Growth led by human capital in big cities: Exploring complementarities and spatial agglomeration of the workforce with various skills

In cities, complementarity between a low-skilled and a high-skilled workforce can promote each other to improve labor productivity. In this study, we used earlier census data and 1% population survey data to examine the distribution of the skilled workforce in cities in the People's Republic of China (PRC) along with its changes, and drew the following three conclusions. First, a highly skilled workforce is the engine of urban development, increasing urban wages and population. Second, big cities can promote complementarity between skill sets so that there are greater numbers of high-skilled and low-skilled workers in those cities. This explains why both low-skilled and high-skilled workforces agglomerate in big cities. Last, complementarity between the low-skilled and high-skilled workforce is inhibited in the PRC's cities because of the biased household registration system (HRS) toward the high-skilled workforce, resulting in limited supply of low-skilled labor. This policy is not conducive to enhance labor productivity in big cities and to carry out its leading role of economic growth.     

Effect of intra-industry trade on skill premium in manufacturing in China

In making use of the panel data in 27 manufacturing industries, this paper examines the recent increase in skill premium in China's manufacturing. The paper argues that the recent increase in skill premium in Chinese manufacturing can be partly attributed to the decline in intra-industry trade. A reasonable explanation on this is that the decline in intra-industry trade occurred in the period studied is associated with a decrease in output. This led to a reduction in relative demand of low-skilled workers, which supports the hypothesis of the output-skill substitutability, and finally an increase in skill premium. Further, this paper finds that the negative effect of intra-industry trade on skill premium is larger for high-skilled manufacturing than low-skilled manufacturing. One more result in this paper is that the increase in capital input reduced the skill premium in Chinese manufacturing. The empirical evidence is consistent with a modified model of intra-industry trade with differentiated products and three factor inputs: high-skilled labor, low-skilled labor and capital.     

垄断竞争、产业内贸易与相对工资差距

本文首先运用理论模型推导出垄断竞争市场条件下产业内贸易与行业相对工资差距之间的关系。理论结果显示,当产品的产出技能替代弹性(高技术工人相对雇佣量的变化率/产出的变化率)为正时,产业内贸易将会扩大相对工资差距;当产品的产出技能替代弹性为负时,产业内贸易将会缩小相对工资差距。然后以中美工业制成品产业内贸易为例对该结论进行验证,计量检验结果表明,我国制成品的产出技能替代弹性为正,中美工业制成品产业内贸易扩大了相对工资差距。     

Endogenous Comparative Advantages in Developing Economies

This paper focusses on endogenous comparative advantages in developing countries, in particular on labour reallocation from low-productivity informal sectors into high-productivity formal sectors. This mechanism is important for two reasons. First, it contributes to the growth potential of developing countries and the absorption capacity for further capital accumulation. Second, labour reallocation will keep developing economies specialized in low-skilled intensive products in the coming decades and it will keep the wages of low-skilled workers low. We analyse this mechanism by simulating an increase in the skill intensity of developing countries the coming decades. These simulations are carried out with WorldScan, a dynamic AGE model of the world economy. An increasing skill intensity in LDCs will stimulate the global supply of high-skilled intensive products more than the supply of low-skilled intensive products, but to a much lesser extent than one would expect in static analyses or in absence of informal sectors.     

中国当前劳动力技能短缺与企业应对

随着人口红利减弱,中国技能短缺问题愈发突出,如何有效应对技能短缺成为当前经济社会发展面临的紧迫问题。文章就雇主应对技能短缺的方式提出四个假设,并基于中国人民大学劳动人事学院"中国雇主—雇员匹配数据追踪调查",采用Tobit模型考察了雇佣条件在改善技能短缺上发挥的作用。结果表明：工资对技能短缺的影响并不显著,没有证据显示上调工资能改善企业的技能短缺问题,而签订长期劳动合同有利于缓解高技能劳动力短缺,强化在职培训和劳动保护有助于改善低技能劳动力短缺。本研究为破解技能短缺难题提供参考,企业应对技能短缺应因事为制,避免提高工资的惯性思维,注重高技能劳动者在职业发展上的需求,关注低技能劳动力在劳动保护上的诉求,并保证持续有效的在职培训。     

A tale of competition between Eastern and Southern Europe

This paper assesses the relationship between EU manufacturing imports from the southern EU and the CEEC. First we set up an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) for imports of 12 EU countries from EU-South and CEEC at the disaggregated NACE level, differentiating between final and intermediate goods. Then we analyze the correlation between the sign of elasticities of substitution and various explaining variables. Final goods imports are strongly complementary and intermediate goods imports are substitutive. An increase in the high-skilled to low-skilled labor ratio in the EU-South or in the degree of intra-EU multinationality lowers competition in intermediate goods trade between the EU-South and the CEEC. JEL no. F14, F15     

How does economic integration influence employment and wages in border regions? The case of the EU enlargement 2004 and Germany’s eastern border

This paper considers the (short-run) employment and wage effects of the 2004 EU enlargement on firms located close to Germany’s eastern border. We use a 50% sample of Germans plants and apply difference-in-differences estimators combined with a matching approach. We evaluate changes in total employment, the employment shares of low-skilled and East European workers and the wages for low-skilled, skilled and high-skilled workers in various sectors. Our results suggest basically no short-run employment effects of the EU enlargement except for firms active in wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants. We also find some evidence for a stronger employment of East European workers in almost all border firms, although the effects are quantitatively small. Negative wage effects are only found for skilled workers in consulting, research and related activities.     

