important type of training in Germany, we find a slightly positive impact of the reform. Our decomposition results suggest that the selection effect is − if at all − slightly negative, and that the voucher effect increased both, the employment probability and earnings of the participants. |
| Keywords: | active labor market policy, program evaluation, matching, voucher, caseworker, training, Hartz reform |
| JEL: | J64 J68 H43 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3910&r=lab |
| By: | Keeney, Mary J. (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we represent structural unemployment by relating observed unemployment to wage inflation. An estimated series for the non-accelerating wage rate of unemployment (NAWRU) shows that the unemployment gap between observed unemployment and the structural rate provides an intuitive account of prevailing aggregate demand conditions within the Irish economy over the period 1980 to 2005. This indicates that the estimated NAWRU series is a good measure of Irish structural unemployment over the period. The estimated NAWRU was at a high level throughout the 1980s and declined over time such that any excess labour slack was dissipated by the mid-1990s. Between 1994 and 2001, the observed unemployment rate was below the estimated NAWRU indicating that the substantial inflationary pressure on wages was justified for the period. Since then, the gap between the estimate of the structural rate and observed rates of unemployment was not that substantial and reflects a healthier situation vis-à-vis wage inflationary pressure. The situation may have been helped by significant inward migration and productivity increases becoming embedded in the Irish economy. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:7/rt/08&r=lab |
| By: | Jasso, Guillermina (New York University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines ethnicity among highly skilled immigrants to the United States. The paper focuses on five classic components of ethnicity – country of birth, race, skin color, language, and religion – among persons admitted to legal permanent residence in the United States in 2003 in the three main employment categories (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3), using data collected in the U.S. New Immigrant Survey. Initial findings include: (1) The visa categories have distinctive ethnic configurations. India dominates EB-2 and European countries EB-1. (2) The ethnicity portfolio contains more languages than religions. (3) Language is shed before religion, and religion may not be shed at all, except among the ultra highly skilled of EB-1. (4) Highly skilled immigrants are mostly male; they are not immune from lapsing into illegality; they have a shorter visa process than their cohortmates; smaller proportions than in the cohort overall intend to remain in the United States. (5) Larger proportions in EB-2 and EB-3 sent remittances than in the cohort overall. (6) A little measure of assimilation – using dollars to describe earnings in the country of last residence, even when requested to use the country's currency – suggests that highly skilled immigrants are more likely to "think in dollars" than their cohortmates. Further work is taking a deeper look at these patterns in a multivariate context, attentive to selectivity processes and the Globalista impulse. |
| Keywords: | immigration policy, immigrant selection criteria, employment immigration, highly skilled immigration, illegal immigration, ethnicity, race, language, religion, remittances, assimilation, globalization |
| JEL: | F22 F24 J15 J24 J61 J68 K42 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3950&r=lab |
| By: | Iskhakov, Fedor (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | A structural dynamic programming model is applied for modeling labour market transitions among older age workers in Norway in 1992-2003. Special attention is given to early retirement pensiion and disability pension as two major exit routes from the labour force. Health status is represented by a latent variable reflecting the eligibility for participating in disability programs. Incomplete information maximum likelihood method is used in several stages to facilitate the estimation. The model is used to investigate the degree of potential substitution of the early retirement and retirement through the disability insurance scheme. Estimates of the structural parameters of the concealed health process allow for forecasting the individual "eligibility" for the disability and thus facilitate the assessment of the potential substitution between the two exit routes from the labour force. Performed policy simulation of the complete elimination of the early retirement program indicates nearly complete return of th otherwise early pensioners back to the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Retirement; health; early retirement; disability; labour market transitions; structural dynamic model; dynamic programming |
| JEL: | C61 I10 J22 J26 |
| Date: | 2008–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2008_003&r=lab |
| By: | Raluca Prelipceanu (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne et Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA)) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of the Romanian temporary labour migration during the transition period. First of all, we build a househould level model in order to explain the decision to migrate in a couple. Then, by using a 10% sample of the Romanian 2002 Census we try to assess the importance of the gender bias for the migration decision. The main questions raised are "Do migration determinants differ according to gender ?" and "Do local norms influence the propensity to migrate of women and that of men ?". Our results prove the existence of important differences between the migration decision of men and that of women as well as the influence of cultural norms on gender roles on the latter's decision to migrate. |
| Keywords: | Temporary labour migration, gender inequality, household production, social norms. |
| JEL: | R23 J16 D13 O12 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v08074&r=lab |
| By: | Damiaan Persyn |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the wage demands of a sector-level monopoly union facing internationally mobile firms. A simple two-country economic geography model is used to describe how firms relocate in function of international dierences in production costs and market size. The union sets wages in function of the firm level labour demand elasticity and the responsiveness of firms to relocate internationally. If countries are suffciently symmetric lower foreign wages and lower trade costs necessarily lead to lower union wage demands. With asymmetric countries these intuitive properties do not always hold. But even for symmetric countries it holds that small increases in market size or trade costs makes union wages more sensitive to the foreign wage level. |
| Keywords: | Unions, globalisation, economic geography |
| JEL: | J50 J31 F16 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:22809&r=lab |
| By: | Dottori, Davide (Catholic University of Louvain); Shen, I-Ling (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a political-economic model to study the impact of low-skilled immigration on the host country's education system, which is characterized by sources of school funding, the average expenditure per pupil, and the type of parents who are more likely to send their children to publicly or privately funded schools. Four main effects of immigration are considered: (1) greater congestion in public schools; (2) a lower average tax base for education funding; (3) reduced wages for low-skilled workers and so more dependence by low-skilled locals on public education; (4) a greater skill premium, which makes it easier for high-skilled locals to afford private education for their children, and hence weakens their support for financing public school. It is found that when the size of low-skilled immigrants is large, the education regime tends to become more segregated with wealthier locals more likely to opt out of the public system into private schools. The fertility differential between high and low-skilled locals increases due to a quantity/quality trade-off. The theoretical predictions are consistent with empirical evidence from both the U.S. census data and the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (2003). |
