The Macroeconomics of the labor market: three fundamental views

We distinguish and assess three fundamental views of the labor market regarding the movements in unempoyment: (i) the frictionless equilibrium view; (ii) the chain reaction theory, or prolonged adjustment view; and (iii) the hysteresis view. While the frictionless view implies a clear compartmentalization between the short- and long-run, the hysteresis view implies that all the short-run fluctuations automatically turn into long-run changes in the unemployment rate. We assert the problems faced by these conceptions in explaining the diversity of labor market experiences across the OECD labor markets. We argue that the prolonged adjustment view can overcome these problems since it implies that the short, medium, and long runs are interrelated, merging with one another along an intertemporal continuum.

Job losses, outsourcing and relocation: Empirical evidence using microdata

Using microdata, we analyse the determinants of firm relocation and conventional outsourcing decisions as a way to reduce employment. The results for a sample of 32 countries show the relevance of factors not considered previously in the literature. Firms that are below average in quality or innovation have a higher propensity to externalise part of their production through outsourcing, while lower relative profitability and longer time to market for new products each imply a higher probability of relocation.

Integració de sistemes en empreses: anàlisi empírica

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada a la University of Alberta, Canada, Estats Units juliol i novembre del 2007. Moltes empreses tenen implantats sistemes de gestió com el de la qualitat, medi ambient o riscos laborals, però es tractava de saber si els gestionaven separadament o de forma integrada i com duien a terme el procés d’integració. El grup de recerca liderat pel professor Dr. Stanislav Karapetrovic va dur a terme recerca teòrica i bàsica aplicada a l’assegurament de la qualitat, concretament a l’estandardització i integració de sistemes de gestió. La metodologia utilitzada va ser aplicar anàlisi multivariant dels resultats d’una enquesta feta a empreses espanyoles durant l’any 2005 (Karapetrovic et al, 2006), i es tractava d’analitzar si les empreses integraven de la mateixa manera o seguien models diferents que les conduïen a resultats diferents. Els resultats del projecte s’han publicat en diferents revistes de difusió i científiques nacionals, i està en revisió en una revista científica internacional, la Journal of Cleaner Production.

Crecimiento del empleo y estructura espacial: el caso de las provincias españolas. 1999 y 2004

En este documento se presenta un estudio acerca de cómo variables de estructura económica y de estructura espacial afectan el crecimiento del empleo en 50 provincias españolas entre los años 1999 y 2004. Para ello, se realiza una estimación global que abarca los sectores de manufacturas y de servicios. Los resultados evidencian economías de urbanización, pero ambigüedad para las economías de localización. Además, variables de estructura espacial como los índices de centralización y concentración resultaron no ser significativos, mientras que el porcentaje de empleo disperso y en subcentros explican ampliamente el modelo además de alcanzar su signo esperado

Los salarios de los inmigrantes en el mercado de trabajo español. ¿Importa el origen del capital humano?

El objetivo del trabajo es analizar el papel de los diferentes componentes del capital humano como determinantes de los ingresos de los inmigrantes recientes en el mercado de trabajo español. A partir de los microdatos de la Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes 2007, se examina la rentabilidad del capital humano de este colectivo, distinguiendo el adquirido en origen del acumulado en destino, así como el impacto salarial de la situación documental. La evidencia obtenida muestra que el capital humano adquirido en España tiene una mayor rentabilidad marginal que el acumulado en origen, lo que refleja la limitada transferibilidad de este último. La única excepción se da en el caso de los inmigrantes procedentes de países desarrollados o que han estudiado en España, independientemente de su procedencia, los cuales obtienen una rentabilidad de sus estudios –incluso de aquéllos cursados en origen– comparativamente elevada. Una situación legal en España está asociada, por su parte, con una sustancial prima salarial positiva (15%). Por último, el conjunto de la evidencia confirma la presencia de una fuerte heterogeneidad, tanto en la rentabilidad de las diferentes formas de capital humano como en la magnitud de la prima por trabajar legalmente, en función de la zona de origen de los inmigrantes.

