Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))-University of Pretoria, 2005. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Abstract This research examines the relationship between the product and labor market in a situation when there is imperfect competition in the product market. The subjects studied are the existence of the mark-up factors implied by imperfect competition and their impacts on labor demand. The dependency of labor demand on the product demand is also examined. In the research the existence of the mark-up factors in Finnish companies can be verified. In addition, according to results, the mark-up factors have negative impact on labor demand. Product demand has a significant positive effect on labor demand. However, the transmission mechanism from the product demand changes to labor demand remains to some extent unsolved.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / William F. Blankenau / This dissertation consists of three essays on how health and education affect the labor market outcomes of workers. Health and education issues have been key determinants of labor demand and supply. In light of increasing incidence of health problems and the rapid growth of post-baccalaureate certificates in the US, this dissertation seeks to answer questions about labor market outcomes of workers with poor health history and with post-baccalaureate certificates. The first essay which I co-authored with Dr. William Blankenau and Dr. Benjamin Schwab uses a résumé-based correspondence test to compare the employment consequences of an illness-related employment gap to those of an unexplained employment gap. The results of the experiment show that while the callback rate of applicants with an illness-related employment gap is lower than that of the newly unemployed, applicants with illness-related employment gaps are 2.3 percentage points more likely to receive a callback than identical applicants who provide no explanation for the gap. Our research provides evidence that employers use information on employment gaps as additional signals about workers' unobserved productivity. Co-authored with Dr. Amanda Gaulke and Dr. Hugh Cassidy, the second essay tests how employers perceive the value of post-baccalaureate certificates using the same methodology in the first essay. We randomly assign a post-baccalaureate certificate credential to fictitious résumés and apply to real vacancy postings for managerial, administrative and accounting assistant positions on a large online job board. We find that post-baccalaureate certificates are 2.4 percentage points less likely to receive a callback than those without this credential. However, this result is driven by San Francisco, and there is no effect in Los Angeles or New York. By occupation, we also find that there is only significant negative effect in administrative assistant jobs, and there is none in managerial or accounting assistant jobs. A typographical error made in the résumés of certificate holders regarding the expected year of completion of the certificate may also contribute to negative effects of a certificate. Using NLSY79 data, the third essay tests whether the source of health insurance creates incentives for newly-diagnosed workers to remain sufficiently employed to maintain access to health insurance coverage. I compare labor supply responses to new diagnoses of workers dependent on their own employment for health insurance with the responses of workers who are dependent on their spouse's employer for health insurance coverage. I find that workers who depend on their own job for health insurance are 1.5-5.5 percentage points more likely to remain employed and for those employed, are 1.3-5.4 percentage points less likely to reduce their labor hours and are 2.1-6.1 percentage points more likely to remain full-time workers.

The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of labor cost, openness, and demand side variables on employment for the case of Turkey using the panel data of private manufacturing industry at three digit level for 25 sectors for the period of 1973-2001. We use a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model, which allows for cross-sectoral heterogeneity. The estimation results show that higher growth is more effective in stimulating employment compared to lower labor costs. The reliance of Turkey and many developing countries on labor market flexibility and openness as the unique tools of employment policy reflects a pro-capital incomes policy bias rather than a necessity. The results confirm the Keynesian emphasis on demand-side policies to fight against unemployment. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

No description available.

