Efficiency vs. market-power effects in the mobile-voice industry

This paper suggests a new procedure for separating the market-power effect from the efficiency effect when cost data are not available. We examine a panel of data on 177 mobile-voice operators in 45 countries from 1999:1 to 2004:2 and find that a 1% increase in the market share of an operator increases its price-cost margin by 0.58-0.66%, but only a small share of this increase is due to a market-power effect.Telecommunications, Panel Data

Wage Bargaining and the (Dynamic) Mincer Equation

This paper shows that, if observed earnings are the result of employer-employee wage bargaining, under a set of specific assumptions, the standard static Mincer equation can be thought as a particular case of a dynamic wage equation. Particularly, we argue that the standard static Mincer equation is implicitly based on the hypothesis that the employee has full bargaining power, and provide (further) empirical evidence against this hypothesis.Mincer Equation, Return to Schooling, Wage Bargaining

A Note on Unemployment Persistence and Quantile Parameter Heterogeneity

The standard approach to the estimation of unemployment persistence assumes that quantile parameter heterogeneity does not matter. Using panel quantile autoregression techniques on state-level data for the United States (1980-2010), we suggest that it does

PENERIMAAN DAN PENOLAKAN SOSIAL TERHADAP ANAK BERKEBUTUHAN KHUSUS DI SEKOLAH DASAR INKLUSI (SD NEGERI BEDALI 5 LAWANG)

Inclusive school is one of the goverment breakthrough at this last 5 years to give some more special service for the special needs children in the regular school in order that this special needs children would get best developed. But still, in fact, the social aspect likely becomes problems, for instance is the attitude of the regular school or the attitude of their normal friends. As the result of the early observation which is held at one of the inclusive school in Malang, we have found that some of the normal friends was makes funny on that special needs children, do not want to makes friends, and rejects them. But on the other hands, that was still some normal friends which is still willing to support and help them. Social acceptance is one thing that was very important for this special needs children, especially for those who is dissabled, because it would positively affected their self-esteem. And the social rejection, in contrary, would affect their self-esteem also negatively. The purpose of this research is to figure out the social acceptance and sosial rejection on the special needs children on the inclusive elementary school and to figure out the background factors of the social acceptance and rejection. This research is a qualitative-descriptive research, which held on July 24 to August 29, 2008. The subjects of this research are 10 special needs childrens, which has different special needs characteristic, which are 2 blind childrens, 2 deaf-and-mute childrens, 1 tunagrahita C1 children, 2 autistic childrens, 1 physical-dissabled children, 1 low-visioned children, and 1 cerebral-palsy children. This research is located on the 5th Bedali Elementary School, Lawang. The research data are gathered by the socio-metric, interview, and observation technique, afterwards analyzed by the qualitative analysis technique. By this research, we have found that special needs children at the inclusive school 5th Bedali Elementary School, Lawang, in general, socially accepted by their normal peers, but still some of them socially rejected by their peers. By their special needs characteristics, 4 special needs characteristics both socially accepted and rejected, which are blind, deaf-and-mute, tunagrahita C1, and low-visioned children; 2 special needs characteristics socially accepted, which are autistic and cerebral palsy children; and 1 special needs characteristics socially rejected, which is physical-dissabled children. The form of the social acceptance to the special needs children are the normal peers would help their special needs friends, make talk to them, act playfully (jokes and laughs), and playing together. On the other hands, the form of the social rejection to the special needs children are their normal peers like to molested them, tease, their normal friends not willing to play together with them, and not to respect to them. The background factors are the personality pattern, academic capability, social capability, and attractiveness

Portugal and the competitive disinflation: let the data speak

This paper provides an empirical evaluation of the three main arguments proposed by Blanchard (2007) in a recent article on the evolution of the Portuguese economy during the last decade, with special regard to the dynamics of international trade and unemployment. Our time-series evidence supports two out of the three arguments.

