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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Batyra, Anna (Université catholique de Louvain); Sneessens, Henri R. (University of Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | We use a calibrated general equilibrium model with heterogeneous labor and search to evaluate the quantitative effects of various labor tax cut scenarios. The focus is on skill heterogeneity combined with downward wage rigidities at the low end of the skill ladder. Workers can take jobs for which they are overeducated. We compare targeted and non-targeted tax cuts, both with or without over-education effects. Introducing over-education changes substantially the employment, productivity and welfare effects of a tax cut, although tax cuts targeted on the least skilled workers always have larger effects. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, job creation, job destruction, job competition, search unemployment, taxation, computable general equilibrium models |
| JEL: | C68 E24 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5013&r=lab |
| By: | Jhon James Mora Rodriguez; Juan Muro Romero |
| Abstract: | This paper discuses the effect of the minimum wage on the decision to join the informal job sector. We estimated a pseudo panel of the engagement in the informal sector using an IV-probit. The findings show that an increase in the minimum wage leads to a substitution effect between young and older workers. This results show that the standards effects over the labor market in the WGM segmented model are moderate because an increase of the minimum wage doesn’t imply total mobility between sectors. |
| Date: | 2010–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000130:007141&r=lab |
| By: | Climent Quintana Domeque (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I attempt to explain why labor economists typically have not been able to find much evidence on compensating wage differentials for job disamenities, except for risk of death. The key insight here is that, although workers need to be compensated when their preferences do not match the requirements for performing a job task, the occurrence of mismatch also decreases productivity, reducing the surplus to be divided between workers and firms, and decreasing wages. I focus on the match between workers¿ preferences for routine jobs and the variability in tasks associated with the job. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, I find that mismatched workers earn lower wages and that both male and female workers in routinized jobs earn, on average, 5.5% and 7% less than their counterparts in non-routinized jobs. However, once preferences and mismatch are accounted for, this difference decreases to 2% for men and 4% for women. These findings suggest that accounting for mismatch is important when analyzing compensating wage differentials. |
| Keywords: | Compensating wage differentials, preferences, comparative advantage, mismatch, routine |
| JEL: | J3 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2010-06&r=lab |
| By: | Matthias S. Hertweck (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the large degree of frictional wage dispersion in US data. The standard job matching model without on-the-job search cannot replicate this pattern. With on-the-job search, however, unemployed job searchers are more will- ing to accept low wage offers since they can continue to seek for better employment opportunities. This explains why observably identical workers may be paid very dif- ferently. Therefore, we examine the quantitative implications of on-the-job search in a stochastic job matching model. Our key result is that the inclusion of variable on-the-job search increases the degree of frictional wage dispersion by an order of a magnitude. |
| Keywords: | Matching, On-the-job Search, Wage Dispersion |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:1039&r=lab |
| By: | Budria, Santiago |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether educational mismatches can account for the positive association between education and wage inequality found in the data. We use two different data sources, the European Community Household Panel and the Portuguese Labour Force Survey, and consider several types of mismatch, including overqualification, underqualification and skills mismatch. We test our hypothesis using two different measurement methods, the ‘statistical’ and the ‘subjective’ approach. The results are robust to the different choices and unambiguously show that the positive effect of education on wage inequality is not due to the prevalence of educational mismatches in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Overeducation; returns to education; educational mismatch; within-groups wage inequality |
| JEL: | D31 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23420&r=lab |
| By: | Longhi S (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Nicoletti C (Institute for Social and Economic Research); Platt L (Institute for Social and Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Using the UK Labour Force Survey, we study wage gaps for disabled men after the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act. We estimate wage gaps at the mean and at different quantiles of the wage distribution, and decompose them into the part explained by differences in workersÂ’ and job characteristics, the part that can be ascribed to health-related reduced productivity, and a residual part which we can more confidently interpret as discrimination. For physically disabled workers, most of the wage gap can be attributed to differences in productivity, while for mentally disabled people we find evidence of wage discrimination. |
| Date: | 2010–06–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2010-19&r=lab |
| By: | Michael U. Krause; Thomas A. Lubik |
