Temporary employment,work quality,and job satisfaction

Using European Working Conditions Survey, this paper shows that being employed on a temporary, rather than an open-ended, contract has a negative bearing for job satisfaction. While this effect has been established previously, the novelty of this paper is to show that the effect propagates both directly and indirectly, through working conditions and work quality. Accounting for this indirect effect allows to obtain the effect of the contractual status on job satisfaction that is substantially larger in magnitude as compared to simple direct effects, confirming the importance of accounting for unobservable individual, company-specific, and job-specific heterogeneity when addressing this relationship. Moreover, the extent of co-determination of poorer working conditions and temporary contractual status, as well as the resulting bias in estimating only a direct effect of temporary employment on job satisfaction without accounting for such co-determination, vary depending on a country setting. It is shown that in transition economies, this co-determination is larger than in non-transition economies, possibly because of the workers’ weaker bargaining power, strategic use of temporary employment to circumvent labor regulations, the absence of regulations prescribing equal treatment of workers with different contractual arrangements, or lack of compliance with such regulations.     

How credit constraints affect small and medium enterprises' strategic employment decisions and employees' labour outcomes: Evidence from Vietnam1

This study makes use of rich firm-level and linked firm-employee datasets that span the 2009–2015 period in Vietnam to examine how SMEs' credit constraints affect their strategic employment decisions and employees' labour outcomes. Our results show that constrained SMEs enlarge total employment by employing relatively more temporary workers and paying their employees relatively lower wages than unconstrained borrowing firms. Meanwhile, discouraged firms, mostly informal businesses, do not behave differently from unconstrained counterparts. In order to maintain a stable employment portfolio, discouraged firms are relatively more willing to reward their employees with an overtime payment.     

Smartphone use,off-farm employment,and women's decision-making power: Evidence from rural China

Empowering women is an important goal of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and studies have proposed various strategies to achieve this goal. However, few have examined the role of smartphone use in empowering women in decision-making and its mechanism. Therefore, this study analyzes how smartphone use affects women's decision-making power and explores whether this influence is due to women's off-farm employment mechanisms. For this purpose, the study uses the survey data of 1110 households in rural China and the endogenous treatment regression model for analysis. The control function approach addresses the selection bias of off-farm employment. The results show that smartphone use significantly increases women's decision-making power, partially channeled through increasing women's off-farm employment. The mechanism effect is robust to using both binary and intensive measurements of off-farm employment. Therefore, a policy to improve access to internet facilities and smartphone use could improve women's decision-making power through employment in the off-farm sector.     

The Effect of Changes in Real Exchange Rates on Employment: Evidence from Manufacturing Industries in China, 1980–2002

This paper analyzes the effect of changes in real exchange rate on manufacturing employment. Our theoretical model predicts the positive effect of depreciation of real exchange rate on employment through a firm’s expectation on changes in real exchange rate and the interaction between real exchange rate and a firm’s import and domestic input. Using China’s manufacturing data during the 1980–2003 period, we find that depreciation of real exchange rate promotes employment growth in manufacturing industries, while change in real exchange rate is not a significant factor in promoting wage growth. We also find that an increase in export share offsets partially the effects of real exchange rate on employment and real wages. Translated from Journal of World Economy, 2005, (4): (in Chinese)     

Sexual Prejudice and Labor Market Outcomes for Gays and Lesbians: Evidence from Sweden

This paper presents results from a study of sexual prejudice and differentials in labor market outcomes due to sexual orientation. It uses data from a nationwide Swedish survey on public attitudes toward homosexuals, conducted in 1999, and combines them with register data for 2007, which include information about sexual orientation, employment status, and yearly earnings for the total population in Sweden. It finds that prejudice against homosexuals negatively affects the relative employment and relative earnings of gay men. Lesbians are affected negatively by prejudice against homosexuals in terms of employment, but the relationship is less clear in regard to earnings. Discrimination against homosexuals, as well as social norms, occupational sorting and self-selection in, geographic mobility are presented as explanations for the results.     

