Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Why The Public Discourse On Education Is Wrong, Jesus Felipe

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

ONCE upon a time, the Philippines was praised for its relatively well-educated labor force. Not anymore. The situation seems to have reversed: policymakers and commentators single out education as one of the primary causes for the country’s poor performance (lack of competitiveness) and the unemployability of many of its workers.

To put the discussion in the correct context, I will start by arguing that the relevant measure of progress for a developing nation like the Philippines is productivity. Without productivity increases, there cannot be increases in income. Productivity in the Philippines is low in general. Is education the key to …

The Effect Of Remote Work On Firm Level Productivity, Katherine Fullowan

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper investigates the impact of remote work on firm-level productivity. To observe this trend, we develop a theoretical model to understand how an economy performs. We consider the economy as a collection of firms in an attempt to maximize profit. By observing a firms profit function, we are able to derive their productivity by maximizing a representative firm’s profit function. For simplicity purposes, this study treats labor as the only factor of production to focus solely on how changes in the number of remote workers impact productivity. We ultimately find that productivity increases when the number of remote workers …

Biased Technical Change, Institutional Shift, And The Functional Distribution Of Income: Who Benefits From Economic Growth?, Adam Szymanski-Burgos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Starting from the mid 1970s and early 1980’s, the US and other advanced economies observed a widening divergence between the growth of average and median real hourly labor compensation and the average growth of labor productivity. This decoupling between labor compensation and productivity indicates a decline in the labor share of national income. Opposite to movements in the labor share, the share of national income remunerated as capital income has increased with the rise of capital incomes concentrated largely in corporate sector profits. Key developments since the middle of the 20th century have coincided with the onset of medium-run fluctuations …

Implicaciones De La Productividad Total De Los Factores Como Instrumento En La Negociación Del Salario Mínimo En Colombia 1993 2017 : Una Discusión Teórica Y Empírica, Kelly Johanna Lara Ospina

Economía

En la negociación del salario mínimo en Colombia se destapan las cartas de los empresarios, trabajadores y del gobierno en plena época navideña. Manteniendo una serie de roles que van de acuerdo al tipo de intervención en dicha negociación. La investigación realiza un análisis de esta discusión bajo los postulados teóricos de la escuela neoclásica que ejerce una influencia directa en el comportamiento político de los interventores. Además analiza las implicaciones sobre la medición de la productividad teniendo como referencia principal la productividad total de los factores durante el período 1993-2017 en la fijación del salario mínimo, poniendo en cuestión …

Do Shifts In Labor Shares In Productivity Growth Affect Poverty And Inequality? A Comparative Study Of Sub-Saharan Africa And Asia, Precious W. Allor

Masters Theses

This paper examines whether productivity growth induced by intersectoral labor movement affects inequality and poverty. To address this question a nonparametric shift-share decomposition technique is employed to decompose productivity growth into the structural change component; the component of productivity growth that is induced by the intersectoral labor movement, and the technological change component; the component of productivity growth that is induced by capital or improvements in productive efficiency. The paper then examines the long-run impact of structural change-induced productivity growth on poverty and inequality for a sample of 28 countries, and with a focus on Sub-saharan Africa and Asia. The …

Understanding The Decline Of U.S. Manufacturing Employment, Susan N. Houseman

Susan N. Houseman

U.S. manufacturing experienced a precipitous and historically unprecedented decline in employment in the 2000s. Many economists and other analysts—pointing to decades of statistics showing that manufacturing real (inflation-adjusted) output growth has largely kept pace with private sector real output growth, that productivity growth has been much higher, and that the sector’s share of aggregate employment has been declining—argue that manufacturing’s job losses are largely the result of productivity growth (assumed to reflect automation) and are part of a long-term trend. Since the 1980s, however, the apparently robust growth in manufacturing real output and productivity have been driven by a relatively …