Nas últimas décadas, cientistas sociais vêm defendendo a ideia de estarmos presenciando o início de uma nova etapa do desenvolvimento histórico do capitalismo, a chamada nova economia. Entre outros aspectos, aponta-se para mudanças profundas no âmbito das organizações e do trabalho, que foram provocadas pelo impacto do surgimento e difusão das tecnologias da informação. Nesse sentido, esta tese escolhe por contribuir em torno do conhecimento sobre a nova economia a partir de um interesse analítico bem delimitado, a saber, compreender o cálculo econômico de valor realizado por firmas de tecnologia da informação, quando estas comparecem no mercado de trabalho. Tal interesse analítico se operacionaliza através de três perguntas de pesquisa: Quais são e como as condições engendradas por redes sociotécnicas das firmas de tecnologias da informação estruturam as suas capacidades de cálculo econômico de valor? Quais valores econômicos e economicamente relevantes, essas firmas lançam mão para definir o valor e, por conseguinte, a sua demanda no mercado de trabalho? E quais procedimentos e práticas elas adotam para classificar e julgar a oferta de trabalho e planejar a realização de sua demanda diante dessa oferta? Visando responder essas três perguntas, procedeu-se à realização de quatro estudos de casos em empresas de diferentes segmentos de atividade econômica das tecnologias da informação. Os quatro casos estão localizados no município de Porto Alegre (RS) ou na sua região metropolitana. Com base na análise dos dados coletados nesses estudos, a tese encerra refletindo sobre o valor do trabalho como mercadoria no contexto da nova economia e também sobre o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem de sociologia econômica voltada para o comportamento da firma no mercado de trabalho e a sua capacidade de cálculo econômico de valor. / In the last decades, an increasing number of social scientists have defended the idea that we are witnessing the beginning of a new stage of the historical development of capitalism, the so-called new economy. Among other aspects it has been recognizing profound changes within organizations and the labor world that are related by the impact of the emergence and diffusion of information technologies. The present thesis chooses to contribute in the comprehension of the new economy trough a well-defined analytical interest, namely, understand the economic calculation of values that are realized by information technologies firms in the labor market. This analytical interest is reflected through three research questions: Which are and how the conditions articulated by socio-technical networks of firms, structure their abilities to economic calculation of values? What economic and economic relevant values these firms resort to set the value and therefore their demand in the labor market? And what procedures and practices these firms adopt to classify and judge the supply of labor and plan the realization of their demand? In order to answer these three questions, we carried out four case studies with companies from different segments of economic activities in information technologies. All of these cases are located at city of Porto Alegre (RS) or at the metropolitan area. Based on the analysis of data collected in these four case studies, the thesis closes with a reflection on the value of labor as a commodity in the context of the new economy and also discussing the development of an economic sociology approach about firms behavior in the labor market.

Nas últimas décadas, cientistas sociais vêm defendendo a ideia de estarmos presenciando o início de uma nova etapa do desenvolvimento histórico do capitalismo, a chamada nova economia. Entre outros aspectos, aponta-se para mudanças profundas no âmbito das organizações e do trabalho, que foram provocadas pelo impacto do surgimento e difusão das tecnologias da informação. Nesse sentido, esta tese escolhe por contribuir em torno do conhecimento sobre a nova economia a partir de um interesse analítico bem delimitado, a saber, compreender o cálculo econômico de valor realizado por firmas de tecnologia da informação, quando estas comparecem no mercado de trabalho. Tal interesse analítico se operacionaliza através de três perguntas de pesquisa: Quais são e como as condições engendradas por redes sociotécnicas das firmas de tecnologias da informação estruturam as suas capacidades de cálculo econômico de valor? Quais valores econômicos e economicamente relevantes, essas firmas lançam mão para definir o valor e, por conseguinte, a sua demanda no mercado de trabalho? E quais procedimentos e práticas elas adotam para classificar e julgar a oferta de trabalho e planejar a realização de sua demanda diante dessa oferta? Visando responder essas três perguntas, procedeu-se à realização de quatro estudos de casos em empresas de diferentes segmentos de atividade econômica das tecnologias da informação. Os quatro casos estão localizados no município de Porto Alegre (RS) ou na sua região metropolitana. Com base na análise dos dados coletados nesses estudos, a tese encerra refletindo sobre o valor do trabalho como mercadoria no contexto da nova economia e também sobre o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem de sociologia econômica voltada para o comportamento da firma no mercado de trabalho e a sua capacidade de cálculo econômico de valor. / In the last decades, an increasing number of social scientists have defended the idea that we are witnessing the beginning of a new stage of the historical development of capitalism, the so-called new economy. Among other aspects it has been recognizing profound changes within organizations and the labor world that are related by the impact of the emergence and diffusion of information technologies. The present thesis chooses to contribute in the comprehension of the new economy trough a well-defined analytical interest, namely, understand the economic calculation of values that are realized by information technologies firms in the labor market. This analytical interest is reflected through three research questions: Which are and how the conditions articulated by socio-technical networks of firms, structure their abilities to economic calculation of values? What economic and economic relevant values these firms resort to set the value and therefore their demand in the labor market? And what procedures and practices these firms adopt to classify and judge the supply of labor and plan the realization of their demand? In order to answer these three questions, we carried out four case studies with companies from different segments of economic activities in information technologies. All of these cases are located at city of Porto Alegre (RS) or at the metropolitan area. Based on the analysis of data collected in these four case studies, the thesis closes with a reflection on the value of labor as a commodity in the context of the new economy and also discussing the development of an economic sociology approach about firms behavior in the labor market.

