Do You Need a Job to Find a Job?

This paper investigates whether job offers arrive more frequently for those in employment than for those in unemployment. To this end, we take advantage of a unique Australian data set which contains information on both accepted and rejected job offers. Our estimation strategy takes account of the selectivity associated with the initial employment state and we allow for individual heterogeneity in the probability of obtaining jobs. Our results reveal that, across the wage range, individuals are about equally likely to obtain a job offer in employment as in unemployment. This implies that encouraging unemployed (rather than employed) search through the provision of unemployment benefits does not improve the speed of a job match.job-offer arrival rates, reservation wages, wage-offer distribution, directed

Estimating demand for food commodities by income groups in Indonesia

An analysis of the structure of demand was performed on household data, classified into income groups for urban Indonesia. A demographically augmented Linearized Almost Ideal Demand System was used to estimate the structural parameters of the demand equations. Endogenous switching regressions techniques yielded unbiased and consistent demand parameter estimates for the low income group, which had a large number of zeros for some food groups. Standard seemingly unrelated equation techniques were used to estimate the demand parameters for the other income groups. The results showed demands for the medium-high and high income households to be responsive to prices, income and demographic variables. Demands for the medium-low income households were responsive to income and prices only. Demands for lowincome households were responsive to income and prices of rice and fish only

An asymptotically normal test for the selective neutrality hypothesis

An important parameter in the study of population evolution is $\theta=4N\nu$, where $N$ is the effective population size and $\nu$ is the rate of mutation per locus per generation. Therefore, $\theta$ represents the mean number of mutations per site per generation. There are many estimators of $\theta$, one of them being the mean number of pairwise nucleotide differences, which we call $\mathcal{T}_2$. Other estimators are $\mathcal{T}_1$, based on the number of segregating sites and $\mathcal{T}_3$, based on the number of singletons. The concept of selective neutrality can be interpreted as a differentiated nucleotide distribution for mutant sites when compared to the overall nucleotide distribution. Tajima (1989) has proposed the so-called Tajima's test of selective neutrality based on $\mathcal{T}_2-\mathcal{T}_1$. Its complex empirical behavior (Kiihl, 2005) motivates us to propose a test statistic solely based on $\mathcal{T}_2$. We are thus able to prove asymptotic normality under different assumptions on the number of sequences and number of sites via $U$-statistics theory.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/193940307000000293 the IMS Collections (http://www.imstat.org/publications/imscollections.htm) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

High-capacity preconscious processing in concurrent groupings of colored dots.

Grouping is a perceptual process in which a subset of stimulus components (a group) is selected for a subsequent-typically implicit-perceptual computation. Grouping is a critical precursor to segmenting objects from the background and ultimately to object recognition. Here, we study grouping by color. We present subjects with 300-ms exposures of 12 dots colored with the same but unknown identical color interspersed among 14 dots of seven different colors. To indicate grouping, subjects point-click the remembered centroid ("center of gravity") of the set of homogeneous dots, of heterogeneous dots, or of all dots. Subjects accurately judge all of these centroids. Furthermore, after a single stimulus exposure, subjects can judge both the heterogeneous and homogeneous centroids, that is, subjects simultaneously group by similarity and by dissimilarity. The centroid paradigm reveals the relative weight of each dot among targets and distractors to the underlying grouping process, offering a more detailed, quantitative description of grouping than was previously possible. A change detection experiment reveals that conscious memory contains less than two dots and their locations, whereas an ideal detector would have to perfectly process at least 15 of 26 dots to match the subjects' centroid judgments-indicating an extraordinary capacity for preconscious grouping. A different color set yielded identical results. Grouping theories that rely on predefined feature maps would fail to explain these results. Rather, the results indicate that preconscious grouping is automatic, flexible, and rapid, and a far more complex process than previously believed

Wage effects of on-the-job training; a meta-analysis

A meta-analysis is used to study the average wage effects of on-the-job training. This study showsthat the average reported wage effect of on-the-job training, corrected for publication bias, is2.6 per cent per course. The analyses reveal a substantial heterogeneity between training courses,while wage effects reported in studies based on instrumental variables and panel estimators aresubstantially lower than estimates based on techniques that do not correct for selectivity issues.Appropriate methodology and the quality of the data turn out to be crucial to determine the wagereturns.labour economics ;

Wage effects of on-the-job training. A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis is used to study the average wage effects of on-the-job training. This study shows that the average reported wage effect of on-the-job training, corrected for publication bias, is 2.6 per cent per course. The analyses reveal a substantial heterogeneity between training courses, while wage effects reported in studies based on instrumental variables and panel estimators are substantially lower than estimates based on techniques that do not correct for selectivity issues. Appropriate methodology and the quality of the data turn out to be crucial to determine the wage returns.Economics ;

Wage Effects of On-the-Job Training: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis is used to study the average wage effects of on-the-job training. This study shows that the average reported wage effect of on-the-job training, corrected for publication bias, is 2.6 per cent per course. The analyses reveal a substantial heterogeneity between training courses, while wage effects reported in studies based on instrumental variables and panel estimators are substantially lower than estimates based on techniques that do not correct for selectivity issues. Appropriate methodology and the quality of the data turn out to be crucial to determine the wage returns.on-the-job training, meta-analysis, publication bias

Bioassay Analysis Using R

We describe an add-on package for the language and environment R which allows simultaneous fitting of several non-linear regression models. The focus is on analysis of dose response curves, but the functionality is applicable to arbitrary non-linear regression models. Features of the package is illustrated in examples.

On the Relationship between Innovation and Performance: A sensitivity Analysis

The objective of this study is to investigate the sensitivity of the estimated relationship between innovation and firm performance. In doing so, we rely on a knowledge production function approach and carry out comparisons in a number of respects. The sensitivity analysis is based on the comparison of a basic econometric model with different alternative models using the same data sources, an identical model but different data sources, different classifications of firm performance and different classifications of innovation. The analyses are performed in both level and growth rate dimensions. The overall picture gives indications of what factors cause variations in the estimated effects of interest and the direction of changes.Knowledge capital; productivity; innovation; manufacturing; services; knowledge intensity; Community Innovation Survey;