Who Benefits from Workers with General Skills? Countervailing Incentives in Labour Contracts

In a principal–agent model with adverse selection and moral hazard the impact of the agent's transferable human capital on incentives is analysed. It is shown that under asymmetric information the employer (principal) prefers a worker (agent) with general skills to a similarly productive worker with firm‐specific skills although the reservation utility of a worker with general (i.e. marketable) skills is higher. The principal's information costs are lower when workers have general skills than in the case where workers possess only firm‐specific human capital because of countervailing incentives. The optimal contract for workers with general skills differs from the standard screening contract in that it involves pooling.     

Strategic Complements with First Mover Advantage

We show the existence of equilibrium and first mover advantage when two firms sequentially invest in quality improvement of their respective products. Although the actions (investment levels) of the firms are strategic complements, the second mover does not have an advantage. This is because, although firms are a priori identical, a change in rival investment can affect a firm differently, depending on whether the rival has a higher or lower level of investment. Thus, the marginal payoff with respect to rival action will differ for the first and second mover. We also show that the first mover may choose a higher level of investment than the second mover even though actions are strategic complements and the first mover's marginal payoff with respect to second mover action is negative.     

Support for the underdog brand biography: Effects on consumer attitude and behavior

Conflict between favorites and underdogs is an everyday phenomenon. Research suggests that people support the underdog as they see a reflection of their own self in the person at a disadvantaged position. Two studies examine the effect of underdog brand biography in two different contexts. Study 1 provides support for the notion that underdog brand biographies for established brands elicit stronger consumer response than underdog brand biography for new brands. In study 2, a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design measured respondents’ reaction toward an underdog brand biography over a top dog brand biography under conditions of public versus private consumption. Results demonstrate that consumers exposed to underdog brand biographies in the private consumption condition will be more likely to respond favorably than when they are exposed to the public consumption condition. Based on the results it is suggested that advertisers make use of underdog brand biographies in case of established brands. Furthermore, choice of underdog brand narratives is likely to bring positive results under conditions of private consumption.     

知识员工心理资本开发与组织人力资源管理

文章首先阐述了心理资本的定义、构成要素等方面的研究：然后,分析了知识员工需要提高心理资本;最后,从人力资源管理角度对知识员工心理资本进行开发与培养．提出了相关建议。     

农民工定居城市影响因素的实证分析——以合肥市为例

根据2008年关于农民工定居与城市适应的抽样调查数据,探讨、分析了资本积累与定居的关系。在城时间、进城后职业培训情况、城市交往情况、家庭收入等因素对对定居农民工城市适应具有显著的正向影响,表明城市资本积累是农民工定居的积极影响因素;而进城目的、家庭规模、土地承包情况等对定居都产生负向影响作用。研究结论对于政策制定具有重要的启示。     

农民工人力资本回报率差异：年龄与类型--基于城市农民工调查数据的实证分析

本文基于城市农民工调查数据,通过修正的Mincer收入方程,分析人力资本投资类型及年龄对农民工收入的影响。研究结果表明,职业培训的收入回报率高于受教育年限的收入回报率,职业培训对较年轻农民工群体收入的影响更为显著。促进农民工的人力资本投资,应首先唤醒农民工对基础义务教育的重视,激励企业加大对年轻农民工群体的职业培训投入,搭建更加多元化、开放化的职业培训平台,为农民工提高职业技能提供支持。     

Bribes as entrepreneurial actions: Why underdog entrepreneurs feel compelled to use them

Entrepreneurs often need external resources to found their new ventures. These can be obtained from many sources, but government sponsored programs are an important and often desirable one because they do not require repayment of the funds provided. Resources from such programs should, in principle, be equally available to all entrepreneurs, but in fact, some entrepreneurs—ones often described as underdogs – have restricted access to them. This disadvantage stems, in part, from personal factors they cannot readily change (e.g., gender, age, race, ethnicity, current occupation, family background, experience). The negative effects of being an underdog are especially harmful to entrepreneurs in the context of poor economic conditions, when competition for available resources is intense. In order to overcome such adversity, underdog entrepreneurs offer bribes to persons who control these resources. We hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between the perception by entrepreneurs that local economic conditions are poor and their use of bribes, and that this relationship would be stronger for “underdog” entrepreneurs than for other entrepreneurs. We also hypothesized that the use of bribes by entrepreneurs and their perception that these bribes will be effective would interact to influence entrepreneurs' decisions to close their new venture. Specifically, bribes would influence such decisions only when they were viewed as effective. Results offered support for these hypotheses, thus providing new insights into why underdog entrepreneurs use bribes to overcome the adversity they face.     

