After Slavery: Race, Labor and Citizenship in the Reconstruction South

an edited collection of essays exploring the variety of experiences of freedpeople in the post-emancipation United States. Co-edited by Brian Kelly and Bruce E. Baker, with an afterword by Eric Foner.

Eric Reece, society, Labor and developmentalism in Tasmania, 1900-1975

The thesis examines the life and times of former union organiser and Tasmanian ALP Premier, Eric Reece. It analyses the historical and biographical forces shaping state Labor politics in twentieth century Australia and investigates the ideologies of development, progress and environmentalism in Tasmania.

Victorian Labor and the environment : a legacy to be proud of?

From October 1999 through to November 2010, Victoria was governed by Australian Labor Party (ALP) led governments. The ALP‟s defeat at the November 2010 election provides the opportunity to take stock of their policy achievements in the environmental domain, with a particular focus on how the concept of sustainability was considered in the strategic directions pursued and policy and institutional reforms introduced. In assessing their performance, the context within which the ALP governed is considered, an account of the policy trajectory of their three terms in government provided, and the adequacy of this trajectory assessed. While the analysis is focused on Victoria, the lessons drawn may have wider relevance.

Leave entitlements, time off work and the household financial impacts of quarantine compliance during an H1N1 outbreak

Background The Australian state of Victoria, with 5.2 million residents, enforced home quarantine during a H1N1 pandemic in 2009. The strategy was targeted at school children. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which parents’ access to paid sick leave or paid carer’s leave was associated with (a) time taken off work to care for quarantined children, (b) household finances, and (c) compliance with quarantine recommendations. Methods We conducted an online and telephone survey of households recruited through 33 schools (85% of eligible schools), received 314 responses (27%), and analysed the subsample of 133 households in which all resident parents were employed. Results In 52% of households, parents took time off work to care for quarantined children. Households in which no resident parent had access to leave appeared to be less likely to take time off work (42% vs 58%, p=0.08) although this difference had only borderline significance. Among parents who did take time off work, those in households without access to leave were more likely to lose pay (73% vs 21%, p<0.001). Of the 26 households in which a parent lost pay due to taking time off work, 42% experienced further financial consequences such as being unable to pay a bill. Access to leave did not predict compliance with quarantine recommendations. Conclusions Future pandemic plans should consider the economic costs borne by households and options for compensating quarantined families for income losses.

Time-varying herding behavior, global financial crisis, and the Chinese stock market

In this paper, we examine the evidence of herding behavior on the Chinese stock market. Our main findings are as follows. First, we find strong evidence of herding behavior on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Second, we document evidence of asymmetric herding behavior with greater magnitude of herding behavior on up markets than on down markets. Third, our findings suggest that herding behavior is sector-specific and predominant in the industrial and properties sectors. Finally, we unravel strong evidence suggesting that herding behavior is time-varying and in some sectors time-varying herding behavior is more prevalent than in other sectors.

The causal effect of family size on child labor and education

This paper investigates the causal relationship between family size and child labor and education among brazilian children. More especifically, it analyzes the impact of family size on child labor, school attendance, literacy and school progression. It explores the exogenous variation in family size driven by the presence of twins in the family. The results are consistent under the reasonable assumption that the instrument is a random event. Using the nationally representative brazilian household survey (Pnad), detrimental effects are found on child labor for boys. Moreover, significant effects are obtained for school progression for girls caused by the exogenous presence of the young siblings in the household.

Skilled labor, unskilled labor, and economic growth

We assess the effects of the imperfect substitution between skilled and unskilled labor on economic growth in a model in which physical capital and skilled labor can be accumulated. It is shown that economies with higher substitutability between skilled and unskilled labor have higher levels of income per capita in the transition and in the long-run equilibrium. Furthermore, these economies have a higher level of skilled labor and a higher level of capital intensity in the long-run equilibrium. For certain parameters values, the speed of convergence depends positively on the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled labor.

The long-term effects of conditional cash transfers on child labor and school enrollment

This paper investigates the long-term e ects of conditional cash transfers on school attainment and child labor. To this end, we construct a dynamic heterogeneous agent model, calibrate it with Brazilian data, and introduce a policy similar to the Brazilian Bolsa Fam lia. Our results suggest that this type of policy has a very strong impact on educational outcomes, sharply increasing primary school completion. The conditional transfer is also able to reduce the share of working children from 22% to 17%. We then compute the transition to the new steady state and show that the program actually increases child labor over the short run, because the transfer is not enough to completely cover the schooling costs, so children have to work to be able to comply with the program's schooling eligibility requirement. We also evaluate the impacts on poverty, inequality, and welfare.