Overcoming environmental scarcity,inequality and structural imbalance in the world economy

The world economy faces two major threats: increasing environmental degradation and a growing gap between rich and poor. The root cause is that natural resources—or natural capital—is underpriced, and hence overly exploited, whereas human capital—the skills embodied in the workforce—is insufficient to meet demand. This outcome has three important consequences. First, all sectors of an economy will use too much natural resources relative to skilled labor. Second, the skilled workers throughout the economy will have higher real incomes and thus will be better off. Third, wealth inequality will increase, as the income gap between skilled and unskilled workers widens. Addressing this structural imbalance requires correcting the two underlying distortions, which are the chronic under-pricing of natural capital and the under-investment in human capital. This must be accompanied by a new suite of policies to provide improved incentives for more balanced wealth creation.     

A HUMAN CAPITAL METHODOLOGY FOR ESTIMATING THE LIFELONG PERSONAL COSTS OF YOUNG WOMEN LEAVING THE SEX TRADE

Abstract

This article combines case study interviews with the tools of economic cost-benefit analysis to estimate the lifelong effects for individuals in Manitoba, Canada, who began engaging in prostitution as youths. The empirical findings reveal that sex workers retain only a small portion of their earnings from prostitution after feeding drug addictions and third-parties extortions of net residual earnings. The sex-trade worker typically suffers from debilitating addictions and health conditions that are symptomatic of the stress and danger of engaging in this lifestyle. After leaving prostitution, the former sex worker faces major challenges in rejoining the mainstream labor market. The issues engender multiple reasons for policy-makers to direct their attention to counteracting the conditions of vulnerability that bring youth into this lifestyle and, thereby, effectively disrupting the supply of sex workers.     

劳动力流动对城市经济增长贡献的实证研究——以哈尔滨市为例

建立了基于新经济增长理论的C-D生产函数形式的有效劳动模型,测度了劳动力流动对城市经济发展的积极影响。以哈尔滨市为例,实证分析了有效劳动要素对经济增长的影响。研究结果如下:2001—2007年外来劳动力对哈尔滨经济增长的年均贡献率达4.42%,产出的资本和有效劳动弹性之和为1.177。     

"三农问题"的缓解会降低中国的出口竞争力吗?

我国的出口竞争力主要来自于低廉的工资成本.依赖FDI和加工贸易的迅速增长,我国形成了低成本扩张的外向型经济增长模式.这种增长模式和"三农问题"存在紧密的内在联系."三农问题"的缓解,劳动者工资的提高,并不一定会降低我国的国际竞争力.从长期来看,转变这种不可持续的增长模式与解决"三农问题"应该而且能够协调互动.     

Optimal income taxation in models with endogenous fertility

This paper studies the efficient taxation of factor income in infinite-lived models with elastic fertility choices. Two models are considered, one with physical capital only, and one with physical and human capital. In the model with physical capital only, capital income should be subsidized, while labor income taxed. In the model with two types of capital, instead, Ramsey optimality prescribes that the tax on physical capital is zero (negative), if effective labor is constant (decreasing) returns to scale in human capital and market goods, while the tax on human capital is negative and the tax on effective labor positive. Our findings depart from those obtained in immortal models with an endogenous labor supply and constant population growth, because physical and human capital affect the demand for fertility.     

Labor force growth and the environment in Costa Rica

The introduction to this report of a study that examines the potential environmental impacts of labor force growth (LFG) in Costa Rica under LFG scenarios notes that LFG is an economically critical aspect of population growth that can affect the environment by expanding the economy's production possibilities frontier and/or by increasing consumption. The introduction also explains why Costa Rica is ideal for this study and identifies the study as unique because it constructs a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model using 10 environmental indicators and because it models uncertainty regarding the values of the economic parameters. The report continues by reviewing the literature linking population and environmental issues; detailing the CGE model; discussing the 10 environmental indicators (deforestation, erosion, pesticide use, overfishing, hazardous wastes, inorganic wastes, organic wastes, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and water/sewer usage) used in the model; and explaining the method used to simulate the impacts of LFG. The major conclusions that emerged from the results of this study are that 1) the economy-wide impacts of LFG (and, thus, population growth) on the environment are important and vary significantly according to the amounts of physical and human capital present in the labor force and 2) the impacts of LFG vary substantially among environmental indicators.     

The Social Connectedness and Life Satisfaction Nexus: A Panel Data Analysis of Women in Australia

This study explores the interplay between time pressures at home and at work, social connectedness, and well-being as reported by Australian women. Specifically, taking advantage of longitudinal data (from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey for the years 2001 to 2013) and employing the newly developed “blow up and cluster” estimation technique, this study finds there has been a marginal decline in the life satisfaction of Australian women. After accounting for changes in sociodemographic characteristics, a more pervasive negative trend in life satisfaction appears to be reported by both men and women, and both genders report higher levels of life satisfaction for greater levels of almost all measures of social connectedness. This study adds to a growing body of evidence pointing toward the importance of frequent and meaningful social connections to societal well-being, as well as the need to refocus attention on well-being in public-policy spheres.     

