[publications]
Publications: International Journals
"Firm ownership and rent sharing", Journal of Labor Research, Vol. 32(3), pp 210-236, 2011, DOI:10.1007/s12122-011-9109-6 [co-authors: Natália Pimenta Monteiro, Odd Rune Straume]
We analyse – theoretically and empirically – how private versus public ownership of firms affects the degree of rent sharing between firms and their workers. Using a particularly rich linked employer-employee dataset from Portugal, covering a large number of corporate ownership changes across a wide spectrum of economic sectors over more than 20 years, we find a positive relationship between private ownership and rent sharing. Based on our theoretical analysis, this result cannot be explained by private firms being more profit oriented than public ones. However, the result is consistent with privatisation leading to less job security, implying stronger efficiency wage effects.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.467 || Article Influence Score: 0.380 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.070
A previous version of the document is available as IZA Discussion Paper 4909, NIPE WP 13/2010.
"Employment and exchange rates: the role of openness and technology", Open Economies Review, Vol. 22(5), pp 969-984, 2011, DOI:10.1007/s11079-010-9191-z [co-authors: Fernando Alexandre, Pedro Bação, João Cerejeira]
Real exchange rate movements are important drivers of the reallocation of resources between sectors of the economy. Economic theory suggests that the impact of exchange rates should vary with the degree of exposure to international competition and with the technology level. We show that both the degree of openness and the technology level mediate the impact of exchange rate movements on labour market developments. According to our estimations, whereas employment in high-technology sectors seems to be relatively immune to changes in real exchange rates, these appear to have sizable and significant effects on highly open low-technology sectors. The analysis of job flows suggests that the impact of exchange rates on these sectors occurs through employment destruction.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.382 || Article Influence Score: 0.270 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.040
A previous version of the document is available as IZA Discussion Paper 4191, NIPE WP 16/2009.
"Rent sharing in Portuguese Banking", The Manchester School, Vol. 79(4), pp 861-883, 2011, DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9957.2011.02183.x [co-author: Natália Monteiro]
Using a fixed effects estimator and a dynamic panel data system-GMM estimator on a sample of 77 banks, covering the period 1988-2005, this paper estimates how wages in the Portuguese banking sector depend on the employers' ability to pay. The results indicate that wages are strongly positively correlated with rents even after controlling for firm and workforce characteristics. A conservative Lester's range of wages due to rent sharing is around 56% of the mean wage of the Portuguese banking sector, a number that is considerably larger than in previous studies.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.333 || Article Influence Score: 0.293 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.040
A previous version of the document is available as NIPE WP 18/2007.
“Measurement error in education and growth regressions”, The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 112(3), pp 618-639, 2010, DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9442.2010.01613.x [co-authors: Rob Alessie and Coen Teulings]
The use of the perpetual inventory method for the construction of education data per country leads to systematic measurement error. This paper analyses its effect on growth regressions. We suggest a methodology for correcting this error. The standard attenuation bias suggests that using these corrected data would lead to a higher coefficient. Our regressions reveal the opposite. We discuss why this is the case.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.919 || Article Influence Score: 1.134 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.250
A previous version of the document is available as CEPR DP 4637, IZA Discussion Paper 1165, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper 04-040/3. The data and a recent version of the paper are available here.
"Aggregate and sector-specific exchange rate indexes for the Portuguese economy", Notas Económicas, Vol. 30, pp 6-28, 2009 [co-authors: Fernando Alexandre, Pedro Bração, João Cerejeira]
In this paper, we compute and compare aggregate and sector-specific exchange rate indexes for the Portuguese economy. We find that alternative effective exchange rate indexes are very similar between them. We also find that sector-specific effective exchange rates are strongly correlated with aggregate indexes. Nevertheless, we show that sector-specific exchange rates are more informative than aggregate exchange rates in explaining changes in employment: whereas aggregate indexes are statistically insignificant in employment equations, regressions using sector-specific exchange rate indexes show a statistically significant and economically large effect of exchange rates on employment. [The data is available here]
A previous version of the document is available as NIPE WP 13/2009.
