Labor Economics

The authors hypothesize that most labor economists sooner or later had to incorporate at least the appearance of institutional concerns in their papers to avoid indigestion whenever lunching with colleagues outside the field of economics They add: If the new interests of modern labor economics are in fact driven by the imperatives of science, then the institutionalist and the neoclassical approaches may well synthesize

Obesity and Labor Market Outcomes in Post-Soviet Russia

obesity, labor market outcomes, Russia, Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital,

[Review of the book \u3ci\u3ePersonnel Economics\u3c/i\u3e]

[Excerpt] What is personnel economics? Despite its name (non-economists may be put off by the use of the word “personnel,” which was left behind by what is now called human resource management about a quarter century ago), personnel economics deals with issues of fundamental importance in the workplace. As the editors explain in the introduction, “The literature is distinguished from other parts of labour economics primarily by its focus on problems that are central to business.” Thus, personnel economics is economics, it is that part of economics that deals with workplace issues, and it is firmly grounded in labor economics. Whether you call it personnel economics, workplace economics, an economic approach to human resource management, or something else, the field is breaking exciting new ground, asking questions that simply were not asked when I and others of my academic generation were learning labor economics

Household labor supply, unemployment, and minimum wage legislation

The supply behavior of labor often depends on the demand conditions prevailing in the labor market. If demand is inadequate, households may send additional household members, who otherwise would not have worked, to look for work, for fear the main income earner may lose his job. The authors study the theoretical consequences of this"added worker"effect. They show that it can rise to multiple equilibria in the labor market. Surprisingly, a minimum wage law set below the prevailing market wage can cause the market wage to fall and unemployment to rise. Unemployment benefits, by countering some of the risks of unemployment, can neutralize the inefficiencies caused by households'tendency to oversupply labor.Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Labor Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Labor Markets,Access to Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research

Child labor, income shocks, and access to credit

Although a growing theoretical literature points to credit constraints asan important source of inefficiently high child labor, little work has been done to assess its empirical relevance. Using panel data from Tanzania, the authors find that households respond to transitory income shocks by increasing child labor, but that the extent to which child labor is used as a buffer is lower when households have access to credit. These findings contribute to the empirical literature on the permanent income hypothesis by showing that credit-constrained households actively use child labor to smooth their income. Moreover, they highlight a potentially important determinant of child labor and, as a result, a mechanism that can be used to tackle it.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Children and Youth,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Health Economics&Finance,Street Children,Environmental Economics&Policies,Youth and Governance,Children and Youth

Jacob Mincer's Contribution to Modern Labor Economics: A Review Essay

One of the key figures in the development of modern labor economics is Jacob Mincer (1922- 2006). His contributions have recently been highlighted and assessed in two books. The most indepth and substantive of these volumes is by Portuguese economist Pedro Teixeira, entitled Jacob Mincer: A Founding Father of Modern Labor Economics (2007). Also valuable and well done is an edited volume by Shoshana Grossbard, Jacob Mincer: A Pioneer of Modern Labor Economics (2006). It is composed of a number of short remembrances by Mincer's colleagues and students, an oral history interview with Mincer by Teixeira, several larger review chapters on important parts of Mincer's research program, and several speeches and short articles by Mincer. In this review essay I provide a brief summary and evaluation of Mincer's research contributions and place in the history of thought in labor economics, drawing largely on these two books but with some of my own observations and perspectives interspersed. Working Paper 08-2

Political regimes, trade, and labor policies in developing countries

What, if any, is the link between labor market policies that benefit insiders - for example, regulations guaranteeing high minimum wages and strict job security - and political regimes. Is it true that in a democracy outsiders vote and impose limits on what insiders can achieve, whereas in a dictatorship the government need worry only about insiders who have real power? Or are democratic governments more likely to succumb to trade union pressure and use labor policies to give them special privileges? To test these competing hypotheses, the authors designed a two-sector political economy model that demonstrates that labor market distortions depend directly on the trade regime: the more open the trade regime, the fewer distortions in the labor market. They use cross-country regressions to test the relationship between political and civil liberties and trade and labor policies. Using data for 90 developing countries, they apply existing indices of openness and political freedom and two different constructed measures of labor market distortion. Their conclusions, based on the regression results: authoritarian systems that repress labor are more likely than democratic systems to adopt inefficient labor policies inimical to development.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Labor Standards,Economic Theory&Research

Women on Welfare: A Macroeconomic Analysis

Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Demographic Economics