A new paper published online in the Journal of Population Economics is studyingRussian immigrants in the early twentieth century USA to find high degrees of occupational segregation.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
Identifying ethnic occupational segregation by Dafeng Xu & Yuxin Zhang
Published ONLINE 2020: Journal of Population Economics, scheduled for 2021. Free Readlink: https://rdcu.be/ccPoZ
Author Abstract: Many studies consider occupational segregation among the immigrant population from a given birth country as a whole. This ignores potential ethnic heterogeneity within an immigrant population and may underestimate occupational segregation. We focus on Russian immigrants in the early twentieth century USA—then a major immigrant population with a high degree of ethnic diversity, including Russian, Jewish, German, and Polish ethnics—and study occupational segregation by ethnicity. We apply a machine learning ethnicity classification approach to 1930 US census data based on name and mother tongue. Using the constructed ethnicity variable, we show high degrees of occupational segregation by ethnicity within the Russian-born immigrant population in the USA. For example, Jews, German ethnics, and Polish ethnics were concentrated in trade, agriculture, and manufacturing, respectively. We also find evidence that Russian-born immigrants’ labor market outcomes were associated with networks measured by the spatial concentration of co-ethnics—particularly more established ones—but not by the concentrations of other ethnic groups.
A new paper published online in the Journal of Population Economics suggests on the basis of a historical model analysis that England’s escape from the Malthusian trap was triggered by the demographic catastrophes in the aftermath of the Black Death.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
Fertility versus productivity: a model of growth with evolutionary equilibria by James Foreman-Peck and Peng Zhou
Published ONLINE: Journal of Population Economics, scheduled for 2021. Open Access
Author Abstract: We develop a quantitative model that is consistent with three principal building blocks of Unified Growth Theory: the break-out from economic stagnation, the build-up to the Industrial Revolution, and the onset of the fertility transition. Our analysis suggests that England’s escape from the Malthusian trap was triggered by the demographic catastrophes in the aftermath of the Black Death; household investment in children ultimately raised wages despite an increasing population; and rising human capital, combined with the increasing elasticity of substitution between child quantity and quality, reduced target family size and contributed to the fertility transition.
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The Global Labor Organization (GLO) and the Collaborating Centre for Labour Research(CU-COLLAR) at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand affiliate. The two organizations will support each other in their common missions on research and educational issues. CU-COLLAR will provide the local platform of GLO in Thailand and beyond. GLO Fellow and GLO Country Lead Thailand Ruttiya Bhula-or will head the local activities. The English website with the announcement will be available soon in January 2021.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
TheCollaborating Centre for Labour Research(CU-COLLAR) at Chulalongkorn University is dedicated to promoting cutting-edge labor researches to facilitate the implementation of policies, and to support the development of labor & socioeconomic data infrastructure and analysis to boost dialogues on labor research toward better wellbeing and decent work in an integrated and sustainable manner. The CU-COLLAR supports cooperation and partnership from a wide range of disciplines and universities with government, private sectors, employers’ representatives, workers’ representatives, international organizations, non-for-profit organizations at national and international levels. CU-COLLAR will provide the local platform of GLO at Chulalongkorn University, in Thailand and beyond.
Ruttiya Bhula-or is Associate Dean at the College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, and GLO Country Lead Thailand. She will act as Head of the local GLO initiatives at CU-COLLAR.
Chulalongkorn University with its Collaborating Centre for Labour Research(CU-COLLAR) has become a supporting organization of GLO.
The article “Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics” by GLO Fellow Victoria Vernon and GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann is now published.
Throughout history, border walls and fences have been built for defense, to claim land, to signal power, and to control migration. The costs of fortifications are large while the benefits are questionable. The recent trend of building walls and fences signals a paradox: In spite of the anti-immigration rhetoric of policymakers, there is little evidence that walls are effective in reducing terrorism, migration, and smuggling. Economic research suggests large benefits to open border policies in the face of increasing global migration pressures. Less restrictive migration policies should be accompanied by institutional changes aimed at increasing growth, improving security and reducing income inequality in poorer countries.
