THE GENDER GAP IN PRIVATE PENSIONS

In many western countries, older women receive considerably less private pension income than older men on average. We analyse this differential in Britain, examining differences between the sexes both in private pension coverage and in pension income conditional on receipt. Using regression‐based decompositions, we show that both gender gaps are associated mainly with differences in returns to personal characteristics rather than with differences in personal characteristics per se.     

A NEW INSIGHT INTO THE GENDER GAP IN MATH

In the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, I find that the gender gap is not uniform across the distribution of math skills and that these quantile‐specific gaps vary with age. Specifically, girls at the top of the distribution initially fall behind boys but manage to catch up later. At the same time, girls in the lower parts of the distribution lose ground. In fifth grade, a gender gap of 0.2 standard deviation, about 2.5 months of schooling, is observed across the entire distribution. Overall, these patterns indicate the possibility that low performing girls become worse and vice versa. These results demonstrate important dynamics of the gap that are relevant for policy, but that the mean gap fails to show.     

COLLEGE MAJOR CHOICE AND CHANGES IN THE GENDER WAGE GAP

The distribution of college majors changed markedly between the 1970s and 1980s as fewer students completed degrees in low-skill fields such as education and letters and more graduated in high-skill fields such as engineering and business. This shift was most dramatic for females, who previously were concentrated in low-skill fields relative to those of males. This paper examines how this education-related skill upgrade, as represented by changes in the major distribution, affected the gender wage gap for college graduates during the 1980s. The results show that convergence in major distribution between males and females contributed to a decline in the gender wage gap for college graduates.     

ABORTION AND HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENDER GAP IN EDUCATION

This article analyzes the relationship between abortion and female education. It provides new empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa to show that more liberal abortion policies are associated with a higher female secondary school enrollment. It is assumed in the model that easier access to abortion decreases probability of dropping out of school for a female child in the case of an occasional pregnancy. As a consequence, it enhances parental investment in human capital of their female offspring and helps to reduce the gender gap in education.     

企业主逃债事件背景下的中小企业融资缺口分析

2011年4月以来“企业主逃债”事件引起了各级政府的高度重视.本文通过对事件发源地之一的浙江省台州市304家中小企业的问卷调查,研究了“企业主逃债”与中小企业融资状况的关系.本文研究发现,小微企业融资缺口进一步扩大,高达同期银行贷款余额的3.5倍;中小企业融资周期与融资目的之间的结构性矛盾是诱发企业资金链断裂的潜在因素;从紧的货币政策、银行压贷和企业贷款互保是“企业主逃债”的主要外部因素;企业经营不善和高负债率管理是主要的内在因素.     

GENDER AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL CHOICE: THE ROLE OF SITUATED AGENCY

Amartya Sen defends a rich conception of social choice theory against tendencies to limit social choice theory to the formal investigation of rules of collective decision-making. His understanding of social choice theory makes the field a natural candidate for exploring gender issues in the evaluation of democratic policy. Not surprisingly, Sen has applied the insights he developed from his study of social choice to the evaluation of gender inequality, in particular to women's well-being in the context of the family. I focus on Sen's distinction between well-being and agency, and argue that from the perspective of women's movements and related social movements, the role of agency has so far been unduly neglected in social choice theory.     

JOB SATISFACTION OF THE HIGHLY EDUCATED: THE ROLE OF GENDER, ACADEMIC TENURE, AND EARNINGS

The determinants of job satisfaction are estimated for PhD‐level scientists in the United States across academic and nonacademic sectors. In initial estimates, female scientists report lower job satisfaction than males in academia but higher job satisfaction than males in the nonacademic sector. While academic scientists with tenure have substantially greater job satisfaction than nonacademic scientists, we show that the magnitude of this influence varies by gender. After correcting for the lower evaluation placed by females both on earnings and on tenure, female academic scientists actually match nonacademic scientists in reporting greater job satisfaction than men.     

