Firms select not only how many, but also which workers to hire. Yet, in standard searchmodels of the labor market, all workers have the same probability of being hired. We arguethat selective hiring crucially affects welfare analysis. Our model is isomorphic to a searchmodel under random hiring...

This paper critically discusses the theoretical and empirical literature on the quantitative andqualitative employment impact of technological change, compares the relative explanatorypower of the competing theories, and explains in detail the macro and micro evidence on theissue, with reference...

We study entrepreneurs’ start-up financing from banks and local financiers. An informalnetwork, whose membership cannot be observed by outsiders, conveys the good signals itgets about the hidden types of network entrepreneurs to local financiers, which are thenreflected in different loan...

The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and ensuing government crackdown affectedChinese nationals not only at home but around the world. The U.S. government responded tothe events in China by enacting multiple measures to protect Chinese nationals present inthe U.S. It first suspended all forced...

Many organizations rely on teamwork, and yet field evidence on the impacts of team-basedincentives remains scarce. Compared to individual incentives, team incentives can affectproductivity by changing both workers’ effort and team composition. We present evidencefrom a field experiment...

Empirical investigations with enterprise level data from official statistics often use the averagewage as a proxy variable for the qualification of the workforce, mostly due to the lack ofdetailed information on the qualification of the employees. This paper uses unique newlyavailable data for...

Based on representative data, the German Micro-Census, we provide an overview of thedevelopment of self-employment and entrepreneurship in Germany between 1991 and 2010,the first two decades after reunification. We investigate the socioeconomic background ofthese individuals, their education,...

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are commonworldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. Weexploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to supportmanufacturing jobs...

Unlike other disability systems in developed economies, the Spanish system allows partiallydisabled individuals to work while receiving disability benefits. The puzzle is, however, thatemployment rates in this group of individuals are very low. The aim of this paper is tounderstand the...

This paper studies optimal unemployment benefit levels and optimal proportional income taxrates over the business cycle. Previous research suggests that policy makers should makeunemployment insurance (UI) dependent on the business cycle because the UI system canbe used to smooth consumption...