Wage growth due to human capital accumulation and job search: a comparison between the United States and Germany

This paper compares the sources of wage growth of young male workers in two countries with very different labor market institutions, the United States and Germany. The author first develops a simple method for decomposing wage growth into components due to general human capital accumulation, firm-specific human capital accumulation, and job search. The empirical analysis uses data from administrative records (Germany) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (United States) for cohorts entering the labor market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although the two countries differed substantially in mobility rates, they were similar in the sources of wage growth, with general human capital accumulation being the most important single source and job search accounting for an additional 25% or more of total wage growth. There is no evidence that returns to firm-specific human capital accumulation were higher for German apprentices than for U.S. high school dropouts or graduates

The Long-term Effects of Early Track Choice

We investigate the effects of attending a more advanced track in middle school on long-term education and labour market outcomes for Germany, a country with a rigorous early-age tracking system, where the risk of misallocating students is particularly high. Our research design exploits quasi-random shifts between tracks induced by date of birth, and speaks to the long-term effects of early track attendance for a group of marginal students most at risk of misallocation. Remarkably, we find no evidence that attending a more advanced track leads to more favourable long-term outcomes. We attribute this result to the possibility of later track-reversal

Spillover Effects of Mass Layoffs

Using administrative data on firms and workers in Germany, we quantify the spillover effects of mass layoffs. Our empirical strategy combines matching with an event study approach to trace employment and wages in regions hit by a mass layoff relative to suitable control regions. We find sizable and persistent negative spillover effects on the regional economy: regions, and especially firms producing in the same broad industry as the layoff plant, lose many more jobs than in the initial layoff. In contrast, negative employment effects on workers employed in the region at the time of the mass layoff are considerably smaller. Strikingly, workers younger than 50 suffer no employment losses, as geographic mobility fully shields them from the decline in local employment opportunities

Hydrothermal activity and magma genesis along a propagating back-arc basin: Valu Fa Ridge (southern Lau Basin)

Valu Fa Ridge is an intraoceanic back-arc spreading center located at the southern prolongation of the Lau basin. Bathymetric observations as well as detailed sampling have been carried out along the spreading axis in order to trace hydrothermal and volcanic activity and to study magma generation processes. The survey shows that widespread lava flows from recent volcanic eruptions covered most of the Vai Lili hydrothermal vent field; only diffuse low-temperature discharge and the formation of thin layers of siliceous precipitates have been observed. Evidence of present-day hydrothermal activity at the Hine Hina site is indicated by a thermal anomaly in the overlying water column. Our studies did not reveal any signs of hydrothermal activity either above the seismically imaged magma chamber at 22°25′S or across the southern rift fault zone (22°51′S). Lavas recovered along the Valu Fa Ridge range from basaltic andesites to rhyolites with SiO2 contents higher than reported from any other intraoceanic back-arc basin. On the basis of the highly variable degrees of crystal fractionation along axis, the development of small disconnected magma bodies is suggested. In addition, the geochemical character of the volcanic rocks shows that the transition zone from oceanic spreading to propagating rifting is located south of the Hine Hina vent field in the vicinity of 22°35′S

Expansions in Maternity Leave Coverage and Mothers' Labor Market Outcomes after Childbirth

This article analyzes the impact of five major expansions in maternity leave coverage in Germany on mothers’ labor market outcomes after childbirth. To identify the causal impact of the reforms, we use a difference-in-difference design that compares labor market outcomes of mothers who give birth shortly before and shortly after a change in maternity leave legislation in years of policy changes and years when no changes have taken place. Each expansion in leave coverage reduced mothers’ postbirth employment rates in the short run. The longer-run effects of the expansions on mothers’ postbirth labor market outcomes are, however, small

Effects of ocean acidification and global warming on reef bioerosion—lessons from a clionaid sponge

Coral reefs are under threat, exerted by a number of interacting effects inherent to the present climate change, including ocean acidification and global warming. Bioerosion drives reef degradation by recycling carbonate skeletal material and is an important but understudied factor in this context. Twelve different combinations of pCO2 and temperature were applied to elucidate the consequences of ocean acidification and global warming on the physiological response and bioerosion rates of the zooxanthellate sponge Cliona orientalis—one of the most abundant and effective bioeroders on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Our results confirm a significant amplification of the sponges’ bioerosion capacity with increasing pCO2, which is expressed by more carbonate being chemically dissolved by etching. The health of the sponges and their photosymbionts was not affected by changes in pCO2, in contrast to temperature, which had significant negative impacts at higher levels. However, we could not conclusively explain the relationship between temperature and bioerosion rates, which were slightly reduced at both colder as well as warmer temperatures than ambient. The present findings on the effects of ocean acidification on chemical bioerosion, however, will have significant implications for predicting future reef carbonate budgets, as sponges often contribute the lion’s share of internal bioerosion on coral reefs

Reallocation Effects of the Minimum Wage

We investigate the wage, employment and reallocation effects of the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage in Germany that affected 15% of all employees. Based on identification designs that exploit variation in exposure across individuals and local areas, we find that the minimum wage raised wages, but did not lower employment. It also led to the reallocation of low-wage workers from smaller to larger, from lower- to higher-paying, and from less- to more-productive establishments. This worker upgrading accounts for up to 17% of the wage increase induced by the minimum wage. Moreover, at the regional level, average establishment quality increased in more affected areas in the years following the introduction of the minimum wage

Portable inhalation systemfor a dosed insulin supply

Интенсивная инсулинотерапия необходима для контроля состояния пациентов с диабетом.Несмотря на постоянное усовершенствование инсулинотерапии, все ещ? существует проблема неудобства режимов многократных инъекций инсулина. Целью данной работы является создание системы, позволяющей осуществлять ингаляцию инсулина.Intensive insulin therapy is necessary for the control of a condition diabetic patients. Despite the constant improvement of insulin therapy, there is still the problem of discomfort repeated regimes of insulin injections. The objective of this work is to create a system that allows the inhalation of insulin

Sponge bioerosion accelerated by ocean acidification across species and latitudes?

In many marine biogeographic realms, bioeroding sponges dominate the internal bioerosion of calcareous substrates such as mollusc beds and coral reef framework. They biochemically dissolve part of the carbonate and liberate so-called sponge chips, a process that is expected to be facilitated and accelerated in a more acidic environment inherent to the present global change. The bioerosion capacity of the demosponge Cliona celata Grant, 1826 in subfossil oyster shells was assessed via alkalinity anomaly technique based on 4 days of experimental exposure to three different levels of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO(2)) at ambient temperature in the cold-temperate waters of Helgoland Island, North Sea. The rate of chemical bioerosion at present-day pCO(2) was quantified with 0.08-0.1 kg m(-2) year(-1). Chemical bioerosion was positively correlated with increasing pCO(2), with rates more than doubling at carbon dioxide levels predicted for the end of the twenty-first century, clearly confirming that C. celata bioerosion can be expected to be enhanced with progressing ocean acidification (OA). Together with previously published experimental evidence, the present results suggest that OA accelerates sponge bioerosion (1) across latitudes and biogeographic areas, (2) independent of sponge growth form, and (3) for species with or without photosymbionts alike. A general increase in sponge bioerosion with advancing OA can be expected to have a significant impact on global carbonate (re)cycling and may result in widespread negative effects, e.g. on the stability of wild and farmed shellfish populations, as well as calcareous framework builders in tropical and cold-water coral reef ecosystems