Questions tagged [labor-economics]
Labor economics is the branch of microeconomics that studies labor markets and its peculiarities. Labor economists usually study topics such as career choice, returns to schooling, determinants of labor productivity, wages, gender and racial gaps.
364
questions
1
vote
1answer
45 views
"Normal" vs "actual" variables in empirical work
In an early OECD study by Deppler and Ripley (1978), the authors distinguish between output per man hour, $OMH$, and what they call "Normal" output per man-hour, $NOMH$.
(table 2, p152)
At no point ...
1
vote
2answers
47 views
Effects of Robotics on the overall marginal propensity to consume
Basically we know that poor and middle class workers have a high marginal propensity to consume as compared to rich people. Assuming that all of their jobs will be done by robots, and only a few ...
1
vote
1answer
79 views
Theoretical/Empirical Arguments for Migrant Workers in the US
Consider the events that are developing in the US with regards to labor-intensive manual work and migrant workers. If more and more migrant workers are banished from the work pool, it remains a highly ...
2
votes
1answer
45 views
Effects on transit system shutdown based on local workforce end-of-day times?
I'm curious if there are any studies based on logistics and economics of shutting down the bus/transit system before the general population's working class can go home.
For example, the small town I ...
3
votes
1answer
333 views
Exam question implies that a perfect labour market can have wage differentials?
My understanding is that wage differentials should not exist in a perfect labour market for occupations, but the following exam question seems to imply that this can be the case. A brief marking ...
1
vote
2answers
85 views
Literature request: Any articles on the signalling theory / game theory / asymmetric information of the firms' recruiting process?
I'd like to read more about the recruiting process of firms. Signalling theory and game theory can be a useful tool to better understand this phenomena.
For example:
Applicants, who ask for higher ...
0
votes
1answer
63 views
Understanding the effects of government deficit on international trade
Understand that I'm a total novice with regard to economics. Also, while I ultimately have an axe to grind (doesn't everyone?) I'm not trying to do that honing here, I'm simply looking for a sanity ...
1
vote
1answer
133 views
In a context of globalisation and high wage inequality, why should governments help unskilled workers?
With globalisation, wage inequality continues to be a strong issue for many developed nations.
What I seek to find out here is, why should we even do anything to help the unskilled workers?
From ...
1
vote
0answers
83 views
How can I model immigration and xenophobia economically using these equations?
I'm trying to put together a toy model for immigration ($I$), labor prices ($w$), and a measure of xenophobic/nationalistic sentiment ($A$). What I've come up with so far is the following:
$$\frac{dI}...
1
vote
2answers
554 views
Are American poverty rates increasing? What about global poverty rates
http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-people.html
I have heard numerous times that the future has gotten better. ...
4
votes
1answer
293 views
Difference between Value-Added TFP and Gross-Output TFP?
I am working with EU-KLEMS data, and I am using TFP growth as a proxy for technological change. However, there are 2 variables for TFP - TFP based on Gross Output and TFP based on Value Added.
I ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Question about skill-biased technical change, Acemoglu
I am writing about skill-biased technical change, and in particular the 2001 Acemoglu (http://economics.mit.edu/files/283) paper on the topic, in which there is a part I am very stuck on.
In the ...
2
votes
2answers
144 views
Do wages differ in two perfectly competitive labour markets?
I understand that within a single labour market, the wages would be the same between two workers as firms and workers are both wage takers, but what about when there is more than one perfectly ...
4
votes
3answers
629 views
Is the labor force participation rate related more to labour supply or to labour demand? Or both?
I have read several Labor Economics books, but I am stuck. Is the labor force participation rate related more to the labour supply or to the labour demand?
If the labor force participation rate ...
-2
votes
1answer
78 views
Labor market supply optimization [closed]
How do I optimise this type of problem?
I have read something about applying the chain rule to find the first order condition but can't imagine how to express it or solve it.
Can somebody give me a ...
2
votes
1answer
208 views
Welfare analysis for a military draft
How would the welfare analysis of a military draft look? My intuition tells me that it would look similar to a price ceiling below the equilibrium, with the exception that suppliers (civilians) are ...