Informal training and learning in Australian firms: The need for a new perspective

This paper examines the use of informal training for workers, by Australian companies and other organisations. Using survey data, it reports the prevalence of informal training and also the utilisation of different types of informal training. Differences are found by employer size, particularly for the different types. By examining qualitative responses, it is found that employers' perceptions of informal training are often not those reflected in existing literature. The paper therefore argues for a new definition of informal training which is comprehensible to employers and workers alike, so that more, and more reliable, research can be undertaken.     

INVESTMENT,EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES: A BARGAINING APPROACH

This paper analyzes a three stage game between a firm and its unionized workers. In the first period the firm decides the level of its capital stock. In the second period union and firm bargain over how many workers to hire and the wage rate, then production takes place. In the third stage new production occurs after union and firm have bargained over possible changes in the employment level and wage rate. The hiring of workers is associated with sunk training costs. The main result is that distortions in the use of labor due to sunk training costs induce distortions in the use of capital, even in the absence of sunk investment costs. Because of the strategic impact of investment on later stages of the game, the firm will not equate marginal revenue product and rental cost of capital. Underinvestment or overinvestment will result depending on whether the marginal revenue product of labor is an increasing or decreasing function of capital.     

农民工职业技能培训现状的调查与分析——以湖北省孝感市为例

我国产业工人有2/3是农民工,加强农民工职业技能培训,是促进劳动力转移增收、融入城市主流社会的关键。随着知识经济时代的迅速发展,农民工职业技能培训直接影响着我国产业现代化进程和经济社会发展,是农民工人力资本和积累的重要途径,是解决农民工问题的重要途径。结合湖北省孝感市农民工职业技能培训现状的调查,多方位进行分析,找出完善农民工职业技能培训的方案。     

Is it ‘you’ or ‘your workplace’? Predictors of job‐related training in the Anglo‐American world

This paper examines the determinants of job‐related training and workplace voice. Using data from a unique 2016 cross‐national survey of Australian, British, Canadian and American employees, the paper contrasts two classic formulations in the literature; (1) the neoclassical/human capital approach which predicts that individual characteristics (such as age and education) which increase the efficiency of learning, will have the largest impact on the allocation of training (i.e. younger and more educated employees will be afforded training) and (2) the traditional institutional approach which favors the structural characteristics present at the industry and firm level, the nature of the job itself and the strategic choices of firms as the major predictors of job‐related training. We find that age – a key factor in the human capital model – plays a significant role in the allocation of training but that education (in keeping with recent evidence) does not. In sum the human capital model provides, at best, only a partial explanation for the differences in training observed across individuals. In contrast, variables invoked by the institutional literature (i.e. occupation level; industry; ownership type; and market structure) are highly significant and account for a much greater proportion of the variance in training observed across workers. Other institutional factors such as the presence of a union and a human resource department were strong positive predictors of job‐related training. But most important were product‐market strategy and employee voice. Respondents working in firms utilizing a ‘high road/high quality’ product/service strategy and with a workplace consultative committee were significantly more likely to receive training than similar workers employed in observably similar firms. This last finding supports the industrial relations view of voice as an important channel by which training is optimally delivered inside the firm.     

Testing the human capital development model: the case of apprenticeships in Turkey

Human capital theory was developed to study how individual agents make rational choices or how they invest in human capital to maximize their welfare. One of the leading founders of this perspective, Becker, argues that schooling, on‐the‐job training, medical care, migration and searching for information about prices and incomes are different types of human capital as all these investments improve skills, knowledge or health, thereby increasing individual welfare. He states that education and training are the most important investments in human capital. Apprenticeship training is, thus, identified and treated as a type of investment in human capital. At first glance, it seems that apprentices who are being trained are acquiring skills in a specific vocation. One would suppose that the trainees are getting knowledge and skills and that they would become masters in their profession after a long training process. However, further enquiry is needed to see if this is the case in reality. The present small‐scale, exploratory study, based on 20 interviews – 10 with apprentices and 10 with their employers – aims to investigate the apprenticeship training system in Turkey. In doing so, it seeks to test the basic tenets of human capital theory against the facts discovered. The findings, if they could be generalized, suggest that the Turkish apprenticeship system is a form of child labour rather than a training process. Contrary to apprentice training being a human capital investment, the study finds that trainees do not rationally decide to enter an apprenticeship nor are they selected by a meritocratic system. All of them come from poor peasant families or low‐wage working families where the most pressing need is for the child to earn money.     

