
248 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Working Paper
Trade Unions in an Emerging EconomyThis paper provides a historical overview of the South African trade union movement, followed by a brief discussion of the labour market legislation and institutions formed since 1994. Thereafter, a detailed evaluation of the impact of trade unions...
Working Paper
Skills-Biased Labour Demand and the Pursuit of Inclusive Growth in South AfricaThis paper examines the changing nature of occupational labour-market trends in South Africa and the resulting impact on wages. We observe high levels of demand for skilled labour that have intensified a trend already established before 1994. Over...
Working Paper
Understanding the relationship between growth and employment in NigeriaThis study examines the relationship between growth and employment in Nigeria to gain insights into the country's paradox of high economic growth alongside rising poverty and inequality. The methodology adopted is the Shapley decomposition approach...
Working Paper
Globalization, Production and PovertyThe impact of globalization on poverty is a matter of keen debate but empirical work in this area has been dominated by cross-country regressions. This paper attempts to link the more macro impacts of globalization, particularly as manifested through...
Working Paper
Income Distribution and Labour Movement in China After WTO MembershipUsing a CGE model, PRCGEM, with an updated 2002 I/O table, this paper explores how earnings will be affected in each of 40 separate industries across 31 regions (or 8 regional blocks) of China for the period 2002–07. Labour movement between regions...
Working Paper
The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Developing Countries’ Terms of TradeThis paper first shows that important economic arguments in favor of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis of falling terms of trade of developing countries have implicitly relied on the role of multinational corporations and foreign direct investment. As...
Working Paper
The Informal Sector in Developing CountriesThis study documents four key facts about informal economic activities: (1) the size of the informal sector varies greatly across nations; (2) this size is strongly correlated with economic development, the tax burden, and the rule of law; (3) the...
Working Paper
Human Capital and Wage Determination in Different Ownerships, 1989-97This article evaluates the Chinese labour market by examining the role of human capital in wage determination. Using data from China’s Household Nutrition Survey, we estimate the returns to education in state-owned, collective-owned and private...
Working Paper
Efficiency Gains from the Elimination of Global Restrictions on Labour MobilityThis paper computes the worldwide efficiency gains from the elimination of global restrictions on labour mobility using a multiregional CGE model. A distinctive feature of our analysis is the introduction of a segmented labour market, as two types of...
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African Lions - Nigeria's jobless growth
Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, has recorded high growth in recent years. Indeed, real GDP growth rate was 6...
Working Paper
The Economic Integration of Immigrants in the United StatesThe most important economic feature of immigration to the United States in the post-1965 period has been a significant deterioration in the economic performance of successive immigrant waves. The policy reaction to this trend would obviously differ...
Working Paper
Changes in Labour Market Conditions and PoliciesLabour market incomes have been a major contributor to the important fall in inequality in Latin America during the 2000s. Indeed, it was the main contributor in countries where inequality fell more dramatically. A proper understanding of the...
Working Paper
The Rise and Fall of Income Inequality in Mexico, 1989–2010Inequality in Mexico rose between 1989 and 1994 and declined between 1994 and 2010. We examine the role of market forces (demand and supply of labour by skill), institutional factors (minimum wages and unionization rate), and public policy (cash...
Working Paper
Gender Wage Differentials in China's Urban Labour MarketThis paper describes and decomposes wage differences between female and male workers. The results indicate that females receive low wages because of unequal pay within sectors, and that the wage gap caused by the difference in sectoral attainment is...