Employment Policy,the Crowding‐out Effect and Imperfect Competition

This paper presents a macroeconomic model with imperfect competition in the commodity market, and uses it to address how the commodity market’s structure is related to the efficacy of government employment policies. It is found that job creation in the public sector may lead to a decrease in output and an increase in prices. In particular, these adverse side‐effects will be alleviated when competition in the goods market is less perfect. We also find that public‐sector job creation definitely has a positive effect on total employment, though it may crowd out private‐sector employment.     

Exploring Job Satisfaction in Private and Public Employment: Empirical Evidence from Greece

Abstract. This paper analyses subjective job satisfaction (JS) responses by employees in the public and private sectors of the Greek labour market. Panel data covering the period 1995–2001 and a random effects ordered probit model are used for estimation purposes. The results of the econometric estimation show that a substantial JS differential exists between the two sectors, in every JS domain and always in favour of public employment. A typical ordered decomposition analysis indicates that about one‐third of the difference in expected JS can be explained by differences in employee characteristics and two‐thirds by unobserved sector‐specific inbuilt features. The comparison of wage reductions, which a representative employee will be prepared to endure in order to avoid employment in the private sector, reveals that the regularity of working schedules is appreciated more than any other facet of JS. The obtained results enhance the existing apparatus for evaluating government policies in the labour market.     

Health data privacy

How can the tradition of patient-provider confidentiality be preserved and still meet the changing information needs of insurers, employers, public health agencies, policy analysts, and researchers? As countries grapple with the issue of a patient's right to medical record privacy, actions that the U.S. takes in this area will set precedents and have implications for nearly every health care electronic transaction. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to recommend standards for electronic financial and administrative transactions. The HHS focused on the confidentially of patient's health care information, guided by five principles in developing recommendations: (1) Boundaries; (2) Security; (3) Consumer Control; (4) Accountability; and (5) Public Responsibility.     

Statistics and the Single Market

Abstract. At the end of 1992customs barriers will fall and the European Internal Market will be realized, as envisaged by the Single European Act signed in 1986 by the EEC's member countries. Statistical Offices are preparing to meet the new information requirements from all the economic and social forces of the new Europe. EUROSTAT planned a politically endorsed statistical programme and established the European Statistical Planning Committee, enlarging the tasks of the Conference of the Heads of National Statistical Institutes. Each National Statistical Institute is urgently required to improve the comparability of statistics and implement the harmonised projects of the European Statistical Programme. Official statistics will conform to the new requirements in order to supply the business world, national governments, the EEC authorities and public opinion with up-to-date information to face a wider, more open and competitive market. The business world will focus its attention on information on the flows by sectors and very small areas. Statistics on intra-community foreign trades will shift from customs bills to new tools more directly assigned to national statistical bodies. National governments and EEC countries will need more information on population behaviour as to employment, consumptions, use of leisure time, fruition of public facilities, and social security, as well as more precise estimates of GDP, now the basic contribution to EEC budget. Citizens and public opinion will ask for timely information on migrations, social mobility, income distribution. Demographic projections show the European population is progressively ageing, unemployment is bound to decrease and women are going to be more present within society and the labour market. Information on the home care of elderly people. health, environment, crime prevention and the status of women in general will have to be supplied. Presently Statistics Offices have greater experience in two essential domains: conceptual frameworks and the techniques for conceptual statistical representation of the investigated events. Moreover, the improving of computer technology will provide substantial help to survey methodologies and data processing.     

Discrimination against women in employment

The operation of the Equal Pay Act and recent pressures to end all discrimination against women in employment makes discussion of such discrimination timely. This article begins by examining the forms which discrimination may take place and presenting evidence of the extent to which it is happening. This is followed by a summary of relevant legislation and legislative proposals and an examination of the effects to date of the Equal Pay Act. In the last part of the paper a conceptual framework is suggested for approaching some of the economic problems raised by discrimination. It is suggested that while much light could be shed by economic analysis still remaining to be done, some of the most fundamental points lie in the field of the behavioural scientist rather than the economist.     

Unemployment Benefits and Employment Policies in the Presence of a Strong Trade Union: A Comparison

Abstract. The paper analyses, within a game theoretic approach, the consequences on private employment and real wages of a government policy of raising unemployment benefits following a fall in employment. The effects of such a policy are then compared with those arising from a more conventional demand policy. Under the policy regime described the reaction of the unions will cause, when the economy is hit by a negative shock on employment, a tendency for the real wage to rise and for private employment to decrease further. As far as the comparison of such policy with a policy of direct employment by the government is concerned we have reached the following conclusions. A policy based on unemployment benefit will give rise to a smaller increase in the real wage than a policy based on public employment if the change in the marginal utility of being employed due to change in the unemployment benefit is smaller than the utility that the union will obtain from an extra employed person. Moreover it appears that a policy based on unemployment benefits has a smaller negative effect on private employment, than a policy based on direct employment. if such a policy is adopted just after an employment benefits represent also a subsidy to the firms. We have shown that the effects on the real wage of the Policy rule considered are in this case stronger. The effects on employment depend on the relative strength of the union reaction and of the policy's supply side effects.     

