For decades, institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO, OECD, US Congress, and EU have encouraged developing countries to adopt trade liberalization to improve their people's welfare and eventually achieve developed country status. In a comparative analysis to examine trade liberalization's impact on labor, this study found that while Chile and Mexico pursued very similar trade liberalization policies, their outcomes were extraordinarily different. Chile now holds the title as the world's model liberalizer while Mexico continues to struggle to liberalize. Chile's effective use of government intervention to absorb adjustment costs determined its success. This study challenges trade theory's dogma against government intervention and concludes with explicit strategies for hoe developing countries can enact targeted social programs and measures to absorb trade liberalization's painful adjustment costs. Trade liberalization can bring prosperity and opportunities for a country, as long as it is paired with effective government intervention to absorb a degree of adjustment costs.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 21, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Este artigo tem como objetivo verificar se há assimetria na rigidez de preços e de salários na economia brasileira; ou seja, se os agentes da economia são mais rígidos para baixo ou para cima para ajustarem seus preços e salários. Além disso, realiza-se a análise dos efeitos da política monetária e fiscal na dinâmica da economia. Para isso, utiliza-se um modelo Dinâmico Estocástico de Equilíbrio Geral (DSGE) não linear com custos de ajustamento assimétricos de preços e de salários com base no trabalho de Aruoba, Bocola e Schorfheide (2013). Esse modelo pode gerar rigidez de preços e de salários para baixo (ou para cima) que podem gerar não linearidades fortes. Diante da não linearidade gerada por esses aspectos, o modelo é solucionado através de um método de solução não linear e os seus parâmetros são estimados com a ajuda do Filtro de Partículas. O resultado encontrado é que tanto os preços quanto os salários nominais são mais rígidos para baixo e essas assimetrias na rigidez influenciam a dinâmica da economia quando esta sofre choques de política monetária e fiscal. / The objective of this article is to verify if there is asymmetry in the rigidity of prices and wages for the Brazilian economy; i.e. if the economic agents are more rigid downward or upward when adjusting their prices and wages. In addition, it performs the analysis of the effects of monetary and fiscal policy in the dynamics of the economy. For this, it uses a nonlinear model of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) with asymmetric adjustment costs in prices and wages based on the work of Aruoba, Bocola and Schorfheide (2013). This model can generate prices and wages rigidity downward (or upward) that can produce strong nonlinearities. Considering the non-linearity generated by these aspects, the model is solved through a non-linear solution method and its parameters are estimated with the help of Particle Filter. The obtained result is that both prices and nominal wages are more rigid downwards and these asymmetries in rigidity influence the dynamics of the economy when it suffers shocks from monetary and fiscal policies.

This thesis is an effort to advance our knowledge and understanding of the role that labor plays in shaping corporate financial policies and how it is in turn affected by considerations related to firms' financing. I present three essays on the interaction between finance and labor. First, I provide two examples of how labor affects financial decisions, in which I investigate the impacts that commitment to employee welfare and reliance on skilled labor have on cash management policies. Next, I examine the effect of ownership structure on labor investment decisions as an example of how finance affects human capital. In the first essay, I examine the relation between employee welfare practices and corporate cash holdings. Consistent with the predictions of the stakeholder theory, I find firms that are strongly committed to employee welfare, measured by ratings on employee relations, to hold more cash. The effect of employee welfare standards on cash holdings is stronger for firms in human-capital-intensive, competitive, and low turnover industries in which employees are more important to their businesses. The findings highlight the importance of human capital and employee-friendly practices as an overlooked determinant of cash holdings and suggest that managers can use cash to signal their financial health to current and potential employees, thereby increasing their competitiveness in labor markets. The second essay examines whether a firm's dependence on skilled labor affects its cash holdings. Consistent with a precautionary motive to accumulate cash when higher labor adjustment costs slow a firm's labor demand reaction to cash flow shocks, I find robust evidence that companies with higher shares of skilled labor hold more cash. The effect of skilled labor on cash holdings is more pronounced for firms that are financially constrained, attach higher values to their human capital, operate in competitive product markets, and belong to industries characterized by high labor mobility. The findings suggest that labor heterogeneity, and in particular the skill level of workers is an important determinant of corporate cash policies. The results provide managers of firms, particularly those that are financially constrained, with insights on how to minimize their labor adjustment costs and reduce the risk of losing their valuable human capital. In my third essay, I examine whether the presence of long-term institutional investors, who typically have strong monitoring incentives, can help mitigate agency conflicts associated with firms' employment choices. I find that abnormal net hiring, measured as the absolute deviation from net hiring predicted by economic fundamentals, decreases in the presence of institutional investors with longer investment horizons. Firms dominated by long-term shareholders reduce both over-investment (over-hiring and under-firing) and under-investment in labor (under-hiring).The monitoring role of long-term investors is more pronounced for firms facing higher labor adjustment costs. These findings suggest that institutional investors play an important role in firm-level employment decisions.

