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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
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Issue of 2006‒09‒16
seven papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini Universita degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza |
| By: | Rebecca M. Blank; Heidi Shierholz |
| Abstract: | In contrast to less-skilled men, less-skilled women have experienced growing labor force involvement and moderate wage increases. Compared to more-skilled women, less-skilled women have fallen behind. We investigated the reasons behind these trends in labor force participation and wages for male and female workers of different skill levels over the past 25 years, from 1979-2004. We find that less-skilled women have found themselves in an 'intermediate' place in the labor market. Like less-skilled men, they experienced deteriorating returns to education but, unlike the men, they benefited from a growing positive impact of accumulated experience on labor market outcomes. More-skilled women experienced both growing returns to education and greater accumulation of experience, leading to faster wage growth. In addition, at the same time that experience levels have grown, the returns to experience on wages and labor force participation have also risen among less-skilled women, while the returns to experience have declined among less-skilled men. The negative effect of children and marital status on wages and labor force participation has also declined markedly among women of all skill levels. |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12494&r=hrm |
| By: | Laura Zimmermann; Liliya Gataullina; Amelie Constant; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the role of human capital for migrants' ethnic ties towards their home and host countries. Pre-migration characteristics dominate ethnic self-identification. Human capital acquired in the host country does not affect the attachment to the receiving country. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic self-identification, first-generation migrants, gender, ethnicity, human capital |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J16 J24 Z10 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp616&r=hrm |
| By: | Hui He; Zheng Liu |
| Abstract: | Wage inequality between education groups in the United States has increased substantially since the early 1980s. The relative quantity of college-educated workers has also increased dramatically in the postwar period. This paper presents a unified framework where the dynamics of both skill accumulation and wage inequality arise as an equilibrium outcome driven by measured investment-specific technological change. Working through capital-skill complementarity and endogenous skill accumulation, the model is able to account for much of the observed changes in the relative quantity of skilled workers. The model also does well in replicating the observed rise in wage inequality since the early 1980s. Based on the calibrated model, we examine the quantitative effects of some hypothetical tax-policy reforms on skill formation, inequality, and welfare. |
| Keywords: | Wages |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmwp:644&r=hrm |
| By: | Felipe Balmaceda |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a simple theoretical framework based on a new type of human capital introduced by Gibbons and Waldman (2004), called task-specific training, to understand job design. Mainly, in the presence of task-specific training, promotions might result ex-post in the underutilization of human capital and thus firms at the time of designing jobs should attempt to diversify this risk. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:223&r=hrm |
| By: | Maria,Corrado di; Stryszowski,Piotr (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the effects of emigration on growth in developing countries. We present a model in which productivity increases either through imitation or innovation, and both activities use the same types of human capital as inputs, albeit with different intensities. Heterogenous agents accumulate human capital responding to economic incentives, and might be able to emigrate. When no migration of skilled workers is allowed, backwards countries converge to the technological frontier. The possibility of migration, however, distorts the optimal accumulation of human capital and slows down, or even hinders, development. This effect is stronger the farther away a developing country is from the technological frontier. Thus, technologically backward countries are more likely to suffer from a negative brain drain effect. Among these countries, those which implement appropriate policies, subsidizing the accumulation of the most useful type of human capital, improve their growth performance. They converge faster, and possibly to a higher productivity level than countries where such policies are neglected. |
| Keywords: | Education;Migration;Human capital;Economic growth |
| JEL: | I28 F22 J24 O40 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:200664&r=hrm |
| By: | Olmo Silva (CEP, London School of Economics and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Cross-sectional tests of the Jack-of-All-Trades theory of entrepreneurship invariably conclude that accumulation of balanced skill-mix across different fields of expertise stimulates entrepreneurship. Yet, none of these considers individual unobservable characteristics which may simultaneously determine skill accumulation and occupational choice. Using panel techniques to control for this, I show that gathering expertise across various subjects does not increase the chances of becoming entrepreneur. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, occupational choice, skills |
| JEL: | M13 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2006–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2264&r=hrm |
| By: | Alejandra Mizala; Pilar Romaguera; Miguel Urquiola |
| Abstract: | This paper calculates a time series of simple, standard measures of schools’ relative performance. These are drawn from a 1997-2004 panel of Chilean schools, using individual-level information on test scores and student characteristics for each year. The results suggest there is a stark tradeoff in the extent to which rankings generated using these measures: i) can be shown to be very similar to rankings based purely on students’ socioeconomic status, and ii) are very volatile from year to year. At least in Chile, therefore, producing a meaningful ranking of schools that may inform parents and policymakers may be harder than is commonly assumed. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edj:ceauch:225&r=hrm |