The cost of railroad regulation: the disintegration of American agricultural markets in the interwar period

This article investigates the costs of transport regulation using the example of agricultural markets in the US. Using a large database of prices by state of agricultural commodities, we find that dispersion fell for many commodities until the First World War. We demonstrate that this reflected changes in transport costs which in turn in the long run depended on productivity growth in railroads. The year 1920 marked a change in this relationship, however, and between the First and Second World Wars we find considerable disintegration of agricultural markets, ultimately as a consequence of the 1920 Transportation Act. We argue that this benefited railroad companies in the 1920s and workers in the 1930s, and we put forward an estimate of the welfare losses for the consumers of railroad services (that is, agricultural producers and final consumers).     

Depression dynamics: a new estimate of the Anglo‐American manufacturing productivity gap in the interwar period1

During the interwar period the manufacturing productivity gap between the US and the UK became much larger than existing estimates suggest. In this article a new comparison of US/UK productivity levels for 1935 is presented, utilizing a more rigorous methodology to revise the widely used, but methodologically outdated, benchmark comparison by Rostas that was published in 1948. Secondly, the comparison is extended to take account of variations in input prices, and it is shown that double deflation has a substantial effect on the new benchmark, particularly at the industry level. Thirdly, labour input is adjusted for actual hours worked. US manufacturing displayed a much higher level of comparative productivity for the key industries of the second industrial revolution, such as chemicals and engineering. These results support revisionist accounts of the depression's strengthening of US productivity leadership.     

中国劳动力市场的变化

日前,中国人民大学劳动人事学院院长曾湘泉教授回顾了2009年至今中国劳动力市场的四起重大事件,在此基础上分析了“中目劳动力市场供求关系”、“低工资时代的结束”、“劳资关系的力量对比”以及“政策的取向”等四个问题。最后给出八项政策建议。     

A labor force competition model of racial discrimination in the labor market

Conclusion This paper has developed a model of discrimination based on the standard maximization hypotheses. This model assumes an imperfectly competitive labor market. In particular, net differences in the benefits of jobs are not competed away, and labor market coalitions of workers exist. As we have indicated, the model is able to explain the major phenomena associated with labor market discrimination.     

Offshoring and working hours adjustments in a within-firm labor market

Although a growing body of literature identifies the within-firm redistribution effects of trade, research on the adjustment processes in within-firm labor markets remains scarce. This study analyzes the within-firm adjustment of working hours and wages by considering workers’ educational background and gender in response to a change in offshoring. Matched worker–firm panel data in the Japanese manufacturing sector covering 1998 to 2014 are used. The analysis leads to the following three observations. First, offshoring does not significantly alter the skill premium and gender gap in terms of scheduled monthly salaries and scheduled hourly wages. Second, offshoring decreases skill premium in annual hourly wages, whereas it increases gender gap in annual salaries. Third, this uneven impact on annual variables arises from the different changes in overtime working hours: college graduates work longer with a lower overtime premium, whereas female workers do not increase overtime work.     

Mr Drage,Mr Everyman,and the creation of a mass market for domestic furniture in interwar Britain1

This article examines strategies used by durable goods retailers to create a mass market in interwar Britain, via a case study of domestic furniture. Interwar demand for new furniture witnessed particularly rapid growth—mainly owing to the extension of the market to lower‐income groups. A number of innovative national retailers developed liberal hire purchase (HP) facilities in order to bring furniture within the economic reach of these groups, while sophisticated national advertising campaigns were used both to legitimize the buying of furniture on HP and to project the idea that furnishing by this means was key to achieving the type of aspirational lifestyles being promulgated in the popular media.     

Characteristics of labor market in Serbia - View on the labor demand on Belgrade and Banat labor markets

The labor market in Serbia is characterized by one of the highest unemployment rates of the working population （aged 15 to 64）. Also, it is notified that the unemployed level of the qualification is very low and that there isn＇t enough space in the existing formal educational system for any new introductions （such as prequalification courses, or lifelong educational concepts）. The research on the labor demand was aimed at assessing the state of the labor markets in the selected regions and at analyzing short-term demand for labor force. The analysis establishes： Which sectors of local/regional economy are being developed and are likely to require additional labor force in the next six months; which types of jobs are likely to be in demand in the aforementioned sectors; which additional knowledge and skills are needed for such occupations. The applied methodology also enabled to analyze information on vulnerable groups of unemployed, namely persons with disturbing factors in employment and the young unemployed of up to 24 years of age. In order to gather reliable data at regional level, a research was conducted on a stratified sample covering 1400 enterprises and some of the statistical labor market indicators were established indicating particularities of the labor markets in the surveyed regions -- Belgrade and Banat.     

