Wage bargaining and multinational firms

We set up a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms to study the interaction between wage bargaining and foreign direct investment. Thereby, we highlight the incentives of firms to invest abroad in order to improve their bargaining position vis-á-vis local unions and we show how changes in the bargaining power of unions affect the share of multinational firms in an open economy. In addition, taking into account this relationship between wage bargaining and foreign direct investment, our analysis provides novel insights on how labor income and the unemployment rate adjust to economic integration and how changes in the bargaining power of unions affect these two labor market variables.     

Minimum wage,unemployment and international migration

"The link between immigration and unemployment among the native workers of the host country is examined within a model which distinguishes individuals in terms of their ability to perform services in the labor market. An inflow of foreign workers is found to have an ambiguous effect on the level of income received by the native factors of production. This is in sharp contrast to the findings that immigration improves welfare in a fully employed host country and that it unambiguously lowers welfare in a minimum-wage economy with homogeneous labor."     

Subsidies for FDI: Implications from a model with heterogeneous firms

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of subsidies to attract multinational corporations when firms are heterogeneous in their productivity levels. I show that the use of a small subsidy raises welfare in the FDI host country, with the consumption gains from attracting more multinationals exceeding the direct cost of funding the subsidy program through a tax on labor income. This welfare gain stems from a selection effect, whereby the subsidy induces only the most productive exporters to switch to servicing the host's market via FDI. I further show that for the same total subsidy bill, a subsidy to variable costs delivers a larger welfare gain than a subsidy to the fixed cost of conducting FDI, since a variable cost subsidy also raises the inefficiently low output levels stemming from each firm's markup pricing power.     

The welfare state after the great recession

The economic crisis has given rise to significant challenges to the welfare state. Given that welfare expenses account for a large proportion of all state spending in the member countries of the European Union, reducing government spending means cutting welfare measures. Yet social protection, in particular unemployment insurance benefits and minimum income support, has significantly softened the impact of the crisis for millions of individuals. The global recession calls into question the financial viability of current programmes, and the crisis is being used by some as an opportunity to roll back the welfare state permanently. The present Forum discusses challenges to and opportunities for the welfare state after the crisis.     

FISCAL POLICY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE IMPERFECT LABOR MARKET

Using a simple overlapping generations model with the growth engine of public capital by incorporating the union wage setting, we examine the effects of fiscal policies on unemployment, economic growth and welfare in the imperfect labor market. We demonstrate that the growth‐maximizing tax in the imperfect labor market is larger than that of the perfect labor market. However, as the allocation ratio of public capital increases, the growth‐maximizing tax in the imperfect labor market approaches that of the perfect labor market, thus reducing the unemployment rate. The policy implications of the intergenerational welfare aspects are also mentioned.     

Offshoring and unemployment: The role of search frictions labor mobility

In a two-sector, general-equilibrium model with labor-market search frictions, we find that the wage increases and sectoral unemployment decreases upon offshoring in the presence of perfect intersectoral labor mobility. If, as a result, labor moves to the sector with the lower (or equal) vacancy costs, there is an unambiguous decrease in economywide unemployment. With imperfect intersectoral labor mobility, unemployment in the offshoring sector can rise, with an unambiguous unemployment reduction in the non-offshoring sector. Imperfect labor mobility can result in a mixed equilibrium in which only some firms offshore, with unemployment in the offshoring sector rising.     

International trade and macroeconomic dynamics with labor market frictions

This paper studies how labor market frictions affect the consequences of trade integration in a two-country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms and endogenous producer entry. Two main results emerge. First, trade integration is beneficial for welfare by inducing higher productivity, but unemployment can temporarily rise during the transitional adjustment. Labor market rigidities reduce gains from trade, even though they can mitigate short-run employment losses. Second, consistent with the data, the model predicts that stronger trade linkages lead to increased business cycle synchronization. The strength of this effect, however, depends on the labor market characteristics of the integrating partners.     