This thesis assesses how technology policy, R&amp / D activities and innovativeness interact to yield higher economic performance in Turkish manufacturing industries. The first aim of this thesis is to analyze the role of R&amp / D support programs as one of the instruments of technology policy on the demand for researchers. We evaluated the impact of R&amp / D support receiving on the demand for researchers by estimating a two stage treatment effect model that solves the problem of selection bias and found that receiving R&amp / D support encourages firms to demand more researchers. The second aim of this thesis is to analyze the determinants of generating product and process innovations. We evaluated the determinants of generating product and process innovations by estimating a bivariate probit model and found that the determinants of generating product and process innovations were related but they varied with the technological level and opportunity of the industry. The last aim of this thesis is to analyze the effect of product and process innovations on employment. We hypothesized that these two types of innovations have different impacts on employment and test this hypothesis by estimating two different econometric models: the first one is a treatment effect model controlling for the endogeneity of innovations and the second one is a selection model that controls for survival status of the firm. We found that the impact of product innovations on the employment growth rate is negative and the impact of process innovations on the employment growth rate is positive regardless of technology level of industries.

Submitted by Cláudia Bueno (claudiamoura18@gmail.com) on 2015-11-30T17:38:17Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Elem Kelrim Borges Pinho - 2015.pdf: 951220 bytes, checksum: eb130a52a03222a87f4614e8f72c0728 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2015-12-01T06:34:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Elem Kelrim Borges Pinho - 2015.pdf: 951220 bytes, checksum: eb130a52a03222a87f4614e8f72c0728 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-01T06:34:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Elem Kelrim Borges Pinho - 2015.pdf: 951220 bytes, checksum: eb130a52a03222a87f4614e8f72c0728 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-16 / The aim of this study was to map and correlate the perception of Quality of Life (QOL) and Labor Demand servers of Academic Management Center of the Federal University of Goiás, due to: a) the increased workload resulting from growth number of courses and students at the university from the implementation of the Program of Support for the Restructuring and Expansion of Universities (Reuni), established in 2007; b) evidence that the number of servers is less than required; c) the constant strikes occurred over a period 10 years – has occurred 6 between 2004 and 2014, and d) the irrelevant amount of studies publications about QOL of administrative professionals, nationally and internationally, according searches at database of periodicals. The instruments used were the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) to map the demand for labor and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) for QV. The self-perception of QOL of the participants is positive. All areas had an average high considering the maximum real extension – physical, psychological, personal relationships and environment. According to the Karasek’s Demand/Control Model, the study was classified as passive, ie, low control and low demand, indicate low averages for all dimensions - latitude-making, physical demand at work, psychological demands at work, social support and job insecurity. The correlation of the results was from lowermost to low, suggesting that the JCQ dimensions has little influence in the WHOQOL-Bref domains, ie, the reasons that motivated this study little has influenced the QOL of those individuals. / O objetivo deste estudo foi mapear e correlacionar à percepção da Qualidade de Vida (QV) e da Demanda de Trabalho dos servidores do Centro de Gestão Acadêmica da Universidade Federal de Goiás, devido: a) ao aumento de trabalho decorrente do crescimento do número de cursos e estudantes na universidade a partir da implantação do Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades (Reuni), instituído em 2007; b) das evidências de que o número de servidores está inferior ao necessário; c) das constantes greves ocorridas num período de 10 anos – 6 entre 2004 e 2014 – e d) da quantidade irrelevante de publicações de estudos sobre QV de profissionais administrativos, nacional e internacionalmente, demonstrada por meio de buscas banco de dados de periódicos. Os instrumentos utilizados foram o Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) para mapear a demanda de trabalho e o World Health Organization Quality of Life–Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) para a QV. A autopercepção sobre a QV dos participantes está positiva. Todos os domínios – físico, psicológico, relações pessoais e meio ambiente – apresentaram média alta, considerando o valor máximo da extensão real. De acordo com o Modelo Demanda/Controle de Karasek, o trabalho foi classificado como Passivo, ou seja, de baixo controle e baixa demanda, por indicar médias baixas para as todas as dimensões - latitude de decisão, demanda física no trabalho, demanda psicológica no trabalho, apoio social e insegurança no emprego. A correlação dos resultados foi de ínfima a baixa, sugerindo que as das dimensões do JCQ pouco influenciam nos domínios do WHOQOL-Bref, isto é, as razões que motivaram este estudo pouco têm influenciado na QV daqueles indivíduos.

