Representative Time Use Data and Calibration of the American Time Use Studies 1965-1999

Valid and reliable individual time use data in connection with an appriate set of socio -economic background variables are essential elements of an empirical foundation and evaluation of existing time use theories and for the search of new empirical-based hypotheses about individual behavior. Within the Yale project of Assessing American Heritage Time Use Studies (1965, 1975, 19895, 1992-94 and 1998/99), supported by the Glaser Foundation, and working with these time use studies, it is necessary to be sure about comparable representative data. As it will become evident, there is a serious bias in all of these files concerning demographic characteristics, characteristics which are important for substantive time use research analyses. Our study and new calibration solution will circumvent these biases by delivering a comprehensive demographic adjustment for all incorporated U.S. time use surveys, which is theoretically funded (here by information theory and the minimum information loss principle with its ADJUST program package), is consistent by a simultaneous weighting including hierarchical data, considers substantial requirements for time use research analyses and is similar and thus comparable in the demographic adjustment characteristics for all U.S. time use files to support substantial analyses and allows to disentangle demographic vs. time use behavioral changes and developments.time use, calibration (adjustment re-weighting) of microdata, information theory, minimum information loss principle, American Heritage Time Use Studies, ADJUST program package

Financial Constraints in Investment - Foreign Versus Domestic Firms. Panel Data Results From Estonia, 1995-1999.

Using data from Estonian manufacturing firms during the period 1995-1999 we apply panel data techniques, in particular the Arellano-Bond (1991) method to investigate the investment behaviour. We employ the model of optimal capital accumulation in the presence of convex adjustment costs. We find that the domestic companies seem to be more financial constrained than those with the presence of foreign investors. Furthermore we find that smaller firms are more constrained than their larger counterparts.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40034/3/wp648.pd

Spartan Daily, October 30, 1990

Volume 95, Issue 43https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8042/thumbnail.jp

The effects of maternal fasting during Ramadan on birth and adult outcomes

We use the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as a natural experiment for evaluating the short and long-term effects of fasting during pregnancy. Using Michigan natality data we show that in utero exposure to Ramadan among Arab births results in lower birthweight and reduced gestation length. Preconception exposure to Ramadan is also associated with fewer male births. Using Census data in Uganda we also find that Muslims who were born nine months after Ramadan are 22 percent (p =0.02) more likely to be disabled as adults. Effects are found for vision, hearing, and especially for mental (or learning) disabilities. This may reflect the persistent effect of disruptions to early fetal development. We find no evidence that negative selection in conceptions during Ramadan accounts for our results. Nevertheless, caution in interpreting these results is warranted until our findings are corroborated in other settings. ; Not for Citation.Prenatal care ; Ramadan ; Fasting (Islam)

Economic Transformation and the Return to Human Capital - The Case of Hungary, 1986-1996

Millions of East-Europeans started businesses during the transformational recession but, according to a wide-spread interpretation, many of them did so only temporarily and 'unwillingly' under the threat of unemployment. The paper looks at the relevance of the 'disguised unemployment approach to entrepreneurship' using regional data.It first examines how net flows into self-employment were affected by corporate labour demand in Hungarian and Romanian regions. Second, it looks at the responses of self-employment and unemployment to increases in labour demand at later stages of the transition. Finally,.it makes attempts to measure the 'wage push' of selfemployment. The evidence suggests that self-employment and unemployment were guided by rather different forces In Hungary. By contrast, the Romanian agriculture absorbed a non-trivial proportion of the potential unemployed following the unique land reform and the introduction of a restrictive UI system. The data suggest larger flows into self-employment in regions hit hard by the transition shock but they do not indicate net flows from self-employment back to paid employment in the few Romanian regions where labour demand was rising between 1993 and 1996. The pool of private farmers failed to behave as a 'reserve army' in this period and did not have strong influence on wage claims at the enterprise sector.

Financial Constraints in Investment - Foreign Versus Domestic Firms. Panel Data Results From Estonia, 1995-1999.

Using data from Estonian manufacturing firms during the period 1995-1999 we apply panel data techniques, in particular the Arellano-Bond (1991) method to investigate the investment behaviour. We employ the model of optimal capital accumulation in the presence of convex adjustment costs. We find that the domestic companies seem to be more financial constrained than those with the presence of foreign investors. Furthermore we find that smaller firms are more constrained than their larger counterparts.Investment, Cash Flow, Foreign Ownership, Firm Size, Estonia

External Churning and Internal Flexibility: Evidence on the Functional Flexibility and Core-Periphery Hypotheses

Functionally flexible systems for organizing work may reduce job instability and insecurity by reducing employers’ reliance on job cuts or contingent work to respond to changes in their environments. Related arguments hypothesize that contingent work allows firms to adjust labor while “buffering” their core of permanent workers from job instability. We find evidence that internally flexible work systems are associated with reduced involuntary and voluntary turnover in manufacturing but that contingent work and involuntary turnover of the permanent workforce are positively related regardless of sector, in contrast to the prediction of the core-periphery hypothesis