Is the Swiss Labor Market Segmented? An Analysis Using Alternative Approaches

Abstract. In this paper, three common empirical methods encountered in the segmentation literature are used in order to establish whether or not the Swiss labor market is segmented: (i) a hierarchical cluster analysis; (ii) a switching model with unknown regime; and (iii) an analysis of low‐wage mobility with a bivariate probit model with endogenous selection. According to method (i), segmentation can hardly be observed. Method (ii) shows that the Swiss labor market is dualistic in nature. Method (iii) reveals that a certain degree of persistence exists in low‐wage jobs. Whether or not the Swiss labor market is segmented thus depends on the choice of method, i.e. on the definition and understanding of segments. In any case, none of the methods used in this study point to the existence of a large and well‐defined secondary segment.     

Subjective Measures of Employment Opportunities and Interregional Migration

Abstract. Empirical studies of interregional mobility routinely use regional unemployment differentials to characterize economic incentives to move between regions. In this paper, we present a new regional labour market indicator computed from survey data in which respondents are asked to evaluate local employment opportunities in their resident municipality and surroundings. The subjective measures of satisfaction with local employment opportunities have positive and significant impact on interregional migration flows, also when controlling for traditional measures of regional labour market conditions, including the regional unemployment rate. Contrary to most European studies, we find that regional labour market conditions have a strong effect on interregional migration flows.     

消费者异质性下供应链互补产品销售策略选择及其定价研究

基于消费者对互补品消费习性存在的异质性,对互补品消费市场进行细分,并在上游两个制造商分别提供具有互补特性的产品,下游一个销售商同时销售这两种产品的供应链环境下研究定价均衡。根据不同目标市场选择,识别出全市场覆盖以及聚焦细分市场两种销售策略,分别对两种营销策略下的供应链产品定价进行讨论,并通过模型求解分别得到两种策略下的均衡,讨论了两个均衡解存在的条件,讨论了均衡定价随产品互补程度以及互补品相对效用比的变化情况,以及销售商在不同情形下选择的定价策略。结果表明,当互补品相对效用差异不大,且互补程度不大的时候,渠道内形成第一个定价均衡;当产品间相对效用差异大,且互补程度足够大的时候,渠道内形成第二个定价均衡。     

Contract Length as Risk Management When Labor is not Homogeneous

This paper examines the choice of contract length for workers who possess unique skills. Uncertainty, facing both the worker and the firm, creates an incentive to reallocate risk. The uncertainty arises from two sources: variation in the market value of the worker's human capital and fluctuation in the worker's physical production. Long‐term contracts are typically modeled as compensating wage differentials, or as a solution to the problem of asymmetric information. This paper develops a model proposing more complex behavior in the reallocation of risk between the contracting parties. The model shows that long‐term labor contracts are most likely to be observed when price uncertainty in the labor market exceeds the worker's productive uncertainty.     

基于动态Panel Data模型的上市公司区域治理效率研究

本文在中国大陆地区910家上市公司样本数据基础上,利用动态Panel Data模型对中国上市公司地区治理效率进行了实证研究.我们发现,中国上市公司的治理效率在不同的区域之间存在着较大的差异.本文认为,造成上市公司治理效率存在地区性差异的主要原因是由于我国各地区在市场化进程中出现的地区发展差异,上市公司治理效率的地区性差异是我国证券市场的一个重要特征,把握这个特征对制定和完善具有针对性的上市公司治理法规和政策有着积极的意义.     

基于空间比较路径选择模型的碳生产率区域差异性研究

在考虑各地区内在联系的前提下,为以最少的双边比较次数,实现地区间可传递的多边比较,本文把最小生成树理论与空间结构分解分析相结合,提出了空间比较路径选择（SCPS）模型。利用2007年和2012年中国27地区的投入产出表,以碳生产率的五因素乘法分解为例,示范了SCPS模型的构建过程,并对中国碳生产率区域差异性及其影响因素问题进行了实证研究。结果表明,部门碳强度是影响区域碳生产率差异性以及各省碳生产率提高的关键因素,最终需求和产业结构也对碳生产率差异性起到了重要的作用。各地区可通过加大低碳投资力度,增强信息、技术及其他资源的跨省区合作,加快产业转型升级等措施,缩小碳生产率差异性,提升碳生产率的整体水平,促进经济社会发展向低碳绿色模式转型。     

Equilibrium Wage‐Tenure Contracts

In this study we consider a labor market matching model where firms post wage‐tenure contracts and workers, both employed and unemployed, search for new job opportunities. Given workers are risk averse, we establish there is a unique equilibrium in the environment considered. Although firms in the market make different offers in equilibrium, all post a wage‐tenure contract that implies a worker's wage increases smoothly with tenure at the firm. As firms make different offers, there is job turnover, as employed workers move jobs as the opportunity arises. This implies the increase in a worker's wage can be due to job‐to‐job movements as well as wage‐tenure effects. Further, there is a nondegenerate equilibrium distribution of initial wage offers that is differentiable on its support except for a mass point at the lowest initial wage. We also show that relevant characteristics of the equilibrium can be written as explicit functions of preferences and the other market parameters.     