Desigualdad de rentas y desigualdad de oportunidad en España

Este trabajo proporciona una medición empírica de la desigualdad de renta del trabajo atribuible a la desigualdad de oportunidad entre la población ocupada de España. Esta medición se basa en estimar una ecuación de rentas del trabajo por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios y por variables instrumentales con el fin de controlar por el posible sesgo de endogeneidad de la variable de educación. Los resultados permiten seleccionar el método de los mínimos cuadrados ordinarios para estimar las ecuaciones de rentas del trabajo para cinco cohortes de edad. Así, se mide la magnitud de la desigualdad de oportunidad en España, sus principales determinantes y su evolución a lo largo del ciclo de vida. Asimismo se emplean índices de desigualdad para calcular la reducción de la desigualdad de renta del trabajo que se obtendría si se cumpliera la igualdad de oportunidad, y para evaluar cuales son las circunstancias que más impactarían en esta reducción.

The Black Box of Business Dynamics

Research in business dynamics has been advancing rapidly in the last years but the translation of the new knowledge to industrial policy design is slow. One striking aspect in the policy area is that although research and analysis do not identify the existence of an specific optimal rate of business creation and business exit, governments everywhere have adopted business start-up support programs with the implicit principle that the more the better. The purpose of this article is to contribute to understand the implications of the available research for policy design. Economic analysis has identified firm heterogeneity as being the most salient characteristic of industrial dynamics, and so a better knowledge of the different types of entrepreneur, their behavior and their specific contribution to innovation and growth would enable us to see into the ‘black box’ of business dynamics and improve the design of appropriate public policies. The empirical analysis performed here shows that not all new business have the same impact on relevant economic variables, and that self-employment is of quite a different economic nature to that of firms with employees. It is argued that public programs should not promote indiscriminate entry but rather give priority to able entrants with survival capacities. Survival of entrants is positively related to their size at birth. Innovation and investment improve the likelihood of survival of new manufacturing start-ups. Investment in R&D increases the risk of failure in new firms, although it improves the competitiveness of incumbents.

Small firms, growth and financial constraints

This paper analyses the impact of different sources of finance on the growth of firms. Using panel data from Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 2000-2006, we investigate the effects of internal and external finances on firm growth. In particular, we examine three dimensions of these financial sources: a) the performance of the firms’ capital structure in accordance with firm size; b) the effects of internal and external financial sources on growth performance; c) the combined effect of equity, external debt and cash flow on firm growth. We find that low-growth firms are sensitive to cash flow and short-term bank debt, while high-growth firms are more sensitive to long-term debt. Furthermore, equity capital seems to reduce barriers to external finance. Our main conclusion is that during the start-up phase, firms are unable to increase their financial leverage and so their capital structure fails to promote correct investment strategies. However, as their equity capital increases, alternative financial mechanisms, in particular long-term debt, become available, which have a positive impact on firm growth.

Empleabilidad y Adaptabilidad de los jóvenes con inteligencia límite y sus procesos de integración laboral: Hacia un modelo de formación y de orientación para su inserción en el mundo del trabajo

ii. Aquest estudi planteja un model de formació i d'orientació per la millora de l’empleabilitat i l’adaptabilitat d’un grup especialment vulnerable, els joves amb intel•ligència límit, a partir d’un procés de detecció de necessitats de les competències bàsiques i laborals exigides pel mercat de treball. El model sorgeix de l’estudi dels programes i actuacions de formació i d’orientació que els serveis locals d’ocupació i/o d'integració laboral dissenyen i desenvolupen per la inserció laboral dels joves amb intel•ligència límit en el mercat de treball obert i competitiu.

Human capital spillovers, productivity and regional convergence in Spain

This paper analyses the differential impact of human capital, in terms of different levels of schooling, on regional productivity and convergence. The potential existence of geographical spillovers of human capital is also considered by applying spatial panel data techniques. The empirical analysis of Spanish provinces between 1980 and 2007 confirms the positive impact of human capital on regional productivity and convergence, but reveals no evidence of any positive geographical spillovers of human capital. In fact, in some specifications the spatial lag presented by tertiary studies has a negative effect on the variables under consideration.