Understanding The Decline Of U.S. Manufacturing Employment, Susan N. Houseman

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

U.S. manufacturing experienced a precipitous and historically unprecedented decline in employment in the 2000s. Many economists and other analysts—pointing to decades of statistics showing that manufacturing real (inflation-adjusted) output growth has largely kept pace with private sector real output growth, that productivity growth has been much higher, and that the sector’s share of aggregate employment has been declining—argue that manufacturing’s job losses are largely the result of productivity growth (assumed to reflect automation) and are part of a long-term trend. Since the 1980s, however, the apparently robust growth in manufacturing real output and productivity have been driven by a relatively …

Measuring Manufacturing: How The Computer And Semiconductor Industries Affect The Numbers And Perceptions, Susan N. Houseman, Timothy J. Bartik, Timothy J. Sturgeon

Susan N. Houseman

Growth in U.S. manufacturing’s real value-added has exceeded that of aggregate GDP, except during recessions, leading many to conclude that the sector is healthy and that the 30 percent decline in manufacturing employment since 2000 is largely the consequence of automation. The robust growth in real manufacturing GDP, however, is driven by one industry segment: computers and electronic products. In most of manufacturing, real GDP growth has been weak or negative and productivity growth modest. The extraordinary real GDP growth in computer-related industries reflects prices for computers and semiconductors that, when adjusted for product quality improvements, are falling rapidly. Productivity …

The Role Of Manufacturing In A Jobs Recovery, Susan Houseman

Susan N. Houseman

No abstract provided.

Measuring Manufacturing: How The Computer And Semiconductor Industries Affect The Numbers And Perceptions, Susan N. Houseman, Timothy J. Bartik, Timothy J. Sturgeon

Timothy J. Bartik

Growth in U.S. manufacturing’s real value-added has exceeded that of aggregate GDP, except during recessions, leading many to conclude that the sector is healthy and that the 30 percent decline in manufacturing employment since 2000 is largely the consequence of automation. The robust growth in real manufacturing GDP, however, is driven by one industry segment: computers and electronic products. In most of manufacturing, real GDP growth has been weak or negative and productivity growth modest. The extraordinary real GDP growth in computer-related industries reflects prices for computers and semiconductors that, when adjusted for product quality improvements, are falling rapidly. Productivity …

Review Of The Book The Economic Analysis Of Unions: New Approaches And Evidence, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

[Excerpt] This book surveys, synthesizes, and critically analyzes the rapidly growing theoretical and empirical literature on unions and dispute resolution. The focus is primarily on the United States literature, although references to studies from Canada and the United Kingdom are also included. That the survey is complete and up-to-date is suggested by the thirty pages of references at the end of the book; a number of these are to papers that are still awaiting publication. The authors present a remarkably balanced treatment and, for the most part, do not allow their own ideological orientation toward unions to influence their analyses.

Contending Theories Of Wage Determination: An Intersectoral Analysis Of Real Wage Growth In The U.S. Economy, James Sheffield

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

In recent years, social movements and popular media have drawn attention to the issue of income inequality in the United States. This growing inequality in the distribution of income is often seen as a function of stagnating wage growth in the U.S. economy. There appears to be a fairly broad consensus among commentators that wage growth for many workers in the U.S. has stagnated in recent decades, though the precise causes and implications of this trend are a matter of considerable dispute. Some see it as a function of stagnant productivity growth, while others attribute it to the declining strength …

Adverse Selection And Incentives In An Early Retirement Program, Kenneth T. Whelan, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Kevin F. Hallock, Ronald L. Seeber

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

We evaluate potential determinants of enrollment in an early retirement incentive program for non-tenure-track employees of a large university. Using administrative record on the eligible population of employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements, historical employee count and layoff data by budget units, and public information on unit budgets, we find dips in per-employee finance in a budget unit during the application year and higher recent per employee layoffs were associated with increased probabilities of eligible employee program enrollment. Our results also suggest, on average, that employees whose salaries are lower than we would predict given their personal characteristics and …

