FDI activity and worker compensation: evidence from US non-manufacturing industries

This study examines worker compensation effects of FDI activity in US non-manufacturing industry sectors. A clustered standard error correction is used when estimating wage and non-wage compensation equations, with special attention given to FDI’s effect by worker educational attainment and union status. Wage findings reveal an FDI-wage premium for highly educated non-union workers and FDI-union rent erosion for all educational-gender groups excluding females with low educational attainment. Non-wage compensation analysis reveals FDI activity is generally associated with significantly higher probabilities of workers receiving employer financed non-wage compensation for union and non-union workers regardless of their level of educational attainment.     

Effects of employment protection on worker and job flows: Evidence from the 1990 Italian reform

This paper uses the Italian Social Security employer-employee panel to study the effects of the Italian reform of 1990 on worker and job flows. We exploit the fact that this reform increased unjust dismissal costs for businesses below 15 employees, while leaving dismissal costs unchanged for bigger businesses, to set up a natural experiment research design. We find that the increase in dismissal costs decreased accessions and separations for workers in small relative to large firms, especially in sectors with higher employment volatility, with a negligible impact on net employment. We also find some evidence suggesting that the reform reduced firms' entry rates and employment adjustments, but had no effect on exit rates.     

Investor behavior in the mutual fund industry: evidence from gross flows

Using a large sample of monthly gross flows from 1997 to 2003, we uncover several previously undocumented regularities in investor behavior. First, investor purchases and sales produce fund-level gross flows that are highly persistent. Persistence in fund flows dominates performance as a predictor of future fund flows. More importantly, failing to account for flow persistence leads to incorrect inferences with respect to the relation between performance and flows. Second, we document that investors react differently to performance depending on the type of fund, and that investor trading activity produces meaningful differences in the persistence of fund flows across mutual fund types. Third, at least some investors appear to evaluate and respond to mutual fund performance over much shorter time spans than previously assessed. Additionally, we document differences in the speed and magnitude of investors’ purchase and sales responses to performance.     

Immigration and firm productivity: evidence from the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database

Previous studies on the impact of immigration on productivity in developed countries remain inconclusive, and most analyses are abstracted from firms where production actually takes place. This study examines the empirical relationship between immigration and firm-level productivity in Canada. It uses the Canadian Employer-Employee Dynamics Database that tracks firms over time and matches firms with their employees. The study finds that there is a positive association between changes in the share of immigrants in a firm and changes in firm productivity. This positive effect of immigration on firm productivity is small, but it is stronger over a longer period. The effect tends to be larger for low-skilled immigrants as compared with highly-skilled workers, as firm productivity growth is more strongly associated with changes in the share of recent immigrants (relative to established immigrants), and immigrants who intended to work in non-high skilled occupations (relative to immigrants who intended to work in high-skilled occupations). Those differences are more pronounced in technology-intensive and knowledge-based industries. Immigration is found to have little estimated effects on capital intensity in a firm. Finally, this study finds that high skill and lower skill immigrants have similar effects on average worker earnings arising from the positive productivity effect of immigration, but only skilled immigrants are associated with higher firm profits.

     

Non‐union worker representation through civil society organisations: evidence from the United Kingdom

Drawing on research evidence from the United Kingdom, the main features of non‐union worker representation through civil society organisations (CSOs) are elaborated. The interventions of CSOs are marked by an emphasis on using indirect methods of worker representation beyond the boundaries of the workplace, such as awareness raising measures and political lobbying.     

The effects of match uncertainty and bargaining on labor market outcomes: evidence from firm and worker specific estimates

In this paper we examine wage dispersion in labor markets across currently employed workers. We argue that differences in the potential productivity of a match (typically assumed to be known in the previous literature) generates a surplus between the minimum wage the worker is willing to accept and the maximum wage the firm is willing to offer for the job. Existence of this surplus leads to wage dispersion due to negotiating over the amounts extracted by each agent. Our objective is to estimate the surplus extracted by each firm-worker pair and the effect of the net extracted surplus on the wage, for each firm-worker pair using the two-tier stochastic frontier model. An empirical application finds that, on average, firms paid workers less than their expected productivity. More specifically, at the mean, the net effect of productivity uncertainty leads to equilibrium wages which are 3.33% below the expected productivity of matches.

