Wage Bargaining and Employer Objectives

This paper compares union wage bargaining outcomes across different types of employers. Five different employer objectives are discussed; profit–, welfare– and output maximization, and two specifications of a Leviathan. The model shows that the ordering of the union wage level across employer types depends on the functional form of product demand. With constant elasticity of product demand, the wage tends to be lowest in the output maximization case, while with a linear product demand, the wage tends to be lowest under welfare maximization.Wage bargaining; Employer objectives; Wage differentials

The elasticity of labor supply at the establishment level

Monopsonistic wage-setting power requires that the supply of labor directed toward individual establishments is upward sloping. This paper utilizes institutional features to identify the supply curve. The elasticity of labor supply is estimated using data for the Norwegian teacher labor market in a period where the only variation in the wage level was determined centrally, and with information on whether there is excess demand or not at the school level. In fixed effects models, the supply elasticity faced by individual schools is estimated to about 1.5, and is in the range 1.0–1.9 in different model specification.Labor supply elasticity; teacher supply; monopsony, monopsony papers

Student progression in upper secondary education: The effect of academic ability, gender, and schools

This paper studies how students’ prior academic ability, gender, and family background affect performance in upper secondary schools in terms of lack of progression and dropout probability. The link between dropout and lack of progression in post-compulsory schooling is important as graduating from upper secondary school is a prerequisite to attend universities and other higher education institutions. Using an extremely rich data set from Norway covering all students starting upper secondary school education in the fall 2002, we find that earlier school performance is the main predictor of dropout and lack of progression. This holds controlling for a number of family background variables, study tracks and a full set of school fixed effects.

Teacher mobility responses to wage changes: evidence from quasi-natural experiment

This paper utilizes a Norwegian experiment with exogenous wage changes to study teacher’s turnover decisions. Within a completely centralized wage setting system, teachers in schools with a high degree of teacher vacancies in the past got a wage premium of about 10 percent during the period 1993-94 to 2002-03. The empirical strategy exploits that several schools switched status during the empirical period. In a fixed effects framework, the wage premium reduces the probability to quit by 6-7 percentage points and increases recruitment by 4-7 percentage points.

Wage Bargaining and Political Strength in the Public Sector

This paper analysis the link between political strength and public sector wages using a unique matched individual-employer data set for Norwegian local governments during the period 1990-1998. The results indicate that political strength, measured in several ways, has a positive effect on wages, while administrative strength, measured by the tenure of the chief executive, has a negative effect. The positive effect of political strength is consistent with a model in which the budgetary process is a multistage game and employment is determined in an interaction with interest groups prior to the wage bargain.public sector labor market, wage bargaining, political strength, budgetary process

Public sector decentralization and school performance. International evidence

Using a panel of international student test scores, 1980 – 2000, panel fixed effects estimates suggest that government spending decentralization is conducive to student performance. The effect does not appear to be mediated through levels of, or decentralization in, educational spending.Fiscal decentralization; Student achievement; federalism; PISA; TIMSS; education; school quality

Does a generous welfare state crowd out student achievement? Panel data evidence from international student tests

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. We report results from a variety of model specifications and social expenditure components, and our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.Student achievement; welfare state; government size; tax system; panel data; international tests

Does a generous welfare state crowd out student effort? Panel data evidence from international student tests.

Student achievement has been identified as an important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the hypothesis that redistributive government activities have a negative effect on investment in human capital using data from international comparative student achievement tests in Mathematics and Science for over 70 countries during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects models, both the effects of government consumption and government social expenditures on student achievement are negative and seem to be robust across different model specifications. The effect of social expenditures appears to be driven by spending on pensions and active labor market policies.achievement; welfare state; panel data; PISA; TIMSS

Welfare state generosity and student performance: Evidence from international student tests

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. The results are robust to a variety of model specifications, including models that condition on educational expenditures. Our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviationsStudent achievement; welfare state; government size; tax system; panel data; international tests

Does a Generous Welfare State Crowd out Student Achievement? Panel Data Evidence from International Student Tests

Student achievement has been identified as important contributor to economic growth. This paper investigates the relationship between redistributive government activities and investment in human capital measured by student performance in international comparative tests in Mathematics and Science during the period 1980 to 2003. In fixed effects panel models, government consumption, government social expenditures, and the progressivity of the income tax system have negative effects on student achievement. We report results from a variety of model specifications and social expenditure components, and our best estimate indicates that increased government size by 10 percent reduces student achievement by 0.1 standard deviations.student achievement, welfare state, government size, tax system, panel data, international tests