[retour accueil Cerc]  - [Home Cerc]

Bulletin N°149

17 mars 2008 - March 17, 2008

Accueil - Home



PAUVRETE - POVERTY

. Adequacy of social minimums : Workfare, gender and poverty alleviation in welfare democracies,
K. Nelson, Luxembourg Income Study, Luxembourg, Working paper n° 474, February, 28 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary
: In the Western countries poverty has increased along with the resurgence of low-income targeting and the increased conditionality of social assistance. This paper provides new evidence on the relationship between social minimums and income adequacy by examining the extent to which social benefits distribute income at levels necessary to escape poverty. The empirical analyzes combine macro-level institutional data and micro-level income data for 17 industrialized welfare democracies. It is shown that the period 1990-1995 is characterized primarily by stagnation, whereas social assistance adequacy declined in the latter half of the nineties. In most countries, social assistance fails to provide income above the poverty threshold, something that makes it difficult to conceive benefits as just redistributive instruments.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Europe

. Beyond the breadline : a poverty threshold based on a general budget approach,
A. Soede and C. Vrooman, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, The Hague, February, 26 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Pays-Bas / The Netherlands

. Children's perspectives on economic adversity : A review of the literature,
G. Redmond, Social Policy Research Centre, Sydney, SPRC discussion paper, n° 149, February, 32 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Australie, Etats-Unis, Royaume-Uni, Pays-Bas / Australia, United States, United Kingdom, The Netherlands

. L'enquête de l'Insee sur les sans-domicile : quelques éléments historiques, M. Marpsat, Insee, Paris,  Courrier des Statistiques,  n° 123, janvier-avril, 12 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. From work to retirement : Tracking changes in women's poverty status,
S. Lee and L. Shaw, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, Research report, 44 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Etats-Unis / United States

. A new war on poverty ? Is it time for a new war on poverty ? The presidential candidates and top commentators weigh in,
The Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality, Stanford, Pathways, Winter, pp. 8-28, (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Etats-Unis / United States

EMPLOI - EMPLOYMENT

. Assistance et Emploi. Le comportement des allocataires du RMI face aux politiques publiques d’incitation à l’emploi, S. Gauthier, Crest, Paris, Document de travail, n° 2008-01, 155 p., (2008).

Résumé
- Summary : Ce texte est une étude théorique des incitations à l'emploi qui sont effectivement offertes aux allocataires du revenu minimum d'insertion dans un cadre dynamique. Il s'intéresse aux effets de trois dispositifs d'intéressement : l'intéressement Aubry-Guigou (1998-2006), l'intéressement Borloo qui lui a succédé, et celui qui s'est appliqué au contrat emploi-solidarité jusqu'en 2005. Il suggère que le ciblage de l'intéressement sur la population qui voit son droit au RMI maintenu ouvert après la prise d'empoi est susceptible d'affaiblir les incitations à l'emploi dès lors que le caractère différentiel de l'allocation RMI est pris en compte. La nature transitoire de ces dispositifs favorise quant à elle l'instabilité de l'épisode emploi, au sens où cet épisode est plus souvent interrompu lorsque l'intéressement prend fin. L'intéressement Aubry-Guigou serait exposé à ces deux écueils, tout comme en principe l'intéressement CES, bien que certaines spécificités de ce contrat puissent en partie l'en immuniser ; l'intéressement Borloo ne serait exposé qu'au second de ces deux écueils.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. Les Femmes face au travail à temps partiel, G. Bel, Conseil économique et social, Paris, Avis et rapport, n° 5, 128 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. Tendances mondiales de l'emploi des femmes : 2008
, Bureau international du Travail, Genève, mars, 36 p., (2008).
English version
"Global employment trends for women"
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Données internationales / International data

. Unemployment and interactions between trade and labour market institutions
, H. Boulhol, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Paris, Document de travail, n° 2008-16, 39 p., (2008).
 

Résumé :
De nombreuses recherches ont souligné que les institutions du marché d'un pays constituent des déterminants importants de son taux de chômage. Cette étude généralise l'idée de Davis (1998) selon laquelle les institutions des partenaires commerciaux influencent aussi le taux de chômage d'un pays parce qu'elles sont à la source d'avantages comparatifs. L'investigation empirique confirme que les interactions entre le commerce bilatéral et les réglementations relatives du marché du travail affectent le taux de chômage d'équilibre. Compte tenu des limites relatives aux données dans ce domaine l'ambition de ce papier est simplement d'attirer l'attention sur la pertinence de ces interactions comme facteurs complémentaires aux autres explications du chômage. Un autre résultat intéressant est qu'un pays relativement peu réglementé comme le Canada peut être affecté négativement parce que son principal partenaire est encore moins réglementé, alors qu'un pays hautement réglementé comme l'Allemagne est relativement protégé car ses partenaires le sont tout autant.

