摘要:

Abstract.The paper discusses the relationship between labor economics' segmentation theory and the polarization theories of regional economics. It is argued that labor market segmentation and regional disparities are fundamentally related and that one is both cause and consequence of the other. The argument is developed around the locational requirements of various functions of entreprises on the one hand and worker's schooling and migration decisions on the other. As can be shown, interregional labor mobility that is usually considered to be an important factor in equilibrating regional disparities enforces the interregional differentiation in a model allowing for a segmented labor market. The paper closes with reference of a few fundamental hypotheses that can be derived from the model and cites empirical evidence supporting this view.

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00026.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.This article focuses on workers who permanently lost their jobs for involuntary reasons in Spain. We use a 1985 representative survey of the Spanish labor force containing retrospective questions related to workers' mobility. We evaluate several characteristics of job losers, as compared to other unemployed workers with experience by the end of 1985. Thereafter, an analysis of job losses addresses the following questions: (1) What types of jobs were lost? (2) How did workers perform after their job loss? (3) How long have they been out of work? (4) What are the characteristics of the new jobs found?

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00027.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.This essay offers an empirical analysis of the effects of technical change on skill. Firstly, with the increasing diffusion of more and more mechanization and, in this decade, with the advent of microelectronics, this theme has been widely debated both in theory and in empirical analyses. These latter are usually based on a measurement of skill in terms of the parameters adopted in the job evaluation. My critique to that approach is both on the job evaluation criteria adopted, and on the unclear distinction between quantitative and qualitative effects of technical change on labour requirements. The following analysis will show the importance of that distinction in interpreting data.The case study is the production of ceramic tiles in Italy. The analysis is articulated in three parts. The first discusses an indicator of technical level of ceramic tile production. This indicator refers to the ‘scale of mechanization’ proposed by Bright in 1958. The oldest and the most up‐to‐date techniques in use in the early 1980's are compared with regard both to the level of mechanization and to the number of workers required at each task at factory level. This analysis is the premiss for the distinction between quantitative and qualitative effects of technical change. This—together with the discussion of a measurement of skill based on job content—is examined in the second part. The conclusion of the case study and a critical analysis of the main contributions on this topic are in the

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00028.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.In recent years, labour economics has been the area of study of most interest to economists, both from the theoretical and practical perspectives. The new field of labour microeconomics and the resultant new approaches that have arisen are a fundamental part of what has recently been called ‘microeconomic foundations’. Despite the newness of this topic, recent developments are in fact the result of phenomena recognized throughout the history of economic thought.This paper begins by analyzing the historical and theoretical origins of labour economics, and provides an overview of labour economics theory during the 1960s. 1970s and 1980s. It goes on to examine the relation between the labour market and technological innovation, and labour policy measures at the microeconomic and macroeconomic levels. Finally, it underscores the need for a theoretical construct that sets Keynesian and neoclassical explanations of unemployment in the same framework as demographic, social, institutional, time and economic fact

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00029.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.The paper analyses, within a game theoretic approach, the consequences on private employment and real wages of a government policy of raising unemployment benefits following a fall in employment. The effects of such a policy are then compared with those arising from a more conventional demand policy. Under the policy regime described the reaction of the unions will cause, when the economy is hit by a negative shock on employment, a tendency for the real wage to rise and for private employment to decrease further. As far as the comparison of such policy with a policy of direct employment by the government is concerned we have reached the following conclusions. A policy based on unemployment benefit will give rise to a smaller increase in the real wage than a policy based on public employment if the change in the marginal utility of being employed due to change in the unemployment benefit is smaller than the utility that the union will obtain from an extra employed person. Moreover it appears that a policy based on unemployment benefits has a smaller negative effect on private employment, than a policy based on direct employment. if such a policy is adopted just after an employment benefits represent also a subsidy to the firms. We have shown that the effects on the real wage of the Policy rule considered are in this case stronger. The effects on employment depend on the relative strength of the union reaction and of the policy's supply side effects.

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00030.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.This paper analyzes the evolution of theCassa integrazione guadagni(CIG), according to 7 different theoretical models, which offer a classification for the different cases of application that have developed since its introduction, as well as for the many policy targets pursued by the Public Authorities.Then an assessment of the economic role of CIG is attempted, divided into three separate sections. The first is aimed at evaluating the economic long‐term effect on macro performance, where the crucial balance is between a “crowding‐out effect” on private investment and a “profit‐maintenance effect” by lowering the effective wage rate. The second section approaches the employment consequences of the CIG by examining a second crucial balance: that between the protection granted to the employed and the obstacles raised for the employment of the non‐employed (above all, freezing workers' turnover). This issue is tackled too in terms of the insider‐outsider theory, showing the possible relevance of CIG in segmenting the labour market and keeping the wage rate dynamics.Finally the paper briefly examines the profound revision of the CIG recently approved by the Italian Parliament, aimed at avoiding excessive costs while enhancin

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00031.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.During the last decade, labour relations in the public service have been subject to pressures for change, less direct, given their protected character, than in the private sector, but not less strong.The main factors of change are (only) in part common to those operating in private sector labour relations: economic constraints and budgetary restrictions, coupled with a general reaction toward the ‘public’ in general have put pressure on employment whose costs represent the major part of public expenditures; the need for greater productivity and efficiency has been increasing in order to reduce labour costs and (possibly) meet the growing demand for (social) services; technological innovations (office automation. computerization and the like) are spreading; the impact of the international competition has begun to be felt not only indirectly via constraints on the state budgets but directly in those sectors of public services which can be somehow ‘transportable’ across borders and hence exposed to foreign initiatives (public works, TLC, to some extent health services.All these factors are emphasized by the European unification process which has already introduced limits in the monetary and financial autonomy of the member

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00032.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.In this paper a new algorithm is proposed in order to produce an automatic dynamic compound estimator of the labour force based on an interactive scheme. The proposed algorithm, JARES, is based on the probability estimator of Jaynes based on the notion of maximum entropy of a given probability distribution with a constraint on the average of an external information.The iterative scheme is based on the solution of a set of linear equations which represent the algebraic relationships between the weights and the estimates.

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00033.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract.This paper tests the hypothesis that the high variability of the real input prices (especially real wage) coefficients in the empirical employment equations reflects structural characteristics of the economy considered, namely the balance of power between trade unions and fums. A dynamic equation with output, real wage and real prices of raw materials as explanatory variables is estimated using Italian manufacturing industry data 1970‐1984. The model appears to be well specified and consistent with the literature. However, extensive parameter stability analysis yields results compatible with the view of the employment equation as structurally unstable. The fact that the equation appeared to be well specified and representative arouses the suspicion that other equations for different periods and economies could be equally unstabl

ISSN:1121-7081    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9914.1991.tb00034.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1991

数据来源: WILEY