Public-Private Wage Gap in Australia: Variation Along the Distribution

Previous research on public-private wage differentials in Australia is scarce and has focused on the central parts of the conditional wage distribution. Using the first six waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, this study applies quantile regression models to examine whether the sectoral wage effect varies along the wage distribution. For females, we find public sector wage premiums for almost the entire wage distribution and the premiums are relatively stable except at the extremities of the distribution. For males, the premiums decrease monotonically and are negative for the top half of the conditional wage distribution. The decomposition results show that the observed differences in individuals and job characteristics account for a substantial proportion of the overall sectoral wage gap.wage gap, quantile regression, decomposition

The gender wage gap in Vietnam, 1993–1998

This paper uses the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys 1992–93 and 1997–98 to examine changes in the gender wage gap. The intertemporal decomposition of Juhn et al. (1991) indicates that changes in observed variables, skill prices and wage inequality have tended to narrow the gap, but the gap effect has tended to widen it, with the net effect being one of little change. This finding is in contrast with that for the EEC but in line with the experience of China. Improving education about equity practices in the workplace to combat discriminatory attitudes, and further decentralisation to facilitate the growth of the private sector, are two of the policy implications drawn

Are optimistic expectations keeping the Chinese happy?

In this paper we study the effect of optimistic income expectations on life satisfaction amongst the Chinese population. Using a large scale household survey conducted in 2002 we find that the level of optimism about the future is particularly strong in the countryside and amongst rural-to-urban migrants. The importance of these expectations for life satisfaction is particularly pronounced in the urban areas, though also highly significant for the rural area. If expectations were to reverse from positive to negative, we calculate that this would have doubled the proportion of unhappy people and reduced proportion of very happy people by 48%. We perform several robustness checks to see if the results are driven by variations in precautionary savings or reverse causality.Expectations; Happiness; Consumption and Savings; China; Political Economy

Inequality among the rural poor: a tale of two cities in India and Vietnam

Using the Survey of Living Conditions in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar of India and the second round of the Vietnam Living Standards Survey, this paper examines whether and to what extent rural consumption inequality of the poor differs in the two countries. While these two countries have experienced significant growth since the early 1990s, they have different institutional arrangements. As a result, the reforms that they have undertaken could have different impact on the poor. The Shapley decomposition results suggest that not only is average consumption expenditure per capita higher in rural Vietnam than in rural India, but also the distribution is more equitable. Land ownership and education structure are found to be the most important contributing factors of consumption inequality for the rural poor. However, the importance of these contributing factors differs. Land ownership (age structure) turns out to be the most important factor for India (Vietnam). Education is an important factor common to the poor in both countries. Policies to ensure more equal access to land and education hold the key to address consumption inequality for the poor

Are women still holding up half of heaven in Vietnam? The gender wage gap

The coexistence of the government sector, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and private sector provides a natural setting to examine the impact of economic reform in Vietnam on gender earning differentials. The three sectors reflect different degrees of influence of the Socialist ideology, with the private sector most liberalised. Have women fared better during the transition into a market economy? One might expect, a priori, female workers in the private sector may be more likely to be discriminated against especially because employees can freely choose whom to employ. Using the Vietnam Living Standards Survey 1992-1993, this paper has found that gender wage differences are evident in the private sector and SOEs. Further, discrimination accounts for more of the gender wage gap in the private sector than in the SOEs

A single amino acid mutation in the spike protein of coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus hampers its maturation and incorporation into virions at the nonpermissive temperature

AbstractThe spike (S) glycoprotein of coronavirus is responsible for receptor binding and membrane fusion. A number of variants with deletions and mutations in the S protein have been isolated from naturally and persistently infected animals and tissue cultures. Here, we report the emergence and isolation of two temperature sensitive (ts) mutants and a revertant in the process of cold-adaptation of coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) to a monkey kidney cell line. The complete sequences of wild type (wt) virus, two ts mutants, and the revertant were compared and variations linked to phenotypes were mapped. A single amino acid reversion (L294-to-Q) in the S protein is sufficient to abrogate the ts phenotype. Interestingly, unlike wt virus, the revertant grows well at and below 32 °C, the permissive temperature, as it carries other mutations in multiple genes that might be associated with the cold-adaptation phenotype. If the two ts mutants were allowed to enter cells at 32 °C, the S protein was synthesized, core-glycosylated and at least partially modified at 40 °C. However, compared with wt virus and the revertant, no infectious particles of these ts mutants were assembled and released from the ts mutant-infected cells at 40 °C. Evidence presented demonstrated that the Q294-to-L294 mutation, located at a highly conserved domain of the S1 subunit, might hamper processing of the S protein to a matured 180-kDa, endo-glycosidase H-resistant glycoprotein and the translocation of the protein to the cell surface. Consequently, some essential functions of the S protein, including mediation of cell-to-cell fusion and its incorporation into virions, were completely abolished

A fabrication history based strain-fatigue model for prediction of crack initiation in a radial loading wheel

A strain-based fatigue model concerning fabrication history is applied to predict the fatigue life of a commercial car wheel under radial loads. As the prior conditions, the strain fatigue testing is performed on standard specimen of DP590 and FB540 steels at various fabrication states, including raw materials, pre-strain and pre-strain + bake. Furthermore, the strain distribution of car wheel during its rotation under radial loads is simulated via ANSYS. The fatigue properties mainly determined by crack initiation of car wheels at various fabrication states are predicted via local stress–strain method, in which the scale and surface factors are also taken into account. The radial fatigue testing is carried out, and the results are used to validate the present model. The fracture mechanism is analysed using FEI Nova 400 field emission gun scanning electron microscope

ARCHERY TRAINING IMPROVE POSTURAL CONTROL IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Exercise training might be beneficial for postural control (PC) during exercise and daily activities. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an eight-week archery training program on PC in young children during the standard, aiming, and archery shooting standing posture

Decay rate and renormalized frequency shift of a quantum wire Wannier exciton in a planar microcavity

The superradiant decay rate and frequency shift of a Wannier exciton in a one-dimensional quantum wire are studied. It is shown that the dark mode exciton can be examined experimentally when the quantum wire is embedded in a planar microcavity. It is also found that the decay rate is greatly enhanced as the cavity length $L_{c}$ is equal to the multiple wavelength of the emitted photon. Similar to its decay rate counterpart, the frequency shift also shows discontinuities at resonant modes.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. To appear in P. R. B. September 200