Occupational mobility within and between skill clusters: an empirical analysis based on the skill-weights approach

This paper applies Lazear\u27s skill-weights approach (2009) to analyze the specificity of skill combinations of various occupations and its effects on occupational mobility and wages. The results show that the more specific an occupation, the smaller the probability of an occupational change. We also identify clusters of occupations characterized by similar skill combinations and find that employees in specific occupations have a comparatively higher probability of changing occupations within a skill cluster than between skill clusters. Moreover, occupational mobility within a skill cluster results in wage gains, while between clusters it results in wage losses. Therefore, the acquired skill combination and the resulting skill cluster, rather than the occupation per se, crucially determines mobility. Thus, for educational policies, it is more important to study whether a skill cluster is sustainable than an occupation. (DIPF/Orig.

The determinants of strategic partnerships in research and development (R&D) - a regional comparison among the German federal states

The systematic co-operation in R&D involving two or more enterprises or companies working with research organisations, suppliers, customers or even competitors has become a popular instrument of strategic management. As new empirical results from the IfM Bonn show, more than a quarter of all enterprises in the industrial sector and the industry-related services in Germany are participating in strategic partnerships of this kind. Strategic partnerships in R&D, which lead to new products or process innovations, have positive effects on a firm´s competitive position. Governmental policy in Germany has recognized its importance for the economy and therefore provides financial aid for R&D-active enterprises. From the perspective of regional science the question is whether R&D co-operations have gained equal popularity all over the country or whether significant regional differences have to be taken into account. This paper examines determinants on enterprises participating in R&D co-operations with particular emphasis on regional influences. Data from a postal questionnaire was taken to form a sample of approx. 950 enterprises located all over the country. To establish the determinants and their relative influence a logistic regression is estimated. Further regional comparisons in R&D activities are carried out by chi-square-tests. The results of the bivariate analyses highlight regional differences in partnerships between enterprises and research organisations. It is remarkable that enterprises in the federal states which have the biggest problems in coping with structural changes, the East-German states, participate significantly more frequently in these partnerships than their West-German counterparts. However, the results of the logistic regression provide no evidence for regional differences concerning R&D co-operations on the whole. Not the location but structural features of the enterprises matter. For instance, plant size is positively associated with R&D co-operation: larger enterprises are more cooperation-oriented than smaller enterprises. Furthermore, the analysis identifies company-specific conditions that enable them to join R&D co-operations. Besides that, emphasis is put, for example, on experiences with other forms of strategic partnerships. The presence of company-owned R&D facilities is another requirement to find a chance to co-operate in most of the cases. Other variables such as the degree of monopoly power or the market structure do not influence the plant´s capacity to join R&D partnerships.

POLICY DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADIAN AGRICULTURE SINCE 1986

Agricultural and Food Policy,

HOW POLICY DECISIONS ARE MADE IN CANADIAN AGRICULTURE

Agricultural and Food Policy,

The Price of Velvet: Thomas Masaryk and Vaclav Havel

Contrasts the philosophies of Tomas G. Masaryk & Vaclav Havel, the men who led the Czech Velvet Revolution in 1918 & 1989. Masaryk opposed a regime he would not fully reject until later in life, whereas Havel opposed an indisputably repulsive regime. For this reason, Masaryk sought deeper reasons for the revolution & legitimated the renewal of the Czech state with his philosophy of history. Positing that the world evolved from theocracy to democracy, Masaryk argued that the Czechs initially provided the impetus for the shift dcuring the fifteenth-century Hussite movement, lost touch with the democratization process after the Battle on the White Mountain in 1620, & returned to the mainstream of European history in their fight against absolutism. Masaryk's faith in the meaning & strength of democracy was subsequently destroyed by the Munich Agreement. Havel, by contrast, based his politcal vision not on the philosophy of history, but on belief in democratic values. Both men have accepted a rather high level of continuity with the overturned political structures, which may be the price of a 'velvet' approach to political revolution

The puzzle of non-participation in continuing training : an empirical study of chronic vs. temporary non-participation

"Although participation in continuing vocational training is often found to be associated with considerable individual benefits, a puzzlingly large number of people still do not take part in training. In order to solve the puzzle we distinguish between temporary and chronic non-participants. Previous studies have shown that training participants and non-participants differ in unobservable characteristics and therefore self-select into training or not. We show that even non-participants cannot be treated as a homogeneous group: there are those who never take part in training (chronic non-participants) and those who are not currently taking part (temporary (non-)participants). Using a unique data set of non-participants commissioned by the German 'Expert Commission on Financing Lifelong Learning' and covering a very large number of individuals not taking part in training, we separate and compare chronic and temporary non-participants. By estimating a sample selection model using maximum likelihood estimation we take potential selection effects into account: temporary (non-)participants may be more motivated or may have different inherent skills than chronic nonparticipants. We find that chronic non-participants would have higher costs than temporary (non-)participants and their short-term benefits associated with their current jobs would be lower. However, in the long run even chronic non-participants would benefit similarly from participation due to improved prospects on the labor market. The results indicate that chronic non-participants either misperceive future developments or suffer from an exceptionally high discount rate, which in turn leads in their view to a negative cost-benefit ratio for training." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) Additional Information Kurzfassung (deutsch) Executive summary (English)Weiterbildung, Teilnehmer, Bildungsbeteiligung, Bildungsinvestitionen, Bildungsertrag, Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse, Bildungsökonomie

Justice and Tyranny: Law and the State in the Middle East

This is an offprint version of the article published in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Third Series, 9:375-88, made available by permission of the publisher. The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author.Publisher's Versiontru