The Journal of Population Economics and GLO communities recently discussed the rise of Population Economics to a significant and flourishing research field in economics and beyond. In an online event on November 19, 2020 hosted by UNU-MERIT/Maastricht, the meeting presented a panel debate on Publishing in Population Economics.
A number of distinguished editors outlined the evolution in the past, expressed their views about future perspectives and the contributions by Alessandro Cigno serving the Journal of Population Economics as an Editor for over 33 years since the beginning.
Professor Cigno had decided to leave this position at the end of the year 2020 while celebrating his 80th birthday on December 24.
Sandro Cigno was one of the founding editors in 1988 and has had a remarkable impact on the position of the Journal in general and its profile in the theory of family and household economics.
Editorial Board of the Journal of Population Economics in 1988
On the occasion, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Klaus F. Zimmermann, said: “We all will miss Sandro as a strong and independent thinker, a fair and engaged editor, and a reliable and loyal partner over three decades. His friendship and the many inspiring contributions have made the joint mission of creating and establishing the field ofPopulation Economicsan enjoyable and doable task. Impressed by his spirit, fitness and ongoing research engagement, we all wish him at his 80th birthday ongoing good health, fun with his work and last but not least enjoyment with his lovely family.”
Happy birthday, happy holidays, all the best for 2021 and beyond; and thank you very much!
Alessandro Cigno
Università di Firenze; Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 1988 – 2020
Alessandro Cigno
“It is a great pleasure to say a few words on behalf of Sandro Cigno and to express my high esteem of his scientific career and of his personality. I have known Sandro for many years. If we had to date it, I would say our friendship goes back to the early days of the European Society of Population Economics and the Journal of Population Economics. I have great respect for his very long scientific career. This career is marked by excellence and consistency. Sandro offers a fine example of academic longevity. This type of longevity seems to me more common in Europe than in North America. The explanation may lie in the specific incentive structures that prevail in these two continents. My first scientific contact with Sandro was reading his remarkable book “Economics of the Family” published in 1991. One of the first books on the subject, which had a great influence on research in family and population economics. In Sandro’s research, I have mainly been interested in his work at the crossroads of population and public economics. He has published several groundbreaking articles in public economics. I would pinpoint two articles. First, there is the one where he shows the implications that endogenous fertility can have on the design of family policy. “Endogenous fertility and the design of family taxation” (with A. Balestrino and A. Pettini). Then there is the article where he studies social policy in a context of asymmetric information in which many individual characteristics are not observable. “Doing wonders with an egg: optimal redistribution when households differ in market and non- market ability” (with A. Balestrino and A. Pettini). When we started the Journal of Population Economics adventure, theory had an important role. Gradually this role has diminished to almost disappear. This development is not unique to Population Economics; it is no less regrettable. I sometimes have the feeling that, to use Tjalling Koopmans‘ expression, we have entered the era of “measurement without theory”. I am grateful to Sandro for having over the past decades pursued the idea that all empirical work needs to be preceded by sound theory. My hope is that soon we will experience a period with more concern for “measurement with theory”. Finally, a last word on the personality of Sandro. Sandro is a true gentleman, a well-rounded person whom I am happy to count among my friends. He has had an indisputable and lasting influence on our discipline, Population Economics.”
In the Panel Debate in the honor of Sandro Cigno participated the following editors:
Shuaizhang Feng (Jinan University; Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 2020 – ) Oded Galor (Brown University; Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 2019 – ; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Economic Growth) Pierre Pestieau (Université de Liège; Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 1988 – 1995; previously: Co-Editor Journal of Public Economics) Erdal Tekin (American University; Editor; Journal of Population Economics, 2010 – 2018; Editor-in-Chief Journal of Policy Analysis and Management) Katharina Wetzel-Vandai (Economics Editor, Springer Nature) Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong; Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 2001 – 2019; Coeditor, Journal of Human Resources) Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Maastricht University; Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Journal of Population Economics, 1988 – ; previously: Managing Editor, Economic Policy)
Shuaizhang Feng
Junsen Zhang
Klaus F. Zimmermann
Pierre Pestieau
Oded Galor
Erdal Tekin
Katharina Wetzel-Vandai
Sandro Cigno, in the panel debate on November 19, 2020
Video of the Journal event including the panel discussion on Publishing in Population Economics.
