Changes in the Finnish Wage Structure: Will Demand and Supply Do?

This study addresses changes in the wage structure in Finland between 1977 and 1995, and provides a simple explanation based on the demand for and supply of skills. The single index model of Card and Lemieux (1996) is augmented by incorporating changes in the supply of skills. The augmented model adequately accounts for the changes in relative wages between groups of different education and experience, but does not capture the changes in the within-group distribution.
JEL classification : J 31     

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.     

经济增长模型中的储蓄率内生化问题

本文讨论经济增长模型中储蓄率内生化的各种问题,包括有限寿命与无限寿命、确定寿命与不确定寿命、不确定寿命下的消费决策方法、不确定寿命下非预料死亡者的遗产如何处理、个人生命如何分期、个人如何预期未来收入等。强调了寿命假定与人口年龄结构的内在联系,提出了寿命不确定下个人消费决策的新方法,探讨了有关未来收入的趋势预期和水平预期,并分析了哪一种更接近实际。     

温和通货膨胀下的货币政策选择

2003年以来,我国摆脱了通货紧缩的阴影,进入了一个温和的通货膨胀时期.这一轮温和的通货膨胀主要源于货币信贷的过快增长,而基础货币投放过多主要源于外汇占款的快速增长.实证研究表明,我国通货膨胀率与M0、M1、M2以及贷款增长率之间都存在正相关关系.缓解和释放通货膨胀压力既需要运用数量型货币政策工具,更需要运用价格型货币政策工具.为了缓解通货膨胀压力,中国人民银行应该实行"双升"的货币政策,在调升人民币利率水平的同时调整人民币汇率,既升息又升值,但升息和升值的幅度不宜过大.     

One step ahead: Thornton versus Longe

This Paper addresses the intriguing issue of whether William Thomas Thornton plagiarized Francis Longe's (1866) pamphlet denouncing the classical wage fund doctrine. In doing so, the paper comprehensively reviews all of the corroborative evidence surrounding the plagiarism allegation laid against Thornton, drawing particular attention to a little known letter to The Times written by Thornton, in an effort to clear his good name of any impropriety. It is the conclusion of this paper that Thornton has no case to answer; the evidence not only from Thornton's own early work on wages and trade unions, together with additional corroborative evidence suggests that far from having plagiarized Longe's (1866) work, Thornton apticipated many of his ideas.     

中国农村地区收入差距解释:1997～2005

1997～2005年我国农村地区收入差距以2000年为转折点,经历了先下降后上升的变化过程。要素分解分析表明,1997～2000年地区收入差距的下降完全归因于分配效应;2001～2005年地区收入差距的上升主要归因于结构效应。样本分解分析表明,东中西部地区间的差距和东部地区内部的差距是形成农村地区差距的主要原因。费景汉-兰尼斯分解分析表明,工资性收入、地理位置、教育、物质资本和人均占有耕地面积共解释了地区收入差距的80%以上。     

国有单位工资结构及其就业规模变化的收入分配效应:1988—2007

本文使用1988年、1995年、2002年、2007年CHIP城镇入户调查数据考察国有单位工资结构及其就业规模变化的收入分配效应。为此,本文采用了分位数回归方法、以多重分位数回归为基础的Machado&Mata(2005)反事实分解方法及作者扩展了的方法。各结果表明:国有企业就业份额大幅度下降导致中国城镇工资收入差距显著下降;然而国有企业减员增效改革完成以后,国有企业工资高于非国有企业的幅度及其不合理部分大幅度上升,其结果是城镇工资收入差距扩大。     

HETEROGENEITY IN REAL WAGE CYCLICALITY

This paper presents evidence that real wage cyclicality can be a particularly heterogeneous parameter, depending on different worker characteristics and also on the specific stage of the business cycle. Using matched employer–employee panel data for Portugal covering the period 1986–2004, real wages are shown to be considerably more procyclical during recessions than during expansions, resulting in relatively moderate overall levels of cyclicality (about −0.6). However, most of the procyclicality during downturns is shown to be driven by the younger employees, as older workers appear to be insulated from the business cycle. Moreover, movers between firms typically display higher cyclicality than workers that stay in the same firm, regardless of whether the latter move or not between job levels. Most results also hold when considering basic wages instead of total wages, except that the procyclicality of movers during downturns is substantially higher.