Labor Economics Commons^™

On The Link Between Conflict, Underdevelopment And The Pursuit Of Basic Needs Satisfaction: A Survey Of Haitian Construction Workers In The Dominican Republic, Joseph W. Alliance

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study was to explore how conflict and underdevelopment impact Haitian construction workers’ experiences and their basic human needs situation in the Dominican Republic. The Basic Human Needs Theory served as the main theoretical background to approach the topic. Qualitative data were gathered by employing a self- administered, one-time survey and conducting semi-structured interviews with 25 Haitian construction workers in sites located in the Distrito Nacional in the capital city, Santo Domingo and the Consuelo municipality in San Pedro de Macoris. Absence of work in Haiti for the very poor, systematic lack of access to social security, …

The Spanish Export Led Recovery, David Wagner

Undergraduate Economic Review

I researched the export-led recovery currently taking place in Spain. My thesis revolved around Mariano Rajoy and the Popular Party coming into power in 2011 and instituting reforms in three distinct categories; financial market reforms, fiscal measures, and labor market reforms. These reforms have had a significant impact in restoring credibility in Spain's capital markets and decreasing unit labor costs. In turn, Spain has shown impressive export growth in the past two years, especially compared to its neighbors Italy and France.

The Ups And Downs In Women's Employment—Shifting Composition Or Behavior From 1970 To 2010?, Kristin E. Smith

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper tracks factors contributing to the ups and downs in women’s employment from 1970 to 2010 using regression decompositions focusing on whether changes are due to shifts in the means (composition of women) or due to shifts in coefficients (inclinations of women to work for pay). Compositional shifts in education exerted a positive effect on women’s employment across all decades, while shifts in the composition of other family income, particularly at the highest deciles, depressed married women’s employment over the 1990s contributing to the slowdown in this decade. A positive coefficient effect of education was found in all decades, …

Babies And Boardrooms: A Comparison Of Women In The Labor Forces Of Japan And The United States, Madison A. Layton

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this paper is to examine the participation of women in the Japanese labor force and to compare this participation rate to that of the United States. This paper explores various situational and cultural differences between the two countries that lead to a stagnant female participation rate in Japan as compared to significant growth in the United States. It provides historical context and applies personal experience to a current economic situation in order to understand why it is occurring. Topics covered in this paper include Japanese cultural background, labor force participations issues in Japan and the United States, …

Endogenous Network Production Functions With Selectivity, William C. Horrace, Xiaodong Liu, Eleonora Patacchini

Center for Policy Research

We consider a production function model that transforms worker inputs into outputs through peer effect networks. The distinguishing features of this production model are that the network is formal and observable through worker scheduling, and selection into the network is done by a manager. We discuss identification and suggest a variety of estimation techniques. In particular, we tackle endogeneity issues arising from selection into groups and exposure to common group factors by employing a polychotomous Heckman-type selection correction. We illustrate our method using data from the Syracuse University Men’s Basketball team, where at any point in time the coach selects …

An Empirical Study On Return To Education In Urban China, Jin Han

All Theses

This study uses the most recent household survey data from 2007 to estimate return to education in urban China. Most existing literature are based on the data from 1990s and early 2000s and find that the rate of return to education in urban China has experienced a rapid increase. This study investigates whether the return to education is still in an increasing trend in later 2000s and how the return to education changed in recent years. The estimates of return in this study are lower than the findings in early 2000s. The higher education expansion started in 1999 made unbalance …

Connecting The Dots: An Economic Study Of Parental Factors Shaping Early Childhood Cognitive Development, Bryn Alexandra O'Neill

Business and Economics Honors Papers

This study investigates how maternal and paternal employment status and educational attainment, coupled with parental time and educational inputs such as toys, books, etc. devoted to children, have impacted young children's cognitive development in the U.S. Cognitive development comprises the intellectual and conscious thinking growth that begins in infancy. It involves problem solving, reasoning and memory aptitudes and is tested for throughout each year of childhood in various ways. The impact of the use of external childcare in lieu of parental time on development is also evaluated. This paper will outline reviewed literature, a theoretical model, data discussion, model construction …

Can Human Capital Explain The Difference In Private Health Insurance Coverage Rates Between Natives And Immigrants?, Benjamin S. White

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper investigates how human capital variables, especially educational attainment and health disability, affect an immigrant’s probability to have private health insurance. Specifically, is there a convergence to natives’ coverage rates for immigrants as human capital is controlled for? Two probit regressions are used to answer this question, one to analyze the employer provided health insurance market and another to analyze privately purchased health insurance market. The principle finding is that human capital variables are important in determining access to private health insurance. However, a health insurance coverage differential does remain between immigrants and natives.

The Role Of Manufacturing In A Jobs Recovery, Susan N. Houseman

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.

