Bruce Elmslie

Sexual Orientation and Labour Supply

This is the first study of the effects of sexual orientation on labour supply. After discussing various reasons to expect that labour supply could differ by sexual orientation, the 2001 Current Population Survey is used to test for differences in both labour supply and labour market status (part-time, full-time, and not employed). It is found that gay men supply less labour than married and unmarried heterosexual men. With regard to women, it is found that lesbians supply more labour and are more likely to be employed full-time than either married or unmarried heterosexual women. Extensive controls are used and links to the discrimination literature are found.

Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Growth, and the Human Capital Threshold: Evidence from US States

The United States has experienced a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in recent years. While foreign firms bring immediate benefits of high-paying jobs, data limitations have prevented detailed study on FDIs long-term effects on the states receiving it. By creating a new stock measure of FDI based on employment, we are able to capture these long-term effects. Results demonstrate that FDI has a greater impact on per capita output growth than domestic investment for US states that meet a minimum human capital threshold. Ironically, the most active states in the recruitment of FDI tend to fall below this threshold.

The Geographic Concentration of Knowledge: Scale, Agglomeration, and Congestion in Innovation Across U.S. States:

Evidence of the importance of agglomeration economies in productivity is reported by a number of studies in regional economics. We extend the literature by looking into agglomeration and congestion in innovation and technological change using an endogenous innovation approach. It turns out that the geographic specificity of knowledge spillovers is also a central concern. Using data from U.S. states, evidence is found that knowledge spillovers are geographically concentrated but agglomeration economies far outweigh congestion effects. These results have important implications for new growth theory as well as regional economics because growth theorists have abandoned the scale implications of their models.

Does institutional quality impact innovation? Evidence from cross-country patent grant data

This article contributes to the literature on institutions and economic growth by conducting an empirical examination of the links between innovation and institutions. Using cross-country data and the instrumental variable method, this study finds that institutional arrangements explain much of the cross country variations in patent production. Our results also imply that controlling for institutional quality, geographic related variables are not significant in explaining patent production. This article also finds evidence to support the idea that in the long run human capital accumulation is an important factor in shaping institutions.

Discrimination, social psychology, and hysteresis in labor markets

Abstract This paper develops a model of the long-run effects of labor market discrimination. Once an individual responds to discrimination in a manner that changes basic human capital characteristics, past or current discrimination becomes a factor in determining future labor market outcomes. We utilize a growing empirical literature on the psychological effects of discrimination and unemployment to hypothesize that discrimination negatively affects human capital characteristics. The concept of learned helplessness is employed to show that negative events, such as an episode of discrimination, that are considered beyond the individuals control result in decreased learning ability. Discrimination creates helplessness which diminishes human capital characteristics resulting in decreased future employability.

Nanotechnology as general-purpose technology: empirical evidence and implications

Developments in nanotechnology are poised to have a pervasive effect on various industries for years to come and nanotechnology management research is beginning to appear in peer-reviewed management journals. Much of the research on this early, emergent technology is focused on issues of definition and identification of technology type. In this study, we searched the US Patents and Trademarks Office database and used an expert validation methodology to develop a sample of the first 25 years (1980–2004) of nanotechnology patenting activity. We analysed this data for early evidence that nanotechnology is a general-purpose technology (GPT) – a transformative technology characterised by its pervasiveness, improvement over time, and pattern of diffusion. Our findings indicate that nanotechnology patenting activity has been growing in intensity and relative to overall patenting activity, and that it is pervasive across industry and technology sectors. Implications of nanotechnology as a GPT are discussed.

CONSIDERING THE SOURCE: DOES THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF FDI MATTER TO ECONOMIC GROWTH?*

It has long been surmised that firms controlled by different countries may have unequal effects on the host economies in which they locate. By looking at the seven major source countries of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, we provide empirical evidence that the state growth effects of FDI differ by source country. We attribute these differential growth effects to the relative differences in factor endowments between the source country and the state. The implication of this result is that technology transfer, believed to be the engine of economic growth, becomes more costly the more dissimilar the endowments.

