最低工资标准提升的收入效应研究

本文采用“中国健康与营养调查”1996～2010年的微观数据以及全国12个省份的最低工资数据,在控制地区差异和时间趋势的基础上,实证分析了最低工资标准上调对我国城镇居民工资收入的期望、整个分布以及低收入群体的异质性影响。研究结果表明：最低工资每提高1%,工资收入平均提高0.6%。最低工资对收入的影响主要集中在低收入人群,而对于高收入群体是否存在溢出效应是不确定的。最低工资对低收入群体中不同年龄和技能水平的劳动力具有异质性影响。最低工资有利于低收入者工资水平的提升,尤其对中老年低技能劳动力发挥了重要保障作用。最后给出相应的政策启示和进一步研究的方向。     

我国城镇正规就业与非正规就业工资差异的实证研究——基于分位数回归与分解的发现

本文利用2009年CHNS数据对我国城镇正规就业与非正规就业的工资差异进行实证研究,分位数回归与分解的结果表明:正规就业与非正规就业的教育回报率的差异,随工资分布由低端到高端呈现先升后降趋势,经验—工资线在正规就业与非正规就业明显不同,前者为单调递增的线性关系,后者为倒\"U\"形曲线关系;正规就业与非正规就业的工资差异主要是由中低端的工资差异引起的;在工资分布中低端和歧视等非市场因素是工资差异的主要原因,而在工资分布高端,工资差异主要来自于教育和经验等个人禀赋差异。     

Winners and losers after 25 years of transition: Decreasing wage inequality in Slovenia

Over the past twenty-five years, wage inequality has fallen in Slovenia, even as it has risen in most developed economies. The rates of return to education and work experience rose and remained high on average. However, rapid increases in the number of college graduates have outpaced the rising relative demand for skill among the youngest labor market entrants. As a result, the youngest cohorts of college graduates have experienced declining returns to education and a downward shift in their occupational distribution, which has not been experienced by older college graduates. These changes coincide with the implementation of the Bologna Reform, which reduced the length of time necessary to complete a bachelor’s degree and contributed to the incentives to attend college. Falling returns to tertiary education contributed to declining within-cohort wage inequality among the young, which was large enough to reduce overall wage inequality.     

The Returns to Education: Microeconomics

In this paper we focus on education as a private decision to invest in "human capital" and the estimation of the rate of return to that private investment. While the literature is replete with studies that estimate the rate of return using regression methods where the estimated return is obtained as the coefficient on a years of education variable in a log wage equation that contains controls for work experience and other individual characteristics, the issue is surrounded with difficulties. We outline the theoretical arguments underpinning the empirical developments and show that the evidence on private returns to the individual is compelling. Despite some of these issues surrounding the estimation of the return to schooling, our evidence, based on estimates from a variety of datasets and specifications, is that there is an unambiguously positive effect on the earnings of an individual from participation in education. Moreover, the size of the effect seems large relative to the returns on other investments.     

HUMAN CAPITAL MEASUREMENT: A SURVEY

Abstract After a short history of the concept of human capital (henceforth HC) in economic thought ( Section 1 ), this study presents the two main methods for estimating the value of the stock of HC – the retrospective and prospective one – with a review of the models proposed ( Section 2 ). These methods are linked both to the theory of HC investment as a rational choice ( Section 3 ), the literature analysing the contribution of HC investment to economic growth and the HC estimating method through educational attainment ( Section 4 ). The more recent literature on HC as a latent variable is also assessed ( Section 5 ) and a new method of estimation where HC is seen both as an unknown function of formative indicators and as a ‘latent effect’ underlying earned income is proposed ( Section 6 ). Section 7 concludes.     

Small firms and e-business: cautiousness, contingency and cost-benefit

This paper examines how e-business affects small firms in supply chains. Research in four UK supply chain cases, assistive/medical technology, construction, computer consumables and apparel, indicate widening gaps between large and small firm investment and strategy for exploitation of e-business. Existing models of e-business operationalisation are critically evaluated; and their appropriateness in providing insight and guidance is reflected on. While each model individually provides some useful insights, none are appropriate for examining small firm take up of e-business. Therefore a new framework is developed based on three key issues—cautiousness, contingency and cost-benefit.     

Overeducation in the Labour Market

Abstract.  This paper presents a review of the literature on overeducation. The paper assesses the consistency of overeducation within the context of a number of theoretical frameworks including Human Capital Theory (HCT) and Assignment Theory. The analysis goes on to discuss the various measurement controversies associated with the study of overeducation in order to provide an assessment of the extent to which the impacts of the phenomenon represent an economic reality as opposed to a statistical artefact. After reviewing the literature, it is concluded that the impacts of overeducation are likely to be non‐trivial and that the phenomenon may potentially be costly to individuals and firms, as well as the economy more generally. The existence of overeducation also raises some doubts with respect to the validity of some of the central assumptions and predictions of HCT that are unlikely to be fully explained by gaps in the standard wage equation framework.     