Rural And Urban Differences In Vr Caseloads And Delivery Practices, Catherine Ipsen, Grant Swicegood, Kyle Colling, Bethany Rigles, Charles Asp, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Each year, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies provide case level data to the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). This compiled data, named RSA 911, includes consumer characteristics, services provided, and employment outcomes of all case closures in the past year. Researchers and program evaluators use the RSA 911 data system to examine productivity across agencies, demographic and disability groups, and other service factors. The RSA 911 does not include information about where the consumer was served, such as county or zip code. This limits outcome evaluation for various geographies. For instance, while VR programs can be evaluated or compared across states, more …

The Effects Of Background Factors On Afqt Score, Jaret Kanarek

Honors Projects

The introduction of the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth (NLSY) 1979 and 1997 cohorts made Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) score data widely available and has thus dramatically increased its use in academic research. However, there is strong evidence that a wide variety of background factors, such as poverty status, race, and parent’s education level, affect AFQT score. Human capital theory, in conjunction with the pathways framework, suggests that these background factors have both direct and indirect effects on AFQT score. The focus of this research is measuring some of the important direct and indirect pathways through which background …

Do Male-Female Wage Differentials Reflect Differences In The Return To Skill? Cross-City Evidence From 1980–2000, Paul Beaudry, Ethan Lewis

Dartmouth Scholarship

Male-female wage gaps declined significantly over the 1980s and 1990s, while returns to education increased. In this paper, we use cross-city data to explore whether, like the return to education, the change in the gender wage gap may reflect changes in skill prices induced by the diffusion of information technology. We show that male-female and education-wage differentials moved in opposite directions in response to the adoption of PCs. Our most credible estimates simply that changes in skill prices driven by PC adoption can explain most of the decline in the US male-female wage gap since 1980.

Effects Of Labour Taxes On Hours Of Market And Home Work: The Role Of International Capital Mobility And Trade, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

The Prescott hypothesis that permanently higher marginal tax rates on labour income fully explain the decline in market hours worked in Europe (relative to North America) over three decades is subject to a theoretical investigation. The Prescott model consists of isolated economies that are not linked by international capital mobility or international exchange of goods. We study a two-country model with free international capital mobility. We find that imposing higher marginal labour tax rates in one country leads to international capital inflows into that country, which acts to counteract the negative employment effect of higher taxes. Market hours worked in …

Discrepancies In Labor Market Outcomes From Migration Evidence From Colombia, Liza Beatriz Pena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As of 2012, approximately 10% of the population in Colombia has been displaced by violence. The main motivation of this paper is to estimate the effect of interregional migration on employment outcomes in the country between 1993 and 2005. Using violence as an instrument for migration, I analyzed the differential effects of migration on specific employment outcomes across gender and skill levels. I find that a one percentage point increase in net migration only increases the unemployment rates of female migrants by 0.656 percentage point. I also find that net migration rates do not affect the employment conditions of low-skilled …

Financing Unemployment Insurance, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury

Journal Articles

Following the Great Recession, most states’ unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds became insolvent, requiring the states to borrow from the U.S. Treasury to finance benefit payments. This article describes the basics of UI financing and reviews the origins of the financial crisis facing the federal-state UI system. It then examines the main components of the UI payroll tax—the taxable wage base and the experience-rated payroll tax—and considers how these might be modified to avoid future widespread insolvency. We conclude with some speculative remarks on the future of UI financing.

Use Of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program Benefits By Unemployment Insurance Applicants In Michigan During The Great Recession, Christopher J. O'Leary, Kenneth J. Kline

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

During the Great Recession, both the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) program experienced dramatic increases in participation. Using Michigan program administrative data on all SNAP (2006–2011) recipients and all UI (2001–2010) applicants, we examine SNAP use before and after UI application. Both past and future receipts of SNAP are highly negatively correlated with meeting UI income and job separation eligibility requirements. Unemployment insurance applicants with insufficient wage credits or job separations because of quitting or employer discharge are much more likely to have received SNAP in the past. Furthermore, such UI applicants are also …

Employment Protection And Income Inequality: Is There A Role For The Informal Sector?, Eleni Gkinni, Eleni Vasilaki

Undergraduate Economic Review

This paper seeks to examine the effect of employment protection on income inequality. By employing the employment protection data developed by Botero et al. (2004) as well as well established measures of economic inequality for a sample of 83 countries, our analysis suggests that increased employment protection is negatively associated with income inequality. This relationship remains highly robust across several different specifications and estimation methods. In addition, our analysis places the spotlight on the role of the informal economy and investigates how the presence of informal sector may affect the above mentioned relationship. Our results suggest that in the presence …

Tax Structure And Revenue Instability: The Great Recession And The States, Howard Chernick, Cordelia Reimers, Jennifer Tennant

Publications and Research

The Great Recession had the most severe impact on state tax revenues of any downturn since the Great Depression. We hypothesize that states with more progressive tax structures are more vulnerable to economic downturns, and that progressivity and income volatility may interact to amplify the recession’s fiscal impact. We find that, while potential revenue exposure is greater in more progressive states, the most important source of variation was differences in income concentration and capital gains shares in the top 5 percent of taxpayers. Though the interaction between income volatility and high tax burdens at the top did produce large decreases …

Feisty Kids On The Conservative Block: How Business Mobilized Against Organized Labor In The Seventies, Ryan Eustace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

U.S. Employment Outlook For 2014: Can The U.S. Economy Stand On Its Own?, Randall W. Eberts

Periodical Articles

No abstract provided.