The impact of job training on temporary worker performance: Field experimental evidence from insurance sales agents

Despite the limited incentives they provide for idiosyncratic investment, temporary work arrangements are becoming increasingly common. Using evidence from a field experiment conducted among salespeople in a Kenyan insurance firm, this paper examines the consequences of providing job training for temporary workers. The findings show that providing access to training significantly increases firm revenue, primarily due to performance increases among higher‐ability workers. The findings from the study are consistent with temporary workers willingness to invest in job training when the job‐specific returns from doing so are sufficiently high.     

Excess worker turnover and fixed-term contracts: Causal evidence in a two-tier system

Portuguese firms engage in intense reallocation, most employers simultaneously hire and separate from workers, resulting in high excess worker turnover flows. These flows are constrained by the employment protection gap between open-ended and fixed-term contracts. We explore a reform that increased the employment protection of open-ended contracts and generated a quasi-experiment. The causal evidence points to an increase in the share and in the excess turnover of fixed-term contracts in treated firms. The excess turnover of open-ended contracts remained unchanged. This result is consistent with a high degree of substitution between open-ended and fixed-term contracts. At the firm level, we also show that excess turnover is quite heterogeneous and quantify its association with firm, match, and worker characteristics.     

International output convergence: evidence from an autocorrelation function approach

This paper uses an autocorrelation function (ACF) approach to develop a new testing procedure for international output convergence. We define convergence in terms of sample ACFs of detrended output per capita, and construct an inference set‐up based on resampling and subsampling techniques for dependent data. Using per capita GDP for 15 OECD countries observed over a century, we find that the hypothesis of conditional convergence is unsupported; that, the USA apart, the linearized neoclassical growth model fails to replicate the transitional dynamics of OECD economies; and that these economies do not behave like a club. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empirical evidence on the sign of the slope of the hazard rate from unemployment from a fixed effects model

Empirical evidence on the sign of the slope of the hazard rate from unemployment is obtained from a fixed effects model based on the gamma distribution for unemployment duration. The data used are pairs of unemployment spells for adult males in the control and experimental groups of the Denver Income Maintenance Experiment. The sample selection issue involved in selecting the pair of spells used in the empirical work is discussed. The empirical results suggest that for these samples the hazard function is monotone decreasing and support the assumptions that the first two spells of unemployment are identically distributed and can be modelled using the gamma distribution.     

Ownership,governance, and the diffusion of HRM practices in multinational worker cooperatives: Case‐study evidence from the Mondragon group

Drawing on a qualitative study of one Mondragon multinational worker cooperative (WC) based on longitudinal data and in‐depth interviews, our research evidences the contradictions that internationalisation poses in WCs, both through privileging managerial control at the expense of worker–member participation and through the setting‐up of capitalist subsidiaries in which employees are excluded from ownership and decision‐making. It further shows how institutions, power relations, and interests shape transfer in WCs, supporting the diffusion of certain human resource management (HRM) practices on grounds of efficiency but hampering the implementation of core cooperative practices. We make a threefold contribution: first, to a strand of inquiry focused on the influence of corporate governance on HRM; second, to the field of international HRM by analysing the cross‐national diffusion of HRM practices in WCs; and third, to ongoing debates on the challenges that WCs face when striving to balance the economic and social dimensions in globalisation.     