| Keywords: | voting, taxes and subsidies, education, fertility, migration |
| JEL: | H42 H52 I21 D72 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3946&r=lab |
| By: | Solomon, Blen (Grand Valley State University); Kimmel, Jean (Western Michigan University) |
| Abstract: | We test the inverseness of fertility and labor supply for married women in Ethiopia to determine if previous research (focusing on developed countries) that has found an inverse relationship between fertility and labor supply is applicable to least developed countries. The research into fertility and labor supply has relied on a variety of methodologies for addressing the endogeneity of fertility. Using data from the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of Ethiopia, we use the husband's desire for children to instrument for fertility. Our empirical results fail to support an inverse relationship between fertility and labor supply in Ethiopia, perhaps because the persistence of traditional family structures in the face of rising national female employment facilitates maternal employment. This finding has implications for other LDCs as well. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, fertililty |
| JEL: | J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3949&r=lab |
| By: | Raquel Carrasco; J. Ignacio García Pérez |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether the unemployment dynamics of immigrants differ from those of natives, paying special attention to the impact of accounting for unobserved heterogeneity among individuals. Using a large administrative data set for Spain, we estimate multiple-spell discrete duration models which disentangle unobserved heterogeneity from duration dependence. Specifically, we estimate random effects models assuming that the distribution of the effects is discrete with finite support, and fixed effects models in which the distribution of the unobserved effects is left unrestricted. Our results show the importance of accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and that mistaken policy implications can be derived due to improper treatment of unmeasured variables. We find that lack of control for unobserved heterogeneity leads to the conclusion that immigrant males have a higher probability of leaving unemployment than natives and that the negative effect of unemployment benefits for immigrants lasts longer than for natives. Nonetheless, the estimates which do control for unobserved heterogeneity show the opposite results. |
| Keywords: | Duration models, Discrete choice, Multiple spells, Unobserved heterogeneity, Unemployment, Immigration |
| JEL: | J64 J61 C23 C41 J65 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we086933&r=lab |
| By: | Dalen, H.P. van; Henkens, K.; Schippers, J. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | What determines the perceived productivity of young and older workers? In this study we present evidence for (Dutch) employers and employees. By confronting the perceptions of employers and employees some remarkable similarities and differences are revealed. It turns out that productivity perceptions are biased by the age group to which one belongs and the position in the hierarchy in the organization. The young favor the young, the old favor the old and employers discount productivity compared to employees. However, there are also remarkable similarities across employer and employees. By distinguishing the various underlying dimensions of productivity of young and older workers we tested whether ‘soft’ skills and abilities within the organization are just as important as the ‘hard’ dimensions - cognitive and physically based skills - in the eye of employers and employees. It appears that employers and employees weight the soft and the hard dimensions of skills in a uniform way: hard skills are far more important than soft skills no matter whether the worker is old or young. By sharing the stereotypical images the problem of age discrimination may therefore not only be due to employers’ behaviors and attitudes, but also due to those of employees. |
| Keywords: | aging;stereotypes;productivity;employers |
| JEL: | D21 J24 J71 M51 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:20094&r=lab |
| By: | Coe, N.B.; Lindeboom, M. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The effect that health has on the retirement decision has long been studied. We examine the reverse relationship, whether retirement has a direct impact on later-life health. To identify the causal relationship, we use early retirement window offers to instrument for retirement. We find no negative effects of early retirement on men’s health, and if anything, a temporary increase in self-reported health and improvements in health of highly educated workers. While this is consistent with previous literature using Social Security ages as instruments, we also find that anticipation of retirement might be important, and bias the previous estimates downwards. |
| Keywords: | retirement;depression;self-reported health;heart attack;cancer;diabetes;instrumental variables |
| JEL: | J26 I10 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200893&r=lab |
| By: | Stegaroiu, Carina-Elena |
| Abstract: | Economic information, such as interpersonal relationships, and lead are usually placed at the basis of the facts and circumstances must always be based on a economic theory well argued. Relations between employees and managers should provide related information in terms of social issues, organization, classification, distribution in time and space in the labor force and should be well grounded considering the factors that influence these relations. |
| Keywords: | economic labor efficiency; productivity; end product; profit; ability worker; the labor system regularly |
| JEL: | C02 A12 D60 C60 J50 |
| Date: | 2008–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12945&r=lab |
| By: | Susana Iranzo (Universitat Rovira Virgili); Giovanni Peri (University of California, Davis and NBER) |
| Abstract: | The remarkable increase in trade flows and in migratory flows of highly educated people are two important features of globalization of the last decades. This paper extends a two-country model of inter- and intra-industry trade to a rich environment featuring technological differences, skill differences and the possibility of international labor mobility. The model is used to explain the patterns of trade and migration as countries remove barriers to trade and to labor mobility. We calibrate the model to match the features of the Western and Eastern European members of the EU and analyze first the effects of the trade liberalization which occurred between 1989 and 2004, and then the gains and losses from migration which would occur if barriers to labor mobility are reduced. The lower barriers to migration result in significant migration of skilled workers from Eastern European countries. Interestingly, this would not only benefit the migrants and most Western European workers but, via trade, it would also benefit the workers remaining in Eastern Europe. |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0905&r=lab |
| By: | Dahlberg, Matz (Uppsala University); Johansson, Kajsa (Uppsala University); Mörk, Eva (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether mandatory activation programs for welfare recipients have effects on welfare participation, employment and disposable income. In contrast to earlier studies, we are able to capture both entry and exit effects. The empirical analysis makes use of a Swedish welfare reform in which the city districts in Stockholm gradually implemented mandatory activation programs for individuals on welfare. Overall, we find that mandatory activation of welfare recipients reduces overall welfare participation and increases employment. We also find that mandatory activation programs appear to work best for young people and for people born in non-Western countries. |
| Keywords: | welfare reform, mandatory activation programs, welfare participation, employment, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I38 H31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3947&r=lab |
