Labor Economics Commons^™

Collusive Bidding In The Fcc Spectrum Auctions, Peter Cramton, Jesse Schwartz

Jesse A. Schwartz

This paper describes the bid signaling that occurred in many of the FCC spectrum auctions. Bidders in these auctions bid on numerous spectrum licenses simultaneously, with bidding remaining open on all licenses until no bidder is willing to raise the bid on any license. Simultaneous open bidding allows bidders to send messages to their rivals, telling them on which licenses to bid and which to avoid. This “code bidding” occurs when one bidder tags the last few digits of its bid with the market number of a related license. We examine how extensively bidders signaled each other with retaliating bids …

A Career Preparation System Accountability System, Kevin M. Hollenbeck

Reports

No abstract provided.

Job Reallocation And Productivity Growth Under Alternative Economic Systems And Policies: Evidence From The Soviet Transition, J. David Brown, John S. Earle

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How do economic policies and institutions affect job reallocation processes and their consequences for productivity growth? This paper studies the extreme case of economic system change and alternative transitional policies in the former Soviet Republics of Russia and Ukraine. Exploiting annual industrial census data from 1985 to 2000, we find that Soviet Russia displayed job flow behavior quite different from market economies, with very low rates of job reallocation that bore little relationship to relative productivity across firms and sectors. Since liberalization began, the pace, heterogeneity, and productivity effects of job flows have increased substantially. The increases occurred more quickly …

A Model Of Industrialization And International Wage Convergence Based On Multi-Plant Foreign Direct Investment, Hian Teck Hoon, Irene Ng

Research Collection School Of Economics

We show that for industrialization and international wage convergence through multi-plant foreign direct investment (FDI) to occur, the measure of the quality of the social infrastructure in the South relative to that in the North must be at least as large as the South-North wage ratio. We also show that if profitable FDI flows already take place from the North to the most productive economy in the South, then less productive Southern economies can also become recipients of FDI, provided that they are integrated into the world trading system, and there are no impediments to the decline of their wage …

Comments On: Procedure For Profiling Unemployed Citizens In Russia, Christopher J. O'Leary

Reports

No abstract provided.

Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes? A Pilot Analysis With Welfare Clients, David H. Autor, Susan N. Houseman

Reports

We draw upon administrative data from an unusual policy experiment in the state of Michigan to study the effects of temporary agency employment among welfare-to-work clients on job retention, program recidivism, and earnings. To identify these effects, we exploit the fact that welfare-to-work clients in one Michigan county were randomly assigned to service providers who had substantially different placement rates in temporary agencies but otherwise similar policies. Our findings indicate that moving welfare clients who otherwise would have been unemployed into temporary agency jobs provides some benefits to these workers, primarily by increasing their short-term earnings. Temporary agency jobs also …

Disability, Reciprocity, And 'Real Efficiency': A Unified Approach, Amy L. Wax

All Faculty Scholarship

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires private employers to offer reasonable accommodation to disabled persons capable of performing the core elements of a job. Some economists have attacked the statute as ill-advised and inefficient. In examining the efficiency of the ADA, this article analyzes its cost-effectiveness against the following social and legal background conditions: First, society will honor a minimum commitment to provide basic support to persons - including the medically disabled - who, through no fault of their own, cannot earn enough to maintain a minimally decent standard of living. Second, legal and pragmatic factors, including "sticky" or …

Kentucky Labor Supply And Demand Surveys, Mark C. Berger, Paul A. Coomes, Christopher Bollinger, Bruce Gale, Ronald E. Langley, Barry Kornstein, Jonathan M. Roenker, John Perry, Roy Sigafus, Eric C. Thompson

CBER Research Report

Excerpt from the executive summary:

The Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky (CBER), along with its partners, the Survey Research Center at the University of Kentucky (UK-SRC), the Survey Research Center in the Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville (UL-SRC), and the Department of Economics at the University of Louisville, is pleased to present this final report on the findings of the Kentucky labor supply and demand surveys sponsored by the Kentucky Cabinet for Workforce Development. The two universities have put together a consortium including some of the best scholars in the region …

The Impact Of A Large Wage Increase On The Workforce Stability Of Ihss Home Care Workers In San Francisco County, Candace Howes

Economics Faculty Publications

This study is one of the very few large-scale empirical investigations of the effect of wages on labor market outcomes in any direct care industry, and possibly the only such study specifically addressing conditions in the homecare industry. It records the impact of the nearly doubling of wages for IHSS homecare workers in San Francisco County over a 52 month period. The project is based on a unique database, which matches approximately 18,000 San Francisco County homecare workers in 26,115 unique matches to 15,500 service recipients between November 1997 and February 2002.

