Are Prize-Linked Savings Accounts the Solution to Arkansas\u27 Savings Problem?

This research finds that access to prize-linked savings could improve the financial security of Arkansans. Prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts are nontraditional savings products that offer depositors the chance to win cash prizes instead of a typical interest rate return. Given the low median incomes, high liquid asset poverty rates, and high levels of underbanked and undereducated individuals in Arkansas, there is a need for an innovative savings solution like PLS in the state. PLS accounts capitalize on individuals’ propensity for lottery-like risk-taking to inspire the productive behavior of personal saving. A wide range of individuals, especially those who could stand to benefit from PLS instruments the most, find these programs attractive. Various PLS programs have proven successful internationally and within the United States, with clear benefits for both savers and organizing financial institutions. Arkansas banks and credit unions should consider the opportunity presented by PLS programs to grow deposits while providing Arkansas households with an effective, entertaining way to increase personal savings and strengthen their financial situation

Ultrasonic scanning system for in-place inspection of brazed-tube joints

System detects defects of .051 cm in diameter and larger. System incorporates scanning head assembly including boot enclosed transducer, slip ring assembly, drive mechanism, and servotransmitter. Ultrasonic flaw detector, prototype recorder, and special recorder complete system

The association between reported and calculated reservation wages

Do reported reservation wages correspond to the concept of reservation wages that economists have? Using panel data on British unemployed I calculate reservation wages from a search model and compare these with reported reservation wages. It is shown that men's reported reservation wages are greater than what the model predicts, and that for women there is hardly a relation between the two variables

Wages determinants in the European Union Evidence from structure of earnings survey (SES 2014) data : 2020 edition

El ISSN y el ISBN corresponden a la versión electrónica del documentoSince the turn of the millennium, the European Commission (Eurostat) has published detailed and harmonized information on the nominal wages paid by the employers to their employees. This information, collected with the support of the European Statistical System, provides important insights into the labour market situation of the different Member States of the European Union. For employers, wages represent an important part of the production costs and determine to some extent their cost competitiveness. For most employees, wages make the main part of their income thereby contributing to their economic welfare. The importance of ensuring fair and transparent wages was highlighted in the European pillar of social rights (Commission, 2017) that was fully endorsed by the new Commission (van der Leyen, 2019). It is therefore important to monitor the levels and developments of wages and total labour costs at a macroeconomic level, as done by Eurostat through a complete set of annual and quarterly releases. It is equally useful to analyse how the individual job profiles and characteristics of the employer determine wage patterns in the different EU countries. This provides information on how labour markets reward the different characteristics of the job tenant and how the different types of businesses compete in terms of wages offered to their employees. By crossing job characteristics with sex, such analyses also shed light on possible gaps between the financial returns on education, part-time work etc. offered to men versus women. The study presented in this document uses the detailed information collected through the latest Structure of Earnings Survey (SES 2014) that records the gross wages received and the individual characteristics of about 240 000 enterprises and 11 million employees throughout the EU. This statistical working paper should help users to better understand the determinants of wages in the different EU countries thus contributing to the public debate and policy actions in the labour market domain

Ultrasonic scanning system for in-place inspection of brazed tube joints

A miniaturized ultrasonic scanning system for nondestructive in-place, non-immersion testing of brazed joints in stainless-steel tubing is described. The system is capable of scanning brazed tube joints, with limited clearance access, in 1/4 through 5/8 inch union, tee, elbow and cross configurations. The system has the capability to detect defective conditions now associated with material density changes in addition to those which are depended upon density variations. The system includes a miniaturized scanning head assembly that fits around a tube joint and rotates the transducer around and down the joint in a continuous spiral motion. The C-scan recorder is similar in principle to conventional models except that it was specially designed to track the continuous spiral scan of the tube joint. The scanner and recorder can be operated with most commercially available ultrasonic flaw detectors

Wages

Empirical analyses of longitudinal data on some 66 manufacturing companies on Britain lead us to the following three conclusions. First, agreed reductions in restrictive work practices lead to increases in productivity. Second, controlling for such agreed reductions, there is some weak evidence that both relative pay and aggregate labour market slack have some positive impact on productivity. Third, falls in market share or declines in the financial health of companies lead to both lower pay rises and reductions in restrictive practices.

Reservation Wages, Expected wages and the duration of Unemployment: evidence from British Panel data

In this paper we analyse the role of wage expectations in an empirical model of incomplete spells of unemployment and reservation wages. To be specific, we model the duration of unemployment, reservation wages and expected wages simultaneously for a sample of individuals who are not in work, where wage expectations are identified via an exogenous policy shock based upon the introduction of Working Family Tax Credits (WFTC) in the UK. The results from the empirical analysis, which is based on the British Household Panel Survey, suggest that WFTC eligibility served to increase expected wages and that expected wages are positively associated with reservation wages. In addition, incorporating wage expectations into the econometric framework was found to influence the magnitude of the key elasticities: namely the elasticity of unemployment duration with respect to the reservation wage and the elasticity of the reservation wage with respect to unemployment duration

Relative Wages, Efficiency Wages, and Keynesian Unemployment

While modern economic theorists have produced a variety of explanations for the failure of wages to fall in the face of unemployment, Keynes emphasis on relative wages has not been reflected in most contemporary discussions. This short paper suggests that relative wage theories in which workers' productivity depends primarily on their relative wage provide the best available apparatus for understanding actual unemployment and its fluctuations. Such theories are very closely related to the efficiency wage theories that have received widespread attention in recent years.

The Effects of Multiple Minimum Wages Throughout the Labor Market

This paper investigates the effects of legal minimum wages on wages, employment, hours worked and monthly earnings among workers covered by minimum wage legislation as well as those for whom it does not apply (the uncovered sector) in Costa Rica. This country’s large uncovered sector and complex minimum wage policy, which has for decades set numerous wages throughout the wage distribution, provide a stimulating counterpoint to the U.S. framework for the analysis of the impact of minimum wages. We find that legal minimum wages have a significant positive effect on the wages of workers in the covered sector (with an elasticity of 0.10) but no effect on wages of workers in the uncovered sector. We also find that a 10% increase in minimum wages lowers employment in the covered sector by 1.09% and decreases the average number of hours worked of those who remain in the covered sector by about 0.6%. Finally, we show that despite the wide range of minimum wages, the largest impact on the wages and employment of covered sector workers is in the lower half of the distribution.minimum wages, employment, wages, Costa Rica

A time series analysis of wages in deregulated industries: A study of motor carriage and rail

Using time series techniques, we contrast the impact of deregulation in trucking and rail labor markets. During regulation both labor markets were characterized by wages considerab y higher than manufacturing wages. In fact, trucking and rail wages had a stable, deterministic relationship prior to deregulation. After deregulation, however, the mean trucking wages fell considerably, approaching manufacturing wages, while rail wages remained relatively constant. We also find that deregulation’s negative impact on trucking wages was nondiscrete and occurred primarily between 1980 and 1984.deregulation, trucking, rail