Rethinking International Trade Theory: A Methodological Appraisal

ZusammenfassungNeuere Ansätze in der Außenhandelstheorie: Eine methodologische Betrachtung.—Die Verfasser untersuchen neuere Entwicklungen in der Außenhandelstheorie und betonen, daß die Beschreibung, die in dem Lakatosianischen wissenschaftlichen Forschungsprogramm gegeben wird, gut zu diesen Entwicklungen paßt. Insbesondere analysieren die Autoren Versuche, den intra-industriellen Handel zu erklären. Sie folgern, daß die Erklärung mit Hilfe der Verallgemeinerung des Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson-Ansatzes, die die monopolistische Konkurrenz einschließt, als ein progressiver und nicht als ein degenerativer Lösungsansatz angesehen werden kann, weil er sowohl theoretisch als auch empirisch progressiv ist. Jüngere Bemühungen, den intra-industriellen Handel zu erklären und dabei von einer oligopolistischen Marktstruktur auszugehen, stellen nach Ansicht der Autoren eine Abspaltung vom herrschenden neoklassischen wissenschaftlichen Forschungsprogramm dar, also ein unterschiedliches und konkurrierendes Forschungsprogramm.RésuméRéflexion sur la théorie du commerce international: une évaluation méthodologique.—Dans cette étude, les auteurs analysent les développements récents de la théorie du commerce international et affirment que la description offerte par le programme de recherche scientifique à la Lakatos s’accorde bien avec ces développements. En particulier, les auteurs analysent les approches qui expliquent le commerce intra-industriel. Ils concluent que l’explication offerte par la généralisation de l’approche à la Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson qui incorpore la compétition monopoliste, peut être qualifiée comme évolution de problème plutôt progressive que dégénérée parce qu’elle est progressive en sens théorique et empirique. On a constaté que les essais récents d’expliquer le commerce intra-industriel en utilisant la structure d’un marché oligopoliste représentent une dissociation du programme de recherche scientifique néoclassique, c’est-à-dire un programme de recherche séparé et compétitif.R e s u m e nRepensando la teoria del comercio international: un estudio metodológico. —En este trabajo se analizan tendencias recientes en la teoría del comercio internacional y se arguye que la description ofrecida por el programa de investigatión cientifica (PIC) de Lakatos es compatible con estas tendencias. Espetíficamente, los autores analizan los intentos de explicar el comercio intrasectorial. Se concluye que la explicación ofrecida por la generalizatión del modelo H-O-S que incorpora el monopolio califica como un “problem shift” progresivo y no en degeneración, debido a que es progresivo en ambos sentidos, el teórico y el empirico. Los intentos retientes de explicar el comercio intrasectorial utilizando una estructura de mercado oligopólica representan un alejamiento del PIC neoclásico y un programa de investigatión separado y competidor.

The determinants of marital happiness

This study contributes to the literature by providing an empirical analysis of the determinants of marital and general happiness. The empirical analysis is conducted using US data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and an Ordered Probit Model. We also attempt to overcome the endogeneity problem between marital happiness and infidelity using a recursive bivariate probit model. One of the advances of this study is to show that the determinants of marital happiness differ between men and women in interesting ways. While infidelity has similar effects for both sexes, we find that women have a detectable preference for a traditional division of labour within the household. In addition, social class, religion, age, children and income have differential effects between men and women. In particular, for marital happiness we find diminishing returns from household income for women and satiation for men. Hence, we find that most of the existing literature has left hidden important differences in the determinants of marital happiness between men and women.

Vent for Surplus: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Adam Smiths theory of the gains from trade has caused a great deal of controversy among economic theorists. Throughout much of his work Smith argues that markets efficiently allocate resources. Smiths treatment of the gains from trade, however, is considered inconsistent with his system of natural liberty. This paper offers a new interpretation of the vent-for-surplus model. It is argued that Smiths theory of trade should be considered as an extension of his domestic theory of markets and his theory of productive and unproductive labor. Once interpreted in this light, no inconsistency is found between Smiths theory of trade and his system of natural liberty.