Doubts Regarding the Human Capital Theory of Racial Inequality

Using wage data developed by Smith (1984), this paper compares human capital and institutional explanations of trends in the racial wage gap since 1890. While a regression including daily schooling variables is consistent with the human capital theory, so is an institutional model which omits schooling variables but adds the influences of isolation in the rural South, discriminatory hiring and promotion practices, unemployment, and government policy. Including schooling and institutional variables together casts doubt on the relative importance of schooling compared to labor market demands and political variables.     

Internal Labor Markets and Worker Quits

This article uses establishment-level data to explore the impact of internal labor markets on worker quits. Quits are lower where job ladders are long, pay growth from the bottom to the top of job ladders is high, and seniority is used as a criterion for promotion. Using a system of internal promotion without a commitment to seniority is associated with higher worker quits. These results hold true even when controlling for the specific human capital skills of workers, suggesting that personnel factors other than specific training are responsible both for the existence of internal labor markets and for the impact of internal labor markets on worker quits.     

Attitudes Toward Economic Risk and Occupational Choice

This paper examines the effects of attitudes toward economic risk on occupational choice. Workers with a more favourable disposition toward economic risk have a higher probability of being employed in the more prestigious, high‐paying Professional and Administrative occupations. Potential biases associated with omitted genetic and family background factors are considered. The marked differential in attitudes toward economic risk between males and females, however, makes only a minor contribution to the considerable occupational segregation on the basis of gender in the contemporary Australian labor market.     

Human Resource Management and International Trade

This article reviews recent developments in international trade theory that relate to issues of human resource management and industrial relations Some trade models with imperfectly competitive goods markets and thir liks to strategic trade and industrial policy and described. These models, results are shown to be sensitive to the incorporation of labor market imperfections. Applications of trade theory to international labor migration and human capital acquisition are also included.     

What explains gender differences in food insecurity?

There is a rich literature devoted to the role women play in ensuring the food security of the household and other household members. However, relatively little attention has been paid to their own food security situation. The challenge with investigating the food security of women is that most surveys collect food security data at the household level making inferences about individual-level food security difficult. Using a large international sample of individual-level data and the first global experiential measure of food insecurity, I show that women have a higher probability of being food insecure relative to men. The magnitude of the gender gap in food insecurity varies across regions and varies by the severity level of food insecurity. In the developed countries of the European Union, women are 4.7 percentage points more likely than men to experience some form of food insecurity. In the poor countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, women are two percentage points more likely than men to be severely food insecure. Using a modification of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique, I find that gender differences in household income, educational attainment, and social networks explain the majority of the gender gap in food insecurity. However, in some regions, namely South Asia and Australia/New Zealand, gender differences in observable characteristics fail to account for gender differences in food insecurity. This analysis suggests that policies that address gender inequality in employment opportunities and educational attainment may also impact food insecurity.     

Not for the Profit,But for the Training? Gender Differences in Training in the For-Profit and Non-Profit Sectors

In this article, we use Canadian-linked employer–employee data to examine gender differences in receiving firm-sponsored training. We find that women in the for-profit sector are less likely to receive classroom training and receive fewer classroom training courses. However, we find the opposite in the non-profit sector, where women are more likely to receive both classroom and on-the-job training, and also receive more classroom training courses. We show that women's worse training opportunities in the for-profit sector mainly operate within workplaces. We find no evidence that gender gaps in training in the for-profit sector are driven by lower probabilities of accepting training offers, child or family commitments, weaker labour market attachment or worker self-selection. We also find that gender differences in expected changes in wages and training opportunities between the two sectors can explain a large portion of women's higher probability of employment in the non-profit sector. Finally, decomposition results suggest that part of the gender wage gap in the for-profit sector, which is twice as large as in the non-profit sector, can be explained by gender differences in training.     