Would Smaller Classes Help Close The Black-White Achievement Gap?, Alan Krueger, Diane Schanzenbach

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

No abstract provided.

Hedonic Wage Equations For Higher Education Faculty, Philip E. Graves, James R. Marchand, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

This paper discusses the use of hedonic techniques to theoretically and empirically understand the wages of higher education faculty. The paper first presents theoretical models of department and faculty choice. These models represent a synthesis of prior work in the hedonic area. The models imply a hedonic wage equation for faculty with wages dependent on productivity, departmental amenities and locational amenities. The theoretical discussion is followed by exploratory and illustrative empirical work. In summary, the reported regressions show that increased teaching loads and secretaries per faculty member tend to decrease salaries while increasing referred journal articles, hotter than average summers, …

Washington's Workforce Development System Pays Off, Kevin M. Hollenbeck

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Income Replacement And Reemployment Programs In Michigan And Neighboring States, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Governments in every developed industrial economy administer programs that partially replace the earnings of workers who suffer job loss or on-the-job injury. In addition, governments administer programs to help job losers gain reemployment, either through direct job placement (for those who are job-ready) or through retraining (for those who are not). This chapter describes and discusses current policy issues surrounding the main social insurance and reemployment programs in Michigan: Unemployment Insurance (UI), which partially replaces lost earnings following loss of a job; Workers' Compensation (WC), which pays for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and lost earnings following a work-related injury or …

Hedonic Wage Equations For Higher Education Faculty, Philip E. Graves, James R. Marchand, Robert L. Sexton

Robert L Sexton

This paper discusses the use of hedonic techniques to theoretically and empirically understand the wages of higher education faculty. The paper first presents theoretical models of department and faculty choice. These models represent a synthesis of prior work in the hedonic area. The models imply a hedonic wage equation for faculty with wages dependent on productivity, departmental amenities and locational amenities. The theoretical discussion is followed by exploratory and illustrative empirical work. In summary, the reported regressions show that increased teaching loads and secretaries per faculty member tend to decrease salaries while increasing referred journal articles, hotter than average summers, …

An Analysis Of Auction Volume And Market Competition For The Coastal Forest Regions In British Columbia, Peter Cramton, Susan Athey, Allan Ingraham

Peter Cramton

US-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute, On behalf of British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

Reserve Prices, Stumpage Fees, And Efficiency, Peter Cramton, Susan Athey, Allan Ingraham

Peter Cramton

US-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute, On behalf of British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

Setting The Upset Price In British Columbia Timber Auctions, Peter Cramton, Susan Athey, Allan Ingraham

Peter Cramton

US-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute, On behalf of British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

Path Dependence And The Origins Of Cotton Textile Manufacturing In New England, Joshua L. Rosenbloom

Joshua L. Rosenbloom

During the first half of the nineteenth century the United States emerged as a major producer of cotton textiles. This paper argues that the expansion of domestic textile production is best understood as a path-dependent process that was initiated by the protection provided by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. This initial period of protection ended abruptly in 1815 with the conclusion of the war and the resumption of British imports, but the political climate had been irreversibly changed by the temporary expansion of the industry. After 1815 nascent manufacturers sought to protect the investments they …

Unions, Bargaining And Strikes, Peter Cramton, Joseph Tracy

Peter Cramton

Labor disputes are an intriguing feature of the landscape of industrialized economies. Economists have had a long-standing interest in formulating a framework for understanding and analyzing labor disputes. The development of noncooperative bargaining theory provided the tools for a theory of collective bargaining and labor disputes. A general aim of this theoretical development is to inform policy makers of the efficiency and equity effects associated with different labor laws and institutions that govern and shape the collective bargaining process. While this new literature is still evolving, it can already offer many insights into the interplay between policy and the bargaining …

Us Social Security Rules In The 1990s: A Natural Experiment In Myopic And Farsighted Behaviour, Stephen D. Rubb

WCBT Faculty Publications

During the 1990s changes in the earnings test threshold and the delayed retirement credit had the potential to impact the labour supply of 65 to 69-year-olds. These changes in Social Security rules are used to examine whether labour supply behaviour of elderly men and women is 'myopic' or 'farsighted'. Men are found to be more farsighted than previously realized, perhaps due to increases in life expectancy.

