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on Labour Economics |
| By: | Yolanda Rebollo Sanz (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the potential relationships between the unemployment insurance system and the labour market turnover trying to move further the traditional view that this system has only behavioral consequences from the labour supply side of the labour market. This study assumes heterogeneity in the impact of the incentives embedded in the unemployment insurance system, depending on the type of labour market transition (quits versus layoffs and recalls versus new job entrances) and the worker’s attachment to the labour market (gender and type of contract). The results show that unemployment benefits appear to favour job turnover and firms and workers´s decisions seem to matter on job turnover. The layoff hazard rate increases as workers qualify for unemployment benefits while the quit hazard rate remains stable. Similarly, employment inflow increases sharply after exhaustion of unemployment benefits. The timing and importance of the exit differs between recalls and new job entry and it depends on the worker’s attachment to the labour market. These differences also call into evidence that firm´s and worker´s decisions matter in the duration of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment Insurance, Job Turnover, Multivariate Mix Proportional Hazard Models, Recall and Layoffs, Employment and Unemployment Duration |
| JEL: | J63 J64 J65 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:10.08&r=lab |
| By: | MORIKAWA Masayuki |
| Abstract: | This paper presents survey-based evidence on the “fair” compensating wage differentials for insecurity of employment and lack of work-life balance (WLB). We present facts about individual perceptions of the desirable compensating differentials and then estimate the effects of working hours and wages on job satisfaction. The fair wage premiums for insecurity of employment and lack of WLB are both around 10% to 20%. The actual relative wages of nonstandard workers seem to be lower than those in the hedonic equilibrium. If “short-hour regular jobs” are characterized by both strong employment protection and WLB, the relative wage discount of 10% to 20% coincides with the average worker’s perception of fairness. Working hours have a negative effect on job satisfaction and the wage level has a positive effect on job satisfaction, but the magnitudes of the effects differ between male and female workers. In order to achieve diversity of working styles, work schedule flexibility should be accompanied by a wage adjustment, which would contribute to the adoption and diffusion of WLB practices. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:10052&r=lab |
| By: | Daniel C. Hickman (University of Colorado at Boulder); William W. Olney (Williams College) |
| Abstract: | Workers are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact that globaliza- tion has on their domestic labor market. While existing research typically focuses on the effects on labor market outcomes such as wages and employment, we examine whether American workers respond to globalization by increasing their investment in human capital. Specifically, we measure the extent to which offshoring and immigra- tion affect enrollment at institutions of higher education. The results indicate that both offshoring and immigration increase enrollment at community colleges, particu- larly among older students. We conclude that workers in the U.S. are responding to offshoring and immigration by acquiring the skills necessary to compete in a global economy. |
| Keywords: | globalization, higher education, enrollment, offshoring, immigration |
| JEL: | F16 I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wil:wileco:2010-18&r=lab |
| By: | J. Ignacio García-Pérez; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Alfonso R. Sánchez-Martín |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the sensitivity of the labour market decisions of workers close to retirement with respect to the incentives created by public regulations. We improve upon the extensive prior literature on the effect of pension incentives on retirement in two ways. First, by modeling the transitions between employment, unemployment and retirement in a simultaneous manner, paying special attention to the transition from unemployment to retirement (which is particularly important in Spain). Second, by considering the influence of unobserved heterogeneity in the estimation of the effect of our (carefully constructed) incentive variables. Using administrative data, we find that, when properly defined, economic incentives have a strong impact on labour market decisions in Spain. Unemployment regulations are shown to be particularly influential for retirement behaviour, along with the more traditional determinants linked to the pension system. Pension variables also have a major bearing on both workers’ reemployment decisions and on the strategic actions of employers. The quantitative impact of the incentives, however, is greatly affected by the existence of unobserved heterogeneity among workers. Its omission leads to sizable biases in the assessment of the sensitivity to economic incentives, a finding that has clear consequences for the credibility of any model-based policy analysis. We confirm the importance of this potential problem in one especially interesting instance: the reform of early retirement provisions undertaken in Spain in 2002. We use a difference-in-difference approach to measure the behavioural reaction to this change, finding a large overestimation when unobserved heterogeneity is not taken into account. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, unemployment, incentives, Pension system, Unobserved, heterogeneity, Spain. |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1239&r=lab |
| By: | Todorova, Tamara; Dzharova, Veselina |
| Abstract: | Our paper studies the causes of poverty from the perspective of job search. We show that poor people remain poor because they have less time and initial endowment to search for a better job. Initial endowment is key to successful job search, as one can afford not to work and search longer for a better job. Having an initial endowment, a worker is able to educate or re-qualify himself. Working long hours and obtaining low pay, poor people have little time to look for a better job. Low-paid, low-skilled jobs rarely allow on-the-job search like high-paid positions where with the help of contacts and a lot of idle time professionals seek better jobs. Quitting in order to find a better job increases the opportunity cost of search for poorer people. Since they do not have any accumulated income, they can only live off their salary. With less income and time, poorer people are less likely to get educated since education requires both wealth and free time. But being less educated, they are likely to remain poor as education is a promise for success in contemporary society. Thus, they remain in the vicious circle of poverty. In order to prove this hypothesis we investigate optimal search time for a better job as dependent on factors such as wage rate, individual’s income, education, and skills. |
| Keywords: | job search; optimal job search time; wage differentials; low-income groups |
| JEL: | I30 J01 J24 D31 J31 E24 J64 C61 |
| Date: | 2010–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25709&r=lab |
| By: | Frédéric Salladaré (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272, CREM - Centre de Recherche en Economie et Management - CNRS : UMR6211 - Université de Rennes I - Université de Caen); Boubaker Hlaimi (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - CNRS : UMR6123 - Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II); François-Charles Wolff (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - Université de Nantes : EA4272, INED - Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques Paris - INED) |
| Abstract: | Is job security important for workers when choosing a job? Using comparative data among 18 European countries, this paper investigates the influence of job security in the choice of employment. Our empirical analysis evidences significant cross-country differences in the importance attributed to job security, which is influenced by both individual and employment characteristics. When comparing the perceived job security and its importance in the choice of employment, we find that temporary workers are less sensitive to job security when choosing their job. |
| Keywords: | Perceived job security; European labour markets |
| Date: | 2010–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00526264_v1&r=lab |
| By: | Suma Scaria |
| Abstract: | This paper makes an attempt at understanding why inequalities continue to exist in the educational profile of the population despite high literacy, universal enrollment in schools and relatively better infrastructural facilities. In this connection, the questions relating to entry barriers in higher education and labour market outcomes gain considerable significance. |