Este artigo tem como objetivo verificar se há assimetria na rigidez de preços e de salários na economia brasileira; ou seja, se os agentes da economia são mais rígidos para baixo ou para cima para ajustarem seus preços e salários. Além disso, realiza-se a análise dos efeitos da política monetária e fiscal na dinâmica da economia. Para isso, utiliza-se um modelo Dinâmico Estocástico de Equilíbrio Geral (DSGE) não linear com custos de ajustamento assimétricos de preços e de salários com base no trabalho de Aruoba, Bocola e Schorfheide (2013). Esse modelo pode gerar rigidez de preços e de salários para baixo (ou para cima) que podem gerar não linearidades fortes. Diante da não linearidade gerada por esses aspectos, o modelo é solucionado através de um método de solução não linear e os seus parâmetros são estimados com a ajuda do Filtro de Partículas. O resultado encontrado é que tanto os preços quanto os salários nominais são mais rígidos para baixo e essas assimetrias na rigidez influenciam a dinâmica da economia quando esta sofre choques de política monetária e fiscal. / The objective of this article is to verify if there is asymmetry in the rigidity of prices and wages for the Brazilian economy; i.e. if the economic agents are more rigid downward or upward when adjusting their prices and wages. In addition, it performs the analysis of the effects of monetary and fiscal policy in the dynamics of the economy. For this, it uses a nonlinear model of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) with asymmetric adjustment costs in prices and wages based on the work of Aruoba, Bocola and Schorfheide (2013). This model can generate prices and wages rigidity downward (or upward) that can produce strong nonlinearities. Considering the non-linearity generated by these aspects, the model is solved through a non-linear solution method and its parameters are estimated with the help of Particle Filter. The obtained result is that both prices and nominal wages are more rigid downwards and these asymmetries in rigidity influence the dynamics of the economy when it suffers shocks from monetary and fiscal policies.

Utilisant des données sur les expéditions de robots industriels, ce document constate que les secteurs volatils sont automatisés de façon disproportionnée dans les pays avec des règles strictes sur le licenciement. L'idée derrière le résultat empirique est que contrairement aux travailleurs humains, les entreprises peuvent disposer librement des robots, tout comme avec tout autre bien de capital. Puisque les droits des robots ne sont pas protégés par la loi, ils fournissent des services de main d’œuvre à volonté. L'incitation à l'automatisation apportée par la réglementation est plus forte dans les secteurs volatils, où l'incertitude sur les conditions d'affaires augmente les exigences de flexibilité des entreprises. Mes estimations prédisent que dans les secteurs incertains, le pays le plus réglementé (l'Italie) devrait être deux fois plus automatisé que le plus réglementé (États-Unis). Les données montrent que le nombre de robots par employé en Italie est 90% plus élevé qu'aux États-Unis. La stratégie d'identification consiste à exploiter le calendrier différent dans les réformes du travail entre les pays. L'identification provient de l'effet avant-après sur l'investissement sectoriel dans les robots dans les pays réformés (le "groupe de traitement"), vis-à-vis de l'effet avant-après dans les pays où l'EPL n'a pas changé (le "groupe témoin"). Ce document explique pourquoi les entreprises investissent dans l'automatisation. Contrairement à la sagesse conventionnelle, les robots n'augmentent pas la productivité parce qu'ils sont meilleurs ou plus rapides à faire les choses, mais plutôt parce qu'ils augmentent l'efficacité de la répartition. Le lien entre réglementation et automatisation implique que la politique du marché du travail peut être utilisée pour atténuer l'effet perturbateur de la technologie. / Using data on shipments of industrial robots, this paper finds that volatile sectors are disproportionally automated in countries with strict rules on employment dismissal. The idea behind the empirical result is that unlike for human workers, firms can freely dispose of robots, just as with any other capital good. Since robot’s rights are not protected by law, they deliver labor services at will. The incentive to automate induced by regulation is stronger in volatile sectors, where uncertainty about business conditions increase the flexibility requirements of firms. My estimates predict that in uncertain sectors, the most regulated country (Italy) should be twice as automated as the least regulated one (the United States). Data show that the number of robots per employee in Italy is 90% higher than in the United States. The identification strategy consists in exploiting different timing in labor re-forms across countries. Identification comes from the before-after effect on sectorial investment in robots in reformed countries (the \treatment group"), vis-a-vis the before-after effect in countries where EPL did not change (the \control group").This paper sheds light on why firms invest in automation. In contrast to conventional wisdom, robots do not increase productivity because they are better or faster at doing things, but rather because they increase allocative efficiency. The link between regulation and automation implies that labor market policy can be used to mitigate the disruptive effect of technology.

