What Does a High School Diploma Get You? Employment, Race, and the Transition to Adulthood

We compare the employment of African American and white youth as they transition to adulthood from age 18 to 22, focusing on high school graduates and high school dropouts who did not attend college. Using OLS and hazard models, we analyze the relative employment rates, and employment consistency, stability, and timing, controlling for a number of factors including family income, academic aptitude, prior work experience, and neighborhood poverty. We find white high school graduates work significantly more than all other youth on most measures; African American high school graduates work as much and sometimes less than white high school dropouts; African American dropouts work significantly less than all other youth. Findings further suggest that the improved labor market participation associated with a high school diploma is higher over time for African Americans than for white youth.     

The Empirical Research on the Effects of FDI on Regional Employment in China

Because of the severity of unemployment, how to solve this problem has gradually become a topical subject in China from the perspectives of both academics and practitioners in recent years. The severity of employment can be observed not only on the constant soaring of some macroscopically total amounts such as the total unemployment and the rate of unemployment, but also on the extremely uneven distribution of regional employment. There are many reasons for the uneven distribution of regional employment, among which the enormous disparity in FDI＇s regional distribution in China is an essential influential factor. This article aims at explaining the interrelationship and function mechanism between 1＂]）I and the change of our country＇s regional employment, and putting forward the corresponding regional policy suggestions through the empirical research on the FDI＇s regional distribution and its employment effect.     

Does Education Still Pay Off in Rural China： Revisit the Impact of Education on Off-farm Employment and Wages

The present study considers how education affects off-farm job participation and wages. We use a nationally representative dataset from a survey conducted in 5 provinces, 101 villages and 808 households by the authors in early 2005. The empirical results show that educational attainment, skill training and years of experience of rural residents have positive, statistically significant effects on off-farm employment. The average return to a year of education is 7percent, which is higher than those observed in previous studies. We also find the return to an additional year of schooling to be higher for post-junior high schooling than for junior high and below schooling： 11.8 versus 3.2 percent. We conclude that not only does education still pays off in rural China, but also the rate of return to education is increasing over time.     

Did Cultural and Artistic Education in the Netherlands increase Student Participation in High Cultural Events?

This study examines whether Cultural and Artistic Education in the Netherlands caused students to participate more in high cultural events. A unique feature of the intervention was that students were free to choose the type of cultural event they participated in. So the intervention relied on the intrinsic motivation of students to participate in high cultural events, while there was no reason to assume that this motivation was present given the existing literature. We find that Cultural and Artistic Education increased the participation in high culture, but not the participation in popular culture. The effect of the intervention is, however, small. Student characteristics do not influence high cultural participation, but the fraction of immigrant students in the class does: the lower this fraction, the more students participate in high cultural events. Finally, the effect seems to represent (at least partly) the intrinsic motivation of students for high culture.     

Indonesia's Ascent on the Technology Ladder: Capital Stock and Total Factor Productivity in Indonesian Manufacturing, 1975–95

This paper presents new capital stock estimates for mium and large-scale manufacturing in Indonesia using the Perpetual Inventory Method. Capital stock grew gradually during 1975–88, at an annual rate of 7.6%, then boomed during 1989–95 at 13.6% per annum. Growth accounting shows that 60% of the rapid growth of manufacturing output during the period 1975–95 was due to capital input growth, 18% to labour input growth and the remaining 22% to total factor productivity (TFP) growth. There is no evidence of a shift of factor inputs towards more efficient industries. TFP growth averaged 3% annually in 1975–95. Performance varied greatly across industries, but the policy changes that have taken effect since 1986 have definitely been beneficial for all industries. Put in an international perspective, however, Indonesia's TFP levels show no signs of catch-up with the world frontier.     

