Endogenous,Intra‐household Decision‐making and its Impact on the Labor Supply of Couples in Rural India*

Using data for rural India, this paper analyzes households' labor supply decision‐making, taking into consideration non‐participation, endogenous intrahousehold bargaining and nutritional status. Analyses of unitary and collective models suggest that bargaining between household members forms the basis of households' decisions, and these decisions alter households' internal power balance. Analysis of households' internal bargaining process suggests that women's bargaining power increases when their wages are higher and they are better educated. The results indicate that it is crucial to account for the mechanics of decision‐making within households when studying the effects of changing labor market conditions or designing development policies to improve individual well‐being or to empower women.     

Sex imbalance,marital matching and intra-household bargaining: Evidence from China

This paper studies the effects of sex imbalance on matching patterns in China's marriage markets. We hypothesize that the economic inequality caused by economic liberalization, together with sex imbalance, will lead to women's hypergamy (marrying up). Employing CGSS data, our empirical findings support the hypothesis. We also establish that sex imbalance enhances the postnuptial bargaining power of the wife vis-à-vis the husband in intra-household resource allocation. The findings are robust to IV estimation and robustness checks.     

Changes in the development status of women in South Africa from 1996 to 2001: for the better or for the worse?

The adoption of the 1996 Constitution mainstreamed women's issues in South Africa, but, despite the commendable progress in this sphere over the past ten years, success is only discernible if it translates into the betterment of women's lives. This paper aims to ascertain whether the development status of women improved or worsened between 1996 and 2001 by employing a gender-adjusted human development index (HDI). To offset the limitations of an aggregate measure, while compensating for the potentially distorting effects of HIV/AIDS on an aggregate human development indicator, a framework of supporting measures of well-being is also analysed to augment and validate the findings of the gender-specific HDI. The study finds that between 1996 and 2001 the development status of women in South Africa regressed, in both absolute and (especially) relative terms.     

Socioeconomic Context,Family Regimes,and Women's Early Labor Market Experience: The Case of Colombia and Venezuela

This paper compares the early labor market experience of mature and young cohorts of women in Bogotá and Caracas. The cross-country, cross-cohort comparisons demonstrate the importance of both rising women's human capital and family regimes to women's labor market behavior. While divorce was a central stimulus of women's work in both contexts, the more stable, patriarchal family regime in Bogotá more strongly conflicted with employment than the matrifocal and flexible pattern in Caracas. Results also show important changes in the dynamics of female employment, as younger cohorts exhibit more intermittent and unstable employment patterns.     

Trade Union and Global Economic Growth

Abstract

This paper develops a simple framework for examining the role of unions in a global economy. It builds on the model of different institutions by comparing America with a flexible wage and Europe with a rigid wage (the existence of union), where the two areas are integrated via perfect capital mobility. We find the necessary condition that the degree of wage orientation of the union is larger than the firm's bargaining power and determines the positive direction on global economic growth. In addition, the effect of union's bargaining power on global economic growth is ambiguous. If the sum of the elasticity of substitution between capital and labour and the output elasticity of labour is smaller than one, or the firms are characterized by a Leontief production function (Harrod–Domar growth model) or an extremely low substituting elasticity (much empirical literature is supported), the union's bargaining power will lead to an increase in the growth of the global economy. In the general Cobb–Douglas production function (Solow–Swan neoclassical growth model), the union's bargaining power will result in a decline in the growth of the global economy.     

Can robots reshape gender role attitudes?

In this paper, we study the impact of robotization on gender role attitudes in China. We show that robot adoption promotes egalitarian gender role attitudes; and the impact is statistically larger for women, urban, and younger generation subsamples. We provide evidence to show that the reshaping of gender role attitudes is mainly due to the improvement and rationalization of women's employment performance: robot adoption increases females' non-agricultural employment opportunity and their wage, and also improves females' relative economic status both in the workplace and in the household.     

Economic bargaining power and financial decision-making among married and cohabitant women in South Africa

Women’s economic empowerment remains an important global policy issue and their involvement in household decision-making is critical for development. This paper aims to elucidate a key feature of bargaining models of intra-household decision-making, namely the dynamics between women’s economic bargaining power and their financial decision-making power. The paper also documents trends and transitions in financial decision-making. Using balanced panel data from South Africa’s National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), the analysis finds that women who are married or living together remain economically disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts. Although gaining ground in terms of financial decision-making responsibility, women also remain disadvantaged compared to men in terms of financial decision-making power. Yet, employment opportunities significantly enhances women’s role in financial decision-making, thus arguing a case for continued efforts at women’s economic empowerment.     