人口流动管制与中国宏观经济波动——基于异质性技能视角分析

人口流动是我国经济的热点问题之一，那么人口流动管制对我国宏观经济波动有什么样的影响?文章在标准RBC一般均衡模型中引入了异质性高低技能劳动，考察了人口流动管制对宏观经济波动的影响。研究发现：（1）劳动人口流动管制对总产出和总消费都有负向影响，会增加低技能工资，降低高技能工资；（2）资本质量冲击、政府购买冲击不仅会使消费和工资水平下降，同时也会造成福利下降，其中单位政府购买冲击会使居民福利下降最大，低技能总福利损失大于高技能总福利损失；（3）通过方差分解发现人口流动冲击能解释产出波动的7.83%和投资波动的5.60%，同时还发现随着经济中高技能比重加大，单位人口流动负冲击对社会福利损失越大。文章基于人口流动管制异质性视角研究得出流动人口管制不利于经济增长和社会总福利，为我国流动人口研究提供了新的研究视角。     

The Effects of Labor Markets and Income Inequality on Crime: Evidence from Panel Data

We estimate a model of crime using panel data for the U.S. We focus on the role of labor markets, income distribution, and demographics on property crime. We find strong evidence that favorable labor market conditions have a significant negative effect on property crime. We further test this result using sector-specific wages and find that crime is most elastic with respect to wages in sectors that use low-skilled labor. We also find that income inequality has no significant effect on crime and that the proportion of young males in the population has a significant positive effect on crime.     

Product market competition, unemployment and income disparities

Product Market Competition, Unemployment and Income Disparities. — We discuss how promoting competition in product markets affects unemployment and wage differentials. We examine a general equilibrium model with real wage rigidities in labor markets and market power in product markets. We illustrate how more intense competition reduces unemployment. A decrease of markups would induce an increase of real wages if real wages were flexible. This enables the employment of more low-skilled people above a real reservation wage. More intensive competition, however, widens wage and income differences between low-skilled and high-skilled workers. Differences of income distributions across countries could also be caused by differences in the intensity of product market competition.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF EMPLOYMENT: A SECTORAL ANALYSIS FOR TURKEY

This paper analyzes the effects of wages, openness, and demand on employment in the private manufacturing industry in Turkey based on panel data for the period of 1973–2001. The wage elasticity of employment increases after trade liberalization. Nevertheless, output elasticity of labor demand is higher than wage elasticity in the total manufacturing sector for the whole estimation period, and in the high- and medium-skilled sectors in the post-1980 period. Trade effects, after controlling for output, seem to have a low economic significance. The positive effects of exports on the labor intensity of production are low or are offset by labor saving effects of foreign trade, particularly in the high- and medium-skilled sectors. On the other hand, there is some evidence of a negative import effect in the low-skilled sectors, whereas in the high- and medium-skilled group a complementary relation between domestic labor and imported inputs dominates the effects.     

Migrants and urban wage: Evidence from China's internal migration

Using China's 2005 1% population survey, this paper examines the wage impact on urban workers of rural to urban migration. We find that, on average, migrants increase the wages of urban workers, with the effect being magnified for more skilled urban workers. This suggests that migrants with skills similar to those of urban workers may complement them. We explore the possible channels of these effects. From the supply perspective, we find that migration inflows accelerate the occupational upgrading of urban workers, especially for low- and medium-skilled workers. From a demand perspective, as the share of migrants in the urban labor force increases, the number and output of industrial firms also increase, and firms become more reliant on low-skilled workers. The more migrants in a city, the greater the available employees for industrial firms, particularly for low-skilled employees. However, the effects on high-skilled firms are much smaller or insignificant. In addition, we find that migrants have little impact on firms' capital-labor and capital-output ratios. This suggests that firms can expand through capital adjustments to absorb inexpensive migrants, which alleviates the possible negative impact of migrants on the urban labor market.     

“凿空之旅”泽万民:“一带一路”对外直接投资如何提高劳动收入份额

文章基于2003-2016年中国上市公司数据,采用倾向得分匹配和双重差分法（PSM-DID）探讨"一带一路"沿线对外直接投资与母国劳动收入份额之间的因果关系。实证发现,企业对外直接投资长期内整体上提高了职工的工资份额。考虑企业所处地区、行业和劳动者的异质性后,结论仍然稳健。具体而言,企业通过对外直接投资的逆向技术溢出提高了创新能力、研发投入和全要素生产率,从而提高了母国职工工资份额。此外,企业的技术进步具有高技能劳动力的偏向性,母国高技能劳动者的工资份额在企业对外直接投资中得以显著提升,但对于母国低技能劳动者的工资份额影响不显著。文章研究发现"一带一路"沿线对外直接投资对母国劳动收入份额的影响机制和具体效应提供了微观证据。     