Market Power of Domestic Marketers and its Influence on the Consequences of the Korea–US and Korea–Australia FTAs on the Beef Market

Domestic, US and Australian beef, which are differentiated by country of origin, are sold in Korea. In this differentiated product market, tariff reductions through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are expected to strengthen the competitiveness of imported beef and, therefore, to mitigate the effects arising from the market power of domestic marketers. The present study develops a simulation model that evaluates this mitigating effect by explicitly reflecting the market structure that domestic beef marketers constitute. The simulation results indicate that the farm-retail marketing margin would decrease by 10.59% or 6.79% due to the Korea–US and Korea–Australia FTAs, respectively, if domestic beef marketers formed a cartel or an oligopoly market (i.e. the degree of market power is 0.5), while the marketing margin under a competitive market scenario is simulated to have no change. The value of beef production would decrease by 1009 million dollars if the marketers form a cartel and hence exercise monopoly power. The FTAs are simulated to reduce the value of beef production by 564 million dollars under the competitive market scenario.     

Power politics and the expansion of US exports, 1879–1938

In this article, we present quantitative evidence for the first time of the effect of US power politics on the expansion of its export market from the late nineteenth century to the eve of the Second World War. Like other empires, US imperial policy was expressed through annexation, gunboat policies, and asymmetrical trade agreements. We find that US exports to territories that became colonies or protectorates and those involved in other US military interventions grew more than three times faster between 1880–5 and 1934–8 than in the rest of the world. Our most relevant contribution to this discussion relies on a new geographically extensive database with information on bilateral trade flows, market size, trade costs, and variables that capture US political and military power. We first estimate a gravity equation to see the relationship between our power politics variables and US exports. Then, we present causal evidence of the role played by the colonies and protectorates in the expansion of US exports through an event study and the estimation of a generalized difference-in-differences model.     

Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in China, 1994–2002

The question of whether fiscal decentralization has affected economic growth since the 1994 fiscal reform in China is interesting to both policy makers and economists. Using a simple model of endogenous growth that incorporates spending by different levels of government, and a panel data set for 30 provinces for the period of 1994–2002, this paper finds that fiscal decentralization contributes significantly to economic growth. This finding is consistent with the theoretical prediction that fiscal decentralization can increase economic efficiency. In addition, this paper attempts to investigate how the relationship between fiscal decentralization and provincial growth differs in the different regions considered. For this purpose, the 30 Chinese provinces and regions are categorized into three conventional economic belts that comprise the eastern, central, and western areas. This study finds that the effects of fiscal decentralization on economic growth vary among these three regions.     

Tattoos,Employment, and Labor Market Earnings: Is There a Link in the Ink?

The popularity of tattooing has increased substantially in recent years, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Moreover, tattooed images are permanent unless the individual opts for expensive, time consuming, and painful removal procedures. Given the increasing popularity of tattooing, and the permanent nature of this action, it is of interest to know whether tattooed workers are more or less likely to be employed and, conditional on employment, if they receive wages that are different from the wages of their non‐tattooed peers. To investigate these questions, we analyze two large data sets—from the United States and Australia—with measures of tattoo status, employment, earnings, and other pertinent variables. Regardless of country, gender, specific measures, or estimation technique, the results consistently show that having a tattoo is negatively and significantly related to employment and earnings in bivariate analyses, but the estimates become smaller and nonsignificant after controlling for human capital, occupation, behavioral choices, lifestyle factors, and other individual characteristics related to labor market outcomes. Various robustness checks confirm the stability of the core findings. These results suggest that, once differences in personal characteristics are taken into account, tattooed and non‐tattooed workers are treated similarly in the labor market. We offer suggestions for improving future surveys to enable a better understanding of the relationships between tattooed workers and their labor market outcomes.     

Emerging Urban Poverty and Effects of the Dibao Program on Alleviating Poverty in China

The present paper describes the current urban poverty situation,examines the factors affecting the probability of a household being in poverty and investigates how the urban minimum living standard guarantee (dibao) program helps poor people to get out of poverty. The targeting efficiency of the urban dibao program is discussed. The present study finds that the poverty rate of households with unemployed workers is much higher than that of households without unemployed workers. The urban dibao program is helpful in reducing poverty rates,but it does not reduce poverty rates too much. The government should place emphasis on helping laid-off and unemployed workers to become reemployed. The most urgent problem for the dibao program is improving the efficiency of targeting.     