The Effect Of Unions On Productivity In The Public Sector: The Case Of Municipal Libraries, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Joshua L. Schwarz

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

[Excerpt] This paper represents our initial efforts at analyzing the effects of unions on productivity in the public sector. We first sketch an analytical framework that can be used to estimate these effects, focusing for expository purposes on municipal public libraries. We initially focus on libraries because considerable effort has been devoted to conceptualizing productivity measures for them and because of the availability of data to implement the framework. After discussing the analytical framework, we present preliminary estimtes of the effects of unions on productivity in public libraries based upon analyses of data from 71 municipal libraries in Massachusetts. We …

Unions And Productivity In The Public Sector: A Study Of Municipal Libraries, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Daniel R. Sherman, Joshua L. Schwarz

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

This paper develops and illustrates the use of two methodologies to analyze the effect of unions on productivity in the public sector. Although the methodologies are applicable to a wide variety of public sector functions, the focus of the paper is on municipal libraries because of the availability of relevant data. The empirical analysis, which uses 1977 cross-section data on 260 libraries, suggests that collective bargaining coverage has not significantly affected productivity in municipal libraries.

Unemployment And The Uk Labour Market Before, During And After The Golden Age, Timothy J. Hatton, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

During the ‘golden age’ of the 1950s and 1960s unemployment in Britain averaged 2 per cent. This was far lower than ever before or since and a number of hypotheses have been put forward to account for this unique period in labour market history. But there has been little attempt to isolate precisely how the determinants of wage setting and unemployment differed before, during and after the golden age. We estimate a two-equation model over the whole period from 1872 to 1999 using a newly constructed set of long-run labour market data. We find that the structure of real wage …

Impacts Of Formal Financing On The Development Of The Sudanese Agricultural Sector, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The agricultural sector of Sudan is faced by many problems. In the irrigated schemes, the government who officially owns most of them there are entrenched managerial problems that brewed for more than six decades. Moreover, the privatization policies of those schemes provoked many outcries and protests. Large schemes like Gezira have collapsed, this year 2011, only 10% of its over one million hectares were cultivated. The rainfed farming is not different with lack of machineries, shortages of available labor and high priced agricultural inputs, it is not expected to fare better than the irrigated schemes. However, even if those problems …

Economic Transition, Higher Education And Worker Productivity In China, Belton Fleisher, Yifan Yu, Haizheng Li, Seonghoon Kim

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate the role of education on worker productivity and firms' total factor productivity using a panel of firm-level data from China. We estimate the returns to education by calculating the marginal productivity of workers of different education levels based on estimates of the firm-level production function. We also estimate how the education level of workers and CEO contributes to firms' total factor productivity. Estimated marginal products are much higher than wages, and the gap is larger for highly educated workers. Our estimate shows that an additional year of schooling raises marginal product by 30.1%, and that CEO's education increases …

Effects Of Investment On Macroeconomic Variables In The Sudanese Economy, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Most developing and underdeveloped countries beside Sudan suffer from the low levels of income in addition to the low savings that are result from the lack of sophisticated savings channels. Hence, the investment depends on the individual's abilities on self savings, where the investment is considered as major motivating vehicle for economic activity due to its direct correlation with the capital accumulation process that increases the productivity capacity for the national economy and creating job opportunities and achieving economic development. Subsequently, the importance of the investment comes from effective role that can be practiced on the national product. The present …

Are De Jure Labor Laws Absolute? Formal Manufacturing In India, Gurmeet Singh Ghumman

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

We investigate the view that de facto labor market conditions are important in evaluating the effects of labor institutions in developing countries where enactment does not necessarily imply enforcement. Using India as a case study we empirically investigate the effects of labor markets on the organized manufacturing sector from 1970 to 1997. Recognizing that the state can intervene in the outcome of labor disputes we construct a measure to proxy the degree of the state legislature's prejudice towards pro-worker causes. We argue that leftist and communist political parties can interfere in the resolution of disputes in favor of workers through …

