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IRES Research SeminarOrganizers : Professors David de la Croix, Frédéric Docquier, Hylke Vandenbussche and Vincent Vandenberghe Contact : Professor Frédéric Docquier, frederic.docquier@uclouvain.be On Thursday, 12:50 - 14:00 IRES, Building Dupriez, Room d144 (salle Paul Rousseaux), 3 Place Montesquieu, 1348 LLN Seminar of the week (February 2, 2012)
Oded Galor The "Out of Africa" Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development
Abstract : This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a significant effect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity and has had a direct long-lasting effect on the pattern of comparative economic development that could not be captured by contemporary geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped effect on development outcomes in the pre-colonial era, reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity. Moreover, the level of genetic diversity in each country today (i.e., genetic diversity and genetic distance among and between its ancestral populations) has a similar non-monotonic effect on the contemporary levels of income per capita. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among the Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. Further, the optimal level of diversity has increased in the process of industrialization, as the beneficial forces associated with greater diversity have intensified in an environment characterized by more rapid technological progress.
Seminar of the week (February 9, 2012) Muriel Roger Age Biased Technical and Organisational Change, Training and Employment Prospects of Older Workers
Abstract : We analyse the role of training in mitigating the negative impact of technical and organisational changes on the employment prospects of older workers. Using a panel of French firms in the late 1990s, we first estimate wage bill share equations for different age groups. Consistent with what is found in the literature, we find that adopting new technologies and innovative work practices negatively affects the wage bill share of older workers. In contrast, training older workers more than average increases their share in the wage bill in the next period. So, training contributes to offset the negative impact of ICT and innovative work practices. However, it does not reduce the age bias associated with these innovative devices: the interaction terms between training and ICT/innovative work practices are either insignificant or negative. As a second step, we estimate the impact of ICT, innovative work practices and training on employment flows by age group in the next period. We get similar results to those obtained with wage bill shares. Overall, training appears to have a positive impact on the employability of older workers, but it offers limited prospects to dampen the age bias associated with new technologies and innovative work practices.
Other scheduled seminars Program of the academic year 2011-2012
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