Computer Use and the Wage Structure in Austria

In this paper we examine the relationship between computer premium and job position in Austria. We estimate cross-section wage equations and control for selectivity of computer use via a treatment effects model. We find that the size of the wage effect attributed to computer use varies significantly between job hierarchies. Persons in higher positions receive relatively lower rewards for computer use than workers at lower hierarchy levels. Overall we find that computerisation increased wage inequality in Austria. However, hierarchy-related differences in the relative computer premium in Austria might moderate the effects of computer use on the wage distribution.Technological change, Computer wage premium, Wage inequality

A response to the critique of gender issues in computer‐supported learning

We find the critique of our paper both interesting and informative. The author raises a number of points as a caution against oversimplification of the issues surrounding gender and computer-supported learning. We fully acknowledge the difficulty of reporting findings from a number of studies and of attempting to define or analyse the complex interaction of already complex concepts such as gender, identity and behaviour within computer-supported learning environments

Inequality and living standards in Great Britain: some facts

This Briefing Note is designed to provide some basic facts concerning living standards and inequality in Great Britain. Wherever possible, up-to-date sources have been given for further reading. Accompanying this Briefing Note is a spreadsheet of useful statistics relating to the income distribution in Britain. This can be downloaded from the IFS web site at http://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn19figs.zip. Both were last updated on 9 March 2004. Section I of this Briefing Note starts by setting out some of the issues and conceptual difficulties surrounding the measuring of living standards and inequality. A picture of the income distribution in Great Britain and many of the important trends in living standards is then presented in the sections that follow. In Sections II and III, we choose weekly before-housing-costs household equivalent income1 as our measure of living standards, as well as presenting some results on an after-housing-costs basis. Section IV then considers using weekly equivalent household expenditure (including housing costs) as a comparative measure of living standards. Section V cites research tracking the income of individuals across a number of years, while Section VI looks at work that attempts to assess how income status changes across generations. Sections VII, VIII and IX proceed by examining some of the factors responsible for the changes in inequality described, looking at the labour market, demographic changes and the impact of taxes and benefits. Section X concludes

Skill-Biased Technical Change: Theoretical Concepts, Empirical Problems and a Survey of the Evidence

The structure of wages and employment has shifted against the low-skilled in many OECD countries over the last decade. Many authors have attributed this shift to the impact of new technologies, and or technical change in general. This paper investigates and structures the growing body of literature on skill-biased technical change (SBTC) by first presenting a model in which SBTC is formalised and decomposed into factor and sector biases of technical change. We show that as we go down to the job level the scope for pure within unit-skill bias decreases and between-unit effects explain the within-unit effects detected at higher aggregation levels. Second, we address some potential sources of skill bias, which are learning, R&D, human capital formation, organisational change and the introduction of new general purpose technologies. Finally we present some conceptual and practical problems we encounter when studying SBTC empirically. We conclude with a survey of selected empirical literature on the subject and discuss the results in light of the empirical and theoretical problems pointed out above.labour economics ;

Social exclusion and land administration in Orissa, India

The authors report on the first empirical study of its kind to examine - from the perspective of transaction costs - factors that constrain access to land for the rural poor and other socially excluded groups in India. They find that: a) Land reform has reduced large landholdings since the 1950s. Medium size farms have gained most. Formidable obstacles still prevent the poor from gaining access to land. b) The complexity of land revenue administration in Orissa is partly the legacy of distinctly different systems, which produced more or less complete and accurate land records. These not-so-distant historical records can be important in resolving contemporary land disputes. c) Orissa tried legally to abolish land-leasing. Concealed tenancy persisted, with tenants having little protection under the law. d) Women's access to and control over land, and their bargaining power with their husbands about land, may be enhanced through joint land titling, a principle yet to be realized in Orissa. e) Land administration is viewed as a burden on the state rather than a service, and land records and registration systems are not coordinated. Doing so will improve rights for the poor and reduce transaction costs - but only if the system is transparent and the powerful do not retain the leverage over settlement officers that has allowed land grabs. Land in Orissa may be purchased, inherited, rented (leased), or - in the case of public land and the commons - encroached upon. Each type of transaction - and the State's response, through land law and administration - has implications for poor people's access to land. The authors find that: 1) Land markets are thin and transaction costs are high, limiting the amount of agricultural land that changes hands. 2) The fragmentation of landholdings into tiny, scattered plots is a brake on agricultural productivity, but efforts to consolidate land may discriminate against the rural poor. Reducing transaction costs in land markets will help. 3) Protecting the rural poor's rights of access to common land requires raising public awareness and access to information. 4) Liberalizing land-lease markets for the rural poor will help, but only if the poor are ensured access to institutional credit.Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Management and Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Land Use and Policies,Urban Governance and Management,Public Sector Management and Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Rural Land Policies for Poverty Reduction,Land Use and Policies

