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Ethnically diverse co-authors produce better research papers

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Thinking about a new research paper? You may want to start searching for co-authors of different ethnicity. Statistically, this will increase the chances to get your paper accepted in a top journal. That’s what a new IZA Discussion Paper (written by an ethnically diverse author duo) suggests.

Using data from the Thomson-Reuters Web of Science, the study by Harvard economists Richard B. Freeman and Wei Huang examines the ethnic identity of authors in over 2.5 million papers written by U.S.-based authors from 1985 to 2008. In this period the frequency of English and European names among authors fell relative to the frequency of names from China and other developing countries. In 1985, 57 percent of authors had “English” names. This share dropped below 50 percent in 2008. Over the same period, the proportion of Chinese named authors tripled from 4.8 to 14 percent.

To determine whether a name is English, Korean or Russian, the authors used a name-ethnicity matching program, which combines information on the distribution of names by ethnicity (e.g. Kim is typically Korean, while Zhang is most likely Chinese) and the metropolitan areas in which particular ethnicities are disproportionately represented.

The analysis shows that persons of similar ethnicity co-author together more frequently than predicted by their proportion among authors. Freeman and Huang compare the distribution of observed co-authorships with the distribution that would arise if authors were matched randomly. For example, one would expect 1.522 percent of all two-author papers to be written by two Chinese researchers, but their actual share is 4.157 percent.

They also find that greater homophily is associated with publication in lower impact journals and with fewer citations, even holding fixed the authors’ previous publishing performance. By contrast, papers with authors in more locations and with longer reference lists get published in higher impact journals and receive more citations than others.

Greater diversity thus seems to contribute to the quality of the scientific papers that a research team produces. This may be because diversity raises productivity by widening ideas. Papers from more diverse collaborations should then contain a wider range of scientific terms, use more varied equipment, procedures, or data and reference a wider range of previous work than papers from more homogeneous groups. Another potential explanation is that having co-authors of different ethnicity increases citations through network effects rather than through novel ideas.

Flexible working hours improve job satisfaction

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Temporal and locational flexibility (TLF) is an important element in current policy debates about working conditions and the combination of work and private life. More flexibility provides employees with a greater scope to reconcile their professional, private, and family lives. Furthermore, TLF is expected to increase female labor participation and reduce skilled labor shortages.

From a theoretical point of view, many advantages are conceivable: TLF provides employees with more control over their working life, leads to a better match between paid work and other activities, decreases the amount of stress experienced by employees, and signals to workers that their employer cares about their well-being and their responsibilities outside work. Since higher job satisfaction translates into fewer job quits and lower absenteeism, it is not only beneficial to employees, but should also be a key concern for employers.

In a new IZA Discussion Paper Daniel Possenriede and Janneke Plantenga analyze whether flexibility in the work schedule (flexi-time), location (telehomework) and duration (part-time) improves the work/leisure balance and increases employee’s overall job satisfaction. They use panel data on Dutch households with self-reported measures of job satisfaction. In the sample, 39% of the employees report freedom to determine the start and end times of their work, and 17% work at home at least once a week.

The analysis finds that a flexible work schedule is positively associated with both working-time fit and job satisfaction. Surprisingly, the effects are not stronger for employees with family responsibilities, who would be expected to struggle more with the combination of work and private life than other groups of workers.

Telehomework or location flexibility is also related to higher job satisfaction, although to a smaller extent than flexible working times. Part-time work increases working-time fit similarly to flexi-time, but it sometimes even has a negative effect on job satisfaction for women – contrary to some previous empirical findings. Overall, the results indicate that schedule flexibility may be a superior alternative to duration flexibility.


Peter Kuhn on the internet as a labor market matchmaker

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Since the internet’s earliest days, firms and workers have used various online methods to advertise and find jobs. Until recently there has been little evidence that any internet-based tool has had a measurable effect on job search or recruitment outcomes. However, recent studies, and the growing use of social networking as a business tool, suggest workers and firms are at last developing ways to use the internet as an effective matchmaking tool. In addition, job boards are also emerging as important for the statistical study of labor markets, yielding useful data for firms, workers, and policymakers.

Read more in an article for IZA World of Labor watch this video interview with author, Peter Kuhn (IZA Visiting Research Fellow from UC Santa Barbara).


Chinese imports push low-skilled Norwegians into unemployment

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China’s rise to global economic power has had a major impact on the recent globalization process. In 2009, China became the world’s largest exporter. This evolution affects local labor markets all over the planet. Many nations complain that Chinese competition increases domestic unemployment and depresses wages. But how large is this effect really?

In a recent IZA Discussion Paper Ragnhild Balsvik, Sissel Jensen and Kjell G. Salvanes explore the impact of import shocks from China on the Norwegian labor market from 1996 to 2007. In this time range, the amount of imports from China increased more than sixfold while employment in the manufacturing sector declined.

The researchers find that this negative employment effect is especially pronounced for low-skilled workers who are pushed into unemployment, or even leave the labor force entirely. For workers without college education, an increase in import exposure of about 1,600 U.S. dollars per worker reduces manufacturing employment by about 0.8%. At the same time, employment in other private sectors rises by 0.5%. Unemployment rises by 1.8%, and labor force exits by 0.3%.

This outcome is related to the import of intermediate goods rather than products for final consumption. Also, the decline in employment is mainly due to imports from China to Norway’s domestic market, not to increased competition in Norwegian export markets.

Consistent with features of the Nordic welfare state, such as generous unemployment benefits or disability pensions and a centralized wage bargaining process that makes wages rather sticky, the authors find no significant change in earnings. Overall, about 10% of the reduction in the manufacturing employment share can be attributed to import competition from China. This is roughly half the size of the effect found for the U.S. in another IZA paper.

Union threat: Where is it highest?

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What kind of businesses do unions approach to organize workers? Much is known about what happens to a business after it becomes unionized. But there is little information on where the threat of union formation is highest, and where union activity is most concentrated. Do unions mainly try to organize big and profitable business establishments? These establishments can provide larger employment and benefits to the union. However, they may also be harder for unions to organize, because in general they have higher wages, as well as greater resources and better management to resist unionization.

Alternatively, unions may more frequently focus on smaller or medium-sized establishments that may be easier to organize because of poorer labor conditions and weak management. These establishments also offer lower wages and benefits in general, potentially implying a higher demand for unionization.As to the timing of union activity, when in an establishment’s life cycle does a union try to organize it? Does a union emerge in a business when the business is young, or later when it is more established? Such timing can matter for the survival and growth prospects of an establishment, if a union is successful in extracting surplus from a young establishment in the early stages of growth.

A new IZA discussion paper by Emin Dinlersoz, Jeremy Greenwood, and Henry Hyatt explores the union organizing process in the US. They offer a model of union learning in which a union gradually gathers information about the productivity of a business and decides whether to organize its employees at some point in time.

The model predicts that unions target large and productive establishments early on in their life cycles. To see the relevance of these predictions, the authors assemble a new, comprehensive panel data on union activity at the establishment level for the period 1977-2007. The data allows tracking of union activity in an establishment starting from its birth until exit, making it possible to identify when exactly a union election occurs in an establishment’s lifetime.

The analysis of data reveals that unions are indeed much more likely to target and successfully organize larger, more productive, and younger businesses. For example, in manufacturing a large plant with 500 or more employees is about 25 times more likely to be targeted by a union for organizing purposes, compared to a small plant with less than 10 employees.Furthermore, unions do not wait too long to target a large and productive establishment after it is born. The youngest group of establishments (0-3 years old) is approximately twice as likely to be targeted as the oldest group (25+ years old).

Given that unions generally target, and successfully organize, large, productive firms in the U.S. economy, any effects of unions on business outcomes may be larger than previously thought, as these establishments account for the bulk of economic activity. First, the disproportionate presence of the mere threat of union targeting in these establishments can have larger welfare consequences. For instance, these establishments may have to raise wages and devote more resources to resist unionization.Second, the concentration of successful union organizing in these establishments means that post-unionization effects can be more prevalent in the larger and more productive segment of the establishments. If unions indeed have large adverse effects on businesses, this prevalence has important consequences.

Using employee recognition to boost productivity

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Good bosses know that recognition and words of appreciation are key tools to motivate employes and increase productivity. But what is the most effective way? Is it better to praise all employees, or just the top performers? A new IZA Discussion Paper suggests that the happy medium may be the best choice.

For their study, Christiane Bradler, Robert Dur, Susanne Neckermann and Arjan Non conducted a field experiment with more than 300 students to investigate how exclusive or inclusive recognition optimally should be. The participants were paid 25 euros for a three-hour task of entering survey results into a database. Eight of them shared a room, but they all worked independently.

After two hours of work, thank-you cards were unexpectedly given out – either to all eight students, or to the top three performers, or only to the single most productive worker so far. This surprise recognition had no material value but clearly showed appreciation of the work effort.

Compared to a control group, all treated increased their productivity by an average of at least 5 percent for the remaining hour. If all eight students received a thank-you card, they subsequently performed 5.2 percent better. If only the most productive worker was picked out, average effort in the group rose by 5.6 percent. The best outcome was found in groups with three recognized workers, where overall performance increased by 7.3 percent.

Most strikingly, this increase in work effort is driven by those who did not receive a card. Even though they were made aware that there was no chance to receive a card later if they worked harder, their performance improved by more than 10 percent. In contrast, those who received a card raised their effort by only 3.3 percent.

According to the authors of the study, these results can be largely explained with a desire for conformity: Upon learning that one does not belong to the best three performers in a group of eight, non-recipients apparently feel inclined to improve performance so as to adhere to the apparent group norm. But reciprocity also seems to plays a role. This would explain why recipients of recognition in treatments with scarce recognition did not reduce their performance.

In conclusion, the authors suggest that recognition is a cost-effective tool to stimulate performance in a workplace setting, and that exclusivity may motivate relatively poor performers to catch up. However, if recognition becomes too scarce, its effectiveness diminishes. The optimal level, of course, depends on the organizational setting – particularly whether or not it is desirable from a management point of view to provide information to employees about the work norm prevalent in the group.

Fixed-term contracts: Dead-end jobs or useful stepping stones? Video interview with Werner Eichhorst

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Fixed-term contracts have become a major form of employment in Europe. While proponents regard them as an important stepping stone to permanent employment, critics deride them as dead-end jobs. Who is right? That depends on the institutional and economic environment, as Werner Eichhorst explains in a video interview.

Fixed-term contracts can be a pathway from unemployment to employment, but their potential as a stepping stone to permanent employment is undercut if there is a strong degree of segmentation in labor markets. Then the labor flexibility motive of employers ends up dominating the screening function for permanent hires.

To counter the trend toward labor market dualization, Eichhorst suggests that policymakers should narrow the gap between contract types by easing dismissal protection for permanent contracts while at the same time strengthening the employment stability of fixed-term contracts.


For more detailed information, see Werner Eichhorst’s article on Fixed-term contracts in the IZA World of Labor.

High mortality on payday: Don’t get too excited about your money!

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Payday is supposed to be a cause for celebration. When the salary finally arrives, bills can be paid, and financial stress should be eased. But if there is still some money left, be careful how to spend it: As the latest IZA discussion paper shows, too much excitement could be deadly!

In their study, Elvira Andersson, Petter Lundborg and Johan Vikström find an enormous increase in mortality on payday. Analyzing data on Swedish public sector employees – accounting for 22% of the country’s labor force – they discover a 23% increase in total mortality on the day that salary payments arrive.

The effect is especially pronounced for young workers aged 18 to 35. Their mortality rates on payday increase by as much as 164%. Overall, the results are driven by low-income earners, who are more likely to face liquidity constraints, which means that some extra spending money really makes a difference.

But contrary to what one may assume, wild partying on payday is not the reason for this excess mortality. Instead, the extra deaths are caused mainly by circulatory problems due to an increase in “general economic activity” – including shopping, traveling or eating out. When these activities are too exciting (watching your favorite football team) or unhealthy in other ways (greasy food), they lead to a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Since paydays vary among Sweden’s public sector employers, the authors were able to rule out that their results are based on date-specific effects. Moreover, the rise in mortality is not offset by a subsequent decline, so it really consists of additional premature deaths. When extending the findings to include the entire Swedish working-age population, payday seems to cause approximately 96 premature deaths per year.

Employee performance and the value of the bosses: Video interview with Kathryn Shaw

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Employees should ultimately be paid for performance, not for working hours, says Kathryn Shaw (Stanford University and IZA) in a video interview. If hourly wages are paid, that entails choosing high-performing employees carefully. While wage inequality within firms serves to boost performance, equality of opportunity is what really matters, says Shaw.

Her research finds that the performance of bosses has a substantial impact on firm productivity. Ideally, “they train, they motivate, they inspire, they employ,” she says.


Kathryn Shaw is the subject editor for Behavioral and Personnel Economics at the IZA World of Labor.

Migration decisions of couples: Who wears the pants?

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Couples are less likely than singles, but more likely than families to emigrate to a different country. But who makes the decision to migrate? Does the traditional role model prevail, where the man’s career prospects play the most important role? Or does the migration decision simply depend on the better-educated, higher-earning spouse’s job opportunities?

In a new IZA Discussion Paper Panu Poutvaara, Martin Junge and Martin D. Munk for the first time analyze migration decisions of dual-earner couples distinguishing between couples with male primary earners and couples in which women earned more (which is the case for about 15 percent of the couples). The researchers use register data on the entire Danish population from 1982 to 2010. Every fifth couple in their 20s and 30s decides to leave Denmark at least for a while. In 2010, more than 42,000 couples emigrated.

The authors find that family migration is indeed very responsive to the primary earner’s income – regardless of whether this is the male or the female partner. Each one-percent increase in the earnings of the primary earner increases the likelihood that a couple emigrates for at least 5 years by 1.6 to 3.6 percent. The effect of the secondary earner’s income is small and varies in sign across different groups.

On the other hand, the male’s education plays a bigger role than the female’s education in emigration decisions, independent of which partner earned more in Denmark. Even when the woman earns more, the emigration rate of male power couples (male has college education while female has not) is higher than the emigration rate of female power couples. If both partners went to college, the probability of migrating is six times higher than for couples without a university degree.