Productivity,real exchange rate,and aggregate demand: An empirical exercise applied to Brazil from 1960 to 2011

This research analyzes, from a post Kaleckian perspective, the interactions among the aggregate demand, the real exchange rate, productivity, and real wages in the Brazilian economy from 1960 to 2011. It adopts the longstanding perspective that demand is the driver of capital accumulation and economic growth. The research comprises the following steps: (a) a critical assessment of the growth regime literature, with a particular emphasis on issues related to productivity and the real exchange rate; (b) understanding the relationship between the real exchange rate and the productivity and growth regimes; (c) proposing a theoretical model that relates the real exchange rate, productivity, and the growth regime; and (d) an empirical test of the interaction between the real exchange rate, productivity, and the growth regime. Theoretically the study develops a model showing the interactions between the aggregate demand, the real exchange rate, productivity, and real wages. Furthermore, this research attempts to address the lack of theoretical and empirical studies about the relationship between the aggregate demand, the real exchange rate, productivity and real wages.     

Mobile money,risk sharing,and educational investment: Panel evidence from rural Uganda

We examine the impact of the rapidly expanding mobile banking service “mobile money” on rural households' ability to smooth investment in schooling after a negative shock. We find that a negative shock induces a 9.3‐percentage point decrease in per school‐age child educational expenditure for households who do not use mobile money compared to an 8.3‐percentage point decrease for households that have adopted mobile money. The underlying mechanism is an increase in remittance receipt and the diversity of senders owing to the reduction in transactions cost provided by mobile money. We show that our results are robust to alternative mechanisms. We use the expansion in mobile money agent network as an exogenous variation in access to mobile money.     

Outward FDI,Total Factor Productivity and Domestic Output: Evidence from Germany

This paper examines the impact of outward FDI on domestic output and total factor productivity by applying cointegration techniques to macroeconomic time series data for Germany. We find a positive relationship between outward FDI and domestic output as well as between outward FDI and total factor productivity. Furthermore, our results indicate that there is bidirectional causality between outward FDI and domestic output, and outward FDI and total factor productivity, suggesting that increased output and productivity are both a consequence and a cause of increased outward FDI. Overall, the results of this paper can be interpreted as evidence of productivity-enhancing, and thus growth-enhancing, effects of outward FDI, which is inconsistent with the simplistic idea that outward investment represents a diversion of domestic economic activity.     

Foreign direct investment,heterogeneous workers and employment security: Evidence from Germany

We analyze how foreign direct investment (FDI) affects employment security using administrative microdata for German employees. Measuring FDI intensity at the industry level enables us to take into account the sum of direct effects at multinationals as well as indirect effects of FDI throughout the affected industry. We find that both inward and outward FDI significantly reduce employment security. This is particularly the case for inward FDI coming from the western part of the European Union as well as for outward FDI going to Central and Eastern Europe. The effects are sizeable for older and low‐skilled workers.     

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.     

Health,time allocation and work: empirical evidence from Turkey

This article investigates the relationship between health status and time allocation decisions of individuals. Although many studies address impacts of health on labour supply, few studies explore associations of health status with non-market work activities. Using a nationally representative sample from a recent Turkish Time Use Survey, this article employs Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) framework to estimate multiple equations of various time use categories. Consistent with literature, empirical results indicate that higher levels of self-reported health status (SRHS) are associated with more time spent in market work. However, better health level is negatively correlated with time spent in leisure and sleep. There is mixed evidence between self-reported health status (SRHS) and time spent on non-market work. There is a negative weak association between health and time devoted to personal care. Finally, demographics such as gender, age, education and marital status display correlations with time allocation of Turkish individuals.     

Foreign investments in real estate,economic growth and property prices: evidence from OECD countries

The last two decades have witnessed a growth in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the real estate sector in most of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. It is argued that FDI in the real estate sector may improve economic growth in recipient economies. On the other hand, property prices have increased considerably in OECD countries in recent years and some argue that FDI in real estate is one of the driving forces of high property prices in these countries. The purpose of this study is to analyze the interrelationship between FDI in the real estate sector, economic growth, and property prices while controlling for interest rate and inflation. We use observations from a set of OECD countries for the period between 1995 and 2008. The dynamic interrelationship is analyzed by applying a panel cointegration technique. Our empirical results show that FDI in real estate do not cause property price appreciations and also do not contribute to economic growth in OECD countries in the short run and the long run.     

Unobserved Individual and Firm Heterogeneity in Wage and Job‐Duration Functions: Evidence from German Linked Employer–Employee Data

Abstract. We analyse the correlations between individual and firm fixed effects, and wage and job‐duration functions. Our results for large firms suggest that low‐wage firms tend to be stable firms, suggesting that lower wages can buy job stability. Furthermore, high‐wage workers sort into the stable low‐wage firms. Our interpretation is that high‐wage workers have a higher wage to insure against job loss and can afford more easily to forgo wages in favour of job stability. This may provide an explanation of the puzzle identified in previous literature that high‐wage workers are matched to low‐wage firms.     