Pay And Performance: Among 100 Best U.S. Companies To Work For, Omair Mahmood Faisal

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In the 21st century, world is becoming a global village and with increased competition businesses are always looking for regions with the lowest possible production costs. Appropriate compensation of U.S. employees working for major U.S. corporations is a hotly debated topic in political circles. This research focuses on the top 100 companies designated as “the best companies to work for” by Fortune Magazine for the year 2006. Performance of these companies, as measured by their return on equity, return on assets, revenue growth and earnings growth along with their profit margin is used to determine the impact on them as …

Kids At Work: The Value Of Employer-Sponsored On-Site Child Care Centers, Rachel Connelly, Deborah S. Degraff, Rachel A. Willis

Upjohn Press

Connelly, DeGraff, and Willis chronicle the trends in the growth in on-site child care programs and perform analyses that shed light on the value of employer-sponsored child care to employees. The authors note that employees may not be the only ones to benefit. Employers may be able to gain wage savings for the firm.

Pollution Abatement Costs: Hurting Or Helping Productivity?, Jacqueline M. Volkman

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper analyzes the effect that regulatory inputs or expenditures for labor, materials, and capital have on productivity for three industries (blast furnaces and steel mills, alkalies and chlorine, and petroleum refining). Data is examined from 1973 to 1994 and the growth rate of total factor productivity (TFP) is considered. The pattern of pollution abatement expenditures for three media, water, air, and solid wastes, is also examined graphically. In addition, the measurement for TFP is adjusted to net out regulatory inputs for labor, materials, and capital. A comparison between the original and adjusted measurement of TFP is made for each …

The Great Divide: A Comparison Of Kentucky And Ohio Counties Along The Ohio River (1840-1860), Jennie Berry

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper operates under an opposite assumption and, instead, argues that the Kentucky-Ohio border is an ideal test case for the null hypothesis that the institution of slavery per se had no significant economic effects. Kentucky and Ohio counties tracing the Ohio River are composed of the same soil and face similar weather conditions (Blanford, 2001; Barnhisel, 2001; Foster, 2001). Both regions likewise claim the same geographical access to outside markets.

Free Agents, Fire Sales, And Fungoes: An Econometric Examination Of Team Success In Major League Baseball, Corey R. Maynard

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

This paper explores what good organizational strategies baseball teams use to put themselves into the group of those that win more often than they lose, and conversely, what poor strategies cause teams to fall into the group of those who lose more than they win.

Pensions And Productivity, Stuart Dorsey, Christopher Mark Cornwell, David A. Macpherson

Upjohn Press

Employers typically view their investment in pension plans as a means of providing retirement income for their workers. Economists, on the other hand, view pension programs as a way to increase workplace productivity. Dorsey, Cornwell and Macpherson explore the theoretical and empirical basis for this perspective and, in the process, offer a complete and up-to-date discussion on the productivity theory of pensions.

Human Capital And Economic Development, Sisay Asefa Editor, Wei-Chiao Huang Editor

Upjohn Press

Six essays are presented that explore human capital and its relationship to issues such as demographics, population growth, families, workplace training and economic progress.

Profit Sharing: Does It Make A Difference?: The Productivity And Stability Effects Of Employee Profit-Sharing Plans, Douglas Kruse

Upjohn Press

Kruse details the reasons profit sharing plans are implemented and the systemic factors within firms, particularly in relation to unions, that influence whether or not they are successful. Presented is evidence based on a unique database developed from 500 public U.S. firms - matched to firm performance over the period of 1979-1991 - on the two central theories related to profit sharing: 1) The Productivity Theory, and 2) the Stability Theory

Motivation And The Poor Worker, Charles Barry Pfitzner

Economics Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.