| Keywords: | kerala, village, population, literacy, enrollment, schools, educational, infrastructural, entry barriers, education, labour market, inequalities, access, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3013&r=lab |
| By: | Carlos Bozzoli |
| Abstract: | Previous research on orphanhood has established that parental death has a negative effect in terms of school enrollment and grade progression, but the relation between orphanhood and socioeconomic outcomes in young adults has been largely ignored in the literature. In this paper, I use a longitudinal survey from the city of Cape Town, South Africa to evaluate two main outcomes of young adults, namely labor market attachment and fertility, and its relation to orphanhood status. The uniqueness of this dataset lies within the combination of different survey waves with a year-by-year life history that records key outcomes (e.g. schooling, work, fertility outcomes). It also provides information on so-called "parental investments" (time and material support),family background, and literacy and numeracy test scores. I find that although preexisting parental background characteristics and literacy and numeracy skills are comparable between orphans and non-orphans, the latter are less likely to be employed(true primarily for males) or to have children (females) early in their lives. Evidence ismixed regarding whether orphans earn lower wages than non-orphans. These results suggest that orphanhood may not only alter educational achievements, but that it may also leave a long-lasting "imprint" in terms of employment and fertility patterns. |
| Keywords: | Orphans, employment, wages, fertility, parental investments |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J22 O12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1069&r=lab |
| By: | Said, Mona; Elshennawy, Abeer |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of trade liberalization on manufacturing employment and wages over a period 1993-2006, a period coinciding with significant reduction in trade barriers and rising unemployment. Despite increasing import penetration, the paper shows that employment has increased across all manufacturing industries. Data from Egypt’s labor market survey confirm that layoffs as a result of trade liberalization is not among the factors responsible for unemployment. On the other hand, regression analysis shows that the reduction in tariffs and increasing export orientation has been associated with an increase in wages in manufacturing industries though the role of export orientation in influencing poor wages has not been significant. Meanwhile, quantile regressions reveal that the impact of both the reduction in tariffs and increase in export orientation has not been uniform across the different quantiles of the wage distribution. The paper further points out to the possibility that further reduction of trade barriers might lead to high adjustment costs in terms of long spells of unemployment or lower pay on grounds of old age and low educational attainment of Egypt’s work force. Adjustment policies in the form of direct job search assistance as country experience illustrates is considered to be the most appropriate form of adjustment assistance. |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalization; employment; wages; adjustment costs; adjustment assistance |
| JEL: | F16 J31 F14 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25759&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Zaharieva (Chizhova) (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers job separations in a search model with labour market matching and moral hazard. Both workers and firms value productive matches and take actions to increase match stability: firms offer a share of match surplus to provide workers with correct incentives and workers take hidden actions (effort) negatively affecting the match separation rate. Heterogeneous productivity draws combined with the moral hazard problem give rise to match-specific endogenous separation rates. Additionally a counteraction of two effects - match stability and match scarcity - explains an observed asymmetric shape of a wage probability density function with a unique interior mode on the support. |
| Keywords: | Matching, separation rate, job stability, effort, wage density |
| JEL: | J31 J63 J64 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1006&r=lab |
| By: | Gartner, Hermann (IAB, Nürnberg); Schank, Thorsten (University of Mainz); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | Since there is scant evidence on the role of industrial relations in wage cyclicality, this paper analyzes the effect of collective wage contracts and of works councils on real wage growth. Using linked employer-employee data for western Germany, we find that works councils affect wage growth only in combination with collective bargaining. Wage adjustments to positive and negative economic shocks are not always symmetric. Only under sectoral bargaining there is a (nearly symmetric) reaction to rising and falling unemployment. In contrast, wage growth in establishments without collective bargaining adjusts only to falling unemployment and is unaffected by rising unemployment. |
| Keywords: | wage cyclicality, wage bargaining, works council, Germany |
| JEL: | J31 E32 J53 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5228&r=lab |
| By: | Mike Brewer (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p>Childcare costs are often viewed as one of the biggest barriers to work, particularly among lone parents on low incomes. Children in England are typically eligible to start school - and thus access a number of hours of free public education - on 1 September after they turn four. This means that children born one day apart may start school up to one year apart. We exploit this discontinuity to investigate the impact of youngest child being eligible for full-time primary education (relative to part-time nursery education) on welfare receipt and employment patterns amongst lone parents receiving welfare. In contrast to previous studies, we are able to estimate the precise timing (relative to the date when full-time education begins) of any impact on labour supply, by using rich administrative data. Amongst those receiving welfare when their youngest child is aged approximately three and a half, we find a small but significant effect on both employment and welfare receipt (of around 2 percentage points, or 10‐15 per cent), which peaks eight to nine months after the child becomes eligible (aged approximately 4 years and 9 months). We also find some evidence of a smaller effect of eligibility for part‐time nursery education on lone parents' labour supply. This suggests that the expansion of public education programmes to younger disadvantaged children may only encourage a small number of low income lone parents to return to work.</p> |
| Keywords: | Labour supply, school entry, regression discontinuity, lone parents, welfare receipt |
| JEL: | I21 J22 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/19&r=lab |
| By: | André, Pierre |
| Abstract: | This chapter investigates the connection between grade repetition and school dropout. Household data is matched against a panel of academic test scores and the school career of each child inferred from the combined dataset. This chapter uses two original identification strategies to identify the effect of grade repetition on school dropout. The first instrumental strategy uses the differences among teacher attitude to repetition as an instrument for grade repetition. The second strategy uses the discontinuity in the probability of grade repetition between pupils whose test score is just lower and just higher than the target achievement. Both results show a negative effect of the grade repetition decision on the probability of being enrolled at school the next year. |
| Keywords: | Grade repetition; School demand; School dropouts; Senegal |
| JEL: | D12 I28 O12 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25665&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Zaharieva (Chizhova) (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper revisits the no-attachment assumption in job search models with random productivity fluctuations and Nash-bargaining. Both workers and firms value the option to remain in attachment: firms profit from a reduced hiring cost, while workers gain from a higher reservation wage when bargaining with a new employer. Ex-post differentiation of workers into attached and unattached unemployed produces endogenous binary wage dispersion. The decentralized equilibrium with a Hosios value of the bargaining power is no longer constrained efficient: when changing attachment workers impose a negative externality on their former employer originating from a loss of the recall option. This inefficiency tends to produce excessive job creation. The paper also investigates returns to job mobility in Germany and shows that being recalled to the previous employer as opposed to the new job is associated with about 8% lower probability of wage improvement. |
| Keywords: | Search equilibrium, temporary layoff, constrained efficiency, wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J23 J31 J63 M51 |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1008&r=lab |
