Partial least squares (PLS) is a well known dimension reduction method which has been recently adapted for high dimensional classification problems in genome biology. We develop sparse versions of the recently proposed two PLS-based classification methods using sparse partial least squares (SPLS). These sparse versions aim to achieve variable selection and dimension reduction simultaneously. We...

Biology and Gender in the Labor Market Can biology help us to better understand gender differences in labor market behavior and outcomes? This chapter reviews the emerging literature which sheds light on this question, considering research in four broad areas: i) behavioral endocrinology; ii) human genetics; iii) neuroeconomics; and iv) sensory functioning and time-space perceptions. JEL Classi...

A large body of research has established a positive connection between an industry’s productivity and the magnitude of its presence within locally defined geographic areas. This paper examines the extent to which this relationship can be explained by a micro-level underpinning commonly associated with productivity: establishment scale. Looking at data on two-digit manufacturing across a sample ...

The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change The model developed in this paper explains differences in the division of labour across firms as a result of computer technology adoption. We find that changes in the division of labour can result both from reduced production time and from improved communication possibilities. The first shifts the division of labour towards a...

High Performance Workplaces and Family Friendly Practices: Promises Made and Promises Kept * High performance workplaces elicit greater involvement and productivity from employees but past theory and evidence remain divided on whether or not such workplaces are compatible with family friendly work practices. We present new evidence on the association using perceptions of a representative sample...

Several empirical minimum wage studies have recently been published that simulate employment effects of a federal minimum wage in Germany. We disentangle various factors that explain the variation in previous simulation results. Based on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel and the newly available ‘Verdienststrukturerhebung 2006’ we conduct robustness analyses that systematically test the r...

Statistical disclosure limitation is widely used by data collecting institutions to provide safe individual data. However, the choice of the disclosure limitation method severely affects the quality of the data. In particular, estimators for nonlinear models based on data which are masked by standard disclosure limitation techniques such as blanking or noise addition lead to inconsistent parame...

Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women’s Educational Attainment and Wages Using a human capital model, this paper develops hypotheses about how religious affiliation and participation during childhood influence years of schooling completed and subsequent performance in the labor market as measured by wages. The hypotheses are tested using data from the 1995 National Su...

Two distinct issues are addressed. First, we explore earnings and employment outcome differences across categories of the immigrant selection system and directly link the points system to these outcomes, which is relatively rare in Canadian research. Second, the appropriateness of alternative approaches to selecting the sample for analysis and defining the dependent variable(s) are investigated...