Bryson A, Clark AE, Freeman RB, Green CP.
“Shared Capitalism and Worker Wellbeing”. Labour Economics. 2016;42 (October) :151-58.
Publisher's VersionAbstract
We show that worker wellbeing is determined not only by the amount of compensation workers receive but also by how compensation is determined. While previous theoretical and empirical work has often been preoccupied with individual performance-related pay, we find that the receipt of a range of group-performance schemes (profit shares, group bonuses and share ownership) is associated with higher job satisfaction. This holds conditional on wage levels, so that pay methods are associated with greater job satisfaction in addition to that coming from higher wages. We use a variety of methods to control for unobserved individual and job-specific characteristics. We suggest that half of the share-capitalism effect is accounted for by employees reciprocating for the “gift”; we also show that share capitalism helps dampen the negative wellbeing effects of what we typically think of as “bad” aspects of job quality.
share_cap_and_worker_wellbeing_final-ms Tong Z, Chen Y, Malkawi A, Liu Z, Freeman RB.
“Energy Saving Potential of Natural Ventilation in China: The Impact of Ambient Air Pollution,”. Applied Energy 179. 2016;179 :660-668.
Publisher's VersionAbstractNatural ventilation (NV) is a key sustainable solution for reducing the energy use in buildings, improving thermal comfort, and maintaining a healthy indoor environment. However, the energy savings and environmental benefits are affected greatly by ambient air pollution in China. Here we estimate the NV potential of all major Chinese cities based on weather, ambient air quality, building configuration, and newly constructed square footage of office buildings in the year of 2015. In general, little NV potential is observed in northern China during the winter and southern China during the summer. Kunming located in the Southwest China is the most weather-favorable city for natural ventilation, and reveals almost zero loss due to air pollution. Building Energy Simulation (BES) is conducted to estimate the energy savings of natural ventilation in which ambient air pollution and total square footage must be taken into account. Beijing, the capital city, displays limited per-square-meter saving potential due to the unfavorable weather and air quality for natural ventilation, but its largest total square footage of office buildings makes it become the city with the greatest energy saving opportunity in China. Our analysis shows that the aggregated energy savings potential of office buildings at 35 major Chinese cities is 112 GWh in 2015, even after allowing for a 43 GWh loss due to China’s serious air pollution issue especially in North China. 8–78% of the cooling energy consumption can be potentially reduced by natural ventilation depending on local weather and air quality. The findings here provide guidelines for improving current energy and environmental policies in China, and a direction for reforming building codes.
energy_saving_potential_of_natural_ventilation_in_china_ms-almost-final_tong-chen-malkawi-liu-freeman_applied_energy_2016_1.pdf Blasi JR, Freeman RB, Kruse DL.
“Evidence: What the U.S. Research Shows about Worker Ownership,”. In: Oxford Handbook of Mutual, Co-operative and Co-Owned Business. London: UK: Oxford University Press ; 2016.
evidence_what_the_research_shows_ms-final_blasi-freemann-kruse_oup-hdbk_2016.doc Blasi J, Freeman R, Kruse D.
“Do Broad-based Employee Ownership, Profit Sharing, and Stock Options Help the Best Firms Do Even Better?”. British Journal of Industrial Relations . 2016;54 (1) :55-82.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThis paper analyzes the linkages among group incentive methods of compensation
(broad-based employee ownership, profit sharing, and stock options), labor practices, worker
assessments of workplace culture, turnover, and firm performance in firms that applied to the
“100 Best Companies to Work For in America” competition from 2005 to 2007. Although
employers with good labor practices self-select into the 100 Best Companies firms sample,
which should bias the analysis against finding strong associations among modes of
compensation, labor policies, and outcomes, we find that employees in the firms that use group
incentive pay more extensively participate more in decisions, have greater information sharing,
trust supervisors more, and report a more positive workplace culture than in other companies.
The combination of group incentive pay with policies that empower employees and create a
positive workplace culture reduces voluntary turnover and increases employee intent to stay and
raises return on equity.
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do_broad-based_ee-profit-sharing-so_help_best_firms_do_even_better_bjir-final-ms_5-10-15.pdf Barth E, Bryson A, Davis JC, Freeman RB.
It’s Where You Work: Increases in the Dispersion of Earnings across Establishments and Individuals in the United States. Journal of Labor Economics, Special Issue dedicated to Edward Lazear. 2016;34 (S2) :S67-S97.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThis paper analyzes the role of establishments in the upward trend in dispersion of earnings that has become a central topic in economic analysis and policy debate. It decomposes changes in the variance of log earnings among individuals into the part due to changes in earnings among establishments and the part due to changes in earnings within establishments. The main finding is that much of the 1970s–2010s increase in earnings inequality results from increased dispersion of the earnings among the establishments where individuals work. Our results direct attention to the role of establishment-level pay setting and economic adjustments in earnings inequality.
wp_20447_-_its_where_you_work_2015.pdf