| Abstract: | We develop a business cycle model with search and matching frictions in the labor market and show that on-the-job search generates substantial amplification and propagation. Rising search by employed workers in an expansion amplifies the incentives of firms to post vacancies. By keeping job creation costs low for firms, on-the-job search amplifies exogenous shocks. In our calibration, this allows the model to generate fluctuations of unemployment, vacancies, and job-to-job transitions whose magnitudes are close to the data, and leads output to be highly autocorrelated. On-the-job search implies higher-order serial correlation that is absent from the standard search and matching model. |
| Keywords: | Labor market |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:10-12&r=lab |
| By: | Rebekka Christopoulou (Cornell University); Juan F. Jimeno (Banco de España); Ana Lamo (European Central Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study changes in the wage structures in nine EU countries over 1995-2002 and the role of demand, supply and institutional developments in shaping these changes. Using comparable cross-country microeconomic data, we compute for each country and at each decile of the wage distribution, the part of the observed wage change that is due to changes in the composition of workers, employers, and jobs’ characteristics, and the part due to changes in the returns to these characteristics. We find that composition effects derived from changes in age, gender or education of the labour force, largely exogenous to economic developments, had a minor contribution to the observed wage dynamics. In contrast, return and composition effects from characteristics likely driven by economic developments are found most relevant to explain the observed changes. We relate wages and their various components with macroeconomic and institutional trends and find that technology and globalisation are associated with wage increases; migration is associated with declines in wages; whereas the effect of labour market institutions has been mixed. |
| Keywords: | Wage Structure, Quantile Regressions |
| JEL: | J31 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:1017&r=lab |
| By: | Ana Lamo (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Julián Messina (World Bank, Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, 1850 I St, NW 204 33 Washington, DC, USA.) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the incidence and consequences of the mismatch between formal education and the educational requirements of jobs in Estonia during the years 1997-2003. We find large wage penalties associated with the phenomenon of educational mismatch. Moreover, the incidence and wage penalty of mismatches increase with age. This suggests that structural educational mismatches can occur after fast transition periods. Our results are robust for various methodologies, and more importantly regarding departures from the exogeneity assumptions inherent in the matching estimators used in our analysis. JEL Classification: J0. |
| Keywords: | Education mismatch, Wage determination, Matching Estimators. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20101215&r=lab |
| By: | Hensvik, Lena (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how local school competition affects teacher wages at markets where wages are set via individual wage bargaining. Using regional variation in private school entry generated by a Swedish reform which allowed private schools to enter freely and a comprehensive matched employer employee data covering all high school teachers in Sweden over 16 years, I analyze the effects of competition on wages as well as labor flows. The results suggest that competition translates into higher wages, also for teachers in public schools. While the average increases are modest new teachers gain 2 percent and high ability teachers in math and science receive 4 percent higher wages in the most competitive areas compared to areas without any competition from private schools. Several robustness checks support a causal interpretation of the results which together highlight the potential gains from school competition through a more differentiated wage setting of teachers. |
| Keywords: | Private school competition; teacher wages; monopsony power |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2010–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2010_008&r=lab |
| By: | Michael D. Giandrea (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); Kevin E. Cahill (Analysis Group, Inc.); Joseph F. Quinn (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | To what extent do older Americans re-enter the labor force after an initial exit and what drives these “unretirement” decisions? Retirement for most older Americans with full-time career jobs is not a one-time, permanent event. Labor force exit is more likely to be a process. Prior studies have found that between one half and two thirds of career workers take at least one other job before exiting from the labor force completely. The transitional nature of retirement may be even more pronounced when considering the impact of re-entry. This paper examines the extent to which older Americans with career jobs re-entered the labor force. The analysis is based on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), an ongoing, longitudinal survey of older Americans that began in 1992. We examined the retirement patterns of a subset of 5,617 HRS respondents who were on a full-time career job at the time of the first interview. Logistic regression was used to explore determinants of re-entry among those who initially exited the labor force. We found that approximately 15 percent of older Americans with career jobs returned to the labor force after initially exiting. Respondents were more likely to re-enter if they were younger, were in better health, or had a defined-contribution pension plan. This research provides empirical evidence of how older Americans are utilizing bridge jobs as they transition from career employment, and that re-entry may be an important part of the work experience of older Americans. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Aging, Partial Retirement, Bridge Jobs, Gradual Retirement |
