13,871 research outputs found
Testing Fair Wage Theory
Fairness considerations often are invoked to explain wage differences that appear unrelated to worker characteristics or job conditions, but non-experimental tests of fair wage models are rare and weak because of the limits of available market-generated data. In particular, such data rarely permit researchers to (a) identify suitable reference points that employees and employers might use in determining what is fair and (b) control for employeesâ marginal output and its value. This study utilizes a unique dataset from the baseball labor market that solves both problems. We find no support for fair wage theory in this market. We also find that fairness premia can be illusory: Wages appear to be adjusted upward for reasons of fairness in regressions that control for variation in individualsâ physical output, but such premia evaporate when the value of that output (which can be market- or firm-specific) is held constant. This suggests that avoiding proxy measures of workersâ marginal revenue products in wage studies might reduce the number of labor market "anomalies" economists must resolve.fairness, efficiency wages, wage differentials
The Existence and Persistence of a Winnerâs Curse: New Evidence from the (Baseball) Field
This study takes advantage of recent developments in the measurement and valuation of individual output in the baseball labor market to (i) reassess prior evidence that this market is afflicted by the winnerâs curse phenomenon and (ii) test whether bidders learn to avoid this curse over time. Though we find no evidence of negative average returns on player contracts for the earliest cohort of baseball free agents, we conclude that teams in that era failed to efficiently discount their bids in accord with available information, especially about risk. What is more, evidence from a larger sample of players signed in the late 1990s shows that teams have continued to overvalue inconsistent free agents and failed to limit their bids to conform to playersâ lower values in small markets. This is consistent with experimental evidence that finds bounded-rational behavior when bidders are faced with complex valuation problems involving multiple elements.market efficiency, bounded rationality, overbidding
Blocked-braid Groups
We introduce and study a family of groups , called the
blocked-braid groups, which are quotients of Artin's braid groups
, and have the corresponding symmetric groups as
quotients. They are defined by adding a certain class of geometrical
modifications to braids. They arise in the study of commutative Frobenius
algebras and tangle algebras in braided strict monoidal categories. A
fundamental equation true in is Dirac's Belt Trick; that
torsion through is equal to the identity. We show that
is finite for and 3 but infinite for
Initial Public Offerings of Ballplayers
As a field study of choice under uncertainty, we examine baseball teams' investments in amateur players. Though most prospects fail to deliver any return on their multi-million dollar signing bonuses, returns on the minority who succeed easily offset these losses: the expected annual yield on the median first-round draftee is 33 percent. However, the pattern of returns is inconsistent with market efficiency. Yields are lower for high schoolers than collegians (27 percent vs. 43 percent), lower for pitchers than position players (24 percent vs. 41 percent), decline for later round long-shots, and may be negative under competitive bidding.Market efficiency; Bounded rationality; Prospect theory; Winnerâs curse
Quantum dynamics of the avian compass
The ability of migratory birds to orient relative to the Earth's magnetic
field is believed to involve a coherent superposition of two spin states of a
radical electron pair. However, the mechanism by which this coherence can be
maintained in the face of strong interactions with the cellular environment has
remained unclear. This Letter addresses the problem of decoherence between two
electron spins due to hyperfine interaction with a bath of spin 1/2 nuclei.
Dynamics of the radical pair density matrix are derived and shown to yield a
simple mechanism for sensing magnetic field orientation. Rates of dephasing and
decoherence are calculated ab initio and found to yield millisecond coherence
times, consistent with behavioral experiments
Voice and resistance: coalminers' struggles to represent their health and safety interests in Australia and New Zealand 1871â1925
The activism of coalmining unions in Australia, the UK, the USA and elsewhere securing improvements in safety including better legislation in the 19th and 20th centuries, has been widely researched and acknowledged. However, a relatively neglected aspect of this history was a campaign to secure worker inspectors (check-inspectors). These began in coalmining a century before similar measures were introduced for workers more generally as part of overhauling occupational health and safety laws in the 1970s/1980s. We document this struggle for mine safety in Australia and New Zealand, and the activities of check-inspectors in the period to 1925. Notwithstanding strong opposition from coal-owners and conservative governments, check-inspectors played an important role in safeguarding coalminers and improving the regulatory oversight of coalmines. Check-inspectors not only gave coalminers a âvoiceâ in OHS, but they also provided an exemplar of the value and legitimacy of workerâs âknowledge activismâ. This system remains. Furthermore, the struggle is relevant to understanding contemporary debates about collective worker involvement in occupational health and safety
Factors affecting continued use of ceramic water purifiers distributed to Tsunami-affected Communities in Sri Lanka
Objectivesâ There is little information about continued use of point-of-use technologies after disaster relief efforts. After the 2004 tsunami, the Red Cross distributed ceramic water filters in Sri Lanka. This study determined factors associated with filter disuse and evaluate the quality of household drinking water. Methodsâ A cross-sectional survey of water sources and treatment, filter use and household characteristics was administered by in-person oral interview, and household water quality was tested. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model probability of filter non-use. Resultsâ At the time of survey, 24% of households (107/452) did not use filters; the most common reason given was breakage (42%). The most common household water sources were taps and wells. Wells were used by 45% of filter users and 28% of non-users. Of households with taps, 75% had source water Escherichia coli in the lowest World Health Organisation risk category (<1/100âml), vs. only 30% of households reporting wells did. Tap households were approximately four times more likely to discontinue filter use than well households. Conclusionâ After 2âyears, 24% of households were non-users. The main factors were breakage and household water source; households with taps were more likely to stop use than households with wells. Tap water users also had higher-quality source water, suggesting that disuse is not necessarily negative and monitoring of water quality can aid decision-making about continued use. To promote continued use, disaster recovery filter distribution efforts must be joined with capacity building for long-term water monitoring, supply chains and local production
Legal Status and U.S. Farm Wages
Using National Agricultural Workers Survey data, we estimate U.S. farm worker wage differentials by legal status. In order to adequately correct sample selection bias, we develop a Heckman-type two-stage method with an ordered probit model in the first stage and a wage equation model in the second stage.Farm Management,
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