1
vote
1answer
163 views
Effect of changing Non Labor Income on Consumption-Leisure problem
Given a Utility function $U(c,l) = c - \frac{1}{2}l^2$ , where $c$ is the consumption and $l$ is the number of hours of labour. Let $L$ be the maximum amount of labor, so the amount of leisure is $L - ...
7
votes
3answers
192 views
When and why women left the labour market?
It is well documented that women in now developed countries entered the labour market all thoughout the 20th century. As such, female labour participation have consistently increased. For example, ...
4
votes
6answers
738 views
In GDP growth studies, are factors of production measured as stock or flows?
Consider the following cases:
One machine (capital) is used by multiple producers within one year. For instance, farmers renting tractors from the same company. In this case, in terms of GDP, there ...
9
votes
0answers
369 views
Local and Central Wage Bargaining: What Is the Difference?
Consider the following setting:
Profit maximizing firms with production functions $\Pi(w,L)$, where $w$ is the wage and $L$ is employment.
Unions who want to maximize the expected utility of their ...
7
votes
3answers
170 views
Why don't prices of USA labor and Mexican labor equalise?
That Mexicans workers get paid less US workers is a dynamic which motivates the moving of production to Mexico. This idea can be abstracted to Developed Markets (DM) labor and Emerging Markets (EM) ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Revenue maximization same as increase contribution margins?
Under which condition, will it be the same whether you choose to use revenue maximization or to increase contribution margins? In what industry is this possible?
In my thought process, I was ...
-1
votes
1answer
47 views
What is the maximal theoretically possible wage increase here and now (ceteris paribus)? [closed]
Labour unions are pushing for wage increase but what is maximal theoretically possible wage increase here and now - without restructuring production, processes and without introduction of new ...
6
votes
2answers
120 views
Minimum Wage effects on Adjacent Cities
When a city like Seattle raises the minimum wage to 15/hr, how does it affect the labor market in adjacent cities?
Are there examples, studies or accepted practices to address: Difficulty staffing ...
2
votes
1answer
58 views
Directed search with privately informed buyers and capacities
My question seems to be a basic one and there should be a rather well-known reference in the (IO or labor) search literature.
I will upvote (and comment on) any relevant answer and I will accept an ...
4
votes
1answer
153 views
Endogenous Gentrification and Rates of Return to Education
Gentrification is, roughly speaking, the displacement or exclusion of poor people from areas with improved amenities due to higher rents and costs of living. The question I have is whether better ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
Why does the Federal Reserve seem to hold so much weight on the unemployment rate, relative to labor participation?
The title is the question.
In the press conference held yesterday, the Chair referenced "unemployment" 18 times, relative to "participation" 3 times. If the labor participation is at the lowest ...
7
votes
1answer
104 views
Testing Roberts's Law: data request on CEO pay and company characteristics
I posted here regarding sources for Roberts's Law.
In this paper it gives a clear qualification of what Roberts's law is. (Page 9, ...Cross-sectional prediction..)
..In a given year, the ...
1
vote
1answer
50 views
Restrictions on goods and capital, but freedom of labour movement
I recently had a discussion with a left-wing friend in the UK about about Brexit, and the possible repercussions of restriction of labour when the UK leaves Europe. He argued that as someone who is ...
0
votes
2answers
933 views
Why are vacancy rate and unemployment rate negatively correlated?
Why is this the case?
Since Vacancy rate is defined as following,
let $A,Q,U$ denote number of vacancies in the economy, labor force, unemployed respectively.
$$\frac{A}{A+Q-U}$$
Here we can see ...
3
votes
0answers
19 views
References for estimating lifetime earnings lost due to caregiving (health economics)
I am working on a project on the productivity costs for caregivers of people with Disease X, a degenerative disease that affects mobility over time. I am looking for references, either scholarly ...
1
vote
2answers
72 views
How to explain these two discrepancies between BLS OES wage data and salaries of pro athletes?
I refer to the Occupational Employment Statistics published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2015 edition.
Under occupation title "Athletes and Sports Competitors" (27-2021), we have the ...
2
votes
0answers
12 views
Why is three weeks of increasing jobless claims significant?
I see stories like this one on occasion in my news feed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/jobless-claims-in-u-s-decline-for-first-time-in-three-weeks
Mainstream news outlets never ...
