Wage Inequality and Wage Mobility in Europe

Using data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, this paper investigates wage inequality and wage mobility in Europe. Decomposing inequality into within‐ and between‐group inequality, we analyze to what extent wage inequality and mobility can be explained by observable characteristics. Furthermore, we investigate which individual and household characteristics determine transitions within the wage distribution. We find that overall, mobility reduces wage inequality. While a large part of wage inequality is due to unobservable characteristics, the equalizing effect of mobility mainly occurs within groups. Furthermore, both personal and household characteristics play an important role for wage transitions. Finally, our findings reveal large cross‐country differences across Europe.     

Gender segregation and earnings differences in the Spanish labour market

This article analyses the effects of different types of gender segregation on the gender wage differential for the Spanish labour market. Matched employer–employee data from a sample of 226,535 workers are used. These workers are employed in 61 occupations within 26,492 establishments in 51 different industries. Workers belonging to the same industry, establishment or job share common factors which cannot be observed and these factors affect wages. If these unobservable variables are correlated with the explanatory variables, their estimated effects will be biased. For this reason, we estimate the effects of each type of gender segregation on the wage gap using a robust specification to these possible correlations. We obtain that industrial segregation by gender explains a lower part of the wage gap between men and women than previous researches found using standard regressions, while the contributions of establishment segregation and occupational segregation within each establishment are greater.     

The impact of health sector on R&D,economic growth and wages

We extend the existing R&D growth literature by focusing on the short-, medium-, long-run effects of the health sector on R&D intensity, economic growth and wages, and by considering 21 OECD countries between 1991 and 2008. We show that: (i) there is a unique and stable steady state; (ii) an increase in health-labour share in skilled population has no effect on growth, but affects negatively (positively) the R&D intensity (the skill premium); (iii) Anglo–Saxons countries have the lowest health-labour share in skilled-labour population, and Nordic countries have the lowest skill premium and the highest consumption/production of healthcare per capita.     

EMPLOYMENT STABILIZATION INSIDE FIRMS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF WORKER COOPERATIVES

There is evidence that worker cooperatives provide a greater stabilization of employment compared to capital‐managed firms. While the reasons of this behaviour can be ascribed to their property and governance structure, less is known of the tools to put it into practice. I discuss two possible ways to guarantee employment insurance: by letting wages fluctuate, or by accumulating reinvested profits into an income stabilizing fund that copes with downturns without firing and without reducing wages. In this second case, I find out that asset locks play a wage smoothing role. This may explain the large share of profits that are reinvested in this indivisible and not appropriable fund. I provide evidence for this mechanism by means of original data at the firm level and of first‐hand collected survey data at the individual level on risk perception in a sample of Italian cooperatives.     

Minimum Wage in Poland and Youth Employment in Regional Labor Markets

The aim of this article is to analyze the effect of a uniform minimum wage in Poland on youth employment in regional labor markets and to determine in which of the regions the effect is significant. The analyses are based on NUTS2 level in 1999–2012. The results point to a statistically insignificant parameter of minimum wage variable for the whole sample. However, after allowing the minimum wage parameter to vary across regions, we find that the relatively high ratio of minimum to average wages could be the factor limiting youth employment growth in less-developed regions in the southeast of Poland.     

Profit sharing and strike activity in Cournot oligopoly

Within an incomplete-information framework, we develop a model of wage determination in a unionized Cournot oligopoly. The assumption of incomplete information allows the possibility of strikes or lockouts, which waste industry potential resources, at equilibrium. Facing such deadweight loss, the government or the social planner may decide to adopt a policy, such as a profit-sharing scheme. Under two different bargaining structures (firm level vs. industry level), we investigate the effects of adopting profit sharing on the wage outcome and the strike activity. If the base-wage bargaining takes place at the industry level, then the introduction of a profit-sharing scheme increases the strike activity. But if the base-wage bargaining takes place at the firm level and the number of firms in the industry is greater than two, then the introduction of a profit-sharing scheme reduces the strike activity.     

企业规模对职工工资的影响:来自中国竞争性劳动力市场的证据

本文使用在浙江省收集的企业一职工配对数据研究了国际学术界困惑已久的企业规模对工资的溢价谜题。我们发现,当控制了企业所处的地区、行业和职工的人力资本后,企业的技术效率可以完全解释企业规模对职工工资的正向作用。大企业提供高工资,主要是由于它们拥有高素质的职工和较高的技术效率。与国际上使用发达国家数据的同类文献相比,本文所使用数据的独特性在于两个方面:一是企业与职工的配对,便于控制个人和企业层面的特征;二是在制造业方面,中国的劳动力市场更接近于一个竞争性市场,因而更容易识别企业规模对工资的影响。     

资本品进口、资本技能互补与中国的相对工资差距

中国是资本品净进口国,资本品进口引致资本积累并通过资本与技能互补效应增加对熟练劳动力的相对需求,是影响熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力之间相对工资差距的一个重要机制。文章实证检验了资本品进口与中国熟练劳动力的互补效应及其对中国相对工资差距的影响。研究结论表明：资本与技能互补效应在中国长期存在,资本品进口促进了中国的资本积累,并通过资本与技能互补效应提高了熟练劳动力的边际产出,增加了对熟练劳动力的相对需求,扩大了相对工资差距。然而,劳动力的相对数量效应和相对效率效应对中国不断扩大的相对工资差距的解释力不强。     

Labour Markets in China: A Study of the Structure and Evolution of Wages

This paper examines the development of labour markets and the evolution of a structure of wages in China, using household surveys for 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2007. It finds evidence of both provincial and sectoral segmentation in labour markets, with eastern regions and the state-controlled sector enjoying high wage premiums in the early reform period. During the reform, China has progressed slowly towards an integrated labour market with convergence in incomes between the rural non-agriculture sector and the urban market-based sector by 1995, when industry flourished in the rural areas. The wage gap between the rural non-agriculture sector and other sectors increased and the urban state-controlled sector remained segmented with respect to all other sectors up to 2002. However, the data from 2007 show there has been increasing sectoral and spatial integration.     

货币政策、影子银行发展与风险承担渠道的非对称效应分析

本文运用非对称的NARDL模型和门限回归模型,详细探讨了影子银行体系在不同货币政策周期的规模扩张和风险承担行为。实证结果表明,货币政策对影子银行的影响在长期和短期均存在非对称效应,其中长期内紧缩性数量型调控政策和扩张性低利率政策更易引起影子银行的扩张行为,且两者的配合会强化影子银行的风险承担。此外,经济下行会助推影子银行转型,引起影子银行体系风险增加,我国影子银行以房地产为主的投资导向已发生改变,因此,进一步完善利率市场化形成机制,拓宽居民和企业投融资渠道,构建影子银行全面监测平台,才能从根本上规范影子银行资金运作,促进社会资金的合理流向,引导影子银行与经济政策的良性互动。