Gender and graduate economics education in the US

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a survey of top economics graduate schools as they relate to women and men. The results provide strong evidence that at these top graduate schools, women graduate students are less integrated in their economic disciplines than are male graduate students. In the second part of the paper, this paper relates those findings to alternative theories as to why this is the case. This paper concludes by suggesting that the emphasis on theoretical studies in the current core of the graduate economics program can be seen as a type of hazing process that seems to have a significant cost since many women (and men) with great creative promise are discouraged from continuing in economics and do not benefit nearly as much as they would have from more policy-driven core courses.     

Multiracialism and Meritocracy: Singapore's Approach to Race and Inequality

This paper characterizes Singapore's efforts to tackle the problem of persistent racial inequality in terms of the notion of fair meritocracy. Singapore's race policy attempts to level the playing field through its unique race-based self-help organizations and a comprehensive, racially integrated, public housing program. Individuals are then sorted by the ostensibly objective mechanism of a standardized test based educational system. The social and economic implications of this policy are examined and, using summary data from the 1980 and 1990 censuses, the extent to which Singapore has been successful in creating a fair multiracial meritocracy is assessed.     

The historical roots of India’s service-led development: A sectoral analysis of Anglo-Indian productivity differences, 1870-2000

India fell further behind the UK in terms of GDP per capita and overall labour productivity between the 1870s and the 1970s, but has been catching-up since. This paper offers a sectoral analysis of these trends. Comparative India/UK labour productivity in agriculture has declined continuously, and agriculture still accounts for around two-thirds of employment in India. Agriculture thus played a key role in India’s falling behind and has subsequently slowed down the process of catching up. Although there have been substantial fluctuations in comparative India/UK labour productivity in industry, this sector has exhibited no long run trend. The only sector to exhibit an upward trend in comparative India/UK labour productivity is services. India’s recent emergence as a dynamic service-led economy thus appears to have long historical roots. Although India has been characterised by relatively low levels of physical and human capital formation overall, its education provision has historically been unusually skewed towards secondary and tertiary levels. This has provided a limited supply of high productivity workers who have been employed predominantly in services.     

I suppose you think that's funny! The role of humour in corporate learning events

This paper examines the uses of humour among participants in five bank training programmes in the UK. These programmes, run by the banks themselves, were studied using ethnographic methods and the observations reported here are based upon extensive field notes. The paper examines the ways in which participants deployed humour during these learning events and the role humour played in the management of their relations with their fellow learners and the course instructors. The course instructors' use of humour is also examined. It is argued that humour played a far from trivial role in the programmes studied. On the contrary, humour was vital to their maintenance as viable organizational practices. In conclusion it is suggested that the more systematic study of humour could make an important contribution to the understanding of the social realities of corporate training programmes.     

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE QUANTITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATION: A SURVEY

Abstract The focus of this survey is to discuss different attempts at incorporating the distributional dimension of human capital into the theoretical and empirical growth framework. We present a series of models which deviate from the direct link between the aggregate or average level of human capital and economic growth in that they introduce the distribution of education as a new element in explaining the relationship under investigation. After surveying the theoretical literature, we present recent empirical work on the relation between economic performance and the average level, as well as the distribution of education, respectively.     

体育院校大学生计算机网络安全意识的现状调查研究——以武汉体育学院为例

为了解体育院校大学生计算机网络安全意识现状,笔者对武汉体育学院500名大学生基于计算机网络安全相关问题进行了深入调查研究,且分析了学校在加强大学生计算机网络安全意识中存在的问题,并提出加强大学生计算机网络安全意识的建议。     

Quantile regression with sample selection: Estimating women's return to education in the U.S.

This study uses quantile regression techniques to analyze changes in the returns to education for women. The data used is the March Current Population Survey for the years 1968, 1973, 1979, 1986 and 1990. The first step in estimating the single (linear) index selection equation uses Ichimura's (1993) semiparametric procedure. To correct for an unknown form of a sample selection bias in the quantile regression, the second step incorporates a nonparametric method, using an idea similar to one developed by Heckman (1980) and Newey (1991) for mean regression, and Buchinsky (1998) for quantile regression.  The results show that: (a) the returns to education increased enormously for the younger cohorts, but very little for the older cohorts; (b) in general the returns are higher at the lower quantiles in the beginning of the sample period and higher at the higher quantiles by the end of the sample period; (c) there is a significant sample selection bias for all age groups at almost all quantiles; (d) toward the end of the sample period there is a significant convergence of the returns at the various quantiles, especially for the younger cohorts and age groups; and (e) the semiparametric estimates of the selection equation are considerably different from those obtained for a parametric probit model.     

The economic returns to schooling for Italian men. An evaluation based on instrumental variables

We study the relationship between (log) hourly earnings and schooling for male household heads in Italy, using cross-sectional data from the 1993 and 1995 waves of the Bank of Italy (BI) survey on the income and wealth of Italian households. In line with international evidence, we find that OLS under-estimate the return to schooling. When the endogeneity of schooling is taken into account, the return to an additional year in school increases from 4.8% to 5.6%. This estimate is lower than the estimates tabulated by Card [Card, D., 1994. Earnings, Schooling and Ability Revisited. NBER Working Paper no. 4832.] for the United States. We also find evidence that this return increases with higher levels of educational attainment.     

Must we choose? European unemployment, American inequality, and the impact of education and labor market institutions

In the last 15 years, two equilibria have arisen in the advanced world. On the one hand, wage dispersion has widened in those countries where unemployment has remained low (with cyclical variations). On the other hand, wherever income inequality has remained unchanged, unemployment has shot upwards. To account for these distinct patterns, we develop a political–economic model showing that, controlling for the skills of the population, the effects of technological and trade shocks (that have affected OECD nations) that are contingent on the institutional rules in place. Economies with generous unemployment allowances adjust through subsidized unemployment. By contrast, low levels of social protection lead to less unemployment but wider wage dispersion. The level of qualifications of the labor force determines the extent of the adjustment for a given institutional arrangement. We derive, in turn, the institutional structure of each country from the political conditions in place at the time of the shock. The empirical part successfully tests the model for the sample of European regions and US states.     

教育对地区内收入差距的贡献:来自上海微观数据的考察

作为人力资本的一个度量,教育对于收入差距的贡献一直受到广泛的关注,但却研究不够.本文借助上海市1431户家庭的微观数据,估计了一个包含教育变量的收入决定函数,然后在基于回归分析的收入差距分解框架内,运用最新发展起来的夏普里值过程(Shapley Value Approach),分解出了教育对于收入差距的贡献大小.通过比较发现,与地区间差距的情形不同,教育对于地区内收入差距而言是最重要的影响因素.