Internal rent seeking,works councils,and optimal establishment size

Using a microeconomic model and data from the Establishment Panel of the German Institute for Employment Research, we analyze the optimal establishment size against the background of rent-seeking workers and the influence of works councils. The theoretical part shows that establishment size has not only a discouragement effect on the level of individual rent seeking but also a quantity effect as the number of rent seekers increases. The interplay of both effects – together with technological considerations – determines whether the employer chooses an inefficiently small or large establishment size. Introduction of a works council restores efficient establishment size although it is purely used as rent-seeking device. Whether the employer benefits from a works council or not depends on the degree of contract incompleteness and the degree of worker coordination via a works council. The empirical part indicates dominance of the discouragement effect over the quantity effect in establishments without works council. As theoretically predicted, works councils are beneficial by disentangling rent-seeking and production issues, thus eliminating the influence of the two rent-seeking effects.     

The economic effects of extending shop opening hours

In this paper we investigate the economic effects of deregulation of shop opening hours legislation. The theoretical literature is rather mixed about the possible effects of such a policy. Using an empirical model for optimal retail behavior, it is shown that the economic potential can be high. It is demonstrated that employment goes up mainly because of an increase in threshold labor. However, the magnitude of this effect depends on the average number of additional hours as a consequence of deregulation. Therefore, by using the model for optimal retail behavior an optimal rule for extending opening hours is given. This rule implies that the potential for longer opening hours is high. It is, however, shown that in the noncooperative equilibrium this potential is higher than in the cooperative equilibrium, and that large-scale stores gain more from this deregulation.     

The Washington consensus works: Causal effects of reform, 1970-2015

Traditional policy reforms of the type embodied in the Washington Consensus have been out of academic fashion for decades. However, we are not aware of a paper that convincingly rejects the efficacy of these reforms. In this paper, we define generalized reform as a discrete, sustained jump in an index of economic freedom, whose components map well onto the points of the old consensus. We identify 49 cases of generalized reform in our dataset that spans 141 countries from 1970 to 2015. The average treatment effect associated with these reforms is positive, sizeable, and significant over 5- and 10- year windows. The result is robust to different thresholds for defining reform and different estimation methods. We argue that the policy reform baby was prematurely thrown out with the neoliberal bathwater.     

Timing constraints and the allocation of time: The effects of changing shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands

A 1996 change in shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands provides an opportunity to study the effects of timing constraints on total time spent in shopping, working, and other activities as well as the timing of these activities. We develop a simple structural model to make predictions about the effects of imposition and relaxation of a timing constraint on time use patterns, and utilize time diary data from 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2000 to examine time use patterns by demographic group before and after the change. In addition to a change in the timing of shopping, we find a nonnegligible increase in the total time spent shopping.     

The effect of unemployment insurance on weekly hours of work in Canada

Major revisions to the Canadian unemployment insurance program in 1997 created a benefit structure that effectively provides more insurance to workers who are employed for longer workweeks. This anomaly creates an incentive for workers and firms to tailor their weekly work schedules to maximize net program benefits. Analysis of Labour Force Survey data shows that workers and firms responded to these changes by altering weekly hours as expected. This behavioural response demonstrates the sensitivity of hours of work decisions to labour market policies. JEL classification: J65
Les effets de l'assurance-chômage sur le nombre hebdomadaire d'heures de travail au Canada. Des changements majeurs dans le programme canadien d'assurance-chômage en 1997 ont mis en place une structure de prestations qui fournissait un support additionnel aux travailleurs qui travaillaient de plus longues heures dans la semaine. Cette anomalie a créé une incitation pour travailleurs et entreprises à ajuster leur cédule hebdomadaire de travail de manière à maximiser les bénéfices nets du programme. L'analyse des données de l'Enquête sur la population active montre que travailleurs et entreprises ont répondu à ces changements en ajustant les heures hebdomadaires de travail comme prévu. Cette réaction montre bien la sensitivité des heures de travail aux politiques du marché du travail.     