"Perceptions of the Bologna process: what do students' choices reveal?", Higher Education, Vol. 58(4), pp 465-474, 2009, DOI:10.1007/s10734-009-9205-1 [co-authors: Carla Sá, Fernando Alexandre and Ana Rute Cardoso]
A major element in the creation of the European area of higher education is the adoption of a common structure of degrees, implying in several countries the reduction of the duration of the first degree to three years, which is a controversial change. Cardoso et al. (2008) have analyzed student confidence in the curricula change, quantifying its impact on students' first choices of academic programs. This paper goes two steps further. First, it concentrates on a variable that better translates total demand for an academic program, namely the total number of students who place the program among their six revealed preferences, instead of just the first option; and, second, an econometric model that better fits the data is estimated. Results confirm a positive impact of the Bologna process on the demand for programs, which varies with program size and across fields of study. Our results complement those in Cardoso et al. (2008), as they uncover that being a program leader, i.e. the only institution in the country that restructured a given program, was associated with higher demand by prospective students, which nevertheless stemmed from their second best options and not from their first choices.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.823 || Article Influence Score: 0.447 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.110
"Admission conditions and graduates’ employability", Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 34(7), pp 795-805, 2009, DOI:10.1080/03075070802688553 [co-authors: Fernando Alexandre, Carla Sá]
In a context of increasing competition for students, admission conditions have been used as an instrument in a strategy of differentiation. Such a strategy is guided by short-run concerns, that is, the immediate need to attract more students. This paper places a longer term view, by checking graduates employability. We find that tougher admission conditions (namely, a mandatory Mathematics examination) appear to be linked with lower unemployment propensity. Previous studies, however, have found that those programmes face lower demand when compared to other studies. These results suggest that students’ choices may be based on insufficient information on returns to higher education investment. That information failure indicates that a Government intervention may be due.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.922 || Article Influence Score: 0.654 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.150
"Microfoundations for Wage Flexibility: Wage Insurance at the Firm Level", The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 111(1), pp 29-50, 2009, DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9442.2008.01553.x [co-author: Ana Rute Cardoso]
To which extent do firms insulate their workers' wages from fluctuations in product marlets? Which firm and worker attributes are associated with wage flexibility at the micro level? We first rely on Guiso et al. (2005) to estimate dynamic models of sales and wages, finding that in Portugal workers' wages respond to permanent shocks to firm performance, as opposed to transitory shocks. We then explore the factors associated with wage flexibility, finding that collective bargaining and minimum wages are associated with higher wage insurance by the firm, while the threat of firm bankruptcy reduces it. Managers receive less protection against permanent shocks than other workers.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.919 || Article Influence Score: 1.134 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.250
"Demand for Higher Education Programs: The Impact of the Bologna Process", CESifo Economic Studies, Vol. 54(2), pp 229-247, 2008, DOI:10.1093/cesifo/ifn013 [co-authors: Ana Rute Cardoso, Carla Sá, Fernando Alexandre]
While several aspects of the Bologna process deserve wide public support, the reduction of the length of the first cycle of studies to three years in several continental European countries, where it used to last for four or five years, is less consensual. This paper checks the extent of public confidence in the restructuring of higher education currently underway by looking at its impact on the demand for academic programs in Portugal. We concentrate on students revealed first preference when applying to higher education. Results indicate that the programs that restructured to follow the Bologna principles were subject to higher demand than comparable programs that did not restructured; that effect, however, varies across fields of study and with program size.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.471 || Article Influence Score: 0.408 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.060
A previous version of the document is available as NIPE WP 4/2007.
"Evaluating student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system”, Higher Education, Vol. 56(2), pp 185-203, 2008, DOI:10.1007/s10734-007-9097-x [co-authors: Nelson Areal, Carla Sá, Fernando Alexandre, João Cerejeira, Ana Carvalho, Artur Rodrigues]
This paper characterizes and evaluates the student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system. It describes the supply and demand sides of the system by looking at the numerus clausus across areas of study and institutions, institutions' degree of diversity, and performance and adjustment indicators based on students' revealed preferences. Performance indicators quantify the adequacy between demand and supply, across institutions and fields of study, and gauge the performance of public higher education institutions in the competition for candidates. Adjustment indicators allow us to predict the potential impact of changes in higher education regulations on student allocation and its stability. According to these indicators, such changes could result in an expansion for some institutions and fields of study, whereas other institutions might face a reduction.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.823 || Article Influence Score: 0.447 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.110
A previous version of the document is available as NIPE WP 11/2007.
"Gender segregation and the wage gap in Portugal: an analysis at the establishment level”, Journal of Economic Inequality, Vol. 3(2), pp 145-168, 2005, DOI:10.1007/s10888-005-4495-8 [co-authors: Jose A. Cabral Vieira and Ana Rute Cardoso]
Using a large linked employer-employee data set, this paper aims at quantifying the trend in worker segregation at the establishment level and its impact on wages in Portugal over a fifteen year period. We concentrate on the gender dimension, to answer the questions: What is the level of gender segregation across establishments in the Portuguese labor market and how has it evolved over time? What is the impact of segregation on wages? Is that impact different for men and women? Systematic and random components of segregation are computed. We use standard wage decomposition techniques to evaluate the impact of the composition of the labor force at the establishment level on wages. The results reveal a high degree of systematic gender segregation. A higher proportion of females in the establishment lowers females' wages while, on the contrary, it raises males' wages. The evidence gathered is consistent with the taste-based model of employer behavior and with the theory of sorting of workers across establishments based on their productivity.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.641 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.100
"Measuring skill: a multi-dimensional index”, Economics Letters, Vol. 72(1), pp 27-32, 2001, DOI:10.1016/S0165-1765(01)00396-2
Traditionally, skill is measured as one dimension of the worker's ability, usually schooling or the blue/white collar nature of the job. I propose an intuitively appealing and flexible measure of skill that combines several observed components of skill, as well as its unobserved dimension.
ISI JCR Impact Factor (2010): 0.449 || Article Influence Score: 0.556 || Scopus SNIP (2010): 0.120
[portela]