| By: | Wen-Jui Han; Christopher Ruhm; Jane Waldfogel; Elizabeth Washbrook |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how the public policy environment in the United States affects work by new mothers following childbirth. We examine four types of policies that vary across states and affect the budget constraint in different ways. The policy environment has important effects, particularly for less advantaged mothers. There is a potential conflict between policies aiming to increase maternal employment and those maximizing the choices available to families with young children. However, this tradeoff is not absolute since some choice-increasing policies (generous child care subsidies and state parental leave laws) foster both choice and higher levels of employment. |
| JEL: | H3 J13 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14660&r=lab |
| By: | Gumus, Gulcin (Florida International University); Regan, Tracy L. (University of Miami) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of health insurance on labor market transitions in and out of self-employment as well as on the likelihood of being self-employed. We consider the role of individual health insurance coverage along with that from a spouse. Next, we examine a series of tax deductions granted to the self-employed through amendments made to the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Using data from the Current Population Survey for 1996-2007, we find significant but small effects of the after-tax health insurance premium on the entry rate, with no effect on exits from self-employment or the likelihood of being self-employed. |
| Keywords: | health insurance, self-employment, CPS, ORG |
| JEL: | J32 J48 I11 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3952&r=lab |
| By: | Sanjay Jain (University of Virginia); Sumon Majumdar (Queen's University); Sharun Mukand (Tufts University) |
| Abstract: | Despite potentially large welfare gains, the barriers to the international mobility of workers are high and persistent. We develop a simple framework that throws light on why the globalization of labor differs from that of goods and capital. In doing so we ask whether a government will ever spurn the large welfare increase from freer labor mobility, even if such a policy had no distributional impact on native workers, was desired by the host country's citizens and if the repatriation of overstaying workers could be costlessly enforced. In addressing these questions we examine the role of culture in driving the political economy of migration policy. The paper shows that there exists a broad political failure that results in inefficiently high barriers restricting the import of foreign workers. We examine the conditions under which a country is best positioned to reap the economic gains from the globalization of temporary (or permanent) labor migration. We show that culturally homogeneous countries that are poor at cultural assimilation may be better positioned to take advantage of short term foreign worker programs than more culturally diverse and tolerant countries. Our framework suggests that simple alteration of existing policy measures can help encourage international labor mobility. In particular, restrictions on the mobility of the foreign worker across firms (e.g. the H-1B program in the U.S. or the Employment R in Singapore) might work to the detriment of the host country, and make it more difficult to sustain a credible temporary worker migration program. Therefore, any policy measure that improves the mobility (and bargaining power) of the foreign worker helps not only the worker, but more surprisingly, also boosts host country welfare. |
| Keywords: | international migration, political economy, cultural heterogeneity, temporary workers |
| JEL: | D72 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1196&r=lab |
| By: | Christopher Ferrall (Queen's University); Natalia Mishagina (Analysis Group) |
| Abstract: | Based on a survey of graduating PhD students in the U.S., we study the determinants of location of their first jobs. We consider how locating in Canada versus the U.S. for all graduates is influenced by both their background and time-varying factors that affect international mobility. We also study the choice of European graduates between North America and returning to Europe. We find that in many cases macro factors have the expected effect of choices after controlling for biases for home, which depend upon background variables in expected ways. |
| Keywords: | Doctoral Education, International Mobility, Brain Drain |
| JEL: | J6 J44 I2 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:wpaper:1194&r=lab |
| By: | Lawless, Martina (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland); Murphy, Alan P. (Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | While growth in output and employment remains relatively strong in the Irish economy, there has been considerable focus recently on some high-profile job losses, particularly in the manufacturing sector. This paper places these developments within a broader context and shows that aggregate changes in the net number of jobs arise from large numbers of firms both increasing and decreasing employment simultaneously at all points in time. Even at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom when employment grew by 8 percent, this was the result of 15 percent growth in jobs by expanding firms offset by 7 percent of positions being eliminated in firms that were contracting their workforces. One important feature of job flows is that they may contribute to productivity growth by allowing movements from low to high productivity firms. To a degree, this reflects the re-allocation of jobs from declining sectors to expanding sectors, but this is not a comprehensive explanation. A significant factor underlying job flows is the reallocation within sectors from under-performing firms to expanding firms. This study also shows that productivity growth is, on balance, positive for employment growth, as it results, more often than not, in increased employment and higher earnings rather than job losses. On the other hand, these calculations also show how hard it is for policy-makers to identify firms that will be employment and productivity growth winners. |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:4/rt/08&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Baker; Jonathan Gruber; Kevin S. Milligan |
| Abstract: | A large international literature has documented the labor market distortions associated with social security benefits for near-retirees. In this paper, we investigate the 'other side' of social security programs, seeking to document improvements in wellbeing arising from the provision of public pensions. To the extent households adjust their savings and employment behavior to account for enhanced retirement benefits, the positive impact of the benefits may be crowded out. We proceed by using the large variation across birth cohorts in income security entitlements in Canada that arise from reforms to the programs over the past 35 years. This variation allows us to explore the effects of benefits on elderly well-being while controlling for other factors that affect well-being over time and by age. We examine measures of income, consumption, poverty, and happiness. For income, we find large increases in income corresponding to retirement benefit increases, suggesting little crowd out. Consumption also shows increases, although smaller in magnitude than for income. We find larger retirement benefits diminish income poverty rates, but have no discernable impact on consumption poverty measures. This could indicate smoothing of consumption through savings or other mechanisms. Finally, our limited happiness measures show no definitive effect. |
| JEL: | H55 J14 J26 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14667&r=lab |
