Sibling gender and wage differences

Family influences on economic performance are investigated. In particular, sibship sex composition is related to hourly wages using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. The wages of men are increasing in the proportion of siblings who are brothers, but the wages of women are insensitive to sibling gender. Nonwage outcomes are generally unaffected. Contrasts by age structure and demographic group are also presented. The analysis addresses econometric challenges like the endogeneity of fertility and selection into the workforce. In addition, mechanisms such as labour market interactions, human capital investment and role model effects are documented. A questionnaire on job search indicates a same-gender bias in the use of brothers and sisters in obtaining employment. Developmental and psychological assessments suggest that brothers may be associated with worse childhood home environments and more traditional family attitudes among women. The findings are policy relevant and contribute to an understanding of gender differences and earnings inequality.     

Tax-benefit systems and differences in aggregate labour force participation: Comparative evidence from the Czech Republic and Hungary

This paper investigates the extent to which cross-country differences in aggregate participation rates can be explained by differences in tax-benefit systems. We take the example of two countries, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which – despite a lot of similarities – differ markedly in labour force participation rates. Using comparable individual-level labour supply estimates, we simulate how the aggregate participation rate would change in one country if the other country’s tax and social welfare system were adopted. The estimation results for the two countries are quite similar, suggesting that individual preferences are essentially identical in the two countries. The simulation results show that about one-third of the difference in the participation rates of the 15–74 year-old population and more than two-thirds of the participation of the prime-age population can be explained by differences in the tax-benefit systems.     

三种不同蒸馏仪器测定食品中二氧化硫含量的对比

目的:比较传统玻璃蒸馏瓶蒸馏装置、二氧化硫测定仪、自动凯氏定氮仪3种仪器测定食品中二氧化硫的效果及适用性,为设备选型提供参考.方法:选取番薯干、咸菜、香菇干,分别用上述3种蒸馏装置测定样品中的二氧化硫含量,分析测定结果和过程控制.结果:使用3种不同蒸馏仪器测定结果无显著性差异,两次独立测定结果的绝对差值小于算术平均值的10%,回收率均在85%~95%.结论:二氧化硫测定仪自动化程度高,安全性高,基本可以替代传统玻璃蒸馏瓶蒸馏,实现大部分食品的批量检测,对于香菇干等蒸馏过程易倒吸食品,可采用自动凯氏定氮仪检测,提高实验的准确性和可靠性.     

A Common Base Answer to the Question “Which Country Is Most Redistributive?”*

We believe that what most authors have in mind when referring to the “most redistributive country” is a tax and transfer schedule that is most redistributive across all pre-tax and transfer income distributions. In order to measure each country's tax and transfer redistribution according to the same baseline, we suggest using the transplant-and-compare method of Dardanoni and Lambert (2002, Journal of Public Economics 86, 99–122) to establish a common base. The redistributive effects of countries’ tax and transfer schedules are illustrated by employing microdata on eight countries from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Of these eight countries, Finland is found to be the most redistributive country, according to the common base method.     

我国中小企业三维差异化特征比较研究

作为推动国民经济增长和促进社会稳定的基础力量,中小企业在市场中扮演着最活跃的经济主体。与大企业相比,中小企业有其鲜明的成长特征,从动态演进视角选取体量规模、生命周期、要素需求三个维度,系统探讨了中小企业的差异化特征。结论显示:体量规模特征反映在个体与群体以及经济板块之间;生命周期特征体现在死亡陷阱和空间格局演变上;要素需求特征会根据阶段创新内容的不同做出适时调整。     

Gender wage gaps and economic crisis in Greece

ABSTRACT

We examine gender wage gap (GWG) in Greece for 2013, by using a survey data set. Our findings show first, that the unadjusted GWG is 15.3%, while European Commission reports a value of 15%. Secondly, we derive the ‘adjusted’ GWG, using the Oaxaca and Ransom (OR) and the Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (JMP) methods to be ranging from 10% to 13.6%. Thirdly, looking into the behaviour of the full population, we find a decreasing trend for the discrimination effects, an increasing trend for the residuals effects and a ‘random’ endowments effects while moving to higher deciles. These three effects are associated to the economic crisis 2008–2015. Fourthly, our findings do not show evidence of either a ‘glass ceiling’ effect or a ‘sticky floor’ effect. Finally, that there is strong evidence that investing in higher education reduces the wage discrimination between sexes.     

Trading off learning and performance: Exploration and exploitation at work

Employees are increasingly given control over how they learn, and their choices for training are diverse and varied, yet employees must balance competing demands. On one hand, they are expected to be increasingly efficient in their current job duties – on the other hand, they are expected to develop new skills and competencies that enable them to adapt and respond to changing job demands. Drawing from the organizational learning literature, we propose a model of worker and work characteristics that inform choices between two mindsets related to learning at work. The first mindset is exploration, or the pursuit of learning outside one’s current knowledge domain; the second mindset is exploitation, the refinement/deepening of one’s existing knowledge stock focusing on the task at hand. We further propose that these strategic choices, or trade-offs, influence employee learning and performance in unique ways, with different implications for both routine and adaptive performance. Finally, we incorporate the notions of feedback loops and risk assessments that influence ongoing decisions between exploration and exploitation mindsets. Recommendations for future research and extensions of the theoretical model are also proposed.     

Ideological taboos,entry barriers,and FDI attraction: Evidence from China

Developing and transitional countries often impose a wide variety of entry barriers on foreign direct investments (FDIs). One important reason behind these entry barriers is ideological taboos. However, do these taboos actually affect the inflow of FDIs? With the help of China’s “cultural system reform,” this study uses a panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities in China for 1994–2017 and the difference-in-differences method to evaluate the effect of the cultural system reform on regional FDI. We found that the cultural system reform remarkably promoted the inflow of FDIs by deregulating institutions and removing entry barriers, and the attraction of FDI has slowly increased along with the deepening of the reform. Our conclusions still hold after performing several robustness tests, thereby highlighting ideologies as important barriers to the inflow of FDIs into less developed countries.     

城乡炫耀性消费差异的根源探索

运用中国家庭追踪调查数据,研究发现:农村家庭的炫耀性消费支出比例显著高于城镇家庭,且这一结果随时间变化比较稳健。进一步研究发现,在考虑了家庭参照群体的平均收入之后,城乡炫耀性消费差异不再显著,且参照群体的平均收入对家庭炫耀性消费的影响显著为负。这很可能来源于家庭为寻求社会地位而消费的动机,更高的社会地位意味着更多的财富和带来更高的收益。炫耀性消费充当了家庭社会地位的信号,向其参照群体传递了自身的收入水平状况,参照群体的平均收入越低,消费者寻求社会地位的消费动机越强。农村家庭参照群体的平均收入较低,所以其寻求社会地位的动机更强、炫耀性消费水平更高。因此,寻求社会地位的消费动机是城乡炫耀性消费差异的主要原因。     

Shocking news and cognitive performance

We study how shocking news affects cognitive performance. Identifying these effects makes societies more resilient by helping to adjust policy responses to reduce indirect costs of future atrocities. Our analysis is based on a school shooting that coincided with national matriculation exams, allowing a difference-in-differences analysis. We find a substantial negative effect on males: their average performance dropped by seven percent. The average performance of females was unaffected. Our findings suggest that a shocking event may call for psychological support for young people even in communities that are not directly affected.