Lo, Kai Lisa. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-46). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.7 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.10 / Chapter 3. --- Measuring the Labor Share with US Data --- p.14 / Chapter 3.1 --- Definition and Measurement --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2 --- Some Crude Evidence --- p.16 / Chapter 4. --- A Theoretical Relationship between Labor Share and Inflation in an Open Economy --- p.19 / Chapter 4.1 --- A Static Closed-economy Pricing Model --- p.20 / Chapter 4.2 --- Dynamic Model Based on Quadratic Adjustment Costs --- p.22 / Chapter 4.3 --- An Open-economy Dynamic Pricing Model --- p.30 / Chapter 5. --- An Empirical Investigation --- p.34 / Chapter 5.1 --- Data --- p.34 / Chapter 5.2 --- Estimation Results --- p.36 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- General Findings --- p.37 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The Role of Adjustment Costs --- p.39 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Predicting U.S. Inflation --- p.40 / Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.42 / References --- p.43 / Figures and Tables --- p.47 / Data Appendix --- p.56

This thesis consists of four papers: two of them deal with the effects on the forest sector of an increase in the demand for forest fuels, and two of them concern the relation between economic growth and pollution. Paper [I] is a first, preliminary study of the potential effects on the Swedish forest sector of a continuing rise in the use of forest resources as a fuel in energy generation. Sweden has made a commitment that the energy system should be sustainable, i.e., it should be based on renewable resources. However, an increasing use of the forest resources as an energy input could have effects outside the energy sector. We consider this in a static model by estimating a system of demand and supply equations for the four main actors on the Swedish roundwood market; forestry, sawmills, pulpmills and the energy sector. We then calculate the industries' short run supply and demand elasticities. Paper [II], is a development of the former paper. In this paper, we estimate the dynamic effects on the forest sector of an increased demand for forest fuels. This is done by developing a partial adjustment model of the forest sector that enables short, intermediate, and long run price elasticities to be estimated. It is relevant to study the effects of increased demand for forest fuels as the Swedish government has committed to an energy policy that is likely to further increase the use of renewable resources in the Swedish energy system. Four subsectors are included in the model: forestry, sawmills, pulpmills and the energy industry. The results show that the short run elasticities are fairly consistent with earlier studies and that sluggish adjustment in the capital stock is important in determining the intermediate and long run responses. Simulation shows that an increase in the demand for forest fuels has a positive effect on the equilibrium price of all three types of wood, and a negative effect on the equilibrium quantities of sawtimber and pulpwood. In paper [III] a Shephard distance function approach is used to estimate time series of shadow prices for Swedish emissions of CO2, SO2, and VOC for the period 1918 - 1994. The shadow prices are in a next step regressed on GDP per capita. The objective of the study is closely linked to hypothesis of environmental Kuznets curves. We conclude that the time series of the shadow prices from this approach can not be used to explain the EKCs found for Swedish emissions. In paper [IV], we calculate time series of shadow prices for Swedish emissions of CO2, SO2, and VOC for the period 1918 - 1994. The shadow prices are in a next step related to income, to explain the EKCs previously found for Swedish data on the three emissions. Newly constructed historical emission time series enable studying a single country's emission paths through increasing levels of economic activity. A directional distance function approach is used to estimate the industry's production process in order to calculate the opportunity costs of a reduction in the emissions. The time series of the shadow prices show support for EKCs for the Swedish industry.

