0000000000138914
AUTHOR
Empar Pons
Returns to Schooling in Spain: How Reliable are Instrumental Variable Estimates?
This paper studies the ordinary least–squares (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) estimates of the returns to schooling for male workers in Spain. OLS estimates are often biased due to the endogeneity of schooling, measurement errors or omitted variables. Proper IV estimates correct this bias. The reliability of family background, natural experiments (based on changes in the education system and season of birth) and the availability of a college in the province is checked using Spanish data. The results suggest that background and college availability are valid instruments and that the IV estimates of the returns to schooling are higher than OLS estimates. These results are in line with th…
The effects of personality on earnings
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of personality dimensions on wage settings. The study was inspired by the model proposed by Bowles, Gintis, and Osborne [American Economic Review 91 (2001) 155], which shows how psychological characteristics may be rewarded or punished in the labour market due to a so-called incentive-enhancing property. Additionally, two meta-studies show that there are robust relationships between some personality dimensions and productivity [Barrick & Mount, Personnel Psychology 44 (1991) 1; Salgado, Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997) 30]. We used data from the DNB Household Survey (DHS) to test the extent to which certain personalit…
Women Scientists as Decor: The Image of Scientists in Spanish Press Pictures
Women are still less present in scientific areas than men. This study analyzes the visual representation of women scientists in Spanish press and concludes that they are also underrepresented in newspapers. We analyze 1,134 photographs published in 2014 and 2015 in the science news sections of the four largest distribution Spanish newspapers. A tendency to present men more often as the protagonists of the information and women as a visual resource is also observed. This text proposes the need for the media to be aware of such underrepresentation and to match the number of men and women in graphic materials.
Personality and the gender wage gap
In this study, we investigate whether personality traits contribute towards a better understanding of the reasons for the gender wage gap. We explore whether two of the personality factors put forward by Bowles et al. (2001) as likely to be incentive enhancing in the employer–employee relationship can explain the difference in wages for women and men. These are (1) personal self efficacy (Locus of Control (LoC)) and (2) time preference. We also study the role of the so called Big Five personality traits (extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, openness intellect and conscientiousness), which have been associated with earnings in several recent studies. Using a sample of Dutch empl…
Returns to Schooling in Spain. How Reliable Are IV Estimates?
This paper studies the Ordinary Least-Squared (OLS) and Instrumental Variables (IV) estimates of the returns to schooling for male workers in Spain. OLS estimates are often biased due to the endogeneity of schooling, measurement errors or omitted variables. Proper IV estimates correct this bias. The reliability of family background, natural experiments (based on changes in the education system and season of birth) and the availability of a college in the province is checked using Spanish data. The results suggest that background and college availability are valid instruments and that the IV estimates of the returns to schooling are higher than OLS estimates. These results are in line with t…
Diploma Effects by Gender in the Spanish Labour Market
. The aim of this paper is to contrast the nature of the schooling effect on earnings in the Spanish labour market in terms of gender. Hungerford and Solon's (Review of Economics and Statistics 69: 175–177, 1987) methodology is used to distinguish between the returns to schooling arising from mere years of schooling as a reflection of their productivity-enhancing contribution (human capital) and the returns to schooling arising from certificates (diploma effects) as signals of the individual's productivity (sheepskin effects) or as credentialism. The results show evidence only of diploma effects in Upper Secondary Studies for men.
Sheepskin Effects in the Spanish Labour Market: A Public–Private Sector Analysis
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to contrast the nature of the effect of education, Human Capital or Screening, in the Spanish labour market. We use the Hungerford and Solon methodology to distinguish between the returns to schooling from mere years of schooling as a reflection of their productive–enhancing contribution (human capital) and the returns to schooling from academic certificates as signals of the individual’s ability (sheepskin effects). We separate our data into public and private sector workers. In the public sector the institutional restriction in the access and in the wage settings might force certificate rewards. Those not necessarily should be interpreted as sheepskin eff…