Contingent workers' impact on standard employee withdrawal behaviors: Does what you use them for matter?

Previous research has suggested that workforce mixing—simultaneously using contingent workers and standard employees—can negatively affect standard employee attitudes and behaviors. In this study, we consider the impact of two reasons employers choose to use contingent workers (to enhance standard employee employment stability and to reduce labor costs) on standard employee withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism and turnover). We posit that when the aim of using contingent labor is to enhance standard employee employment stability (employment stability contingent labor strategy or ESCLS), the effects on standard employee withdrawal behaviors will differ from when the aim is to reduce labor costs (labor cost contingent labor strategy, or LCCLS). Using a sample of 90 firms that employ a mixed workforce, we examine the influence of ESCLS, LCCLS, and high investment HR systems (HIHRS) on standard employee withdrawal behaviors at the firm level. In addition to supporting the hypothesized direct (positive) effect of LCCLS on standard employee withdrawal behaviors, this study's results support the hypothesized moderating effects of HIHRS on the negative relationship between ESCLS and standard employee withdrawal behaviors and the positive relationship between LCCLS and standard employee withdrawal behaviors. Implications for research and practice and suggestions for further research are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Collusion in Dynamic Bertrand Oligopoly with Correlated Private Signals and Communication

This paper studies collusion in repeated Bertrand oligopoly when stochastic demand levels for the product of each firm are their private information and are positively correlated. It derives general sufficient conditions for efficient collusion through communication and a simple grim-trigger strategy. This analysis is then applied to a model where the demand signal has multiple random components which respond differently to price deviations. In this model, it is shown that the above sufficient conditions hold if idiosyncratic noise terms are sufficiently small. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, D82.     

Education and income of the states of the United States: 1840–2000

This article introduces original annual average years of schooling measures for each state from 1840 to 2000. Our methodology results in state estimates similar to those reported in the United States Census from 2000 back to 1940 and national, turn of the century estimates strikingly close to those presented by Schultz (Schultz, T. (1961). In N. B. Henry (Ed.), Social forces influencing American education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.) and Fishlow (Fishlow, A. (1966). In H. Rosovsky (Ed.), Industrialization in two systems. John Wiley & Sons). To further determine the validity of our state schooling estimates, we first combine original data on real state per worker output with existing data to provide a more comprehensive series of real state output per worker from 1840 to 2000. We then estimate aggregate Mincerian earnings regressions and discover that the return to a year of schooling for the average individual in a state ranges from 11% to 15%. This range is robust to various time periods, various estimation methods, various assumptions about the endogeneity of schooling and is in line with the body of evidence from the labor literature. All views expressed here are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve System.     

Perception of medical practitioners on the importance of medical tourism services

This study (a) investigates the perception of medical practitioners regarding medical tourism, and (b) examines the differences in the perception of medical practitioners regarding the importance of the services involved. The hypotheses are focused on a series of comparisons of medical institutions that “are or are not involved in medical tourism.” The results showed that (i) professionalism of treatment is recognized as the most important factor regardless of the nature and value of the medical treatment provided while a patient travels; and that (ii) there are no significant differences in surgery, treatment, examination, in-hospital and patient room costs.