摩擦性失业的微观基础及其启示——纪念诺贝尔奖得主戴尔·莫滕森对劳动经济学的贡献

以莫滕森为代表的搜寻匹配理论,已成为理解劳动力市场摩擦性失业的主流模型。本文总结了莫滕森失业理论的两个显著特点,分析了工作搜寻和匹配模型框架下劳动力市场中各经济变量之间的均衡关系及其政策影响,从而理解摩擦性失业的成因与机理,探究被动性劳动力市场政策对就业和宏观经济增长造成的不利影响,并结合中国劳动力市场特征得出相关启示。     

2010年诺贝尔经济学奖颁布

<正>瑞典皇家科学院10月12日宣布,美国麻省理工大学的彼特·戴蒙德(Peter.Diamond)、英国伦敦政治经济学院克里斯托弗·皮萨里德斯(Christopher A.Pissarides)、美国西北大学戴尔·莫滕森(Dale.T Mortensen)获得2010年诺贝尔经济学奖。     

技能偏向型技术进步、教育—工作匹配与工资差异：基于搜寻匹配模型的理论推演

现有的对工资差异的经济学研究多集中于发展经济学范式,尤其是在高等教育扩展的背景下,多数文献都从高技能劳动力供给所产生的收入效应和替代效应来分析工资差异的长期演化。但仅仅从宏观层面上考虑高技能劳动力供给对工资差异的影响并不具有微观基础,没有考虑不同类型劳动力所从事工作的具体特征如何作用于劳动力的决策。因此,从传统的搜寻-匹配理论出发,以此来分析高技能劳动力的供给如何影响工资差异演化的方向。与此同时,高技能劳动力供给所决定的技能偏向型的技术进步也被内嵌进去。研究发现,在随机匹配下的劳动力市场约束中,高技能劳动力的供给存在一个阈值,当高技能劳动力的供给低于此阈值时,工资差异的程度随着高技能劳动力供给的增加而减小;当高于此阈值时,工资差异程度随着高技能劳动力的增加而加剧。     

大学生劳动力市场性别工资差异问题研究

本文根据麦可思公司的调查数据,利用海克曼——戴蒙德(Heckman-Daymont)模型,考察了中国大学生劳动力市场上的性别工资差异问题。研究发现,大学生劳动力市场上存在性别工资差异问题。因此,政府有必要强化《劳动法》中有关规定,加强对就业者权益的保护,女大学生还应该提高工作能力,提升就业竞争力。     

二元分割与行业收入不平等——基于二元劳动力市场分割理论的分析

本研究在二元劳动力市场理论的基础上,采用“中国综合社会调查”(CGSS 2006)的相关数据,分析了当前我国行业主、次劳动力市场的收入不平等状况.研究通过引入社会经济地位指数(即邓肯指数),对行业主、次劳动力市场进行了划分,在此基础上,通过对行业主、次劳动力市场中的收入结构、福利待遇以及工资与奖金的稳定性的考察,对二元劳动力市场理论进行了检验.     

实际经济周期理论的非“实际”化发展

近几年来,实际经济周期理论在对冲击因素和传导机制的研究上取得了较大的进展,远远超出了实际这两个字的最初含义一是模型中涵盖了信息冲击等技术冲击之外的诸多因素;二是理论上融入了物价和工资的名义刚性、不完全竞争、效率工资和工作搜寻等非瓦尔拉斯内容,解释了劳动力市场上的非均衡状态。本文对近几年的最新文献进行了梳理,以期为我国的经济周期波动研究提供借鉴作用。     

劳动力市场搜寻理论新进展

自20世纪60、70年代起发展起来的搜寻理论，为加深对信息不完备的、有摩擦的劳动力市场的认识和理解提供了理论和实践依据。早期的劳动力搜寻理论主要研究在职位供给分布已知的假定下，劳动力供给方——劳动者对职位的搜寻行为，如搜寻密度、在职搜寻等等，它忽视了劳动力需求方——企业的雇佣行为对劳动者的职位搜寻行为的影响。针对这个缺陷，均衡搜寻理论把作为劳动力需求方的企业行为内生化，从而为分析企业行为对劳动者的职位搜寻行为的影响，进而为深入审视整个劳动力市场的运行效率提供了新的思路。     

基于马克思劳动力价值理论对农民工工资的分析

系统阐述了包含一般的、平均的劳动力价值构成及其变化界限、工资变动等方面内容的马克思劳动力价值理论,以此为理论基础,分析了乡镇企业农民工和外出农民工工资的形成机理,初步估量了2004年中国农民工在不同劳动力市场的工资,试图探究农民工工资低的原因并提出提高农民工工资的相应对策.     

劳务派遣对劳动力市场的激活效用研究——以浙江省杭州市为例

化解供求不平衡的矛盾,解决“招工难”与“就业难”的两难新局面,提高就业质量与实现充分就业是我国现阶段劳动力市场亟待突破的方向.作为市场经济产物的劳务派遣在弥补劳动力市场的分割缺陷、优化工作搜寻过程、改善空岗匹配效果、促进力人力资本积累、实现有效的职业生涯规划等方面发挥着积极的效用.     

产业转型中的就业困境

本文通过产业价值链分析,指出在原有的国际产业分工格局下,中心、外围国家的产业人才需求与劳动力供给存在明显的不匹配.对此,本文运用均衡匹配搜寻模型,以产业因素变量和搜寻成本变量作为解释变量,将就业匹配变量内生化,运用比较静态方法分析表明:提升产业适应系数、降低搜寻成本可以提高搜寻效用.产业转型是中心、外围国家分别解决就业问题的根本途径是:发达国家进行再工业化,发展中国家从依靠要素投入到依靠生产效率提高转变.     