Dear GLO Members and Friends: Season’s Greetings, healthy & happy holidays and a healthy & successful New Year 2021! Many thanks for the substantial support GLO has received in 2020!
Covid-19: We were strongly growing with the new constraints. The value of globalization became even more transparent. Thanks for the intensification and deepening of friendships and collaborations.
Click here to see what has happened during the year.
Beethoven year in Bonn 2020 in face of the pandemic, left. Right the year before. All next to the Beethoven Monument, a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven, on the Münsterplatz in Bonn center; the statue was unveiled on 12 August 1845.
A new GLO Discussion Paper examines the effect of one of the largest nutrition assistance programs in early life covering poor rural China.Nutrition supplements effectively increase boys’ weight and reduce their probability of being underweight, while no effect is observed for girls of similar age.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
Author Abstract: This paper examines the growth effect of one of the largest nutrition assistance programs in early life. The program covers 5.8 million children in poor rural China and provides 6-24-month old children with a free nutrition supplement that contains nine essential micronutrients. We utilize a phase-in procedure by county for identification and estimate its impact on several early-life health indicators. Robust evidence shows that such nutrition supplements effectively increase boys’ weight and reduce their probability of being underweight. No effect is observed on girls of similar age. These health indicators are related to long-term human capital development. The gender differences in policy impact that are identified in this paper have important implications for nutrition subsidy in the early years of life in developing countries.
A new GLO Discussion Paper finds that the productivity measures used of workers are negatively related to the difficulty and complexity of a specific sub-task.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
Author Abstract: We analyze the impact of within-task difficulty and complexity on workers’ productivity in online labor markets. Using a randomized control quasi-experiment in AMT we are able to define the difficulty and complexity embodied in requested sub-tasks within a problem-solved task. We find that our productivity measures are negatively related to the difficulty and complexity of a specific sub-task. This finding is robust to several sources of workers’ heterogeneity and to different pay schemes.
A new GLO Discussion Paper examines whether students’ and teachers’ identity play any role in the learning outcome of students.
The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.
Author Abstract: In this paper we examine whether students’ and teachers’ identity play any role in the learning outcome of students. Specifically, we ask if a student benefits by learning from a teacher of her same gender. Unlike the existing literature which explains such interaction through role model effect or Pygmalion effect, we explain such interaction in terms of gender based sorting behaviour across private and public schools. Our results are driven by two critical differences between male and female individuals. For male and female teachers, the difference comes from their differential transaction costs of traveling to schools at remote locations. For students, the difference between male and female members comes from the differential returns to education accrued to their parents; for girl students, a lower fraction of the return comes to their parental families as they start living with their husband’s family after their marriages. These factors create a sorting pattern which makes the female teachers and students of the highest quality attend private schools in urban location. This creates a positive gender matching effect only for urban, private schools. We find support for our theoretical predictions when we test them using Young Lives Survey (YLS) data collected from Andhra Pradesh.
Hosted by the University of Kent on the invitation of GLO Director Matloob Piracha, the Third Renmin University—GLO Conference on the Chinese Labor Market took place virtually on December 19, 2020. Organizers were GLO Fellows Liqiu Zhao and Zhong Zhao (both Renmin University of China) and GLO Director Matloob Piracha. GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University & Renmin University of China) also participated in the event. GLO Cluster Lead China Corrado Giulietti (University of Southampten) chaired a session. Program and pictures below.
TOPIC: The Chinese Labor Market Beijing Time: 16:00-21:20; Berlin Time: 9:00-14:20; London Time: 8:00-13:20 December 19 (Saturday), 2020; Virtual Conference through Zoom
Posted inEvents, News|Comments Off on Third Renmin University—GLO Conference on the Chinese Labor Market took place virtually on December 19, 2020. Video of the event now available.
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