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on Labour Economics |
| By: | María Soledad Bos; Marcelo Cabrol; Carlos Rondón |
| Abstract: | School attendance in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has increased exponentially in the last two decades, almost every child goes to primary school and access to preschool and high school is fast catching up. This increase in access has been mostly led by more attendance to school of previously excluded children and youth -poor, rural and indigenous populations-, which has created a heterogeneous pool of students with very diverse needs, abilities and interests. Based on descriptive statistics on increased access to education and some learning and life outcomes, this paper discusses in detail how the new roles called upon teachers can help improve the quality of education in LAC. This paper concludes with some promising examples on how countries and international organizations are attempting to create a teaching force that can fulfill these roles. |
| Keywords: | Education :: Teacher Education & Quality, Education :: Primary & Secondary Education, Education :: School-to-Work Transition, access to school, indigenous populations, roles for teachers, violence, discrimination, teenage pregnancy, labor market |
| JEL: | I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:73138&r=lab |
| By: | Giuseppe Ciccarone; Francesco Giuli; Enrico Marchetti |
| Abstract: | We study the e¤ects of underground activities on labour market dynamics in a RBC model with search frictions in the labor market, bargained wage and quadratic hiring costs. Underground activities, which allow agents to (partially) evade taxes, are modelled through a moonlighting production scheme where both regular and underground labor use the same capital equipment inside the firm. Calibrating the model on the U.S. economy, we show that a higher relative size of underground production implies lower average employment and a lower job finding rate, together with higher volatility of employment and lower volatilities of hours worked and wages of regular labor services. The theoretical explanation we provide is that a higher level of the underground activity increases the ratio of the flow contribution of non-working to the flow contribution of a worker to a labour match. |
| Keywords: | underground activities, tax evasion, search and matching, real business cycle |
| JEL: | E32 E26 J64 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0159&r=lab |
| By: | Aimee Chin; N. Meltem Daysal; Scott A. Imberman |
| Abstract: | Texas requires a school district to offer bilingual education when its enrollment of limited English proficient (LEP) students in a particular elementary grade and language is twenty or higher. Using school panel data, we find a significant increase in the probability that a district offers bilingual education above this 20-student cutoff. Using this discontinuity as an instrument for district bilingual education provision, we find that bilingual education programs do not significantly impact the standardized test scores of students with Spanish as their home language (comprised primarily of ever-LEP students). However, there are significant positive spillover effects to their non-LEP peers. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18197&r=lab |
| By: | Hector Elias Gutierrez Rufrancos (Department of Economics, University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits the Mexican Encuesta Nacional de Empleo Urbano (ENEU) to determine the existence of the wage curve|an empirical phenomena rst suggested by Blanch ower and Oswald (1990)|during the period 2000{2003. We propose an innovative approach to the wage curve by estimating the elasticity across the wage dis- tribution. This is applied to the Mexican experience during the early 2000s recession. The evidence indicates that for Mexico during this period there is no wage curve, and that wages are positively aected by local levels of unemployment. This lends credi- bility to the Harris and Todaro (1970) view which suggests that there is segmentation in the labour market with residual unemployment. We argue that perhaps the power of unions may account for our fndings. |
| Keywords: | Wage curve, unemployment, Formal/Informal Employment, Urban labour markets, Mexico |
| JEL: | C21 J30 J60 O17 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:3412&r=lab |
| By: | Bonhomme, Stephane (CEMFI, Madrid); Hospido, Laura (Bank of Spain) |
| Abstract: | We use detailed information on labor earnings and employment from social security records to document the evolution of earnings inequality in Spain from 1988 to 2010. Male earnings inequality was strongly countercyclical: it increased around the 1993 recession, showed a substantial decrease during the 1997-2007 expansion, and then a sharp increase during the recent recession. This evolution was partly driven by the cyclicality of employment and earnings in the lower-middle part of the distribution. We emphasize the importance of the housing boom and subsequent housing bust, and show that demand shocks in the construction sector had large effects on aggregate labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | earnings inequality, social security data, unemployment, business cycle |
| JEL: | D31 J21 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6669&r=lab |
| By: | Massimiliano Calì |
| Abstract: | The process of economic integration over the past two decades has been accompanied by an expanding income wedge between skilled and unskilled workers in many developing countries. This was also the case for Ugandan wage employees during the 1990s, which was a period of abrupt trade opening and market reforms. This is a surprising result for an unskilled labour abundant country like Uganda in light of a standard Heckscher-Ohlin (H-O) framework. But was the trade opening responsible for the increase in wage premia? By using a novel district-level analysis, I find that in fact increased trade reduced the returns to schooling in line with the H-O predictions. On the other hand, the intensification of domestic trade across districts during the period was associated with higher returns in those districts relatively endowed with skilled employees. This effect appears to be responsible for at least some of the rising returns to schooling among wage employees in Uganda. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, wage inequality, Uganda, trade, market reforms |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F16 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0114&r=lab |
| By: | Cory Koedel (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Shawn Ni (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia); Michael Podgursky (Department of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia) |
| Abstract: | During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine the benefit enhancements to the teacher pension system in Missouri. These enhancements resulted in large windfall gains for teachers who were close to retirement when the legislation was enacted. By contrast, novice teachers, and teachers who had not yet entered the labor force, were made worse off. The reason is that front-end contribution rates have been raised for current teachers to offset past liabilities accrued from the enhancements. Other things equal, the teaching profession in Missouri is now less appealing for young teachers as a result of the pension enhancements. |
| Keywords: | pension, pension risk, defined-contribution pension, teacher pension, teacher pension risk |
| JEL: | I20 J33 J38 |
