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401. The Reconfiguration of the American Academic Workforce: Implications for International Scholarly Exchange

Author:
Martin J. Finkelstein
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Institute of International Education (IIE)
Abstract:
The U.S. higher education landscape has shifted considerably over the past quarter century, undergoing a new “academic revolution” that has had significant implications for the teaching staff of U.S. colleges and universities. Against this backdrop of a changing higher education environment in the U.S., the purpose of this paper is to suggest how certain megatrends have translated into a new and fragmented topographical map of the American academic profession, one in which definable subgroups can be identified with distinctive constellations of motivations and constraints that are directly relevant to the structure and policies of international scholarly exchange programs.
Topic:
Education, Labor Issues, Higher Education, and Academia
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

402. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series

Author:
David Deming
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) jobs are a key contributor to economic growth and national competitiveness. Yet STEM workers are perceived to be in short supply. This paper shows that the “STEM shortage” phenomenon is explained by technological change, which introduces new job skills and makes old ones obsolete. We find that the initially high economic return to applied STEM degrees declines by more than 50 percent in the first decade of working life. This coincides with a rapid exit of college graduates from STEM occupations. Using detailed job vacancy data, we show that STEM jobs change especially quickly over time, leading to flatter age-earnings profiles as the skills of older cohorts became obsolete. Our findings highlight the importance of technology-specific skills in explaining life-cycle returns to education, and show that STEM jobs are the leading edge of technology diffusion in the labor market.
Topic:
International Organization, International Political Economy, Science and Technology, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Global Focus

403. Labor Institutions and Development Under Globalization

Author:
Servaas Storm and Jeronim Capaldo
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
Labor market regulation is a controversial area of public policy in both developed and developing countries. After decades of de-regulatory advice, international financial institutions have recently come to a less extreme position. But any concessions to labor regulation are based on concerns for social stability or for short-term support to aggregate demand, while regulation continues to be viewed as harmful to economic efficiency. In this paper we take a deeper look at the impact of labor institutions on economic development in two ways. First, we propose a macroeconomic model with balance-of-payments constraint for a “small” developing country open to trade and foreign capital. This helps us clarify the importance of a dynamic view of economic efficiency, as opposed to the static view embedded in mainstream policy advice. Secondly, we discuss the political economy of labor regulation. We argue that labor institutions promote economic development though positive effects on aggregate demand, labor productivity and technology.
Topic:
Economics, Labor Issues, Regulation, Labor Market, and Labor Cost
Political Geography:
Global Focus

404. Education and Labour Market Activity of Women in Botswana

Author:
Goitseone Khanie
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
This study examines the prevalence of female participation in labour market activities and investigates the role played by education in this participation. Using the 2015/16 Botswana Multi Topic Household Survey data and a multinomial logit model, the study found that women with tertiary education are more likely to be wage employed relative to self-employment, whereas those with lower to no education are more likely to be unemployed or out of the labour force. This is because higher education is normally considered a prerequisite for most wage jobs. It is therefore imperative for the government to continue educating women beyond secondary level as it will better equip them to participate in more meaningful labour market activities. On the other hand, there is need to stimulate the demand side of the labour market in order to accommodate the rising numbers of women with high levels of education. In order to encourage participation of women in high rewarding self-employment activities, there is need to intensify empowerment schemes that are largely oriented towards their self-employment.
Topic:
Education, Markets, Labor Issues, and Women
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

405. The Impact of Labour Market Institutions and Capital Accumulation on Unemployment: Evidence for the OECD, 1985-2013

Author:
Philipp Heimberger
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)
Abstract:
This paper provides econometric evidence on the impact of labour market regulations on (‘structural’) unemployment rates. Based on a data set for 23 OECD countries over the time period 1985‑2013, the panel regression results suggest that standard institutional labour market indicators – such as employment protection legislation, trade union density, tax wedge, minimum wages – largely underperform in explaining (medium-term) unemployment, while cyclical macroeconomic factors – in particular capital accumulation, but also the long-term real interest rate – are essential determinants. These results underscore that the existing macroeconometric evidence in favour of the view that labour market rigidities are at the heart of increased ‘structural’ unemployment in advanced economies is modest at best. Some labour market variables do have an impact on unemployment, but it is in general smaller than the impact of relevant macroeconomic variables. To understand the development of unemployment in OECD countries, researchers and policy-makers therefore should consider aggregate demand dynamics and focus on capital accumulation.
Topic:
Migration, Labor Issues, Institutions, Macroeconomics, Unemployment, Labor Market, and Capital Accumulation
Political Geography:
Europe and United States of America