| By: | Kronenberg, Kristin; Carree, Martin |
| Abstract: | This study identifies and analyzes the effects of firms’ workforce composition, labor turnover, and the qualities of entering and exiting employees on consequent changes in their productivity. Using register data provided by Statistics Netherlands, we examine the productivity dynamics of Dutch manufacturing firms between the years 2002 and 2005. The regression results illustrate that changes in firm productivity are not only determined by the composition of the firm’s current workforce and the degree of labor turnover, but also by the characteristics of the workers who enter and exit the firm. Firms benefit from the inflow of employees previously employed with other firms in the same industry, and with highly productive firms, whereas the inflow of workers from non-employment has a negative effect on their new employers’ productivity growth. Furthermore, the outflow of workers into non-employment, and to highly productive firms positively affects their old employers’ productivity growth, while the exit of workers who leave for firms in the same industry, and of those who simultaneously relocate (across long distances) has a negative effect. |
| Keywords: | workforce composition; labor turnover; job mobility; employee mobility; productivity growth |
| JEL: | J62 J63 J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25844&r=lab |
| By: | Gustavsson, Magnus (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Österholm, Pär (National Institute of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The informational value of the aggregate US unemployment rate has recently been questioned be-cause of a unit root in the labor-force participation rate; the lack of mean reversion implies that long-run changes in unemployment rates are highly unlikely to reflect long-run changes in jobless-ness. This paper shows that this critique also extends to unemployment rates for sub-populations, such as prime-aged males. |
| Keywords: | Unit-root test; |
| JEL: | C22 E24 J21 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nierwp:0120&r=lab |
| By: | Baskaran, Thushyanthan; Hessami, Zohal |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between globalization and the composition of public education expenditures. The theoretical model is embedded in a median voter setting and is based on the assumption that globalization leads to lower tax revenues as well as an increase in the relative wage of high-skilled workers. Overall, the theoretical discussion suggests that globalization induces a shift from primary to tertiary education expenditures, which is backed up by empirical evidence from dynamic panel estimations for 121 countries over the 1992 - 2006 period. A possible implication of the shift in educational priorities towards higher education is an increase in income inequality. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; public education expenditures; educational policy |
| JEL: | H42 F15 H52 |
| Date: | 2010–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25750&r=lab |
| By: | Anna Zaharieva (Chizhova) (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper incorporates a classical moral hazard problem with unobserved worker effort and bonus payments into a competitive search equilibrium environment with risk averse workers. The resulting framework permits an analysis of the effects of labour market competition and search frictions on individual contract setting. The paper demonstrates that the classical model of moral hazard with an ex-post wage setting regime may underestimate the optimal values of wages and bonus payments in competitive labour markets. The baseline model is extended to account for employer heterogeneity with respect to capital endowments. In the extended model, wage competition between employers serves as a source of positive correlation between wages and bonus payments reported in a number of empirical studies. |
| Keywords: | Effort, bonus, risk aversion, competitive search, equilibrium efficiency |
| JEL: | J33 J64 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1007&r=lab |
| By: | Célérier, C. |
| Abstract: | Based on a survey among French engineers, I find that employees in the financial sector are highly paid. I also find large pay differences within the sector and that a large share of compensation is variable. I consider three potential models accounting for these facts: a model of superstars (Rosen, 1981), a model of compensating wage differential (Lucas, 1977), and a model of moral hazard (Laffont and Martimort, 2002). I investigate and test the empirical implications of these models. I conclude that the model of superstars fits better the data than the models of moral hazard and compensating wage differential. |
| Keywords: | Finance, compensation ; wage distribution ; wage structure ; incentives, superstars |
| JEL: | G2 G24 J3 J31 M5 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:294&r=lab |
| By: | Goerke, Laszlo (University of Tuebingen); Pannenberg, Markus (Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences) |
| Abstract: | In Germany, there is no trade union membership wage premium, while the membership fee amounts to 1% of the gross wage. Therefore, prima facie, there are strong incentives to free-ride on the benefits of trade unionism. We establish empirical evidence for a private gain from trade union membership which has hitherto not been documented: in West Germany, union members are less likely to lose their jobs than non-members. In particular, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel we can show that roughly 50% of the observed raw differential in individual dismissal rates can be explained by the estimated average partial effect of union membership. |
| Keywords: | dismissal, free-riding, trade union membership, survey data |
| JEL: | C23 H41 J51 J63 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5222&r=lab |
| By: | Kunal Sen; Bibhas Saha; Dibyendu Maiti |
| Abstract: | There has been increasing ‘flexibilisation’, in the formal labour markets of both developed and developing countries. Labour institutions and globalisation are often taken to be causally related to this phenomenon, but the evidence remains inconclusive. In India, there has been an increasing use of temporary workers employed through contractors (contract workers), who are not represented by trade unions and who do not fall under the purview of the labour laws that are applicable to directly employed workers (formal workers) in formal labour markets. We develop a model of labour demand where firms choose a mix of contract workers and formal workers, rather than formal workers alone. Then we test the model using state-industry-year panel data for Indian manufacturing from 1998 to 2005. We find that both pro-worker labour institutions and increased import penetration lead to greater use of contract labour in Indian manufacturing. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwp:bwppap:12310&r=lab |
| By: | Sabrina Di Addario (Bank of Italy); Daniela Vuri (University of Rome Tor Vergata) |
| Abstract: | We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates' work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that doubling the population density of the province of work reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2-3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provincial competition, urban amenities and disamenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least densely populated areas either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the most densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap the benefits of urbanization externalities: doubling the population density of the province of work increases entrepreneurs' net monthly earnings by 2-3 per cent. |
| Keywords: | Labour market transitions, urbanization |
| JEL: | R12 J24 J21 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_775_10&r=lab |
| By: | Kronenberg, Kristin; Carree, Martin |
| Abstract: | This study identifies and evaluates determinants of employees’ job and residential mobility. It examines mobility of fulltime employees in selected sectors in 2003/2004, using register data provided by Statistics Netherlands. We estimate a multinomial model of job and residential change. The results illustrate that individuals decide upon changing jobs and/or relocating by taking into account the strength of their family- and job-related ties. We also find that the prevalence of internal versus external career opportunities impedes job changes. While a high salary facilitates relocation, our findings regarding the effect of salary on interfirm mobility were inconclusive. A long commuting distance encourages (simultaneous) job and housing mobility, while being situated in the municipality of a large city encourages employees to either change jobs, or to relocate. |
| Keywords: | Job mobility; residential mobility; regional migration; human capital |
| JEL: | J62 J61 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25840&r=lab |
