A number of studies have established a positive effect of migrants' language proficiency on their productivity. It has been argued that these estimates are upward-biased because of the presence of unobserved heterogeneity. To obtain an accurate estimate of language effects is important since it...

In this paper we apply the statistical framework recently proposed by Imbens (1999) and Lechner (1999) to identify the causal effects of multiple treatments under the conditional independence assumption. We show that under this assumption, matching with respect to the ratio of the scores allows...

We estimate a model of the joint participation and mobility along with the individuals' wage formation in France. Our model makes it possible to distinguish between unobserved person heterogeneity and state-dependence. We estimate the model using state of the art Bayesian methods employing a...

In this paper we estimate by matching techniques the effects of a French retraining program on the reemployment rate of laid-off workers. This program, called “Conventions de conversion”, was intended to improve reemployment prospects of displaced workers by proposing them retraining and job...

This paper uses two recent UK surveys to investigate labour market performance, the determinants of language proficiency, and the effect of language on earnings and employment probabilities of non-white immigrants. Our results show that language acquisition, employment probabilities, as well as...

This paper develops and estimates a human capital model of wage growth based on learning by doing. Learning by doing rates are assumed to be heterogeneous and firms offer different career structures in terms of the rate of acquisition of firm specific human capital. The model is estimated using...

This Paper examines the effects of class size on the decision to stay on in full time schooling at the age of 16 and on wages at later stages in life. Little research exists on the effect of school quality on career decisions, although it has potentially important long-term implications. We use...

This paper investigates the human capital investments of migrants whose duration in the host country is limited, either by contract or by their own choice. The first part of the paper develops a model, distinguishing between migrants who immigrate on a fixed contract, and migrants who choose...

This paper investigates the effect of employment while in college on graduation, using data from the French Labour Force Surveys over the period 1992 to 2002. Using spatial variation in low-skill youth unemployment rates to circumvent the endogeneity of college employment decisions, we find a...