Direct and indirect effects of happiness on wage: A simultaneous equations approach

Using data from the United Sates National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79) and following a two-stage method, the current study estimates wage, schooling and happiness equations simultaneously and demonstrates that happiness affects the worker's wage not only directly, but also indirectly through its direct effect on years of schooling. The simultaneous relation between happiness and schooling demonstrated in this study further suggests that schooling also affects wage both directly and indirectly through happiness. The study supports the argument presented in several earlier studies that higher income does not necessarily guarantee higher levels of happiness.     

Direct and indirect effects of unionization and government employment on fringe benefit provision

The separate influences of unionization and government employment on the provision of two major fringe benefits, pensions and health insurance, are investigated. Each influence is decomposed into a direct effect and an indirect effect through earnings. The sum of these effects often differs in size from estimates that ignore the two distinct effects. Moreover, studies that argue that both unions and governmental employees capture greater fringe benefits focus on the direct effect, yet estimates usually have not isolated this effect.     

The unionization of professionals: A case study

In 1999 the U.S. economy concluded its ninth year of expansion, and the GDP increased by 4.3 percent while the rate of unemployment remained at 4.1 percent, its lowest level in thirty years. However, there has not been a corresponding expansion in the rate of unionization. Recognizing that they can no longer depend on their traditional base of members, unions have targeted the rapidly expanding area of professional employment as a potential growth area. If unions can adapt to the needs of these workers and achieve organizing successes in nontraditional areas, rapid growth of the union movement could occur. Utilizing the case study methodology, I explore the motivations of a group of professional employees to turn to union representation to address their dissatisfaction with the workplace.     

Fast food and unnatural experiments: Another perspective on the New Jersey minimum wage

Conclusion  We have argued that the difference-in-differences method of examining the effects of the New Jersey minimum wage, especially when the differences in differences are measured shortly after the change, is questionable. That being the case, if we nonetheless take this method seriously, and if following Card and Krueger we look at the data shortly before and after the New Jersey minimum was imposed, then the only statistically significant evidence we can find supports the conclusion that the New Jersey minimum reduced employment of young workers.     

The employment effects of social security tax changes and minimum wage regulations: A case study of the American restaurant industry

Several recent changes in public policy in the United States have significantly affected labor market conditions in the restaurant industry. First, at the close of 1987, Congress passed legislation requiring employers to pay, for the first time, Social Security taxes (hereinafter FICA) on the tip incomes of restaurant employees. Second, after a long hiatus, there were two successive increases in the federal minimum wage law — one on April 1, 1990, and the second exactly one year later. This study attempts to measure the employment effects of these policy changes and, in the process, to illuminate how seemingly minor changes in public policy may have very substantial effects on markets.     

Direct and indirect effects of low self-control on the personal victimization of South Korean youth

To estimate the direct effects of low self-control on the incidence of personal victimization among South Korean elementary and middle school students; to examine whether these effects are mediated by deviant lifestyles and parental attachments, and to determine whether these effects differ by a youth's sex. Data from the Korean Youth Panel Survey were examined. A national sample of 2844 South Korean fourth grade students was followed for five years. Wave-specific analyses consistently revealed significant direct and indirect effects of low self-control on victimization, and the direct effects were not fully mediated by deviant lifestyles and parent-child attachment. Direct effects of low self-control were invariant between the sexes whereas indirect effects involving delinquent peers were not.     

The effects of prevailing wage laws: A comparison of individual workers’ wages earned on and off prevailing wage construction projects

I evaluate the effects of prevailing wage laws using a unique data set that shows the wages paid to workers on prevailing wage projects and the wages paid to the same workers during the same time period for work on projects not covered by prevailing wage regulations. The wage comparison shows that workers are generally paid more for work on prevailing wage projects than they are for work on nonprevailing wage projects. Thus, prevailing wage laws likely do increase the cost of public construction. In addition, to the extent that the quality of construction is improved, prevailing wage laws appear to be an inefficient mechanism by which to achieve additional quality, as the regulations often result in workers being paid more than they earn in the private market. This research was done originally for the Program Review and Investigations Committee of the Kentucky State Legislature. I thank the staff of the Program Review and Investigations Committee and the Legisla-tive Research Commission for assistance with data collection and Mark Berger for helpful comments. Due to confidentiality requirements, the data cannot be made available.     

