Urban agglomeration effects and employment and wage gradients

When employment occurs at both central and non-central points, but firms have a preference to be near the center, the rent gradient will decline, and a wage gradient is necessary to compensate workers for more centrally located employment. Wage gradients and rent gradients are jointly determined. The relationship between wage offer functions and the equilibrium wage gradient is derived, the latter dependent on utility functions and commuting costs. This is illustrated with a two sector model incorporating agglomeration economies in the export sector. Numerical solution reveals how agglomeration economies affect wages, employment, and city size.     

An empirical investigation of intraurban wage gradients

Intraurban wage gradients have received little attention in the urban literature but have been shown theoretically to be important indicators of the spatial characteristics of urban economic activity. This study examines the spatial distribution of wages of five groups of municipal public employees in the Chicago SMSA. Negative wage gradients, significant at the 0.05 level, are found for four of the five labor groups. Results show that monthly wages decrease on average as much as $24 per additional mile from the city center.     

Relative wage and unemployment changes in Poland: microeconometric evidence

We estimate changes in the Polish wage and unemployment structures between the years 1994 and 1998 in order to identify labour market characteristics associated with increasing and decreasing relative demand, as well as relative wage rigidities. The evidence shows that relative demand for workers with a low level of education decreased. Whereas relative wages for workers with basic vocational education also fell in this situation, relative wages of workers with only primary education did not, pointing to a relative wage rigidity for this group which faced an above-average unemployment risk throughout the observation period.     

Sequential city growth: Empirical evidence

Using two comprehensive datasets on populations of cities and metropolitan areas for a large set of countries, I present three new empirical facts about the evolution of city growth. First, the distribution of cities’ growth rates is skewed to the right in most countries and decades. Second, within a country, the average rank of each decade’s fastest-growing cities tends to rise over time. Finally, this rank increases faster in periods of rapid growth in urban population. These facts can be interpreted as evidence in favor of the hypothesis that historically, urban agglomerations have followed a sequential growth pattern: Within a country, the initially largest city is the first to grow rapidly for some years. At some point, the growth rate of this city slows down and the second-largest city then becomes the fastest-growing one. Eventually, the third-largest city starts growing fast as the two largest cities slow down, and so on.     

Firms' price and wage adjustment in Europe: Survey evidence on nominal stickiness

This paper presents new evidence on the patterns of price and wage adjustment in European firms and on the extent of nominal rigidities. It uses a unique dataset collected through a firm-level survey conducted in 17 European countries and covering various sectors. Several conclusions are drawn from this evidence. Firms adjust wages less frequently than prices, on average every 15 and 10 months, respectively. Price and, especially, wage adjustment exhibit a substantial degree of time-dependence. In particular, wage changes tend to cluster at a specific time of the year, mostly January in the majority of countries. The results of a multivariate analysis indicate that prices are more flexible when competitive pressures in product markets are strong and when labor costs account for a lower fraction of firms' total costs, whereas wages are more flexible when bargaining is decentralized and when the coverage of collective bargaining and the stringency of employment protection legislation are low. Price rigidities are higher in firms with a larger share of high-skilled/white-collar workers.     

Structure of the labour market and wage inequality: evidence from European countries

The aim of this paper is to explore how the structural changes that have occurred in the labour market, in terms of employment composition by skill levels, affect wage inequality in three developed countries of Western Europe that are in close geographical proximity but have disparities in their labour market characteristics. More precisely, the analysis compares, from an international perspective, France, Germany—whose labour markets have been characterised in recent years by job polarization and the upgrading of occupations, respectively—and Italy, where neither of the two phenomena can be clearly identified. Using EU-SILC (European Union—Survey on Income and Living Conditions) data, in the first step, RIF-regression (Recentered Influence Function) enables an exploration on the primary factors that are likely to explain the differences in generating personal labour earnings and, in the second step, a decomposition of the change in wage inequality between 2005 and 2013 to evaluate how much of the overall gap is accounted for by the endowments in employees’ individual characteristics (composition effect) rather than the capability of labour markets to transform these characteristics into job opportunities and earnings (wage structure). Regarding France and Germany, the main results highlight how the endowment effect plays a key role in decreasing or, at least, not increasing wage inequality, whereas in Italy the rising inequality may be due to the lower efficiency of the country’s labour market in creating job opportunities, better job-related careers, and higher-salaries for employees.     