| By: | Rana Hasan (Asian Development Bank); Karl Robert L. Jandoc (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of trade liberalization in accounting for increasing wage inequality in the Philippines from 1994 to 2000--a period over which trade protection declined and inequality increased dramatically. Using the approach of Ferreira, Leite, and Wai-Poi (2007), we find that trade-induced effects on industry wage premia and industry-specific skill premia account for an economically insignificant increase in wage inequality. A more substantial role for trade liberalization comes through trade-induced employment reallocation effects whereby reductions in protection appear to have led to a shift of employment to more protected sectors, especially services where wage inequality tended to be high to begin with. Nevertheless, the key drivers of wage inequality appear to be changes in economy-wide returns to education and changes in industry membership over and above those accounted for by our estimates of trade-induced employment reallocation effects. In order for trade liberalization to account for a relatively large portion of the increases in wage inequality, it would have to be a major determinant of the changes in economy-wide returns to education. |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201006&r=lab |
| By: | Richard Blundell (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London); Luke Sibieta (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p><p><p>In this paper we use English school level data from 1993 to 2008 aggregated up to small neighbourhood areas to look at the determinants of the demand for private education in England from the ages of 7 until 15 (the last year of compulsory schooling). We focus on the relative importance of price and quality of schooling. However, there are likely to be unobservable factors that are correlated with private school prices and/or the quality of state schools that also impact on the demand for private schooling which could bias our estimates. Our long regional and local authority panel data allows us to employ a number of strategies to deal with this potential endogeneity. Because of the likely presence of incidental trends in our unobservables, we employ a double difference system GMM approach to remove both fixed effects and incidental trends. We find that the demand for private schooling is inversely related to private school fees as well as the quality of state schooling in the local area at the time families were making key schooling choice decisions at the ages of 7, 11 and 13. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in the private school day fee when parents/students are making these key decisions reduces the proportion attending private schools by around 0.33 percentage points which equates to an elasticity of around -0.26. This estimate is only significant for choices at age 7 (but the point estimates are very similar at the ages of 11 and 13). At age 11 and age 13, an increase in the quality of local state secondary reduces the probability of attending private schools. At age 11, a one standard deviation increase in state school quality reduces participation in private schools by 0.31 percentage points which equates to an elasticity of -0.21. The effect at age 13 is slightly smaller, but still significant. Demand for private schooling at the ages of 8, 9, 10 and 12, 14 and 15 are almost entirely determined by private school demand in the previous year for the same cohort, and price and quality do not impact significantly on this decision other than through their initial influence on the key participation decisions at the ages of 7, 11 and 13. </p></p></p> |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/21&r=lab |
| By: | Dupuy Arnaud (ROA rm) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that gender world record ratio in four disciplines, i.e. marathon, triplejump, pole vault and 800 meters, follows a S-shape over time. It is argued that thispattern is initiated by a sudden drop in the social barrier for women to participate inthese disciplines. This drop in social barrier materializes -later- by the authorization forwomen to participate at major events, such as the Olympic Games, in these disciplines.The paper builds a simple economic model of sector self-selection and human capitalaccumulation with intrinsic disutility (social barriers) to participate in some sectors.As social barriers are removed in a sector, the Gender Performance Ratio is show tofollow a S-shape over time under very basic assumptions and calibrations. Ability selfselection,measured as the difference between mean ability of women in that sector andpopulation mean, becomes more positive after removal of the social barrier. |
| Keywords: | education, training and the labour market; |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umaror:2010006&r=lab |
| By: | Y Zhu; Ian Walker |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the impact of higher education qualifications on the earnings of graduates in the UK by subject studied. We use data from the recent UK Labour Force Surveys which provide a sufficiently large sample to consider the effects of the subject studied, class of first degree, and postgraduate qualifications. Ordinary Least Squares estimates show high average returns for women that does not differ by subject. For men, we find very large returns for Economics, Management and Law but not for other subjects - we even find small negative returns in Arts, Humanities and other Social Sciences. Quantile Regression estimates suggest negative returns for some subjects at the bottom of the distribution, or even at the median. Degree class has large effects in all subjects suggesting the possibility of large returns to effort. Postgraduate study has large effects, independently of first degree class. A large rise in tuition fees across all subjects has only a modest impact on relative rates of return suggesting that little substitution across subjects would occur. The strong message that comes out of this research is that even a large rise in tuition fees makes little difference to the quality of the investment - those subjects that offer high returns (LEM for men, and all subjects for women) continue to do so. And those subjects that do not (especially OSSAH for men) will continue to offer poor returns. The effect of fee rises is dwarfed by existing cross subject differences in returns |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:006856&r=lab |
| By: | Rebeca Jiménez-Rodríguez (University of Salamanca); Giuseppe Russo (University “Ca’ Foscari” of Venice, CSEF and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | European labour markets have undergone several important innovations over the last three decades. Most countries have reformed their labour markets since the mid-1990s, with the liberalization of fixed-term contracts and temporary work agencies being the common elements to such reforms. This paper investigates the existence of a change in the dynamic behaviour of the aggregate employment for major European Union countries - France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. According to our results, partial labour market reforms have made the response of the aggregate employment to output shocks larger and quite comparable to that found for the UK - the most flexible labour market in Europe since the Thatcher reforms. |
| Keywords: | labour market deregulation; dynamic responses |
| JEL: | C22 J23 |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:260&r=lab |
| By: | Committee, Nobel Prize (Nobel Prize Committee) |
| Abstract: | Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job openings? How can economic policy affect unemployment? This year’s Laureates have developed a theory which can be used to answer these questions. This theory is also applicable to markets other than the labor market. |
| Keywords: | Search frictions; |
| JEL: | E24 J64 |
| Date: | 2010–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2010_002&r=lab |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus (Centre for Labour Market Policy Research (CAFO)) |
| Abstract: | The idea with using field experiments for measuring discrimination in hiring is basically making all variables of a job applicant that are observable to the employer also observable to the researcher. This in turn should provide scope for measuring the true level of discrimination in hiring, which is very challenging if traditional ex post regression analysis of public microdata is used. However, most of the conducted field experiments have so far ignored that at what level the observable characteristics of the job candidates are standardized by the experiment might influence the measured degree of discrimination. In the current paper, a simple framework is first presented to illustrate the issue and then data from a field experiment conducted in the Swedish labor market is utilized to empirically analyze the question. The analysis show that the predicted difference in callback rate to a job interview between applicants with a typical Swedish and a typical Arabic name varies significantly over applications with different attributes attached. The conclusion is that studies which standardize the characteristics of the job applicants at a particular level might obtain very non generalizable results. At the end of the paper, we give some suggestions for how the field experimental methodology might be improved. |