Dynamic effects of labor supply: A mechanism explaining cross-sectional differences in hours

This paper first establishes the empirical fact that over the last quarter of the 20th century, the average weekly hours worked increased for workers in the highest wage quintile while it decreased for the ones at the lowest. In 1976, a worker in the lowest quintile worked 2.8 hours more per week than a high wage worker (worker in the highest quintile), but by 2006, the low wage worker worked 1 hour less. During this period, there was also a wide increase in wage inequality. The typical mechanism in which hours are only determined by contemporaneous wages cannot simultaneously explain the pattern found in both variables for every quintile.This paper attempts to reconcile these cross-sectional trends in both hours and wages for the US during this time period. As a first step, we show that compositional changes (in education, occupation and age) within quintiles can only explain a fraction of the observed pattern. Next, we propose a mechanism in which individuals' current decisions of how much to work take into account two components: the contemporaneous benefit of the wage received, and also how current hours worked affects the probability of moving across the wage distribution in later periods. The latter dynamic component is estimated from our dataset. We find that changes over time in how hours affect these probabilities provided incentives that differ across the quintiles, and are consistent with the labor supply decisions observed in the data. We incorporate these two components into an equilibrium model of heterogeneous agents with uninsurable income risk. We are able to replicate the decline in hours for the bottom of the distribution as well as the increase at the top. The ratio of hours worked between the two groups delivered by the model also fits the trend found in the data.     

论作家个性气质对其作品风格的影响

作家的个性气质和作品风格之间存在着密切联系.作家的个性气质使作家具有独特的感受力,影响作家的选材范围,对作家艺术构思中的想象、情感活动的独特性起着重要作用,对作家艺术传达方式和手法的独特性产生直接影响,进而使作品呈现不同的风格.     

Employment and hours of work

This paper develops a dynamic model of the labor market in which the degree of substitution between employment and hours of work is determined as part of a search equilibrium. Each firm chooses its demand for working hours and number of vacancies, and the earnings profile is determined by Nash bargaining. The earnings profile is generally nonlinear in hours of work, and defines the trade-off between employment and hours of work. Concave production technology induces firms to overemploy and, as a result, hours of work are below their optimal level. The Hosios condition is not sufficient for efficiency. When there are two industries, workers employed by firms with higher recruitment costs work longer and earn more. That is, “good jobs” require longer hours of work. Interestingly, technology differentials cannot account for working hours differentials.     

Broken trend stationarity of hours worked

The estimated impact of a technology shock on hours worked using Structural Vector Autoregressions (SVARs) depends to a great extent on whether or not hours worked is considered to be integrated of first order. It is shown in this article that the widely analysed time series of hours worked per capita in the US business sector evolves around a broken linear trend. When this fact is taken into account, the unit root null is rejected by recently proposed tests. Therefore, it can be stated that empirical specifications with hours in first differences are not recommended. It seems more appropriate to control for the presence of this shift in the deterministic component. We also draw this conclusion from a bivariate model for both productivity growth and hours worked. Our results suggest that technology improvements have a negative but nonsignificant effect on hours only in the very short run. This impact later becomes positive and statistically significant after five periods.     

Envy, leisure, and restrictions on working hours

Abstract.  We present a simple model of capital accumulation where agents care about their consumption relative to the consumption of other members of society, 'envy,' In this context we quantify the extent of the distortions and welfare costs associated with envy. Under conservative estimates of envy we find that the implied welfare losses are substantial. We explore the implications of alternative policy arrangements designed to minimize the effects of the consumption externality. Our results suggest that if the optimal tax policy is not politically feasible, restrictions on working hours provide an alternative tool to induce a market outcome that resembles the efficient allocation achieved under a benevolent central planner. JEL classification: D62, H21     

A comparison of the economic development policies of county,metropolitan and non-metropolitan district councils

Local authorities in England and Wales have become important participants in economic development policy. This paper draws upon a comprehensive new date set covering the activities of the councils in the period 1990–92. The date set is unusual in that it allows the direct comparison of the activities of the three main groups of councils: county councils, metropolitan districts and non-metropolitan districts. The paper contrasts the degree of commitment to economic development policy and the range of initiatives of the three categories, and compares the manner in which the three types of councils package their initiatives in order to develop conherent strategies. The analysis reveals significant differences between the categories of councils and shows that despite the rapid spread of economic development policy amongst councils in more prosperous areas during the 1980s, the policies operated still depend on the economic and political characteristics of the councils.     