Price,wage and employment response to shocks: evidence from the WDN survey

We analyse the relative intensity and character of price vs. cost and wage vs. employment firm-level adjustment to cost-push shocks in the European System of Central Banks Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) survey data set. The results document several statistically significant and theoretically sensible relationships: price increases are less likely when product market competition is more intense, and more likely when collective wage agreements or employment protection legislation constrain firm-level reactions. We discuss how changes of such structural and institutional features of firms and of their environment may underlie the evolution of macroeconomic adjustment mechanisms in Europe.     

Wage drift and minimum contractual wage: Theoretical interrelationship and empirical evidence for Italy

A two-stage wage setting process whose outcomes are identified in the wage drift, at the local level, and in the tariff wage, at the central level, is analyzed. The impact of insider and outsider factors in each stage of the bargaining process is investigated both theoretically and empirically for Italy. In the light of its extreme policy relevance, particular attention is devoted to the analysis of the interrelationships between the wage drift and the tariff wage. Panel data estimation carried out on a sample of 105 Italian three-digit industries and 41 contract groups, reveals that: (1) Insider factors (productivity, inventories and the insider workers power) are important determinants of the wage drift while outsider factors (aggregate wage and unemployment) have a prominent role in determining the tariff wage. (2) Wage drift and tariff wage are closely interrelated.     

New evidence on the dynamic wage curve for Western Germany: 1980–2004

Blanchflower and Oswald [Blanchflower, David G. and Oswald, Andrew J., 1994a, The Wage Curve, (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press), Blanchflower, David G. and Oswald, Andrew J., 1994b, Estimating a Wage Curve for Britain 1973–90, The Economic Journal 104, 1025–1043. Eine praktische Einführung, Nürnberg] reported that they have found an ‘empirical law of economics’ — the Wage Curve. Our paper reconsiders the western German Wage Curve using disaggregated regional data and is based on almost one million employees drawn from the Federal Employment Services of Germany over the period 1980–2004. We find that the wage equation is highly autoregressive but far from unit root. The unemployment elasticity is significant but relatively small: only between ? 0.02 and ? 0.04. We also check the sensitivity of this elasticity for different population groups (young versus old, men versus women, less educated versus highly educated, German native versus foreigner), confirming that it is stronger the weaker the bargaining power of the particular group.     

Optimal prediction under LINLIN loss: Empirical evidence

I compare the forecasts of returns from the mean predictor (optimal under MSE), with the pseudo-optimal and optimal predictor for an asymmetric loss function under the assumption that agents have an asymmetric LINLIN loss function. The results strongly suggest not using the conditional mean predictor under conditions of asymmetry. In general, forecasts can be improved by the use of optimal predictor rather than the pseudo-optimal predictor, suggesting that the loss reduction from using the optimal predictor can actually be important for practitioners as well.     

Empirical evidence on home improvements

Because expenditures for home improvements amount to almost one-half of expenditures for new construction, it seems quite likely that alterations and repairs by homeowners are important components of housing supply activities. This article explores one of the few comprehensive data sets available to provide some empirical evidence on home improvements. A general model of home improvements is also developed to help interpret the results.     

The wage policy of firms: comparative evidence for the US and Germany from personnel data

The wage policy of a German firm and a US firm is subjected to a comparative analysis, focusing on the relation between wages and hierarchies. While previous studies have examined only one particular firm, this paper investigates two plants belonging to the same owners with similar production processes but in different institutional environments. Convex wage profiles over the hierarchy levels of both plants are found. The US plant shows considerably higher intensity of intra-firm competition in terms of higher intra-level wage inequality and annual promotion rate. In contrast, wages are more distinctly attached to hierarchy levels in the German firm, as shown by wage regressions. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies.     

影响中国城市增长的因素:地级及以上城市的实证检验

论文以国内外相关城市增长理论为基础,构建了分析中国城市增长的系统模型,并利用206个城市1990年与2005年的社会经济统计数据进行了实证研究.研究结果表明:(1)中国城市的经济增长主要是由劳动生产率提高而非人口规模增长推动的;(2)政府财政支出和城市人力资本积累是目前中国城市经济增长的主要驱动力;(3)人力资本积累并没有在工资增长上得到体现;(4)城市公共设施和环境的改善引致了城市人口增长,但对城市经济发展却没有明显的作用.在以上研究结果基础上,论文提出了保持城市可持续发展的一些政策建议.     

