Migration to the United States and Mexican rural development: a case study

An analysis of the impact of migration to the United States on the sending community and on the labor market in the receiving country is presented based on a case study of Las Animas, Mexico. "As the community becomes increasingly involved in migration, tendencies can be identified regarding changing migration patterns, class differentiation among villagers, impact of migration on village economy, and the changing role of Mexican workers in California labor markets. Results indicate the importance of social networks in determining the outcome of migration; while migration is individually rational, it is a factor of stagnation for village economy, and it helps reproduce segmented California labor markets."     

The implications of research on the R&D manager's role to the selection and training of scientists and engineers for management

A methodology for improving the process of selection and development of scientists and engineers for management is presented. This involves (1) specifying the R&D management role in terms of both behavior and style; (2) utilizing such a specification to estimate ‘probabilities of trainability’ and (3) employing the probabilities as criteria for the allocation of resources among managerial selection efforts versus training and development.     

Investments,wages, prices and demand for labour

Summary Since 1971 the employment in the Netherlands has continuously decreased. Apart from the decrease caused by the recent depression, particularly in the year 1975, the decrease is a more pronounced continuation of a tendency which is manifest already in a number of years before. In this paper an attempt is made to explain the structural development of employment by means of a clay-clay vintage model. It appears that the unfavourable development of employment is connected with the accelerated growth of real labour costs in the past decade.This article is a translation of a revised and somewhat extended version of a paper published earlier in Dutch: H. den Hartog and H. S. Tjan,Investeringen, lonen, prijzen en arbeidsplaatsen, Central Planning Bureau, Occasional Paper, 1974/2, The Hague, 1974. This revised version of the clay-clay vintage model was introduced into a much more complete model of the economy of the Netherlands in: H. den Hartog, Th. C. M. J. van de Klundert and H. S. Tjan, De structurele ontwikkeling van de werkgelegenheid in macro-economisch perspectief, inWerkloosheid, Preadviezen van de Vereniging voor de Staathuishoudkunde, The Hague, 1975.     

How Often to Sample a Continuous-Time Process in the Presence of Market Microstructure Noise

In theory, the sum of squares of log returns sampled at highfrequency estimates their variance. When market microstructurenoise is present but unaccounted for, however, we show thatthe optimal sampling frequency is finite and derives its closed-formexpression. But even with optimal sampling, using say 5-minreturns when transactions are recorded every second, a vastamount of data is discarded, in contradiction to basic statisticalprinciples. We demonstrate that modeling the noise and usingall the data is a better solution, even if one misspecifiesthe noise distribution. So the answer is: sample as often aspossible.     

The Effects of NAFTA on Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Activity

Treatment of unfair trade laws has become an important topicin negotiations on preferential trading areas. Recent preferentialtrading areas involving the United States, one of the most significantusers of these laws, have established special binational disputesettlement panels to arbitrate disagreements. Using a paneldatabase of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty activityfrom 1980 through 2000, the article examines whether the useof dispute settlement panels has reduced such activity betweenthe United States and its North American Free Trade Agreementpartners. The analysis finds little evidence for any effect,calling into question the effectiveness of dispute settlementpanels in reducing unfair trade law activity.     

Strategic Price Discrimination in Compulsory Insurance Markets

This paper considers price discrimination when competing firms do not observe a customer’s type but only some other variable correlated to it. This is a typical situation in many insurance markets—such as motor insurance—where it is also often the case that insurance is compulsory. We characterise the equilibria and their welfare properties under various price regimes. We show that discrimination based on immutable characteristics such as gender is a dominant strategy, either when firms offer policies at a fixed price or when they charge according to some consumption variable that is correlated to costs. In the latter case, gender discrimination can be an outcome of strategic interaction alone in situations where it would not be adopted by a monopolist. Strategic price discrimination may also increase cross subsidies between types, contrary to expectations.JEL Classification No.: L13, G22