| JEL: | J26 J14 J32 H55 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec100070&r=lab |
| By: | Francesco Serti (Dpto. Fundamentos del Análisis Económico); Roberto Leombruni (Dipartimento di Economia); Tiziano Razzolini (Università degli Studi di Siena) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs of involuntary job loss by focusing on both post-displacement earnings losses and injury rates. To this end we employ a unique dataset. Administrative data from Italy describing individual work histories have been merged with individual data on workplace injuries. Propensity score matching techniques are employed to measure the causal effect of displacement on workplace injury rates. We find that in a period marked by tight labour market, re-employed displaced workers experience only moderate and short-lived earnings losses but are about 70 percent more likely to be injured at their subsequent jobs compared to the control group of non-displaced workers. These results suggest that re-employed displaced workers may trade pecuniary job attributes for non-pecuniary ones. |
| Keywords: | Job displacement, post-displacement injury rates, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | I18 J28 J63 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2010-12&r=lab |
| By: | [no author] |
| Abstract: | The labor market is central to many issues in economics, including business cycles, unemployment, inequality, education, and growth. Moreover, it is the largest single market in most economies and it is fundamental in determining individual and household well-being. Therefore, a good understanding of the many phenomena that we observe in modern societies requires knowledge of the functioning of the labor market. It is the aim of this dissertation to improve and to deepen this knowledge and it does so by investigating three important labor market phenomena. In the first chapter, I address the divergence of unemployment rates between the U.S. and Europe. In the second chapter, I investigate the life-cycle dynamics of individual job mobility. The third chapter empirically sheds some light on the causes and consequences of job separation. In particular, it addresses the following three questions: (a) What are the factors determining the separation hazard of employment relationships? (b) Which employer-employee matches are more likely to dissolve due to a layoff rather than a voluntary quit? (c) What are the effects of a voluntary quit and a layoff, respectively, on re-employment wages? |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:euiflo:urn:hdl:1814/14189&r=lab |
| By: | Bande, Roberto (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain); Karanassou, Marika (University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence for the evolution of regional unemployment rates in Spain over the 1980-2000 period. We argue that interactive dynamic systems of labour demand, wage setting, and labour force equations (i) allow for a richer interpretation of regional disparities, and (ii) can capture the unemployment effects of growing variables such as capital stock. After classifying the 17 Spanish regions into high and low unemployment groups using kernel and cluster techniques, we estimate a structural labour market model for each group and evaluate the unemployment contributions of investment, benefits, taxes, and the oil price. We find that the main driving force of regional unemployment swings is capital accumulation. |
| Keywords: | regional unemployment, disparities, capital accummulation, kernel, cluster |
| JEL: | R23 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5012&r=lab |
| By: | Meredith, John |
| Abstract: | Canadian apprenticeship policy has recently turned to direct subsidies for participants, including a federal tax incentive for employers. Some assumptions underlying the employer subsidy are: that apprenticeship training is a principal contributor to the skilled trades labour supply; that employers of apprentices typically incur high training cost and risks; and that in the absence of offsetting incentives, these would deter their participation. These assumptions are tested, using an analysis of 2006 census data and a series of 33 employer interviews. The census data reveal that, in 74 “skilled trades†occupations (NOC-S group H), the proportion of the labour force reporting an apprenticeship credential is 37%. When certificates granted to “trade qualifiers†are excluded from the total, registered apprenticeship certification is found to contribute roughly 25% of the skilled trades labour supply. A closer examination of the census data reveals strong inter-occupational differences in the certification rate and in the ratio of certified to less-than-certified workers, suggesting a de facto hierarchy of trades occupations. The interviews reveal sharp variations in employers’ workplace training efforts, challenging the twin suppositions that employers of apprentices are uniformly high contributors to skill formation, and that high training-related costs risks generally deter their participation. Differences in training behaviour are attributed to high-skill versus low-skill business strategies that in turn reflect differing product markets and regulatory constraints. Whatever the level of their training effort, all of the participating employers are able to minimize the training-related risks that have been cited as the principal rationale for employer subsidies. The paper argues for a more nuanced approach to skills policy and research in Canada, with greater attention to the diversity of actors’ strategic interactions with the training system. |