Sectoral labor adjustment and monetary policy in a small open economy

This paper studies the welfare implications of sectoral labor adjustment cost in a two-sector small open economy model with sticky prices. We find that, when the economy faces external shocks, if monetary policy can stabilize the real economy, then sectoral labor market adjustment cost will lead to welfare loss. However, if monetary policy such as fixed exchange rates cannot stabilize real variables, then some degree of labor market friction will improve welfare instead and the gain will be significant. As a result, the welfare gap between flexible exchange rates and fixed exchange rates decreases with sectoral labor market friction. This is because the friction can offset some of the nominal rigidity and become a substitute for monetary policy to stabilize the real economy.     

我国经济发展方式非均衡特征及优化的政策选择——基于人力资本投资低水平“陷阱”视角的分析

本文以人力资本视角分析我国经济发展方式转变及促进经济可持续性的政策选择。研究表明,人力资本投资在发达国家经济增长方式转型中具有主导性的作用,而改革开放以来我国人力资本投资对经济发展的作用已经落入低水平陷阱,经济发展依赖于物质资本及低端劳动力的数量投入,人力资本与物质资本呈现非均衡特征,而且出现就业压力严峻与人力资本短缺并存的现象,物质资本与人力资本不匹配、人力资本投资结构与人才需求结构错位,以及收入分配与人力资本投资不足等问题日益凸显,经济发展可持续性受到挑战。对此,我国应明确人力资本投资对经济发展方式转变的重要作用和地位,通过增加教育投入、放宽教育准入制度及收入分配改革等渠道,实现人力资本投资的快速增长,促进经济发展方式的优化。     

The Salient Issue of Issue Salience

This paper proposes a model where the set of issues that are decisive in an election (i.e., the set of salient issues) is endogenous. The model takes into account a key feature of the policy-making process, namely, that the decision-maker faces time and budget constraints that prevent him from addressing all of the issues that are on the agenda. We show that this feature creates a rationale for a policy-motivated decision-maker to manipulate his policy choice in order to influence which issues will be salient in the next election. We identify three motivations for the decision-maker to manipulate his policy choice for salience purposes. One is to make salient an issue on which he has an electoral advantage. A second motivation is to defuse the salience of an issue on which he is electorally weak, which is accomplished by either implicitly committing to a policy outcome or triggering a change of salient issue for the challenger. A third motivation is to induce the opposition party to nominate a candidate who, if elected, will implement a policy that the incumbent decision maker finds more palatable.     

Local housing costs and basic household needs

The supplemental poverty measure (SPM)—which serves as an indicator of economic well-being in addition to the official poverty rate—was introduced in 2010 and explicitly adjusts for geographic differences in the cost of housing. By embedding housing costs, the SPM diverges from official measures in some instances, offering a conflicting view on family well-being. However, there is limited direct evidence of the impact of housing costs on household well-being, and virtually all of it focuses on food insecurity. This study examines the impact of local housing costs on household well-being using the “basic needs” data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Across a wide variety of specifications, no evidence is found that housing costs impact well-being. In contrast, local labor market conditions do impact the well-being measures in many specifications. The findings call into question one of the key motivations for the SPM—that geographic cost differences are a major factor for household well-being.     

我国劳动分配比例的变动趋势与影响因素——基于中国省级面板数据的分析

本文分析了我国劳动分配比例的变动趋势与影响因素,并运用1996-2006年省级面板数据估计了一个计量模型,估计结果表明,我国劳动分配比例下降的根本原因是二元经济条件下的巨大就业压力、不断提高的劳均资本和人力资本、工会在保护劳动者权益方面的缺位.该结果对不同的模型设置和样本选择具有很强的稳健性.进一步的研究还发现就业压力和劳均资本对劳动分配比例的负面影响在低发展水平组更大.     

劳动者技能、劳动力流动与收入再分配

二元经济下劳动力的流动和收入再分配是经济学界长期关注的焦点问题之一.本文从标准的刘易斯模型所体现的经济及制度环境入手建立模型,分析劳动者技能、劳动力流动与收入再分配三者之间的关系,对照中国当前实际指明问题所在并提供相应的对策建议,为我国当前及今后相当长时期妥善处理劳动力流动及再分配问题提供了参考.     