3
votes
3answers
6k views
What are the causes of increase in productivity of labour?
This question has a specific context.
While reading Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, edited, with notes and marginal summary by Edwin Cannan in 1904, one comes across the following lines on the ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Sample weights in Stata: fweight vs. pweight
I'm working with IPUMS ACS and Census data in Stata. I'm interested in learning about income distributions and variability for specific subpopulations defined by education level, occupation, race and ...
1
vote
0answers
49 views
Can the Goodwin Model of cyclical labor growth be applied in a micro context to specific industries?
I have been doing a bit of research into the Goodwin Model (1967), which generates cycles of economic activity. I understand that this is mostly used in macroeconomics. However, I am curious if this ...
7
votes
2answers
109 views
How can median wages be significantly different in two neighboring countries with open borders?
As an example, take Germany and Czech Republic. Both are members of the EU and therefore trade barriers between the two countries are minimal. However the median salary in Germany is nearly 3 times as ...
1
vote
0answers
33 views
Formal terminology for positive and negative correlation between ability of workers for different jobs?
Say there are two occupations - A and B, and plenty of workers. Let's pick occupation A, and order workers from lowest to highest ability/productivity. Which is the formal term to describe the ...
2
votes
4answers
3k views
How does the professional class fit into Marx and Engel's class struggle theory?
I know that in the first part of The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engles discuss at length the relationship between the Bourgeois and the Proletarians. The former being the owners of the means of ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
Studying growth in US and Sweden, what variables should I watch out for in a regression? [closed]
I've be assigned a project on growth paradigms in US vs Sweden as part of my introductory course in econ. Can somebody please help me out with regression ideas?
10
votes
1answer
620 views
What are the economic perspectives regarding the game of salary negotiations?
Apologies if I use non-economic language to explain what I suspect is a practical application of economics. I have no formal education in economics whatsoever but hoping you guys/girls might be able ...
1
vote
1answer
24 views
What are the different patterns/quantity of employment according to demands of different income ranges?
I don't really have that much knowledge on economics or anything, so perhaps that's something I'd find an answer if I just knew the adequate terminology.
Rephrasing/explaining my question: different ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
Controling the level of hours worked in the multiplicative formulation of KPR
KPR preferences are generally given by
$$ \frac{c^{1-\sigma}}{1-\sigma} \cdot v(l)$$
with $l$ being leisure. Let's focus on the case where $\sigma \in (0, 1)$, where we know that $v(l)$ must be ...
0
votes
3answers
12k views
Why does the real wage = W/P?
Im reading about labour markets, and the notes mention that the real wage 'w' = W/P, where W = the nominal wage, and P = the price level. Could someone please use some 'W' and 'P' as an example to ...
3
votes
1answer
309 views
Why the difference in productivity and wage trend in the UK economy?
In reading this article from FT, we come across two graphs:
and
Shouldn't real wages have a similar trend to productivity? Why was there that discrepancy since the 2009 until 2014? Maybe some other ...
0
votes
0answers
122 views
Graphing Volunteer labour Supply
I'm wondering if there is a method by which we can visualize a firms decision to rely on volunteer labour. I have an idea but I'm unsure if it is correct, please tell me if there is an issue with my ...
1
vote
1answer
82 views
Is the study of the volunteer sector inappropriate for a labour economist?
In the basics of labour economics the driving factor for increase in labour supply (for the workers in a given market) is increase in wages.
The volunteer sector consists of general and skilled ...
3
votes
4answers
141 views
Teaching ethics and its Economic value
Is there any literature that considers the benefits of ethical behaviour or teachings in Economics in terms of its value added to human capital?
If there is no difference in value added, then is ...
1
vote
0answers
55 views
Identify absolute ability from a wage equation
Consider a simple model where the wage of a worker $i$ in period $t$ is:
$$w_{it} = \theta_{t} a_{i}$$
where $\theta_{t}$ is the wage rate or efficiency wage per unit of ability, and $a_{i}$ is the ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
How does low population growth increase the effect of accumulated wealth
This passage comes from page 10 of the translation of Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty First Century:
If the rates of population and productivity growth are relatively low,
then ...