A nonparametric approach to market timing: evidence from Spanish mutual funds

The measuring of market timing abilities in investment portfolios is a relevant and widely analyzed question. Since the traditional parametric methodology can lead to biased results, we apply the nonparametric approach trying to overcome these biases and compare the results obtained by both methods. This comparison can help the readers to understand the role played by the assumptions behind each approach. We confirm the finding previously found in the literature about negative market timing abilities of Spanish equity fund managers. This finding suggests that neither the documented specification problems of the traditional models (heteroskedasticity, outliers and non-normality in financial data) nor the aggressiveness of some misinformed managers explain the poor timing abilities of managers.     

The role of cash flows and accruals in explaining security returns: evidence for the UK

The assessment of earnings usefulness in returns studies has been at the forefront of accounting research since the seminal work of Ball and Brown (1968). Recently, regulatory bodies worldwide have paid increased attention to cash flow reporting. Empirical research provides evidence that earnings information dominates cash flows in market-based accounting research. This study extends the growing empirical literature on the association of earnings and cash flows with security returns. We hypothesize that the association of cash flows with security returns improves (i) the smaller the absolute magnitude of aggregate accruals, (ii) the longer the measurement interval and (iii) the shorter the firm's operating cycle. The dataset consists of all UK firms included in the Global vantage database for the period 1984–1992. This study provides evidence that cash flows play a more important role in the marketplace when the operating cycle, magnitude of accruals and the measurement interval are taken into consideration. Moreover, results indicate that cash flows have more information content than earnings in explaining security returns.     

Labour market flows: Facts from the United Kingdom

This paper documents a number of facts about worker gross flows in the United Kingdom for the period between 1993 and 2010. Using Labour Force Survey data, I examine the size and cyclicality of the flows and transition probabilities between employment, unemployment and inactivity, from several angles. I examine aggregate conditional transition probabilities, job-to-job flows, employment separations by reason, flows between inactivity and the labour force and flows by education. I decompose contributions of job-finding and job-separation rates to fluctuations in the unemployment rate. Over the past cycle, the job-separation rate has been as relevant as the job-finding rate.     

Social networks,employment and worker discouragement: Evidence from South Africa

Social networks are increasingly being recognized as having an important influence on labour market outcomes, since they facilitate the exchange of job related information. Access to information about job opportunities as well as perceptions about the buoyancy of the labour market depend critically on the social structures and the social networks to which labour market participants belong. In this paper, we examine the impact of information externalities generated through network membership on labour market status. Using Census data from South Africa, a country characterized by high levels of unemployment and worker discouragement, we adopt an econometric approach that aims to minimise the problems of omitted variable bias that have plagued many previous studies of the impact of social networks. Our results suggest that social networks may enhance employment probabilities by an additional 3–12%, and that failure to adequately control for omitted variables would lead to substantial over-estimates of the network co-efficient. In contrast, the impact of social networks on reducing worker discouragement is much smaller, at between 1 and 2%.     

Dynamics of the federal funds target rate: a nonstationary discrete choice approach

We apply a discrete choice approach to model the empirical behaviour of the Federal Reserve in changing the federal funds target rate, the benchmark of short‐term market interest rates in the US. Our methods allow the explanatory variables to be nonstationary as well as stationary. This feature is particularly useful in the present application as many economic fundamentals that are monitored by the Fed and are believed to affect decisions to adjust interest rate targets display some nonstationarity over time. The chosen model successfully predicts the majority of the target rate changes during the time period considered (1994–2001) and helps to explain strings of similar intervention decisions by the Fed. Based on the model‐implied optimal interest rate, our findings suggest that there is a lag in the Fed's reaction to economic shocks during this period. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corruption: Theory and evidence from the Russian Federation

In this paper, we provide theory and evidence on the problem of corruption in the Russian Federation. Our theoretical model indicates that in the presence of official corruption, the numbers of tax inspection (collection) employees could be inversely related to per capita tax collection. Our empirical analysis supports our theoretical model, shedding light on one of the most intractable problems in the Russian Federation.     

