Three Essays on the Labor Market Determinants of Access to Employee Benefits

Three Essays on the Labor Market Determinants of Access to Employee Benefits
Author: Leslie Hodges
Publisher:
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

Because employment is a central social policy goal, policy analysts and policy makers are interested in better understanding whether and how jobs meet people's needs. To contribute to research in this area, this dissertation uses nationally representative survey data and regression analysis to empirically examine how the characteristics of workers and their jobs affect access to employee benefits. The first two essays focus on access to the unemployment insurance program, and the third essay focuses on access to employer provided health insurance coverage, paid leave, and pensions. Together these chapters identify barriers and pathways between employment and benefits after the Great Recession and highlight ways in which policy makers can broaden the protective effects of employment in the new economy.

Three Essays in Empirical Public Economics

Three Essays in Empirical Public Economics
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

This dissertation explores three questions in empirical public economics: we investigate the impact of social networks on labour market outcomes in the first essay; we explore the determinants of volunteering behaviour and estimate the effect of employment on volunteering in the second essay; and we examine the impact of political and fiscal decentralization on public provision in the third essay. In each case, we provide consistent estimates by utilizing an exogenous source of variation in key economic outcomes introduced by randomized policy experiments in the first two essays and by a natural experiment in the third essay. In the first essay, we find that among social networks, weak ties have a significant effect on labour market outcomes but strong ties do not have. In the second essay, we find that employment has a significant effect on volunteering behaviour, and that the effect varies in different contexts and depends on the precise channels through which the two are connected. In the final essay, we find that decentralization has a big effect on public provision. But we also find that decentralization affects different public goods differently, and that the key to its impact lies in the incentives facing politicians at the local level.

Three Essays on Brazilian Social Security Policies, Education and Labor Market

Three Essays on Brazilian Social Security Policies, Education and Labor Market
Author: Priscila Pereira Deliberalli
Publisher:
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2012
Genre: Child labor
ISBN:

The main purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of different public policies on the Brazilian labor market using rigorous econometric techniques to study the Brazilian public sector. A clear theoretical and empirical comprehension is crucial when designing policies to mitigate social problems, as well-intentioned policies may exacerbate the original problems if they are not correctly designed.

Three Essays at the Intersection of Social Theory and Political Economy

Three Essays at the Intersection of Social Theory and Political Economy
Author: Jacob Andrew Powell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 91
Release: 2022
Genre: Economics
ISBN:

This study revisits classic questions of political economy through an interdisciplinary lens, wedding the insights of modern social theory with heterodox political economy. The first chapter synthesizes the economic and sociological literature on wage determination, developing a conceptual apparatus, which is better situated than previous approaches, to understand the factors animating stagnating wages in the United States since the emergence of Neoliberalism. The second chapter applies reflexivity, a method in the sociology of science, to the Phillips curve. In doing so, the implicit biases within both theoretical and empirical approaches to the Phillips curve are elucidated, recognizing the limitations of traditional labor underutilization measures. Alternative labor underutilization measures are constructed using labor market transition rates, which are then used to estimate alternative econometric specifications of the Phillips curve. The results of these estimations are consistent with a flattening of the Phillips curve, expected as a result of declining institutional bargaining power of workers. The chapter finishes highlighting the limitations of the models estimated, commentating on how the literature should approach the Phillips curve going forward. The final chapter, uses path-dependency as a conceptual entry point to problematize the instrumental-ceremonial dichotomy, arguing that ceremonial institutions (culture) must be comprehensively considered in theorizing progressive institutional change, moving beyond an understanding of them as purely “imbecile”. A theory of political mobilization for progressive institutional change is laid out, one which systematically accounts for ceremonial institutions. By using rhetoric as a tool, we can play into ceremonial habits of thought, weaving progressive policy through the ceremonial net to implementation, where its instrumentality can be revealed, and a lock-in can form as constituents become accustomed to the material benefits provided. It is here where a progressive path-dependency is formed.

Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under Volume III: Essays on Ethics, Social Justice and Economics

Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under Volume III: Essays on Ethics, Social Justice and Economics
Author: G. Harcourt
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2016-11-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137475323

Joseph Halevi, G. C. Harcourt, Peter Kriesler and J. W. Nevile bring together a collection of their most influential papers on post-Keynesian thought. Their work stresses the importance of the underlying institutional framework, of the economy as a historical process and, therefore, of path determinacy. In addition, their essays suggest the ultimate goal of economics is as a tool to inform policy and make the world a better place, with better being defined by an overriding concern with social justice. Volume III explores the ethics of economics.

Three Essays in Labor Market Discrimination

Three Essays in Labor Market Discrimination
Author: Jonathan Aaron Lanning
Publisher:
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2006
Genre:
ISBN: 9780542921698

This study comprises three essays exploring labor market discrimination using new data, a new application of an equilibrium search model, and a new game theoretic model of the dynamics of economic discrimination. In the chapter "Testing Standard Theories of Economic Discrimination: Productivity, Prejudice, and Lost Profits During Baseball's Integration" evidence from the integration of white professional baseball is used to explore the empirical dynamics of integration, and in so doing reveal the nature of the discrimination present in that market. An important finding is that owner discrimination appears to be the only traditional model of discrimination present in the market. Estimates of the profits forgone by owners are also generated, and are both statistically significant and substantial. In "Opportunities Denied, Wages Diminished: Using Search Theory to Translate Audit Pair Study Findings Into Wage Differentials," a new application of a search model of discrimination is used to estimate the extent to which documented levels of hiring disparity affect the economic outcomes of job seekers. A key finding is that even seemingly small differences in hiring rates can lead to substantially different realized wages. Perhaps even more important than the findings is the use of a theoretical tool to translate findings from audit studies of the labor market into more relevant metrics. In the third essay "Do Wages Approach Value When Productivity Signals Are Private?" a game theoretic model where only tenure and wages are publicly observable is posited. It is found that wages should converge to productivity even in this market of limited information. The model's predictions are also consistent with the stylized fact that a black-white wage gap persists at the high-skill end of the distribution, yet no "reverse gap" exists at the low-skill end. Additional empirical evidence is offered that is consistent with the dynamics proposed by the model. In combination, these three essays improve upon our understanding of economic discrimination by empirically testing various models of discrimination, translating audit study findings into more relevant metrics, and positing a model of employer learning that incorporates private signals.