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We develop a five-period overlapping generations model with individuals who differ by ability and with an imperfect labour market (union wage setting) for individuals of lower ability. The model explains human capital formation, hours worked, and unemployment within one coherent framework. Its predictions match the differences in the unemployment rate across 12 OECD countries remarkably well. A Shapley decomposition of these differences reveals an almost equal role for fiscal policy variables and union preferences. As to fiscal policy, differences in unemployment benefits play a much more important role than tax differences. Differences in households' taste for leisure are unimportant.

In this paper, we study optimal income taxation when different job types exist for workers of different skills. Each job type has some feasible range of incomes from which workers choose by varying labor supply. Workers are more productive than others in the jobs that suit them best. The model combines features of the classic optimal tax literature with labor variability along the intensive margin, with the extensive-margin approach where workers make discrete job choices and/or participation decisions. We find that first-best maximin utility can be achieved in the second-best, and marginal tax rates below the top can be negative or zero.

Background It is known that high-level performance in athletes is not only limited to physical competence and technical skills, but also cognitive functions such as attention, concentration, stress management and reaction time play a decisive role. The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive performance levels of athletes in different skill types (team, individual, combat, racket). Methods The study was conducted with a total of 214 athletes between the ages of 14–16 with at least three years of regular training history, including team ( n  = 64), individual ( n  = 48), racket ( n  = 27) and combat ( n  = 75). Cognitive performance measurements were made before training. Attention and concentration levels were assessed using NeuroSky MindWave EEG device, stress level was assessed using HeartMath Inner Balance device and reaction time was assessed using CatchPad device. Results Combat athletes demonstrated significantly higher cognitive scores in attention (X̄ = 53.77 ± 24.86 s; F = 26.43, p  < .001, η² = 0.318) and concentration (X̄ = 22.51 ± 15.90 s; F = 18.49, p  < .001, η² = 0.360) compared to other groups. Racket sports athletes exhibited the fastest reaction times (X̄ = 0.35 ± 0.04 s; F = 11.66, p  < .001, η² = 0.184) and the highest inner balance coherence (X̄ = 1.85 ± 0.38; F = 15.54, p  < .001, η² = 0.188). Significant group differences were also observed in intrinsic heart rate variability (Inner Balance Avg BPM), with combat athletes recording the highest average (X̄ = 79.48 ± 12.18 bpm; F = 10.80, p  < .001, η² = 0.142). Discriminant analysis revealed a high classification success rate for racket (85.2%) and combat athletes (81.3%) based on cognitive and psychophysiological variables. Conclusion The findings of this study demonstrate that different sport skill types are associated with distinct cognitive performance profiles. These results may provide valuable insight for coaches, trainers, and sport psychologists in designing branch-specific cognitive training strategies and talent identification protocols. More broadly, the study highlights the critical role of sport participation in shaping not only physical but also neurocognitive development during adolescence.

PurposeIndian government initiated several skill development policies and different types of vocational education and training (VET). Yet the participation in skill education is low because of poor labour market outcomes. This paper aims to calculate returns to skill education to understand the type of training that will have better labour market outcomes.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper nationally representative data from the periodic labour force survey (PLFS), collected by the national sample survey office for 2017–2018, are used to estimate the returns to formal and non-formal VET obtained (after different levels of general education) with the help of Heckman's two-stage method.FindingsNearly 8% of the working-age population has received some form of VET (mostly non-formal), generating poor returns. For the overall population, formal on-job training (OJT) and full-time VET influence wage positively and significantly. Full-time VET obtained after secondary and below levels of education generates positive returns, whereas part-time VET is profitable only to those without formal education. At the graduate level, technical education obtained along with VET is associated with better wages.Originality/valueIn India where a considerable proportion of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, different types of skill training like full-time, part-time and OJT influence labour market outcomes. This finding has policy implication for countries with large informal sector and calls for further research in such countries.