| Date: | 2012–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1207&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Over the past three decades, the income gap between the rich and the poor has widened across most OECD countries. As the global economic crisis and the changing needs of the worldwide labour market threaten to increase inequality further, how can education help reduce it? <p>As the fourth issue of the OECD’s new brief series Education Indicators in Focus describes, education policies that focus on equity may be one of the strongest tools countries have to address this growing concern. By focusing on equal opportunities for students to achieve strong academic outcomes, countries can provide a pathway for more students to continue on to higher levels of education and eventually secure good jobs – two outcomes that are likely to lessen income inequality in the future. <p>Four top performers on the 2009 PISA assessment – Canada, Finland, Japan, and Korea – show the potential of this approach. All of these countries have education systems that put a strong focus on equity, whether through equitable resource allocation policies, teacher policies, or sustained efforts to engage disadvantaged student populations. And all of them have high proportions of students who performed better than would be expected on PISA, given their socio-economic background – a strong start towards future outcomes that can lead to less income inequality. <p>Be sure to check your inbox for future issues of Education Indicators in Focus, which each month will provide analysis and policy insights into the most pressing issues in education today, using evidence from Education at a Glance, the flagship publication of the OECD’s Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:4-en&r=lab |
| By: | Hai Fang; Karen N. Eggleston; John A. Rizzo; Scott Rozelle; Richard J. Zeckhauser |
| Abstract: | As China transforms from a socialist planned economy to a market-oriented economy, its returns to education are expected to rise to meet those found in middle-income established market economies. This study employs a plausible instrument for education: the China Compulsory Education Law of 1986. We use differences among provinces in the dates of effective implementation of the compulsory education law to show that the law raised overall educational attainment in China by about 0.8 years of schooling. We then use this instrumental variable to control for the endogeneity of education and estimate the returns to an additional year of schooling in 1997-2006. Results imply that the overall returns to education are approximately 20 percent per year on average in contemporary China, fairly consistent with returns found in most industrialized economies. Returns differ among subpopulations; they increase after controlling for endogeneity of education. |
| JEL: | J31 O15 P52 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18189&r=lab |
| By: | Lindahl, Mikael (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Palme, Mårten (Department of Economics, Stockholm University); Sandgren Massih, Sofia (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Sjögren, Anna (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Most previous studies of intergenerational transmission of human capital are restricted to two generations – parents and their children. In this study we use a Swedish data set which enables us link individual measures of lifetime earnings for three generations and data on educational attainments of four generations. We investigate to what extent estimates based on income data from two generations accurately predicts earnings persistence beyond two generations. We also do a similar analysis for intergenerational persistence in educational attainments. We find two-generation studies to severely under-predict intergenerational persistence in earnings and educational attainment over three generations. Finally, we use our multigenerational data on educational attainment to estimate the structural parameters in the Becker-Tomes model. Our results suggest a small or no causal effect of parental education on children’s educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational income mobility; Human capital transmission; Multigenerational income mobility |
| JEL: | D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2012_012&r=lab |
| By: | Rafał Kierzenkowski |
| Abstract: | A rapid decrease in unemployment is a short-term priority to limit social problems and reduce the risk of rising structural unemployment. To this end, strengthening labour market policies to sustain labour demand is key. The public works programme should remain temporary and become more focused on training. The authorities should also refrain from further raising the minimum wage. Fundamental structural reforms are needed in the medium term to raise one of the lowest participation rates in the OECD. This challenge is acute in the context of a rapidly ageing population. The authorities have started restructuring the tax/benefit system to make work pay and increase labour supply, yet additional efforts are needed to foster the inclusiveness of the labour market. Groups which are significantly under-represented in the labour market include the low-skilled, youth, the elderly, women of childbearing age, the disabled and the Roma. Structural measures are needed to develop part-time and other flexible forms of employment, reform family policies, ease the integration of people with disability into the labour market, better attune the education system to labour market needs, enhance the level of qualifications and skills at different ages, diminish disincentives to work at older ages and break the segregation of the Roma. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Survey of Hungary (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/hungary)<P>Vers un marché du travail plus inclusif en Hongrie<BR>L’une des priorités immédiates des pouvoirs publics consiste à faire reculer rapidement le chômage afin de limiter les problèmes sociaux et de réduire les risques d’une montée du chômage structurel. Pour y parvenir, il est indispensable de renforcer les politiques du marché du travail, capables de soutenir la demande de travail. Le programme de travaux publics doit rester temporaire et être davantage axé sur la formation. Les autorités devraient également s’abstenir de relever davantage le salaire minimum. Des réformes structurelles fondamentales sont nécessaires à moyen terme pour que le taux d’activité de la Hongrie ne figure plus parmi les plus bas de la zone OCDE. Il s’agit d’un enjeu majeur dans le contexte du vieillissement rapide de la population. Les pouvoirs publics ont commencé à restructurer le système de prélèvements et de prestations afin d’augmenter les incitations financières au travail et l’offre de main-d’oeuvre. Néanmoins, ils devront consentir des efforts supplémentaires pour veiller à ce que le marché du travail soit plus inclusif. En effet, plusieurs catégories de population sont significativement sous-représentées sur le marché du travail, comme les peu qualifiés, les jeunes, les seniors, les femmes en âge de procréer, les handicapés et les Roms. Des mesures structurelles s’imposent pour développer l’emploi à temps partiel et d’autres formes flexibles d’emploi, réformer les politiques familiales, faciliter l’insertion professionnelle des handicapés, adapter le système éducatif aux besoins du marché du travail, accroître le niveau de qualifications et de compétences à tous les âges, renforcer les incitations à la poursuite de l’activité à un âge avancé et lutter contre la discrimination à l’égard des Roms. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de la Hongrie, 2012 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/hongrie). |
| Keywords: | unemployment, Hungary, labour market policies, labour force participation rates, minimum wage, benefit system, chômage, Hongrie, politique du marché du travail, salaire minimum, taux d’activité, système de prestations |
| JEL: | J13 J14 J21 J26 J32 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:960-en&r=lab |
| By: | Ou, Dongshu; Kondo, Ayako |
| Abstract: | Using data from 1991 to 2006 in Hong Kong, this paper documents how the distribution of workers’ earnings and the inequality of immigrants’ and natives’ earnings changed over time. We decompose earnings inequality to explore how the changes in immigrants’ share of the labor force have affected earnings inequality. We find that the increase in overall inequality can be explained by the increase in the within-group variance of natives. A nonnegligible part of the increase in inequality for women is due to the expansion of between-group variance caused by the large inflow of low-income immigrants from developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Earnings inequality; immigrants; Hong Kong |
