Karl Taylor
The University of Sheffield, Economics, Faculty Member
Research Interests:
Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of... more
Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to enco...
Energy has long been argued as an essential factor for the development of the economy and therefore it should be brought in line with the other production factors of neoclassical economics, capital and labour. Using panel data for 130... more
Energy has long been argued as an essential factor for the development of the economy and therefore it should be brought in line with the other production factors of neoclassical economics, capital and labour. Using panel data for 130 countries from 1981 to 2009, this paper explores the impact of multiple forms of energy consumption and human capital on per capita GDP growth. Generalized method of moments is applied to estimate an augmented neoclassical growth model that includes education and health capital as well as energy consumption. The key outcomes from this study show that education and health capital have a signifficant effect on economic growth. Energy consumption is also found to support higher growth. The results on the differential effects of energy and human capital on the economic growth of the developed and oil exporting countries indicate that energy consumption has a significant positive effect in both types of countries. Education capital affects the developed cou...
Research Interests:
Measures of mental health are heavily relied upon to identify at-risk individuals. However, self-reported mental health metrics might be unduly affected by mis-reporting (perhaps stemming from stigma effects). In this article, we consider... more
Measures of mental health are heavily relied upon to identify at-risk individuals. However, self-reported mental health metrics might be unduly affected by mis-reporting (perhaps stemming from stigma effects). In this article, we consider this phenomenon by focusing upon the mis-reporting of mental health using UK panel data from 1991 to 2018. In separate analyses of males and females, we examine how inaccurate reporting of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) measure, specifically its sub-components, can adversely affect the distribution of the index. The analysis suggests that individuals typically over report their mental health (especially so for males). The results are then used to adjust the GHQ-12 score to take mis-reporting into account. We then compare the effects of the adjusted/unadjusted GHQ-12 index when modelling a number of important economic transitions. Using the original index typically leads to an underestimate of the effect of poor mental health on transitio...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Using a sequence of questions from the 1996 US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we explore the implications of interpersonal differences in parent's attitudes towards risk for the academic test scores of their children focusing... more
Using a sequence of questions from the 1996 US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we explore the implications of interpersonal differences in parent's attitudes towards risk for the academic test scores of their children focusing on information drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement of the PSID. In addition, we explore whether parental risk preference influences whether the child subsequently attends college. Our findings suggest that a parent's degree of risk aversion is inversely related to the academic test scores of their children as well as being inversely related to the probability of attending college post high school
We explore the influences on the saving behaviour of children aged 11 to 15 using panel data drawn from the British Household Panel Survey Youth Questionnaire. Our empirical findings suggest that parental allowances/pocket money exert a... more
We explore the influences on the saving behaviour of children aged 11 to 15 using panel data drawn from the British Household Panel Survey Youth Questionnaire. Our empirical findings suggest that parental allowances/pocket money exert a moderating influence on the probability that a child will save, whilst hours of paid work undertaken by the child are positively associated with the probability that a child will save. The saving behaviour of parents, however, does not appear to influence the saving behaviour of their offspring. In contrast, financial optimism on the part of parents does appear to lower the probability that their children will save. In addition, our empirical analysis reveals some interesting differences relating to the determinants of the saving behaviour of boys and girls as well as evidence of state dependence in the saving behaviour of children.
Research Interests:
We explore the relationship between risk preference and educational attainment for a sample of adults drawn from the 1996 US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Using a sequence of questions from the 1996 PSID, we construct measures of... more
We explore the relationship between risk preference and educational attainment for a sample of adults drawn from the 1996 US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Using a sequence of questions from the 1996 PSID, we construct measures of an individual´ s risk ...
