We examine a number of personnel practices, laws and regulations that lower the supply of labor in the Japanese economy. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of impediments, those that restrict the movement of labor between firms, and those that discourage women from participating to a greater...

Indonesia has been severely hurt by the recent economic crisis, which has been accompanied by social tensions. Still, there are reasons to be optimistic about Indonesia's future. The economic crisis may have bottomed out and the difficult transition to democracy has started. For a sustainable...

Within most organizations, agents may spend time on a variety of tasks, productive and redistributive. In this paper, I derive an optimal multi-task incentive scheme under the realistic assumption that agents have limited liability. The wage level is shown to increase with an agent's discretion...

The private manufacturing sector has been called upon to play a key role in the transformation and development of the Vietnamese economy since the launching of market oriented reforms a decade ago. Drawing on a comprehensive survey in 1997 of some 500 non-state manufacturing enterprises in...

This paper decomposes the rise in cross-sectional earnings inequality in Sweden between 1990 and 2002 into changes in market prices of observable characteristics, changes in the composition of the labor force across demographic groups and industries, and changes in unobservables, and compares...

We document a clear increase in Swedish earnings inequality in the early 1990s. Inequality in disposable income and earnings net of taxes and transfers also increased, but much less than the increased inequality in pre-government earnings. These different developments are most likely explained...

The size-wage effect is well documented in the empirical literature, and typical attempts of explanation center on the supply side, using variations of the human capital approach, perhaps combined with institutional theories. With conclusive evidence of its source yet to emerge, an alternative...

It is a well known fact that on average, women in all countries earn less than men. Although less pronounced among OECD countries, the fact remains that the gender gap in earnings still persists to a significant degree. Less well known is that the rate of return (ROR) to university education is...

This paper estimates and documents changes in the rate of return to education in Sweden between 1968 and 1991. Both the "quantity" (i.e.) years of schooling completed) and "quality" (i.e. education level obtained) dimensions of education are considered. These returns are calculated by estimating...

The impact of compulsory schooling laws as well as the abolition of early selection by ability remain important issues in the educational debate. These issues were the focus of a major education reform in Sweden which was implemented in the 60s. The reform was preceded by a ``social experiment''...