供给侧改革中的人力资本结构优化研究

本文用受教育水平的差异来表示人力资本的结构。利用2004～2014年中国省级区域的数据,依次对每一年影响经济增长的人力资本和物质资本数据进行逐步回归。结果表明,教育水平不同的人力资本对经济增长的作用是不同的。2009年之前,高中学历人力资本是模型中解释度较好的人力资本。从2009年开始,对经济增长起明显促进作用的是大专及以上学历人力资本。在大专及以上学历人力资本成为经济增长的主要人力资本动力的同时,物质资本对经济增长的重要性在降低。对2009年之后的数据进行Malmquist指数测算,发现部分省级区域的全要素生产率有所下降。不同省级区域根据自身情况进行人力资本的结构优化。     

Human rights in nutrition and nutrition in human rights

Many countries around the world are involved in nutrition planning and nutrition program implementation. This concern and activity with regard to nutrition, however, has failed to give the issue proper and adequate consideration in development plans and programs of action. The author proposes a two-pronged approach to promote nutrition as a human right. One approach is to include nutrition as a human right in educational and training programs in nutrition. Another approach is to include nutrition as a human right in educational and training programs on human rights. These approaches are described using examples from experiences in the Philippines. Families, universities, and other training institutions have roles to play in making sure that individuals and groups receive the nutrition they need. It should be stressed that nutrition is both a right and an input for development.     

Earnings and Occupational Attainment among Immigrants1

This paper examines the determinants of occupational attainment and the impact of occupation on earning among foreign‐born men using the U.S. 2000 Census. Years of schooling and proficiency in English are the key factors determining access to high‐paying occupations among immigrants. Foreign labor market experience, however, has a negative impact on current occupational status, especially among those in high‐status jobs, due to the limited international transferability of skills acquired on the job.     

Effects of Skill and Attitudes on Employee Performance and Earnings

This study uses original survey and archival data from factory and office employees in one firm to relate differences among individual employees' performance to differences in their skill and attitudes about work, and to test the association between employees' earnings and their performance, skill, and attitudes. We suggest that the way in which skill and attitudes affect performance will depend on the type of work that is done. The main results show that among factory employees, those who have on-the-job training and longer experience receive better performance ratings than those without training and with less experience. Factory employees' earnings depend on their performance, following the human capital model of wage determination. Among office workers, training and experience do not significantly affect performance ratings; instead, higher-rated employees have more positive attitudes about work. Office employees' earnings depend on their classroom training, experience, and attitudes, but not on their rated performance.     

Human Capital Theory: Implications for HR Managers

This paper reviews some of the contributions of and challenges to human capital theory. It focuses on the alleged link between earings and education and experience and on competing explanations for observed earning differentis by race and by gender. The review concludes that while human capital theory provides some central insights about the supply side of the labor market, the challenges to this theory suggest that the demand side od the market, i.e., the actions of human resource managers, also play a key role in detemining earnings and employment. Moreover, these challenges suggest that government policies can be instrmental in effecting a more efficient and equitable use of human resources.     

Family Structure and Family Earnings: The Determinants of Earnings Differences among Family Types

Mean total family earnings differ greatly by family structure (the number, age, and gender of adults, and the presence or absence of children and dependent elders). This study classifies families into seven major types by structure, and analyzes inequality in mean earnings among these types. Differences in mean earnings among types depend primarily on the amount of labor supplied to the labor market. The quantity of labor supplied, in turn, while reflecting in part differences in the head's characteristics (such as human capital), is largely determined by family structure. Earnings changes by family type over time from 1973 to 1987 are also discussed.     

企业对员工的人力资本投资研究

本文利用最新的调查数据研究了企业提供的培训与员工个人特征、企业特征和员工企业匹配特征之间的关系，以及企业培训实践对工资水平的决定效应。研究发现，企业提供的培训投资呈现了极不平衡的现象：技能水平和职位等级高的员工能获得大量的培训投资，处于企业生产和技术部门的一般员工获得的培训投资显著偏低；国有企业大量投资于员工的一般培训，不注重企业专用培训，而外资企业则刚好相反；技术资本密集或者技术进步较快的企业比传统劳动密集型企业更注重员工培训。研究还发现，企业向员工提供的大部分一般培训显著地影响了员工的工资水平。研究结果有助于理解国有企业员工在劳动力市场中的工作转换模式。     

Are China’s regional agricultural productivities converging: How and why?

This article tests the hypotheses of convergence to a single level of total factor productivity (TFP), and a steady state of TFP growth rate in China’s agricultural sector. Based on multilateral TFP estimates we found that China’s agricultural sector has rebounded in recent years from a slower TFP growth in the 2005–2007 period. While convergence test results confirm a “catch-up” effect that provinces with lower TFP levels tend to grow faster than others, estimated rates of β convergence are conditional on how we capture the heterogeneity effect across regions. The rates of β convergence range from 0.016 to 0.039 under different model specifications. Estimates show that higher growth rates of educational attainment, R&D, and intermediate goods density (per unit of labor) can enhance TFP growth. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of an overall σ convergence, indicating that TFP levels are not converging except in the South region. It implies that to catch up with leading provinces, it would require extra efforts for those lagging behind by increasing their region-specific research investment, promoting rural educational attainment, and enhancing embodied technical change.     

