Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Countries

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Business and Economics > Production and Operations Management

You are looking at 1 - 7 of 7 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Working Papers
Why U.S. Immigration Matters for the Global Advancement of Science
Ruchir Agarwal
,
Patrick Gaulé
, and
Geoff Smith
This paper studies the impact of U.S. immigration barriers on global knowledge production. We present four key findings. First, among Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medalists, migrants to the U.S. play a central role in the global knowledge network—representing 20-33% of the frontier knowledge producers. Second, using novel survey data and hand-curated life-histories of International Math Olympiad (IMO) medalists, we show that migrants to the U.S. are up to six times more productive than migrants to other countries—even after accounting for talent during one’s teenage years. Third, financing costs are a key factor preventing foreign talent from migrating abroad to pursue their dream careers, particularly for talent from developing countries. Fourth, certain ‘push’ incentives that reduce immigration barriers—by addressing financing constraints for top foreign talent—could increase the global scientific output of future cohorts by 42 percent. We concludeby discussing policy options for the U.S. and the global scientific community.
Keywords:
Immigration; Science; Talent; Universities; WP; IMO medalist; migrants to the U.S.; IMO participant; productivity regression; IMO point; Migration; Productivity; Income; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Worker Mobility and Domestic Production Networks
Marvin Cardoza
,
Mr. Francesco Grigoli
, and
Mr. Nicola Pierri
We show that domestic production networks shape worker flows between firms. Data on the universe of firm-to-firm transactions for the Dominican Republic, matched with employer-employee records, reveals that about 20 percent of workers who change firms move to a buyer or supplier of their original firm. This is a considerably larger share than would be implied by a random allocation of movers to firms. We find considerable gains associated with this form of hiring: higher worker wages, lower job separation rates, faster firm productivity growth, and faster coworker wage growth. Hiring workers from a supplier is followed by a rising share of purchases from that supplier. These findings indicate that human capital is easily transferable along the supply chain and that human capital accumulated while working at a firm is complementary with the intermediate products/services produced by that firm.
Keywords:
WP; production network; connected firm; firm pair control; worker flow; origin firm; hiring firm; dummy variable; buyer-supplier relationship; Labor mobility; Wages; Productivity; Human capital; Trade balance
Cover IMF Working Papers
Labor Market Adjustments to Shocks in Australia
Mr. Adil Mohommad
Labor markets in Australia have adjusted smoothly to significant declines in commodity prices with little increase in unemployment. This paper examines several aspects of the adjustment, focusing on (i) evidence of increased labor market frictions following the commodity price decline; (ii) flexibility in labor input adjustment in response to demand shocks; (iii) changes in labor productivity in the wake of resource reallocation with the decline in mining investment, (iv) and the role of migration in adjusting to the commodity price and mining investment cycle. We find little evidence of increased labor market frictions with the decline in commodity prices. The relatively smooth transition has been assisted by increased flexibility in adjustment of worker hours over time. Labor productivity growth has sustained its historical average through the transition, despite some temporary drag as the economy rebalances. Finally, migration has played a key role in labor market adjustment through the commodity cycle.
Keywords:
WP; labor market; IMF staff calculation; labor market slack; equilibrium unemployment value; IMF staff estimate; labor market dynamics; economic flexibility; labor productivity growth; growth in services sectors; labour productivity gap; Employment; Labor markets; Unemployment; Labor productivity; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Chronicle of a Decline Foretold: Has China Reached the Lewis Turning Point?
Ms. Mitali Das
and
Mr. Papa M N'Diaye
China is on the eve of a demographic shift that will have profound consequences on its economic and social landscape. Within a few years the working age population will reach a historical peak, and then begin a precipitous decline. This fact, along with anecdotes of rapidly rising migrant wages and episodic labor shortages, has raised questions about whether China is poised to cross the Lewis Turning Point, a point at which it would move from a vast supply of low-cost workers to a labor shortage economy. Crossing this threshold will have far-reaching implications for both China and the rest of the world. This paper empirically assesses when the transition to a labor shortage economy is likely to occur. Our central result is that on current trends, the Lewis Turning Point will emerge between 2020 and 2025. Alternative scenarios—with higher fertility, greater labor participation rates, financial reform or higher productivity—may peripherally delay or accelerate the onset of the turning point, but demographics will be the dominant force driving the depletion of surplus labor.
Keywords:
WP; labor market; Excess labor supply; Lewis Turning Point; Population aging; Demographics; fertility rate; demand condition; TFP contribution; labor market tightness; surplus labor; labor market development; labor shortage economy; excess supply of labor; unemployment results from labor market friction; growth model; growth rate; Labor supply; Labor markets; Labor demand; Wages; Total factor productivity; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Political Risk Aversion
Ms. Laura Valderrama
This paper studies the effect of individual uncertainty on collective decision-making to implement innovation. We show how individual uncertainty creates a bias for the status quo even under irreversible voting decisions, in contrast with Fernandez and Rodrik (1991). Blocking innovation is rooted in the aversion to the potential loss of political clout in future voting decisions. Thus, risk neutral individuals exhibit what we call political risk aversion. Yet individual uncertainty is not all bad news as it may open the door to institutional reform. We endogenize institutional reform and show a non-monotonic relationship between institutional efficiency and the size of innovation.
Keywords:
WP; status quo; risk neutrality; political economy
Cover IMF Working Papers
Macroeconomics of Migration in New Member States
Mr. Rudolfs Bems
and
Mr. Philip Schellekens
This paper examines the macroeconomic impact of migration on income convergence in the EU's New Member States (NMS). The paper focuses on cross-border mobility of labor and examines the implications for policymakers with the help of a general equilibrium model. It finds that cross-border labor mobility provides ample benefits in terms of faster and smoother convergence. Challenges, however, include containing wage pressures and better mobilizing and utilizing resident labor that does not cross borders.
Keywords:
WP; labor market
Cover IMF Working Papers
Currency Unions, Economic Fluctuations, and Adjustment: Some New Empirical Evidence
Mr. Eswar S Prasad
and
Mr. Tamim Bayoumi
This paper examines the sources of disturbances to output in the United States and a set of EU countries and analyzes labor market adjustment mechanisms in these two economic areas. Comparable datasets comprising 1-digit sectoral data for eight U.S. regions and eight European countries are constructed and used to compare the degree of industrial diversification and the relative importance of different sources of shocks to output growth. Both areas are found to be subject to similar overall disturbances although a disaggregated perspective reveals some important differences. The major difference, however, is in labor market adjustment. Interregional labor mobility appears to be a much more important adjustment mechanism in the United States, which has a more integrated labor market than the EU.
Keywords:
WP; country; industry; country j.; region shock; Currency unions; economic fluctuations; labor market adjustment; output share; industry result; country dummy; United States region; industry dummy; Labor markets; Production growth; Employment; Productivity; Manufacturing; Europe