Singapore's Collective Bargaining in a Game of Wage and Exchange Rate Policies

In Singapore's system of tripartite collective bargaining, does the wage-policy maker consistently react optimally to the best move made by the exchange rate-policy maker (Nash-rule) or only to the state of economy (non-Nash rule)? This paper finds that the Nash-rule equilibrium is unstable and thus the non-Nash rule becomes more meaningful. Under the non-Nash rule, the simulated wage growth exhibits a counter-cyclical pattern and increases with the union of workers' bargaining power. The government's role appears to strike a balance between the interests of the employers' and the employees. Consistent with actual observations, the simulated exchange-rate appreciation has acted as a complement to wage growth from 1987 to 1995.

     

TNC takeovers in Brazil: The uneven distribution of benefits in the market for firms

Control of the future stream of earnings is perhaps the most valuable component of returns to a transnational investment. As with other components, controlis subject to bargaining between TNCs and host governments. This paper argues that by leaving acquisitions (that is, the ‘market for firms’) unregulated, Brazil has inadvertantly surrendered some of its bargaining power to TNCs. The paper's first section uses cases to show how the market for firms in the electrical industry favours TNCs, particularly because of their market power in technology and finance markets. A second section analyses the overall effects of TNCs' acquisitions on market structure and ownership changes, and finds that takeovers by TNCs raise both the level of industrial concentration and denotionalization. Foreign control of the electrical industry rose from 66% in 1960 to 77% in 1974, almost all attribute to TNCs' acquisition policies. It is argued that Brazil could substantially raise its gains from TNC investments by instituting a merger review and prohibiting non-socially beneficial takeovers.     

How does the development of digital finance affect small business tax compliance? Empirical evidence from China

How will the development of digital finance affect corporate tax compliance? In the digital economic age, this is a crucial issue. Using the 2011–2015 national tax survey database (NTSD) and the Peking University digital finance index, this paper examines the causal relationship between digital finance and small business tax compliance. Our baseline results show that each standard deviation increase in the digital finance index reduces the level of tax noncompliance by 7.5% for small businesses. We exclude the interference of contemporaneous policies, utilize a specification design based on neighboring cities across provincial borders, and employ instrumental variable estimation methods to jointly alleviate concerns about endogeneity. Furthermore, mechanism analysis shows that digital finance impacts small business tax noncompliance by easing corporate financing constraints and capturing tax-related “digital information”. Finally, we analyze the heterogeneous effects of digital finance development. The effects on tax noncompliance are weaker for large firms (placebo group), small businesses supported by the government's industrial policy, and small businesses located in poor credit environment areas.     

数字金融对碳排放强度的空间效应及影响机制

基于中国2011—2020年省级面板数据，采用双向固定效应模型、中介效应模型、空间计量模型研究数字金融对区域碳排放强度的影响。研究发现：数字金融发展对碳排放强度具有显著的抑制效应，进行内生性处理后结论依然成立；数字金融通过经济发展质量、产业结构升级降低了碳排放强度；空间溢出效应分析表明数字金融对邻近地区碳排放强度具有正向空间溢出效应。因此，各地区之间应保持紧密的合作，不断推进数字金融高质量发展，因地制宜地发展数字金融。     

Patrilineality,fertility, and women's income: Evidence from family lineage in China

This study investigates how traditional patrilineal family institution influences women's income through fertility behavior by offering evidence from family lineage (zongzu) in China. We hypothesize that family with strong lineage—proxied by owning genealogy—has a negative effect on women's income through the son-targeting fertility behavior. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, this study confirms the hypothesis. Relative to the women whose first child is a son, the women marring into families owning genealogy indeed have more children and lower income, if their first child is a daughter. In contrast, such finding does not hold for the male sample. Preliminary evidence suggests that shorter work time can explain the findings.     

Union and Debt: Evidence from Chinese Private Firms

Do unions really matter in China? Using a dataset containing more than 110 thousand Chinese private manufacturing firms, this paper is the first attempt to examine how unions' bargaining power affects firms' capital structures. We find that: (1) the firms' debt levels are often positively associated with their unions' bargaining powers; (2) when a firm is in financial distress, the management is more likely to issue more debt to strengthen its bargaining power against the union and increase its residual income; (3) compared with long-term debt, short-term debt is a better option for the management to increase its bargaining power and residual income. Our research indicates that the unions of private Chinese firms are an important policy instrument for the management rather than useless decorations, which provides valuable insights for us to understand the employee–employer relations and firms' capital structures in emerging economies.     

