Training or search? evidence and an equilibrium model

Training programs are a major tool of labor market policies in OECD countries. I use a unique panel data set on the labor market experience of individual German workers between 2000 and 2002 to estimate a dynamic model of search and training, which allows me to quantify the impact of training programs and unemployment benefits on employment, unemployment, output, and the government expenditures. ; The model extends Ljungqvist and Sargent (JPE, 1998) by incorporating a training decision and a broader menu of unemployment benefits. Government-sponsored training programs feature a key trade-off with respect to unemployment insurance programs: they offer more generous unemployment benefits but require more time and effort from workers to generate higher skills. As a result, unemployed workers with different human capital and benefits make different decisions about training, search, and job acceptance. ; I use the model to quantitatively study the recent reforms implemented in Germany and run more counterfactual experiments. I simulate the transition path under back-to-back unexpected reforms in 2003-2006 and find the dynamics of the model's unemployment rates are close to the data. In a counterfactual experiment in which I model an economy with a German-like training system and a US-like unemployment benefit structure (roughly, benefits are lower), I find that employment and output rise substantially.

Would active labor market policies help combat high U.S. unemployment?

Two years after the end of the 2007-09 recession, the unemployment rate in the United States remains above 9 percent - roughly double its pre-recession level. ; Nie and Struby analyze the cyclical and structural components of this elevated level of unemployment, active and passive labor market policies, and how the policies are utilized in the United States and 20 Organization for Economic Cooperation Development countries. ; The analysis finds that two active programs can be particularly effective: training programs that equip unemployed workers with skills that are in demand and job-search assistance that matches unemployed workers with employers. These findings - together with evidence that the U.S. labor market currently suffers from a certain amount of structural unemployment - suggest that the United States could benefit from more training programs and job-search assistance.

Normal families of holomorphic mappings between complex Finsler manifolds

In this paper, we find that the integrated form $d_F$ of a complex Finsler metric $F$ is inner. The distance $d_F$ is complete if and only if every closed bounded subset of a complex manifold $M$ is compact. We prove a version of theorem for normal families of holomorphic mappings between two complex Finsler manifolds, i.e, the theorem of Montel in complex Finsler manifolds. Our results extend the basic theorem of strongly negatively curved families for a Hermitian manifold [Wu, Acta Math. 119(1967), 193-233] or [Grauert, Reckziegel, Math. Z. 89(1965), 108-125]. As applications, we obtain a complex Finsler version of theorems $A$-$F$ in [Wu, Acta Math. 119(1967), 193-233], including the Cartan-Carath\'eodory-Kaup-Wu theorem, the theorem of the automorphism group on a complex Finsler manifold and some rigid results

Robustness, information-processing constraints, and the current account in small open economies

We examine the effects of two types of informational frictions, robustness (RB) and nite information-processing capacity (called rational inattention or RI) on the current account, in an otherwise standard intertemporal current account (ICA) model. We show that the interaction of RB and RI has the potential to improve the model’s predictions on the joint dynamics of the current account and income: (i) the contemporaneous correlation between the current account and income, (ii) the volatility and persistence of the current account in small open emerging and developed economies. In addition, we show that the two informational frictions could also better explain consumption dynamics in small open economies: the impulse responses of consumption to income shocks and the relative volatility of consumption growth to income growth. Calibrated versions using detection probabilities t the data better along these dimensions than the standard model does.

Human capital dynamics and the U.S. labor market

The high U.S. unemployment rate after the Great Recession is usually considered to be a result of changes in factors influencing either the demand side or the supply side of the labor market. However, no matter what factors have caused the changes in the unemployment rate, these factors should have influenced workers' and firms' decisions. Therefore, it is important to take into account workers' endogenous responses to changes in various factors when seeking to understand how these factors affect the unemployment rate. To address this issue, we estimate a Mortensen-Pissarides style of labor-market matching model with endogenous separation decisions and stochastic changes in workers' human capital. We study how agents' endogenous choices vary with changes in the exogenous shocks and changes in labor-market policy in the context of human capital dynamics. We reach four main findings. First, once workers have accounted for and are able to optimally respond to possible human capital loss, the unemployment rate in an economy with human capital loss during unemployment will not be higher than in an economy with no human capital loss. The reason is that the increase in the unemployment rate led by human capital loss is more than offset by workers' endogenous responses to prevent them from being unemployed. Second, human capital accumulation on the job is more important than human capital loss during unemployment for both the unemployment rate and output. Third, workers' endogenous separation rates will decline when job-finding rates fall. Fourth, taking into account the endogenous responses, unemployment insurance extensions contributed 0.5 percentage point to the increase in the aggregate unemployment rate in the 2008 - 12 period

Gravitational Effects of Rotating Bodies

We study two type effects of gravitational field on mechanical gyroscopes (i.e. rotating extended bodies). The first depends on special relativity and equivalence principle. The second is related to the coupling (i.e. a new force) between the spins of mechanical gyroscopes, which would violate the equivalent principle. In order to give a theoretical prediction to the second we suggest a spin-spin coupling model for two mechanical gyroscopes. An upper limit on the coupling strength is then determined by using the observed perihelion precession of the planet's orbits in solar system. We also give predictions violating the equivalence principle for free-fall gyroscopes .Comment: LaTex, 6 page

A Socially-Aware Incentive Mechanism for Mobile Crowdsensing Service Market

Mobile Crowdsensing has shown a great potential to address large-scale problems by allocating sensing tasks to pervasive Mobile Users (MUs). The MUs will participate in a Crowdsensing platform if they can receive satisfactory reward. In this paper, in order to effectively and efficiently recruit sufficient MUs, i.e., participants, we investigate an optimal reward mechanism of the monopoly Crowdsensing Service Provider (CSP). We model the rewarding and participating as a two-stage game, and analyze the MUs' participation level and the CSP's optimal reward mechanism using backward induction. At the same time, the reward is designed taking the underlying social network effects amid the mobile social network into account, for motivating the participants. Namely, one MU will obtain additional benefits from information contributed or shared by local neighbours in social networks. We derive the analytical expressions for the discriminatory reward as well as uniform reward with complete information, and approximations of reward incentive with incomplete information. Performance evaluation reveals that the network effects tremendously stimulate higher mobile participation level and greater revenue of the CSP. In addition, the discriminatory reward enables the CSP to extract greater surplus from this Crowdsensing service market.Comment: 7 pages, accepted by IEEE Globecom'1