| By: | Bratti, Massimiliano (University of Milan); Tatsiramos, Konstantinos (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of delayed motherhood on fertility dynamics for women living in several European countries, which differ in terms of their institutional environments. We show that the effect of delaying the first child on the transition to the second birth differs both among working and non-working women and across countries. For non-working women delayed motherhood leads to a postponement effect which is higher in countries where religion and social norms determine a relative larger stigma effect for giving birth late. For working women, delaying the first birth raises the likelihood of progressing to the second parity due to an income effect, which is larger in countries with high childcare provision and part-time employment opportunities. We show that the overall effect of delayed motherhood depends on these two opposite forces, which are determined by the institutional environment. |
| Keywords: | age, childbirth, duration, ECHP, fertility, postponement |
| JEL: | C41 J13 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3907&r=lab |
| By: | Basu, Kaushik (Department of Economics, Cornell University and Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi); Das, Sanghamitra (Indian Statistical Institute); Dutta, Bhaskar (Department of Economics, Warwick University) |
| Abstract: | Some studies on child labor have shown that, at the level of the household, greater land wealth leads to higher child labor, thereby casting doubt on the hypothesis that child labor is caused by poverty. This paper argues that the missing ingredient may be an explicit modeling of the labor market. We develop a simple model which suggests the possibility of an inverted-U relationship between land holdings and child labor. Using a unique data set that has child labor hours it is found that, controlling for child, household and village characteristics, the turning point beyond which more land leads to a decline in child labor occurs around 4 acres of land per household. |
| Keywords: | child labor ; land-holding ; labor markets |
| JEL: | D13 J20 O12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:888&r=lab |
| By: | Nir Jaimovich; Seth Pruitt; Henry E. Siu |
| Abstract: | The employment and hours worked of young individuals fluctuate much more over the business cycle than those of prime-aged individuals. Understanding the mechanism underlying this observation is key to explaining the volatility of aggregate hours over the cycle. We argue that the joint behavior of age-specific hours and wages in the U.S. data point to differences in the cyclical characteristics of labor demand. To articulate this view, we consider a production technology displaying capital-experience complementarity. We estimate the key parameters governing the degree of complementarity and show that the model can account for the behavior of age-specific hours and wages while generating a series of aggregate hours that is nearly as volatile as output. |
| JEL: | E0 E32 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14697&r=lab |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); David McKenzie (World Bank, BREAD and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Seasonal work programs are increasingly advocated by international aid agencies as a way of enabling both developed and developing countries to benefit from migration. They are argued to provide workers with new skills and allow them to send remittances home, without the receiving country having to worry about long-term assimilation and the source country worrying about permanent loss of skills. However, formal evidence as to the development impact of seasonal worker programs is non-existent. This paper provides the first such evaluation, studying New Zealand's new Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) program which allows Pacific Island migrants to work in horticulture and viticulture in New Zealand for up to seven months per year. We use baseline and follow-up waves of surveys we are carrying out in Tonga to form difference-in-difference and propensity score matching estimates of short-term impacts on household income and consumption. |
| Keywords: | propensity score matching; rural household incomes; seasonal work programs |
| JEL: | J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2008–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:08/18&r=lab |
| By: | Holen, Dag S. (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | People with an uncertain health condition might face a double worry. They fear to get disabled, and if they are disabled, that they will receive a low pension. To keep their health they should work less. To improve their disability pension they should work more. This paper demonstrates that the latter effect is the strongest empirically. Thus to protect one self against the income loss of a bad event, the bad event is more likely to happen. Comparing register data from disabled and non-disabled individuals shows that being disabled increases income in the last year before the time of disablement. Further, more generous pension systems increase pre-disablement income even more. |
| Keywords: | Disability pension; pension; pension systems |
| JEL: | A10 |
| Date: | 2007–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2008_018&r=lab |
| By: | Anca Cotet (Department of Economics, Ball State University) |
| Abstract: | More progressive taxes, holding tax liability constant, generate disincentives for health investment by decreasing benefits for additional working time and, thus, decreasing returns to health. On the other hand, progressive taxation may induce individuals to invest more in health for the purpose of extending their working life, because lifetime maximization could imply less work per period but more working years. I identify the effect of progressivity through differences in labor income tax rates among states. I find that the former effect dominates, more progressive taxes are negatively correlated with health, and argue that neither selection effects nor reverse causality can explain this result. |
| Keywords: | Tax Progressivity, Labor Income Tax, Health Investment. |
| JEL: | H31 I12 D91 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsu:wpaper:200903&r=lab |
| By: | Mathieu Laberge; Claude Montmarquette |
| Abstract: | This study wants to draw a broad picture of the employment context for nurses in the province of Quebec and to compare it with other provinces. We found that Quebec nurses work less than nurses in the rest of Canada, in terms of effective hours worked, of contracted hours and in terms of overtime worked. That weak work intensity in Quebec could be explained by a larger proportion of part time nurses and by the longer and more frequent sick leaves. We also looked at the shortage of nurses, as computed by the department of Health and social services (Ministère de la Santé et des services sociaux). We found that the so-called shortage of nurses did not represent the needs of workers to give more services to the patients, but the needs of workers to eliminate extra overtime worked by nurses. We also found that methodological choices made by the department lead to an overestimation of 16% to 18% of the effective shortage. Three scenarios of increased work effort show that it would be possible to reduce the shortage by 20% to 30%, including the methodological correction on the computations. <P>Ce document vise à établir un portrait du contexte de pratique des effectifs infirmiers québécois et de les comparer avec celui qui prévaut dans les autres provinces canadiennes. On trouve dans un premier temps que l’intensité de travail des infirmières québécoises est plus faible que celle du reste du Canada, notamment au chapitre des heures effectives travaillées, des heures contractées et des heures supplémentaires. Cette intensité moindre pourrait s’expliquer par une plus grande proportion d’infirmières à temps partiel et par des absences plus longues et plus fréquentes au Québec que dans les autres provinces. On aborde également le calcul de la pénurie d’infirmières effectué par le MSSS. On trouve que ce calcul ne reflète pas les besoins d’effectifs infirmiers pour répondre à la demande pour les soins de santé, mais bien les besoins en effectifs qui permettraient d’éliminer les heures supplémentaires excédentaires travaillées par les infirmières. On trouve également que les choix méthodologiques surestiment de 16 % à 18 % la pénurie effective. Divers scénarios montrent ensuite l’effet d’une augmentation graduelle de l’intensité du travail des infirmières sur l’ampleur de la pénurie. Ceux-ci montrent une diminution de 20 % à 30 % de la pénurie, en incluant la correction méthodologique abordée précédemment. |
