Trade and Wages: A Deeper Investigation

A new presentation of the specific factors model shows how labor fares under international trade by considering how the price elasticity of the nominal wage rate responds to the terms of trade as well as factor endowments. Gains to labor are decomposed into measurable terms of trade effects and production bias effects. If trade is caused by differences in technology, trade can harm the interests of labor when the elasticities of substitution are sufficiently small. If trade is caused by differences in labor endowments, trade raises real wages in the labor abundant country, even if exports are capital intensive.trade, real wages, beta function, specific factors

China\u27s New Labor Contract Law and Protection of Workers

This Comment will discuss the labor conditions in China that prompted many provisions in the recently enacted Labor Contract Law, and how the new law responds to deficiencies of China\u27s Labor Law to address various labor problems. Part I of this Comment contains a brief presentation of the historical and economic background of the emergence of migrant workers. Part I also examines the causes of the main problems faced by migrant workers, in particular the insufficiencies of China\u27s Labor Law in protecting migrant workers. Part II looks into the legislation\u27s background and specific provisions of China\u27s new Labor Contract Law that supplement the Labor Law and stress the protection of laborers. Many provisions of the new law specifically address labor abuses faced by migrant workers. Finally, Part III discusses the insufficiencies and likely effects of the new Labor Contract Law

Workforce composition and earnings inequality

A presentation of a model that incorporates many factors simultaneously -- including education, experience, and industry choice -- to explain the growing disparity in Americans earnings. Its main finding is that the shifting composition of the U.S. workforce is a significant and direct determinant of the widening earnings gap.Income distribution ; Labor supply ; Education

EMPLOYMENT IN BIOTECHNOLOGY IN GERMANY

Paper prepared for presentation at the 8th ICABR International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology: International Trade and Domestic Production Ravello (Italy), July 8 to 11th, 2004Biotechnology, Employment, Germany, Application industries, Simulation, Labor and Human Capital, E24, J21,

Optimal fiscal policy, public capital, and the productivity slowdown

A presentation of a quantitative-theoretical model that can account for much of the behavior of the stock of public capital in the U.S. economy over the last 70 years, with an application to examining some possible causes of the slowdown in the growth of U.S. labor productivity.Capital ; Fiscal policy ; Labor productivity

Presentation: Did the Housing Price Bubble Clobber Local Labor Market Job and Worker Flows When It Burst?

We integrate local labor market data on worker flows, job flows, employment levels, and earnings with MSA-level data on housing prices and local area unemployment, to study the local labor market dynamics associated with the U.S. housing price bubble of the late 2000s. We proceed to study the magnitude and timing of the relation between the changes in local housing prices and local worker and job flows, and local labor market earnings.In addition to the unique contribution of using both local labor and housing market data, the paper also considers the contributions of the aggregate movements in the worker and job flows to the heterogeneous local labor market outcomes

Socially Necessary Impact/Time: Notes on the Acceleration of Academic Labor, Metrics and the Transnational Association of Capitals

This article constitutes a contribution to the critique of the political economy of contemporary higher education. Its notes form, intended to open "windows" on the thorny issue of metrics permeating academia on both the local/national and global levels, facilitates a conceptualization of the academic law of value as a mechanism responsible for regulating the tempo and speed of academic labor in a higher education system subsumed under capital. First, it begins with a presentation of the Marxist approach to acceleration and measure. Second, it presents the academic law of value as a socially necessary impact/time. Third, it conceptualizes a figure of capital that operates in the contemporary global higher education system. Fourth, it describes the conditions of operation of merchant capital within higher education and explores the close links of global university rankings, metadata providers, and the academic publishing industry. As a fifth and final point, the analysis turns to Central Eastern Europe and the case study of Poland to demonstrate that, to function properly, the academic law of value needs to be imposed by political means, that is, through policy reforms that establish and legitimize the sets of parameters and criteria for the evaluation of academic labor. In conclusion, the argument suggests that the domination of merchant capital over academic labor, resulting in the latter's ongoing and uncontrolled acceleration, cannot be overcome without addressing not so much the issue of private property but, first and foremost, the politically and socially defined metrics

Killing Jobs with Cooperation : the GM Memo

[Excerpt] As the UAW and General Motors prepare for difficult negotiations for a 1984 national contract, a leaked document by GM\u27s Vice-President of Industrial Relations Alfred Warren has severely embarrassed both company and union officials. The memo outlines a presentation made by Mr. Warren to GM Personnel Directors in October, 1983, and describes GM\u27s bargaining strategy and basic labor policy. The company\u27s goals include elimination of the cost-of-living allowance and productivity pay, and the institution of benefit co-payments; the elimination of local work rules and the expansion of outsourcing; the initiation of a two-tiered wage system; and the expansion of profit-sharing. The memo reveals that GM hopes to eliminate 80,000 to 100,000 jobs by 1986. To achieve these objectives, GM plans to elicit employee cooperation without surrendering traditional management rights. It hopes to replace formal bargaining with a continuous agreement and plans to launch a sophisticated public relations campaign to mold public opinion and to pressure the UAW into submission. So comprehensive and disturbing are GM\u27s plans that UAW President Owen Bieber, who supported concessions in 1982, has said that the document supports many of our worst suspicions about the motives and intentions of the General Motors Corporation. The implications of the document are far-reaching: American labor can expect employer belligerence in the foreseeable future

The Mobility Challenge for Growth and Integration in Europe

Open and flexible labor markets foster growth, development and integration in Europe. The single European labor market is still a vision, however, whereas the core challenge is a lack of sufficient mobility. The presentation discusses the value of labor mobility for economic prosperity and its determinants. Labor migration and not welfare migration dominates reality and supports economic equality. It does not depress wages or take jobs away. A brain drain for sending countries does not have to happen. Diaspora economies provide potentials for economic and political collaborations. Europe will face in the future a much higher level of circular and permanent migration

Evaluation of an oral health training program for school nurses

Pediatric dental disease is a silent epidemic (Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 2002). Dental decay is commonly unrecognized and under-treated, and can affect children\u27s growth and development as well as their ability to perform in school. Effective interventions to prevent dental decay include water fluoridation, dental sealants, pediatric dental screenings, and dental health education programs. This pre-experimental design study evaluated the effectiveness of an oral health training program for school nurses. This training program was designed based on the First 5 California \u3c;\u3eral Health Training Program (2003). A non-randomized sample of fourteen (N=l4) school nurses participated in the presentation. Pre and post test results indicated a statistically significant (p\u3c.O I) increase in oral health knowledge among the participants. As a result of this study, the researchers recommend that school nurses receive formal training in dental health assessments to effectively contribute to the improvement of pediatric oral health in the school setting