| JEL: | D31 O15 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39673&r=lab |
| By: | Böhlmark, Anders (Swedish Institute for Social Research); Lindahl, Mikael (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates average educational performance effects of an expanding independentschool sector at the compulsory level by assessing a radical voucher reform that was implemented in Sweden in 1992. Starting from a situation where all public schools were essentially local monopolists, the degree of independent schools has developed very differently across municipalities over time as a result of this reform. We regress the change in educational performance outcomes on the increase in the share of independent-school students between Swedish municipalities. We find that an increase in the share of independent-school students improves average performance at the end of compulsory school as well as long-run educational outcomes. We show that these effects are very robust with respect to a number of potential issues, such as grade inflation and pre-reform trends. However, for most outcomes, we do not detect positive and statistically significant effects until approximately a decade after the reform. This is notable, but not surprising given that it took time for independent schools to become more than a marginal phenomenon in Sweden. We do not find positive effects on school expenditures. Hence, the educational performance effects are interpretable as positive effects on school productivity. We further find that the average effects primarily are due to external effects (e.g., school competition), and not that independent-school students gain significantly more than public-school students. |
| Keywords: | school choice; independent schools: educational performance; external effects |
| JEL: | H40 I20 |
| Date: | 2012–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2012_015&r=lab |
| By: | Kambayashi, Ryo (Hitotsubashi University); Kato, Takao (Colgate University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides novel evidence on the long-term effect of the Great Recession on the quality of jobs, in particular whether the Great Recession results in the replacement of "good jobs" (characterized by high wage/benefit, job security, and opportunity for training and development) with "bad jobs" (characterized by the lack of such attributes). Unfortunately there is not yet sufficiently long data from the recent Great Recession that enable researchers to study fully its long-term consequences for the labor market structure. To this end, we examine Japan's Lost Decade, the original Great Recession that occurred two decades ago. First, insofar as male workers are concerned, we find evidence against the popular narrative that during Japan's Lost Decade there was a significant shift of the composition of employment toward "bad jobs." Second, we find that the composition of female workers shifted significantly toward "bad jobs" and that such a shift occurred primarily through an increased use of a hybrid employment contract of nonstandard employment with indefinite contracts. Third, young women in Japan made considerable progress in shifting the composition of their employment toward "good jobs" during Japan's growth decade preceding the Lost Decade. We find that such progress was entirely undone during the Great Recession. Obviously the Great Recession affects the quantity of jobs and policy makers ought to pay immediate attention to such quantity effects. However, the Great Recession may also have more long-term structural effects on the quality of jobs. |
| Keywords: | job quality, good jobs, bad jobs, Great Recession, Lost Decade, Japan |
| JEL: | J63 J64 J41 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6666&r=lab |
| By: | Kevin Lang; Russell Weinstein |
| Abstract: | Using the Beginning Postsecondary Student Survey, we examine the effect on earnings of obtaining certificates/degrees from for-profit, not-for-profit, and public institutions. Students who enter certificate programs at any type of institution do not gain from earning a certificate. However, among those entering associates degree programs, there are large, statistically significant benefits from obtaining certificates/degrees from public and not-for-profit but not from for-profit institutions. These results are robust to addressing selection into the labor market from college, and into positive earnings from unemployment, using imputation methods and quantile regression along with a maximum likelihood sample selection model. |
| JEL: | I23 J3 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18201&r=lab |
| By: | Kristinn Hermannsson (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Katerina Lisenkova (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Patrizio Lecca (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Peter McGregor (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Kim Swales (Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | The private market benefits of education, i.e. the wage premia of graduates, are widely studied at the micro level, although the magnitude of their macroeconomic impact is disputed. However, there are additional benefits of education, which are less well understood but could potentially drive significant macroeconomic impacts. Following the taxonomy of McMahon (2009) we identify four different types of benefits of education. These are: private market benefits (wage premia); private non market benefits (own health, happiness, etc.); external market benefits (productivity spillovers; and external non-market benefits (crime rates, civic society, democratisation, etc.). Drawing on available microeconometric evidence we use a micro-to-macro simulation approach (Hermannsson et al, 2010) to estimate the macroeconomic impacts of external benefits of higher education. We explore four cases: technology spillovers from HEIs; productivity spillovers from more skilled workers in the labour market; reduction in property crime; and the potential overall impact of external and private non-market benefits. Our results suggest that the external economic benefits of higher education could potentially be very large. However, given the dearth of microeconomic evidence this result should be seen as tentative. Our aim is to illustrate the links from education to the wider economy in principle and encourage further research in the field. |
| Keywords: | Supply side impact; higher education institutions; computable general equilibrium model; Social and external benefits; Crime |
| JEL: | I23 E17 D58 R13 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1204&r=lab |
| By: | Philip Ulrich Sauré; Hosny Zoabi |
| Abstract: | Cross-country variation in average retirement age is usually attributed to institutional differences that affect individuals' incentives to retire. We suggest a different approach. Since workers in different occupations naturally retire at different ages, the composition of occupations within an economy matters for its average retirement age. Using U.S. data we infer the average retirement age by occupation, which we then use to predict the retirement age of 38 countries according to the occupational composition of these countries. Our findings suggest that the differences in occupational composition explain up to 39.2% of the observed cross-country variation in retirement age. |
| Keywords: | Retirement Age, Occupational Distribution, Cross-Country Analysis |
| JEL: | J14 J24 J26 J82 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snb:snbwpa:2012-06&r=lab |
| By: | Anna De Paoli; Mariapia Mendola |
