Enterprise‐level training in developing countries: do international standards matter?*

Several studies have examined the determinants of training in developing countries but few have paid attention to the potential importance of international standards such as ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 on the firm's training decision. This article examines training determinants using recent employer surveys for five developing countries: Ethiopia, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco and Nicaragua. It finds that ISO certification status is an important determinant of training, even after controlling for other characteristics such as workers’ formal schooling, firm size, industry and foreign ownership. This points toward the importance of international standards, including product quality and production standards, for firm training. The article also discusses policy implications related to the findings and provides directions for further research.     

Selection and Reporting Bias in Household Surveys of Child Labor: Evidence from Tanzania

Abstract: Studies of child labor in developing countries have largely relied on data collected through national household surveys. But government‐sponsored household surveys are arguably prone to both sample selection bias and reporting bias. In this paper, we compare the demographic and labor market characteristics of working street children obtained from the 2000 Tanzanian Integrated Labor Force Survey, a government‐sponsored household survey, with the results obtained in a 2004 survey of working street children in the city of Mwanza in northern Tanzania. Our comparisons help illumine the potential biases introduced when child labor studies rely on household samples; specifically, we show that children in the non‐household based survey work longer hours, have lower educational attainment and suffer worse health outcomes than their counterparts in the government‐sponsored household survey. This suggests that studies based on national household surveys may significantly underestimate both the extent and the consequences of child labor.     

The Optimal Degree of Exchange Rate Flexibility: a Target Zone Approach*

This paper presents a benchmark model that rationalizes the choice of the degree of exchange rate flexibility. We show that the monetary authority may gain efficiency by reducing volatility of both the exchange rate and the interest rate at the same time. Furthermore, the model is consistent with some known stylized facts in the empirical literature on target zones that previous models were not able to generate jointly—namely, the positive relation between the exchange rate and the interest rate differential, the degree of nonlinearity of the function linking the exchange rate to fundamentals, and the shape of the exchange rate stochastic distribution.     

Gender mainstreaming in the enlarged European Union: recent developments in the European employment strategy and Social Inclusion Process

The European Union (EU) has an explicit commitment to raise the employment rate for women and to advance gender mainstreaming (GM) and gender equality in both employment and social inclusion policies. In this article we assess developments in the latest round of National Action Plans (NAPs), with particular attention to the situations in the 10 new member states. GM continues to be patchy and inadequate, with a similarly narrow focus in both ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states. After enlargement, the greater diversity of national situations in conjunction with ongoing reforms to EU policy frameworks create new challenges for GM.     

An Input–Output Analysis: Linkages versus Leakages

Resorting to input–output analysis, the relationships between production sectors are investigated. For such assessment, the distinction between imported and domestically supplied inputs, which has been disregarded so far in empirical analysis, is crucial. Besides an accurate measurement of domestic linkages, it also allows us to evaluate the importance of international trade in the production process. Moreover, the interaction between domestic linkages and leakages resulting from international trade can also be analysed. The study of such links improves our knowledge on the economic production structure and how it has evolved over time, which is essential for policy making. Using as a case study a small open European economy, the Portuguese one, we assess sectoral interdependence and trade effects for individual sectors as well as for the economy as a whole.     

An extension of the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition to a continuum of comparison groups

This paper proposes an extension of the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition from two to a continuum of comparison groups. The proposed decomposition is then estimated for racial wage differences in urban Peru, exploiting a novel data set that allows the capturing of different degrees of mestizaje (racial mixtures).     

Ethical Reflections on Company-Owned Life Insurance

COLI – company owned life insurance – is often purchased by firms on employees in whom the firm has no demonstrable insurable interest. Though no immediate harm comes to individuals insured in this way, purchasing such policies raises moral questions. From a Kantian framework, questions arise about reciprocity and fairness, the deception of employees, the generation of mistrust, and the use of the employee’s life as a means to profit. No compensating social good is served by the sale of these policies.     

Interest rate dispersion and volatility in the market for daily funds

The purpose of this paper is to study the determinants of equilibrium in the market for daily funds. We use the EONIA panel database which includes daily information on the lending rates applied by contributing commercial banks. The data clearly show an increase in both the time series volatility and the cross-section dispersion of rates towards the end of the reserve maintenance period. These increases are highly correlated. We design a model to account for these empirical facts. Our theoretical model shows how the operational framework of monetary policy causes a reduction in the elasticity of the supply of funds by banks throughout the reserve maintenance period. This reduction in the elasticity together with market segmentation and heterogeneity is able to generate distributions for the interest rates and quantities traded with the same properties as in the data. We also investigate the effects of the changes in the Eurosystem's operational framework, enacted on March 2004, for interest rate behaviour.