73 research outputs found
Evaluating cross-organizational ERP requirements engineering practices: a focus group study
No full textThis focus group study presents our first validation of practices for engineering the coordination requirements in cross-organizational Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects. The study evaluates 13 practices addressing a variety of coordination aspects crucial to ERP projects. These practices are results in previously published research publications by the first author. The practices are formulated in response to practitioners' needs at ERP adopting organizations. The proposed practices have now reached the stage where we need some independent feedback as to the extent to which they fit the realities of practitioners. We perform this validation by means of a qualitative research approach, namely the focus group method. Current software engineering literature provides few examples of using focus groups in the evaluation of good software development practices. Because of this, providing reflections on our focus-group-based validation experiences will be of value to both the research community and practitioners
Be fruitful or multiply: On the interplay between fertility and economic development
No full textThis paper develops and estimates an empirical model of the interplay between fertility and economic development. Using panel data, this study finds that a one-percent decrease in population growth increases GDP per capita growth by more than three percent. In addition, because families with low levels of human capital choose to have more children, income per capita grows faster in developed countries than in developing countries. Finally, this study shows that the estimates of the interplay between fertility and output obtained from single cross-country regressions are biased downward because that method of estimation is unable to control for unobservable country effects and measurement errors. The neoclassical approach fails to account for these effects. The present study contributes to the now-standard growth model, and provides a better description of international differences in standards of living.Economic growth · fertility · Panel data
Ethnic Differences in School Departure: Does Youth Employment Promote or Undermine Educational Attainment?
No full text
The Joint Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment and the Level of Farm Activity
No full textWe analyze the simultaneous determination and evolution over time of two decisions made by self-employed farm operators: off-farm work and the level of farm activity. Using a panel of Israeli farm households observed in 1981 and 1995, we estimate jointly a multinomial choice model of work activity and an endogenous switching regression of farm size that enables us to account for unobserved heterogeneity and correct for simultaneity bias. The results show that changes in farm size are closely linked to the off-farm labor decisions. In particular, we identify two different paths in the evolvement of farm families over time. Farms that expand and have a low likelihood of working off the farm follow one path, while other farms downsize their farming operation and increase their engagement in the off-farm labor market. Therefore, the distribution of farms is converging towards a bi-modal distribution, with large farms operated by full-time farmers on one extreme and smaller part-time farms on the other extreme, whose income is derived mostly from off-farm sources. These results could not have been obtained without treating the level of farm activity as endogenous to the work choice decisions
Employment, Motherhood, and School Continuation Decisions of Young White, Black, and Hispanic Women
No full textWe examine the empirical relationship between early employment activity and school continuation decisions for young American women using a dynamic, sequential discrete-choice framework that estimates schooling, labor supply, and birth decisions jointly, controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of these life cycle decisions. That the rate of school withdrawal increases as work intensity rises helps explain the higher departure rates of Hispanic girls from secondary school and the premature departure of young black women from college. The disturbing implication is that youth employment induces long-run wage stagnation for early school leavers and potentially increases race and ethnic inequities.
Technical Progress and Early Retirement
No full textThis paper claims that technical progress induces early retirement of older workers. It presents a model where human capital is technology specific, so that technical progress erodes some existing human capital. This affects mostly older workers, who have a smaller incentive to learn the new technology, since their career horizon is shorter. Hence, they tend to work less. We find support to this erosion effect in HRS data, which shows that retirement and unemployment of older workers are positively related to technical progress in their sectors. Unlike the effect across sectors, the model is ambiguous about the aggregate effect of technical progress on labor supply of older workers. While in sectors with many innovations it falls due to the erosion effect, in other sectors it increases due to higher wages. To examine which effect dominates we run a time series test using US data and find that the rate of average technical progress reduces aggregate labor force participation by the old. Namely, the erosion effect dominates.This paper claims that technical progress induces early retirement of older workers. It presents a model where human capital is technology specific, so that technical progress erodes some existing human capital. This affects mostly older workers, who have a smaller incentive to learn the new technology, since their career horizon is shorter. Hence, they tend to work less. We find support to this erosion effect in HRS data, which shows that retirement and unemployment of older workers are positively related to technical progress in their sectors. Unlike the effect across sectors, the model is ambiguous about the aggregate effect of technical progress on labor supply of older workers. While in sectors with many innovations it falls due to the erosion effect, in other sectors it increases due to higher wages. To examine which effect dominates we run a time series test using US data and find that the rate of average technical progress reduces aggregate labor force participation by the old. Namely, the erosion effect dominates.Non-Refereed Working Papers / of national relevance onl
Technical Progress and Early Retirement
No full textThis Paper claims that technical progress induces early retirement of older workers. It supports this claim both theoretically and empirically. We present a model where part of human capital is technology-specific, so that technical progress erodes some existing human capital. This affects mostly older workers, who do not learn the new technology, since their career horizon is short. As a result their participation in the labour force declines. We find strong support to this erosion effect in US data, which shows that labour supply of older workers is negatively related to technical progress across sectors. Unlike the cross-section effect, the model is ambiguous about the aggregate effect of technical progress on labour participation of older workers. While in sectors with many innovations it falls due to erosion of human capital, in other sectors it increases due to higher wages. To examine which effect dominates, we run a time series test and find that the effect of average technical progress on aggregate labour force participation by the old is negative. Namely, the erosion effect dominates.Human Capital; Labour Force Participation; Technical Progress
Off-farm work and capital accumulation decisions of farmers over the life-cycle: the role of heterogeneity and state dependence
No full textTechnical Progress and Early Retirement
No full textThis paper claims that technical progress induces early retirement of older workers. Technical progress erodes technology specific human capital. Since older workers have shorter career horizons, there is less incentive for them or for their employers to invest in learning how to use the new technologies. Consequently, they are more likely to stop working. We call this effect the erosion effect. Since technical progress also raises wages in the economy as a whole and since technical progress is positively correlated across sectors, this presents an opposite effect of technical progress, which we call the wage effect. Using individual and sector data, we separate the two effects and find support for our theory. JEL Specification: J24, J26, O15, O33Early Retirement, Technical Change, Human Capital, Labor For
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