Labour supply: a review of alternative approaches

This chapter surveys existing approaches to modeling labor supply and identifies important gaps in the literature that could be addressed in future research. The discussion begins with a look at recent policy reforms and labor market facts that motivate the study of labor supply. The analysis then presents a unifying framework that allows alternative empirical formulations of the labor supply model to be compared and their resulting elasticities to be interpreted. This is followed by critical reviews of alternative approaches to labor-supply modeling. The first review assesses the difference in-differences approach and its relationship to natural experiments. The second analyzes estimation with non-linear budget constraints and welfare-program participation. The third appraises developments of family labor-supply models including both the standard unitary and collective labor-supply formulations. The fourth briefly explores dynamic extensions of the labor supply model, characterizing how participation decisions, learning-by-doing, human capital accumulation and habit formation affect the analysis of the lifecycle model. At the end of each of the four broad reviews, we summarize a selection of the recent empirical findings. The concluding section asks whether the developments reviewed in this chapter place us in a better position to answer the policy-reform questions and to interpret the trends in participation and hours with which we began this review. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Trade Union Strength

Spanish trade unions enjoy an uncomfortable mix of high coverage and very low membership base. This state of affairs has arisen primarily because of state support for the collective representation system. Union organisation in terms of the core and its branches and system. Union organisation in terms of the core and its branches and union finances are also heavily influenced by the structure of representation. The limited facts on union membership, organisation and finance are fleshed out in this paper. The impact of unions on three economic outcomes is assessed: pay/employment flexibility; pay dispersion; productivity growth. Although the data are quite limited, there is some suggestion that whereas unions are able to resist the pressure for widening pay dispersion, they are associated with somewhat poorer productivity performance. However, this research throws up as many unanswered puzzles about unions in Spain, as it does answer the previously unanswered. There is clearly a need for a representative survey of firms or workplaces to investigate both this and other aspects of Spanish industrial relations.

Heart Disease and Depression: Is Culture a Factor?

Purpose: This article seeks to review and discuss the evidence linking depression, coronary heart disease (CHD), and culture. Method: PsychInfo, CINAHL, PubMed, and Google were searched for pertinent evidence linking depression, culture, and CHD, and retrieved articles were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Findings: Identified themes were the followings: depression is a factor in development and prognosis of CHD and affects the capacity to self-manage and adhere to treatment recommendations; culture mediates mental health/illness representations and treatment-seeking behaviors; screening and assessment of depression can be affected by cultural factors; and there is a need for culturally appropriate screening and therapeutic strategies. Discussion and Conclusions: As depression is a predictor and moderating variable in the genesis and progression of CHD, understanding how factors such as culture affect screening and management of the disease is important to inform the development of culturally and linguistically competent strategies that ensure accurate screening, detection, and treatment of depression in cardiac patients in clinical practice. © 2014, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved