Matthias Krapf, Heinrich W Ursprung, Christian Zimmermann, Parenthood and productivity of highly skilled labor: Evidence from the groves of academe, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 140, 2017. (Journal Article)
We examine the effect of parenthood on the research productivity of academic economists. Combining the survey responses of nearly 10,000 economists with their publication records as documented in their RePEc accounts, we do not find that motherhood is associated with low research productivity. Nor do we find a statistically significant unconditional effect of a first child on research productivity. Conditional difference-in-differences estimates, however, suggest that the effect of parenthood on research productivity is negative for unmarried women and positive for untenured men. Moreover, becoming a mother before 30 years of age appears to have a detrimental effect on research productivity. |
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Harald Pfeifer, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Another piece of the puzzle: Firms' investment in training as optimization of skills inventory, In: Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper, No. 136, 2017. (Working Paper)
By applying the inventory theory to hiring skilled workers under uncertainty, the authors explain how firms decide on their optimum investment in an "inventory of skills." This paper investigates the conditions under which firms are willing to make investments in a skilled workforce themselves rather than relying on skills produced within the education system or by other companies. By applying inventory theory to investments into apprenticeship training, the authors explain how firms decide on producing an optimum "inventory of skills" today to meet future demand. The authors derive hypotheses on how much firms are willing to invest in having a larger inventory of skilled worker depending on different types of inventory costs (overage cost, underage costs, demand structure). The authors use data from the BIBB Cost-Benefit-Survey 2012/2013, which comprises detailed information on different costs and benefits of training investments from the firm's perspective. The study applies a negative binomial estimation model. Results are threefold: firms are willing to invest in a larger inventory of skilled workers, i.e., to train more apprentices, first, if the costs of producing and retaining an excessive number of skilled workers (overage costs) are lower, second, if the costs of being short of skilled workers (underage costs) are higher, and third, given an identical cost structure, if it is more likely that the demand for skilled worker may be high in the future. Even more important is the relationship of the three: the combination of a firm's critical ratio (underage costs in relation to overage costs) with its demand structure (industry volatility) is associated with a higher inventory of skills. The findings (particularly the relation of underage and overage costs, in combination with the demand structure) have important policy implications for firms' incentives to invest in apprenticeship training. |
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Adam Ayaita, Kerstin Pull, Uschi Backes-Gellner, You get what you 'pay' for: Academic attention, career incentives and changes in publication portfolios of business and economics researchers, In: Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper, No. 133, 2017. (Working Paper)
Since the 1990s, research on publication outputs in business and economics has almost exclusively focused on journal articles. While earlier work has shown that journal articles and other publications were indeed complements in the 70s and 80s, we find that this is no longer the case when we include the most recent decades. Apparently, the notable shift in the scientific community's attention in the 90s on journal articles and the corresponding incentives towards publications in internationally highly ranked journals on average led researchers to focus one-sidedly on journal publications at the expense of other publication forms. To see whether the aggregate result also holds for individual researchers, we perform a cluster analysis and find four different types of individual researchers: "Journal Specialists", "Book-Based Publishers", a small group of "Highly Productive All-round Publishers" and a large group of what we call "Inconspicuous" researchers, with a very modest publication productivity in all forms. In addition, we find that researchers' age matters for their publication patterns: in our sample, more experienced researchers are less productive with respect to journal articles, but more productive with respect to other publication forms. This, however, is not the result of an individual career effect. Rather, it can be attributed to a cohort effect: among today's active researchers, the younger cohorts are more productive in journal articles than the older ones. Our explanation is as follows: the younger cohorts were still in their socialization and hiring phase and were more strongly affected by the newly introduced incentives towards international journal publications—and have thus reacted more strongly to the “regime change” resulting from the scientific community’s one-sided attention to publications in internationally highly ranked journals. |
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Christian Rupietta, Harald Pfeifer, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Firms' knowledge acquisition during dual-track VET: Which sources are important for innovativeness?, In: Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper, No. 131, 2017. (Working Paper)