Cette thèse propose des évaluations de réformes récentes du système de retraites français, en utilisant deux approches distinctes et complémentaires : l’évaluation ex post par microéconométrie et l’évaluation ex ante par microsimulation.La première partie de la thèse rassemble des travaux d’évaluation menés sur les données administratives de la Caisse nationaled’assurance vieillesse. Un chapitre introductif propose une revue des littératures des travaux évaluant l’effet du système de retraite sur les comportements d’activité. Ensuite, nous utilisons les réformes du dispositif de mise à la retraite d’office dans les années 2000, pour identifier un effet de la demande de travail sur les comportements de retrait dumarché du travail. Nous évaluons ensuite l’effet du relèvement de l’âge minimal de départ à la retraite instauré par la réforme de2003. Nous étudions les effets de la réforme sur l’emploi après 60 ans, mais également les effets de substitution potentiels vers d’autres dispositifs publics, en particulier l’assurance chômage.La deuxième partie de cette thèse, consacrée à l’évaluation par microsimulation, s’ouvre sur une présentation de l’approche appliquée à la retraite et de son usage dans les modèles français. Nous proposons d’abord une évaluation de l’augmentation de la durée d’assurance prévue par la réforme de 2003.Le principe de maintien constant du rapport entre durée en carrière et durée en retraite est interrogé, puis confronté aux évolutions projetées en simulation à l’aide du modèleDestinie de l’Insee. Enfin, nous utilisons le modèle Pensipp de l’Institut des politiques publiques pour simuler des options de réformes inédites permettant de réduire la dépendance à la croissance du système de retraite et l’incertitude sur l’équilibre financierqu’elle induit. / This thesis brings together different evaluations of recent reforms of the French pension system using two complementaryapproaches: ex post evaluation using microeconometrics techniques and ex ante evaluation built on microsimulationmodelling.The first part of the thesis is based on microestimations using administrative data of the French Social Security agency (Cnav). We first use changes in the rules of mandatory retirement to identify an effect of labordemand on retirement behavior. In a second contribution we estimate the effect of the increase in the early retirement age implemented by the 2010 reform. Besides its effect over employment, we study thepotential substitution effects of the reform towards alternative schemes like unemployment insurance.The second part of the thesis focuses on evaluation by microsimulation. A first study evaluates the effect of the increase in therequired insurance duration implemented by the 2003 reform. The principle of the reform - preserving a constant ratio between work and retirement duration - is discussed on theoretical grounds, and then confronted with the long-term evolutions projected by the Insee Destinie model. Finally, we use the Pensipp model of the Institute of public policies to simulate the effect of originalreforms reducing the growth dependence of the pension system and the uncertainty over financial balance it generates.