Summary :
There is ample evidence that a country's labour market institutions are important determinants of unemployment. This study generalises Davis' (1998) idea according to which the institutions of the trade partners matter also for a country's equilibrium unemployment rate as they generate comparative advantages. Moreover, the empirical investigation provides some evidence that the interactions between bilateral trade and relative labour market regulations affect the equilibrium unemployment rate. Given data limitations in this area, the ambition of this paper is merely to draw the attention to the general relevance of these interactions as complementing factors to other explanations of unemployment. Another interesting finding is that a fairly low regulated country like Canada can be negatively affected because its main trading partner is even less regulated, while a high regulated country like Germany appears rather sheltered because its trading partners are also highly regulated.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : none

REVENU - INCOME

. Do labour market institutions matter ? Micro-level wage effects of international outsourcing in three European countries
, I. Geishecker, H.  Görg and J. R. Munch, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiel, Kiel working paper, February, 23 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary : This paper studies the impact of outsourcing on individual wages in three European countries with markedly different labour market institutions: Germany, the UK and Denmark. To do so we use individual level data sets for the three countries and construct comparable measures of outsourcing at the industry level, distinguishing outsourcing by broad region. Estimating the same specification on different data show that there are some interesting differences in the effect of outsourcing across countries. We discuss some possible reasons for these differences based on labour market institutions
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Allemagne, Danemark, Royaume-Uni / Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom

. Gender wage differentials in Italy : A structural estimation approach
, G. Sulis,
Laboratorio R. Revelli, Moncalieri, Working paper, n° 74, February 15, 30 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary :
This paper studies gender wage differentials in Italy by providing a structural estimation of the frictional parameters of two different theoretical specifications of an equilibrium search model. I alternatively allow for firm heterogeneity and discrimination empirically using maximum likelihood and matching first moments in the data. Results indicate substantial differences in transition parameters with higher level of search frictions for women. The mapping from productivity to wages for men is highly non linear, with high productivity firms offering proportionally higher wages; for women, the relationships is almost linear. Including discrimination, I find that productivity accounts for 61 % of the wage offer di¤erential, search for 28 % and 11 % is the part of discrimination.
Zone géographique / Geographical area :Italie / Italy

. Livre vert vers un revenu de Solidarité active
, M.
 Hirsch, La Documentation française, Paris, 63 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. National minimum wage : report 2008 , Low Pay Commission, London, March,  209 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Royaume-Uni / United Kingdom

. Salaires des femmes cadres : le palmarès des fonctions, Apec, Paris, Les études de l'emploi cadre, mars, 40 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : France

. Wage gaps large and small,
B. A. Hirsch, Institute for the Labor of Study, Bonn, IZA discussion paper, n° 3375, February, 26 p., (2008).

Résumé - Summary : The law of one wage does not strictly hold, nor should it be expected to hold, in contemporary labor markets. The law of one wage, however, provides a surprisingly good first approximation of the structure of U.S. wages. This generalization is drawn from research on a diverse set of topics: the Mincerian wage equation and earnings imputation, union wage differentials, product market regulation and the labor market, wages in male and female jobs, the wage effects of military service, and interarea wages and cost-of-living.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Etats-Unis / United States

. The gender wage gap in Cyprus,
L. N. Christofides and K. Vrachmis, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, Nicosia, Economic analysis papers, n° 10-07, December, 31 p., (2007).

Résumé - Summary : The objective of this study is to examine the gender wage gap in Cyprus over time, using available data from the Cyprus Surveys of Household Expenditure and Income of 1990/91, 1996/97 and 2002/03. The results show that the observed wage gap declined from 0.572 ln wage points in 1990/91 to 0.313 points in 1996/97 and to 0.26 points in 2002/03. The large reduction by 1996/97 was, in part, due to an improvement in the productivity characteristics (specifically education) of female employees. However, by the 1996/97 Survey, no scope for significant further reductions in the gap due to improved characteristics was possible, leaving the observed gap of 0.313 ln wage points unexplained and due either to unobserved characteristics or discrimination. This also holds for the observed gap of 0.26 points in 2002/03. Quantile regressions which focus on the wage gap at different points of the ln wage distribution reveal that, despite the considerable progress achieved by women in moving through the ranks of the distribution, the pay gap is largest at the highest levels of the ln wage distribution in all three Surveys.
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Chypre / Cyprus

AUTRES DONNEES SOCIALES - OTHER SOCIAL ISSUES

.
Higher education and equality of opportunity in Italy, V. Peragine and L. Serlenga, Centre for household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics, Torino, Working paper, n° 01, 34 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area :Italie / Italy

. Les migrations internationales en Europe : vers l’harmonisation des statistiques
, X. Thierry, Ined, Paris, Population & sociétés, n° 442, février, 4 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Europe

. Où en est la stratégie de Lisbonne ? L'avancée des réformes structurelles,
E. Vergnaud, BNP Paribas, Paris, Conjoncture, janvier-février, 8 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area : Europe

. L’uscita dei giovani dalla famiglia in Italia e in Europa
,
Istituto di tudi e Analisi Economica, Roma, Note mensile, n° 1, gennaio, 11 p., (2008).
Zone géographique / Geographical area :Italie, Europe / Italy, Europe