| Keywords: | Apprenticeship, Skill, Trades, Training, Labour Supply, Canada |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 L23 L88 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-24&r=lab |
| By: | Julián Messina (World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA.); Philip Du Caju (National Bank of Belgium, Boulevard de Berlaimont 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.); Cláudia Filipa Duarte (Banco de Portugal, 148, Rua do Comercio, 1101 Lisbon Codex, Portugal.); Niels Lynggård Hansen (Danmarks Nationalbank, Havnegade 5, 1093 Copenhagen K, Danmark.); Mario Izquierdo (Banco de España, Alcalá 50, 28014 Madrid, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates based on individual data of downward nominal and real wage rigidities for thirteen sectors in Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Portugal. Our methodology follows the approach recently developed for the International Wage Flexibility Project, whereby resistance to nominal and real wage cuts is measured through departures of observed individual wage change histograms from an estimated counterfactual wage change distribution that would have prevailed in the absence of rigidity. We evaluate the role of worker and firm characteristics in shaping wage rigidities. We also confront our estimates of wage rigidities to structural features of the labour markets studied, such as the wage bargaining level, variable pay policy and the degree of product market competition. We find that the use of firm-level collective agreements in countries with rather centralized wage formation reduces the degree of real wage rigidity. This finding suggests that some degree of decentralization within highly centralized countries allows firms to adjust wages downwards, when business conditions turn bad. JEL Classification: J31. |
| Keywords: | wage rigidity, wage-bargaining institutions. |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20101213&r=lab |
| By: | Leonardi, Marco (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between product demand and the pattern of rising skill premia and rising employment of skilled workers in the US and the UK since the 1980s. If more skilled workers demand more skill-intensive goods, then an increase in relative skill supply will also induce a shift in relative skill demand. This channel reduces the need to rely on technology and trade to explain the patterns in the data. This paper shows that in the US more educated and richer workers demand more low skill-intensive services (such as cleaning and personal services) but also more skill-intensive services (such as education and professional services). The parametrization of a simple model suggests that this induced demand shift can explain around 7% of the total relative demand shift in the US between 1984 and 2002. Similar results are provided for the UK. |
| Keywords: | wage inequality, product demand, income elasticity |
| JEL: | J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5011&r=lab |
| By: | Steffen Reinhold (Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA)) |
| Abstract: | During the postwar period German states pursued policies to increase the share of young Germans obtaining a university entrance diploma (Abitur) by building more academic track schools, but the timing of educational expansion differed between states. This creates exogenous variation in the availability of higher education, which allows estimating the causal effect of education on health behaviors. Using the number of academic track schools in a state as an instrumental variable for years of schooling, we investigate the causal effect of schooling on health behavior such as smoking and related outcomes such as obesity. We find large negative effects of education on smoking. These effects can mostly be attributed to reductions in starting rates rather than increases in quitting rates. We find no causal effect of education on reduced overweight and obesity. |
| JEL: | I12 I20 |
| Date: | 2009–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mea:meawpa:09186&r=lab |
| By: | Georgios Marios Chrysanthou |
| Abstract: | Using a dynamic model of unionism and wage determination we find that the unobserved factors that influence union membership also affect wages. We observe a significant decline in trade union membership persistence during the period under analysis. We find that UK trade unions still play a nonnegligible, albeit diminishing, role in wage formation. While unions were unable to establish a wage premium for male members during the two periods considered, the female union wage effect stood at (19.4%, 17.6%) during (1991-1996, 1997-2002) respectively. The endogeneity correction procedure employed yields a discernible pattern of the union wage effect relative to OLS and fixed effects thus, refuting the pessimistic conclusions reached by Freeman and Medoff (1982) and Lewis (1986) that endogeneity correction methodologies do not contribute to our understanding of the union wage effect puzzle. |
| Keywords: | Union membership persistence, Union wage effects, Unobserved heterogeneity, Dynamic model of unionism and wage determination |
| JEL: | C31 C33 J31 J51 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1014&r=lab |
| By: | Poutvaara, Panu (University of Helsinki); Ropponen, Olli (University of Helsinki) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study how high school students reacted to the shocking news of a school shooting. The shooting coincided with national high-school matriculation exams. As there were exams both before and after the shooting, we can perform a difference-in-differences analysis to uncover how the school shooting affected the test scores compared to previous years. We find that the average score of young men declined due to the school shooting, whereas we do not observe a similar pattern for women. |