| Abstract: | Global international migration may influence child labor through a labor mar- ket effect. We empirically investigate this issue by using an original cross-country survey dataset, which combines information on international emigration flows with detailed individual-level data on child labor at age 5-15 in a wide range of developing countries. By using variation in the emigration supply shocks across labor market units defined on the basis of both geography and skill, we estimate a set of child labor equations where the variable of interest is the interactive e¤ect between parental skill and country-level emigration shocks. We measure the latter through di¤erent indicators including a direct measure of the relative skill compostion of emigrants relative to the resident population in the country of origin. Overall, after controlling for a large set of individual-level characteristics, remittances, and country fixed effects, our findings are consistent with predic- tions and show that international out-migration may significantly reduce child labor in disadvantaged households through changes in the local labor market. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Child Labor, Factor Mobility, Crosscountry Survey Data |
| JEL: | F22 F1 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mib:wpaper:224&r=lab |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | PISA has long established that high-performing education systems tend to pay their teachers more. They also often prioritise the quality of teaching over other choices, including class size. But in the current budgetary climate, paying everybody more may not be a viable alternative. So many countries are now targeting salary increases to schools with particular needs or short supplies of teachers, or have developed greater local flexibility in salary schemes. Some countries have responded with systems of individual pay. But is recognising and rewarding teaching performance through pay an effective way to leverage improvement? |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:16-en&r=lab |
| By: | David Johnson (Wilfrid Laurier University); Robbie Brydon (C.D. Howe Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study compares student outcomes at Ontario (Canada) elementary schools where students come from similar socio-economic backgrounds, revealing “good” schools where principals, teachers and staff are making a noticeably positive difference to student performance. Several schools achieve positive student outcomes that exceed the expectations suggested by socio-economic factors. Another thought-provoking finding is that students who attend middle schools starting in Grade 6 underperform compared to similar students at other elementary schools. |
| Keywords: | Social Policy, Education Papers, Ontario (Canada), elementary schools, socio-economic characteristics, Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdh:ebrief:134&r=lab |
| By: | Levitt, Steven D.; List, John A.; Neckermann, Susanne; Sado, Sally |
| Abstract: | Decades of research on behavioral economics have established the importance of factors that are typically absent from the standard economic framework: reference dependent preferences, hyperbolic preferences, and the value placed on non-financial rewards. To date, these insights have had little impact on the way the educational system operates. Through a series of field experiments involving thousands of primary and secondary school students, we demonstrate the power of behavioral economics to influence educational performance. Several insights emerge. First, we find that incentives framed as losses have more robust effects than comparable incentives framed as gains. Second, we find that non-financial incentives are considerably more cost-effective than financial incentives for younger students, but were not effective with older students. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, consistent with hyperbolic discounting, all motivating power of the incentives vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay. Since the rewards to educational investment virtually always come with a delay, our results suggest that the current set of incentives may lead to underinvestment. For policymakers, our findings imply that in the absence of immediate incentives, many students put forth low effort on standardized tests, which may create biases in measures of student ability, teacher value added, school quality, and achievement gaps. -- |
| Keywords: | educational economics,behavioral economics,field experiment |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:12038&r=lab |
| By: | Randall S. Jones; Satoshi Urasawa |
| Abstract: | While Korea remains one of the fastest-growing OECD economies, its potential growth rate per capita is projected to decelerate from around 4% during the current decade to around 2¼ per cent during the 2030s. Sustaining growth requires policies to mitigate the impact of rapid population ageing by increasing labour inputs from under-utilised segments of the population. In particular, female labour participation should be encouraged by better work-life balance and increasing the availability of high-quality, affordable childcare, in part by raising tuition fee subsidies and improving the quality of private childcare centres. More flexible employment and wage systems would increase the age at which older workers leave firms. For young people, improved vocational education at the secondary and tertiary levels would help overcome the labour mismatch problem and the overemphasis on tertiary education. Enhancing educational quality at all levels would promote productivity gains, including in services. Strengthened competition is also a key to narrow the large productivity gap between services and manufacturing.<P>Poursuivre la convergence en Corée vers les pays les plus riches<BR>Si la Corée connaît toujours l’une des croissances les plus dynamiques de la zone OCDE, son taux de croissance potentiel par habitant devrait ralentir pour passer de 4 % environ d’ici à 2020 à 2¼ pour cent entre 2030 et 2040. Pour soutenir la croissance, les autorités coréennes doivent prendre des mesures pour compenser les effets du vieillissement rapide de la population, en renforçant l’apport de travail des catégories de population sous-utilisées. Il convient notamment de renforcer le taux d’activité des femmes, en leur assurant des conditions d’emploi permettant de mieux concilier vie professionnelle et vie privée et en améliorant l’offre de services de garde de qualité et à moindre coût. Pour ce faire, les autorités devraient plus particulièrement relever les subventions destinées à couvrir les frais d’inscription de garde et améliorer la qualité des centres de garde privés. Une plus grande flexibilité des systèmes d’emploi et de rémunération permettrait aux travailleurs âgés de poursuivre leur activité professionnelle. Quant aux jeunes, l’amélioration de la formation professionnelle dans le secondaire et le supérieur contribuerait à résoudre les problèmes d’adéquation entre l’offre et la demande de compétences et de surqualification dans l’enseignement supérieur. Un enseignement de meilleure qualité à tous les niveaux augmenterait les gains de productivité, y compris dans le secteur tertiaire. Le renforcement de la concurrence offre également une piste pour combler l’écart de productivité important entre le secteur des services et le secteur manufacturier. |
| Keywords: | tax reform, education, Korea, innovation, potential growth, tertiary education, non-regular workers, labour force participation rates, female employment, R&D, labour market dualism, vocational education, VAT, older workers, SMEs, Korean economy, childcare, services sector, ECEC, réforme fiscale, Corée, innovation, travailleurs âgés, travailleurs non réguliers, taux d'activité, emploi des femmes, enseignement supérieur, système éducatif, dualisme du marché du travail, secteur des services, TVA, PME, économie coréenne, R-D, EAJE, potentiel de croissance, enseignement professionnel |
| JEL: | H2 I2 J2 O4 O53 |
| Date: | 2012–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:965-en&r=lab |
| By: | Kathryn Duckworth (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Greg J. Duncan (University of California, Irvine, 2056 Education, Mail Code: 5500, Irvine, CA, 92697.); Katja Kokko (Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla.); Anna-Liisa Lyyra (Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla.); Molly Metzger (Northwestern University, 626 Library Place, Evanston, IL 60208.); Sharon Simonton (University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI.) |
