In the last 50 years the gap in labour productivity between Europe and the US has narrowed considerably with estimates in 2005 suggesting a EU-US labour productivity gap of about 5 per cent. Yet, ...average per capita income in the EU is still about 30% lower than in the US. This persistent gap in income per capita can be almost entirely explained by Europeans working less than Americans. Why do Europeans work so little compared to Americans? What do they do with their spare time outside work? Can they be induced to work more without reducing labour productivity? If so, how? And what is the effect on well-being if policies are created to reward paid work as opposed to other potentially socially valuable activities, like childbearing? More broadly, should the state interfere at all when it comes to bargaining over working hours? This volume explores these questions and many more in an attempt to understand the changing nature of the hours worked in the USA and EU, as well as the effects of policies that impose working hour reductions. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780199231027/toc.html Contributors to this volume - Tito Boeri, Bocconi University Michael Burda, Humboldt University Berlin Pierre Cahuc, Paris 1-Pantheon Sorbonne Bruno Crepon, CREST-INSEE Francis Kramarz, CREST-INSEE Daniel S. Hamermesh, University of Texas-Austin Thorsten Schank, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Oskar Nordstrom Skans, Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation Gijsbert van Lomwel, CentERdata Philippe Weil, Universite Libre de Bruxelles Andre Zylberberg, CNRS
Dikes provide important information on the structure, state of stress and activity of a volcano. Mt. Somma borders part of the Vesuvio cone (Italy), displaying ∼
100 dikes emplaced between ∼
18 and ...30
ka. Field, AMS (anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility) and thin section analyses are used to characterize their geometry and kinematics (direction and sense of flow). The dikes mostly have a NNW–SSE to NE–SW strike. Approximately 57% are radial to the older Somma edifice, ∼
27% are oblique and ∼
16% tangential. Among the latter two groups, ∼
32% are outward dipping and ∼
11% inward dipping. The dike thickness varies between 0.2 and 3
m, with a mean value of 1.17
m. The kinematics of 19 dikes is determined through a combination of field (8 dikes), AMS (16 dikes) and thin section analyses (15 dikes). Thirteen dikes have a vertical upward flow, whereas six have an oblique-subhorizontal flow, suggesting a lateral propagation from the summit or eccentric vents of the former Somma edifice. These propagation paths differ from those deducible from the recent activity, as all the seven major fissure eruptions between 1631 and 1944 were related to the lateral propagation of radial dikes. We propose that these different behaviours in dike propagation may be mainly related to the opening conditions of the summit conduit. The laterally propagating dikes in 1631–1944 formed with an open conduit. Conversely, the vertically propagating dikes may have formed, between 18 and 30
ka, with a closed conduit.
Part one: The book traces the evolution of executive compensation, its controversies and its resulting regulations, by comparing US and European CEOs. It shows that many features of current executive ...compensation practices reflect the often-unintended consequences of regulatory responses to perceived abuses in top-executive pay, often stemming from relatively isolated events or situations. Regulation always creates unintended (and usually costly) side effects and it is often inherently driven by politicians more interested in their political agendas rather than creating shareholder value. Improvements in executive compensation are more likely to emanate through stronger corporate governance, and not through direct government intervention. Part one: The compensation packages of a growing proportion of firms include pay schemes that are linked to employee or company performance, however little is known about the patterns of performance related pay both within and across countries. This study investigates the diffusion of incentive pay schemes on both sides of the Atlantic and finds a number of empirical regularities. Incentive pay is less common where the share of small firms is larger, or where product and labour markets are regulated. We show that government intervention in this area is not obvious and that extensive discussion with labour, management, and government decision-makers is important.