Effects of underdog (vs. top dog) positioning advertising

The study investigates individual differences in attitudes towards brands being positioned as underdogs in advertising from an emotional perspective. We argue that the personality trait of empathic concern moderates the underdog effect on brand attitude and that the moderating effect is mediated by empathic response to the advertisement. We conducted three experiments with ads using top-dog and underdog appeals. Those who have stronger empathic concern showed more favourable attitudes towards the brand advertised through underdog positioning, and the effect of empathic concern was mediated by the empathic response to the underdog positioning advertisement. For managers, targeting consumers who have high levels of empathic concern could result in more favourable attitudes towards underdog businesses when using underdog appeals.     

Industry-Specific Human Capital,Occupation and Firm Size: Evidence from Taiwan

This paper investigates the importance of various types of human capital and highlights the role played by industry tenure in determining wages in Taiwan. It also aims to offer possible explanations as to why industry-specific human capital is much less significant than it is in the United States. Empirically, it is found that, other things being equal, accumulating industry tenure decreases earnings for both the least-skilled workers and those employed in mid-sized firms. Industry-specific skills are not yet deeply implemented in most occupations and firms of all sizes. This might also account for the remarkable level of labor reallocation among industries that is observed in Taiwan. Furthermore, the capital stock accumulated through education is found to be the most crucial in determining wages in all estimations and a factor considered the engine of growth during the miraculous development of Taiwan's economy. However, the importance of other types of human capital on earnings – namely, general labor market experience and firm-specific human capital, varies substantially across groups.     

Employer‐employee profit‐sharing and the incentives to innovate when the dismissal regulation matters

We develop a simple incomplete‐contract model of the relationship between worker participation to revenue sharing and innovation performance of firms, under firing regimes with different stringency. Stronger worker participation to profits is shown to increase innovation probability when employer‐side hold‐up is prevented by stringent layoff regulation and the human capital matters significantly. Vice‐versa, under a strict layoff regulation, when the financial capital is relatively more important, the effects of worker participation devices may be reduced or inverted. Our results may help in understanding why there is no one‐size‐fits‐all optimal strategy in the design of worker financial participation mechanisms for knowledge‐intensive productions.     

The struggle over worker leisure: an analysis of the history of the workers' sports association in Canada

Discussions of the work‐leisure relationship focus largely on issues of work‐life balance and generally ignore the possibility of employer‐sponsored leisure being used as a means of workplace or societal control of workers. The Workers' Sports Association (WSA), active in Canada between 1924 and 1935, challenged this use of leisure by the state and the elite, including employers. The WSA's goal was to use sport and leisure opportunities as a means of political education for workers, and to act as opposition to employer‐ and state‐controlled “bosses' sport.” The WSA, while ultimately unsuccessful, raised still‐important questions about the uses of leisure in relation to the workplace and society at large. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Complementary Nature Between Technological Progress and Capital Accumulation in India's Long‐Run Growth Transitions

This article develops a multiple‐regime, learning‐by‐doing model, in which technological progress and capital accumulation are complementary factors in long‐run growth transitions. The model accurately predicts India's long‐run growth transitions over the period 1953–2007, with the first phase (1980–2002) being ‘technology’ driven and the second phase (2003–2007) capital accumulation driven. Given the complementary nature between technological progress and capital accumulation, one of the main challenges facing Indian policy makers in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis is to maintain high saving/fixed investment rates. The analysis also provides a critique of the ‘total factor productivity view’ of India's growth performance.     

锦标赛、内生性制度创新供给与地区博弈——以各地物流园区布局为例

本文通过构建一个两期的地方政府制度创新的博弈模型,分析得出地方政府边际制度创新的努力成本不仅取决于整个社会对制度创新的认可和接纳程度,而且还取决于锦标赛中胜负收益差。在中国目前能上不能下的刚性升迁制度下,出于自身未来政治生涯的考虑,远见型的政府官员要想获得相同的被提拔的可能,就必然比短视型的政府官员付出更多的努力。屡禁不止的重复建设热及物流园区热的背后的一个重要原因就是地方政府出于抬高锦标赛中对手成本的动机,同时又可将不能被中央政府观察或证实的因素以显性化的方式而得以被中央政府所证实,从而达到战胜对手的目的。     

农民工市民化对经济增长的影响研究

加快以农民工市民化为核心的城市化进程,有利于为我国第三产业发展积累人力资本,有利于我国产业结构的转型升级,更有利于拉动内需,进而推动我国经济的均衡可持续发展。我国农民工群体数量巨大,虽然他们被统计为城市居民,但由于消费模式单一、水平低下,与城市本地居民生活有非常大的差别。我国应加快提升农村地区教育水平,着力解决农民工人力资本积累严重不足问题;尽快打破城乡二元结构,让农民工享受城市居民同样的社会保障,解决他们的后顾之忧。为加快农民工转型和我国产业结构的转型升级创造条件。