Labour mobility and wage inequality in the presence of endogenous foreign investment

This paper examines the impact of labour mobility and increased competition on skilled–unskilled wage inequality and foreign investment. Unlike the existing literature this paper considers a model where foreign investment is endogenously determined. The paper shows that in the shortrun, inflow of either skilled or unskilled labour has no effect on wage inequality but increased competition increases wage inequality. Inflow of either type of labour increases foreign investment but the impact of increased competition on foreign investment cannot be unambiguously determined. Inflow of skilled labour increases wage inequality in the longrun and its effect on foreign investment is positive. Increased competition in the longrun increases wage inequality, foreign investment and welfare.     

Intersectoral wage linkages: the case of Sweden

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether wage-setting in certain sectors of the Swedish economy affects wage-setting in other sectors. The theoretical background is the Scandinavian model of inflation, which states that wage-setting in the sectors exposed to international competition lead wage-setting in the sheltered sectors of the economy. The Johansen maximum likelihood cointegration approach is applied to quarterly data on Swedish sector wages for the period 1980:1–2002:2. Different vector error correction (VEC) models are created, based on assumptions as to which sectors are exposed to international competition and which are not. Granger causality tests are then carried out in the different restricted/unrestricted VEC models to test for sector wage leadership. The Granger causality tests provide strong evidence for the presence of intersectoral wage causality, but no evidence of a wage-leading role for the internationally exposed manufacturing sector.      

国际贸易与劳动力市场:研究述评

近三十年来,国际贸易迅速发展,同时各国劳动力市场保持着一种动态变化,国际贸易对劳动力市场的影响不断加深.在这一背景下,国际经济学和劳动经济学领域的学者对国际贸易与劳动力市场的关系进行了大量的理论与经验研究,相关研究主要集中在三个方面:国际贸易对各国工资的影响、国际贸易对各国就业的效应以及国际贸易对劳动力需求弹性的影响.本文将从上述三个方面对相关研究进行回顾.     

美国对中国产品使用反补贴法及我国应对策略

本文试从美国对华一系列反补贴案件入手,分析美国反补贴法对中国的适用问题,并提出应对措施。     

Downward wage rigidity and job mobility

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) we study whether being individually affected by downward wage rigidity has an effect on layoffs, quits and intra-firm mobility. Within a structural empirical model we estimate the individual extent of wage rigidity. This is expressed by the wage sweep-up, which measures by how much individual wage growth increases through the effect of downward wage rigidity when compared to a counterfactual labour market with flexible wage setting. We find robust negative effects of wage sweep-up on quits and layoffs and some evidence for a positive association of wage sweep-up and promotion opportunities. This is consistent with a core-periphery view of the labour force, where a core work force is protected from layoffs and wage cuts and at the same time enjoys good promotion opportunities. On the other side a peripheral work force provides a buffer for adjustment and suffers from both flexible wages, more insecure jobs and less internal promotion opportunities.      

The labor market effects of foreign owned firms

Foreign firms have a more educated workforce and pay higher wages than domestic firms even after controlling for worker quality, at a given moment in time. This does not imply that foreign ownership improves the labor market outcomes of the workers since foreign investment may be guided by unobservable firm and worker characteristics correlated with schooling or wages. This paper asks whether foreign investors acquire firms with high human capital or wages, or whether foreign acquisition improves these outcomes. Using a matched employer-employee data set, I find that foreign acquisitions of domestic firms have small effects on the human capital and on average wages of the acquired firms. Instead, foreign investors “cherry pick” those domestic firms that are already very similar to the group of existing foreign firms.     

Performance Volatility and Wage Elasticity: An Examination of Listed Chinese A-share Enterprises

The management of future financial risk on the part of managers and changes in firm finances are two of the fundamental reasons for upward and downward rigidity of wages. The proxy variable for firm financial risk is volatility, the past performance of which is among the principal indicators of wage rigidity. In firms whose current performance is on the upswing, the greater the volatility in past performance, the smaller the elasticity ratio and the more acute the upward rigidity; the more stable past performance, the larger the elasticity ratio and the more acute the upward elasticity. In firms in which current performance is declining, greater past performance volatility leads to a larger elasticity ratio and more acute downward rigidity, whereas more stable such performance leads to a smaller elasticity ratio and more acute downward rigidity.     

促进节能、环保的财税政策机制研究

目前,我国经济发展面临着资源与环境的双重压力,节能减排是实现经济可持续发展的必然途径。而节能、减排具有明显的正外部性,是市场失灵的领域,因此需要政府采取一系列经济、法律以及必要的行政手段来对此进行干预和调控,而财税政策则是政府实行宏观经济调控的重要政策手段之一,对建立健全资源有偿使用制度和生态环境补偿机制有着重要影响。     

Game Theoretic Models of Wage Bargaining

This paper aims at being a tool to help apply game theoretic bargaining models to wage negotiations. In this perspective, we review a number of articles which explicitly deal with wage determination as well as purely game theoretical models which we believe can be fruitfully extended to account for specific features of labour markets. We discuss some common shortcomings in the wage negotiation literature, and suggest possible lines of research worth pursuing to deal with such weaknesses.