| Keywords: | school shootings, school performance, shocking news, gender differences, treatment effect models |
| JEL: | C21 J16 I19 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5009&r=lab |
| By: | Sologon, Denisa Maria (Maastricht University); O'Donoghue, Cathal (Teagasc Rural Economy Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | Starting with the late 1980s and intensifying after early 1990s, Luxembourg evolved from an industrial economy to an economy dominated by the tertiary sector, which relies heavily on the cross-border workforce. This paper explored the implications of these labour market structural changes for the structure of earnings inequality and earnings mobility. Using an extraordinary longitudinal dataset drawn from administrative records on professional career, we decomposed Luxembourg’s growth in earnings inequality into persistent and transitory components and explored the extent to which changes in cross-sectional earnings inequality between 1988 and 2004 reflect changes in the transitory or permanent components of earnings. Thanks to the richness of the Luxembourgish data set, we are able to estimate a much richer model that nests the various specifications used in the US, Canadian and European literature up to date, thus rejecting several restrictions commonly imposed in the literature. We find that the growth in earnings inequality reflects an increase in long-term inequality and a decrease in earnings instability, and is accompanied by a decrease in earnings mobility. Thus in 2004 compared with 1988, low wage men in Luxembourg are worst off both in terms of their relative wage and in terms of their opportunity of improving their relative income position in a lifetime perspective. |
| Keywords: | panel data, wage distribution, inequality, mobility |
| JEL: | C23 D31 J31 J60 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5014&r=lab |
| By: | Empar Pons Blasco (Universitat de València); Luisa Escriche Bertolín (Universitat de València) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an adverse selection model that contributes to explain why women are less likely to be promoted. There are two types of workers: family-committed and job-committed workers. The cost of job effort during the first period of the working life is higher for the former. Firms offer two types of contract, one involving high effort during the first period with promotion possibilities and the other requiring low effort but with no opportunity for promotion attached. We show that women are less likely to apply for jobs with promotion possibilities, but when they do, women are just as likely to succeed as men. |
| Keywords: | Gender Discrimination, Promotions, Asymmetric Information, Status Concerns |
| JEL: | D82 J71 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2009-23&r=lab |
| By: | Suren Basov (Department of Economics, LaTrobe University); Ian King (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne); Lawrence Uren (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | We examine the implications of worker heterogeneity on the equilibrium matching process, using a directed search model. Worker abilities are selected from a general distribution, subject to some weak regularity requirements, and the firms direct their job offers to workers. We identify conditions under which some fraction of the workforce will be "unemployable": no firm will approach them even though they offer positive surplus. For large markets we derive a simple closed form expression for the equilibrum matching function. This function has constant returns to scale and two new terms, which are functions of the underlying distribution of worker productivities: the percentage of unemployable workers, and a measure of heterogeneity "kappa".The equilibrium unemployment rate is increasing in "kappa" and, under certain circumstances, is increasing in the productivity of highly skilled workers, despite endogenous entry. A key empirical prediction of the theory is that "kappa" = 1. We examine this prediction, using data from several countries. |
| Keywords: | Directed search, worker heterogeneity, unemployment |
| JEL: | C78 J41 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ltr:wpaper:1837-2198/978-0-9807041-5-0&r=lab |
| By: | Federico Cingano (Banca d'Italia); Roberto Torrini (Banca d'Italia); Eliana Viviano (Banca d'Italia) |
| Abstract: | The fall in employment and the increase in unemployment rates in Italy in 2009 were fairly modest, given the sharp drop in GDP and compared with the recession of the early 1990s. This work shows that these data should be interpreted with caution, however. Firstly, employment trends as measured by Italian labour force survey may understate the decline in total employment if, as seems plausible, a lag exists between the entry of immigrants into the country and their registration. Secondly, the rise in the unemployment rate has been curbed by extensive recourse to temporary income support schemes to reduce working hours (such as the Cassa integrazione guadagni or Wage Supplementation Fund) in the northern regions, and by the sharp drop in participation in the South (the discouragement effect). The results of the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Industrial and Service Firms conducted in September 2009 show that the largest employment cuts occurred in the firms most exposed to international markets. Based on estimated labour input elasticity and on the available GDP forecast for 2010-11, we calculate that Italian employment is likely to remain well below its pre-crisis level in the coming quarters. |
| Keywords: | crisis, employment,unemployment |
| JEL: | E24 J20 J60 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_68_10&r=lab |
| By: | Jesse Bricker; Kalena Cortes; Chris Rohlfs |
