Within-establishment wage inequality and satisfaction

We empirically model individual utility from pay as function of worker’s own wage and the earnings of all other workers within the same establishment. The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to study the mechanisms underlying the importance of relative wages in determining worker satisfaction; second, to assess whether high within establishment wage inequality leads, on average, to high satisfaction. .satisfaction, co-workers, envy, pride, wage inequality

Does persistence of social exclusion exist in Spain?

The aim of this paper is to analyze the causes leading to social exclusion dynamics. In particular, we wish to understand why any individual experiencing social exclusion today is much more likely to experience it again. In fact, there are two distinct processes that may generate a persistence of social exclusion: heterogeneity (individuals are heterogeneous with respect to some observed and/or unobserved adverse characteristics that are relevant for the chance of experiencing social exclusion and persistence over time) and true state of dependence (experiencing social exclusion in a specific time period, in itself, increases the probability of undergoing social exclusion in subsequent periods). Distinguishing between the two processes is crucial since the policy implications are very different.Social Exclusion, Dynamics, Persistence, Heterogeneity, Discrete panel data

Job satisfaction, working conditions and job-expectations

According to Sen’s capability approach, objective working conditions can be seen as functionings (i.e. things experienced by the individuals). The corresponding capability set includes all sets of alternatives working conditions existing in the society for a given kind of job. Observing the existing capability set of working conditions, individuals formulate expectations about their own working conditions. These expectations might create biases in the realistic perceptions of job satisfaction. Our aim is to study the determinants of worker perceptions of quality of work in EU Countries. In particular, we shed light on the complex relationship that exists between job satisfaction, objective working conditions and workers expectations. First, we determine which objective working conditions impact on the level of job satisfaction. Second, we test the existence, and the signs, of biases in the realistic perception of job satisfaction due to the existence of expectations. Third, we test if expectations are affected by the working conditions actually experienced in the job place. From a technically point of view, we estimate a two-tiered stochastic frontier model. We find that expectations biases exist. High expectations have stronger effects in reducing job satisfaction than low expectation in increasing job expectations. Finally, expectations are affected by the working conditions actually experienced by the workers.Job satisfaction, working conditions, expectations, two-tiered stochastic frontier model.

Social exclusion mobility in Spain, 1994-2000

Social exclusion can be defined as a process leading to a state of multiple functioning deprivations. Cross-sectional headcount ratios of social exclusion may overstate the extent of the problem if most individuals do not remain in the same state in successive years. To address this issue, we need to focus on mobility. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse changes in the individual levels of social exclusion focusing on the extent to which individuals change place in social exclusion distribution.Social Exclusion, Mobility, Transition Matrix

Endogenous population subgroups: the best population partition and optimal number of groups

The aim of this paper is to suggest a method to find endogenously the points that group the individuals of a given distribution in k clusters, where k is endogenously determined. These points are the cut-points. Thus, we need to determine a partition of the N individuals into a number k of groups, in such way that individuals in the same group are as alike as possible, but as distinct as possible from individuals in other groups. This method can be applied to endogenously identify k groups in income distributions: possible applications can be povertystopping rule, optimal grouping, Gini index

On polarization and mobility: A look at polarization in the wage-career profile in Italy

This paper attempts to combine the analysis of wage (income) polarization with that of wage (income) mobility. Using the polarization index PG recently proposed by Deutsch et al. (2007) it shows that, when taking the identity of the individuals into account (working with panel data), a distinction can be made between a change over time in polarization that is the consequence of "structural mobility" (change over time in the overall, between and within groups inequality) and a change in polarization that is the sole consequence of "exchange mobility" (changes over time in the ranks of the individuals). This approach is then applied to the 1985-2003 Work Histories Italian Panel (WHIP), an employer-employee linked panel database developed by the Italian Social Security administrative sources. The empirical investigation attempts to improve our understanding of labor market segmentation in Italy, whether the groups are defined on the basis of the individual wages or derived from other criteria such as white versus blue collar workers.exchange mobility, Italy, labor market segmentation, polarization, structural mobility, wage inequality.