Financing Unemployment Insurance, Wayne Vroman, Stephen A. Woodbury

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Following the Great Recession, most states’ unemployment insurance (UI) trust funds became insolvent, requiring the states to borrow from the U.S. Treasury to finance benefit payments. This article describes the basics of UI financing and reviews the origins of the financial crisis facing the federal-state UI system. It then examines the main components of the UI payroll tax—the taxable wage base and the experience-rated payroll tax—and considers how these might be modified to avoid future widespread insolvency. We conclude with some speculative remarks on the future of UI financing.

Negotiating For Curriculum & Class Size, 2011-13: One Faculty Union’S Perspective, Steve Hicks, Amy L. Rosenberger

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

The article walks the reader through the process of proposing, revising, and finally accepting by both sides of a new clause in the APSCUF-PASSHE collective bargaining agreement covering curriculum and class size. The clause took multiple forms over the course of over two years of negotiations and reveals the evolving priorities of the two sides over time.

Bargaining Market Equity Adjustments By Rank And Discipline, Jonathan P. Blitz, Jeffrey F. Cross

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Faculty contract negotiations generally include wages, hours, and other conditions of employment as well as mutually agreed non-mandatory subjects of bargaining. Negotiators typically address wages in terms of across-the-board increases, promotion in rank, merit increases, and one-time signing bonuses. Less typically, faculty salary negotiations include various forms of equity adjustments and salary increases linked to the underlying market and social forces and to salary compression that may, or may not, be related to these forces. The authors describe how they negotiated differential discipline-specific target salaries based in part on College and University Personnel Association faculty salary data.

Youth Aptitude As A Predictor Of Adulthood Income, Jaret Kanarek

Undergraduate Economic Review

I examine the relationship between youth aptitude and adulthood income. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of the Youth 1979 cohort and OLS regression analysis, I test the hypothesis that a higher 1981 Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT) score is directly related to a higher income in 2010, ceteris paribus. First, a single regression equation is run for educational attainment subgroups at the time of taking the AFQT. Second, a regression equation including total lifetime educational attainment, and one that excludes it, are run to examine potential co-linearity between AFQT score and educational attainment. The results show that AFQT is significant …

The Road Through The Rust Belt: From Preeminence To Decline To Prosperity, William M. Bowen Editor

Upjohn Press

The chapters in this book explore reasons for the decline of "Rust Belt" cities and the often innovative responses of local leaders and entrepreneurs that are helping to revive these areas.

Health Plans For Employment: Nutrition, Catherine Ipsen, Bethany Rigles, Casey Nicole Ruggiero, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

We all know that we should eat “healthy.” But what does that mean? A healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and healthy fats. Eating these foods gives you energy for the day and can help manage fatigue, anxiety or stress. They also can help protect you against many diseases. Eating the right types of food is important but so is watching how much we eat.

This fact sheet on nutrition provides guidelines on how to do both. This fact sheet also provides tips on how to eat healthy on a tight budget. In addition to the English version …

Inclusive Healthcare Facilities Access And Accommodations Resource Toolkit, Meg A. Traci Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

Contents: Includes information on webinars, access to care, dental care, women, communication, emergency preparedness, health reports, and contact information for Montana services.

Data And Resources For A Whole Community Approach To Emergency Planning, Meg A. Traci Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

No abstract provided.

Central Bank Of Nigeria Annual Report And Statement Of Accounts For The Year Ended 31st December 2014, Central Bank Of Nigeria

CBN Annual Report

Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the year ended 31st December, 2014. In general, 2014 has been a very eventful and challenging year for the Bank, the country, and the world at large. In the course of the year, the Bank underwent significant changes in its governance composition. In 2014, the global economy witnessed considerable vulnerabilities characterized by fragile growth and weak economic outlook. Global growth recovery was modest and continued to be threatened by strong downside risks, as a result of sharp drop in commodity prices, escalating geo-political tensions, and heightening threats …

Health Plans For Employment: Sleep, Catherine Ipsen, Bethany Rigles, Casey Nicole Ruggiero, University Of Montana Rural Institute

Employment

How often do you wish that you had gotten a better night’s sleep? Sleep issues have been linked to anxiety, pain, depressed mood, fatigue, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and weight problems. This fact sheet provides tips on developing good sleep habits and strategies to help you fall asleep.

In addition to the English version, it is also available in Spanish and Hmong.

This fact sheet was developed by RTC:Rural for Wisconsin Promise as part of the Health Plans for Employment series. Each of the four fact sheets in this series provides healthy living tips geared towards youth.