Play is central to children’s learning and development in the early years, including the learning of mathematics. The aim of the present study was to explore how play skills are related to mathematical skills in toddlers by examining the correlations between different kinds of play skills and mathematical skills, and how level of play skills is related to mathematical skills. The participants were 1088 toddlers in Norwegian Early Childhood and Care institutions who were observed by the staff in 3-month periods beginning when they were 2½ years old. The skills in mathematics and play were assessed by structured observation. The overall scores for play skills and the scores for all types of play skills correlated significantly with the scores for all mathematical areas and the total score for mathematics. The skills Interaction in Play and Independence in Play displayed the strongest correlations with mathematical skills. Rule - based Play was difficult for the toddlers, whereas Pretend Play and Exploring and Construction Play correlated with mathematical skills and may be types of play that are more suitable when introducing mathematics in toddler groups. When the group of toddlers was divided into three subgroups according to their level of play skills, the level of play skills was strongly related to the level of mathematical skills. Toddlers with weak, middle or strong play skills also exhibited corresponding low, medium or high levels of mathematics skills, which emphasises the importance of understanding the relations between play and mathematical learning when working with toddlers.

This study documents the effects of the 2008–09 global financial crisis on poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In doing so, it describes and decomposes the effects of the crisis on poverty using data from comparable household budget surveys for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, and labor force surveys for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. The study also provides macro-micro modeling of crisis and no-crisis scenarios for Mexico and Brazil, as well as the big picture and program-specific details of the social protection policy responses for these countries and more. Among the findings are the following. First, the effects of the global financial crisis on those living in poverty were not trivial: more than 3 million people fell into or remained mired in poverty in 2009 as a result of the crisis. Of these, 2.5 million were Mexican. Second, the changes in poverty were driven by changes in labor incomes caused by a variable combination of changes in employment rates and real wages. Third, the macro-micro modeling revealed different adjustment mechanisms but similar final incidence results for Brazil and Mexico. The results were regressive overall, with the middle of the income distribution hit even a bit more than the poor. According to the descriptive results from the larger set of countries, changes in inequality accounted for a tenth to a third of changes in poverty. Fourth, countries were quite active in their social protection policy responses, largely taking advantage of programs built in precrisis years. Social transfers partially offset the lower labor earnings of the poor, although income protection for the unemployed was weak. Finally, overall the policy messages are that good policy helps attenuate the links between a global crisis and poverty in the LAC countries, and many of the important things need to be done ex ante such as dealing with the macro fundamentals and building social protection programs.

Background: Depression among those who have experienced childhood abuse is associated with earlier onset, more persistent and severe symptoms, more frequent relapse, and poorer treatment outcomes across a variety of psychiatric disorders. In addition, individuals with a history of childhood abuse are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) co-occurring with depression. Objective: This study evaluated whether severity of depression moderated the outcome in a PTSD treatment for childhood abuse survivors. Specifically, we assessed whether individuals with significant depression obtained better outcomes when provided with a two-module treatment which included a skills training component with behavioral activation interventions, Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) followed by a trauma-focused component, Narrative Therapy, as compared to two control conditions where one component (STAIR or Narrative Therapy) was replaced with Supportive Counseling. Method: Participants were 104 women with PTSD related to childhood abuse. Participants were randomized into three conditions: (1) STAIR plus Narrative Therapy (SNT), (2) STAIR plus Supportive Counseling (SSC), and (3) Supportive Counseling plus Narrative Therapy (SCNT). Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV) PTSD symptom severity was assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3 and 6 month follow-up. Results: Participants with severe depression showed superior PTSD symptom reduction following SNT, while those in the other two conditions experienced a loss of improvement after treatment ended. A similar finding was obtained among those with moderate depression, while among those with low levels of depression, outcomes did not differ across the three treatment conditions. Conclusions: Childhood abuse survivors with severe depression obtained superior outcomes in a treatment that combined skills training with trauma-focused work. Skills packages which contain behavioral activation interventions in combination with trauma-focused work may be particularly beneficial for patients with childhood abuse and severe depression.