406. Root Causes of the Non-Enforcement of the Domestic Judicial Decisions in Ukraine

Author:
Alla Chernova, Halyna Balanovych, and Hanna Pashkova
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
National Security and Defence
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
The study was carried out based on the “Methodology for international and/or national expert analysis to determine the main reasons for the non-enforcement of decisions rendered by the domestic courts of Ukraine” within the Council of Europe’s project “Supporting Ukraine in the execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights”. This study was particularly related to the devastatingly low levels of the enforcement of judgments and, accordingly, the need to improve the situation in this area. The project implementation revealed the root causes of the non-enforcement of three categories of court decisions (social disputes, labour disputes and decisions concerning legal entities falling under the responsibility of the State or the State itself), as well as other problems linked to the statistics and the register of court decisions The first problem was associated with the impossibility of finding necessary cases. The experts identified systemic flaws in record-keeping and data comparability of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions (USRCD) and the Unified State Register of the Enforcement Proceedings with respect to all these categories of judgments. For example, of 2,760 court decisions in “social disputes” selected for analysis, the experts could only find 2,254 judgements in the USRCD under the provided requisites. The analysis revealed systemic violations of the relevant legislation, such as illegal reduction of payments, significant narrowing of the scope of plaintiffs’ rights by bylaws, misapplication of the budget legislation by the authorised government bodies. Speaking of labour disputes, the analysis covered 1,505 unexecuted court decisions. Causes for the non-enforcement in this category of decisions included the lack of necessary state funding (lack of budgetary allocations) at the time of the matter of controversy leading to the state’s failure to fulfil its obligations, improper exercise of powers by government authorities and state-owned enterprises, flaws in normative regulation of labour relationships, repeated reorganisations of one and the same enterprises leading to the interpretation confusion of these procedures and their improper execution. As for the decisions concerning legal entities falling under the responsibility of the State or the State itself, 250 of 14,324 court decisions of this category were subjected to expert analysis. It revealed inefficiency of the State Execution Service in recovering such debts, the improper performance of duties by the public executors, unlawful assistance to the debtor or delays in the enforcement of court decisions, obstruction of the plaintiffs’ right to use the mechanisms stipulated by the Law “On State Guarantees for the Enforcement of Judgements”. The study has also analysed the national legislation governing the system of bodies and the procedure for enforcement of judgments. Therefore, if taken into consideration by the relevant authorities, the project results presented in this publication can contribute to the understanding of current situation with the enforcement of judgements and developing approaches to their better execution.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Courts, Judiciary, and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine

407. Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives in Bangladesh After Rana Plaza: Global Norms and Workers’ Perspectives

Author:
Naila Kabeer, Lopita Haq, and Munshi Sulaiman
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University
Abstract:
The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in April, 2013 resulting in the death and injury of more than 2,000 workers from the country’s export garment industry was one of the worst industrial disasters in recorded history. The tragedy galvanized a range of stakeholders to take action to prevent future disasters. Prominent in these efforts were two multi-stakeholder agreements which brought together lead buyers, trade unions, and NGO’s in a concerted effort to improve health and safety conditions in the industry. These initiatives represent a move away from the buyer-driven compliance-based model that continues to dominate CSR to what is being described as a “cooperation-based” model which brings together multiple stakeholders who affect and are affected by the business operations of lead MNC’s in global value chains. This paper is concerned with the experiences and perceptions of workers with regard to these new initiatives. It examines competing interpretations of stakeholder analysis within the CSR literature and uses these to frame its key research question: has the shift from compliance to co-operation as the basis of CSR a promising way forward or merely a shift in rhetoric? We use a survey of garment workers to explore the extent to which these initiatives have brought about improvements in wages and working conditions in the garment industry, where progress has been slowest and why. The paper then provides recommendations, derived from its findings, to protect ‘the innocent’.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Norms, Garmet Industry, and Stakeholders
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