Poverty in Indonesia 1984–2002: the impact of growth and changes in inequality

This paper examines the growth elasticity of poverty across three development episodes in Indonesia between 1984 and 2002, after controlling for inequality. It relies on estimation of panel data from the National Socio-Economic Survey conducted by the central statistics agency. Contrary to expectations, the growth elasticity of poverty was virtually indistinguishable across the three development episodes – a period of far-reaching policy liberalisation (1984–90); a second period of slower liberalisation (1990–96); and the period of recovery from the Asian financial crisis (1999–2002). Growth was pro-poor in all three periods, while the impact of growth on poverty was either augmented or offset by changes in inequality, depending on the period. Only during the first liberalisation period did a reduction in inequality serve to augment the impact of growth on poverty.     

Research on the Seemingly Incompatible Phenomenon of China ——The Coexistence of the Shortage of Peasant Workers and the Difficulty in Employment

In order to answer the questions： ＂Why does the shortage of peasant workers occur in China while there is a serious surplus of labor force？ What is the influence it will bring about on the inland labor market especially on the exports of labor force in poor regions and the poverty-reduction policies of China？, this paper carries out lots of investigations both in major manufacturing centers such as Wenzhou, Suzhou, Dongguan and in big labor-exports provinces such as Hunan and Sichuan, on the basis of analysis on the supply and demand of labor force in China, the paper analyzes the regional distribution pattern of the labor market and its changes, and then thoroughly explores the cause of the seemingly incompatible phenomenon--the coexistence of the shortage of peasant workers and the difficulty in employment, finally, some suggestions are put forward on the poverty -reduction of China.     

Wealth and credit in the Finnish countryside, 1850–1910

Abstract

In Finland, the early phase of industrialisation, that period of transition when trade and industry began to assume modern form, commenced around the middle of the nineteenth century. A legislative programme of economic liberalism was implemented: steam sawmills were permitted, the customs system reformed, foreign trade freed from controls and rural trade allowed. The supply of credit to farming was eased by the mortgage credit institute. The Free Trade Act of 1879 was based on completely free entrepreneurial activity. These measures, together with exogenous economic factors, stimulated new economic and intellectual forces.¹     

Sewers,wastewater and newspapers: the early environmental debate on water pollution in Turku,Finland, 1887–1934

Abstract

A century ago, city dwellers became increasingly aware of urban environmental problems caused by the waste products of industry and the growing population. Like elsewhere in Europe, water pollution became an acute issue also in the city of Turku, in south west Finland, The sewer system built after 1895 discharged all the municipal and rapidly increasing industrial wastewater untreated into the River Aura in the centre of the city, As a result, the quality of the river water worsened rapidly, and the first complaint on this was published in the local newspaper in 1899. In this study we document the press debate on river water quality and wastewater problems in the local newspapers of Turku for the period from 1887 to 1934, when the plan for a wastewater treatment plant was finally completed (the plant was, however, not built until 1966). The failure of the city administrators to present any solution to the river pollution problem caused the first major public environmental debate in the city at the turn of the 20^th century. Our results show that (1) sewers were recognized by newspapers as the primary cause of worsened river water quality, (2) the necessity of a wastewater treatment plant was understood long before the actual plan was drawn up, (3) the local industries were hardly ever criticized in public for water pollution, and (4) the initiative for improvements was considered to be the responsibility of the city administrators. The debate in the local press was often hectic, many decades before the 1960s, when the environmental debate is commonly said to have started.     

Balancing the Baltic trade: colonial commodities in the trade on the Baltic, 1773–1856

Abstract

This article attempts to look at the connection between the Atlantic and the Baltic economies during the transition from early modern to the modern era. Previous research has seriously underestimated the importance of colonial commodities traded on the Baltic during this period. Colonial commodities, particularly from the American plantation complex, became ever more important for the Western European balance of payments on the Baltic. Already by the late eighteenth century, these commodities were on aggregate worth approximately as much as the exports of strategic commodities such as grains or iron from the Baltic at the same time. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the value of colonial commodities imported to the region far surpassed the value of such key exports from the Baltic. The colonial commodities thus constituted an important part of the balance of payments for the trade on the Baltic.