Health‐Care Reform and ESI: Reconsidering the Relationship Between Employment and Health Insurance

The health‐care reform promised by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of March 2010 continues our dependence on a central feature of the American health‐care system: employer‐sponsored insurance (ESI). In this article I will criticize the assumptions regarding market and welfare concerns on which this dependence is based and argue that efforts to mandate ESI ignore both the dynamics of the employment relation and the nature of health‐care needs. A comparison between investing in employee education and investing in employee health will reveal the pragmatic challenges to ESI and the covert appeal to employer beneficence on which ESI rests. This paper argues that relying on ESI to guarantee appropriate care for a significant segment of the population is undesirable and unsustainable from both market and moral perspectives.     

Stepping Stones to Permanent Employment in the Public Service

Abstract. Labour force transitions are investigated using a longitudinal database covering staff movements in the Queensland public service. The database covers those who have entered the public service through traditional recruitment methods as well as those who have entered through temporary and casual appointments. The analysis is based on a new methodology of cumulative incidence function testing and competing risks regression analysis. Interest is centred on entry by non‐standard employees and their subsequent transition through the public service. It was found that non‐standard employment can be a stepping stone to permanent employment but only for about one in four new non‐standard employees.     

Variations in Concepts of "Susceptibility" in Risk Assessment

The Food Quality Protection Act and the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act are two of the most recent examples of legislation calling for protection of susceptible subpopulations. As regulatory deadlines draw nearer, controversies in scientific and policy arenas increase about incorporating susceptibility in risk assessment. The previously accepted working definition of "susceptibility" has already been called into question. Part of the controversy results from different disciplines conceiving of susceptibility in different ways. Understanding the conceptual differences embodied within definitions can provide a basis on which a revised working definition may be developed across disciplines. The purposes of this article are to describe the varying definitions of susceptibility, discuss the differing concepts incorporated in the definitions, and recommend ways in which susceptibility may be defined and framed to meet current risk assessment needs. The present analysis of definitions from the fields of ecology, biology, engineering, medicine, epidemiology, and toxicology revealed different emphases that relate to the underlying perspectives and methods of each field. It is likely that susceptibility will need to be formally defined for public policy purposes, but until that time, the use of more informal communication and decision-making processes is suggested to develop and utilize a new working consensus on the definition of susceptibility.     

《萨班斯法案》对美国公司董事会影响的分析

2002年度美国出台的《萨班斯法案》全方位地对安然等事件暴露出来的问题作出相应的调整性规定,必将对公司治理产生深切的影响。《萨班斯法案》对审计委员会提出了修正性和提高性要求,本文选择外部董事、女性董事、财务专家、CEO兼任董事会主席、CEO在提名委员会任职等指标进行分析。实证分析结果说明:《萨班斯法案》有效消除了董事会和管理层任人唯亲的现象,董事会的独立性和专业性均有所提高。其实,《萨班斯法案》颁布之前就有加强公司治理的要求,公司治理就有改进的趋势,但《萨班斯法案》关于审计委员会方面的明文规定加速了公司董事会的变化,使得公司治理改革超越了法律的既定要求。     

Knocking on Academia's Doors: An Inquiry into the Early Careers of Doctors in Life Sciences

The early careers of French doctors in life sciences are characterized by the importance of temporary jobs. While most young Ph.D. researchers wish to obtain a job in the French academic sector (which grants them, among other things, lifetime employment), few of them manage to achieve this objective immediately after completing their Ph.D. A majority of young doctors have to wait for a period of time before they find stable employment in the academic sector. In the meantime, they usually find temporary research jobs. Two main types of short–term jobs can be distinguished: fixed–term research contracts (in most cases in a French public laboratory) and post–doctoral positions (temporary research jobs in a foreign country). The aim of this paper is to determine whether these different types of temporary jobs have different consequences on the careers of Ph.D. researchers. We first discuss from a theoretical perspective the impact of choosing ‘post–doc’ research rather than a job on a fixed–term contract. Then, after dealing with selection biases that affect the access to these temporary jobs, we will use survival data analysis to estimate the impact of both types of temporary positions on the probability of entering the academic sector. The analysis is based on a database on the early careers of 800 young French doctors in life sciences. The main results include the following findings: the probability of a Ph.D. researcher finding stable employment is higher if he has held a post–doc position than if he has held a fixed–term contract. This result holds for both the private and public sectors. However, careers in the private sector are also affected by long–term choices, such as the decision to undertake Ph.D. research in partnership with a firm.     

Collective Wage Agreements and Firms’ Employment Policies

This paper provides evidence on the way collective wage agreements affect the adjustment of employment, working hours and other production factors when service‐sector firms are faced with demand shocks. The estimation results indicate that collective wage agreements significantly influence firms’ employment policies. It is shown that recruitment is a widespread instrument for service firms to cope with demand fluctuations which are negatively affected by collective wage agreements. The employment of freelance workers is also negatively affected by collective wage agreements, while their effect on using short‐term employment contracts as a reaction to demand shocks is positive.     

