Early Retirement and Economic Incentives

In Norway, early retirement programmes have gradually reduced the retirement age from 67 to 62 for a majority of the labour force. Based on micro data for 1990 and 1992, we estimate a competing-risk model with three states: full retirement, partial retirement/part-time work and full-time work. We then use the estimated model in simulations to study how financial incentives can be strengthened to extend working life. Financial incentives, educational background and industry affiliation are found to influence retirement behaviour. For low and medium incomes, the tax system shifts the incentives heavily towards early retirement and, in particular, towards partial retirement combined with part-time work.     

Occupational choices of working children in Bangladesh

The article looks into the determinants of occupational choices of working children in Bangladesh. Using data from 6668 Bangladeshi working children aged 5 through 14, the article estimates several binary and multinomial logit regressions, separately for boys and girls. The article confirms that most children work in the informal sector where formal sector’s jurisdiction and regulations are absent. Specifically, the article finds that children are least likely to work in the service occupation and are more likely to work in the textile sector. The findings highlight the diversity in the occupational distribution of child workers by gender and show how their individual and family characteristics influence occupational choices. The service sector, which comprises of mostly maids, is a hidden sector. This sector makes children vulnerable to abuse. Thus, it is suggested that policy makers need to come up with effective legislations that would protect the children who work in the ‘hidden informal’ sector.     

Deterministic heterogeneity in tastes and product differentiation in the K-logit model

In this paper we use the K-deformed multinomial logit model to study product differentiation. The focus is on the economic interpretation of the deformation parameter which is the key parameter of this model. Then we establish the relationship between this parameter and probability choice, price elasticity and markup.     

Welfare State and Welfare Society

This paper updates and extends my earlier work on how the middle class fares throughout the world based on the microdata sets that comprise the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Wave #6 LIS data, recently released and centered around 2004, provides an opportunity to assess what has happened to the size of the middle class around the world in the early 2000s. In contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, there was no noticeable decline in the middle class during the early 2000s. The paper provides further evidence that the size of the middle class in each nation depends mainly on government tax and spending policies. In particular, it shows the key role played by family allowances and paid family leave in supporting a national middle class.     

Anti-poverty competences in a multilevel government: an empirical analysis of citizens’ preferences in Europe

This article aims to investigate individuals’ perceptions about institutions that should be primarily responsible for reducing or preventing poverty, which is a dramatic phenomenon that became a crucial issue in European countries over recent years. We propose an empirical analysis based on European survey data and investigate some citizens’-level and country-level variables that potentially affect individuals’ attitudes. Our results suggest that country-level economic and institutional characteristics do significantly affect individual preferences for the governance of anti-poverty policies.     

Biotechnology as a Technological Paradigm in the Global Knowledge Structure

The aim of this study is to analyse whether the receipt of public R&D funding determines firm's R&D strategy selection. This issue is crucial, as previous studies have shown that each R&D strategy is associated to a higher, or lower, innovation performance. We consider three R&D strategies – make, buy, make–buy – and three different sources of public funding – regional, state and other (such as EU). The model estimation is performed through a multinomial logit model with random effects with a sample of 457 large firms for the period 1992–2005, taken from the Spanish Survey of Business Strategies. The main finding is that the source of the funding influences whether firms select the make, buy or make–buy strategy. Additionally, because of the panel structure of the sample, we observe that the effect of public funding on the R&D strategy selection lasts longer for state and regional funds than for other funds.     

Economic determinants of deregulation in the gas distribution market

Many state public commissions have deregulated their utility markets. However, evidence of welfare or efficiency improvements under deregulation is ambiguous. It is also unclear why different states adopt consumer choice, price caps, sliding-scale plans, or retain rate-of-return regulation. This study evaluates several economic factors behind deregulation in gas distribution markets using a survey of state commissions. Logistic and hazard models show that utilities’ prices and capacity, and states’ stock of own gas wells, prices of competing fuels and the regulatory climate, help explain the pattern of deregulation. Demonstration effects from surrounding markets also contribute. These factors make the propensity to use price caps versus restructuring vary regionally.     

The determinants of the location of foreign direct investment in UK regions†

This article employs a database of over 2000 observations of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects in UK regions. We analyse this data by means of various multinomial and conditional logit models in order to identify the major determinants of the location choices of these inward investments. Having controlled for the various characteristics of inward investing firms, the projects and the regions, our results suggest that existing regional specialization is the single most important determining feature of where inward FDI locates. In addition, London is seen to benefit primarily by the immigration of new investments, the majority of which are related to service sector activities.     

