Technology for Developing Efficient Pay Systems That Are Adequate to the Reality

The article emphasizes the relevance of the development of wage systems that are adequate for the current reality. Conceptual approaches to strengthening the stimulating and regulating functions of wages are justified. The original technology of development of effective wage systems is proposed, based on the use as incentive wage differentiators of estimated indicators of labor quality of employees (level of competitiveness) and personnel (level of loyalty); accordingly, as regulatory (margin) differentiators - employment ranks determined by the preference of employment forms and work regimes. Algorithms for designing and adjusting the integral wage differentiation grid are presented and illustrated on conditional examples. The methodology of justification of employment ranks of groups of workers based on development and comparative analysis of workograms is proposed. The potential practical demand for the proposed technology, revealed in the process of personnel monitoring of heads of industrial enterprises of the Altai Territory, was emphasized.

White Managers, Ethnoracism, and the Production of Black Ethnic Labor Market Disparities

Few have considered the role of White managers in longstanding Black ethnic labor market disparities. Drawing on ethnoracism theory, I conceptualize the previously documented White manager preference for Afro Caribbeans as a form of prejudice that contributes to the relative success of Afro Caribbeans. White managers say they prefer Afro Caribbeans because they work harder and are less racially antagonistic than African Americans. However, using the National Survey of American Life, I show that these populations are virtually indistinguishable in terms of labor quality and racial attitudes. Moreover, net labor quality and racial attitudes, the incomes of English and non-English speaking Afro Caribbeans are greater when working for White managers, but African Americans with White managers receive no greater income than those without a White manager. I conclude with a call for the formal development of a new ontological framework for the study of these kinds of ethnoracially dynamic relationships.

Liquidity or Capital?: The Impacts of Easing Credit Constraints in Rural Mexico

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of easing credit constraints for rural producers in Mexico through loans provided by a national public development finance institution. In contrast to most of the existing literature, the study focuses on the effect of medium-sized loans over a two- to four-year time horizon. This paper looks at the effects of such loans on production and investment decisions, input use, and yields. Using a multiple treatment methodology, it explores the differential impacts of providing liquidity for working capital versus providing credit for investments in fixed assets. It finds that loans increased the likelihood that producers grow and sell certain key annual crops, in particular among recipients of working capital loans. It also finds significant effects on production value and sales (per hectare), with similar impacts for recipients of both types of loans, with gains in yields driven by changes in labor quality and more intensive use of key inputs. There is no evidence of significant effects on the purchase of large machinery, but there are impacts on the acquisition of cattle. Overall, the results reported in this paper suggest that lack of liquidity is at least as important as lack of funding for new investment in capital for rural producers in Mexico. Producers benefit from easing their credit constraints, regardless of the type of loan used for that purpose.

Analysis on the Sources of China’s Economic Growth From the Perspective of Cleaner Production

Since the reform and opening up to the outside world, China’s economy has created a remarkable growth miracle. However, as China enters the new normal economy, the world is full of doubts about its potential for economic growth. The article proper concerns an analysis on some factors affecting China’s economic growth, such as physical capital, labor quality, labor quantity, energy consumption, and environmental cost. Also embraced in this article is the measurement of the contribution of each factor to total factor productivity. The research is conducted on the basis of the provincial panel data of China over 2002–2016, from the perspective of cleaner production. The results reveal that (a) China’s economic growth had significant positive correlations with factor inputs, including traditional input elements (physical capital, labor quantity, labor quality) and natural elements (energy consumption and environmental cost); (b) the direct and indirect effects of physical capital, labor quality, and energy consumption on economic growth were significantly positive, while those of environmental cost were significantly negative; and (c) the contributions of the factors to the total factor productivity were ranked respectively as follows: physical capital (48.63%), energy consumption (16.81%), labor quality (14.85%), environmental cost (10.88%), and labor quantity (8.83%). China’s economic growth belonged to “perspiration.” In addition to the traditional input factors, natural factors also played an important role in boosting China’s economic development. It is urgent how to highlight the role of labor quality, while downplaying the contribution of natural factors, and then shift to cleaner production in China.