Research Interests: Psychology and Preference
Using data from the most recent large scale UK household longitudinal survey (UKHLS), we explore the effects of political ideology on charitable behaviour, specifically monetary donations and time volunteered. The UKHLS contains detailed... more
Using data from the most recent large scale UK household longitudinal survey (UKHLS), we explore the effects of political ideology on charitable behaviour, specifically monetary donations and time volunteered. The UKHLS contains detailed information on political preferences, in terms of: political affiliation; the strength of support for political parties; the level of interest in politics and the party an individual would vote for tomorrow. We employ a number of modelling frameworks including static and dynamic models and double hurdle models, which allow political influences to have differing effects across the decision to donate and the amount of money or time donated. The consistent finding across the different estimators is that being aligned to a stated political party is positively associated with donating time and money. In addition, we find that political liberalism has a larger effect on both types of philanthropic behaviour than political conservatism. The largest effects...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT In this paper we use matched,employer-employee,data to provide a direct test of several efficiency wage,hypotheses. The focus of the analysis is how relative wages and the perceived costs of job loss affect effort, commitment and... more
ABSTRACT In this paper we use matched,employer-employee,data to provide a direct test of several efficiency wage,hypotheses. The focus of the analysis is how relative wages and the perceived costs of job loss affect effort, commitment and loyalty. This enables us to distinguish shirking and gift exchange/fair wage,variants of the efficiency wage theory. We find some support for efficiency wages, with wage premiums encouraging workers,to shirk less. The results also suggest that this primarily works,through the effect wage premiums,have on commitment,and loyalty rather than affecting the costs of job loss as proposed in the shirking,model. Our findings also suggest that wage comparisons,within the firm are an important determinant of employee effort. JEL: J41 Key Words: Efficiency wages, effort, loyalty, commitment, shirking, gift exchange.
Research Interests:
... by E. Dockery, Department of Economics, Staffordshire University, WE Herbert, Nige-rian Education Bank and K. Taylor, Cardiff Business School, University of ... based on a comparison of their own personal gains and losses in pursuit... more
... by E. Dockery, Department of Economics, Staffordshire University, WE Herbert, Nige-rian Education Bank and K. Taylor, Cardiff Business School, University of ... based on a comparison of their own personal gains and losses in pursuit of a specific strategy (Gomez-Mejia et al ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Journal of MULTINATIONAL FINANCIAL Journal of Multinational Financial Management MANAGEMENT ELSEVIER 7 (1997) 317332 Some tests on the longrun dynamics of black and official exchange rates: evidence for four East European countries E.... more
Journal of MULTINATIONAL FINANCIAL Journal of Multinational Financial Management MANAGEMENT ELSEVIER 7 (1997) 317332 Some tests on the longrun dynamics of black and official exchange rates: evidence for four East European countries E. Dockery a'*, K. Taylor ba Department ...
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this paper we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the uantity of debt and the growth in debt, at the individual and household levels. Our heoretical model shows that this association is predicted under... more
In this paper we show that optimistic financial expectations impact positively on both the uantity of debt and the growth in debt, at the individual and household levels. Our heoretical model shows that this association is predicted under a variety of plausible cenarios. In the empirical analysis we explore the determinants of debt and of growth in ebt using British data. We find convincing support for our theoretical priors and show that t is optimistic financial expectations per se that are important in influencing debt, rather han the accuracy of individuals’ predictions regarding their future financial situation.
Research Interests:
Our findings suggest the existence of a gender reservation wage gap. The presence of children, particularly pre-school age children, plays an important role in determining the proportion of this gap that can be explained by individual... more
Our findings suggest the existence of a gender reservation wage gap. The presence of children, particularly pre-school age children, plays an important role in determining the proportion of this gap that can be explained by individual characteristics. For individuals without children, the unexplained component of the differential is 99% compared to only 22% for those with pre-school age children, which
Research Interests:
... Risk Preference Sarah Brown and Karl Taylor Department of Economics University of Leicester University Road, Leicester Leicestershire LE1 7RH England ... The inclusion of contract type captures the effects of other types of risk akin... more
... Risk Preference Sarah Brown and Karl Taylor Department of Economics University of Leicester University Road, Leicester Leicestershire LE1 7RH England ... The inclusion of contract type captures the effects of other types of risk akin to the theoretical model of Caroli and ...