Is there a rural–urban divide? location and productivity of UK manufacturing

Aggregate productivity of manufacturing industries by urban, rural less sparse, and rural sparse locations in the UK is computed from firm-specific total factor productivities, which are estimated by a semi-parametric algorithm, within four-digit manufacturing industries, using the FAME data set over the period 1994–2001. The productivity differentials across location categories are analysed by decomposing them into industry productivity effect and industry composition effect. The analysis indicates that at the end of twentieth century, a rural–urban divide in manufacturing productivity still remains, but there is a tendency for convergence between rural and urban location categories, possibly due to increased competitive pressure. The industry composition effect is positively correlated with the industry productivity effect, suggesting that locations with high productivity are also characterized by industrial structure enhancing productivity

Employees' entrepreneurial contributions to firms in Russia, 1995–2004

This article examines how employee self-reported entrepreneurial contributions evolved in firms operating in Russia in 1995–2004 and whether changes can be explained by Akerlof's theory of implicit gift exchange in labour contracts. We find that these contributions were indeed influenced by wage premia and shifting work norms, declining by about a half during the period and with a particularly marked fall in contributions by manual workers. The trend was found among foreign-owned, private Russian-owned and state-owned companies. Akerlof's model therefore helps explain Russian workers' changing behaviour

Body weight and labour market outcomes in post-Soviet Russia

Purpose: The paper focuses on the impacts of overweight and obesity on the probability of employment, wages, and the incidence of sick-leave days by gender, in Russia, over the transition period, 1994-2005. Approach: We use panel data and appropriate instrumental variables techniques to estimate a set of three models. Findings: The results show a linear negative effect of BMI on probability of employment for women and positive effect for men. We did not find evidence of wage penalty for higher BMI, a result different from findings of several studies on developed market economies. There is also positive impact of BMI on the number of work days missed due to health problems for women. Value: Our results derived in transition context add evidence to the growing obesity and labour-market outcomes literature emphasising the relative importance of the labour supply side compared to the demand side. The policy implications of our study are gender specific

Institutions, labour management practices and firm performance in Europe

We develop a theoretical framework to examine three hypotheses on the relationship between LMPs and organisational performance in European firms. The first is that collaborative forms are more strongly associated with superior firm performance than calculative forms. The second is that these associations are strongest where national institutional and normative settings support them. The third is that employer-employee consultative committees and collective payment methods are also associated with superior firm performance. The first two hypothesis are strongly empirically supported, as is the third albeit more weakly. The implications of the findings in the context of the Varieties of Capitalism theory are discussed

Determinants of obesity in transition economies: the case of Russia

This paper examines human obesity, measured as weight and body mass index (BMI), and its determinants in Russia. Obesity increased dramatically during transition from a planned to a market economy, by 38%. We determine the factors contributing to rising obesity using individual level data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for 1994 and 2004. We find a strong positive effect of diet/caloric intake and a strong negative effect of smoking on weight and BMI. Gender, education, and income are other major determinants of obesity. Our analysis provides information on dietary patterns and other determinants of obesity in Russia which is essential for formulation and implementation of effective policies designed to reduce the problem and improve the health of the population

MNEs and flexible working practices in Mauritius

We compare how far companies based in Africa, India and the 'global North' operating in Mauritius adopt high-trust flexible working practices, and how these are linked to different clusters of wider labour management practice. Using comprehensive firm-level data collected in late 2011, we find that African/Indian company practices are closer to those of indigenous firms than to those of Northern companies. The different company groups operate in quite different ways but regional MNEs operate in a similar way to indigenous companies. We therefore conclude that Rugman and Verbeke’s ‘regionalization’ theory also applies to the HR field. We further find that both a relatively strategic approach to HRM and measures to develop employer-employee interdependence are, respectively, linked directly and indirectly to flexible working incidence

Body weight and labour market outcomes in post-Soviet Russia [monograph]

This paper estimates the impacts of weight, measured by body mass index (BMI), on employment, wages, and missed work due to illness for Russian adults by gender using recent panel data (1994-2005) from the nationally representative Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS). We employ econometric techniques to control for unobserved heterogeneity and potential biases due to endogeneity in BMI. The results show an inverted U-shaped effect of BMI on probability of employment for men and women. We did not find evidence of wage penalty for higher BMI. In fact, the wages for overweighed men are higher. However, having a BMI in the obese range increases the number of days missing work due to health problems for men. Overall, we find negative effects of obesity on employment only for women but not on wages. During the transition in Russia, the increasingly competitive pressure in the labour market combined with economic insecurity faced by the population has lead to a muted impact of an individual’s weight on labour market outcomes

Union influence in post-socialist Europe

We examine enterprise level union influence in post-socialist countries. We hypothesise that ‘calculative’ HRM is more strongly associated with low levels of union influence than ‘collaborative’ HRM, using the UK as a benchmark. We find that calculative HRM is indeed more damaging to union influence than collaborative, although to a much lesser extent than in the UK. We find that union influence corresponds to enterprise union density and is most apparent when the business cycle is unfavourable. We explain our findings by reference to East European members’ continued attachment to unionism for non-bargaining reasons

The impact of the UK national minimum wage on productivity by low-paying sectors and firm-size groups: report to the Low Pay Commission.

Previous research has found little evidence of any impact by the minimum wage on labour or total factor productivity. This report investigated the longitudinal impact on productivity by size of firm. Detailed financial information using the FAME dataset was used to analyse impacts on total factor productivity since the minimum wage’s introduction. In general, it is found that the National Minimum Wage had a significant positive effect on aggregate productivity in low-paying sectors. The strongest effects were in larger firms; small firms showed weaker effects. This may be explained by larger firms greater ability to use monopoly power and also to reorganise their productive processes

Regional disparities and productivity in China: evidence from manufacturing micro data

In this paper we first estimate firm-specific total factor productivities within 2-digit manufacturing industries using a semi-parametric algorithm and micro data for the period 2000–2007. Next, to characterize regional disparities in China we compute aggregate productivity by the categories of three regional typologies, based on population density, coastal-inland, and rural-urban criteria. We analyse the productivity differentials across the categories of the typologies by decomposing regional productivity level and growth into productivity effect and industry composition effect. We find clear evidence of regional convergence. Besides density of economic activity, recent policy and structural factors seem to affect regional productivity level and growth differentials