数字普惠金融对中国农村居民消费的空间溢出效应

基于中国2013—2020年省级面板数据,采用空间计量模型进行实证研究。研究发现,数字普惠金融对农村居民消费有正向促进作用,并且具有显著的溢出效应,这其中存在区域异质性。因此,需要不断推进数字普惠金融高质量发展,各个地区之间要保持紧密的合作,因地制宜地发展数字普惠金融。     

Gender and child sensitive social protection in South Africa

Drawing from a 2010 study of women receiving the Child Support Grant in an urban area of South Africa, this article discusses the link between social protection, women's empowerment and the well-being of children. It appears that the Grant enhances women's power and control over household decision-making in financial matters, general household spending and child well-being. At the same time, the data show that women continue to bear the greatest burden of care in the household and that these responsibilities significantly heighten gender inequalities. Therefore, while the Grant has benefits for child well-being and women's empowerment, it cannot on its own transform unequal and unjust social relations of power. It should be working in concert with other public programmes not only to focus on children's needs but also to strive for gender equality for poor women.     

The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment: evidence from China

The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment remains controversial, as documented in the microfinance literature. While some studies claim that microcredit helps women increase their income earning abilities, leading to greater power to overcome cultural asymmetries, others contend that small loans allocated to women are usually controlled by their spouses, which results in more severe subordination of women and leaves them more vulnerable to the patriarchy system within the household and/or at society level. This paper evaluates the empowerment impact of microcredit on rural women in China. Logistic regression is employed for empirical analysis and data are collected through a rural household survey. The results confirm that microcredit has a significant impact on five dimensions of women's empowerment, ranging from economic security to awareness of social/legal issues.     

Do firms' political connections depress the union wage effect? Evidence from China

Our paper reconciles the debated literature on the role of the Chinese unions by exploring the heterogeneous effects of unionization on wages in firms with and without political connections. We utilize a survey of 1268 firms in 12 cities to verify our hypothesis that wages increase due to unionization, but this union wage effect is significantly depressed by firms' political connections. Through a detailed analysis of the mechanism behind the empirical results, we conclude that unions increase workers' wages by strengthening the bargaining power of workers, while this bargaining power can be weakened by firms' political connections. Our main conclusion is robust to a series of robustness checks. Moreover, the results from quantile regressions inform us that the union wage effect and the role of political connections may vary along with the firms' wage distribution. Our findings suggest that the solution to further increase wages for low-wage workers and reduce wage inequality is to make the labor union an independent organization which can freely bargain with firms in terms of workers' wages and benefits, rather than an agency subordinate to the government whose role can be affected by the government support and undermined largely by firms' political connections.     

The influence of family management on attendance and successful completion of skills training courses in KwaZulu-Natal

This study surveyed women engaged in skills training courses to determine whether selected family management variables influenced their attendance of such courses and their successful completion of training. A sample of 161 women engaged in skills training courses for income generation offered by four NGOs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were surveyed by means of a questionnaire. The dependent variables were course attendance and rate of successful completion of training. The independent variables were selected as indicators of women's family management practices (such as participation in household production and child care, income, task and time orientation). It was concluded that the significant family management variables may be appropriate predictors of attendance and successful completion of skills training. Reassessment of the design of skills training courses is suggested to accommodate women's needs and restraints associated with the demands of their home environments. Further refinement of the significant variables is recommended.     

数字金融如何赋能中小企业绿色投资？——来自沪深A股中小企业的证据

以2012—2021年沪深A股上市中小企业为研究对象，通过双向固定效应模型探讨数字金融对中小企业绿色投资的影响及作用路径。研究结果表明，数字金融有效地促进了中小企业绿色投资，融资约束在其中发挥了部分中介作用，即数字金融通过缓解中小企业面临的融资约束，进而促进了企业绿色投资，并通过了稳健性检验。研究还发现，数字金融对国有企业绿色投资的作用更为明显。最后，从政府和企业管理者两个角度提出相应建议。     

The growth of the non‐government sector in Korea and its relations with the state

This paper hopes to show that the states have come to play an increasingly important role in the growth of NGOs by strategically utilizing their policy tools, including the use of funding, which has an important implications on the relationship between the state and NGOs. Coupled with the dominant state power in the society and NGOs’ relative lack of bargaining power, the imbalance in the relationship between the state and the NGOs has become a serious problem. This is largely due to the tradition of the state‐led industrialization in Korea that places a heavy emphasis on the government's role in the society.