How Fast Do Wages Adjust to Human-Capital Productivity? Dynamic Panel-Data Evidence from Belgium, Denmark and Finland

The standard human-capital model is based on the assumption that the observed wage of an individual is equal to the monetary value of the individual net human-capital productivity, the so-called net potential wage. We argue that this assumption is rejected by the ECHP data for Belgium, Denmark and Finland. The empirical evidence supports a dynamic approach to the Mincer equation where no equality is imposed but an adjustment between observed and potential earnings is allowed to take place over time. Controlling for regressors' endogeneity, individual heterogeneity and time effects, we estimate a dynamic panel-data wage equation and provide measures of the speed of adjustment in Belgium, Denmark and Finland. Further, we elaborate on the implications of a dynamic approach to the Mincer equation for the computation of the return to schooling, including the implication that this return is not independent of labor-market experience, as suggested by Heckman et al. (2005) and Belzil (2007). Finally, we show that a dynamic wage equation can be seen as the solution of a simple wage-bargaining model and argue that a micro-founded model can fit the data better than a simple adjustment model but requires more theoretical assumptions.Mincer equation, wages, human capital

PENGALAMAN PENGGUNA DALAM RANCANGAN APLIKASI PEMESANAN TIKET KERETA API MYTRAIN MENGGUNAKAN PENDEKATAN METODE UX JOURNEY

Problem: User experience (UX) has become a major focus in modern application design. In the context of ordering train tickets, the My Train application has implemented the UX Journey method approach to improve the quality of services provided to users. This research aims to explore the user experience in using the My Train application and evaluate the effectiveness of the UX Journey approach in improving the user experience. The discussion of the problem is how implementing UX Journey affects the user experience in the My Train application. The research method used is a qualitative approach with data collection through in-depth interviews with users who have used the My Train application. Method: In this method, researchers explore users' views and experiences in interacting with the application. We also seek a deep understanding of the challenges they face and the extent to which the UX Journey approach has provided solutions. Results: The research results show that applying the UX Journey approach to the My Train application has had a positive impact on the user experience. Users reported significant improvements in terms of easier navigation, clearer information, and a more efficient ordering process. Although there were several challenges, such as understanding new features and system response speed, improvements made based on user feedback have provided a satisfactory solution. Conclusion and development: It is hoped that the UX Journey approach can effectively improve the user experience in the My Train application. This provides valuable insights for the development of better services and can be adopted by similar applications in an effort to improve user experience. Furthermore, this research also opens up the potential for further development in the context of the UX Journey which can be applied in various industries and applications

Unemployment and Welfare Partecipation in a Structural VAR: Rethinking the 1990s in the United States

A 1997 report by the Council of Economic Advisers started a large research effort about the effects of the unemployment rate on the welfare participation rate and vice-versa, with special regard to the 1990s in the United States. In this paper the relationship between the US unemployment rate and the welfare participation rate is examined in a structural VAR. It is found that the unemployment rate does not Granger-cause the welfare participation rate, while the converse is true. Moreover, a negative shock to the welfare participation rate predicts a reduction in the unemployment rate. The conclusion is that the decline in the welfare participation rate in the 1990s should be attributed to restrictive welfare reforms, not to the fall in the unemployment rate. Further, the political choice to reduce the welfare participation rate may have inflated the reduction in the unemployment rate, by increasing the number of people willing to accept peripheral jobs, for instance in the Eating and drinking places.welfare; unemployment; structural VAR

Wage Bargaining and the (Dynamic) Mincer Equation

This paper shows that, if observed earnings are the result of employer-employee wage bargaining, under a set of specific assumptions, the standard static Mincer equation can be thought as a particular case of a dynamic wage equation. Particularly, we argue that the standard static Mincer equation is implicitly based on the hypothesis that the employee has full bargaining power, and provide (further) empirical evidence against this hypothesis.Mincer equation, return to schooling, wage bargaining