Student abilities during the expansion of US education

The US experienced two dramatic changes in the structure of education in a 50 year period. The first was a large expansion of educational attainment; the second, an increase in test score gaps between college-bound and non-college-bound students. This paper documents the impact of these two trends on the composition of school groups by ability and the importance of these composition effects for wages. The main finding is that there is a growing gap between the abilities of high school and college-educated workers that accounts for one-half of the college wage premium for recent cohorts and for the entire rise of the college wage premium between the 1910 and 1960 birth cohorts.     

特区旅游从业人员计算机学习模式构建

随着特区旅游办公环境的网络化,旅游行业员工的计算机技能要求越来越高,为此,作者提出在互联网云资源环境下,构建全新的旅游行业员工在岗培训的自主学习模式。阐明特区旅游员工计算机学习模式构建的理论基础和基本策略,具体内容,指出存在的问题与对策。依此,构建的特区旅游从业人员的计算机动态学习模式,使学习者在云环境下的学习过程中迅速融合所学知识并运用到具体的旅游管理工作中,提高旅游管理效率,促进旅游经济结构升级。     

Portfolio concentration and mutual fund performance

Mutual fund managers should choose to increase their portfolio concentration when their information set is valuable enough that the benefits of the expected increase in alpha more than offsets the costs of the expected increase in idiosyncratic volatility. Consistent with that idea, we find that fund performance improves after concentration increases. Because the expected costs of increased concentration vary between funds and over time, the required expected benefits before managers choose to increase concentration should also vary. Among other results, we show that the concentration-performance relation is stronger for funds with less institutional ownership and when investor sentiment is low.     

Teaching problem solving and database skills that transfer

The main goal of teaching a database application is to prepare students to use the application as a tool to gather information and to solve problems. This study investigated two approaches to teaching problem solving with database applications with the goal of preparing students to transfer their problem solving and database skills to solve an ill structured business problem. The findings reveal that neither the problem solving instruction approach nor the problem solving discovery approach improved students' transfer of problem solving skills. Students continue to have difficulty selecting efficient database procedures to support their problem solving processes. Further research is recommended.     

Can product cycles explain skill upgrading?

Since the late 1970s, both developed and developing countries have experienced skill upgrading; that is, a rise in skilled labor's share of employment and payroll. In this paper, I examine the extent to which skill upgrading can be explained by product cycles, that is, by U.S. innovation and the subsequent relocation of production to U.S. trading partners. The following conclusions obtain. (i) Product-cycle trade is strongly and positively correlated with skill upgrading in a large panel of industries and countries. (ii) No such correlation is apparent for conventional trade measures that do not differentiate between product-cycle goods and non-product-cycle goods. (iii) Product-cycle trade is at least as important as other previously identified domestic sources of skill upgrading such as capital deepening.     

基于技能偏向性技术进步的经济增长动能分解

在传统Solow增长核算框架基础上引入异质性劳动投入以及技能偏向性技术进步,从而将经济增长分解为固定资本投入增长、劳动投入增长、技能结构深化、技能偏向性技术进步、中性技术进步及效率改进等五种动能。研究发现：第一,中国经济增长主要由固定资本投入以及全要素生产率增长共同驱动,其中资本投入对经济增长年均贡献率为61.64%,全要素生产率增长的年均贡献率则为35.66%,中国区别于其他中低收入国家的发展奇迹背后正是较快的全要素生产率增长;第二,即使对于高收入国家而言,资本投入仍然是主要的经济增长动能;第三,技能结构深化以及技能偏向性技术进步是全要素生产率的主要来源,二者对中国经济增长的年均贡献率分别为32.04%和21.27%;第四,资源配置效率变化是引起全要素生产率波动的主要因素,资源配置效率下降是导致2008年后中国以及大部分高收入国家全要素生产率增速放缓的主要原因。     

高新技术产品对外贸易对我国就业技能结构影响的实证分析

高新技术产品对外贸易是技术外溢的渠道,它能引起技能偏向性技术改变,从而对劳动力技能产生引致需求。文章通过建立计量模型,分别考察在短期内高新技术产品贸易对我国就业技能结构的影响以及在长期内除高新技术产品贸易因素之外,其它关键因素对我国就业技能结构的影响,并根据其结论为我国改善就业技能结构提出合理政策建议。     

Offshoring,wages, and heterogeneity

Considering heterogeneous responses by skill group to material and service offshoring, we examine the relationship between offshoring and the individual wages of workers in the U.S. labor market. We find that offshoring has been beneficial for high-skill workers but detrimental for middle- and low-skill workers. In particular, service offshoring, which has been widespread since 2000, has severely affected the labor market, compared to material offshoring.     

江苏沿海地区特色产业的区域品牌建设研究——以“中国东台发绣艺术之乡”为例

发绣艺术是江苏省盐城市东台县历史传承下来的非物质文化遗产,是一门手工技艺。本文在对东台发绣产业集群发展进行现状分析基础上,阐述了构建"中国东台发绣艺术之乡"区域品牌的必要性,探讨了"中国东台发绣艺术之乡"构建区域品牌的主体及发展机制,提出了"中国东台发绣艺术之乡"建设区域品牌的路径,并建议政府、协会、企业共同推动区域品牌建设。     

Are specific skills an obstacle to labor market adjustment?

This paper shows that specialized education reduces workers’ mobility and hence their ability to cope with economic changes. We illustrate this point using labor force data from two countries having experienced important macroeconomic turbulence; a large economy with rigid labor markets, Poland, and a small open economy with increased flexibility, Estonia. We find that holding a vocational degree is associated with much longer unemployment duration spells and higher likelihood of leaving activity for older workers. We then build a theoretical framework in which young agents’ careers are heavily determined by the type of initial education, and analyze the transition to a new steady-state after a sectoral demand shift. Quantitative exercises suggest that the over-specialization of the labor force in Poland led to much higher and persistent unemployment compared to Estonia during the period of EU enlargement. Traditional labor market institutions (wage rigidity and employment protection) lead to an increase of the unemployment gap, but to a lesser extent.