Back from a Pre-Christmas tour de force through three continents (November 28 to December 22): Luxembourg-Brussels-Kigali-Xiamen-Seoul-Mumbai conferences. Some quick pictures from the trip. (No Christmas signs in Kigali.) Now on my way to Florida and Atlanta…. Follow me on my website.
On December 16, Klaus F. Zimmermann has moved to Mumbai, India, for the 60th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), which takes place 19-21 December at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR). He will present a research paper on 19 December about “Economic preferences across generations: Identifying family clusters from a large- scale experiment” and deliver the Invited Valedictory Address to the congress on 21 December. Since December 17, he enjoys staying at the guest house of IGIDR and the great hospitality.
In front of the Guest House, home for the week.
Orientation walk, finding the way
The academic center of IGIDR
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During his visit to Seoul at Sogang University (Report I) and ASSLE (Report II), Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & GLO), he also enjoyed “dreaming happiness” at the National Museum of Korea. With its 27,090 square meters, the National Museum of Korea is considered to be the ninth-largest art museum in the world by gallery space.
At the entrance
The AASLE excursion team admiring the ten-story stone pagoda from the Gyeongcheonsa temple.
Being away….
Dreaming Eternal Happiness
The Garden of Happiness
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The President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Maastricht University), reached South Korea on December 11 to speak first on December 12 in a research seminar at Sogang University Seoul about “Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water in Bangladesh”. Sogang University is one of the three top leading research universities of South Korea. He then participated at the second Asian and Australasian Society of Labour Economics (AASLE) 2018 Conference, which took place on 13-15 December in Seoul Dragon City, and stayed in the Novotel Yongsan.
Zimmermann’s paper presentation at the AASLE conference was on “Beyond the Average: Ethnic Capital Heterogeneity and Intergenerational Transmission of Education”. He showed that low educated new ethnic German migrant parents learn from better educated migrants of their own ethnicity with the consequence of a higher educational outcome of their children. This justifies random local assignment of migrants upon immigration.
At the conference, GLO President Zimmermann met a larger number of GLO Fellows, with whom he discussed issues of future research and the development of the GLO organization.
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The discussion paper of the month (see below) deals with the sources of inequality in East Africa. It concludes that promoting equity in education requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools.
Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers
GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS, EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs downloadable for free.
GLO Discussion Paper of the Month: November
Anand, Paul & Behrman, Jere R. & Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Jones, Sam: 2018. “Inequality of Opportunity in Education: Accounting for the Contributions of Sibs, Schools and Sorting across East Africa,” GLO Discussion Paper Series 270, Global Labor Organization (GLO). FREE – Download PDF
Abstract: Inequalities in the opportunity to obtain a good education in low-income countries are widely understood to be related to household resources and schooling quality. Yet, to date, most researchers have investigated the contributions of these two factors separately. This paper considers them jointly, paying special attention to their covariation, which indicates whether schools exacerbate or compensate for existing household-based inequalities. The paper develops a new variance decomposition framework and applies it to data on more than one million children in three low-income East African countries. The empirical results show that although household factors account for a significant share of total test score variation, variation in school quality and positive sorting between households and schools are, together, no less important. The analysis also finds evidence of substantial geographical heterogeneity in schooling quality. The paper concludes that promoting equity in education in East Africa requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools.
Land of Thousand Hills: Rwanda
GLO Discussion Papers of November 2018
280 The Financial Decisions of Immigrant and Native Households: Evidence from Italy – Download PDF
by Bertocchi, Graziella & Brunetti, Marianna & Zaiceva, Anzelika
279 War and Social Attitudes – Download PDF
by Child, Travers Barclay & Nikolova, Elena
278 Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence – Download PDF
by Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn
277 Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network – Download PDF
by Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn
276 Work Hard or Play Hard? Degree Class, Student Leadership and Employment Opportunities – Download PDF
by Baert, Stijn & Verhaest, Diete
275 Industrial relations reform, firm-level bargaining and nominal wage floors – Download PDF
by Giannakopoulosa, Nicholas & Laliotis, Ioannis
274 Labor supply and the business cycle: The “Bandwagon Worker Effect” – Download PDF
by Martín Román, Ángel L. & Cuéllar-Martín, Jaime & Moral de Blas, Alfonso
273 Reaching the Top or Falling Behind? The Role of Occupational Segregation in Women’s Chances of Finding a High-Paying Job Over the Life-Cycle – Download PDF
by Gutierrez, Federico H.
272 Arrival of Young Talents: The Send-down Movement and Rural Education in China – Download PDF
by Chen, Yi & Fan, Ziying & Gu, Xiaomin & Zhou, Li-An
271 Family Unification, Siblings, and Skills – Download PDF
by Duleep, Harriet Orcutt & Regets, Mark
270 Inequality of Opportunity in Education: Accounting for the Contributions of Sibs, Schools and Sorting across East Africa – Download PDF
by Anand, Paul & Behrman, Jere R. & Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Jones, Sam
269 Trade and capital flows: Substitutes or complements? An empirical investigation – Download PDF
by Belke, Ansgar & Domnick, Clemens
268 Son Preference and Human Capital Investment Among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households – Download PDF
by Lin, Carl & Sun, Yan & Xing, Chunbing
GLO DP Team
Senior Editors:
Matloob Piracha (University of Kent) & GLO; Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and Bonn University).