WESTERN FARM LABOR ISSUES

This paper examines three farm labor issues: (1) how mechanization affects the demand for farm labor; (2) how immigration reform affects the supply of farm workers; and (3) how 10 years of collective bargaining affect the farm labor market. The evidence suggests that mechanization, immigration reform, and collective bargaining have had or will have fewer effects on the farm labor market than is often assumed. However, the farm labor market is vulnerable to future shocks if it remains isolated from nonfarm labor markets.     

Working capital requirement and the unemployment volatility puzzle

Shimer (2005) argues that a search and matching model of the labor market in which wage is determined by Nash bargaining cannot generate the observed volatility in unemployment and vacancy in response to reasonable labor productivity shocks. This paper examines how incorporating monopolistically competitive firms with a working capital requirement (in which firms borrow funds to pay their wage bills) improves the ability of the search models to match the empirical fluctuations in unemployment and vacancy without resorting to an alternative wage setting mechanism. The monetary authority follows an interest rate rule in the model. A positive labor productivity shock lowers the real marginal cost of production and lowers inflation. In response to the fall in price level, the monetary authority reduces the nominal interest rate. A lower interest rate reduces the cost of financing and partially offsets the increase in labor cost from a higher productivity. A reduced labor cost implies the firms retain a greater portion of the gain from a productivity shock, which gives them a greater incentive to create vacancies. Simulations show that a working capital requirement does indeed improve the ability of the search models to generate fluctuations in key labor market variables to better match the U.S. data.     

Modeling technological bias and factor input behavior in China's wheat production sector

Over the past three decades, China has implemented reforms in the agricultural sector in an attempt to increase efficiency and food security. However, China now faces a number of environmental degradation problems, in part, caused by her past agricultural reforms. In this paper we estimate, using a provincial-based panel dataset, a third-order translog cost function for China's grain production sector over the period 1990–2011. Results from the estimation, including estimated elasticities of demand for and substitution of factors, suggest that labor and capital are substitutes. This arises because the increasing cost of labor, induced by urbanization and the growth of the manufacturing sector, has lead to a substitution of machinery for labor in the production of wheat. The results are consistent with current government policies to encourage via subsidies and agricultural mechanization, which we show to be technically, a substitute for labor. We further conclude this will create an additional bonus of reducing the amount of fertilizer that is needed to efficiently and securely produce wheat in China, as the new capital is more efficient at fertilizer distribution.     

Catholic Economic Association Minutes of the Executive Council Meeting May 13, 1961

This paper applies thematic analysis to survey data obtained from a sample of AFDC recipients to investigate the complexities of single-parent decision-making in low-income households. A basic needs budget is developed to determine the adequacy of women's wages to provide for children's minimal material needs. In surveys, parents indicate their primary goal is the well-being of the children, determined by the adequacy of several types of resources, which we categorize into four groups: 1) material resources, 2) caring resources, 3) community resources, and 4) the macro-level environment. Using this framework, we develop a schematic model of single-parent decision-making, incorporating the assumption that children's level of need and well-being are determined not only by the cost and availability of material resources but also by psychological factors such as gender conflicts, neighborhood safety, as well as parents' time and social networks that provide caring labor.     

Impacts of hiring subsidies targeted at the long-term unemployed on the low-skilled labor market: The French experience

This paper proposes a theoretical matching framework to analyze firms' and workers' response to a targeted hiring subsidy program when taking into account interactions between segments of the low-skilled labor market. By developing a general equilibrium model, the paper provides a useful tool to evaluate the aggregate effects induced on the low-skilled labor market. Then, the model is computed above French data to estimate the employment and welfare effects of a measure introduced in France in 1995, the “Initiative-for-Employment Contract”. Finally, as the framework is well-suited to investigate design issues, I analyze the efficiency of the French program as well as targeting issues.     

Research Program versus Paradigm in the Development of Economics

This paper critiques economists’ past approaches to modeling the issue of intimate parmer violence based on stylized facts about victims and batterers. These stylized facts are an important step in recognizing a broader range of issues than what has been narrowly formulated in economic studies to date. A key factor is the revolving door phenomenon of abused women leaving and returning to a violent union. The ways in which women react to abusive situations is shaped by time-varying and path-dependent, decision-making processes over several episodes of violence. This paper discusses how economists can extend far beyond their current thinking around the constructions of intimate partner violence. The stylized facts presented in the paper have important implications for policy approaches to the issue, particularly where it concerns abused women’s potential for self-sufficiency in the labor market.     

劳资冲突管理机制探析及模型建构——以信息不对称类型为例

依据信息不对称这一属性对劳资冲突进行分类界定,可将其细分为资方非客观理解、劳方非客观理解和双方非客观理解三种类型。据此可以从资方调节、劳方调节和双方沟通调节三个方面展开应对机制的研究,建构信息不对称型劳资冲突的管理模型。