Residence laws and unionization in municipal labor markets: The case of firefighters

An estimate is made of the impact of residence laws and unionization on compensation (wages plus major fringe benefits) as well as on employment of municipal firefighters. In addition, hypotheses about the manner in which residence laws exert these effects are econometrically tested using data obtained by surveying the mayors of 560 municipalities. The standard view — that is, that residence laws restrict labor supply — is not supported by the empirical evidence. Rather, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that residence laws affect compensation by altering the bargaining environment; for example, effects of unions are weaker when there are residence laws. The authors would like to express their appreciation to David Lewin and Ronald Ehrenberg for their helpful advice and thoughtful comments, and to two anonymous referees for suggestions which indubitably improved the paper. Significant research assistance was provided by Glen Elder. Financial support by the Institute of Industrial Relations is gratefully acknowledged.     

The labor market effects of minimum wage laws: A new perspective

Economists almost uniformly argue that minimum wage laws benefit some workers at the expense of other workers. This argument is implicitly founded on the assumption that money wages are the only form of labor compensation. Based on the more realistic assumption that labor is paid in many different ways, the analysis of this paper demonstrates that all laborers within a perfectly competitive labor market are adversely affected by minimum wages. Although employment opportunities are reduced by such laws, affected labor markets clear. Conventional analysis of the effect of minimum wages on monopsony markets is also upset by the model developed. The author is indebted to Rex Cottle, Benjamin Hawkins, Hugh Macaulay, Michael Maloney, Thomas Schaap, Gordon Tullock, Gene Uselton, and Karen Vaughn for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

The composition of public sector compensation: The effects of unionization and bureaucratic size

This paper examines the effect of the political power of public sector unions on the composition of public sector compensation. Public employee unions provide a relatively low-cost vehicle for organizing workers’ political activity in support of the rent-seeking behavior of local politicians. The unions also provide a conduit for employees to capture part of these rents as payment for political services. Since the public has little interest in paying for the political activities of public workers, these payments are most likely to be made through fringe benefits so as to minimize public scrutiny. The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions. Any errors remain those of the authors.     

Education and wage inequality in the informal sector: The case of Cameroon

This article analyses the effects of education on wage inequality in the informal sector in Cameroon. The author uses quantile regression on data from the Second survey on employment and the informal sector in Cameroon (EESI 2) of 2010. The results indicate that both wages and wage inequality increase with education in the informal sector, with tertiary education creating greatest inequality. These findings point to a number of policy recommendations for a transition to formality, such as the creation of more jobs for a skilled workforce, the development of sites adapted to informal sector activities and the creation of more vocational schools.     

Gender wage differences and human capital in the early twentieth century: the case of the paper box industry in New York

Women employed in the New York paper box industry in 1913–1914 earned about 60% of what men did. This paper employs the human capital framework to analyze the wage differential due to productivity related factors versus discriminatory nepotism towards men. Years of schooling, years of experience in the paper box trade, and legislative restrictions on working hours of women account for virtually all of the observed wage differential, both for all men and women in the paper box industry, and between the skilled occupations of cutters and strippers.

Comparative advantage and the welfare effects of uniform wage policies

This paper analyzes the theoretical impact of a commonly cited union goal — the elimination or reduction of wage differentials within occupations. By dropping the usual assumption of homogeneous labor, we show how, and under what market conditions, workers will receive rents due to individual comparative advantage. In competitive labor markets a union-imposed uniform wage may lower the earnings of workers holding a productive advantage, causing a reduction in employment and a welfare loss of comparative advantage rents. The implications of a strict uniform wage rule imply that unions may be forced to adapt their wage policy to allow more productive workers to receive wage differentials. This consideration helps explain some common trade union institutions.     