With or without siblings: Sorting into competition in the experimental labor market

We employ a well-controlled laboratory experiment to examine whether only children and those with siblings differ in their willingness to compete. We find that only children are more likely to undervalue the chance of winning and shy away from competition, but they become to embrace competition as their self-assessed winning probability increases. Alternatively, once uncertainty of relative performance is removed, the gap in willingness to compete between the two groups disappears. Utilizing a two-stage model of decision weights under uncertainty, we find that such a gap is predominantly caused by their heterogeneous attitudes toward ambiguity.     

Black immigrants in the U.S. labor market: An earnings analysis

This article investigates the existence and sources of earnings differentials between black Americans and black immigrants, and between black and nonblack immigrants. Employing the Public Use Sample of the 1980 census, the gross earnings differentials between black immigrants and black Americans are estimated to be 8.7 percent in favor of Americans (i.e., Americans earn 8.7 percent more than immigrants). About 2 percentage points and 6.7 percentage points of the gross differential are, respectively, due to differences in average characteristics and in returns to the characteristics. The gross differential between black and nonblack immigrants is 22.1 percent in favor of nonblack, of which 13.8 percentage points are due to differences in average characteristics and 8.3 are due to differences in returns to characteristics.     

Employment and labor market dynamics in the Russian Federation until 2030

The paper considers inertial and factor forecasts of the basic parameters of the employment and labor market dynamics in Russia. Estimates of the future state in the area of employment are given for the national and regional levels by types of economic activity. The basic factors acting on the employment and labor market dynamics are also analyzed at the national and regional levels.     

The labor market and the distribution of landholdings in pre-Famine Ireland

The size distribution of landholdings varied widely in pre-Famine Ireland. Its determinants are of great interest given the catastrophe of the Great Famine. This paper divides holdings into labor-deficient and labor-surplus. The statistical analysis consists of fitting a lognormal distribution to the holding data and regressing the estimated parameters on the physical characteristics of the locality, such as land quality, and on the economic environment and in particular population density. Their influence operates through the labor market on the sides of both supply and demand. The model explains the inequality in the holding distribution better than the central tendency.     

TFP growth slowdown and the Japanese labor market in the 1990s

Unemployment in Japan nearly tripled during the 1990s. Underlying this upsurge lie an increase in the probability of workers to lose their jobs and a decrease in the probability that the unemployed find jobs. This paper analyzes the sources responsible for these labor market changes in Japan in the decade of the 1990s. We build, calibrate, and simulate a neo-classical growth model with search frictions in the labor market. Using actual TFP data, the model is able to reproduce the path of unemployment and the job flows, as well as that of output. We find it to be the decrease in productivity, coupled with the reduction in hours worked, which curtails the profits of firms, inducing a drop in employment and an increase in unemployment.     

From parent to child: early labor market experiences of second-generation immigrants in the netherlands

This paper is on the early labor market experiences of second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands. With respect to employment rates we find that there are some differences across ethnic groups. However, conditional on having a job there is hardly any difference in wages and other job characteristics between second-generation immigrants and native Dutch of the same age group.     

The market as a commons: A further comment

Summary The Copes model, where an open access market is expected to result in nonoptimal levels of capacity and output, is demonstrated to be applicable where there is simultaneity of production and sale of output. Particular reference is made to the service sector, where customers are regarded as necessary inputs into the production activity of a service sector firm and as necessary for sales (output) of the firm to occur. It is further shown that the criticisms of the Copes Model leveled by Gordon and Stegman in terms of market rent, the nature of the free entry supply curve, and the equilibrating role of price do not hold in our analysis of service sector activities.     

Labor market differentiation in a developing economy: An example from urban Juba,Southern Sudan

This study focuses on the nature and determinants of labor market differentiation and household-level poverty in urban Juba, Southern Sudan, using data collected in a recent sample survey of enterprises. It finds that indices of human capital play a significant role in labor market outcomes but imperfections in the product and capital markets lead to a highly skewed distribution of income. Demographic factors at the household level are also important in accounting for economic status. The paper concludes that income differentiation and poverty are much more diverse than the simple formal-informal sector dichotomy of the labor market, which is frequently found in the literature, would predict.