| Abstract: | Seeking convergent findings in five data sets from four countries, we assess the relative importance of adolescent skills and behaviors for completed schooling and labor market success in adulthood. We provide a framework for classifying "noncognitive" skills and use data designed by developmental psychologists to provide reliable measures of a variety of achievement and behavioral skills assessed between ages 13 and 16. Results show that adolescent achievement, particularly math achievement, is a stronger predictor of completed schooling than measures of noncognitive skills. Achievement skills also out-predict noncognitive skills with regard to adult earnings, although the differences are not as striking. |
| Keywords: | adolescent skills, adolescent behaviors, adult earnings |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1203&r=lab |
| By: | Dizioli, Allan; Pinheiro, Roberto B. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present a less-explored channel through which health insurance impacts productivity: by offering health insurance, employers reduce the expected time workers spend out of work in sick days. Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), we show that a worker with health coverage misses on average 52% fewer workdays than uninsured workers, after controlling for endogeneity. We develop a model that embodies this impact of health coverage in productivity. In our model, health insurance reduces the probability that a healthy worker gets sick, missing workdays, and it increases the probability that a sick worker recovers and returns to work. In our model, firms that offer health insurance are larger and pay higher wages in equilibrium, a pattern observed in the data. We calibrated the model using US data for 2004 and show the impact of increases in health costs, as well as of changes in tax benefits of health insurance expenses, on labor force health coverage and productivity. Finally, we show that a government mandate that forces firms to offer health insurance increases average wages and aggregate productivity while reducing aggregate profits, ultimately having a positive impact on welfare. |
| Keywords: | Health; Health Insurance; Labor Productivity; Labor Markets |
| JEL: | E62 E25 J32 J78 J63 E24 E20 I10 |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39743&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksson, Stefan (Department of Economics, Uppsala University); Johansson, Per (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Langenskiöld, Sophie (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We study the recruitment behavior of Swedish employers using data from a stated choice experiment. In the experiment, the employers are first asked to describe an employee who recently and voluntarily left the firm, and then to choose between two hypothetical applicants to invite to a job interview or to hire as a replacement for their previous employee. The two applicants differ with respect to characteristics such as gender, age, education, experience, ethnicity, religious beliefs, family situation, weight, and health. Our results show that employers discriminate against applicants who are old, non-European, Muslim, Jewish, obese, have several children, or have a history of sickness absence. Moreover, increasing the firms’ cost of uncertainty in hiring – through more firm co-payment in the sickness benefit system – may reduce hiring, but does not affect the degree of discrimination. Also, there are only small differences in the degree of discrimination between different types of recruiters and firms. Overall, our results suggest that the discrimination, at least partially, should reflect statistical discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Stated choice experiment; Discrimination; Gender; Age; Ethnicity; Obesity; Sickness absence |
| JEL: | J71 |
| Date: | 2012–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2012_013&r=lab |
| By: | Eriksson, Stefan (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Johansson, Per (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies); Langenskiöld, Sophie (IFAU) |
| Abstract: | We study the recruitment behavior of Swedish employers using data from a stated choice experiment. In the experiment, the employers are first asked to describe an employee who recently and voluntarily left the firm, and then to choose between two hypothetical applicants to invite to a job interview or to hire as a replacement for their previous employee. The two applicants differ with respect to characteristics such as gender, age, education, experience, ethnicity, religious beliefs, family situation, weight, and health. Our results show that employers discriminate against applicants who are old, non-European, Muslim, Jewish, obese, have several children, or have a history of sickness absence. Moreover, increasing the firms’ cost of uncertainty in hiring – through more firm co-payment in the sickness benefit system – may reduce hiring, but does not affect the degree of discrimination. Also, there are only small differences in the degree of discrimination between different types of recruiters and firms. Overall, our results suggest that the discrimination, at least partially, should reflect statistical discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Stated choice experiment; Discrimination; Gender; Age; Ethnicity; Obesity; Sickness absence |
| JEL: | J71 |
| Date: | 2012–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uulswp:2012_016&r=lab |
| By: | Iyer, Lakshmi; Santos, Indhira |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the key challenges to job creation in conflict-affected environments in South Asia. It uses household survey data since the early 2000s for Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka to document the characteristics of labor markets in conflict-affected areas, exploiting the spatial and time variation in armed conflict within countries. The analysis finds that, across countries, labor markets look very different in conflict-affected areas when compared with non-conflict or low-conflict areas. Employment rates are higher in large part because women participate more in the labor market, but work tends to be more vulnerable, with more self-employment and unpaid family work. The authors show that these differences often pre-date the conflict but are also exacerbated by it. They also examine the constraints on the private sector activity in such areas, using firm surveys when possible. Finally, the paper reviews the existing literature and the policy experiences of several countries to draw some policy implications for job creation efforts in the conflict-affected areas of South Asia. It particularly highlights the role of the private sector and community initiatives, in conjunction with public policies, to improve the environment for successful job creation. |
| Keywords: | Post Conflict Reconstruction,Population Policies,Labor Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6104&r=lab |
| By: | James Marton (Georgia State University); Stephen A. Woodbury (Michigan State University and W.E. Upjohn Institute) |
| Abstract: | Are early retiree health benefits (RHBs) a form of deferred compensation that binds workers to an employer? Most employers who offer RHBs offer them only to workers who have 10 or more years of tenure with the firm and have reached age 55. Accordingly, workers in firms offering RHBs have an incentive to stay with a firm in the years before they attain eligibility for RHBs, and a greater incentive than otherwise to retire thereafter. We test for the existence of such a pattern of incentives by examining the age-specific relationship between workers’ eligibility for RHBs and retirement. The findings suggest that workers in RHB-offering firms are less likely to retire at ages 50 and 51 than similar workers in firms that do not offer RHBs. Also, RHB-eligible workers aged 60 and 61 are more likely to retire than similar RHB-ineligible workers. Such a pattern is consistent with RHBs acting as part of a delayed-payment contract of the kind described by Lazear (1979, 1981). |
| Keywords: | Tax Subsidies, Health Insurance, Retirement, Employee Benefits, Deferred Compensation, Compensation Methods |
| JEL: | H25 I18 J26 J32 M52 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:12-182&r=lab |
| By: | Erlend Berg; Sambit Bhattacharyya; Rajasekhar Durgam; Manjula Ramachandra |