| Abstract: | Absences in Chicago Public High Schools are 3-7 days per year higher in first period than at other times of the day. This study exploits this empirical regularity and the essentially random variation between students in the ordering of classes over the day to measure how the returns to classroom learning vary by course subject, and how much attendance in one class spills over into learning in other subjects. We find that having a class in first period reduces grades in that course and has little effect on long-term grades or grades in related subjects. We also find moderately-sized negative effects of having a class in first period on test scores in that subject and in related subjects, particularly for math classes. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-33&r=lab |
| By: | Osvaldo Larrañaga; Amanda Telias |
| Abstract: | This study measures the contribution of inequality of opportunities on the educational attainment of Chilean students, captured through the SIMCE test scores. For this, it employs a recently introduced methodology that quantifies the effect of exogenous and endogenous factors on socioeconomic outcomes, using parametric and non-parametric techniques. The study applies this methodology for the SIMCE tests in Mathematics and Language in the 1999 to 2007 period for fourth grade primary, eighth grade primary and for second grade of secondary school. The results show a reduction in the percentage of inequality of SIMCE results arising from exogenous circumstances, which can be interpreted as a decrease in inequality of opportunities. This conclusion is robust to the estimation technique and the schooling grade. In addition, the results reveal that inequality of opportunities is greater in secondary school than in primary school. |
| JEL: | I21 D39 D63 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp310&r=lab |
| By: | Björklund, Anders (SOFI, Stockholm University); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | In every society for which we have data, people’s educational achievement is positively correlated with their parents’ education or with other indicators of their parents’ socioeconomic status. This topic is central in social science, and there is no doubt that research has intensified during recent decades, not least thanks to better data having become accessible to researchers. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize and evaluate recent empirical research on education and family background. Broadly speaking, we focus on two related but distinct motivations for this topic. The first is equality of opportunity. Here, major the research issues are: How important a determinant of educational attainment is family background, and is family background – in the broad sense that incorporates factors not chosen by the individual – a major, or only a minor, determinant of educational attainment? What are the mechanisms that make family background important? Have specific policy reforms been successful in reducing the impact of family background on educational achievement? The second common starting point for recent research has been the child development perspective. Here, the focus is on how human-capital accumulation is affected by early childhood resources. Studies with this focus address the questions: what types of parental resources or inputs are important for children's development, why are they important and when are they important? In addition, this literature focuses on exploring which types of economic policy, and what timing of the policy in relation to children's social and cognitive development, are conducive to children's performance and adult outcomes. The policy interest in this research is whether policies that change parents' resources and restrictions have causal effects on their children. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, sibling correlations, education, education reform |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5002&r=lab |
| By: | Michael Beckmann; Dieter Kuhn (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | Owing to changes in the business environment, there has been a tremendous adoption of innovative<br />workplace organisation (WO) and human resource (HR) practices during the last few<br />decades. Assuming a holistic perspective on human resource management (HRM), the present<br />study establishes the hypothesis of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices that, thus, constitute<br />a so-called high-performance work system. Precisely, it is argued that there may be a<br />complementary relationship between a more decentralised way of allocating tasks and decision<br />rights on the one hand and continuing training (or skilled labour), incentive pay or a more<br />intensive use of long-term, as opposed to temporary, employment on the other. This hypothesis<br />is examined empirically using latest nationally representative panel data of about 2,500<br />firms in Switzerland and applying econometric estimation techniques on the basis of an augmented<br />Cobb-Douglas production function. The estimation results show statistically significant<br />complementarities between the WO and HR practices mentioned above. In addition, socalled<br />innovative HRM systems of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices increase firm<br />performance significantly. These results are robust to unobserved firm heterogeneity and to<br />the problem of reversed causality. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:1423&r=lab |
| By: | Agostino Consolo; Matthias S. Hertweck (University of Basel) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces staggered right-to-manage wage bargaining into a New <br />Keynesian business cycle model. Our key result is that the model is able to gener- <br />ate persistent responses in output, inflation, and total labor input to both neutral <br />technology and monetary policy shocks. Furthermore, we compare the model’s dy- <br />namic behavior when calibrated to the US and to an European economy. We find <br />that the degree of price rigidity explains most of the differences in response to a <br />monetary policy shock. When the economy is hit by a neutral technology shock, <br />both price and wage rigidities turn out to be important. <br /><br /> |