This is a cross-national study of the impact of the Great Recession (GR) on the distribution of household incomes. Looking at real income levels, poverty rates, and income inequality, the book ...focuses on the period 2007–9, but also considers longer term impacts. Three contributions are made. First, the book reviews lessons from the past about the relationships between macroeconomic change and the household income distribution. Second, it considers the experience of 21 rich OECD member countries drawing on a mixture of national accounts, labour force, and household survey data. Third, the book presents case-study evidence for six countries: Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the USA. It is shown that there were marked divergences across countries in the GR’s nature, impact on the labour market, and its fiscal consequences and yet, for most of the countries studied, there was little change in household income distributions in the two years following the GR. Between 2007 and 2009, households were protected from the impact of the downturn by additional support from governments through the tax and benefit system. Although employment fell in many countries, their household income distributions did not change much. After 2009, there is likely to be much greater change in incomes as a result of the fiscal consolidation measures that are being put into place to address the structural deficits that accompanied the GR. The book’s main policy lesson is that stabilization of the household income distribution in the face of macroeconomic turbulence is an achievable policy goal, at least in the short-term.
Current theories of unions are mainly theories of what unions were and did rather than theories of what unions will be
and will do. Thus, the purpose of this book is to help make economic thinking ...about unions in Europe more forward‐looking and to discuss the role that unions are likely to play in the changed economic environment of the new century. The volume consists of two reports that are the results of coordinated efforts by some of the most authoritative scholars in the field. The first study addresses a number of issues related to the question of how the primary role of trade unions—collective bargaining over wages and work conditions—is likely to evolve in the early decades of the new millennium. Starting from the widespread impression of a trend toward weakening union power, the main aspects considered by the analysis are membership, wage effects, organization and presence of unions, bargaining structure, macroeconomic performance, future scenarios, and strategies. The second study investigates the interactions between trade unions, welfare systems, and welfare reforms. The overall theme is the policy dilemma created by the many different activities of trade unions in the field of welfare provision, notably pension policies and unemployment protection.Throughout the analysis, a tension emerges between the role of unions as voice of atomistic agents and insurance providers—that may contribute to increasing aggregate welfare by remedying market failures—and as rent‐seeking monopolist, underlying the intergenerational conflicts present within unions. The studies point to measures and strategies enhancing this second efficient role of the unions that draws mainly on their capacity to internalize to the employer–employee relationships costs that would otherwise fall on society at large.
Head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCC) have a high local recurrence rate due to incomplete tumor resection. The use of molecular markers to establish surgical margins may decrease local ...recurrence. Surgical margins are determined by histopathologic analysis on frozen sections. We postulate that genetic and molecular changes precede gross histologic alterations. Tumor markers may improve the reliability of pathology examination, but those evaluated to date lack the sensitivity needed for routine clinical use. Western blot analysis showed elevated eIF4E in all 26 HNSCC in contrast to its low expression in benign lesions. Surgical margins were analysed for eIF4E in 23 patients. Twelve patients showed elevated eIF4E in histologically negative margins. Cancer has recurred in 5 of the 12 patients as opposed to none of the 11 patients with eIF4E negative margins (P= 0.02, Log rank test). This is the first report of eIF4E in HNSCC, as a sensitive and specific marker for HNSCC, with potential for defining clear resection margins. The correlation between elevated levels of eIF4E at the margins and recurrence highlights its ability to detect malignant cells prior to clear-cut alterations in morphology. The accuracy and simplicity of these assays underscore the usefulness of eIF4E in managing HNSCC.
Women at work Boeri, Tito; Del Boca, Daniela; Pissarides, Christopher
2005, 20050602, 2005-06-02, 20050101
eBook, Book
"Covering employment and wage gender gaps, participation of women, fertility, and the welfare of children, this book discusses how the trend towards greater participation of women in labor markets ...interacts with gender differences in pay. It focuses on the scope for increasing the number of women in the labor force without negatively affecting the development of their children. At the Spring 2000 Lisbon meeting of the European Council the Heads of Governments of the EU agreed to accelerate the greater participation of women in the labor market. However, neither in Lisbon nor in the subsequent Spring European Councils of the EU was it discussed how to achieve this target - and the trade-offs that would be involved in increasing the participation of women in paid employment. Policies for increasing participation must involve some losers, or they would already have been implemented everywhere. If distributional considerations and policy trade-offs are ignored, it is only possible to set virtual targets, neglecting the reforms needed to achieve them." Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch; Querschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1994 bis 1999. (author's abstract, IAB-Doku).
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