Marginal Tax Rates and Tax‐Favoured Pension Savings of the Self‐Employed: Evidence from Sweden*

In recent years, the study of how individuals respond to policies that aim at promoting pension savings has emerged as a vital area of economic research. This paper adds to this body of literature by estimating the tax price elasticity of contributions to tax‐favoured pension‐savings accounts on a population of self‐employed individuals. I exploit a unique total database over the Swedish population that covers the years 1999–2005. Using instrumental variables, I obtain a tax price elasticity estimate of ?0.51 and an income elasticity estimate of 0.13, whereas ordinary least‐squares (OLS) produces estimates that conflict with consumer theory.     

集聚经济、公共基础设施与劳动生产率——来自中国城市动态面板数据的证据

文章采用2001-2007年中国城市面板数据实证检验了集聚经济、公共基础设施与城市非农劳动生产率的关系。结果表明:在控制住其他影响因素后,一个地区的就业密度和公共基础设施对其非农劳动生产率都有着显著为正的影响,但在忽略城市公共基础设施的情况下,集聚经济的估计值明显偏高了。     

Time-saving innovations, time allocation, and energy use: Evidence from Canadian households

Time and energy are major inputs into the production of household goods and services. As a result, the market penetration of time-saving technologies for general household use is expected to affect both a household's (i) allocation of time across home production and leisure activities; and (ii) energy use. For example, with a household's adoption of a microwave or a dishwasher, cooking food and washing dishes will require less time, and therefore in-home meal preparation may increase. Households with microwaves or dishwashers may also opt to spend more time undertaking other production activities, inside or outside the home, or engage in more leisure (watching TV, reading, exercising). To the extent that time is reallocated from less to more energy-intensive activities in the home, residential energy use will increase as households adopt appliances that embody time-saving technology. Furthermore, an adoption of time-saving technologies for basic household chores, such as meal preparation and laundry, can impact energy use due to the fact that many time-saving technologies are more energy intensive than alternative technologies that require larger time commitments. In this paper, we use the Canadian Survey of Household Energy Use data from 2003 to examine the extent to which ownership of products that embody time-saving innovations affects time allocation and energy use at the household level.     

Unit roots,postwar slowdowns and long-run growth: Evidence from two structural breaks

This paper provides evidence on the unit root hypothesis and long-term growth by allowing for two structural breaks. We reject the unit root hypothesis for three-quarters of the countries – approximately 50% more rejections than in models that allow for only one break. While about half of the countries exhibit slowdowns following their postwar breaks, the others have grown along paths that have become steeper over the past 120 years. The majority of the countries, including most of the slowdown countries, exhibit faster growth after their second breaks than during the decades preceding their first breaks. First version received: May 2001/Final version received: January 2002     

Job Polarization and Task‐Biased Technological Change: Evidence from Sweden, 1975–2005

In this paper, we show that between 1975 and 2005, Sweden exhibited a pattern of job polarization with expansions of the highest‐ and lowest‐paid jobs compared to middle‐wage jobs. The most popular explanation for such a pattern is the hypothesis of task‐biased technological change, where technological progress reduces the demand for routine middle‐wage jobs but increases the demand for non‐routine jobs located at the tails of the job–wage distribution. However, our estimates do not support this explanation for the 1970s and 1980s. Stronger evidence for task‐biased technological change, albeit not conclusive, is found for the 1990s and 2000s. In particular, there is both a statistically and economically significant growth of non‐routine jobs and a decline of routine jobs. However, results for wages are mixed; while task‐biased technological change cannot explain changes in between‐occupation wage differentials, it does have considerable explanatory power for changes in within‐occupation wage differentials.     

我国国际资本流动性程度和非流动性原因的度量与检验--来自中美日三国消费模式对比的经验证据

加入WTO以后,我国的国际资本流动性开始有所加强,流动方式也有所改变。文章选择中国、美国和日本的消费和收入数据,在国家之间实际利率均衡的假设下,通过国家消费模式的考察和对比,发现我国的经济运行并不满足国际资本完全流动性假说,其原因既出于我国资本市场与国际资本市场之间存在进入限制,也出于我国资本市场与国际资本市场的非完全整合。这些经验发现表明,我国经济中的名义利率、汇率和资本市场仍然处于有限管制过程中,必须通过深化国内金融体制改革和逐步实现资本市场开放等有力措施来增强我国国际资本的流动性,进而保持我国快速经济增长和提高整体资源配置效率。