1,721,034 research outputs found
Consumption smoothing and liquidity income redistribution
Full text linkWe show theoretically that income redistribution benefits borrowingconstrained individuals more than is implied by standard relative-income and uninsurable-risk considerations. Empirically, we find in international opinion-survey data that younger and lower-income individuals express stronger support for government redistribution in countries where consumer credit is less easily available. This evidence supports our theoretical perspective if such individuals are more strongly affected by tighter credit supply, in that expectations of higher incomes in the future increase their propensity to borrow. JEL Classification: E2
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Collective Dismissal Cost, Product Market Competition and Innovation
Full text linkCollective dismissal costs are an important part of employment protection legislation (EPL) and make firms' exit more costly. We show in a model with step-by-step innovations that dismissal costs spur innovation if product markets are not too competitive: technologically more advanced firms endogenously exit with smaller probability so that there is a dynamic
incentive to innovate. But dismissal costs decrease the absolute value of firms and induce exit. These opposite effects and their dependence on the policy mix of EPL and product market regulation explain why empirical studies have difficulties to find a negative effect of EPL on innovation
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Employment Protection, Product Market Competition and Growth
Full text linkIt is commonly argued that labor market institutions such as employment protection worsen an economy?s performance and particularly so, if product markets become more competitive. Empirical evidence, however, has difficulties to detect a robust negative correlation between employment protection and growth. We show in a model with step-by-step innovations that whether employment protection decreases incentives to innovate and thus productivity
growth depends on the degree of product market competition. For reasonable parameter values product market deregulation fosters growth substantially more in the flexible than in the constrained economy
Defensive Innovations
Full text linkDefensive innovations in developed countries can explain the empirical phenomenon that openness towards trade with less-developed countries does not necessarily induce a substantial increase in the wage differential and trade volumes. Building on step-by-step innovations as introduced by Aghion et al. (2001), we show that defensive innovations can result from private incentives. In particular, minimum wages can induce defensive innovations
which then redistribute income away from workers. Suggestive empirical evidence is consistent with the implications of defensive innovations for wage differentials, trade volumes and the sectorial composition within and across OECD countries
Trade Labor, Market Rigidities, and Government-Financed Technological Change
Full text linkThis paper contributes to the debate on the effects of trade versus technological change on
wage differentials. We propose an explanation of the stylized facts which is based on
interactions between openness and technological change because of labor market institutions
and government intervention. In particular, technology change is induced by rigid wage elements
for a developed economy which is trading with less developed countries. With a binding
minimum wage and given commodity prices, openness induces the government to subsidize
technological innovation in the developed country because production activities in the sector hit
by foreign competition would have to close down otherwise. The economy with a binding
minimum wage and institutionally induced innovations differs from the flexible economy in the
following way:
? The wage differential becomes more compressed the higher the minimum wage. Not only
the wage of the unskilled is higher, but also the wage of the skilled is lower.
? The productivity of unskilled workers is higher in the sector intensive in its use.
? Skill intensity within the unskilled-labor intensive sector can rise although the wage of the
skilled rises as well.
This perspective may explain why empirical studies have difficulties to find substantial effects of
openness on wage differentials although product markets have become increasingly integrated.
Moreover, it can explain why the volume of trade between developed and less-developed
countries is relatively small. Finally our model yields predictions for developed countries with
different labor market institutions that are consistent with empirical evidence
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