| Keywords: | Business Cycles, Labor Market Search, Wage Bargaining, Inflation |
| JEL: | E24 E31 E32 J64 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:1056&r=lab |
| By: | Yang, Dennis (Chinese University of Hong Kong); Chen, Vivian (The Conference Board); Monarch, Ryan (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | We document dramatic rising wages in China for the period 1978-2007 based on multiple sources of aggregate statistics. Although real wages increased seven-fold during the period, growth was uneven across ownership types, industries and regions. Since the late 1990s, the wages of state-owned enterprises have increased rapidly and wage disparities between skill-intensive and labor-intensive industries have widened. Comparisons of international data show that China's manufacturing wage has already converged to that of Asian emerging markets, but China still enjoys enormous labor cost advantages over its neighboring developed economies. Our analysis suggests that China's wage growth will stabilize to a moderate pace in the near future. |
| Keywords: | wage growth, aggregate statistics, China, international comparison |
| JEL: | J31 J21 O5 |
| Date: | 2010–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5008&r=lab |
| By: | Domeij, David (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics); Klein, Paul (Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | In an economy with distortionary taxes on labor, can subsidies on day care, financed by an increase in taxes, raise welfare by encouraging women with small children to work? We show, within a heterogeneous-agent life-cycle framework, that the Ramsey optimal policy consists in equalizing consumption/leisure wedges over the life cycle and across agents. A simple way to implement this is to make day care expenses tax deductible. Calibrating our model to Germany, we find that tax deductibility for day care expenses leads to an approximate doubling of labor supply for both married and single mothers with small children. The overall welfare gain from optimal reform corresponds to a 1.0 percent increase in consumption. |
| Keywords: | Female labor force participation; Germany; day care subsidies |
| JEL: | E13 J13 |
| Date: | 2010–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hastef:0729&r=lab |
| By: | Leme, Maria Carolina; D. Paredes, Ricardo; Portela, André |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the impact of the decentralization in educational system that is taking place in Brazil inthe last decade, as a result of several laws that encourage municipalities to invest in fundamental education.The proficiency tests undertaken by the government allows to follow some public schools in two points intime. Therefore we were able to create an experimental group with the schools that were under state system inthe SAEB exam and have migrated to the municipality system by the time of Prova Brasil and a control groupwith the schools that were under the state system between the two exams and compare the difference in theirresults using a fixed effect panel data analysis. The difference in difference estimator indicates that there is nosignificant change in the performance of the students. |
| Date: | 2010–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:207&r=lab |
| By: | Dwibedi, Jayanta; Chaudhuri, Sarbajit |
| Abstract: | The paper using a three-sector general equilibrium model with agricultural dualism and child labour shows that any fiscal measures designed to benefit backward agriculture cannot cure the problem of child labour in a developing economy although they raise the non-child labour income of the poor households. A policy of capital led growth through inflows of foreign capital, on the contrary, will be able to alleviate the problem by encouraging advanced agriculture and lowering the demand for child labour. The analysis questions the desirability of assisting backward agriculture and advocates in favour of a liberalized investment policy for controlling the menace of child labour in the society. |
| Keywords: | Child labour; general equilibrium; agricultural dualism; subsidy policy; capital led growth. |
| JEL: | J13 J10 O17 D10 O12 |
| Date: | 2010–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:23487&r=lab |
| By: | Werner Güth (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group); Rene Levínský (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group); Kerstin Pull (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration); Ori Weisel (The Hebrew University, Center for the Study of Rationality) |
| Abstract: | Tournaments represent an increasingly important component of organizational compensation systems. While prior research focused on fixed-prize tournaments, i.e., on tournaments where the prize or prize sum to be awarded is set in advance, we introduce a new type of tournament into the literature: premium incentives. While premium incentives, just like fixed-prize tournaments, are based on relative performance, the prize to be awarded is not set in advance but is a function of the firm's success: the prize is high if the firm is successful and low if it is not successful. Relying on a simple model of cost minimization, we are able to show that premium incentives outperform fixed-prize tournaments as well as piece rates. Our theoretical result is qualitatively confirmed by a controlled laboratory experiment and has important practical implications for the design of organizational incentive systems. |
| Keywords: | Tournaments, Incentives, Economic experiments |
| JEL: | C72 C91 J33 |
| Date: | 2010–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-039&r=lab |