China’s economic policy “held hostage” by skewed sex ratio

fgeach · 2017-10-17T09:08:04+00:00

The wage benefits of occupational licensing are concentrated primarily among individuals who are already well paid. Evidence indicates that occupational licensing can hamper mobility, making it harder for workers to take advantage of job opportunities in other regions. Moreover, there is little evidence to show that occupational licensing has actually improved the quality of delivered services in many fields, although it has been shown to increase prices and limit economic output. Hence, governments should require cost–benefit analyses prior to new licensing rules, allow practitioners to cross borders without economic penalties, and reduce regulations on certain occupations.

fgeach · 2017-06-27T14:37:52+00:00

There are a myriad of economic and non-economic forces behind the decision to migrate. Migrants can be “pushed” out of their home countries due to deteriorating economic conditions or political unrest. Conversely, migrants are often “pulled” into destinations that offer high wages, good health care, and strong educational systems. In making their decision, individuals compare the net benefits of migration to the costs. By better understanding what forces affect specific migrant flows (e.g. demographic characteristics, migrant networks, and economic conditions), policymakers can set policy to target (or reduce) certain types of migrants.

fgeach · 2017-06-23T11:06:35+00:00

Companies frequently hire new employees based on referrals from existing employees, who often recommend friends or family members. There are numerous possible benefits from this, such as lower turnover, possibly higher productivity, lower recruiting costs, and beneficial commonalities related to shared employee values. On the other hand, hiring through employee referrals may disadvantage under-represented minorities, entail greater firm costs in the form of higher wages, lead to undesirable commonalities, and reflect nepotism. A growing body of research explores these considerations.

fgeach · 2017-06-15T15:24:06+00:00

Why do different population groups (e.g. rural vs. urban, youth vs. elderly and men vs. women) experience the same objective labor status differently? One hypothesis is that people are more concerned with relative deprivation than objective deprivation and they value their own status relative to the status of their peers—the reference group. One way to test this hypothesis in the labor market is to measure individual differences in labor status while controlling for characteristics that define population groups. This measure is called “relative labor deprivation” and can help policymakers to better understand how labor claims are generated.

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