| Keywords: | field experiment on hiring; employer discrimination |
| JEL: | J64 J71 |
| Date: | 2010–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:vxcafo:2010_002&r=lab |
| By: | Mothuri Venkatanarayana |
| Abstract: | The emphasis on education assumes importance given the recent recognition of human capital, human rights and human development perspectives of development. Hence educational deprivation is recognised as the primary agent of human deprivation and all necessary measures are required to ensure minimum education for every child. Such a universal recognition emanates from the given magnitude of educationally deprived children all around the world. On this premise, this is an attempt at examining the levels and inequities associated with the phenomenon of educational deprivation of children during 1990’s in India. This exercise provides a detailed exposition of the household characteristics of the deprived children based on information obtained in National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). [Working Paper No. 372] |
| Keywords: | India, Deprivation, Educationally Deprived Children, and Child Labour, Educational Inequalities, Group Inequalities |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2999&r=lab |
| By: | Lorraine Dearden (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London); Chris Ryan; Luke Sibieta (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p><p>This paper compares patterns of private school attendance in the UK and Australia. About 6.5% of school children in the UK attend a private school, while 33% do so in Australia. We use comparable household panel data from the two countries to model attendance at a private school at age 15 or 16 as a function of household income and other child and parental characteristics. As one might expect, we observe a strong effect of household income on private school attendance. The addition of other household characteristics reduces this income elasticity, and reveals a strong degree of intergenerational transmission in both countries, with children being 8 percentage points more likely to attend a private school if one of their parents attended one in the UK, and anywhere up to 20 percentage points more likely in Australia. The analysis also reveals significant effects of parental education level, political preferences, religious background and the number of siblings on private school attendance. </p></p> |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/22&r=lab |
| By: | Husain, Zakir |
| Abstract: | Is gender disparity greater in North India? This paper seeks to answer this question by examining gender differences in probability of completing school education across regions in India. A Gender Disparity Index is calculated using National Sample Survey Organization unit level data from the 61st Round and regional variations in this index analyzed to examine the hypothesis that gender disparity is greater in the North, comparative to the rest of India. This is followed by an econometric exercise using a logit model to confirm the results of the descriptive analysis after controlling for socio-economic correlates of completing school education. Finally, the Fairlie decomposition method is used to estimate the contribution of explanatory variables in explaining differences in probabilities of completing schooling across regions. The results reveal that gender disparities are greater in North India, for total and rural population, and in Eastern India, for urban population. However, the ‘residual effect’ after accounting for effect of explanatory variables - often referred to as ‘discrimination effect’, as opposed to disparity – is higher in Eastern India, irrespective of the place of residence. |
| Keywords: | discrimination; disparity; gender; Oaxaca decomposition; school education; India |
| JEL: | I20 C35 |
| Date: | 2010–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25748&r=lab |
| By: | Ropponen, Olli |
| Abstract: | We employ the original Card and Krueger (1994) data and the CIC estimator to reexamine the evidence on the effect of minimum wages on employment. Our main finding is that the controversial result remains valid only for small fast-food restaurants. This finding is accompanied with a new possible explanation. |
| Keywords: | CIC estimator; employment; minimum wage; nonlinear treatment effect models |
| JEL: | J38 C21 J23 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25181&r=lab |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University College Dublin); Immervoll, Herwig (OECD); Peichl, Andreas (IZA); Siegloch, Sebastian (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Macro-level changes can have substantial effects on the distribution of resources at the household level. While it is possible to speculate about which groups are likely to be hardest-hit, detailed distributional studies are still largely backward-looking. This paper suggests a straightforward approach to gauge the distributional and fiscal implications of large output changes at an early stage. We illustrate the method with an evaluation of the impact of the 2008-2009 crisis in Germany. We take as a starting point a very detailed administrative matched employer-employee dataset to estimate labor demand and predict the effects of output shocks at a disaggregated level. The predicted employment effects are then transposed to household-level microdata, in order to analyze the incidence of rising unemployment and reduced working hours on poverty and inequality. We focus on two alternative scenarios of the labor demand adjustment process, one based on reductions in hours (intensive margin) and close to the German experience, and the other assuming extensive margin adjustments that take place through layoffs (close to the US situation). Our results suggest that the distributional and fiscal consequences are less severe when labor demand reacts along the intensive margin. |
| Keywords: | labor demand, tax-benefit system, crisis, income distribution |
| JEL: | D58 J23 H24 H60 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5220&r=lab |
| By: | Oshio, Takashi; Shimizutani, Satoshi |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes historical information to explore the relationship between labor force participation of middle aged and old people and the disability program in Japan. In particular, we explore the time series dimension to identify what has determined the trend in disability program participation over time and relate it with the labor supply. We find that mortality and health measures have been largely unrelated to the disability program participation rates. While major revisions to the disability program have slightly expanded the eligibility for DI programs, the program participation is still very low; thus, the effect on labor force participation is very limited in Japan, which is in contrast with some European countries that have high take up rates, inducing early retirement. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:piecis:485&r=lab |
| By: | Fanti, Luciano; Gori, Luca |
| Abstract: | We offer an analysis of the existence of a positive relationship between minimum wages and economic growth in a simple one-sector overlapping generations economy where the usual Romer-typed knowledge spill-over mechanism in production represents the engine of endogenous growth, in the case of both homogeneous and heterogeneous (i.e., skilled and unskilled) labour. Assuming also the existence of unemployment benefits financed with consumption taxes not conditioned on age at a balanced budget, it is shown that minimum wages may stimulate economic growth and welfare despite the unemployment occurrence. Moreover, a growth-maximising minimum wage can exist. A straightforward message, therefore, is that a combination of minimum wage and unemployment benefit policies can appropriately be used to promote balanced growth and welfare. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth; Minimum wage; Unemployment; OLG model |
| JEL: | O41 J60 H24 |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25842&r=lab |
| By: | Haroon Chowdry (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Claire Crawford (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Alissa Goodman (Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | <p>It is well known that children growing up in poor families leave school with considerably lower qualifications than children from better off backgrounds. Using a simple decomposition analysis, we show that around two thirds of the socio-economic gap in attainment at age 16 can be accounted for by long-run family background characteristics and prior ability, suggesting that circumstances and investments made considerably earlier in the child's life explain the majority of the gap in test scores between young people from rich and poor families. However, we also find that differences in the attitudes and behaviours of young people and their parents during the teenage years play a key role in explaining the rich-poor gap in GCSE attainment: together, they explain a further quarter of the gap at age 16, and the majority of the small increase in this gap between ages 11 and 16. On this basis, our results suggest that while the most effective policies in terms of raising the attainment of young people from poor families are likely to be those enacted before children reach secondary school, policies that aim to reduce differences in attitudes and behaviours between the poorest children and those from better-off backgrounds during the teenage years may also make a significant contribution towards lowering the gap in achievement between young people from the richest and poorest families at age 16.</p> |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:10/15&r=lab |
