THE FUTURE OF THE NEWS IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Technical developments in the field of journalism and broadcasting are changing the shape of both media. Many of these developments are very welcome. However, there is a danger that the quality of journalism may fall and that part of society may disengage from news coverage. This may require a policy response but not necessarily the continued support of a single state-funded public service broadcaster.     

NATIONAL AND REGIONAL WAGE CURVES IN JAPAN 1981–2001

There is evidence in many countries of an inverse relationship between the real wages paid to workers and the unemployment rate in their local labor market, a so-called wage curve. However, the evidence to date for Japan has been rather limited. In this paper, we estimate wage curves for Japan using pooled cross-section time-series data from 1981 until 2001. The presence of a wage curve is confirmed. The wage curve has become slightly more elastic after the bubble economy of the 1980s than it was in the pre-bubble and mid-bubble period. The unemployment elasticity of pay is greater for males than for females. We also estimate regional wage curves using time-series data. The male wage curve elasticity is larger in the northern regions of Hokkaido and Tohoku and the western region of Shikoku, while it is smaller in the central regions of Hokuriku, Tokai and Kinki.     

WAGE INEQUALITY IN TURKEY: DECOMPOSITION BY STATISTICAL REGIONS, 1980–2001

This paper analyzes wage inequality in the Turkish manufacturing sector annually from 1980 to 2001, and also provides some evidence for inequality in the post‐2001 period. Using the between‐groups component of Theil's T statistic, the paper provides more information on wage inequality. It decomposes the evolution of inequality by statistical regions – The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – (i.e. NUTS‐1 and NUTS‐2). The decompositions show that inequality has increased since the late 1980s in the private sector both between regions of NUTS‐1 and NUTS‐2.     

PRIMARY EDUCATION AS AN INPUT INTO POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION: A NEGLECTED BENEFIT†

In some developing countries private rates of return to primary education have fallen to low levels. An explanation is provided as to why this fall need not reduce the demand for primary education. Primary schooling is a necessary input into post-primary. In an educational system that is demand-constrained at the primary and supply-constrained at the post-primary level, the ‘prospect’ of post-primary schooling raises the primary return above the rate as conventionally measured. An application of the model to two countries — Côte d'Ivoire and Uganda — doubles the primary rate of return in each case.     

TRADE UNIONS AND THE DISPERSION OF EARNINGS IN BRITISH ESTABLISHMENTS, 1980–90†

ABSTRACT The relationship between unions and earnings dispersion is examined using establishment-level data from the 1980, 1984 and 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys. Initially the cross-sectional relationship is examined using the 1990 data. The earnings dispersion of skilled and semiskilled workers is seen to be lower across unionized establishments than across non-union establishments; secondly, within-establishment earnings dispersion is lower in plants which recognize trade unions for collective bargaining purposes than in those that do not. All three surveys are then utilized to ascertain to what extent the decline in unionization in Britain has contributed to the rise in earnings inequality of semi-skilled workers. There was a sizeable and important widening of the gap in the dispersion of earnings across union and non-union plants between 1980 and 1990. For semi-skilled earnings, the decline in the share of plants with recognized unions can account for 11-17 percent of the rise in earnings inequality over this time period. The importance of falling union activity (as measured by union recognition) seemed to accelerate through the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1984 the relatively small falls in aggregate recognition explain less than 10 percent of the inequality increase, whereas between 1984 and 1990 about one-quarter of the increase can be accounted for by the fall in unionization. The majority of the rise in earnings inequality is, however, due to a large increase in earnings dispersion across non-union establishments.