The paper asks why retirement can be so abrupt in countries such as France (½% of the workforce over 65), yet staged in Japan (8% over 65). We find part of the answer in tax laws that prevent people working and receiving a pension, and make little allowance for fair pension increases if...

This field experiment examines output quantity and quality for workers in a data input business. We observe two sets of workers that differ in monitoring intensity as they move from time to piece rates. The application of piece rates increases quantity, and we find that the resultant quality can...

The 1/n problem potentially limits the effectiveness of profit sharing in motivating workers. While the economic literature suggests that reciprocity can mitigate this problem, it remains silent on the optimal degree of reciprocity. We present a representative model demonstrating that...

This paper focuses on the German labor market for older workers. It does so in comparison with other countries and with a unique focus on the role of employer incentives for retaining and hiring older workers. It argues that while employment of older German workers has improved due to changes in...

While performance pay is associated with increased worker productivity and earning, the relative size of the sorting and incentive effects remains in doubt. Resolving this doubt is important as incentive effects imply welfare increases that may be absent in sorting. This paper uses UK labour...

In the first study using British data, we show that the average wage advantage of holding a performance pay job is greater for minorities than that for Whites. This generates a smaller ethnic wage gap among performance pay jobs than among time rate jobs. Yet, this pattern is driven by those...

This paper examines the relationship between firm-specific training and product market competition. A canonical Cournot competition model shows that the profitability of training investments increases as the number of competitors decreases. Empirical evidence from British establishments in 1998,...

We examine the relationship between firm-sponsored training and the sensitivity of product demand to product quality. A quality-adjusted model of monopolistic competition shows the conditions under which the intensity of training increases as product demand becomes more sensitive to quality....

We use a representative sample of German establishments to show that those with foreign ownership are more likely to use performance appraisal, profit sharing and employee share ownership than are those with domestic ownership. Moreover, we show that works councils are associated with an...

We estimate of the determinants of performance appraisal, profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes for a representative sample of German establishments. The results demonstrate that foreign owned establishments make more use of each of these HRM practices than domestically owned...