| By: | Jonsson, Thomas (National Institute of Economic Research); Österholm, Pär (National Institute of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we evaluate survey-based wage-growth expectations in Sweden. Results show that the expectations are neither unbiased nor efficient forecasts. Evaluating out-of-sample forecasting performance, we find that the survey participants generally perform worse than a con-stant forecast based on reasonable assumptions regarding the inflation target and productivity growth. Our findings indicate that caution should be exercised when relying on these data for policymaking. |
| Keywords: | Survey data; |
| JEL: | E52 J30 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nierwp:0121&r=lab |
| By: | Gerardo P. Sicat |
| Abstract: | In this study, the opinions of operating enterprises regarding the minimum wage policy are studied with the use of ordered logit regression model. The study uses survey data that asked a series of questions dealing with labor market policies in the Philippines. The aim of this regression model is to estimate the probability that the respondent would choose one of the following ordered levels of answers to the question involving their opinion of the country's process of setting the minimum wage level : very poor, poor, fair, good, and excellent. The results of the regressions show that categorical groupings of the respondent firms determine the direction in which respondent firms choose their judgment of the labor policy issue. In particular, the nature of ownership, market orientation of the firm, age of the enterprise, employment size, among others, and even the specific position of the official of the company assigned to answer the survey play important influences on the formation of the firm's opinion on the policy. Such findings are likely to be important in framing reform issues on labor policies. |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201005&r=lab |
| By: | Martin, Pardupa |
| Abstract: | In this paper I examine the interrelation between monetary and non monetary incentive measures and the performance of a betting firm in the Czech Republic. Previous studies have focused either solely on monetary measures in order to examine the positive and adverse monetary incentive effects or on measuring the effect of certain non monetary managerial objectives and often on the level of top managers. I argue that the monetary and non monetary incentive measures should be analyzed separately as they influence the final outcome in a methodologically different way and that the analysis on lower level of organization can bring more reliable data. The evidence from unique set of medium term data from the Czech betting firm shows the possible positive effect of increased wage variability on its performance while the effect of trainings and nonmonetary rewards were proven as insignificant. |
| Keywords: | monetary incentives; trainings; knowledge dispersion; wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J31 L81 M53 M52 |
| Date: | 2010–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25933&r=lab |
| By: | Monojit Chatterji; Homagni Choudhury |
| Abstract: | This study examines the inter-industry wage structure of the organised manufacturing sector in India for the period 1973-74 to 2003-04 by estimating the growth of average real wages for production workers by industry. In order to estimate the growth rates, the study adopts a methodological framework that differs from other studies in that the time series properties of the concerned variables are closely considered in order to obtain meaningful estimates of growth that are unbiased and (asymptotically) efficient. Using wage data on 51 manufacturing industries at three digit level of the National Industrial Classification 1998 (India), our estimation procedure obtains estimates of growth of real wages per worker that are deterministic in nature by accounting for any potential structural break(s). Our findings show that the inter-industry wage structure in India has changed a lot in the period 1973-74 to 2003-04 and that it provides some evidence that the inter-industry wage differences have become more pronounced in the post-reforms period. Thus this paper provides new evidence from India on the need to consider the hypothesis that industry affiliation is potentially an important determinant of wages when studying any relationship between reforms and wages. |
| Keywords: | Growth Rate, CAGR, AAGR, Unit Roots, Trend Stationary, Structural Breaks, Real Wages, Inter-industry Wage Structure |
| JEL: | C13 C22 F16 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dun:dpaper:244&r=lab |
| By: | Loening, Josef; Rao, B. Bhaskara; Singh, Rup |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of economic growth in Guatemala, with a particular focus on the schooling level. Results based on an error-correction methodology show a better educated labour force has a positive and significant impact on economic growth. Consistent with micro evidence for Guatemala, primary education is more important than secondary and tertiary education. These findings are robust while changing the conditioning variables, controlling for data issues and endogeneity. Due to social and political conflict, the average per capita growth rate in Guatemala has been low. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth; education; error-correction model; Guatemala |
| JEL: | N16 |
| Date: | 2010–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:25105&r=lab |
| By: | Ding, Waverly W.; Murray, Fiona; Stuart, Toby E. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. Based on theory and field interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists’ productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional affiliations have different effects on whether male and female faculty become “academic entrepreneursâ€. We then statistically examine this framework in a national sample of 6,000 life scientists whose careers span more than 20 years. We find sharp gender differences in participation in for-profit ventures, which we measure as the likelihood of joining the scientific advisory board (SAB) of a biotechnology firm. Compared to men, women life scientists are much less likely to advise for-profit biotechnology companies. We also identify factors that contour this gender difference, including scientists’ co-authorship network structure and the level of support for commercial science at their universities. Surprisingly, we find that the (conditional) gender gap is largest among faculty members at the highest status institutions. |
| Date: | 2010–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:1600534&r=lab |
| By: | Jeno Koltay (Institute of Economics - Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper will approach the role of multinational companies (MNCs) in shaping Hungarian labour relations in a broader context. Departing from an overview of macroeconomic developments of the last two decades, all levels and aspects of labour relations, actors, strategies, institutions and practices will be examined in order to grasp Hungarian specifics against features common to new EU members in Central and Eastern Europe. A closer look at the underlying macroeconomic framework will help to highlight how in an early transforming, small and open economy incoming FDI and MNCs affect the system of industrial relations which in turn becomes one of the coordination mechanisms differentiating economic and political regimes of old and new market economies. In evaluating the impact of MNCs on Hungarian employment relations home country and host country effects as well as global tendencies will be considered within the 'vehicle of change' and the 'outpost test department' extremes. |
| Keywords: | labour relations, multinational companies, collective agreements, informal bargaining, tripartism, social dialogue, Hungary |
| JEL: | F23 J51 J52 J53 J83 M12 M54 |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1015&r=lab |
| By: | Andrzej Kwiatkowski |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of two different education financing systems: a foundation system and a state system on the level and distribution of resources devoted to education in the presence of private schools. We use political economy approach where households differ in their level of income, and the central tax rate used to finance education is determined by a majority vote. Our analysis focuses on implications of allowing for a private-school option. To evaluate the importance of private schools we develop a computational model and calibrate it using USA data. The results reveal that the private school option is very important quantitatively in terms of welfare, total resources spent on education and equity. |