Understanding the welfare effects of unemployment insurance policy in general equilibrium

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of unemployment insurance reforms in a general equilibrium incomplete market model. In particular, it decomposes the total welfare effect for each individual into different factors. I consider a model where the consumers face an uninsurable unemployment risk, can save in an interest-bearing asset, and are subject to a borrowing constraint. The labor market is modeled using a Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides style search and matching model. The decomposition exercises reveal how each factor contributes to the heterogeneity of welfare effects among different consumers.     

Minimum wage spillover effects and social welfare in a model of stochastic job matching

In this paper, I carry out a welfare analysis of the minimum wage in the framework of a Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides model with stochastic job matching. I explore the role of the minimum wage in a labor market with trading externalities and present the necessary and sufficient condition for a minimum wage hike to be efficiency enhancing. In this context, I characterize minimum wage spillover effects and demonstrate that there is a direct link between the welfare effects and spillover effects of a minimum wage. This theoretical finding suggests that the welfare impact of minimum wage changes can be inferred from the empirical observation of spillover effects on the wage distribution.     

Search Theory: The 2010 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

This paper surveys search theory with an emphasis on the contributions of the 2010 laureates for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen, and Christopher Pissarides.     

STATE DEPENDENCE IN LABOR MARKET FLUCTUATIONS

This article documents state dependence in labor market fluctuations. Using a Threshold Vector Autoregression (TVAR) model, we establish that the unemployment rate, the job separation rate, and the job-finding rate (JFR) exhibit a larger response to productivity shocks during periods with low aggregate productivity. A Diamond–Mortensen–Pissarides model with endogenous job separation and on-the-job search replicates these empirical regularities well. We calibrate the model to match the standard deviation of the job-transition rates explained by productivity shocks in the TVAR, and show that the model explains 88% of the state dependence in the unemployment rate, 76% for the separation rate and 36% for the JFR. The key channel underpinning state dependence in both job separation and JFRs is the interaction of the firm's reservation productivity level and the distribution of match-specific idiosyncratic productivity. Results are robust across several variations to the baseline model.     

The labor wedge as a matching friction

We use a search and matching model to decompose the labor wedge into three classes of labor market frictions and evaluate their role for the labor wedge and unemployment. We find that there is an asymmetric effect of labor market frictions on the labor wedge and unemployment. While the wedge is to a large extent explained by changes in matching efficiency, unemployment is accounted for by the combination of frictions to matching efficiency, job destruction and bargaining. If search and matching frictions give rise to the labor wedge, then it is relevant for explaining unemployment mainly through changes in matching efficiency.     

FINANCIAL RISK AND UNEMPLOYMENT

There is a strong correlation between corporate interest rates, their spreads relative to Treasuries, and the unemployment rate. We model how corporate interest rates affect equilibrium unemployment and vacancies, in a Diamond–Mortesen–Pissarides search and matching model. Our simple model permits the exploration of U.S. business cycle statistics through the lens of financial shocks. We calibrate the model using U.S. data without targeting business cycle statistics. Volatility in the corporate interest rate can explain a quantitatively meaningful portion of the labor market. Data on corporate firms support the hypothesis that firms facing more volatile financial conditions have more volatile employment.     

A general equilibrium analysis of parental leave policies

Despite mandatory parental leave policies being a prevalent feature of labor markets in developed countries, their aggregate effects in the economy are not well understood. To assess their quantitative impact, we develop a general equilibrium model of fertility and labor market decisions that builds on the labor matching framework of Mortensen and Pissarides (1994). We find that females gain substantially with generous policies but this benefit occurs at the expense of a reduction in the welfare of males. Leave policies have important effects on fertility, leave taking decisions, and employment. These effects are mainly driven by how the policy affects bargaining – young females anticipate future states with higher threat points induced by the policy. Because the realization of these states depends on the decisions of females to give birth and take a leave, leave policies effectively subsidize fertility and leave taking. We also find that generous paid parental leaves can be an effective tool to encourage mothers to spend time with their children after giving birth.     

Hiring subsidies, job creation and job destruction

We quantify the effects of hiring subsidies using the model of Mortensen and Pissarides (2003). The job creation effect can be large in a weak labor market. However, in the long-run, subsidies raise the wage and equilibrium unemployment.     

Severance payments in equilibrium unemployment

Under the insider wage model of Mortensen and Pissarides [Mortensen, D.T., Pissarides, C.A., 1994. Job creation and job destruction in the theory of unemployment. Review of Economic Studies 61, 397–415], this paper shows that (1) severance pay negatively affects market tightness (vacancy to unemployment ratio) and (2) the amount of severance pay is limited thereby insuring the employer a rational bargaining outcome.     

Labor market frictions and the international propagation mechanism

The paper studies the role of labor market frictions in accounting for international business cycle comovement. To this aim, we embed labor market search and matching frictions in a two-country New Keynesian model. We show that labor market frictions amplify the international propagation of supply and demand shocks. In terms of cyclical properties then, they raise the cross-country output correlation. Adding labor market search in the New Keynesian model thus improves its ability to account for the business cycle comovement observed in G7 countries in the recent decades. Nominal wage rigidity substantially contributes to this result. Labor market institutions also play a role. Yet, their impact is not unequivocal depending on the institution considered. Business cycle synchronization is thus found to increase with the generosity of the unemployment benefits system, whereas it decreases with the strictness of employment protection.