Fair Weather Or Foul? Maine's Business Climate Revisted, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

There is no shortage of analyses of the problems of Maine’s economy, or of proposed solutions. Once again, a number of recent reports have argued that Maine has a highly unfavorable business climate, characterized by excessive taxes and excessive regulation. These reports go on to argue that Maine must improve its business climate through such suggested changes as an overhaul of the tax system, elimination of property taxes on business equipment purchases, reducing the state’s regulatory burden, and reducing Maine’s supposedly high “tax burden.” Although the support for these proposals is framed as being “irrefutable,” in reality many of the …

What Makes That Employee So Good? Identifying The Characteristics Of High Performance Hourly Employees In The Theme Park And Attraction Industry, Ady Milman

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

Following the September 11th, 2001 events, the United States has seen the first decline in employment expansion in over a decade. The services industry lost 111,000 jobs, mainly in travel-related businesses like hotels (46,000) and auto services (13,000), in particular auto rental agencies and parking services (U.S. Department of Labor, 2001). The hospitality industry, like many other sectors of the service industry is faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining employees. Employment in the theme park and attraction industry is not an easy task. Human resource professionals are challenged on a daily basis with unique task of recruiting, selecting, …

Demand Reduction And Inefficiency In Multi-Unit Auctions, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel

Peter Cramton

Auctions typically involve the sale of many related goods. Treasury, spectrum and electricity auctions are examples. In auctions where bidders pay the market-clearing price for items won, large bidders have an incentive to reduce demand in order to pay less for their winnings. This incentive creates an inefficiency in multiple-item auctions. Large bidders reduce demand for additional items and so sometimes lose to smaller bidders with lower values. We demonstrate this inefficiency in an auction model which allows interdependent values. We also establish that the ranking of the uniform-price and pay-as-bid auctions is ambiguous in both revenue and efficiency terms. …

Temporary Services And Contracting Out: Effects On Low-Skilled Workers, Susan N. Houseman, George A. Erickcek

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Temporary Services And Contracting Out On Low-Skilled Workers: Evidence From Auto Suppliers, Hospitals, And Public Schools, George A. Erickcek, Susan N. Houseman, Arne L. Kalleberg

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We examine why employers use temporary agency and contract company workers and the implications of these practices for the wages, benefits, and working conditions of workers in low-skilled labor markets. Through intensive case studies in manufacturing (automotive supply), services (hospitals), and public sector (primary and secondary schools) industries, we define the circumstances under which these workers are likely to be adversely affected, minimally affected, or even benefited by such outsourcing. Adverse effects on compensation are clearest when companies substitute agency temporaries or contract company workers for regular employees on a long-term basis because low-skilled workers within the organization receive relatively …

A Frontline Decision Support System For Georgia Career Centers, Randall W. Eberts, Christopher J. O'Leary

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 emphasizes the integration and coordination of employment services. Central to achieving this aim is the federal requirement that local areas receiving WIA funding must establish one-stop centers, where providers of various employment services within a local labor market are assembled in one location. A major challenge facing staff in these centers is the expected large volume of customers resulting from relaxed program eligibility rules. Nonetheless, resources for assessment and counseling are limited. To help frontline staff in one-stop centers quickly assess customer needs and properly target services, the U.S. Department of Labor has …

Vocational Rehabilitation And Small Business Development Center Linkages, Nancy Arnold, Catherine Ipsen, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Self-employment provides a variety of advantages including flexible hours, ability to work from home, an outlet for creativity, and a job that capitalizes on one’s interests and talents (Clark & Kays, 1999). According to the 1990 United States Census, people with disabilities choose self-employment at a higher rate than people without disabilities (12.2% vs. 7.8%). The 1998 Reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act contains language that strengthens self-employment as a viable and expected Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) outcome. Likewise, Small Business Administration (SBA) initiatives which impact Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) contain similar goals of enhancing self-employment service delivery for people with …

Evaluating Labor Market Performance: Employment Reallocation And Productivity Growth In Russia, John S. Earle

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Auctioning Timber To Maximize Revenues In British Columbia, Peter Cramton, Susan Athey, Allan Ingraham

Peter Cramton

US-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Dispute, On behalf of British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

Comments On Alternative Policy Options For Managing Capacity And Mitigating Congestion And Delay At Laguardia Airport, Peter Cramton

Peter Cramton

Recommending auctions to manage congestion at LaGuardia.