| Abstract: | It has long been hypothesised that public works programmes, in addition to the welfare effect on those directly employed, can influence equilibrium wage rates. In this paper we test the impact of the Indian government’s major public works programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG), on agricultural wages. The rollout of NREG in three phases is used to identify difference-in-difference estimates of the programme effect. Using monthly wage data from the period 2000-2011 for a panel of 249 districts across 19 Indian states, we find that on average NREG boosts the real daily agricultural wage rates by 5.3 per cent. It takes 6 to 11 months for an NREG intensity shock to feed into higher wages. The wage effect appears to be gender neutral and biased towards unskilled labour. It is positive across different implementation stages and months. It remains significant even after controlling for rainfall; district and time fixed effects; and phase-wise linear, quadratic, and cubic time trends. The validity of our identification strategy is confirmed by placebo tests. We argue that since most of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and the poorest of the poor are agricultural wage labourers, rural public works constitute a potentially important anti-poverty policy tool. |
| Keywords: | Public works; Workfare; NREG; Agricultural wages |
| JEL: | O1 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2012-05&r=lab |
| By: | Amélie Barbier-Gauchard; Francesco De Palma; Giuseppe Diana |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we assume a world of two countries in a fixed exchange rate system. The main difference between the two countries lies in the features of their labor markets. In the home country, we assume the existence of a dual labor market, with formal and informal sectors. In the foreign country, the labor market is homogeneous and characterized by a nominal wage rigidity. In this context, the situation of labor market in each country is not optimal through a misallocation of workers between sectors in domestic economy, and unemployment in foreign economy. Our article shows that a devaluation of domestic currency implies a fall in production in each country, an increase in unemployment in foreign economy and a worse reallocation of workers by a growth of informal sector in domestic economy. |
| Keywords: | efficiency wage, dualism, exchange rate, devaluation. |
| JEL: | F16 F41 J31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2012-04&r=lab |
| By: | Katsuyuki Naito (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University); Keigo Nishida (Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a simple theory to study how the allocation of public funds between primary and higher education affects human cap- ital accumulation. The allocation is endogenously determined through majority voting. Public funding for higher education is not supported when a majority is poor. In some cases, higher education starts to be realized as a majority of individuals accumulate enough human capital through primary edu- cation. Although the emergence of higher education can accelerate aggregate human capital accumulation, it widens income inequality because the very poor are excluded from higher ed- ucation and the declined budget share for primary education decreases its quality. |
| Keywords: | Public Education, Economic Development, Income Inequality, Majority Voting |
| JEL: | D72 O11 O15 O40 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:826&r=lab |
| By: | Stone, Joe |
| Abstract: | This study examines reasons for the decline in state funding for public higher education. Prior studies point to Medicaid costs, limitations on tax revenues, income inequality, and Pell grants, but do not estimate their relative importance. Results in this study indicate that income inequality, Pell grants, and K-12 funding are the dominant factors. Pell grants in particular, create powerful incentives for states to substitute Federal dollars for their own. Estimates are identified using 5-year difference-in-differences for 49 states from 1957 to 2007. Regression, instrumental-variables, and Granger-causality estimates yield consistent results. |
| Keywords: | higher education; pell grants; k=12 education; public funding |
| JEL: | D31 A1 H52 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39732&r=lab |
| By: | Pritha Mitra; Cyril Pouvelle |
| Abstract: | Labor productivity levels in Bulgaria lag well behind that in the EU, weighing on the convergence process. Stronger productivity growth would allow Bulgaria to close the income gap with the EU average more quickly and to alleviate the structural problems in its labor market, reflected in its high long–term and youth unemployment. Our analysis of the drivers of labor productivity suggest that for Bulgaria closing the gap with EU standards in the areas of institutional and infrastructure quality, goods market efficiency, higher education, and innovation would permanently boost productivity growth by a total of 1 percentage point a year. This would be enough to close the income gap with the EU average by 2040, compared to the status quo where it would take an additional 10 years. |
| Keywords: | Cross country analysis , European Union , Fiscal reforms , Income , Labor markets , Labor productivity , Production growth , Unemployment , |
| Date: | 2012–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:12/131&r=lab |
| By: | Ehlert, Christoph (RWI); Kluve, Jochen (Humboldt University Berlin, RWI); Schaffner, Sandra (RWI) |
| Abstract: | While high rates of youth unemployment are a severe problem in most European countries, the program evaluation literature shows that disadvantaged youths constitute a group that is particularly difficult to assist effectively. As innovative measures are thus needed, we evaluate a German pilot program that targets low-skilled young unemployed and combines three components: a) individual coaching, b) classroom training and c) temporary work. Using an ex-post quasi-randomization approach, our analysis shows that the program has a positive impact on the post-program employment probability of participants. |
| Keywords: | program evaluation, disadvantaged youths, temporary work, ALMP |
| JEL: | J08 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6670&r=lab |
| By: | John Addison (University of South Carolina and GEMF); Paulino Teixeira (University of Coimbra, Portugal and GEMF); Katalin Evers (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Bundesagentur für Arbeit); Lutz Bellmann (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Bundesagentur für Arbeit) |
| Abstract: | It is sometimes claimed that the coverage of collective bargaining in Germany is considerably understated because of orientation, a process whereby uncovered firms profess to shadow the wages set under sectoral bargaining. Yet importantly, at a time when collective bargaining proper has been in retreat, little is known of corresponding trends in the frequency of indirect coverage, still less of the degree to which wages are aligned in practice. Using nationally representative data for 2000–2010, this paper charts the extent of orientation in the uncovered sector, and tracks average wages across bargaining regimes as well as changes in wages from switches in regime. It is reported that orientation is growing with the decline in sectoral bargaining and that orienting firms do pay higher wages than their counterparts in the collective bargaining free zone. Yet in neither case – frequency nor remuneration – is the degree of ‘compensation’ recorded other than partial. |
| Keywords: | Orientation, Erosion of Collective Bargaining, Uncovered Sector, Sectoral Bargaining, Wages, Regime Shifts. |
| JEL: | J31 J5 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2012-07&r=lab |
| By: | Randall S. Jones; Satoshi Urasawa |
