Elisabetta Magnani

The Environmental Kuznets Curve, environmental protection policy and income distribution

Abstract The effect of economic growth on pollution emissions differs substantially among high-income countries. I address this issue by analyzing public environmental policy decisions. Individual heterogeneity, relative income effect and the political framework in which policy decisions are taken determine the emergence of the downward sloping segment of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Income inequality produces a gap between the country’s ability to pay for environmental protection and a country’s willingness to pay. I test this result by using OECD data on public R&D expenditure for environmental protection. The conclusion is that contrary to the EK hypothesis, moments of the income distribution function other than the mean may be important for the emergence of a virtuous path of sustainable growth in high-income countries.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL BASIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE

We examine the conceptual and empirical basis of the environmental Kuznets curve. From both perspectives, the relationship lacks firm foundations. In particular, the empirical relationship is shown to be highly sensitive to the choice of pollutant, sample of countries and time period. This strongly suggests that there is an omitted variables problem. We find that two important omitted variables are education and inequality. Also, we show that the observed relationship is sensitive to the measure of income/welfare used. The paper concludes with a discussion of some policy implications of our findings. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia

The Environmental Kuznets Curve: development path or policy result?

Abstract A rich literature on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) suggests that there may be other factors besides per capita income that determine the emergence of a downward sloping segment in the EKC. Empirical studies have referred to this issue an to an omitted variable problem. This paper questions the idea that there exists a development path that necessarily links increasing environmental quality with economic growth. After illustrating the empirical evidence on the EKC, I focus on the determinants of pollution abatement policies to argue that the relationship between environmental care and economic growth may depend on other moments of the income distribution functions besides its mean. If the median voter theorem applies income distribution parameters determine the level of pollution abatement by impacting upon the willingness to pay for protecting the environment.

Did globalization reduce unionization? Evidence from US manufacturing

Abstract How do globalized economic conditions affect labor market institutions such as unionism? We draw on recent theoretical and empirical work to explore a wider set of hypotheses regarding the decline in unionization. Using a comprehensive data set of US three-digit manufacturing industries from 1973 to 1994, we test the hypothesis that domestic and international competition directly reduces unionization. Using instrumental variable regressions, we demonstrate the relevance of product market competition variables for unionization. However, we are unable to account for the unionization decline over this period. This could reflect the lagged and complex effects of competition on unionization.

Technological diffusion, the diffusion of skill and the growth of outsourcing in US manufacturing

What drives the observed rapid growth of outsourcing in US manufacturing? This article approaches this question by asking whether technological diffusion driven by R&D spillovers is in part responsible for the growth of atypical work arrangements in the USA. Relying on data of technological diffusion since the early 1970s, this study provides some evidence that technological factors may have contributed to the spread of outsourcing. When sample composition effects are accounted for, technological innovation reduces outsourcing in high-tech industries. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of distinguishing between ‘rent’ and ‘pure knowledge’ spillovers. Rent spillovers are positively correlated with outsourcing, whereas pure knowledge spillovers usually decrease the incentive to outsource. Support to the technological diffusion hypothesis is also found, particularly in a sample of high-tech industries after 1980, in which rapid diffusion of IT technologies is notoriously witnessed. Alternative hypotheses are better applied to low-tech industries.

Product Market Volatility and the Adjustment of Earnings to Risk

This investigation of compensating wage differentials uses an instrument for the risk of unemployment, namely, the industry-specific shipment volatility, to address some empirical anomalies found in the literature. I find that risk premiums for the risk of unemployment range from 8.5 to 19 percent when the covariance between shipment volatility and total manufacturing employment is taken into account. Covariance risk requires positive premiums that range from 1.4 to 14 percent depending on the specification.

Social mobility and inequality in urban China: understanding the role of intergenerational transmission of education

China’s rapid economic growth since the late 1980s has been accompanied by great economic and social transformations, which have resulted in a sharp increase in income inequality. This article contributes to the literature of social mobility in China by examining the impact of parental education on the education of their children. Using the 1990 and 2000 Chinese Population Censuses, we employ nonparametric estimation strategies to provide a systematic investigation of intergenerational transmission of education in urban China. We find evidence of increasing parents–children educational correlations. Our results raise concerns regarding economic inequality in urban China as high intergenerational persistence of education is expected to be a barrier to equal opportunities in children’s education attainments and their future labour market outcomes.

The Productivity Slowdown, Sectoral Reallocations and the Growth of Atypical Employment Arrangements

This paper explores the recent shifts in employment arrangements away from long-term employment contracts and internal labor markets towards outside contracting of labor in OECD countries. It examines the driving forces behind this phenomenon, focusing on the relationship with another important trend of the last few decades, namely the labor productivity slowdown. A comparison of U.S. and European institutional arrangements shows how very different labor markets have recently displayed similar patterns in the use of contracted out labor. This paper explains these similarities and reconciles them with very different patterns in hiring, firing, and quitting behavior observed in the two regions.

Unionization and Input Flexibility in U.S. Manufacturing, 1973-1996

Input flexibility, as measured by the ability of firms to vary input demand in the face of changes in input prices, is an important dimension of labor market flexibility. Using a new dataset, the authors analyze the impact of unionization on input flexibility in U.S. manufacturing from 1973 to 1996, a period in which production was arguably becoming more flexible due to deep changes in the U.S. industrial relations system and in the broad macroeconomic environment. The authors quantify the effects of unionization on input flexibility by estimating elasticities of substitution between a broad range of labor and non-labor inputs, controlling for unionization. The pattern that emerges is more complex than that suggested by other research. In particular, low unionization apparently is associated with greater flexibility in the use of labor inputs but less flexibility in the use of non-labor inputs.

Outsourcing and Unionization: A tale of misallocated (resistance) resources

While many believe the growth in outsourcing contributed to the decline in U.S. unionization up to the 1990s, this argument has never been investigated systematically. In this article, we analyze the effect of outsourcing on unionization between 1973 and 1993. Instrumental variables estimation shows outsourcing contributes to higher quasirents and industry productivity. We find the union wage premium increases with the extent of outsourcing—both for workers that are substitutable by outsourcing services and workers in jobs that are not substitutes of the tasks being outsourced. Finally, we find no support for the claim that outsourcing reduces unionization. (JEL J5, L2, L6)