408. Changes in Women’s Lives Through Paid Work and NGO Membership: Qualitative Evidence From Two Villages in Bangladesh

Author:
Sufia Khatun
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), Brac University
Abstract:
Changing women’s lives through empowerment resources is important, but there are debates on how different resources of empowerment change women’s lives differently. Paid work is seen to be one of the major resources for women’s empowerment and NGO membership is one of the factors encouraging women’s self-employment. This paper is based on qualitative evidence from 25 in-depth case studies of women, conducted in two districts of Bangladesh. This paper provides evidence of the role of paid work and NGO membership in enabling women’s empowerment in their individual, family, and community life. It also examines how paid work and NGO membership together strengthens women’s self-confidence, self-worth, decision-making, financial control, mobility, and value at the individual level in the family and community. The paper tries to analyze the relative importance of paid work and NGO membership on different aspects of women’s empowerment. It also identifies some other factors influencing women’s empowerment. The paper concludes that while NGO membership, in conjunction with paid work, has a positive impact on women’s empowerment, on its own, it may not be an empowering resource in all aspects of women’s empowerment, for instance in terms of decision-making. Furthermore, norms play a role in mediating the impact of paid work and NGO membership in terms of the type of work women do, decision-making, value in the family and mobility. Additionally, other demographic characteristics, husband’s support and women’s own personality also play a role in women’s empowerment.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Women, Employment, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Bangladesh and South Asia

409. Would an EU-wide Basic Income Compliment the aims of the Minority SafePack Initiative?

Author:
Craig Willis
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
Abstract:
The broader goals of the Minority SafePack Initiative call for a pact between minorities and majorities in order to preserve, develop and promote the linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe in relation to the high number of national minorities inside the European Union. After a successful campaign and the collection of over 1,100,000 validated signatures, the Initiative is ready to be submitted to the EU Commission alongside concrete legislative proposals. This Working Paper examines how the EU-wide proposals for a basic income possibly fit theoretically with the Initiative, discussing basic income more generally as well as two proposals from Van Parijs and DiEM25. Developing four core areas as assessment criteria, the Working Paper finds that basic income theory overlaps significantly in terms of potential impact on the capacity for living in homeland, learning in mother tongue, preservation and development of identity and culture, and aiming for equality. However, these potentially diminish if the amount of a basic income is not enough to meet basic needs, as could be the case with the two proposals analysed – particularly when applied in the EU member states with a higher cost of living. Nonetheless, the differentiation between the Euro-dividend and the Universal Basic Dividend in terms of funding mechanism offers a significant factor which could change the normative understanding of a basic income – with the latter possibly better suiting the idea of a pact between different groups in society, in this case the majority and national minorities.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Labor Issues, European Union, Income Inequality, and Universal Basic Income
Political Geography:
Europe

410. Gender and social mobility: Exploring gender attitudes and women’s labour force participation

Author:
Nancy Luke
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Women have historically been overlooked in research on social mobility. In contrast, new research focuses on the intergenerational transmission of gender attitudes and norms as determinants of women’s labour force participation in industrialized countries. This paper discusses the measurement of gender attitudes and reviews research findings. Studies reveal that gender attitudes are a key transmission mechanism for intergenerational economic mobility beyond wealth and other economic factors. Mothers’ egalitarian views and less-restrictive gender norms promote greater labour force participation for daughters and daughters-in-law. There are few investigations in developing countries, where restrictive gender attitudes and norms are more pervasive and could potentially have greater impact in shaping women’s labour force participation. The paper concludes with a brief case study of women’s labour force participation in India, where the direct link between gender attitudes and women’s labour market engagement could provide a further explanation for its recent decline.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Labor Issues, Women, and Mobility
Political Geography:
Global Focus