| Keywords: | Nurses, nurses’ shortage, health economics, health care., Effectifs infirmiers, pénurie d’infirmières, économie de la santé, soins de santé. |
| JEL: | H42 H51 I11 I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirpro:2009rp-01&r=lab |
| By: | Takashi Oshio (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Shinpei Sano (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Yuko Ueno (Organization forEconomic Cooperationand Development, Paris, France); Kouichiro Mino (Cabinet Office of theJapanese Government, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | We examine how Japanese parents evaluate the current education system and assess possible reforms, based on a nationwide parent survey. Parents who have higher educational background, occupational status, and household income, and expect higher education attainment from their children tend to be less satisfied with the current system and more in favor of school choice and voucher programs. They are also more willing to pay for additional education provided by public schools. These findings point to the possibility of student sorting caused by the different responses of parents to marketorientedreforms, even if overall efficiency in education can be improved. |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:0821&r=lab |
| By: | Hanno Lustig; Chad Syverson; Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh |
| Abstract: | Three of the most fundamental changes in US corporations since the early 1970s have been (1) the increased importance of organizational capital in production, (2) the increase in managerial income inequality and pay-performance sensitivity, and (3) the secular decrease in labor market reallocation. Our paper develops a simple explanation for these changes: a shift in the composition of productivity growth away from vintage-specific to general growth. This shift has stimulated the accumulation of organizational capital in existing firms and reduced the need for reallocating workers to new firms. We characterize the optimal managerial compensation contract when firms accumulate organizational capital but risk-averse managers cannot commit to staying with the firm. A calibrated version of the model reproduces the increase in managerial compensation inequality and the increased sensitivity of pay to performance in the data over the last three decades. |
| JEL: | E2 G3 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14661&r=lab |
| By: | Helen Levy; David Weir |
| Abstract: | We analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study on senior citizens’ take-up of Medicare Part D. Take-up among those without drug coverage in 2004 was high; about fifty to sixty percent of this group have Part D coverage in 2006. Only seven percent of senior citizens lack drug coverage in 2006 compared with 24 percent in 2004. We find little circumstantial evidence that Part D crowded out private coverage in the short run, since the persistence of employer coverage was only slightly lower in 2004 – 2006 than it was in 2002 – 2004. We find that demand for prescription drugs is the most important determinant of the decision to enroll in Part D among those with no prior coverage. Many of those who remained without coverage in 2006 reported that they do not use prescribed medicines, and the majority had relatively low out-of-pocket spending. Thus, for the most part, Medicare beneficiaries seem to have been able to make economically rational decisions about Part D enrollment despite the complexity of the program. We also find that Part D erased socioeconomic gradients in drug coverage among the elderly. |
| JEL: | I18 I38 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14692&r=lab |
| By: | Halit Yanýkkaya (Gebze Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how trade liberalization affects the growth rate of employment Ýn developed and developing countries. The estimation results imply that trade openness in the form of higher trade volumes has not been successful in generating jobs in developing countries. The overall weak, negative employment response to trade volumes may be explained by the negative output response to trade openness in these countries. Our estimates also indicate that higher trade volumes have adverse effect on industrial and agricultural employment in developed countries. Moreover, trade barriers have relatively little adverse effect and/or in some cases positive effect on employment both in developing and developed countries. Thus, it is probably safe to conclude that both higher (or lower) output and employment growth rates can stem from trade and industrial policies implemented by these countries. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2008/17&r=lab |
| By: | Phillip B. Levine; Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of public health insurance expansions through both Medicaid and SCHIP on children's educational outcomes, measured by 4th and 8th grade reading and math test scores, available from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). We use a triple difference estimation strategy, taking advantage of the cross-state variation over time and across ages in children’s health insurance eligibility. Using this approach, we find that test scores in reading, but not math, increased for those children affected at birth by increased health insurance eligibility. A 50 percentage point increase in eligibility is found to increase reading test scores by 0.09 standard deviations. We also examine whether the improvements in educational outcomes can be at least partially attributed to improvements in health status itself. First, we provide further evidence that increases in eligibility are linked to improvements in health status at birth. Second, we show that better health status at birth (measured by rates of low birth-weight and infant mortality), is linked to improved educational outcomes. Although the methods used to support this last finding do not completely eliminate potentially confounding factors, we believe it is strongly suggestive that improving children's health will improve their classroom performance. |
| JEL: | I18 I21 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14671&r=lab |
| By: | Yu-Wei Hu; Fiona Stewart |
| Abstract: | Pension reform around the world in recent decades has focused mainly on the formal sector. Consequently, many of those working in the informal sector have been left out of structured pension arrangements, particularly in developing countries – a serious problem given this group are often low income earners, vulnerable to economic volatility and change. However, since the turn of the millennium, efforts in a range of countries have increasingly highlighted improving pension coverage for informal sector workers. This paper provides an overview of selected country experience in this regard, and provides some suggestions for governments in developing countries considering implementing their own pension reform to ensure that informal sector workers receive the retirement income they need.<P>La couverture des travailleurs du secteur informel par les systèmes de retraite : expériences au niveau international<BR>Les réformes des systèmes de retraite mises en oeuvre dans le monde au cours des dernières décennies étaient surtout centrées sur le secteur formel. Beaucoup de travailleurs du secteur informel sont donc restés à l'écart des régimes de retraite institutionnalisés, en particulier dans les pays en développement, ce qui constitue un problème grave étant donné que ce groupe est souvent composé de travailleurs à faibles revenus, vulnérables face à l'instabilité et au changement économiques. Cela étant, depuis le passage au nouveau millénaire, un certain nombre de pays se sont de plus en plus attachés à améliorer la couverture des travailleurs du secteur informel par les systèmes de retraite. Le présent document donne un aperçu de l'expérience de quelques pays à cet égard et formule, à l'intention des gouvernements de pays en développement qui envisagent la mise en place d'une réforme des retraites, des suggestions visant à ce que les travailleurs du secteur informel bénéficient d'un revenu suffisant au moment de la retraite. |