苏南农民工社会保障的实证研究

苏南农民工社会保障虽略好于江苏全省情况,但仍存在不少问题。苏南民工就业劳动合同签订率低,大部分农民工未参加任何社会保险,参加医疗、养老、工伤、失业、生育和综合保险的人数比例低。苏南农民工主要就业于私营、个体和股份制企业,就业于集体、国有企业的也有一定的比例。农民工平均工作时间长,而月收入仅相当于本地居民平均收入的60-80%。其原因,除了劳动力过剩、城乡两元体系和关系网络外,主要是由于农民工受教育程度低,工会组织不健全等。     

Another look at the relationship between socioeconomic factors and the black-white health benefit inequality

This paper illustrates the black-white disparity in health benefit coverage and the socioeconomic variables-unemployment, income, and education. The health benefit disparity is strongly related to the disparity in underlying socioeconomic variables. Moreover, the time-series examination reveals that the change in white workers' health insurance coverage is largely determined by its year-to-year persistence and the labor market tightness (or the business cycle), while that of black workers is largely determined by the change in their earnings with a slight persistence. The effect of the change in annual earnings seems to dominate the effect of the labor market condition (unemployment rate) and other variables. Finally, although marginally significant, an increase in the attainment of higher education (college) has a positive effect on the black-white health benefit disparity.     

Welfare computations and the optimal staging of tariff reductions in models with adjustment costs

This is an analysis of the second-best problem of choice of tariff level for period two given a positive tariff in period one. The models presented take the allocation of all factors of production except labor as fixed, and allow labor to transfer between industries at a positive cost. The period two tariff may then optimally be set to some positive level. Although these models involve voluntary unemployment, no adjustment to the goods market welfare triangle is necessary to compensate for the adjustment burden in computing the gains from tariff reduction. Lastly, it is shown that a staged reduction of tariffs may be preferred for income distribution reasons to a once-and-for-all reduction.     

Welfare implications of trade liberalization and fiscal reform: A quantitative experiment

This paper studies the welfare implications of revenue-neutral trade liberalization and fiscal reform programs for developing economies using a multi-sector dynamic general equilibrium model of a small open economy. We analyze how different combinations of tariffs – on imported consumption goods, intermediate inputs, and capital goods – and taxes – on consumption, labor income and capital income – affect the transitional and long-run welfare. We report three main findings. First, trade liberalization programs financed by consumption and labor income taxes tend to result in substantial welfare gains, but financing the lost tariff revenue through capital income taxes can have an adverse impact on welfare. Second, a significant fraction of welfare changes is due to transitional effects stemming from the allocation of resources in response to changes in tariffs and taxes. Third, trade liberalization and fiscal reform programs often translate into much larger welfare gains in countries that are more open to international financial markets.     

Rethinking the area approach: Immigrants and the labor market in California

A framework that uses a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function with skill differentiation and integrated national labor markets has predictions for the employment effect of immigrants at the local level. The employment (rather than wage) response to immigration by skill in a state reveals the production substitutability-complementarity between native and immigrant labor. This, in turn, reveals the degree to which immigrants stimulate or depress the demand for native labor. To estimate this elasticity, I use a novel instrument based on demographic characteristics of total Central American migrants or of the Mexican Population to predict immigration by skill level within California. Looking at immigration to California between 1960 and 2005 these estimates support the assumption of a nationally integrated labor market by skill and they support the hypothesis that natives and immigrants in the same education-experience group are not perfectly substitutable. This explains the counter-intuitive fact that there is a zero correlation between immigration and wage and employment outcomes of natives in the state.     

Unemployment and relative labor market institutions between trading partners

This paper contributes to the literature that highlights the role of trading partners' institutions for a country's unemployment rate. The objective is to study whether the results established in the minimum wage-setting of Davis (1998) hold when unemployment is driven by search frictions. This paper finds that relative labor market institutions matter for equilibrium unemployment as they generate comparative advantages, but there are two main differences with Davis. With North-North trade, unemployment decreases in the low-regulation country. When South is brought into the picture, low-regulation North is not insulated, and unemployment increases in both developed countries as a result of specialization.     

Mismatches Between Actual and Preferred Work Time: Empirical Evidence of Hours Constraints in 21 Countries

This paper analyses the discrepancy between actual and desired working hours in a multinational setting. Using the latest data of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) with a focus on work orientations hours constraints in 21 heterogeneous countries are analysed. One major finding is that hours constraints are interrelated with macroeconomic variables such as (a) unemployment rates, (b) GDP per capita as a measure of welfare, (c) average weekly work hours, and (d) income inequality. A subsequent multivariate analysis reveals that, on both macro- and microlevels, sociodemographic variables like prosperity and income, high risk of unemployment, and working conditions play an important role in determining working hours constraints. The results further suggest that, with respect to working conditions, such constraints are also affected by gender issues.     