| Keywords: | Education finance reform, Private schools |
| JEL: | I22 I28 H42 |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dun:dpaper:241&r=lab |
| By: | Glorie, K.; Oostrum, J.M. van; Dur, R.A.J.; Kazemier, G.; Wagelmans, A.P.M. |
| Abstract: | The imperative to improve healthcare efficiency is now stronger than ever. Rapidly increasing healthcare demand and the prospect of healthcare cost exploding require that measures be taken to make healthcare organizations become more efficiency-aware. Alignment of organizational interests is therefore important. One of the main hurdles to overcome is the provision of the right incentives to healthcare workers, in particular physicians. In this research we investigate the incentive system for physicians in university hospitals. We present an inquiry held in a large university hospital in the Netherlands and show that non-financial incentives receive significantly more support among physicians than financial incentives. Over 95 percent of the physicians indicated they derive more work stimulus from research possibilities or scientific status than from wage. Over 80 percent of the physicians also indicated they prefer to be able to do more research. We therefore identified a broad class of non-financial incentives aimed at physicians in university hospitals: research facilities. The main tradeoff in using research facilities within an incentive system is between efficient resource utilization and inducement effects. This thesis constructs a principal-multi-agent model where agents engage in both care and research and which includes heterogeneity and private information. We study how research facilities incentives can be used to improve hospital performance if the current wage system is left intact. We show that research facilities are optimally used as incentives for both care and research activities, and that the hospital offers different contracts depending on physician ability and valuation. Moreover, if physicians need to reveal their valuations for research facilities, the hospital finds it optimal to allow physicians to make a rent. We discuss some implications of extending the theoretical results to practice. |
| Keywords: | health care management;incentive contracts;mechanism design;principal agent problem |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureir:1765020967&r=lab |
| By: | Papps, Kerry L. (University of Oxford); Bryson, Alex (National Institute of Economic and Social Research); Gomez, Rafael (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | A detailed longitudinal dataset is assembled containing annual performance and biographical data for every player over the entire history of professional major league baseball. The data are then aggregated to the team level for the period 1920-2009 in order to test whether teams built on a more even distribution of observed talent perform better than those teams with a mixture of highly able and less able players. The dependent variable used in the regressions is the percentage of games a team wins each season. We find that conditioning on average player ability, dispersion of both batting and pitching talent displays an optimal degree of inequality, in that teams with too high or too low a spread in player ability perform worse than teams with a more balanced distribution of offensive and defensive talent. These findings have potentially important applications both inside and outside of the sporting world. |
| Keywords: | baseball, skill dispersion, firm performance |
| JEL: | L23 L25 L83 M51 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5225&r=lab |
| By: | Anne Trebilcock |
| Abstract: | The ILO was founded for social justice, a mandate expressed today in terms of decent work as a global goal, for all who work, whether in formal or informal contexts. In June 2002, the delegates to the International Labour Conference from governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations adopted a resolution incorporating conclusions on decent work and the informal economy. The four components of decent work – opportunities for employment and income, respect for rights at work, social protection and stronger social dialogue – form the backbone of the ILO’s approach to the informal economy. These elements can also be seen through a development lens, and necessarily feature a strong gender dimension. [Discussion Paper No. 2005/04] |
| Keywords: | employment, governance, ILO, indicators, informal sector, representation, rights, social protection |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:3002&r=lab |
| By: | Pedro Carneiro (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); James Heckman (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Chicago); Edward Vytlacil (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | <p>This paper estimates the marginal returns to college for individuals induced to enroll in college by different marginal policy changes. The recent instrumental variables literature seeks to estimate this parameter, but in general it does so only under strong assumptions that are tested and found wanting. We show how to utilize economic theory and local instrumental variables estimators to estimate the effect of marginal policy changes. Our empirical analysis shows that returns are higher for individuals more likely to attend college. We contrast the returns to well-defined marginal policy changes with IV estimates of the return to schooling. Some marginal policy changes inducing students into college produce very low returns.</p> |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:29/10&r=lab |
| By: | Tahar Abdessalem (Ecole Polytechnique, Tunisia) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on Tunisia, which like other developing countries, has allocated increasing levels of resources to education, particularly higher education, mainly through public funding over the past few decades. In 2005-2008, public expenditure on education amounted to around 7.4 percent of GDP, with 2 percent allocated to higher education. However, in the last few years, the budgetary constraints have increased, and are likely to remain so in the near future. These budgetary constraints exist within a context of rapidly increasing student enrollment, and the need to improve the quality of education to insure better employability of graduates. In light of this situation, public policy is obliged to define orientations and programs, improving quality and efficiency while reducing costs and resource wastage, to enhance access and equity. This paper is organized as follows: it begins with an assessment of public expenditure on higher education in Tunisia, with respect to its adequacy, efficiency and equity. Next, in section 2, we explore the challenges posed to financing by demographic evolution, the quality of education and private provision. Section 3 examines some financing reinforcement strategies, and analyzes feasible measures to raise private funding contributions. Section 4 provides some concluding remarks. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:551&r=lab |
| By: | Somlanaré Romuald KINDA (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of education on the growth of carbon dioxide emissions per capita over the period 1970-2004 in 85 countries. Using panel data and applying GMM-System estimations, our results suggest that education has no impact on the growth of air pollution for the whole sample. Nonetheless, this effect is sensitive to the sampling of countries according to their level of development. Indeed, while the effect remains insignificant in the developing countries sub-sample, education does matter for air pollution growth in the developed countries. More interestingly, when controlling for the quality of political institutions, the positive effect of education on air pollution growth is mitigated in the developed countries while being insignificant in the developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Carbon dioxide per Capita; Education; Democratic institutions (043) |
| JEL: | I2 Q53 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1205&r=lab |
| By: | L'Haridon, Olivier; Malherbet, Franck; Pérez-Duarte, Sébastien |
| Abstract: | In this article, the authors use a stylized model of the labor market to investigate the effects of three alternative and well-known bargaining solutions. They apply the Nash, the Egalitarian and the Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining solutions in the small firm’s matching model of unemployment. To the best of their knowledge, this is the first attempt that has been made to implement and systematically compare these solutions in search matching economies. Their results are twofold. First from the theoretical/methodological viewpoint, they extend a somewhat flexible search matching economy to alternative bargaining solutions. In particular, they prove that the Egalitarian and the Kalai -Smorodinsky solutions are easily implementable and mathematically tractable within search-matching economies. Second, their results show that even though the traditional results of bargaining theory apply in this context, they are generally qualitatively different and quantitatively weaker than expected. This is of particular relevance in comparison with the results established in the earlier literature. |
