Fabrice Gilles

Is there still a productivity paradox? two methods for a transatlantic comparison

Economic activity accelerated in the United States, in the second part of the cycle, after 1995, within an environment of decreasing inflation. France has followed a qualitatively similar path since 1997, also clearly suggesting the effects of a positive supply shock. The spread of new information and communication technologies (NICT) partly explains these singular events. On one hand, a calculation of contributions to output growth suggests that they would explain about half of the increase in activity in the United States and one-fifth in France. On the other hand, a trend/cycle decomposition reveals that the structural acceleration in output and productivity gains in the United States are very much restricted to industries producing NICT and there is a rather small break in productivity gains. In France, where differences between sectors are not so clear-cut, the diffusion of NICT has been accompanied by a slowdown in trends in productivity gains. In both cases, there is little room left for the effects of the diffusion of technical progress associated with NICT.

Decomposing the relationship between wage and churning

Purpose - – Applied research shows higher wages are associated with lower mobility at the establishment level. A usual interpretation is that high pay decreases labour turnover. The purpose of this paper is to test if such relationship holds for every type of worker in every type of firm. Design/methodology/approach - – The analysis is based on a linked employer-employee panel dataset covering the French private sector from 2002 to 2005. The authors compute establishment wage effects and use them as explanatory variables in labour mobility equations (for churning rate and quit rate). Using spline regression models enables to investigate for potential non-linearities. Findings - – The authors show that the relationship between churning rate and wage is non-linear and has the shape of an inverted Practical implications - – A possible interpretation of our results is that paying higher wages may be an effective stabilizing tool especially for employers in small establishments and when starting wages are relatively low. Originality/value - – The paper is the first to decompose the relationship between wage and mobility. It shows the relationship differs across establishment size and is not linear. The paper also shows quits play a role in this relationship.

The French 35-Hour Experience: Impacts on Employment and Inequality

We use a simple labour demand framework with heterogeneous workers to evaluate the French 35-hour law impacts on inequality and employment. Our simulations result in a favourable effect of the 35-hour work week on employment levels, but unfavourable effects on working hours: job creations fall between 15-50% of the arithmetic rule of three, says between 105,000 to 350,000 jobs. The 35-hour work week would reduce wage inequality among the various categories of employees and within the whole working population, as well as between employed and unemployed populations, but they would also increase welfare inequality among all employees, as well as within the whole working population.

The intergenerational transmission of education. A meta-regression analysis

ABSTRACT In this article, we evaluate the extent of the causal effect of parental education on the education of their children. We review this empirical literature and propose a multivariate meta-regression analysis. Our database is composed of a large set of both published and unpublished papers written in the period 2002–2014. The articles considered differ in the data sources, explanatory variables, econometric strategy applied, and the type of publication. In spite of the large heterogeneity of studies and evidence for publication bias, we find a transmission of education from parents to their children that amounts to 0.15.

Evaluating the Impact of Reducing Working Time on Capital Operating Time and Shiftwork

In this paper, we evaluate to what extent firms reorganized following the French mandatory working time reduction (WTR). For this purpose, we merge both French survey on Capital Operating Time and shiftwork (COT, 1989-2004) and administrative survey ofWTR agreements (1997-2003). Through the information available in that dataset, we build COT and shiftwork indicators. We use differences-in-differences models (both parametric and non parametric ones) to control for existing organizational differences between firms which have implemented a WTR and the other firms. We find that COT decreased by the year 2000 among firms, which reduced working time of their employees, in comparison to other ones. Otherwise, shiftwork hardly increased directly through the WTR among companies which adopted a WTR in comparison to other companies, by the year 2000, as well as by years after year 2000.

Working Time Reduction, Labour Cost, Employment and Inequality - A Review

Following an old economic literature dealing with work sharing, the aim of this paper is to review the theoretical effects on unemployment and inequality we may expect from a working time reduction (WTR). To do so, we begin considering labour demand models and we go through general equilibrium models. We also discuss work sharing together with tax cuts and we include heterogeneous workers. The main conclusion is that the impact of WTR on employment, unemployment and inequality is uncertain, whatever the theoretical framework we consider. For instance, subsidizing labour seems to be a more efficient way to reduce unemployment.