Fertility and Employment in Italy,France, and the UK

Abstract. According to the agenda for employment set by the European Union in 2000 for the following 10 years, the target for female employment was set at 60 per cent for the year 2010. Although Northern and most Continental countries have achieved this quantitative target, the Mediterranean countries are lagging behind. Labor market policies should be aimed to encourage women's participation and reduce the cost of working. However, the persistence of a negative relationship between participation and fertility in these countries implies that it is important to take fertility into account. We analyse a model of labor supply and fertility, using data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for the period 1994–2000, merged with regional data describing the available labor market opportunities in the households’ environment.     

城市劳动力市场中的人员流动及其决定机制——兼析大城市的新二元结构

本研究借用了劳动力市场阶层化研究的思路和方法,利用专项调查获取的大量数据,实证分析了城市劳动力市场中的流动及其决定机制。本文的理论假说如下:第一,中国的城市劳动力市场包含了外劳和本地居民两大部分,但这两部分从业人员所属的市场阶层以及在市场阶层之间的流动状况是不相同的。第二,从非正规部门流向正规部门的上升移动会带来工资收入的增加,但本地居民和外劳,以及外劳中的民工与城镇居民实现流动的机会是不均等的。第三,在求职过程中选择什么性质的部门、以何种方式在不同部门之间流动,主要取决于以户籍为代表的制度因素,而不是个人的教育水平、工作经历等人力资本。本文的结论是:通过劳动力市场的竞争机制,人力资本的利用状况明显改善,但由于还存在制度歧视,劳动力市场依旧是二元性质的。消灭城市内部的新二元结构是下一步改革的重要目标。     

Women's Labor Supply,Marriage, and Welfare Dependency

Abstract. This paper provides a rational choice model that simultaneously analyses women's decisions about welfare dependency, labor supply, and marriage. The model is based on the Demand and Supply (D&S) models of marriage inspired by Becker's theory of marriage. In addition to reproducing old insights about income effects and marriage market effects on welfare dependency, the model offers new insights regarding the effects on welfare dependency of sex ratios, divorce laws, cohort size, and traditional expectations about marriage and family. The model helps understand why welfare is more common among black women in the USA and offers a new interpretation for past trends in American women's welfare dependency: the big increase in welfare dependency in the late 1960s is interpreted as a baby‐boom phenomenon and recent reductions in welfare dependency are partially seen as the expression of young women's better marriage market opportunities.     

EQUILIBRIUM SEARCH UNEMPLOYMENT,ENDOGENOUS PARTICIPATION,AND LABOR MARKET FLOWS

The sustainability of welfare states requires high employment and high participation to raise the tax base. To analyze labor supply in a world with market frictions, we propose and solve a macro model of the labor market with unemployment and labor force participation as endogenous and distinct states. In our world, workers' decisions of participating are determined by an entry decision and an exit decision. A calibration of the model improves the usual representations of labor markets, since it quantitatively accounts for the observed flows between employment and nonparticipation. The paper investigates also the effect of payroll taxes and unemployment benefits on participation decisions. Taxes reduce entries and increase exits, whereas unemployment benefits, at a given job‐finding rate, raise entries and have ambiguous effects on exits. (JEL: J2, J6)     

VOLATILITY,LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY,AND THE PATTERN OF COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

This paper studies the link between volatility, labor market flexibility, and international trade. International differences in labor market regulations affect how firms can adjust to idiosyncratic shocks. These institutional differences interact with sector specific differences in volatility (the variance of the firm‐specific shocks in a sector) to generate a new source of comparative advantage. Other things equal, countries with more flexible labor markets specialize in sectors with higher volatility. Empirical evidence for a large sample of countries strongly supports this theory: the exports of countries with more flexible labor markets are biased towards high‐volatility sectors. We show how differences in labor market institutions can be parsimoniously integrated into the workhorse model of Ricardian comparative advantage of Dornbusch, Fischer, and Samuelson (1977, American Economic Review, 67, 823–839). We also show how our model can be extended to multiple factors of production.     