| Keywords: | Search and matching models; Bargaining theory; Nash; Egalitarian; Kalai-Smorodinsky |
| JEL: | C71 C78 J20 J60 |
| Date: | 2010–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:0938&r=lab |
| By: | Mayssun El-Attar (Institute for Fiscal Studies and McGill University) |
| Abstract: | <p>The goal of this paper is to measure Palestinians' attitudes towards a peace process and their determinants. One novelty is to define these attitudes as multidimensional and to measure them carefully using a flexible item response model. Results show that education, on which previous evidence appears contradictory, has a positive effect on attitudes towards concessions but a negative effect on attitudes towards reconciliation. This could occur if more educated people, who currently have very low returns to education, have more to gain from peace but are less willing to reconcile because of resentment acquired due to their experience.</p> |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:27/10&r=lab |
| By: | Hristos Doucouliagos; Patrice Laroche |
| Abstract: | There is currently no consensus regarding the effect of unions on technology. We apply meta-regression analysis to the extant econometric studies and find that unions depress investment in new technology. However, this adverse effect has been declining over time and is moderated by country differences in industrial relations and regulations: The adverse effect appears to increase with labor market flexibility. Unions also have an adverse effect on technology adoption. The paper considers both the direct and indirect effects of unions and shows that their effect on technology is larger than their effect on profitability and physical capital. The size of the union effect on technology is compared to the effects of human capital, industry concentration, firm size, growth, profitability, and physical capital. |
| Keywords: | unions, R&D, innovation, technology adoption, regulation, meta-regression analysis |
| JEL: | J51 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2010–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2010_16&r=lab |
| By: | Stephen Hickson (University of Canterbury) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how first year Principles of Economics courses assessment items predict achievement in post principles economics courses. Of particular interest is how achievement in different assessment forms (assignments, multiple choice questions, and constructed response questions) predicts future performance. I use assessment data compiled from principles and post principles economics classes at the University of Canterbury from 2002-2008. I also control for performance in first year mathematics, statistics, accountancy and management. I find that constructed response questions particularly in the end of semester final exam generally contain more predictive power than multiple choice questions or the term test constructed response items. |
| Keywords: | Principles of Economics Assessment; Multiple Choice; Constructed Response; Free Response; Essay |
| JEL: | A22 |
| Date: | 2010–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:10/64&r=lab |
| By: | Javier G. Polavieja (IMDEA Social Science); Lucinda Platt (ISER, University of Essex & IAE-CSIC) |
| Abstract: | There is a high degree of sex-typing in young children's occupational aspirations and this has consequences for subsequent occupational segregation. Sociologists typically attribute early sex-differences in occupational preferences to gender socialization. Yet we still know surprisingly little about the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of sex-typical preferences and there is considerable theoretical controversy regarding the role of individual agency in the process of preference formation. This study analyzes the determinants of sex-typed occupational aspirations amongst British children aged between 11 and 15. We specify different mechanisms involved in the transmission of sex-typical preferences and propose an innovative definition of individual agency that is anchored in observable psychological traits linked to self-direction. This allows us to perform a simultaneous test of socialization and agency predictors of occupational sex-typing. We find that parental influences on occupational preferences operate mainly through three distinctive channels: 1) the effect that parental socio-economic resources have on the scope of children‘s occupational aspirations, 2) children's direct imitation of parental occupations, and 3) children's learning of sex-typed roles via the observation of parental behavior. We also find a strong net effect of children's own psychological predispositions —self-esteem in particular— on the incidence of sex-typical occupational preferences. Yet large differences in the occupational aspirations of girls and boys remain unexplained. |
| Keywords: | Gender segregation; occupational aspirations; children; socialization; agency; personality traits; mechanisms; british household panel survey |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J24 Z13 |
| Date: | 2010–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2010-19&r=lab |
| By: | Christin Cave |
| Abstract: | One of the main problems facing big-city school districts in the United States is deteriorating and underutilised school infrastructure. The Detroit public school district is attempting to tackle this issue with an injection of federal funding and a comprehensive school facilities renovation plan. Money from a bond issue passed in November 2009 will be used to construct new replacement school buildings and renovate existing ones to efficiently transform the school district and the city. |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaac:2010/9-en&r=lab |
| By: | Silvia Sacchetti; Roger Sugden; Ermanno Tortia |
| Abstract: | We define the use of creativity as a property of decision-making processes, and hypothesize that access to decision-making, by allowing individuals to use their creativity, can increase individual satisfaction. Consequently levels of satisfaction can tell us, amongst other things, about how much the work environment supports the use of individual creativity. To test our hypothesis, we use survey data encompassing 4,134 salaried workers in 320 Italian social enterprises (specifically, cooperatives with social aims). Whilst popular wisdom uses to put creativity exclusively in the realm of innate, idiosyncratic features of the individual (NACCCE 1999) or as the outcome of serendipity, our results deliver a different picture. We implement latent regression analysis with factor-wise score regression. Factor-wise scoring is used to accomplish logit, OLS, and instrumental variable analysis. Results support the view that the use of creativity associated with diverse organizational processes generates different levels of satisfaction. In particular, elements defining the degree of involvement, the quality of relationships with managers and fairness of procedures emerge as preconditions for individuals to be satisfied with the use of creativity in strategic decisional contexts and to fulfill their personal job aspirations. Teamwork boosts instead the practical use of creativity in work-settings. Instrumental variable analysis does not contradict the existence of a causal relation between organizational processes and creativity. |
| Keywords: | creativity, inclusive governance, motivations, satisfaction, social enterprises, work organization |
| JEL: | J24 J28 J54 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpde:1010&r=lab |
| By: | ONISHI Koichiro; OWAN Hideo |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes historical developments in Japan’s legal treatment of firms’ invention remuneration policies and examines the impact of such policies on R&D performance using original data from surveys including the 2005 IIP Invention Remuneration Survey, the 2007 RIETI Inventor Survey and its 2008 follow-up survey. Tracking the linkages between remuneration policy and R&D performance is complicated by Japanese firms’ reluctance to reveal the details of their policies to their employees before the 2004 amendment of Japan’s Patent Law. By matching the data from firm-level and individual-level surveys, we find that nearly 40% of inventors believed that their firms did not have revenue-based remuneration although their employers reported they actually had instituted such policies. We estimate the effect of revenue-based remuneration policies on R&D performance using two policy variables for the incidence of contingent remuneration policies, one of which depends on the firms’ responses and the other on individual employees’ survey responses. |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:10049&r=lab |