A partir de un modelo de ajuste dinámico en el mercado laboral se estiman costos de movilidad intersectorial del empleo para Argentina durante el período 1996-2009, siguiendo la metodología desarrollada en Artuç, Chaudhuri and McLaren (2010). Considerando los parámetros estimados se computan simulaciones para evaluar el impacto potencial de shocks comerciales y tecnológicos sobre la asignación sectorial del empleo, los salarios sectoriales y el bienestar de los trabajadores. Nuestros resultados indican la presencia de altos costos de ajuste en el empleo, lo que implica un ajuste lento en el mercado de trabajo como respuesta a shocks tecnológicos y comerciales. Encontramos que los costos son mayores para los trabajadores no calificados respecto de los trabajadores semi calificados, no difieren entre el sector del país que comprende al Gran Buenos Aires y la Región pampeana respecto al resto del país y presentan una estructura sectorial similar a la hallada por Artuç et al. (2010) para Estados Unidos. / This paper estimates workers’ intersectoral switching costs based on a dynamic model of labor adjustment using data for Argentina (1996-2009). The estimated parameters are incorporated into a neoclassical model of trade to simulate the dynamic equilibrium impact (on welfare, wages and labor allocation) of trade shocks and technological changes. The approach used in this paper follows the method developed in Artuç, Chaudhuri and McLaren (2010). Our estimates show that Argentinian workers face high average intersectoral adjustment costs. This result suggests that the adjustment of the labor market in response to shocks is slow.

The four essays included in this dissertation are in the field of open economy Macroeconomics. Essays I, II and IV deal with a work-horse model in this field – a two-sector small open economy growth model with traded and nontraded goods. Writing down such a model requires an assumption about the role of traded and nontraded goods in domestic consumption and investments. While several empirical studies have looked at the consumption side, a systematic examination of the role of traded and nontraded goods in investments is missing. Essay I aims to fill this gap. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, we show that aggregate investment expenditure shares on traded and nontraded goods are very similar in rich and poor countries. Furthermore, the two expenditure shares have remained close to constant over time, with the average nontraded expenditure share varying between 0.54-0.60 over the 1960-2002 period. Combined with the fact that the relative price of nontraded goods correlates positively with income and exhibits large differences across space and time, our findings suggest that investment can be modeled using the Cobb-Douglas aggregator. The results of this essay offer a new restriction for the two-sector growth model, which can alter the conclusions drawn from the model. To demonstrate this, we apply the new restriction to a study by Hsieh and Klenow (2003), which argues that differences in relative productivity between traded and nontraded sectors, i.e., the Balassa-Samuelson effect, is the main cause of higher PPP-adjusted investment rates in rich countries. With the restriction imposed on the model, no more than 25 percent of the differences in PPP-adjusted investment rates between rich and poor counties can be attributed to the Balassa-Samuelson effect. In Essays II and IV the same two-sector growth model is put to the test using the recent economic developments in countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Essay II investigates whether the two-sector growth model can explain the magnitudes and the timing of the trade flows in the Baltic countries. The model is calibrated for each of the three countries, which we simulate as small closed economies that suddenly open up to international trade and capital flows. The results show that the model can account for the observed magnitudes of the trade deficits in the 1995-2001 period. Introducing a real interest rate risk premium in the model increases its explanatory power. According to the model, trade balances will turn positive in the Baltic states around 2010. Essay IV starts by summarizing empirical regularities for the key aggregate real sector variables in the eight countries that joined the EU in May 2004. It is shown that, following the reforms in the early 1990s, real sector developments in all eight countries exhibit remarkable similarities. Interestingly, this is the case despite the fact that different reform policies were pursued in several dimensions (e.g., privatization, nominal exchange rate). Next, we show that a calibrated two-sector small open economy growth model can account for most of the real sector adjustments in early post-reform years. Empirical studies have found rapid traded sector productivity growth in Central and Eastern European countries over the last decade. When traded sector productivity growth is added to the model, it captures the development in all key real sector variables during the post-reform period. Finally, Essay III contributes to the study of financial crises in emerging markets. In contrast to the other essays, this paper develops a highly stylized theoretical model that allows us to study analytically government response to financial crises. In particular, Essay III develops a framework for analyzing optimal government bailout policy in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model where financial crises are exogenous. Important elements of the model are that private borrowers internalize only part of the social cost of foreign borrowing in the emerging market and that the private sector is illiquid in the event of a crisis. The distinguishing feature of our paper is that it addresses the optimal bailout policy in an environment where there are both costs and benefits of bailouts, and where bailout guarantees potentially distort investment decisions in the private sector. We show that it is always optimal to commit to a bailout policy that only partially protects investment against inefficient liquidation, both in a centralized economy and a market economy. Due to overinvestment in the market economy, the government's optimal level of bailout guarantees is lower than in the social optimum. Further, we show that, in contrast to a social planner, the government in the market economy should optimally bail out a smaller fraction of private investments when the probability of a crisis is higher. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005 S. i-x: sammanfattning, s. 1-187: 4 uppsatser