| Abstract: | Korea faces the challenge of reversing rising inequality while sustaining robust economic growth. Welltargeted increases in Korea’s low level of social spending are needed to fill holes in the safety net, especially for the elderly. The development of social security depends on closing gaps in coverage, which are due in part to labour market dualism. Dualism creates serious equity concerns, as non-regular workers face significantly lower wages, precarious jobs, less coverage by social security and less training. A comprehensive approach is required to break down dualism, including reduced employment protection for regular workers, improved social insurance coverage for non-regular workers and expanded training of non-regular workers. Education reforms are also needed to promote inclusive growth, notably by: i) improving the access of low-income children to high-quality early childhood education and care; ii) reducing reliance on private tutoring, notably at hagwons; and iii) expanding income-contingent loans to tertiary students.<P>Promouvoir la cohésion sociale en Corée<BR>La Corée doit s’attacher à inverser le creusement des inégalités tout en soutenant une croissance économique vigoureuse. Des hausses ciblées des dépenses sociales actuellement peu élevées de la Corée sont nécessaires pour combler les lacunes du filet de protection sociale, en particulier pour les personnes âgées. Pour développer la sécurité sociale, il faut combler les lacunes de la couverture, lesquelles résultent en partie du dualisme du marché du travail. Ce dualisme engendre de graves problèmes d’équité, car les travailleurs temporaires perçoivent des salaires nettement inférieurs, occupent des emplois précaires, bénéficient d’une couverture sociale plus limitée et d’un moindre accès à la formation. Il faut adopter une approche globale pour briser le dualisme, notamment en réduisant la protection de l’emploi pour les travailleurs réguliers, en améliorant la couverture sociale pour les travailleurs temporaires et en développant les formations offertes à ces travailleurs. Des réformes de l’éducation sont également requises pour promouvoir une croissance inclusive, notamment: i) en améliorant l’accès des enfants issus de milieux pauvres à des services d’éducation et d’accueil des jeunes enfants de qualité; ii) en réduisant le recours au tutorat privé, notamment aux hagwons; et iii) en accordant aux étudiants de l’enseignement supérieur davantage de prêts remboursables en fonction de leurs revenus futurs. |
| Keywords: | education, Korea, income inequality, relative poverty, social spending, labour market dualism, earned income tax credit, non-regular workers, Korean economy, childcare, services sector, Basic Livelihood Security Programme, Basic Old-Age Pension, ECEC, hagwons, student loans, Corée, travailleurs non réguliers, système éducatif, inégalité des revenus, pauvreté relative, dépenses sociales, dualisme du marché du travail, économie coréenne, Programme de garantie du minimum de subsistance, EAJE, hagwons, crédit d’impôt sur les revenus du travail |
| JEL: | D6 H5 I2 J3 O53 |
| Date: | 2012–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:963-en&r=lab |
| By: | John Jerrim (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.) |
| Abstract: | A number of studies have explored the link between family background and children's achievement in a cross-national context. A common finding is that there is a stronger association in England than other parts of the developed world. Rather less attention has been paid, however, to England's comparative position at different points of the conditional achievement distribution. Is the test score gap particularly big between the most able children from advantaged and disadvantaged homes, or are differences particularly pronounced between low achievers? This issue is investigated using the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 dataset. The association between family background and high achievement is found to be stronger in England than other developed countries, and that there is little evidence that this has changed over time. However, socio-economic differences at the bottom of the achievement distribution are no more pronounced in England than elsewhere. I discuss the implications of these findings for social mobility and educational policy in the UK. |
| Keywords: | Words: PISA, educational inequality, social mobility |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J45 |
| Date: | 2012–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1204&r=lab |
| By: | Gabriel Bruneau; Kevin Moran |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and other external factors on hours worked and employment in Canada's manufacturing industries. The analysis is based on a dynamic model of labour demand and the econometric strategy employs a dynamic OLS approach for cointegrating regressions. Our data is drawn from a panel of 20 manufacturing industries, from Statistics Canada's KLEMS database, and covers a long sample that includes two full cycles of appreciation and depreciation in the value of the Canadian dollar. We find that exchange rate fluctuations have economically and statistically significant effects on the labour choices of Canada's manufacturing employers, and that these effects are stronger for industries more exposed to trade. In addition, we find that the enactment of NAFTA in 1994 has had a negative impact on labour in manufacturing industries. Finally, we report that employment reacts faster than total hours worked, suggesting that hours worked per employee react in a countercyclical fashion to exchange rate fluctuations. <P> |
| Keywords: | exchange rate fluctuations, manufacturing employment, panel data estimation, cointegrating regression, |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2012s-19&r=lab |
| By: | Ben Ferrett (School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, UK); Vasileios Zikos (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) |
| Abstract: | We analyse how union structures that differ in the degree of wage-setting centralization affect the pattern of R&D network formation. Within the context of a three-firm industry, a central union that sets a uniform wage is shown to induce a partial R&D network that includes two firms but excludes the third. In contrast, we find that, under less centralized union structures, firms have incentives to form R&D networks with a larger number of alliances. This result is consistent with the stylised facts for industrialised countries: recent decades have seen an upsurge in R&D alliances along with labour market deregulation towards more flexible wage-setting institutions. |
| Keywords: | Networks, R&D collaboration, unionisation structures. |
| JEL: | L13 J50 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lbo:lbowps:2012_02&r=lab |
| By: | Jia, Lili; Petrick, Martin |
| Abstract: | This study provides a deeper theoretical understanding of the linkages between land fragmentation and off-farm labor supply and investigates this relationship empirically in a more direct and robust way than in the existing literature. Drawing upon a rural household panel dataset collected in Zhejiang, Hubei and Yunnan provinces from 1995-2002, we estimate the effects in two steps. First, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on labor productivity. Second, we estimate the effect of land fragmentation on off-farm labor supply. The production function results show that land fragmentation indeed leads to lower agricultural labor productivity, implying land consolidation will make on-farm work more attractive and thus decrease off-farm labor supply. However, the effect of land consolidation on off-farm labor supply cannot be observed in the presence of imperfect labor market and this conclusion is supported by a direct estimation of the effect of land fragmentation on off-farm labor supply. |
| Keywords: | Land fragmentation, off-farm, labor supply, China, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Q15 Q24 J22 R23, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae12:126263&r=lab |
| By: | Sebastian Braun, Michael Kvasnicka |
| Abstract: | Does immigration accelerate sectoral change towards high-productivity sectors? This paper uses the mass displacement of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to West Germany after World War II as a natural experiment to study this question. A simple two-sector model of the economy, in which moving costs prevent the marginal product of labor to be equalized across sectors, predicts that immigration boosts output per worker by expanding the high-productivity sector, but decreases output per worker within a sector. Using German district-level data from before and after the war, we find strong empirical support for these predictions |