There is one asset that poor people have in abundance: labor. Thus, what distinguishes the poor from the non-poor in low income countries is, simply, their ability to sell labor at a good price. It should be of little surprise, then, that enhancing the poor's access to employment is increasingly recognized as key to development. But while the creation of \"good\" jobs for the poor has become a policy priority for many developing countries, the mechanisms by which employment stimulates growth and reduces poverty have, until now, not been well understood. This book aims to help fill that gap. Focusing on labor market mobility as a central mechanism for both growth and poverty reduction, it brings together contributions originally presented at a conference organized by the World Bank's Poverty Reduction and Development Effectiveness department in June 2006. Using examples from all continents, these papers discuss why multi-segmented labor markets offer a good starting point for analysis, what role the informal sector plays in employment, whether self-employment is an engine of growth, how worker mobility affects income, and how firm dynamics affect both growth and employment through job creation and destruction.

Background: The information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model of health behavior is an effective tool to evaluate the behavior of diabetes self-management. The purpose of this study was to explore behavioral factors affecting the practice of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) within the frame of IMB model of health behavioral among adult patients with type 1 diabetes in a single diabetes clinic in China. Methods: A questionnaire with three subscales on SMBG information, motivation, and behavioral skills based on IMB model was developed. Validity and reliability of the measures were examined and guaranteed. Adult patients with type 1 diabetes visiting our diabetes clinic from January to March 2012 (n = 55) were consecutively interviewed. The self-completion questionnaires were administered and finished at face-to-face interviews among these patients. Both descriptive and correlational analyses were made. Results: Fifty-five patients finished the questionnaires, with the median duration of diabetes 4.5 years and the median of SMBG frequency 2.00. Specific SMBG information deficits, motivation obstacles, and behavioral skill limitations were identified in a substantial proportion of participants. Scores of SMBG motivation (r = 0.299, P= 0.026) and behavioral skills (r = 0.425, P= 0.001) were significantly correlated with SMBG frequency. The multiple correlation of SMBG information, SMBG motivation, and SMBG behavioral skills with SMBG frequency was R = 0.411 (R2 = 0.169, P= 0.023). Conclusions: Adult patients with type 1 diabetes in our clinic had substantial SMBG information deficits, motivation obstacles, and skill limitations. This information provided potential-focused education targets for diabetes health-care providers.

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health problem and the cause of chronic diseases, such as diabetes. It has a negative effect on adherence to treatment, decreases self-efficacy beliefs, and intensifies stress in women. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of life skills training based on the self-efficacy theory on IPV and adherence to treatment in women with type 2 diabetes. Methods This trial was conducted using a pretest-posttest design and follow-up after one month. The samples included 100 women selected by convenience sampling with random block allocation with type 2 diabetes and IPV. The intervention consisted of 8 sessions over one month of life skills training based on self-efficacy theory. Participants completed questionnaires at pre-test, post-test and follow-up, including a demographic information form and questionnaires on IPV and treatment adherence. Considered statistically significant at P  < 0. 05. Results The mean changes in IPV scores from the pre-test to the post-test were − 8.38 ± 4.06 and − 0.06 ± 3.09 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Also, the reduction in the intervention group was significantly more than in the control group ( P  < 0.001; 95%CI=-9.75; -6.89). The mean changes in IPV scores from post-test to follow-up were − 1.36 ± 3.47 and 1.50 ± 4.14 in intervention and control groups, respectively, indicating a statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P  < 0.001; 95%CI=-4.38; -1.34). The mean changes in adherence scores from the pre-test to the post-test were 11.40 ± 4.23 and 0.68 ± 3.49 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The increase was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group ( P  < 0.001; 95%CI = 9.18; 12.26). The mean changes in adherence scores from post-test to follow-up were 2.68 ± 5.06 and − 0.86 ± 2.43 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( P  < 0.001; 95%CI = 1.95; 5.12). Conclusion Life skills training based on self-efficacy theory reduced IPV and improved treatment compliance in women with diabetes under IPV. It is recommended that this training be taught to other patients with chronic conditions as a means of violence prevention and treatment adherence. Trial registration The trial was registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) on 13 October 2022 and can be found on the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials platform. IRCT registration number: IRCT20090522001930N6.