3,152 research outputs found
The relevance of Post-Match LTC: Why has the Spanish labor market become as volatile as the US one?
We present a Search and Matching model with heterogeneous workers (entrants and incumbents) that replicates the stylized facts characterizing the US and the Spanish labor markets. Under this benchmark, we find the Post-Match Labor Turnover Costs (PMLTC) to be the centerpiece to explain why the Spanish labor market is as volatile as the US one. The two driving forces governing this volatility are the gaps between entrants and incumbents in terms of separation costs and productivity. We use the model to analyze the cyclical implications of changes in labor market institutions affecting these two gaps. The scenario with a low degree of workersâ heterogeneity illustrates its suitability to understand why the Spanish labor market has become as volatile as the US one.Search, Matching, Training, Firing costs, Productivity Differentials.
Labor Productivity and Vocational Training: Evidence from Europe
In this paper we show that vocational training is an important determinant of productivity growth. We construct a multi-country, multi-sectoral dataset, and quantify empirically to what extent vocational training has contributed to increase the growth rate of labor productivity in Europe between 1999 and 2005. We find that one extra hour of training per employee accelerates the rate of productivity growth by around 0.55 percentage points.continuous vocational training, labor productivity growth
Flexibility at the margin and labor market volatility in OECD countries
We argue that segmented labor markets with flexibility at the margin (e.g., just affecting
fixed-term employees) may achieve similar volatility than fully deregulated labor
markets. Flexibility at the margin produces a gap in separation costs among matched
workers that cause fixed-term employment to be the main workforce adjustment
device. Moreover, in the presence of limitations in the duration and number of renewals
of fixed-term contracts, firms respond by fostering labor turnover which further raises
the volatility of the labor market. We present a matching model with temporary and
permanent jobs where (i) the gap in firing costs and (ii) restrictions in the use of fixedterm
contracts play the central role to explain the similar volatility observed in many
regulated labor markets with flexibility at the margin vis-Ă -vis the fully deregulated
ones
Oil price shocks and labor market fluctuations
We examine the impact of real oil price shocks on labor market flows in the U.S. We first use smooth transition regression (STR) models to investigate to what extent oil prices can be considered as a driving force of labor market fluctuations. Then we develop and calibrate a modified version of Pissaridesâ (2000) model with energy costs, which we simulate in response to shocks mimicking the behavior of the actual oil price shocks. We find that (i) these shocks are an important driving force of job market flows; (ii) the job finding probability is the main transmission mechanism of such shocks; and (iii) they bring a new amplification mechanism for the volatility and should thus be seen as complementary of labor productivity shocks. Overall we conclude that shocks in oil prices cannot be neglected in explaining cyclical labor adjustments in the U.S.Oil Prices, Unemployment, Vacancies, Business Fluctuations.
Wage effects of non-wage labour costs
We study wage effects of two important elements of non-wage labour costs: firing costs and payroll taxes. We exploit a reform that introduced substantial reduction in these two provisions for unemployed workers aged less than thirty and over forty five years. Theoretical insights are gained with a matching model with heterogeneous workers, which predict a positive effect on wages for new entrant workers but an ambiguous effect for incumbent workers. Difference-in-differences estimates, which account for the endogeneity of the treatment status, are consistent with our model predictions and suggest that decreased firing costs and payroll taxes have a positive effect on wages of new entrants. We find larger effects for older than for younger workers and for men than for women. Calibration and simulation of the model corroborate such positive effect for new entrants and also show a positive wage effect for incumbents. The reduction in firing costs accounts, on average, for one third of the overall wage increase.Dismissal costs, payroll tax, evaluation of labour market reforms, difference-in-difference, matching model, Spain
The agglomeration effect of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games
In this paper, we analyze the spatial distribution of economic activity and labor market variables in Greece from 1980 to 2006. Using a distance-based method within a stochastic point process, we identify two periods with opposite trends regarding the concentration of economic activity in the Greek territory. First, twenty years (1980- 1999) of a moderately decreasing trend of agglomeration due to systematic eÂźorts by the Greek governments to decentralize the economic activity away from the capital. Second, a short period (2000-2006) of sharp increases in agglomeration, coinciding -in space and time- with the public and private investments for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In the same period, a similar eÂźect of a smaller size is observed on the concentration of the labor force, employment and unemployment.Concentration, Olympic Games, D-function, L-function, K-function, point process, spatial economics.
Flexibility at the Margin and Labor Market Volatility in OECD Countries
We study whether segmented labor markets with flexibility at the margin (e.g., just affecting fixed-term employees) can achieve similar volatility than fully deregulated labor markets. Flexibility at the margin produces a gap in separation costs among matched workers that cause fixed-term employment to be the main workforce adjustment device, which in turn increases de labor market volatility. This increased volatility is partially reverted when limitations in the duration and number of renewals of fixed-term contracts are introduced. Under this scenario, firms respond by reducing the intensity of job destruction since it becomes more difficult to avoid firing costs in permanents contracts. We present a matching model with temporary and permanent jobs where (i) the gap in firing costs and (ii) restrictions in the use of fixed-term contracts helps explain the similar volatility observed in many regulated OECD labor markets with flexibility at the margin vis-Ă -vis the fully deregulated ones.separation costs, volatility, flexibility at the margin, matching model
Porque comemos o que comemos?: determinantes psicossociais da selecção alimentar
Este artigo apresenta uma breve anĂĄlise sobre os determinantes psicossociais
do comportamento alimentar. Ă essencial compreendermos os factores subjacentes Ă s
escolhas alimentares dos indivĂduos, isto Ă©, compreendermos porque Ă© que comemos os
alimentos que comemos e porque comemos a quantidade de alimentos que comemos, se
pretendemos intervir neste domĂnio, seja ao nĂvel da promoção da saĂșde, seja ao nĂvel
da prevenção ou tratamento da doença. No presente trabalho, apresenta-se uma anålise
sobre alguns dos determinantes psicológicos e sociais da regulação do comportamento
alimentar, bem como uma sĂntese de alguns dos modelos explicativos da selecção
alimentar (Modelo Desenvolvimental e Modelo Cognitivo). Procedemos, ainda, a uma
reflexão sobre a relação entre alimentos, emoçÔes, cogniçÔes e comportamentos, assim
como a uma reflexão sobre a relação entre o stress e o comportamento alimentar. ------ ABSTRACT ------ This paper presents a brief analysis of the psychosocial determinants of
eating behaviour. It is essential to understand the factors underlying food selection, that is
to say, the factors that contribute to the individual eating, what he/she eats and how much
he/she eats. In this paper, we present an analysis of some of the psychological and social
factors which regulate eating behaviour, as well as some of the theoretical models that try
to explain eating behaviour regulation (namely the Developmental Model and the
Cognitive Model). We also discuss some issues concerning the relation between food,
emotion, cognition and behaviour, and the relation between stress and eating behaviour
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