The Contribution of Associate's Degree Holders to U.S. Earnings,Labor Quality,Productivity, and Overall Economic Growth

There is substantial evidence on the importance of education as a driver of earnings, productivity, and economic growth. However, knowledge of the specific role of associate's degrees in U.S. economic growth is limited. We analyze the sources of U.S. economic growth and identify the contribution of associate's degree holders to improvements in earnings, labor quality, productivity, and overall economic growth. We find evidence that substitution toward workers with associate's degrees has increased U.S. earnings, aggregate labor quality, and productivity, and that these effects are concentrated in the health care, trade, and government sectors. While the average educational attainment of people entering the labor force has plateaued, our results suggest that shifting workers from some college to associate degrees could improve earnings, the quality of the workforce, productivity, and growth, potentially without more time spent in school.     

外资进入对城镇居民收入的影响及差异——基于中国城镇家庭住户收入调查数据(CHIP)的经验研究

本文运用中国城镇家庭住户收入调查数据(CHIP),实证检验了外资进入对收入总体水平的影响.实证研究发现:外资进入对居民收入具有显著的正向效应,在控制了性别、年龄、政治面貌、受教育程度和工作经验等基本的收入决定要素下,逐步引入产业、省份、企业所有权和职业类别的固定效应后,检验结果依然稳健.本文进一步验证了外资进入对不同类型劳动者的影响.其结果显示:外资进入对高技能劳动收入的正向影响大于对低技能劳动力收入的正向影响;外资进入对不同所有制企业的劳动者收入的影响存在差异;外资进入对男性劳动力收入的正向影响大于对女性劳动力收入的正向影响;外资进入对高收入者的正向影响大于对低收入者的正向影响.因此,从某种意义上说,外资进入在提高居民总体收入水平的同时,也在拉大居民间的收入差距     

Task specialization and low-skilled immigration in a highly educated country: Evidence from Korea

While imperfect substitutability between native and immigrant workers is an important mechanism in estimating the wage effects of immigration, its empirical literature is concentrated on the context of only a few countries. Using occupation task-intensity data from a unique Korean data set, we demonstrate that relatively skilled native Korean workers respond to increased low-skilled immigration by pursuing jobs more intensive in communication and cognitive tasks. This native response is mainly pronounced in knowledge-intensive service sectors and leads to an improvement in average wages in these sectors. Our results support the general assumption that the labor market impact of immigration critically depends on whether native and immigrant workers are substitutes or complements in production.     

知识关联、劳动者迁移与城镇化格局——基于新经济地理视角的理论分析与数值模拟

文章基于BerliantFujita知识创新与扩散模型,扩展构建了2×3×3的空间动态均衡模型,对知识关联、劳动者迁移与城镇化格局之间的关系进行了理论分析和数值模拟。结果表明:在知识资本自由流动和劳动者自由迁移的情况下,城乡空间格局演化的内生动力来源于知识资本的收益率差异、劳动者的福利水平差距及其循环积累因果作用,最终可能演变成为两种均衡且稳定的"核心—边缘"型城镇化格局,这种均衡格局差异取决于城乡贸易自由度以及由现代产品支出份额、现代产品替代弹性、技能劳动者份额决定的临界值。     

资本深化、结构变迁及劳动收入份额变动

本文通过构建一个具有要素密集度差异的两部门模型,分析了部门间TPP增长率差异、物质资本积累、恩格尔效应、以及部门进入壁垒变化对产业结构和劳动收入份额的影响.在资本深化且劳动密集型产品为优先需求的前提下,恩格尔效应将会导致劳动收入份额下降,并且这种效应渐近地趋于零;其次,部门TFP增长率差异、物质资本积累、产业壁垒变化对...     

Wage and employment effects in the EU of international trade with the emerging economies

The paper investigates whether significant HOS effects are present in the EU from trade liberalization with the emerging economies. Regarding wage inequality, there is only evidence of a trade-induced technological change, but biased towards thelower-skilled-labor-intensive sectors. Relative wages in the EU member states are not affected differently. Trade liberalization under ‘European assumptions’, however, could affect primarily relative factor demand. A flexible cost function approach shows that import competition from the emerging economies influenced relative labor demand in favor of the higher skilled, implying an intrasectoral rather than an intersectoral specialization in skill-intensive activities. JEL no. F11, F14     

劳动力资源对中国人造板产业国际竞争力的影响分析

人造板产业是劳动密集型产业,劳动力资源要素对一国人造板产业国际竞争力具有重要的影响。通过国际比较方法,分析劳动力资源对中国人造板产业国际竞争力的影响。研究结果表明:与其它人造板出口强国相比,中国的劳动力资源十分丰富,劳动力价格低廉,这是形成目前中国人造板产业国际竞争优势的重要源泉;但是中国人造板产业的劳动生产率较低,其主要原因在于劳动力整体素质不高,缺乏高级的技术性工人,不利于产业国际竞争力的持续提升。