Fernando Sánchez-Losada

The role of unions in an endogenous growth model with human capital

In this paper we study the relationship between unions and growth in a two-sector overlapping generations model with altruism and human capital. This relationship depends on the interaction between the technology in the sector that produces human capital and the degree of unionization of the economy. On the other hand, the operativeness of the bequest motive is increasing with the degree of unionization of the economy.

Growth effects of an unfunded social security system when there is altruism and human capital

Abstract We investigate the relationship between growth and an unfunded social security system in an overlapping generations model with joy-of-giving altruism where endogenous growth is driven by the accumulation of human capital. We show that an unfunded social security system financed with a tax on labor income can increase growth.

Statistical discrimination and growth: should we subsidize discriminated against workers?

Abstract We analyze the effects on growth of alternative government policies intended to eliminate statistical discrimination in wages. We assume that the population is divided into two differenciable groups of individuals who have the same productivity but different probabilities of quitting the labor market. We show that a transfer system whose aim is offsetting wage discrimination increases the growth rate.

KNOWLEDGE MISALLOCATION AND GROWTH

We develop a growth model where knowledge is embodied in individuals and diffused across sectors through labor mobility. The existence of labor mobility costs constrains mobility and thus generates labor misallocation. Different levels of labor misallocation imply different levels of exploitation of available knowledge and therefore different total factor productivity across countries. We derive a positive relationship between growth and labor mobility, which is consistent with the empirical evidence, by assuming aggregate constant returns to capital. We also analyze the short- and long-run effects of labor mobility costs in the case of decreasing returns to capital. It turns out that changes in mobility costs have larger economic effects when different types of workers have small rather than large complementarities. Finally, we show that different labor income taxes or labor market tightness imply different rates of labor mobility and therefore can explain differences in Gross Domestic Product across countries.

Relative wages, labor specialization and bargaining patterns

Abstract. The goal of this paper is to study the effects of centralized and decentralized bargaining patterns on wage inequality when there are two different types of labor, skilled and unskilled. We present two models where labor is specialized between firms, that is, there are two types of firms, each one employing one type of labor. We show that the revenue shares of the production factors in each type of firm and the union power are crucial determinants of the relative wage. In contrast, the relative expected wage is the same across models and bargaining patterns.

Indirect Taxation and the Welfare Effects of Altruism on the Optimal Fiscal Policy

This paper analyzes the welfare effects of altruism on the optimal fiscal policy. The existence of positive bequests links present and future generations in the economy. We show that these altruistic links provide a new role for indirect taxation (consumption and estate taxes) with important welfare implications. We use three different altruistic approaches (warm-glow, dynastic, and family) to illustrate how the presence of bequests in the budget constraint of the donee gives the government the ability to use indirect taxation to mimic lump-sum taxation and to implement the first-best outcome in the long-run. This channel is not present in economies without altruism, such as the infinite-lived consumer economy or the overlapping generations economy, where long-run welfare is suboptimal and indirect taxation is irrelevant.

Growth effects of fiscal policy in presence of altruism and human capital

We analyze the relationship between economic growth and fiscal policy in an overlapping generations economy with joy-of-giving altruism, where endogenous growth is driven by the accumulation of human capital through formal schooling. The government finances public expenditure through labor income taxes and debt. We show that for each public expenditure level there exists a debt level that maximizes the economic growth rate.

Mètodes d'aprenentatge actiu en grups grans d'estudiants repetidors

//Abstract INTRODUCTION. Students who are required to repeat a subject at university are often not only low achieving, but also unmotivated and lacking in self-confidence. METHOD. In this study, we evaluate the effect of implementing a combination of three innovative techniques (flipped classroom, team-based learning and frequent testing) in groups of students who are repeating a subject. We assess the impact of the new teaching strategy on the final course grade through econometric analysis. Our sample consists of more than a thousand students who were repeating a subject in the Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration or Economics of the University of Barcelona. RESULTS. We find that students benefit from guided autonomous study, continuous feedback and teamwork. The benefits are reflected primarily in higher final grades and an increase in the number of students who sat the final exam. The results hold up even after controlling for age, gender and average overall grade. DISCUSSION. Although the study was carried out with groups of students who were repeating a subject in economic theory, their success suggests that the new teaching approach could be successfully applied to other subject areas and among groups of students who are taking a subject for the first time.

How Important Are Scale Effects for Growth When Knowledge Is a Public Good

In this paper, by proposing an R&D accumulation law for an economy with an expanding number of firms, I seek to reconcile the following three facts: the positive relationship between the fraction of income allocated to R&D expenditure and growth; the positive relationship between the number of firms and total factor productivity growth; and knowledge as a non‐rival and non‐excludable good. There are scale effects because of the public nature of knowledge, but the economy also grows in the absence of population growth. I find that population growth explains one‐fifth of market income growth but only one‐sixteenth of efficient income growth.

Self-Financing Education, Borrowing Constraints, Government Policies, and Economic Growth

We analyze how public policies for self-financing education, public fund for loans and deferred deductibility of education expenses, affect growth in an overlapping generations economy where individuals can be borrowing-constrained on human capital investment. We show that public loans positively affect growth in the unconstrained economy, while how tax deductibility affects growth depends on the magnitude of both public loans and tax deductibility. In the borrowing-constrained economy, public loans positively affect growth, while tax deductibility does not affect growth. Both government policies affect the borrowing-constraint tightness and, therefore, can shift the economy from being borrowing-constrained to unconstrained or vice versa.