A cointegration approach to modeling human capital formation,self-employment,and economic growth: evidence from Pakistan

This study aims to empirically investigate the dynamics of relationship among human capital formation, self-employment (SE), and economic growth in Pakistan. Using quarterly data of primary school enrollment, SE, and GDP per capita, we employed ARDL bound testing approach to cointegration covering the time span of 1995–2010. We found that in the long run, primary school enrollment, high school enrollment and SE have significant impact on economic growth. Enrollment in primary schools (EP) has a strong positive and significant impact on economic growth, whereas enrollment in high school has a relatively small positive and significant impact on economic growth in the long run in Pakistan. Further, SE has a small, positive and significant impact on economic growth in the long run. In short run, enrollments in high schools and SE have weak positive impact on economic growth whereas, EP has a strong positive and significant impact on economic growth in Pakistan. Further it is found that that there is unidirectional long run causality from self employment to economic growth followed by the bidirectional short run causality between economic growth and high school enrollment, GDP per capita and primary school enrollment, high school enrollment and primary school enrollment.     

从对权力制约和监督高度认识审计本质

江泽民同志在党的十六大报告中指出,加强对权力的制约和监督要“发挥司法机关和行政监察、审计等职能部门的作用”。这是对我们各级审计机关和全体审计人员新的更高的要求。深入学习领会这个要求的重要意义,是明确工作发展方向,切实履行应尽职责,有力促进全面小康社会建设的客观需要。为什么说这是对审计机关和广大审计人员新的更高的要求?这是我们首先要明确的问题,对此可从以下三个方面来把握:第一,这是继党的十三大以来,在党的代表大会的报告中又一次对审计提出的要求。1987年党的十三大报告中,在谈到改革政府工作机构时指出“要从机构配…     

Aligning labour disputes with institutional,cultural and rational approach: evidence from East Asian-invested enterprises in China

This study examines the underlying critical factors, such as the institutional arrangements, working conditions, workforce composition, expatriate managers, and managerial style which influence the labour disputes in the East Asian-invested enterprises (EAIEs) in China. Throughout the process, we can determine which factors should be changed for better human resource management (HRM) practices. This research incorporates the survey data collected from the managers and factory workers working at 30 different firms invested from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong and Japan in the coastal cities from 2000 to 2001.

The results or findings demonstrate that the long work hours and less regulative managerial styles have significant and positive effects on the number of the labour disputes in the Hong Kong owned firms. Among the firms owned by Taiwan, the long work hours and their authoritarian managerial style have significant effects on the frequency of the labour disputes, while the lack of unionization has a diminishing effect on the labour disputes. The firms owned by Korea, on the other hand, often encounter frequent collective actions, organized by homogeneous local workforces and supported by the relatively high numbers of trade unions. Responding to the relatively strict enforcement of the labour laws and the institutional arrangements of the local governments in northern China, the firms owned by Korea tend to adopt the less regulative and less authoritarian managerial styles. Lastly, the firms owned by Japan experience the lowest number of the labour disputes when compared to their counterparts. The observance of the legal work hours and the regulative managerial style displays a significantly diminishing effect on the number of the labour disputes, although the higher level of institutionalization of the labour relations such as higher setting-up of trade unions somewhat positively contributes to the frequency of the labour disputes.

From the theoretical perspective, our exploratory model seems to exhibit the stronger explanatory ability when the institutional, cultural, and rational factors are taken into consideration. From the institutional perspective, it is imperative for local governments to reinforce the institutional arrangements through effective supervision and enforcement of the labour regulations and legislation. From the cultural perspective, foreign investors should enhance their inter-cultural understanding and localization to diminish the industrial conflicts in the workplaces in China. From the rational perspective, foreign-investors will face more labour disputes than they had before, if harsh working conditions, such as extension of the working hours, are enforced. It is also imperative for the workers to understand their rights and empower themselves to improve their working conditions.