Comment on: “Inflation dynamics with search frictions: A structural econometric analysis” by Krause, Lopez-Salido and Lubik

The implications of search frictions on the inflation dynamics are shown here for the case with wage adjustments typically belonging to the New Keynesian model, not to the Mortensen–Pissarides framework. In that model variant, I identify the role of search frictions by an additional term entering the slope coefficient of the inflation equation. After a numerical exercise, I find results that are in line with those obtained by Krause et al. [2008. Inflation dynamics with search frictions: a structural econometric analysis. Journal of Monetary Economics 55, doi:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2008.05.003.].     

城市人力资本如何影响工资水平?

文章基于CHIP2013微观数据,运用分层线性等模型考察了经济集聚情况下城市人力资本对工资影响的四种微观机制,结果发现：地区人力资本深度对个体工资有显著促进作用,信息技术服务业专业化也有一定正影响,产业多样化虽与工资存在负相关,但在控制内生性后影响不显著,就业密度则有微弱促进作用。异质性分析表明：人力资本深度对女性、受教育程度高者工资的边际效应更强,且对东部的作用远远超过对中西部地区的影响。同时其效果随着收入分位数的提高而递减,减少了不同群体的收入差距,但收入阶层间差异并不显著;信息技术专业化程度同样对于女性和受教育程度高者边际作用更强,且其对最高收入分位点人群的促进作用最大;多样化程度对工资的抑制作用不稳健,对东部人群的工资消极影响更加显著,对中下等收入及以上的群体工资抑制随收入层次上升而递减。     

Politico-economic consequences of rising wage inequality

This paper uses a dynamic political economy model to evaluate whether the observed rise in wage inequality and decrease in median to mean wages can explain some portion of the relative increase in transfers to low earnings quintiles and relative increase in effective tax rates for high earnings quintiles in the U.S. over the past several decades. Specifically, we assume that households have uninsurable idiosyncratic labor efficiency shocks and consider policy choices by a median voter which are required to be consistent with a sequential equilibrium. We choose the transition matrix to match observed mobility in wages between 1978 and 1979 in the panel study of income dynamics (PSID) data set and then evaluate the response of social insurance policies to a new transition matrix that matches the observed mobility in wages between 1995 and 1996 and is consistent with the rise in wage inequality and the decrease in median to mean wages between 1979 and 1996. We deal with the problem that policy outcomes affect the evolution of the wealth distribution (and hence prices) by approximating the distribution by a small set of moments. We contrast these numbers with those from a sequential utilitarian mechanism, as well as mechanisms with commitment.     

我国宜建立对犯罪嫌疑人的暂缓起诉制度

暂缓起诉制度是一种对本应被提起公诉的犯罪嫌疑人,因其符合特定条件而暂不起诉,对其规定一个考验期并课以一定义务,如果他能顺利通过考验就不再对其提起公诉的制度.这种制度对节约诉讼资源以及挽救、改造社会危害性低的犯罪嫌疑人有巨大优势,而且它并不与我们向来所推崇的平等与公正的法律观念相冲突,我国应建立此制度.     

工资税盾、替代效应与资本结构

基于中国计税工资限额扣除标准提高的外生性事件,本文从工资薪金提供的“非债务税盾”角度,探索性地研究工资税盾与资本结构的关系。结果表明,计税工资限额扣除标准提高后,与未接近“税收耗损状态”公司相比,接近“税收耗损状态”公司更为显著地降低了债务水平,该发现符合“非债务税盾”与资本结构之间存在“替代效应”的理论预期,也验证了“税收耗损状态”假说。进一步研究表明:未接近和接近“税收耗损状态”两类公司的差异主要反映在长期债务上,而在短期债务上并不明显;与国有企业相比,两类公司的差异在非国有企业中更为明显;另外,与税收征管力度较弱地区相比,征管力度较强地区两类公司间的差异更为明显。本文的研究成果不仅提供了“非债务税盾”形式的新证据,还发现产权性质和税收征管环境等也是影响非债务税盾与资本结构之间关系的重要因素。     

Entrepreneurship as a non-profit-seeking activity

It is typically assumed that people engage in entrepreneurship because there are profits to be made. In contrast to this view, this paper argues that entrepreneurship is more adequately characterized as a non-profit-seeking activity. Evidence from a broad range of authors and academic fields is discussed showing that entrepreneurship does quite generally not pay in monetary terms. Being an entrepreneur seems to be rather rewarding because it entails substantial non-monetary benefits, like greater autonomy, broader skill utilization, and the possibility to pursue one’s own ideas. It is shown how incorporating these non-monetary benefits into economic models of entrepreneurship can lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon.

Informal pay gaps in good and bad times: Evidence from Russia

Informal work is traditionally large in Russia and has further increased in the recent years. We explore the implications of this shift in terms of wage dynamics. Our characterization is based on the estimation of informal pay gaps at the mean and along the wage distribution, relying on the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for 2003–2017. Our approach comprises three original features: we rely on unconditional quantile effects of informality, we incorporate quantile-specific fixed effects using a tractable approach, and we suggest a treatment of the incidental parameter bias. Over the whole period, informal wage penalties are relatively small and do not suggest heavily segmented labor markets, even at low wage levels. Yet, in the past decade, a substantial negative selection into informal employment and self-employment has taken place, on average and especially at low earnings. Economic downturns and labor market policies have likely contributed to the shakeout of less productive workers in the formal sector, making the low-tier informal sector more of a last resort.     

Can the HOSS framework help shed light on the simultaneous growth of inequality and informalization in developing countries?

Using simple, modified versions of the factor proportions framework, and focusing on structural features within developing economies, this paper attempts to reconcile puzzling developments observed in many post-reform, post-liberalization countries whereby increasing income inequality has emerged side-by-side with informalization of the economy. Measures undertaken to enhance public sector efficiency and attract investment in an import-intensive export sector may increase rental–wage and skilled–unskilled wage gaps, contra the predictions of the simple Heckscher–Ohlin–Stolper–Samuelson (HOSS) framework regarding skill- and capital-scarce countries. The common thread generating our interesting results is the presence of sectors that are even more labor-intensive than those producing traded goods.

Detecting policy effects with wage rigidity and instability – evidence on the Taiwan labour market

With stagnant wages and growing productivity, a widening gap is becoming prevalent in global labour markets. The relationship between wages and productivity has become indeterminate, especially after the 2008 financial crisis. This article presents the phenomenon for why salary rarely follows up with productivity after an economy recovers. By using the GMM method, this study shows the interaction among wage, productivity and tightness, in which we illustrate the Taiwan labour market as an example to show how hiring system changes press wages away from an efficient allocation, causing instability and market failure. Surveying 35 labour markets for different industries, we reveal that the situation in the labour markets has drastically changed since 2008. We find that this resulted in a severe problem when the Taiwan firms got used to policies like ‘22K’, ‘fix-term contract’ and ‘unpaid leave’ programmes. These plans negatively impacted the economy and raised market failure with instability.     

Is inequality an inevitable by-product of skill-biased technical change?

This article examines trends in relative wages between high- and medium-skilled workers and between medium- and low-skilled workers in Finland, Germany, Italy, South Korea and the US over the period 1970–2005. It is found that there are large differences in the evolution wage inequality across the countries in our sample, with some countries showing a long-run upward trend in relative wages (such as the US, Germany and Italy) and others showing a long-run downward trend (such as Finland and Korea). The main conclusion from our results is that inequality is not an inevitable by-product of technological change.