Migration and trade: Theory with an Application to the Eastern- Western European Integration

The remarkable increase in trade flows and in migratory flows of highly educated people are two important features of globalization of the last decades. This paper extends a two-country model of inter- and intraindustry trade to a rich environment featuring technological differences, skill differences and the possibility of international labor mobility. The model is used to explain the patterns of trade and migration as countries remove barriers to trade and to labor mobility. We parameterize the model to match the features of the Western and Eastern European members of the EU and analyze first the effects of the trade liberalization which occured between 1989 and 2004, and then the gains and losses from migration which are expected to occur if legal barriers to labor mobility are substantially reduced. The lower barriers to migration would result in significant migration of skilled workers from Eastern European countries. Interestingly, this would not only benefit the migrants and most Western European workers but, via trade, it would also benefit the workers remaining in Eastern Europe. Key Words: Skilled Migration, Gains from Variety, Real Wages, Eastern-Western Europe. JEL Codes: F12, F22, J61.

Risk Attitude And Wage Growth: Replication And Reconstruction

We replicate Shaw (1996) who found that individual wage growth is higher for individuals with greater preference for risk taking. Expanding her dataset with more American observations and data for Germany, Spain and Italy, we find mixed support for the earlier results. We present and estimate a new model and find that in particular the wage level is sensitive to attitudes towards risk taking. Comments given at the Labour Economics Conference in honour of Niels Westergaard (Nyborg, August 2008) and EALE 2008 (Amsterdam) and at seminars in Maastricht,Reus and Essen (RWI) are gratefully acknowledged. The authors also acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number SEJ2007-66318) and from the Barcelona Economics Program of CREA. JEL code: J24; J30. Key words: wage growth, risk, post-school investment.

Which firms want PhDs? The effect of the university-industry relationship on the PhD labour market

PhD graduates hold the highest education degree, are trained to conduct research and can be considered a key element in the creation, commercialization and diffusion of innovations. The impact of PhDs on innovation and economic development takes place through several channels such as the accumulation of scientific capital stock, the enhancement of technology transfers and the promotion of cooperation relationships in innovation processes. Although the placement of PhDs in industry provides a very important mechanism for transmitting knowledge from universities to firms, information about the characteristics of the firms that employ PhDs is very scarce. The goal of this paper is to improve understanding of the determinants of the demand for PhDs in the private sector. Three main potential determinants of the demand for PhDs are considered: cooperation between firms and universities, R&D activities of firms and several characteristics of firms, size, sector, productivity and age. The results from the econometric analysis show that cooperation between firms and universities encourages firms to recruit PhDs and point to the existence of accumulative effects in the hiring of PhD graduates.

Costes y beneficios de los inmigrantes a la Seguridad Social

El present treball de final de carrera pretén poder arribar a la conclusió de si els immigrants són per a Espanya un benefici o al contrari un cost. Per a això utilitzarem les diverses fonts estadístiques de què disposem, que ens ajudaran a ponderar si amb la immigració hi ha un benefici net o no. Aquest treball també pretén donar resposta a diverses creences populars que hi ha sobre el col.lectiu d’immigrants, tals com que “els immigrants ens treuen llocs de treball” o que “els immigrants no contribueixen a la Seguretat Social” entre d’altres. Dedicarem un apartat per parlar dels sectors i activitats laborals en els quals s’insereix la población immigrant. També ens referirem a un tema important com és l’economia submergida i el tràfic de persones. I per finalitzar el treball analitzarem l’actual crisis financiera i les seves repercusions en la migració. Dedicarem un apartat per parlar del retorn dels immigrants als seus països d’origen i donarem resposta a si el retorn és una opció positiva o més aviat negativa per sortir de la crisis financiera, i les repercusions que té l’esmentat retorn tant a curt termini com a llarg termini.