J - Labor and Demographic Economics

• Poignée de main invisible et persistance des cycles économiques : une revue de la littérature

  Staff Working Paper 2003-40 Christian Calmès

  The author explains how self-enforcing labour contracts can enhance the performance of macroeconomic models. He exposes the benefits of using these dynamic contracts to account for some puzzling macroeconomic facts regarding the dynamics and persistence of employment, consumption and output.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E4, E49, J, J3, J30, J31, J4, J41

• Do Peer Group Members Outperform Individual Borrowers? A Test of Peer Group Lending Using Canadian Micro-Credit Data

  Staff Working Paper 2003-33 Rafael Gomez, Eric Santor

  Microfinance institutions now serve over 10 million poor households in the developing and developed world, and much of their success has been attributed to their innovative use of peer group lending. There is very little empirical evidence, however, to suggest that group lending schemes offer a superior institutional design over lending programs that serve individual borrowers.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Development economics JEL Code(s): E, J, J2, J23, O, O1, O17

• Technological Change and the Education Premium in Canada: Sectoral Evidence

  Staff Working Paper 2003-18 Jean Farès, Terence Yuen

  It has been well documented that the education premium measured by the wage difference between university and high school graduates has remained constant over the past two decades in Canada. Despite this stable pattern at the aggregate level, skill-biased technology could have important implications for the inter-industry wage structure.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): J, J3, J31, O, O3, O30