Do Women Have Different Labor Supply Behaviors? Evidence Based on Educational Groups in Uruguay

This study uses Uruguay’s historical fluctuation in real wages to set up a natural experiment to measure the relation between women’s labor supply and wages. Using data from the Continuous Household Surveys of the Uruguayan National Statistics Institute, for 1986–2010, it aims to identify and explain heterogeneity in the labor supply behavior of women with different educational backgrounds. It finds that all women groups seek to optimize their remunerated work allocation throughout their life cycle, although women’s labor behaviors vary depending on educational levels. The rising trend of women’s labor force participation is expected to continue; its implications at the intensive margin are ambiguous and depend on how women conciliate paid work with household responsibilities – especially women with less education. These results could inform present debates about designing public policies to facilitate women’s entry into the labor market and cater to their different wage profiles and household care demands.     

Microfinance and income inequality: New macrolevel evidence

This paper addresses the empirical question of whether microfinance has any impact on income inequality at the macrolevel. Very little research has been conducted on the relationship between the macrolevel scale of microfinance and income inequality over time in a country and across countries. Based on panel‐data techniques, with annual data from 85 countries from 2001 to 2012 and a broad theoretical framework on microfinance and inequality, we provide empirical evidence that suggests that increases in the macrolevel scale of microcredit in a country contribute to reducing income inequality within that country over time. Finally, since microfinance may be endogenous, we used instruments from the existing literature to control for this problem.     

An experimental method for studying unconscious perception in a marketing context

This article provides in‐depth discussion of a recently developed method designed to foster the elicitation and detection of unconscious perception. Prior findings coupled with additional studies and analyses support the value of this method as a tool for studying unconscious perception in a marketing context. The method can both divert subjects' conscious attention away from experimental stimuli and provide a separate indicator of where subjects' attentive resources are being allocated during exposure. Moreover, it is easy to use and flexibly applied in an experimental setting. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The influence of weather conditions on dairy production

Relatively little attention has been paid in the economics literature to the effects of meteorological conditions on milk production. Meteorological variables can be expected to affect milk production through their impact on the productivity of cows and the production of foodstuff. Rather than including meteorological variables as inputs in the milk production process, we propose a production function where these variables affect the productivity of cows and the production of forage, thereby indirectly affecting milk production. Using production and meteorological data from the Spanish region of Asturias corresponding to 383 dairy farms observed during a six‐year period from 2006 to 2011, the results from our estimated production function show that meteorological variables have a significant impact on milk production. We find that milk production is higher under warm weather conditions due to improvements in forage production.     

Convergence in a Dynamic Heckscher–Ohlin Model with Land

Convergence among nations that share the same preferences and technologies is a key result of the closed‐economy neoclassical growth framework that has received substantial support in the data. However, Heckscher–Ohlin versions of the two‐sector neoclassical growth model predict that nations that differ in their capital–labor ratios may not converge to the same steady state, even if they are identical in all other aspects. This is a puzzling result that warns us about potential dangers of international trade. In this paper we show that when land, an input in fixed supply, is introduced into the model, international trade in goods no longer limits the capacity of poor nations to catch up with the advanced world.