| Keywords: | social assistance, aide sociale, secteur informel, informal sector, compulsion, financial education, incentives, micro finance, non-contributory, pension coverage, couverture des systèmes de retraite, éducation financière, incitations, micro-finance, non contributif |
| JEL: | G15 G18 G23 G28 J26 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dafaab:31-en&r=lab |
| By: | Courty, Pascal (European University Institute); Kim, Do Han (State University of New York, Albany); Marschke, Gerald (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Can enrolment incentives reduce the incidence of cream-skimming in the delivery of public sector services (e.g. education, health, job training)? In the context of a large government job training program, we investigate whether the use of enrolment incentives that set different 'shadow prices' for serving different demographic subgroups of clients, influence case workers' choice of intake population. Exploiting exogenous variation in these shadow prices, we show that training agencies change the composition of their enrollee populations in response to changes in the incentives, increasing the relative fraction of subgroups whose shadow prices increase. We also show that the increase is due to training agencies enrolling at the margin weaker members, in terms of performance, of that subgroup. |
| Keywords: | performance measurement, cream-skimming, enrolment incentives, bureaucrat behavior, public organizations |
| JEL: | H72 J33 L14 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3909&r=lab |
| By: | Victor Hiller (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This research focuses on the role played by cultural norms in the long run persistence of gender inequalities. Cultural norms about gender roles are considered to be endogenous and can generate gender inequality and low development traps. Indeed, when the gender gap is internalized, it leads to inegalitarian views about gender roles. Due to these inegalitarian beliefs, boys receive more education and the initial gender gap is reinforced. The existence of gender inequality traps is pointed out by the World Bank as a major obstacle for economic development (WDR 2006). The present article allows for a better understanding of the persistence of such traps and the means to escape. |
| Keywords: | Gender equality, endogenous cultural norms, economics development, inequality traps. |
| JEL: | J16 O15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:v08075&r=lab |
| By: | Heli Koski; Luigi Marengo; Iiro Mäkinen |
| Abstract: | In this study we use a survey data on 398 Finnish manufacturing firms for the years 2002 and 2005 to empirically explore whether and which organizational factors explain why certain firms produce larger innovative research output than others, and whether the incentives to innovate that certain organizational practices generate differ between small and large firms, and between those firms that are operating in low-tech and high-tech industries. Our study indicates that there appear to be vast differences in the organizational practices leading to more innovation both between small and large firms, and between the firms that operate in high- and low-tech industries. While innovation in small firms benefits from the practices that enhance employee participation in decision-making, large firms that have more decentralized decision-making patterns do not seem to innovate more than those with a more bureaucratic decision-making structure. The most efficient incentive for innovation among the sampled companies seems to be the ownership of a firm's stocks by employees and/or managers. Performance based wages also relates positively to innovation, but only when it is combined with a systematic monitoring of the firm's performance. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, firm size, organizational practices, HRM practices |
| JEL: | L25 M54 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2009/01&r=lab |
| By: | Mörk, Eva (IFAU); Sjögren, Anna (IFAU); Svaleryd, Helena (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of child care costs on the fertility behavior of Swedish women and find that reductions in child care charges influence fertility decisions, even when costs are initially highly subsidized. Exploiting the exogenous variation in child care costs caused by a Swedish child care reform, we are able to identify the causal effect of child care costs on fertility in a context in which child care enrolment is almost universal and the labor force participation of mothers is very high. A typical household planning another child experienced a reduction in expected future child care costs of SEK 106,000 (USD 17,800). This reduction resulted in 3–5 more child births per 1,000 women during an 18 month period, which corresponds to a 4–6 per cent increase in the birth rate. |
| Keywords: | Child Care; Cost of children; Fertility; Quasi-experiment; Difference-indifferences |
| JEL: | H31 J13 |
| Date: | 2009–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0782&r=lab |
| By: | Jesse Rothstein |
| Abstract: | Non-random assignment of students to teachers can bias value added estimates of teachers' causal effects. Rothstein (2008a, b) shows that typical value added models indicate large counter-factual effects of 5th grade teachers on students' 4th grade learning, indicating that classroom assignments are far from random. This paper quantifies the resulting biases in estimates of 5th grade teachers' causal effects from several value added models, under varying assumptions about the assignment process. If assignments are assumed to depend only on observables, the most commonly used specifications are subject to important bias but other feasible specifications are nearly free of bias. I also consider the case where assignments depend on unobserved variables. I use the across-classroom variance of observables to calibrate several models of the sorting process. Results indicate that even the best feasible value added models may be substantially biased, with the magnitude of the bias depending on the amount of information available for use in classroom assignments. |
| JEL: | C12 C52 I21 J33 J45 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14666&r=lab |
| By: | Florence Goffette-Nagot (GATE, University of Lyon, CNRS, ENS-LSH, Centre Léon Bérard, France); Claire Dujardin (Université catholique de Louvain, CORE) |
| Abstract: | In order to test for the effect of public housing occupancy on unemployment, we estimate a simultaneous probit model of unemployment and public housing. On a first sample, we instrument public housing with the gender composition of children. On a second sample, the instrument is the share of public housing at the city level. We also perform a robustness check that consists in measuring the correlation between unobservables that could explain the effect of public housing on unemployment. As the corresponding level of correlation is low, this check reinforces our result of no effect of public housing on unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Public housing, unemployment, simultaneous probit models, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | R2 J64 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:0833&r=lab |
| By: | Matthew Brzozowski (Assistant Economics, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York University (E-mail: brzozows@yorku.ca)); Martin Gervais (Reader, Economics Division, University of Southampton (E-mail: gervais@soton.ac.uk)); Paul Klein (Department of Economics, University of Western Ontario (E-mail: pklein2@uwo.ca)); and Michio Suzuki (Economist, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan (E-mail: michio.suzuki@boj.or.jp)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we document some features of the distribution of income, consumption and wealth in Canada using survey data from many different sources. We find that wage and income inequality has increased substantially over the last 30 years, but that much of this rise was offset by the tax and transfer system. As a result, the rise in consumption inequality has been relatively mild. We also document that wealth inequality has remained fairly stable since 1999. A comparison of our results - obtained using confidential data - suggests that while some aspects of inequality are well captured by publicly available data, others paint a drastically different picture. |