By our bootstraps: Origins and effects of the high-wage doctrine and the minimum wage

Conclusion  Although the high-wage doctrine — the belief that the level of aggregate demand is determined by the level of wage rates — is most often associated with the Great Depression, the doctrine’s effects on wage policy go back at least two decades further. Rather than having been a product of desperate times, the doctrine gained wide acceptance during the prosperous 1920s as businessmen and economists, citing the success of Henry Ford's continuing high-wage policies, and the (supposedly counterproductive) wage deflation that had marked the steep depression of 1920-21, applied the doctrine's demand-enhancing logic to push for an economy-wide minimum wage. The authors thank Fred Bateman, Don Bellante, Roger Garrison, Peter Klein, and Anthony Patrick O’Brien for thoughtful comments and suggestions.     

A comparison of multi‐disciplinary groups in the UK and New Jersey

During the past 30 years in both the United Kingdom and the United States there has been an increasing emphasis on the need for the agencies, disciplines and professions who are involved in investigating child abuse allegations and in protecting children from abuse to work together, to cooperate with each other and to coordinate their responses. (See Besharov, 1990; British Paediatric Association, 1966; Kempe and Helfer, 1972; London Borough of Brent, 1985; London Borough of Greenwich, 1987). One way of achieving this has been through the use of multi‐disciplinary groups. This paper will describe the initial findings from a study which aimed to examine and compare the working of two such groups, namely, case conferences in the UK and multi‐disciplinary teams in one state in the United States, New Jersey. The findings from the study show that while there are some similarities between the two types of multi‐disciplinary groups, there are also significant differences in functions, membership, structure of meetings and chairing. However, the major difference that emerges is the more prominent role of representatives from the legal system in New Jersey's multi‐disciplinary teams compared with UK case conferences. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct and indirect effects of human population density and land use on physical features and invertebrates of Iowa (U.S.A.) streams

To improve understanding of human impacts on headwater stream condition, we quantified relationships between human, terrestrial landscape, and stream system variables in 29 central Iowa watersheds. Across study watersheds, between 0 and 100 % of total land area was characterized as “urban” (developed and barren land), whereas cultivated land constituted between 0 and 71 % of watershed area. Several variables were measured for each stream and associated watershed. Strengths of correlative relationships were used to select variables for path analysis, which we used to gain insight into factors affecting stream condition by evaluating direct and indirect effects of human system variables, terrestrial landscape variables, and physical stream variables on stream invertebrates. Results indicated that in predominantly urban watersheds, contaminant inputs to streams (measured by streamwater conductivity) negatively affected invertebrates, including EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera), and streamwater contaminant concentrations increased with impervious surface and human population density in the watershed. In rural watersheds, high streamwater nitrogen concentrations associated with cultivated land were related to declines in invertebrate taxon richness. Independent of land use, invertebrate abundance and taxonomic diversity were positively related to coarse substrate abundance on the streambed. Additionally, stream flow (discharge) increased with watershed area, which in turn increased invertebrate taxonomic diversity. Apparently, mechanisms responsible for human impacts on stream condition in central Iowa depend on dominant land use in the watershed. Additionally, stream ecosystems with high quality benthic habitat, and those located in large watersheds with greater flow, appear to be more resilient to land use effects.     

The supply of volunteer labor: the case of hospitals

Little is known about the labor market for volunteers, but even less is known about the supply of volunteers to particular industries. This article examines the supply of volunteer labor to one industry, hospitals, and the choices that volunteers make among hospitals with different ownership attributes. Survey data of volunteers at four hospitals located in Madison, Wisconsin, are used to estimate the importance of a number of factors influencing people's willingness to volunteer at hospitals. We found that job opportunities in the labor market and tax rates affect the supply of volunteers. We also found that volunteers are not indifferent to the type of hospital at which they volunteer; a federal government hospital, a nonprofit state-owned teaching hospital, and other nonprofit hospitals were not perfect substitutes in the eyes of individual volunteers in our study.     

A simultaneous-equations model of the relationship between public sector bargaining legislation and unionization

This paper estimates a simultaneous-equations model with public sector bargaining laws and union membership treated as jointly-determined variables. The extent of public sector unionization has a significant positive influence on the passage of prolabor bargaining legislation and bargaining legislation has strong, independent effects on the extent of public sector unionization. We gratefully acknowledge the research support provided by Minbo Kim and Parisun Chantonahom.