The Value of Changes in Deer Season Length: An Application of the Nested Multinomial Logit Model

Increasing deer populations can be controlled through manipulatingharvest limits or season length. While such actions often result in benefitsto hunters, both motorists and the agricultural sector also benefit as alower deer population leads to fewer incidences of harmful human-deerencounters. Traditional recreation demand models are often employed toexamine the welfare implications of changes in daily hunting bag limits.Studies measuring the effects of changes in season length, however, arenoticeably absent from the literature. This study uses a nested randomutility model to examine hunter choice over site and season selection toderive the values of changes in season length.     

预期退休年龄的影响因素分析*——基于CHARLS数据的实证研究

本文基于2011年CHARLS数据,利用Multinominal Logit模型分析了45岁~60岁劳动者个人特征、配偶特征以及家庭特征对他们延迟退休意愿和无休止劳动意愿的影响。本文发现,女性、具有高级职称和农业户口的劳动者更愿意延迟退休,在企业工作、具有农业户口和受教育程度偏低的人倾向于无休止劳动。对延迟退休意愿进行性别差异分析的结果表明,男性延迟退休意愿随着自身受教育程度的提高而增加,随着妻子受教育程度的提高呈现先降低后提高的“U”型趋势。女性的延迟退休意愿随着自身受教育程度的提高而下降,但并不受丈夫的影响。无论是男性还是女性,随着受教育程度的提高,他们无休止劳动的预期均下降。针对以上结论,本文提出了相应的政策建议。     

Modeling Overnight Recreation Trip Choice: Application of a Repeated Nested Multinomial Logit Model

In this paper we apply the repeated nested multinomial logit model, a version of a random utility model (RUM), to estimate the choice of an overnight versus single day recreation trip, along with the other usual choice of which of the sites to visit, and less typically, the choice of whether to participate (in our application – to fish) at all. We also find statistically significant income effects in the empirical results. The application is to Atlantic Salmon fishing and the data set is for Maine resident angler's fishing trips to rivers in Maine and Canada.     

知情选择对中国避孕行为的影响分析

利用近三十年来的避孕抽样调查数据,考察知情选择的逐步展开对中国已婚育龄人群避孕行为的影响。育龄人群的避孕行为已随知情选择发生较大变化,短效自控型避孕措施选择的可能性在逐步升高,长效医控型避孕措施选择的可能性在逐步降低,避孕模式呈自由选择多元化发展态势。知情选择强化了个体因素在避孕措施选择中的决定作用,为育龄个体提供了更为自由的避孕选择空间。避孕行为受子女性别影响的社会事实长期存在,知情选择在一定程度上增加了性别偏好对避孕措施选择的影响。     

Job preferences of students and new graduates in nursing

This article investigates the preferences of student and newly graduated nurses for pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of nursing jobs. It is the first study applying methods based on discrete choice experiments to a developed country nursing workforce. It is also the first to focus on the transition through university training and into work. This is particularly important as junior nurses have the lowest retention levels in the profession. We sample 526 individuals from nursing programmes in two Australian universities. Flexible and newly developed models combining heteroscedasticity with unobserved heterogeneity in scale and preference weights are estimated. Overall, salary remains the most important feature in increasing the probability that a job will be selected. ‘Supportive management/staff’ and ‘quality of care’ follow as the most important attributes from a list of 11 nonpecuniary characteristics. However, the subset of new graduates rank ‘supportive management/staff’ above salary increases, emphasizing the importance of a supportive workplace in the transition from university to the workplace. We find substantial preference heterogeneity and some attributes, such as the opportunity for clinical rotations, are found to be attractive to some nurses while seen as negative by others. Nursing retention could be improved by designing different employment packages to appeal to these different tastes.     

Does Employee Body Weight Affect Employers' Behavior?

In this paper, we study the possible segregation of overweight individuals already established in the labor market when firms make decisions on hiring, firing, and promoting. Most existing studies use wage equations to document wage differences, but little is known about the reason for the differences and the sorting of workers. Using an equilibrium search model, search frictions are taken into account. Additionally, sorting is examined using a logit model. We find that wage differences between workers who have a normal weight and workers who are overweight or obese can be explained by differential firm behavior, with respect to both the job‐offer arrival rate and the probability of being promoted.