| Keywords: | Income Inequality, Consumption Inequality, Wealth Inequality |
| JEL: | D12 D31 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ime:imedps:09-e-02&r=lab |
| By: | Germana Bottone (ISAE) |
| Abstract: | Human capital is usually defined as “The aggregation of investments, such as education and on the job training that improves the individual’s productivity in the labour market”. The initial definition did not take into account some central aspects of “human capital”, owing to a supposed analogy with physical capital. But even though, from an economic point of view, there are some similarities, human beings are more complex than automatic machines. More recently, it has been attempted to articulate a more extensive definition of “human capital” by considering all the attributes embodied in individuals relevant to economic activity”. Nevertheless, the evolution of human capital definition is in some way restricted to its economic meaning, neglecting the intrinsic complexity of the concept that demands an in-depth re-examination of its social and cultural value. In order to achieve deeper understanding of the multiplicity of aspects making up human capital, we are going to make use of the main concepts of institutional and evolutionary economics.. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Institutional Economics, lifelong learning, Institutional quality |
| JEL: | J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isa:wpaper:107&r=lab |
| By: | Haeringer, Guillaume; Iehlé, Vincent |
| Abstract: | Contrary to most countries, the recruitment of assistant professors in France is centralized: recruitment committees submit a ranking of candidates to the Ministry of Education, the candidates submit their own ranking over the faculties that rank them and the Ministry compute the final match accordingly to these lists. The strategic stakes of this procedure are not well known in France. We show that the procedure satisfies desirable properties of stability and optimality. In order to do so, we identify the matching rule used by the Ministry using the information available to the candidates. The structure of the algorithm that produce the final matching is also analyzed. Finally, we discuss the existence of quotas on Departments rankings, the new features of the next campaign of recruitment and their relationships with job mobility. |
| Keywords: | French academic job market; matching model; stability; strategic behavior |
| JEL: | C78 J41 C62 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13002&r=lab |
| By: | Julian Cristia |
| Abstract: | Are mortality and life expectancy differences by socioeconomic groups increasing in the United States? Using a unique data set matching high-quality administrative records with survey data, this study explores trends in these differentials by lifetime earnings for the 1983 to 2003 period. The results indicate a consistent increase in mortality differentials across sex and age groups. The study also finds a substantial increase in life expectancy differentials: the top-to-bottom quintile premium increased around 30 percent for men and almost doubled for women. These results complement recent research to point to almost five decades of increasing differential mortality in the United States. |
| Keywords: | Differential mortality, Life expectancy, Lifetime earnings, Trends |
| JEL: | I12 J11 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4607&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Paula Ribeiro (CEMPRE and Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto) |
| Abstract: | Although central banks often advocate labor market reforms, the latter may lead to higher stabilization costs in the presence of habit persistence in consumption. This is more likely to occur when strong habit persistence is coupled with an inflation-averse central bank. The presence of habit formation is a non-negligible assumption: theoretically, it is now a well-established device used in New-Keynesian models in order to be data-consistent with the response of real spending to several shocks. Moreover, estimates of habit formation are, according to the literature, quite large. To capture the interactions between monetary policy and structural reforms, our model improves on the one presented in Aguiar and Ribeiro (2008) by including a job matching process that introduces additional labor market features through which a labor market reform can operate. Within this framework, we assess, across different policy rules, how labor market institutional changes impinge on the effectiveness of monetary policy. We have concluded that labor market reform reduces central banks' losses, as long as the degree of habit persistence is not too strong; however, alternative reform devices impinge differently on monetary policy effectiveness. Moreover, the inflation targeting rule accommodates positive permanent effects from the reform for a wider range of habit persistence. Even when habit persistence is high, reform may still reduce stabilization costs if the importance of both demand and technology shocks is low relative to cost-push ones. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy rules, Labor market reform, Labor market search and matching, New-Keynesian models |
| JEL: | E24 E37 E52 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:309&r=lab |
| By: | Vona, Francesco; Consoli, Davide |
| Abstract: | Empirical anomalies in the dynamics of earnings following the emergence of new ICT technologies are not consistent with various re-elaborations of the human capital theory. The first part of the paper reviews critically this literature and highlights an important gap concerning the role of institutional infrastructures for the systematisation and diffusion of new knowledge. The dynamic life-cycle approach elaborated in the second part provides a coherent account of the evidence, and indicates interesting implications for innovation and educational policies. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; Human Capital; Earning Distribution; |
| JEL: | J24 D8 O31 |
| Date: | 2009–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13032&r=lab |
| By: | Claire Dujardin (CORE - Center for Operations Research and Econometrics - Université Catholique de Louvain); Florence Goffette-Nagot (GATE - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines) |
| Abstract: | In order to test for the effect of public housing occupancy on unemployment, we estimate a simultaneous probit model of unemployment and public housing. On a first sample, we instrument public housing with the gender composition of children. On a second sample, the instrument is the share of public housing at the city level. We also perform a robustness check that consists in measuring the correlation between unobservables that could explain the effect of public housing on unemployment. As the corresponding level of correlation is low, this check reinforces our result of no effect of public housing on unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Public housing, unemployment, simultaneous probit models, instrumental variables |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00355640_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Timothy J. Bartik (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Randall W. Eberts (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Ken Kline (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology for adjusting performance standards for workforce programs offered by local workforce areas (LWAs). By performance standards adjustment, we mean a model that uses a statistical approach to attempt to better measure the relative performance of different local workforce areas in providing workforce system customers with “value added” in terms of the system’s desired outcomes. Our paper’s approach has four distinguishing features. First, the performance standards are based on the common measures proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor, which include short- and longer-term employment outcomes. Second, the model is estimated using data from only one state, which allows each state greater flexibility in adapting the adjustment model to the state’s needs and available data. Third, the model is estimated using data on individual customers, which offers some estimation advantages, particularly when data from only one state is available. Fourth, since some of the common measures are not available until long after the program year is completed, we include real-time predictions of the current performance of the LWA and an assessment of whether or not it will meet its performance standards when the common measure data is eventually available. This more timely feedback on performance provides administrators the opportunity to better manage their operations and offer services that best meet the needs of their customers. |