| Keywords: | Immigration, sectoral change, output growth, post-war Germany |
| JEL: | J61 J21 C36 N34 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1778&r=lab |
| By: | Rebecca Allen (Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.); Simon Burgess (Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol.); Tomas Key (University of Oxford.) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the pupil census in England to explore how family house moves contribute to school and residential segregation. We track the moves of a single cohort as it approaches the secondary school admission age. We also combine a number of cohorts and estimate a dynamic nonlinear model for house moving with unobserved effects. These approaches yield the same result: moving is significantly negatively correlated with school quality, and segregation does increase as a cohort reaches age 11. However, this relationship is weak: the increase in segregation is slight and quantitative significance of the estimated relationship is low. |
| Keywords: | school quality, moving, segregation, neighbourhoods |
| JEL: | I20 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1021&r=lab |
| By: | Yaa Akosa Antwi; Asako S. Moriya; Kosali Simon |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of the recent Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision that required private health insurers to allow older child dependents to stay on parental policies until age 26 using data from the Survey of Income Program Participation (SIPP) spanning August 2008 to November 2011. By comparing outcomes for targeted young adults aged 19-25 to those who are slightly older and slightly younger, before and after the law, we find the ACA substantially reduced uninsurance among young adults. Young adults were 30 percent more likely to be on their parents’ employer policies on average after the staggered implementation commenced in September 2010, compared to before the enactment of the law. This increase in dependent coverage drew from both the uninsured and the otherwise insured. We also find evidence consistent with greater take-up among those with higher marginal benefits and lower marginal costs of obtaining dependent coverage, such as those whose parents already had family employer health insurance policies prior to the law. Dependent coverage increases are also greater for Whites relative to non-Whites, for single individuals relative to married individuals, and for non-students relative to students. We find no statistically significant difference in the impact of the provision on young adults who reside in states with and without some form of prior state dependent coverage mandate. |
| JEL: | I28 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18200&r=lab |
| By: | Nicola Meccheri (Department of Economics, University of Pisa, Italy); Luciano Fanti (Department of Economics, University of Pisa, Italy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how managerial delegation schemes in a duopoly product market interact with wage decisions taken by a monopoly central (industry-wide) union in the labour market. We analyse a model where, at the first stage, firms’ owners optimally choose for their managers a delegation contract that can be “sales delegation” or “relative profit delegation”; at the second stage, the union fixes the wage for all (non-managerial) workers in the industry; and finally, at the third stage, managers compete in the product market. Interestingly, our results prove to be more varied with respect to findings by the managerial delegation literature with exogenous production costs for firms. Most notably, it is pointed out that, in equilibrium, both firm profitability and welfare outcomes can be superior under both sales delegation and relative profit delegation, depending on various factors such as the degree of product differentiation and the competition regime. |
| Keywords: | sales delegation, relative profit delegation, unionised duopoly, endogenous wage |
| JEL: | J33 J51 L13 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:44_12&r=lab |
| By: | Michael L. Anderson |
| Abstract: | Spending on big-time college athletics is often justified on the grounds that athletic success attracts students and raises donations. Testing this claim has proven difficult because success is not randomly assigned. We exploit data on bookmaker spreads to estimate the probability of winning each game for college football teams. We then con- dition on these probabilities using a propensity score design to estimate the effects of winning on donations, applications, and enrollment. The resulting estimates represent causal effects under the assumption that, conditional on bookmaker spreads, winning is uncorrelated with potential outcomes. Two complications arise in our design. First, team wins evolve dynamically throughout the season. Second, winning a game early in the season reveals that a team is better than anticipated and thus increases expected season wins by more than one-for-one. We address these complications by combining an instrumental variables-type estimator with the propensity score design. We find that winning reduces acceptance rates and increases donations, applications, academic reputation, in-state enrollment, and incoming SAT scores. |
| JEL: | C23 C26 I20 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18196&r=lab |
| By: | Marczak, Martyna; Gómez, Víctor |
| Abstract: | This article provides new insights into the cyclical behavior of consumer and producer real wages in the USA and Germany. We apply two methods for the estimation of the cyclical components from the data: the approach based on the structural time series models and the ARIMA-model-based approach combined with the canonical decomposition and a band-pass filter. We examine the extracted cycles drawing on two wavelet concepts: wavelet coherence and wavelet phase angle. In contrast to the analysis in the time or frequency domains, wavelet analysis allows for the identification of possible changes in cyclical patterns over time. From the findings of our study, we can infer that the USA and Germany differ with respect to the lead-lag relationship of real wages and the business cycle. In the USA, both real wages are leading the business cycle in the entire time interval. The German consumer real wage is, on the other hand, lagging the business cycle. For the German producer real wage, the lead-lag pattern changes over time. We also find that real wages in the USA as well in Germany are procyclical or acyclical until 1980 and countercyclical thereafter. -- |
| Keywords: | real wages,business cycle,wavelet analysis,wavelet phase angle,trend-cycle decomposition,structural time series model,ARIMA-model-based approach,band-pass filter |
| JEL: | E32 C22 C32 J30 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:502012&r=lab |
| By: | Nina Drange, Tarjei Havnes and (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Theory and evidence points towards particularly positive effects of high-quality child care for disadvantaged children. At the same time, disadvantaged families often sort out of existing programs. To counter differences in learning outcomes between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, European governments are pushing for universal child care. However, empirical evidence on the effects of universal programs is scarce. We provide evidence on the long-run effect on schooling of mandating kindergarten at age 5--6. Our identifying variation comes from a reform that lowered school starting-age from 7 to 6 in Norway in 1997. Our precise DD estimates reveal hardly any effect, both overall, across subsamples, and over the grading distribution. A battery of specification checks supports our empirical strategy. |
| Keywords: | kindergarten; early childhood intervention; distributional effects; difference-in-differences; child care; child development |
| JEL: | J13 H40 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:695&r=lab |