资产定价与劳动成本占比

根据经典生产函数可知与劳动要素相关的变化应反映到企业价值层面，那么劳动要素对股票市场具有怎样的影响呢？本文以沪深A股为研究对象，基于劳动成本占比探索劳动要素对股票市场定价的影响。通过模型推理和实证分析相结合的方法证明劳动成本占比与企业风险正相关，劳动成本占比具有放大企业风险的杠杆作用。基于风险与收益相补偿的原理，通过回归分析和投资组合分析发现劳动成本占比具有正的股票收益预测能力；采用买多-卖空组合构建劳动成本占比风险因子，通过Fama-MacBeth回归证明劳动成本占比是影响股票收益的风险因子，并且相对Fama-French的五因子不是冗余因子；在三因子模型和五因子模型基础上包含劳动成本占比风险因子的定价模型对股票横截面收益的解释力更好，模型的定价效率更高。本文不仅丰富了股票收益影响因子和劳动成本经济后果领域的文献，而且对投资者投资决策、企业制定薪酬制度、政府颁布劳动保护相关政策和收入分配改革方面具有参考价值。     

Minimum Wage Effects on Labor Market Outcomes under Search,Matching, and Endogenous Contact Rates

Building upon a continuous‐time model of search with Nash bargaining in a stationary environment, we analyze the effect of changes in minimum wages on labor market outcomes and welfare. Although minimum wage increases may or may not lead to increases in unemployment in our model, they can be welfare‐improving to labor market participants on both the supply and demand sides of the labor market. We discuss identification of the model using Current Population Survey data on accepted wages and unemployment durations, and show that by incorporating a limited amount of information from the demand side of the market it is possible to obtain credible and precise estimates of all primitive parameters. We show that the optimal minimum wage in 1996 depends critically on whether or not contact rates can be considered to be exogenous and we note that the limited variation in minimum wages makes testing this assumption problematic.     

Buy,Keep, or Sell: Economic Growth and the Market for Ideas

An endogenous growth model is developed where each period firms invest in researching and developing new ideas. An idea increases a firm's productivity. By how much depends on the technological propinquity between an idea and the firm's line of business. Ideas can be bought and sold on a market for patents. A firm can sell an idea that is not relevant to its business or buy one if it fails to innovate. The developed model is matched up with stylized facts about the market for patents in the United States. The analysis gauges how efficiency in the patent market affects growth.     

FAMILY VALUES AND THE REGULATION OF LABOR

To be efficient, flexible labor markets require geographically mobile workers. Otherwise firms can take advantage of workers' immobility and extract rents at their expense. In cultures with strong family ties, moving away from home is costly. Thus, to limit the rents of firms and to avoid moving, individuals with strong family ties rationally choose regulated labor markets, even though regulation generates higher unemployment and lower incomes. Empirically, we find that individuals who inherit stronger family ties are less mobile, have lower wages and higher unemployment, and support more stringent labor market regulations. We find a positive association between labor market rigidities at the beginning of the 21st century and family values prevailing before World War II, and between family structures in the Middle Ages and current desire for labor market regulation. Both results suggest that labor market regulations have deep cultural roots.     

Informal Referrals,Employment, and Wages: Seeking Causal Relationships

Employers and job seekers rely extensively on informal referrals to fill vacancies or to find a job. The widespread use of job contacts has been largely associated with labor outcomes, such as finding a job or even affecting wages. This paper explores whether the use of informal referrals on the job search process affects labor market outcomes of Colombian urban workers. Results indicate that informal referrals are slightly more successful than other job search strategies in term of job seeker's placement. However, referred workers earn in average less than their non‐referred counterparts. Yet, this is only true in formal‐sector positions.     

Crime and Labour Market Opportunities in Italy (1993–2002)

Abstract. This paper investigates the relationship between labour market conditions and crime in Italy accounting for both age and gender in the unemployment measure and considering regional disparities between the North‐Centre and the South of Italy. Using regional data over the period 1993–2002, we study the impact of wages and unemployment on different types of crime. To mitigate omitted variables bias, we control extensively for demographic and socio‐economic variables. Empirical results suggest that unemployment has a large and positive effect on crime rates in southern regions. Our results are robust to model specification, endogeneity, changes in the classification of crimes, and finally, to alternative definitions of unemployment.     

HRD or manpower policy? Options for government intervention in the local labor market that depends upon a foreign labor force: the Saudi Arabian perspective

The prolonged dependence on a foreign labor force in Saudi Arabia has created an ever-increasing feeling of discomfort for the government as well as for the local labor force. This paper outlines the problems associated with foreign workers against the alternatives of developing human resources locally through training and skill development. It also examines the stereotypical myths about the local Saudi workers among the private0sector decision makers. The paper later explores what policies are in practice to localize the labor force given the prevailing evidence from the local labor market. The paper then outlines a few general policy approaches to the nationalization of the local labor force, supported by more detailed implementation mechanism type of policies to effectively nationalize the labor force. The paper concludes with a few specific policy options that may well lead to the nationalization of the labor force through developing the skill profile of nationals in a concerted effort as a planned human resources development planning and selecting appropriate labor force importation policies. These policies represent the Saudi perspective on the general labor-importing countries' governments' positions, which are applicable to all the labor-importing countries given a few minor customization steps.