Employability of Young Italian Males after a Jobless Period, 1989-1998

In this paper we investigate the existence of negative jobless duration dependence and the impact of jobless spells on future wages. Our findings are relatively out of line compared to analogous explorations. We find evidence of very long unemployment duration of the young male labor force, much higher than reported anywhere else in Western Europe. Despite our findings on unemployment duration, negative unemployment duration dependence is modest. While the probability of re-employment decreases also in Italy as elapsed joblessness becomes longer, such decay is small. Finally, we show that young Italian males experiencing jobless periods in their early careers face small re-employment wage losses. Such losses do increase with the duration of joblessness, but here, once again, they are lower than reported in Unites States, Canada, UK, France and Spain.joblessness, duration dependence, long term unemployment, two stage least squares, selection problems.

Utilities deprivation dynamics and energy sector reforms in Europe

In the late 1990s many European countries started comprehensive restructuring of their energy industries, the typical ingredients of the reforms are full or partial privatization, vertical disintegration, liberalization. In this paper we focus on the way in which energy sector reforms affect social affordability. The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of energy reforms on the household probability of experiencing utilities deprivation (that is, to be unable to pay scheduled utility bills) in seven European Countries: Denmark, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. The period of analysis is 1994-2001. We also explore the dynamics of utilities deprivations focusing on the causes behind deprivation persistence. We differentiate between household heterogeneity and true state dependence. Then, controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity, we use the magnitude of average partial effects to investigate the relevance of any state dependence and the impact of energy sector reforms on the probability of experiencing utilities deprivations and on state dependence. We find evidence that vertical disintegration in the energy sector and privatization increase the household probability of experiencing utilities deprivation. Moreover, vertical disintegration also increases the household persistence in the status of deprivation.deprivation, utilities, privatization, liberalization, vertical disintegration, true state persistence.

Informality and poverty: Are these processes dynamically interrelated? Evidence from Argentina

Poverty and informal employment are often regarded as correlated phenomena. Many empirical studies have shown that informal employment has a causal impact on household poverty, mainly through low wages. Yet other studies focus on the reverse causality from poverty to informality, arising from a range of constraints that poverty poses to job holders. Only recently have empirical researchers tried to study the simultaneous two-way relationship between poverty and informality. However, existing studies have relied upon cross sectional data and static econometric models. This paper takes the next step and studies the dynamics of poverty and informality using longitudinal data. Our empirical analysis is based on a bivariate dynamic random effect probit model and recent panel data from Argentina. The results show that both poverty and informal employment are highly persistent processes at the individual level. Moreover, positive spillover effects are found from past poverty on current informal employment and from past informality to current poverty status, corroborating the view that the two processes are also shaped by interrelated dynamics.poverty, informality, state dependence, dynamic bivariate probit model with random effects.

Empirical Modeling of Deprivation Contagion Among Social Exclusion Dimensions (Using MCMC Methods)

Economic theory and empirical evidence clearly show that social exclusion dimensions are inter-related. Notwithstanding that, dimensions are usually assumed independent from one another in the economics literature. In this paper we explore the inter-dependency of social exclusion dimensions and study the transmission of deprivation among them. In particular, we propose the use of stochastic epidemic models, which are typically used to study the transmission of infectious diseases, to the analysis of deprivation diffusion among social exclusion dimensions with the aim of acquiring a deeper understanding of the mechanism governing deprivation transmission. We also provide an empirical implementation that investigates the consequences, in terms of future deprivation, for Italian and Spanish women of being jobless, as opposed to doing paid work. We also investigate the consequences of being unemployed versus being inactive. We conclude that working seems to act as a protective mechanism to shocks. In addition, conditional on losing one’s job, women who subsequently search for a job (unemployed) are more likely to experience contagion than women who do not search (inactive).deprivation, social exclusion, contagion models, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, metropolis-Hastings algorithm, stochastic models, propensity score.