The Politics of ‘Social Accountability’ in England and Germany: Democratic Control and Moral Imperatives

This article investigates how politicians in England and Germany approach social accountability during the introduction of markets in the national health care systems. It analyses the discourse among members of parliament during the law making process of the 2012 NHS Health Care Act in England and the 2011 Act for Financing of Statutory Health Insurance in Germany. Generally, the new social accountability reform agenda is attractive to policy makers as it foregrounds public engagement and bottom-up participation (Peters 2001). Social accountability refers to institutional practices that favour participatory and horizontal mechanisms that depart from traditional hierarchical Principal-Agent forms.     

Labor Market Effects of Population Aging

Abstract. This paper analyses effects of population aging on the labor market and determines their broad implications for public policy. It takes Germany as an example, but it equally applies to the other large economies in Continental Europe. The paper argues that, alongside the amply discussed, demographically‐determined increase in the contribution and tax burden which is responsible for the ever widening gap between gross and disposable earnings, two other important areas of policy deserve greater attention. First, it is unlikely that the decline in the relative size of the economically active population will be offset by higher capital intensity. Labor productivity will need to increase over and above this mechanism in order to compensate for the impact of population aging on domestic production. Hence, we will need more education and training to speed up human capital formation. Second, the shift in the age structure will also change the structure of demand for goods. This, in turn, will have large effects on the pattern of employment across different sectors of the economy and will require a substantial increase in labor mobility in order to accommodate these structural changes.     

Do ‘soft law’ board gender quotas work? Evidence from a natural experiment

In a new era of “open governance”, in which societal and corporate change is taking place, 15 predominantly European countries, including Spain, enacted board gender quotas to increase the share of women on boards. In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of the European Union’s first “soft” quota – the 2007 Spanish Gender Equality Act recommending all large public and private Spanish firms to appoint a target of 40 percent of each gender to serve as board directors by 2015. The Act provides an incentive in that quota compliant firms may receive a preference for the tendering of public contracts. We draw on institutional and resource dependency theories to motivate the first empirical test of a “soft” quota which is distinct from Norway’s “hard law” board gender quota, and more similar to the proposed EU-wide quota. Using a large novel panel of 767 Spanish firms and 2786 firm-year observations from 2005 to 2014, we exploit the Spanish Act as a natural experiment and employ a difference-in-differences model. We find that less than nine percent of targeted firms fully comply with the quota. Firms that depend on public contracts are significantly more likely to increase female representation, although quota compliant firms do not actually benefit from the Act’s potential incentive. The results highlight the Spanish government’s lack of commitment to the quota, and that the quota’s normative obligations did not trigger the adoption of gender-balanced boards.     

Standardizing medical data

Congress passed The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 in the doldrums of last Summer, and promptly charged the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics to begin working on the regulations that will help providers, payers, and all members of the public adhere to the spirit of the law. What does this legislation portend for the health care industry? Standardization of information systems will play a large role in assuring the portability of health care insurance from one employer and payer to another in this legislation. Accountability, too, will depend on those same data standards to allow comparisons of processes and outcomes of care across health plans, providers, communities, states, and regions. In fact, without standardized data describing patients and their treatments, there can be no comparisons of their outcomes of care, or the processes used to treat them.     

Macroeconomic Effects of Public‐Sector Unions

Motivated by the highly unionized public sectors, the high public shares in total employment, and the public‐sector wage premia observed in Europe, this paper examines the importance of public‐sector unions for macroeconomic theory. The model generates cyclical behavior in hours and wages that is consistent with data behavior in an economy with highly unionized public sector, namely Germany during the period 1970–2007. The union model is an improvement over a model with exogenous public employment. In addition, endogenously determined public wage and hours add to the distortionary effect of contractionary tax reforms by generating greater tax rate changes, thus producing higher welfare losses.     

Conflicts between public and private opinion

The opportunities for research in the 1980s will be much affected by changes in society. In particular, by a clash between two powerful forces—the producer bureaucracy and the new individualism. It will be a clash of values and opinions; and research will be needed to measure them.However, there are dangers in the way that opinion research will be used, and especially in the way that it will be publicized. The protagonists in the arguments on many social issues are likely to make increasing use of published ‘research events’— that is, over-simplified and superficial figures on public opinion, designed mainly to appeal to the media's need for simple and dramatic news, and thence to affect public policies.In fact, the evidence is very strong that there is a genuine difference between people's private opinions and their public opinions. But the requirements of media contests will tend to force research methods to concentrate heavily on public opinions. The danger is not so much that this would distort social policies (though it might) as that it could damage the reputation of market research in general—especially if, as is likely, the findings of one group's ‘research events’ appeared to be directly opposed to those of another's.One important challenge of the 1980s will be to identify these risks and do something to guard against them. Five simple guidelines are suggested which I hope can contribute to a joint campaign to educate in the proper use and presentation of opinion research.