Verifiable wage offers and recontracting: effect on wage and consumption profiles

This paper analyzes the effect of recontracting and matching verifiable wage offers on the intertemporal structure of contract wage and consumption profile for a two-period economy. A contract firm provides specific training for a worker during the first period, which increases his productivity if he stays in the second period, but the worker may quit to accept an alternative wage offer after a successful search. Wage offers are private to the worker but can be presented to the contract firm for matching. This paper shows that when capital markets are imperfect and wage offers are verifiable, the contract firm recontracts and matches any wage offers the worker receives up to the second-period productivity. The ex ante contract wage profile will be flat. Inefficient quits will be eliminated and there will be complete ex ante consumption smoothing. It is significant to note that the result of rising wage profile derived in numerous contract models is fragile with respect to assumptions on mechanism of interfirm labor mobility.     

Transformational offshore outsourcing: Empirical evidence from alliances in China

Adopting a transformational offshore outsourcing perspective, we examine empirically the relationship among the motive to acquire tacit knowledge from outsourcing partners, formal and social control mechanisms, and innovation outcomes among Sino-foreign as well as local alliances. We constructed our theoretical model incorporating knowledge management, social exchange, and alliance risk perspectives, and hypothesized that motives to acquire partners’ tacit knowledge through offshore outsourcing will affect firm innovation via two forms of control, namely social control and formal control. Our empirical testing, utilizing two sub-samples composed of Sino-foreign offshore outsourcing alliances and local outsourcing alliances, respectively, reveals that the motive to acquire outsourcing partner's tacit knowledge and different control mechanisms are significant predictors of incremental and radical innovation outcomes, and that there are some intriguing differences between the Sino-foreign alliances and local alliances.     

Exchange rate determination: Empirical evidence for the Greek drachma

We examine the monetary approach to the exchange rate from several perspectives, using monthly data on five Greek bilateral exchange rates. Using the Johansen multivariate cointegration technique we demonstrate that the monetary model is validate as a long-run relationship. Moreover, upon imposing the long-run monetary model restrictions we find that the proportionality of the exchange rate to relative monetary aggregates is accepted for the bilateral exchange rate of the Greek drachma with respect to the US dollar, the deutschemark, the pound sterling, the French franc and the Italian lira. Finally, using the Hansen-Johansen (1993) testing procedure, we reject the hypothesis of sample independency of the dimension of the cointegration space in all cases, apart from the German one, but we accept the hypothesis that the estimated coefficients do not display instabilities in recursive estimations.     

The relationship between wage growth and wage levels

We estimate the covariance between the permanent component of wages and a random coefficient on experience in models both with potential experience and with actual experience. Actual experience is allowed to be arbitrarily correlated with both the permanent component of wages and the random component on experience. We find no evidence that workers of higher ability experience faster wage growth. Our point estimates suggest that a worker with a one standard deviation higher level of permanent ability would have a return to annual potential experience that is 0.61 of a percentage point lower. The analogous point estimate for actual experience is 0.87 of a point lower. Contrary to the popular perception, wage growth among low‐skill workers appears to be at least as high as that for a medium‐skilled worker. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender differences in competitiveness: Empirical evidence from professional distance running

A large body of literature documents the existence of a considerable and persistent gender gap in competitiveness. Using longitudinal data from professional distance running covering a period of nearly 40 years (1973-2009) I first confirm the findings of most previous studies by demonstrating that on average the women's races were - for most years - indeed less competitive than the men's contests. Closer inspection of the data, however, reveals that the women's races over distances with large amounts of prize money and/or prestige at stake (5000 m track, 10,000 m road, half marathon, and marathon) have always been particularly “balanced”. Moreover, although it still exists, the gender gap has considerably narrowed over the years. These findings are not compatible with the hypothesis that gender differences in competitiveness reflect evolved biological differences and/or psychological predispositions. It is, however, compatible with two other (complementary rather than substitute) hypotheses: due to changing socio-cultural conditions boys and girls are today socialized similarly in many parts of the world and due to the increasing returns to success (i.e. identical prize money levels and distributions) women are nowadays motivated to train as hard as comparably talented men.     

城市首位度评价:理论框架与实证分析

本文对城市首位度概念起源及其变化历程进行了追寻,对近年来开展的城市首位度评价从理论上作了一定的辨析,首次提出广义首位度的概念,并对其内涵和外延进行了阐述和解释,在此基础上,设计了广义首位度评价的指标体系,以山东省为对象进行了实证分析。     

An Empirical Model of Urban Spatial Development

This paper examines land development patterns by using an integrated approach that combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial econometric models. It presents evidence that land development sites are affected by each other, and that any attempt to analyze the land development process without consideration of spatial dependence will most likely yield biased parameter estimates, misleading significant levels, and insufficient estimates of the dependent variable. It is found that spatial lagged variables not only improve model performance substantially, but also reveal the presence of clustering land development. This paper demonstrates that incorporation of spatial statistics is made easier with the application of GIS.