Researchers debate for more than 3 decades on the effect of vocational training on innovations. While some studies show a negative effect of vocational education that firms organize on its own, other studies show a positive effect for vocational education that is organized on a sectoral or national level such as in Germany or Switzerland. A characteristic of these vocational education and training (VET) systems is a high level of standardization and regulation. In fact many elements of VET are regulated in national law, training ordinances and curricula, but firms nevertheless less still have a high flexibility when it comes to the organization of workplace training. In this paper we analyze how firms organize their workplace training, which training methods they use and which training methods they apply jointly. As each training method e.g. training during work or external courses, transfers a specific set of skills and knowledge to apprentices, we analyze how firms use training methods to promote their innovation activity. Our results show that there is a large variety in the organization of workplace training. In sum firms make use of the flexibility to design workplace training that fits their needs best. We conclude with implications for the design of VET systems and firms. |
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Peter Höschler, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Labor Market Transitions after Apprenticeship Training, In: 29th SASE Annual Meeting, Lyon, France. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Uschi Backes-Gellner, On the relationship between apprenticeship training and firm innovation, In: CEMETS Summer Institute 2017. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Uschi Backes-Gellner, Why should young people decide to do an apprenticeship?, In: CEMETS Summer Institute 2017. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Curdin Pfister, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Regional Effects of Applied Research - Universities of Applied Sciences and Innovation, In: DRUID17 (DRUID Academy Conference 2017), NYU Stern, New York. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Johannes Meuer, Michèle Angstmann, Kerstin Pull, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Christian Tröster, Embeddedness and the repatriation intention of assigned and self-initiated expatriates, In: UZH Business Working Paper Series, No. 373, 2017. (Working Paper)
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Uschi Backes-Gellner, Christian Eggenberger, Miriam Rinawi, Occupational Specificity: A new Measurement Based on Training Curricula and its Effect on Labor Market Outcomes, In: Lead Lecture at University of Tübingen. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Patrick Lehnert, Curdin Pfister, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Labor Market Effects of Universities of Applied Sciences, In: Netzwerktreffen 2017, Tübingen, Germany. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Peter Höschler, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Labor Market Transitions after Apprenticeship Training: The Role of Trainee Characteristics, In: Netzwerktreffen 2017, Tübingen, Germany. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Christian Eggenberger, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Specificity of VET, In: Netzwerktreffen 2017, Tübingen, Germany. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Roland Durisch, Verbreitung verschiedener Modelle der Sekundarschule I in der Schweiz und deren Auswirkungen auf Schulabgänger, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2017. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Peter Höschler, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The relative importance of personal characteristics for the hiring of young workers, In: Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper, No. 142, 2017. (Working Paper)
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Uschi Backes-Gellner, Understanding the Swiss Education System, Cornerstones of Apprenticeship Training and its Returns on Investment, In: Building Bridges Roundtable Conference on Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Peter Höschler, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Shooting for the Stars and Failing: College Dropout and Self-Esteem, In: Swiss Leading House "Economics of Education" Working Paper, No. 100, 2017. (Working Paper)
We investigate the relationship between unfulfilled educational aspirations and self-esteem. Classifications of education relying on completed years of schooling or degree attainment are not able to distinguish between college dropouts with unfulfilled aspirations and graduates with fulfilled aspirations. To separate the two groups, we develop a classification of education combining the highest type of college enrolled in (aspiration) and the highest degree obtained (realization of aspiration). Using data spanning three decades from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that four-year college dropouts compared to graduates have permanently lower self-esteem, whether dropouts obtain an associate’s degree or not. However, associate’s degree holders who had never enrolled in a four-year college do not experience this long-term negative effect. Therefore, finishing the highest type of college in which the student ever enrolled is critical for the formation of self-esteem. We discuss implications for college enrollment decisions. |
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Curdin Pfister, Simone Tuor Sartore, Uschi Backes-Gellner, The Relative Importance of Type of Education and Subject Area: Empirical Evidence for Educational Decisions, Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, Vol. 5 (1), 2017. (Journal Article)
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Curdin Pfister, Miriam Rinawi, Dietmar Harhoff, Uschi Backes-Gellner, University-Industry Knowledge Transfer: The Role of UAS in Fostering Regional Innovation, In: 5th Congress on Research in Vocational Education and Training. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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Peter Höschler, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Labor Market Transitions after Apprenticeship Training, In: UZH-UB-KOF Workshop. 2017. (Conference Presentation)
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