Population density,migration, and the returns to human capital and land: Insights from Indonesia

Rapid population growth in many developing countries has raised concerns regarding food security and household welfare. To understand the consequences of population growth in a general equilibrium setting, we examine the dynamics of population density and its impacts on household outcomes using panel data from Indonesia, combined with district-level demographic data. Historically, Indonesia has adapted to land constraints through a mix of agricultural intensification, expansion of the land frontier, and non-farm diversification, with public policies playing a role in catalyzing all of these responses. In contemporary Indonesia we find that human capital determines the effect of increased population density on per capita household consumption expenditure. The effect of population density is positive if the average educational attainment is high (above junior high school), while it is negative otherwise. On the other hand, farmers with larger holdings maintain their advantage in farming regardless of population density. The paper concludes with some potential lessons for African countries from Indonesia’s more successful rural development experiences.     

Strategic human capital management in the context of cross‐industry and within‐industry mobility frictions

Research Summary: We develop and test a theory examining how frictions that restrict mobility across industries and frictions constraining mobility within an industry can co‐occur to effectively isolate individual human capital, ultimately changing the firm's make‐versus‐buy decision for human capital. Empirically, we demonstrate that when cross‐industry frictions in the form of limited skill transferability and within‐industry frictions in the form of noncompete enforceability are both present, employees exhibit longer tenures, firms hire workers with less initial experience, firms change the amount and nature of training provided, and wages marginally increase. These findings suggest that sufficiently strong and complementary mobility frictions shift the emphasis of firms’ human capital management practices toward internal development of human capital relative to acquisition on the external market. Managerial Summary : In the face of frictions to employee mobility both within and across industries, which we capture empirically using measures of noncompete enforceability and limited skill transferability across industries, firms tend to hire less experienced workers, such workers exhibit longer tenures, and firms invest more in their training, particularly in the development of new skills. Our findings imply that for firms operating under such complementary frictions, better hiring and internal development capabilities are particularly important for performance, while those firms without such capabilities may benefit from considering ways to circumvent the mobility frictions, including moving out of the focal state or lobbying for different noncompete laws.     

Gender Discrimination in Training: An Australian Perspective

Analysis of the Australian How Workers Get Their Training survey indicates considerable male-female differentials in the incidence and duration of training. For external training, which women can undertake without the sanction of the firm, the gender effect is that women undertake more training than men, other things being the same. However, for in-house training, which requires the sanction of the firm, the gender effect is that women undertake less training than men, other things being the same. One interpretation of this is that the gender effect reflects both the discriminatory attitudes held by firms and the greater propensity to train among women, with the relative weights varying across types of training according to the discretion that women have in determining the training outcome.     

On-The-Job Training Under Firm-Specific Innovations and Worker Heterogeneity

In this article I present a general equilibrium adverse selection model of the labor market in which workers differ in their ability to learn and implement new technologies. Exogenous firm-specific process innovations require firms to teach workers the new firm-specific skills introduced by the new technology. As firms' training costs negatively depend on the expected ability of their labor force and positively on their technological level, firms seek to hire workers able to learn at least cost. I show how firm-specific human capital can explain employer- and plant-specific wage differentials caused by skilled-labor-biased technological shocks.     

Food insecurity,gender, and international migration in low- and middle-income countries

The determinants of migration have been widely studied but research has rarely addressed the roles of food insecurity and gender in the migration decision process. To address these gaps, we examine these relationships for 135,078 individuals across 94 low- and middle-income countries. We use a series of binary-choice models with sample selection and data from the 2014–2015 waves of the Gallup World Poll Survey, which includes the first global measure of individual-level food insecurity. Results, which are robust, indicate that food insecurity is an important determinant of both migration intentions and preparations, and the probability of migration intentions increase monotonically with the severity of food insecurity, and the probability of migration preparations decrease. These relationships also differ significantly by gender and level of gross national income. Evidence suggests a need for increased coordination between the international food security and migration policy agendas.