城镇化进程中农民工就业稳定性及工资差距

在我国城乡统筹加速发展的背景下,本文对农民工短工化以及由此导致的工资差距展开分析。在修正劳动参与和短工化的样本选择问题基础上,使用分位数回归方法估计农民工工资,并且使用MM方法对短期和长期农民工的工资差距进行分解。结果显示,高学历、有培训经历、在本地以及通过亲缘关系和正规劳动力市场寻找工作的人,获得长期合同的可能性较高;地区和教育对农民工工资的贡献较大;两种合同类型的农民工在工资分布的底端存在较大差距,农民工的工资差距存在粘性地板效应。这些结论对于促进农民工稳定就业,提高收入分配公平程度,加快城镇化进程,平衡区域间发展等方面的政策制定都有重要的借鉴意义。     

After, before and during: returns to education in Hungary (1986–1998)

How valuable are the skills acquired under socialism in a market economy? This paper throws light on this question using unique data covering the years before and during transition (1986–1998) for about 3 million Hungarian wage earners. We find that returns to a year of schooling increased by 75% from 6.4% in 1986 to 11.2% in 1998. We also find that the private sector rewards formal education more than the public and, in terms of gender, although in 1986 women had greater returns to schooling than men, by 1998 this difference had been eliminated.     

无条件分位数处理效应方法及其应用

研究目标：政策评估在我国经济社会研究中备受关注,但所采用的方法以平均处理效应居多,分位数处理效应鲜见。与后者相关的理论和应用研究与国外尚存在较大差距,亟待跟进。研究方法：采用蒙特卡罗模拟方法比较了条件分位数处理效应（CQTE）与UQTE方法和其他UQTE方法之间的异同。研究发现：如果回归中只包含常数项和处理变量,CQTE与UQTE是等价的;如果个体在处理组和控制组中的相对位置保持不变,CQTE和UQTE都可以得到无偏估计。研究创新：通过最低工资标准提升政策对居民工资分布影响的实例说明UQTE方法在政策评价中的应用。研究价值：基于断点回归和双差分模型对新的UQTE拓展方法进行探索性展望。     

Diagnostics for evaluating the value and rationality of economic forecasts

A number of studies have sought to determine whether economic forecasts had predictive value. These analyses used a single statistical methodology based on the independence of the actual and predicted changes. This paper questions whether the observed results are robust if alternative statistical methodologies are used to analyze this question. Procedures suggested by Cumby and Modest as well as rationality tests were applied to two data sets. Sometimes the conclusions differ depending on the procedures that are used. The results yield a guideline for the diagnostics that should be employed in testing for the value of economic forecasts.     

Family attachment and the decision to move by race

Blacks in the United States move less than Whites despite having many characteristics that are commonly associated with high geographical mobility such as high unemployment, low rate of home ownership, low marriage rate and settlement in areas where unemployment is high. We find that this puzzle can be explained by the effects of family ties—both nuclear and extended families—which we proxy using data from the University of Michigan's PSID. The results are robust to different specifications and estimation techniques.     

Duopoly locations and optimal zoning in a small open city

This paper analyzes a duopoly location model with an asymmetric zoning that prohibits firms from locating to a specific interval in a small open linear city. It is shown that the maximum differentiation principle presented in d'Aspremont et al. [Econometrica 47 (1979) 1145] is still valid under area zoning regulation. Moreover, a zoning regulation can be seen as a policy instrument to limit firms' excess profits, and a proper regulation may even reduce the distortion in total transportation costs, therefore enhancing social welfare. Specifically, the optimal zoning is about 29.5 percent of the city with no amenity effect. Finally, all the land rents raised by zoning are eventually confiscated by the absentee landowner.     

Just-in-time inventory systems innovation and the predictability of earnings

Firms that adopt just-in-time (JIT) inventory practices do so in order to realize cost savings and improve product quality, but an unexpected benefit to such firms could be a more predictable earnings stream. We examine the relationship between implementation of just-in-time inventory practices and the predictability of future quarterly earnings for a matched-pair sample of 82 firms, half of which have publicly announced that they have adopted JIT inventory practices. We find that one- and four-step-ahead forecasts of quarterly earnings, using either a Brown–Rozeff [Journal of Accounting Research (1979) 179–189] ARIMA or a seasonal random walk expectation model, are more accurate for the firms that have adopted JIT.     

Evaluating FOMC forecasts

Monetary policy outcomes have improved since the early 1980s. One factor contributing to the improvement is that Federal Reserve policymakers began reporting economic forecasts to Congress in 1979. These forecasts indicate what the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members think will be the likely consequence of their policies. We evaluate the accuracy of the FOMC forecasts relative to private sector forecasts, the forecasts of the Research Staff at the Board of Governors, and a naïve alternative. We find that the FOMC output forecasts were better than the naïve model and at least as good as those of the private sector and the Fed staff. The FOMC inflation forecasts were more accurate than the private sector forecasts and the naïve model; for the period ending in 1996, however, they were not as accurate as Fed staff inflation forecasts.     

The non-normality of some macroeconomic forecast errors

This paper investigates the distributional properties of individual and consensus time series macroeconomic forecast errors, using data from the Survey of Professional Forecasters. The degree of autocorrelation and the presence of ARCH in the consensus errors is also determined. We find strong evidence of leptokurtic forecast errors as well as evidence of skewness, suggesting that an assumption of error normality is inappropriate; many of the forecast error series are found to have non-zero mean, and we find widespread evidence of consensus error ARCH. Properties of the distribution of cross-sectional forecast errors are also examined.