The Gender Dimension of Technical Change and Task Inputs

Studies have shown technical change has led to job polarisation. A relatively unexplored aspect of this is whether there has been a gender bias. This paper shows gender bias in technology driven skill polarisation. Between 1997 and 2006 the demand for women shows hollowing out across education groups as a consequence of technical change. This was not the case for men. Overall, the demand for women has fallen relative to that for men as a consequence of technical change. This can be explained by a gender bias in the complementarities between computerisation and changes in task inputs. Numeracy skills are the largest complementarity to technical change and these help to explain the increase in the demand for highly skilled women. However, there are gender biased complementarities to technical change across a range of other non-routine tasks which can explain the fall in the demand for medium educated women and the overall increase in the relative demand for men. At the same time there was a fall in the gender pay differential. For moderate and complex computer users this fall is largely explained by changes in qualifications. However, there remains a large unexplained component suggesting that gender biased demand shifts towards numerate and computer literate women have significantly contributed to the closing of the gender pay gap.Gender Pay, Task-Bias Technology Change, Skills

Global Employer Forum 2017: FutureWorks - Connecting Leaders & Fresh Thinking

We recently held our FutureWorks Global Employer Forum in London to discuss the megatrends that will impact global businesses and the future of work. Together with HR and employment leaders from some of the most innovative companies in the world, as well as leading academics and thinkers, we looked at how global employers can embrace the opportunities and manage the coming shocks. Here we share highlights from our two days together

Labour market inequalities and the role of institutions

A large body of studies has documented the changing wage structure and increasing inequalities that in the last decades have characterised many OECD countries. The importance of these topics has been addressed by the workshop on "Comparing Inequalities" organised by the Italian Association for Comparative Economic Studies (AISSEC), and held in Assisi in June 2010. One session of the workshop was devoted to "Labour Market Institutions and Wage Inequalities: a Comparative Perspective". This special issue, which includes a selection of papers that were originally presented at the workshop, offers contributions which can be helpful to obtain an enriched view of ongoing changes and a broader spectrum of plausible explanations. In this paper a short appraisal of the large economic literature on wage inequality and institutions is offered with the main aim to clarify how the papers collected in this symposium contribute to related literature and in which directions they moveWage differentials; Labour Institutions and Policies

Working still harder

The authors use data from the British Skills and Employment Surveys to document and to try to account for sustained work intensification between 2001 and 2017. They estimate the determinants of work intensity, first using four waves of the pooled cross-section data, then using a constructed pseudo-panel of occupation–industry cells. The latter approach suggests biases in cross-section models of work intensity, associated with unobserved fixed effects in specific occupations and industries. The pseudo-panel analysis can account for slightly more than half (51%) of work intensification using variables that measure effort-biased technological change, effort-biased organizational change, the growing requirement for learning new things, and the rise of self-employment. The authors interpret the work intensification and these effects within a power-resources framework

"Looking is not as bad as touching - or is it?" Considering risk in offenders who use child sexual exploitation material

There has been much debate about the availability of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) on the internet, highlighted by the tragic deaths of April Jones (5 years) and Tia Sharp (12 years), whose killers viewed and collected CSEM. Discussion surrounding such cases has focused on a potentially causal link between CSEM and sexually motivated crimes against children. Since the advent of the internet, convictions for the possession, exchange and/or production of CSEM have risen dramatically. A substantial body of research on internet sex offenders has emerged and professionals are developing a knowledge base regarding assessment and treatment needs of CSEM users. However, the question of risk remains a central concern: How likely is a CSEM user to commit a contact sex offence against a child in the future? Is there a causal link between “looking” and “touching”? The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, together with Prof Derek Perkins (West London Mental Health Trust) & Dr Hannah Merdian (University of Lincoln) would like to invite you to a one-day conference addressing the issue of risk assessment and risk management in working with CSEM users. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF) is a child protection charity, committed to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused. Proceeds from the conference and any donations will go to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation with sincere thanks to support its work