Managing Editor: Magdalena Ulceluse, University of Groningen. DP@glabor.org
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The Discussion Paper of the Month October 2018 (see below) presents a remarkable review of the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision making. All by a leading expert of the field, GLO Fellow & GLO Cluster Lead Xi Chen. Further, the paper relates to an outstanding GLO workshop in Hong Kong on climate change and human resources consequences.
Titles and free access/links to GLO Discussion Papers
GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS, EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs downloadable for free.
GLO Discussion Paper of the Month: October
Chen, Xi: 2018. “Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making,” GLO Discussion Paper Series 266, Global Labor Organization (GLO). FREE – Download PDF
Abstract: Cognitive functioning is critical as in our daily life a host of real-world complex decisions in high-stakes markets have to be made. The decision-making process can be vulnerable to environmental stressors. Summarizing the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision making, we first illustrate key physiological and psychological pathways between air pollution and cognition. We then document the main patterns of air pollution affecting cognitive test performance by type of cognitive tests, gender, window of exposure, age profile, and educational attainment. We further extend to a review of real-world decision making that has been found to be affected by air pollution and the resulting cognitive impairments. Finally, rich implications on environmental health policies are drawn based on existing evaluations of social costs of air pollution.
GLO Discussion Papers of October 2018
267 New Education Models for the Future of Work Force – Download PDF
by Pastore, Francesco
266 Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision Making – Download PDF
by Chen, Xi
265 Drivers of Labor Force Participation in Advanced Economies: Macro and Micro Evidence – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia
264 A Cohort-Based Analysis of Labor Force Participation for Advanced Economies – Download PDF
by Grigoli, Francesco & Koczan, Zsoka & Topalova, Petia
263 Low, High and Super Congestion of an Open-Access Resource: Impact under Autarky and Trade, with Aquaculture as Illustration – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice
262 Brain Drain-Induced Brain Gain and the Bhagwati Tax: Are Early and Recent Paradigms Compatible? – Download PDF
by Schiff, Maurice
261 Labor Market and Institutional Drivers of Youth Irregular Migration: Evidence from the MENA Region – Download PDF
by Dibeh, Ghassan & Fakih, Ali & Marrouch, Walid
260 Public versus Private Sector Wage Gap in Egypt: Evidence from Quantile Regression on Panel Data – Download PDF
by Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin
259 Does female breadwinning make partnerships less healthy or less stable? – Download PDF
by Foster, Gigi & Stratton, Leslie S.
258 Marriage Market Signals and Homeownership for the Never Married – Download PDF
by Mundra, Kusum & Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth
257 Economic impact of STEM immigrant workers – Download PDF
by Baum, Christopher F. & Lööf, Hans & Stephan, Andreas
256 Does Regulation Trade-Off Quality against Inequality? The Case of German Architects and Construction Engineers – Download PDF
by Rostam-Afschar, Davud & Strohmaier, Kristina
GLO DP Team
Senior Editors:
Matloob Piracha (University of Kent) & GLO; Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and Bonn University).
Managing Editor: Magdalena Ulceluse, University of Groningen. DP@glabor.org
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On his pre-Christmas conference and lecture tour through Asia, the President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-MERIT & Maastricht University), reached South Korea on December 11 using Korean Airlines from Xiamen to Seoul. He spoke on December 12 in a research seminar at Sogang University Seoul about “Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water in Bangladesh”. He was warmly welcomed by Almas Heshmati, who is a Professor of that university, a GLO Fellow and GLO Research Cluster Lead. Both scientists discussed various research and policy initiatives for Africa in 2019 and beyond.
Sogang University is one of the three top leading research universities of South Korea and was established in 1960 by the Society of Jesus to provide education based on Catholic beliefs in the Jesuit Tradition. It provides excellent working conditions. Sogang University seeks academic excellence to provide students with intellectual skills and creativity that are necessary for the fast-changing world. Sogang University has shown outstanding achievements in the fields of education, research and industry-university cooperation for over 55 years, and has played a significant role in policy advice.
Zimmermann at the gate of Sogang University
During the talk using powerpoint.
Work done.
Fun in the coffee shop.
On December 13-15, Zimmermann will stay in Seoul, South Korea and will have a Paper presentation at the Asian and Australasian Society of Labour Economics (AASLE) 2018 Conference.
Zimmermann will move on December 16 to Mumbai, India, for another conference. At the 60th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), he will present a research paper on 19 December about “Economic preferences across generations: Identifying family clusters from a large- scale experiment” and give the Invited Valedictory Address to the congress on 21 December.
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Jointly organized by WISE, the Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR) of Jinan University, and the Department of Economics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the 2018 International Symposium on Contemporary Labor Economics at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University, China took place on 8-9 December.
