Vocational schooling, occupational matching, and labor market earnings in Israel

The authors conducted a comparative analysis of the earnings of workers in Israel who had last attended vocational schools and those who had last attended academic secondary schools before entering the labor force. Their findings suggest that Israel may provide an example of an educational system in which vocational schooling is economically effective. Vocational schooling in Israel has proven more cost-effective than general academic training. In particular, vocational school attenders who later worked in occupations related to their course of study earned more. Their wages were up to 10 percent more a month than their peers who studied at academic secondary schools and those who attended vocational schools but found employment in other occupations not related to their field of study. These results reinforce similar findings in recent research on vocational schooling in the United States. A caveat is necessary to temper the generally positive findings concerning vocational schooling in Israel. While vocational schooling is cost-effective compared with other forms of secondary schooling, it does not compare favorably with other forms of training for skilled trades, such as apprenticeships and factory-based vocational schools. Another factor is the national consensus in Israel favoring education designed to equip young people for the social and cultural role of integrating the country's heterogenous, largely immigrant population.Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Education Reform and Management,Primary Education

Does a woman's education affect her husband's earnings? Results for Israel in a dual labor market

A recent focus on decision-making within the household has opened a new field of research into the economic of marriage and the family. Recent research indicates that in the United States, at least, a wife's education has a positive effect on a husband's earning capacity - a focused instance of the economic benefits of association. Even if education did not get women jobs or improve their ability to function as housewives and mothers, it is not wasted. In Israel, however, the authors found that the wife's educational level increased a husband's earnings in the primary sector (in which workers have good jobs, with good pay, security, and fringe benefits) but not in the secondary sector (in which workers have low paying, unstable, generally unattractive jobs). These new findings are consistent with the general implications of the dual labor market model.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Intergenerational Transmission of 'Religious Capital': Evidence from Spain

The paper examines intergenerational transmission of 'religious capital' from parents to their offspring, within an economic framework of a production function of 'religiosity' where parental inputs serve as factors of production. The database used for the empirical analysis is based on a unique, rich, large-scale survey (2488 interviews) that has been conducted in 1998 in all 47 Spanish provinces. In addition to information on the religious affiliation of the respondent and his parents It has detailed data on two dimensions of the individual's religiosity: mass attendance (a public religious activity with utilitarian/social motives-has six alternative levels); and prayer (an intimate/private religious activity with pure religious motives-11 levels).It also includes information on the mother's and father's church attendance when the respondent was a child (nine levels) as well as the respondent's mass participation at the age of 12. Socio-economic background data are also available. While most empirical studies are employing one dichotomous variable to measure religiosity (e.g. goes to church-yes/no; practicing Catholic- yes/no), our data base provides much more details on religious activities of respondents and their parents, thus facilitating a more sophisticated analysis with more robust conclusions. The inputs of the parents are proxied by the mother's and father's intensity of church attendance when the respondent was a child. The output (respondent's religiosity) is measured using detailed data on the two aspects of the individual's religiosity: mass attendance and prayer. Socio-economic background variables, that might affect religiosity, are also considered. A theoretical framework is followed by stylized facts on the household composition (in terms of religious affiliation and level of religiosity of the mother and father). Then the effect of the parents' input on respondent's religiosity is examined - first using cross-tabulation and then using regression analysis that facilitates the estimation of the various net effects and their interactions. All in all we find that parental religious inputs significantly affect individuals' religiosity. The route of intergenerational transmission is from both parents to children. However, for women the more pronounced route is the mother, while for men- transmission is flowing mainly through the father. An exception is prayer habits of men that are affected more significantly by the mother's input. We do not find substitution or complimentarity between the impacts of inputs of the mother and the father. This study contributes to our understanding of religious behaviour in Spain and is responding to the growing interest in religiosity in the European Union, as expressed by the outlines of the seventh framework research agenda.religious capital, catholic, church-attendance, prayer, intergenerational transmission, production, Spain

Wage Mobility in Israel: The Effect of Sectoral Concentration

Using a unique eight-year data set, merging population census and national insurance data, the paper examines and compares patterns of wage mobility in Israel. First, the public and the private sectors are compared. Second, within each of these sectors, a distinction is made between sub-sector groupings that exhibit a high level of concentration and those that are more diffuse and unregulated. Based on alternative measures of wage mobility, the central finding of the paper is that the extent of wage mobility in a given economic sector is negatively related to the degree of concentration in that sector.wage mobility, concentration, economic sectors, Israel

National Aggregates and Individual Disaffiliation: An International Study

Using a data set of 15,000 subjects from 32 western countries, the current study examines individuals who were raised in a certain religion and at some stage of their lives left it. Currently, they define their religious affiliation as ‘no religion’. A battery of explanatory variables (country-specific, personal attributes and marriage variables) was employed to test for determinants of this decision. It was found that the tendency of individuals to leave their religion is strongly correlated with the degree of religious diversity of their country and with their spouse's religious characteristics. Moreover, personal socio-demographic features seem to be less relevant.religion, national aggregates, disaffiliation

The Big Carrot:High-Stakes Incentives Revisited

Using an international dataset of about 35,000 subjects, this paper provides an empirical example of high-stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. First, we show that incentives (based on absolute belief) play a salient role in religious performance. Second, we find that, when both positive (heaven) and negative (hell) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).carrot/stick, high-stakes incentives, rewards, punishment, Economics of Religion

The Big Carrot: High Stake Incentives Revisited

This paper provides an empirical demonstration of high stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. It shows that, when both positive (carrot) and negative (stick) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).punishment, rewards, high stakes, carrot/stick, economics of religion

The Big Carrot: High Stake Incentives Revisited

This paper provides an empirical demonstration of high stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. It shows that, when both positive (carrot) and negative (stick) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).carrot/stick, high stakes, rewards, punishment, Economics of Religion

Unravelling Secularization: an International Study

The current study examines individuals who were raised in a certain religion and at some stage of their life left it. Currently, they define their religious affiliation as ‘no religion’. A battery of explanatory variables (countryspecific ones, personal attributes and marriage variables) was employed to test for the determinants of this decision. It was found that the tendency of individuals to leave their religion is strongly correlated with the degree of strictness of their country and with their spouse's religious characteristics. Moreover, personal socio-demographic features seem to be less relevant.religion, convert-out, church attendance, prayer, parental religiosity,Europe.

Is fertility related to religiosity?-Evidence from Spain

Preferences, including preferences for children, are shaped during the formative years of childhood. It is therefore essential to include exposure to religious practice during childhood in an attempt to establish a link between religiosity and fertility. This path has not been explored in the documented literature that looks at the relationship between current religiosity (measured by one dichotomous church attendance variable) and fertility. The International Social Survey Programme: Religion 2 (ISSP) provides the data base. It includes information on maternal/paternal/own mass participation when the respondent was a child (nine levels each), as well as on his current churchgoing (six levels) and prayer habits (eleven levels).These variables are included as explanatory variables in 'fertility equations' that explain the number of children of Catholic women in Spain. The core findings are that exposure to religiosity during the formative years of childhood, has a pronounced effect on women's 'taste for children' that later on translates into the number of her offspring. The two parents have major effects on women. However, interestingly, while an intensively practicing father encourages the daughter to have more children (by about 0.8, on average), an intensively practicing mother has a negative effect on the daughter s birth rate, leading to lower fertility by one child. Current religiosity seems to be irrelevant. It follows that religiosity and fertility are interrelated but the mechanism is probably different from the simplistic causality that is suggested in the literature.fertility, religion, Catholic, Church attendance, prayer, parental religiosity, taste for children, Spain.