| Keywords: | performance standards, workforce programs, local labor markets, vapis, model, michigan |
| JEL: | J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:09-144&r=lab |
| By: | Stenberg, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | At various political levels, including the OECD and the EU, it is repeatedly emphasized that upgrading the low skilled is an important area for the economic and social development of modern societies. Employers are typically reluctant to train low skilled, who in their turn are unwilling to participate due to financial constraints or a perception of low quality and/or returns to training. If this is a market imperfection, a possible remedy is suggested by public provision of formal education where enrollees are eligible for financial support. However, the costs may be large and the economic returns to formal adult education (AE) for low skilled, a crucial measure to assess if expenses should be increased or decreased, is a virtually unexplored issue. This study uses Swedish register data 1990-2004 of low skilled siblings aged 24-43 in 1994 to estimate difference-indifference- in-differences models which include family fixed effects. It is found that a year of AE improves earnings by 4.4 per cent, but calculations indicate that the private returns alone only roughly cover the costs incurred by society, implying that social returns to AE are needed to justify the expenses. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; adult education; earnings |
| JEL: | H30 H52 I20 J24 O30 |
| Date: | 2009–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2009_001&r=lab |
| By: | Joël Moulhade (labrii, ULCO) |
| Abstract: | Développer la cohésion d'une équipe, améliorer les relations entre les membres qui la composent, la rendre plus performante et plus motivée font partie des thèmes qui préoccupent souvent les dirigeants d'entreprise, d'administration ou d'association. Quel manager n'a pas rêvé d'améliorer la performance et le dynamisme de son équipe? C'est dans ce cadre que le team building prend toute sa signification, son intérêt, sa valeur, sa spécificité. |
| Abstract: | Developing the cohesion of a team, ameliorating the relationships between its members, making it more successful and more motivated represent a part of the main themes that often preoccupy the leaders of companies, administrations or associations. Is there any manager who did not dream of ameliorating the performance and the dynamism of his team? It is in this same framework that the team building takes all its meaning, its interest, its value, its specificity. (c) Laboratoire de Recherche sur l'Industrie et l'Innovation Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, octobre 2008 |
| Keywords: | Team buiding, Cohesion, Manager |
| JEL: | M12 Z19 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rii:riidoc:198&r=lab |
| By: | Giorgio Calcagnini (Dipartimento di Economia e Metodi Quantitativi, Università di Urbino); Germana Giombini (Dipartimento di Economia e Metodi Quantitativi, Università di Urbino (Italy)); Enrico Saltari (Dipartimento di Economia Pubblica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses how financial and labor market imperfections jointly influence investment. The contemporaneous presence of imperfections in both markets gives rise to a negative correlation between EPL and investment: firms facing negative shocks see their financial constraints worsen in countries with greater labor market rigidities. Internal funds have an overall positive impact on investment, notwithstanding the presence of labor market rigidities acts as a disincentive to the use internal funds for financing new projects. If capital is sunk and the legal environment favors ex-post profit appropriation by workers, firms use internal funds for ends alternative to fixed investment. Our results support the effort put forward by European institutions to reform both markets. |
| Keywords: | Investment Models, Financing Constraints, Labor Protection Legislation, Panel Data Models |
| JEL: | E2 G31 J50 C33 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:09_01&r=lab |
| By: | Binswanger, J.; Schunk, D. (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Many economists and policy-makers argue that households do not save enough to maintain an adequate standard of living during retirement. However, there is no consensus on the answer to the underlying question what this standard should be, despite the fact that it is crucial for the design of saving incentives and pension reforms. We address this question with a survey, individually tailored to each respondent’s financial situation, conducted both in the U.S. and the Netherlands. Key findings are that adequate levels of retirement spending exceed 70 percent of working life spending, and minimum acceptable replacement rates depend strongly on income. |
| Keywords: | Life cycle preferences;pension reform;replacement rates;retirement saving. |
| JEL: | D91 H55 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200882&r=lab |
| By: | Rizzo, Giuseppe |
| Abstract: | In the last century, state pension systems have been introduced in most countries, and since then their size has been significantly increasing. A broad literature has studied this phenomenon, developing models that explain why pension systems exist and have been continuously expanding. At the same time, many authors have suggested that pension systems may substitute children as old-age economic security, discouraging fertility. In particular, this fact may explain the contemporaneity of the expansion of pension systems with the urbanization and industrialization processes. These two processes, in fact, have contributed to the weakening of family ties, which in turn results in the need for additional old-age economic security. In the political economy research these effects have been ignored, as the fertility choice is usually considered exogenous. This paper suggests a model that takes into account this endogenous effect and tries to analyze the net effect of the breakdown of family ties on the dimension of pension systems. The last section presents some empirical results supporting the theoretical model. The main result is that the transition toward the weak family does not necessarily imply an increase in the size of pension systems, because as the family structure becomes weaker the fertility decreases, thus reducing the profitability of the scheme: as the weak families start to increase, there could be an increase in the size of the pension system, but as they become the majority, the fertility rate may become too low, and the political support for the pension system may decrease. |
| Keywords: | Family economics; Fertility; Political sustainability; Social security; Voting |
| JEL: | J13 J14 H55 O15 D72 |
| Date: | 2009–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12998&r=lab |
| By: | Pablo Zoido |
| Abstract: | Les dépenses publiques d’éducation sont en hausse en Amérique latine, mais les avancées récentes ne peuvent masquer des problèmes persistants. Les systèmes éducatifs latino-américains doivent être plus inclusifs et l’enseignement de meilleure qualité. ? ? L’enseignement est l’un des principaux moteurs de la croissance économique. Il apporte non seulement un savoir théorique, mais contribue aussi à la réalisation d’objectifs économiques, tels que la croissance et la productivité, et sociaux, comme la santé et la cohésion sociale. Dans une économie mondiale fortement concurrentielle, les dépenses publiques d’éducation sont plus importantes que jamais. D’après 'Perspectives économiques de l’Amérique latine 2009' de l’OCDE, les dépenses publiques d’éducation sont importantes et en augmentation dans la région (...) |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:devaac:80-fr&r=lab |