Guided and supported by local faculty, some of the keynote speakers of the event (Paul Oyer, Paola Giuliano and Klaus F. Zimmermann) were visiting Gulangyu Island on December 10. “Visit Gulangyu Island is just like a time traveling to the past, and few things have changed on the island since foreigners settled in Xiamen (Amoy) to do business….. Gulangyu Island situates in the southwest of Xiamen, with a 600m Lu River sitting between them, and it only takes five minutes to get there by ferry. Covering an area of 1.87 km2, it has only 16,000 permanent residents. The weather on the island is cozy and fine, and there is no car on the island, with such tranquil environment, Gulangyu Island is also praised as garden on the sea….. And on July 8th, 2017, on the World Heritage Convention held in Poland, Gulangyu Island – a Historic International Settlement was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is now the 52nd World Heritage site in China…”
The assisted core research team: Klaus F. Zimmermann, Paola Giuliano and Paul Oyer.
The Piano Museum
A unique performance
Recruiting a new GLO Fellow: GLO President Zimmermann welcomes new ally.
Nightlife in Xiamen City Center
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The 2018 International Symposium on Contemporary Labor Economics at the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University, China took place on 8-9 December. The symposium was jointly organized by WISE, the Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR) of Jinan University, and the Department of Economics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The purpose of this Symposium is to facilitate the exchange of ideas between Chinese and international scholars on labor economics.
In this context, the President of the Global Labor Organization (GLO), Klaus F. Zimmermann, was visiting Xiamen University from December 7 – 10. He provided a keynote speech on “Economic Preferences Across Generations” and presented in the Panel Discussion of Keynote Speakers: “Good Research, Good Topic, and Good Paper in Economics”.
Seven keynote speeches, a panel on success in science and 38 paper presentations marked an exciting program over two full days in front of a larger number of participants, in particular from the affiliated universities. Those included Shihe Fu of Xiamen University and Shuaizhang Feng, Dean of IESR of Jinan University and GLO Fellow; and conference organizers Lei Meng, Xiamen University and GLO Fellow, and Xiqian Cai, Xiamen University.
BELOW: Lei Meng, Xiamen University and GLO Fellow (right, left: Zimmermann)
BELOW: Feng, Holz, Freeman, Oyer and Meng in the first row.
BELOW: Lei Meng, Xiamen University and GLO Fellow
Highlights:
Dec. 8, 2018 (Saturday)
Keynote Session I
BELOW: Richard Freeman (Harvard University)
Keynote Session II
BELOW: Craig McIntosh (University of California, San Diego)
Dec. 9, 2018 (Saturday)
Keynote Session III
Keynote Session III
BELOW: Paola Giuliano (University of California, Los Angeles, and GLO)
Panel Discussion of Keynote Speakers
Good Research, Good Topic, and Good Paper in Economics:
– Richard Freeman (Harvard University)
– Paola Giuliano (University of California, Los Angeles, and GLO)
– Carsten Holz (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
– Craig McIntosh (University of California, San Diego)
– Paul Oyer (Stanford University)
– Junsen Zhang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and GLO)
– Klaus F. Zimmermann (Bonn University and Global Labor Organization, GLO)
Oyer is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Labor Economics; Zimmermann is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Population Economics. Zhang is Editor of the Journal of Population Economics. Paola Giuliano is Co-Editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association; Richard Freeman is Co-Editor of the Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership.
BELOW: Klaus F. Zimmermann (Bonn University and Global Labor Organization, GLO)
With PhD students from Jinan University and Nanjing Agricultural University.
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Starting from Bruxelles airport, GLO President Zimmermann reached on 1 December 2018 the Marriott Hotel in Kigali/Rwanda that hosted the 3-5 December African Economic Conference 2018. Organized jointly by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this year’s topic was “Regional and Continental Integration for Africa’s Development”. Zimmermann spoke in the opening plenary session 1, the “High-level panel on drivers, opportunities and lessons for Africa’s integration”. After his participation at the 3-5 December African Economic Conference 2018 in Kigali/Rwanda, GLO President Klaus F. Zimmermann, traveled on December 5 from Kigali through Doha and Hongkong to reach Xiamen on December 6.
For details of the conference see REPORT 2 & REPORT 1.
Meeting with GLO Fellow Professor Rama Rao (right), University of Rwanda/Kigali, in the Marriott Hotel to discuss future ventures in Africa.
Refreshing old contacts: Tony Muhumuza, National Economist and Team Leader Strategy and Policy Unit at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Economist with a PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin, where he was in the doctoral program of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); Zimmermann was DIW President at the time and had created the doctoral program of DIW Berlin together with Georg Meran of the Technical University of Berlin, who then was the DIW Vice President.
Leaving the “land of thousand hills”, Rwanda:
Transfer with Qatar Airways from Kigali – Doha – Hongkong and with Cathay Dragon from Hongkong – Xiamen. Qatar Airways was named 2017’s best airline by Skytrax, the authoritative airline review and ranking consultancy group.
In Xiamen at the university, Zimmermann will participate at the 8-9 December 2018 International Symposium on Contemporary Labor Economics. As Richard Freeman of Harvard University and others, he will provide a keynote speech. This is the 10th anniversary of the symposium. Freeman and Zimmermann were also keynote speakers at the first symposium.
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