CHILD SUPPORT IN THE U.S.: CAN FATHERS AFFORD TO PAY MORE?

This paper presents up-to-date estimates of the ability of non-resident fathers to pay child support. While no nationally representative data exist on the incomes of fathers, this issue has become more pertinent in recent years, as child support has become an important national issue. We find that fathers on average are able to pay nearly five times more in child support than they currently pay, and also that low income fathers can afford to pay substantially more than they actually pay. We also find that changes in nonmarital childbearing and the returns to education have had only minimal effects on trends in fathers' incomes.     

CONFRONTING OBJECTIONS TO PERFORMANCE PAY: THE IMPACT OF INDIVIDUAL AND GAIN-SHARING INCENTIVES ON JOB SATISFACTION

The increasing use of incentive pay schemes in recent years has raised concerns about their potential detrimental effect on intrinsic job satisfaction (JS), job security and employee morale. This study explores the impact of pay incentives on the overall JS of workers in the United Kingdom and their satisfaction with various facets of jobs. Using data from eight waves (1998–2005) of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and a uniquely designed well-being dataset (EPICURUS), a significant positive impact on JS is only found for those receiving fixed-period bonuses. These conclusions are robust to unobserved heterogeneity, and are shown to depend on a number of job-quality characteristics that have not been controlled for in previous studies.     

JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES MEETS MILTON FRIEDMAN AND EDMOND PHELPS: THE RANGE VERSUS THE NATURAL RATE IN AUSTRALIA, 1965:4 TO 2003:3

In this paper we compare the estimates of the range model in Lye and McDonald (2005a) with estimates of a natural rate model. We find that the range model is superior to the natural rate model according to econometric criteria and economic plausibility. Our estimates of the range model suggest that a significantly lower rate of unemployment is obtainable at the current time by aggregate demand policy, indeed a rate of 3.1 per cent for 2003:3 compared with about 6.5 per cent for the natural rate model. Thus we conclude that basing macroeconomic policy on the natural rate model would underrate the possibilities for economic welfare in Australia.     

EQUITY-EFFICIENCY PREFERENCES IN Poland AND THE SOVIET UNION: ORDER-REVERSALS UNDER THE ATKINSON INDEX

In this paper, the relation between inequality and welfare index "reversals" is characterized. By the identification of these reversals, upper and lower bounds are established for Atkinson's parameter of inequality aversion. This exercise shows that a level of inequality aversion high enough to show welfare improving over the "egalitarian decline" of 1978–81 in Poland is too high to show improvement over the "elitist growth" of 1981–86 in the Soviet Union. However, even if the lower bound of inequality aversion is assumed, plausible projections on Soviet growth and distribution still show social welfare declining.     

劳动收入份额的地区差异实证研究——来自中国省级面板数据的证据

劳动收入份额很大程度上决定了收入差距,采用了中国21个省的省级面板数据进行了实证分析,结果表明,劳动收入份额既显著影响了收入差距,又通过GDP、人力资本、开放度等因素影响了收入差距,并且东中西部呈现出显著的差异性。这一结论可为制定缩小收入差距的政策提供了新的视角。     

李建波:全球转型下的IBM企业咨询服务

李建波(Jules Li):IBM业务咨询服务事业部合伙人,华南地区总经理2004年1月—至今IBM业务咨询服务事业部华南区总经理1999年4月—2003年12月IBM业务咨询服务事业部资深顾问1995年7月—1999年3月广州宝洁有限公司物流经理教育背景:中国科技大学管理科学硕士学位、美国明尼苏达大学卡尔森管理学院EMBA学位     

缩小湖南城乡收入差距的农业产业化路径

通过对湖南城乡居民收入差距的比较分析,发现导致湖南城乡收入差距日渐拉大的原因,主要是农业产业化程度不高,最终导致农民收入增长缓慢。因此,缩小湖南城乡居民的收入差距,就要通过政府的政策引导与财政支持,大力发展农业企业,培养新型农民三个层面,来大力推进农业产业化。