Changes in women's hours of market work: The role of returns to experience

Over the past several decades, married women's hours of market work increased significantly in the US. I argue that changes in behavior by married women with children account for much of this change. In particular, the pattern of married women's work hours has changed substantially over the life cycle. In the past, married women in childbearing age tended to specialize in childrearing and home production activities at the expense of engaging in market work. Now they do not curb the hours they work in the market.What factors contribute to this change in behavior? In this paper, I focus on relative changes in returns to experience as an explanation. I use PSID data for the 1970s and the 1990s to estimate the extent to which relative returns to experience have changed. I then use a life-cycle model with human capital accumulation and home production to quantitatively assess the consequences of this increase for married women's hours of work over the life cycle.The estimates of the human capital production function show that women's marginal returns to experience increased by 25% across decades, whereas men's increased by only 6%. I show that this relative change accounts for 96% of the observed variation in married women's hours of work. Moreover, according to the model, the increase in returns to experience accounts for roughly half of the increase in the female/male wage ratio that is found in the data. I also show that a decline in the gender wage gap, holding returns to experience constant, accounts for only 18% of the total increase in hours of work. As a consequence, it cannot explain the change in the shape of women's life-cycle profiles. Although the focus of the analysis is the labor supply behavior of women, the model also allows predictions about the behavior of men and single women. These predictions are consistent with the data.     

The impact of Sunday shopping on employment and hours of work in the retail industry: Evidence from Canada

Between 1980 and 1998 every Canadian province passed legislation that in some way relaxed restrictions on Sunday shopping. This study exploits the variation in deregulation dates between provinces to identify how retail employers adjust employment and hours of work when deciding to open on Sundays. A major complication of this analysis is to first determine for which provinces the deregulation dates are useful indicators of increases in Sunday store openings. This paper uses a unique trading-day regression approach to identify these provinces and then uses aggregate data from the selected provinces to estimate a simple dynamic labour demand model that allows employment and hours to be imperfect substitutes in production. The results suggest that retailers’ needs for Sunday labour were disproportionately satisfied through increases in employment levels. Comparison of the estimates at three levels of the retail industry suggests that the employment and hours gains were larger among general merchandise stores than among more specialized retail establishments and relatively modest at the aggregate retail industry level. In addition, despite evidence of an immediate shortfall in the employment level below the long-run optimal level, the results suggest that firms were unable to compensate by temporarily increasing the hours of their existing employees.     

机械通气患者保证睡眠时间镇静策略的前瞻性随机 对照研究

目的研究保证患者夜间睡眠时间的镇静策略对机械通气时间、住ICU时间、意识水平和住院不适经历等因素的影响。方法将入选50名患者随机分为两组,试验组夜间采取持续静脉泵注镇静药物以保证患者日常睡眠时间。试验组白天和对照组全天均采取按需镇静的策略。观察两组白天的意识水平,机械通气和住ICU时间,患者转出ICU时作包括紧张害怕、情绪低落、睡眠不良、疲劳感、口渴、疼痛6项内容的不适经历调查。结果两组患者机械通气天数(7.6±5.0VS7.3±2.9,P=0.125)和住ICU天数(10.0±4.8VS9.0±3.3,P=0.261)没有统计学差异。两组在机械通气第一、三天意识水平无统计学差异,第二天对照组处于焦虑或躁动时间更多(P=0.027)。不适住院经历(30%(6/20)VS31.5%(6/19)P0.05)无统计学差异,其中严重不适(10%(2/20)VS21%(4/19)P0.05)有统计学差异。结论保证睡眠时间的镇静策略能减少机械通气患者焦虑和躁动,减少住ICU期间的严重不适经历。     

价值转化工程对发展先进生产力的重要意义

价值转化工程与发展先进生产力有着密切联系 ,运用掌握好价值转化工程理论和价值转化规律 ,对于促进社会生产力的发展 ,增加社会财富 ,增强综合国力 ,使人类社会不断走向新文明有着极其重要的意义