关于劳动收入初次分配公平的几个问题

劳动收入初次分配是国民收入初次分配的基本组成部分。关于劳动收入初次分配的公平有许多问题需要探讨。劳动收入初次分配公平包括分配权利、分配机会、分配条件、分配规则、分配过程和分配结果公平等多方面的内容,其中分配规则、分配过程的公平特别重要。在劳动收入初次分配中必须将公平与效率置于同等重要的地位。分配是否公平虽然无法摆脱个人主观判断,但是可以通过各种客观的内在和外在尺度进行判断。分配公平应该是社会的基本价值诉求。要实现分配公平,既需要整个社会坚持公平的价值取向,集合各种促进劳动收入初次分配公平的因素和机制,也需要遏制各种导致劳动收入初次分配不公平的因素和机制。     

A SCHUMPETERIAN GROWTH MODEL WITH EQUILIBRIUM UNEMPLOYMENT

We introduce efficiency‐wage unemployment in a model of growth with endogenous technical change. Our research aim is twofold. First, we try to provide an analytically tractable model of growth with efficiency‐wage unemployment that can be viewed as alternative to the standard models of growth and search unemployment. Second, we try to analyze the steady‐state effects of some labor market policies on unemployment and growth. We find that a positive relationship between growth and unemployment exists and that the effectiveness of any labor market policy aimed at improving the performance of the labor market crucially depends on how individuals discount future income.     

社会保障支出是否缩小了老年收入差距?

社会保障具有综合收入分配调节功能.老年人口作为养老金和医疗保险等主要待遇享受主体,社会保障支出发挥着对老年时期经济收入应有的重要调节作用.文章基于中国居民收入调查数据库,利用构造家庭基尼系数以及再分配系数,对社会保障的老年收入再分配效应进行了宏观整体测算以及微观个体计量分析.研究表明,养老金待遇、医疗保障、社会救助水平对城乡老年人口的收入再分配效应发挥重要作用,养老金的收入再分配效应要更高;养老金转入收入对偏低收入户老人的收入再分配效应最大,医疗保险待遇对高收入户家庭的再分配效应最高,社会救助对低收入和高收入家庭有较大的再分配效应.从总体上看,社会保障对老年收入再分配效应是正向的,但依然存在较多问题,社会保障支出重点应向弱势群体倾斜并改善社会保障目标瞄准机制等,逐步缩小老年人口收入差距.     

西方失业理论对解决我国大学生就业难问题的启示

西方主要的失业理论包括古典学派的自愿失业理论、凯恩斯学派的非自愿失业理论、新古典综合派的失业理论等。目前我国大学生存在就业难问题,主要原因有劳动力市场和教育体制之间未能有效衔接,以及社会福利和城乡差异等因素。当前在短期内存在大学生就业难的问题,与我国的经济发展阶段相适应。根据西方失业理论,得出解决大学生就业的几点有益启示：合理设置专业和课程,加大农村投入,重视政府在劳动就业中的作用及人力资本投资的重要性。     

Aggregate scale economies, market integration, and optimal welfare state policy

Using a two-sector-two-country model with aggregate scale economies and unionisation, we show that optimal welfare state policy entails positive levels of unemployment benefits under free-trade and capital mobility. In this setting, economic integration does not reduce the revenue raising capacity of governments and thus does not lead to a race-to-the-bottom in social standards. Instead, trade and capital flows interact with welfare state policies in increasing welfare even when each government acts independently (non-cooperatively) in determining its optimal welfare payment. Cooperation is shown to improve upon non-cooperative outcomes by raising both the generosity of the welfare state and aggregate welfare.     

The Food Stamp Program in an Era of Welfare Reform: Electronic Benefits and Changing Sources of Cash Income

Linked survey data and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) records are used to investigate the distinct roles played by food stamp benefits and cash income in the household budget at different times of the month. Using data from Maryland in 1993, household budgets and food spending patterns are found to differ qualitatively, depending on whether the main source of cash income is welfare benefits, Social Security or Supplemental Security Income, or labor market earnings. These differences have implications for understanding the Food Stamp Program during the welfare reform period as many households move from welfare to work.