This paper investigates the causal consequences of Tropical Storm Agatha (2010) – the strongest tropical storm ever to strike Guatemala since rainfall records have been kept – on household welfare. The analysis reveals substantial negative effects, particularly among urban households. Per...

Is the brain drain a curse or a boon for developing countries? This paper reviews what is known to date about the magnitude of the brain drain from developing to developed countries, its determinants and the way it affects the well-being of those left behind. First, I present alternative...

In this note we compare the laissez-faire steady-state solution in the Howitt and Aghion (1998) model to the social optimum. The analysis offers several new insights in comparison to the welfare analysis in Aghion and Howitt (1992). We find various new distortions between private and optimal...

Das deutsche Bildungssystem steht ungeachtet diverser Reformanstrengungen in der jüngeren Vergangenheit weiter vor großen Herausforderungen: Im internationalen Vergleich fehlt es an sozialer Chancengleichheit im Verlauf der Bildungskarrieren, und für eine "Bildungsnation" nehmen sich die...

(Title: Active Labor Market Policy and its Evaluation: The Current State of Affairs) Despite the considerable effort and the large financial expenditures spent on measures of Active Labor Market Policy in Germany, relatively little is known about their actual impact. To the contrary, past...

Der demografische Wandel zwingt Deutschland zu empfindlichen Korrekturen seiner Politik auf allen Ebenen. Dies gilt auch für eine Reform der Zuwanderungspolitik mit dem Ziel, sie am tatsächlichen Bedarf auszurichten und selektiv zu gestalten. Eine gezielte Auswahl von Zuwanderern anhand...

This paper presents a general equilibrium assignment model of workers to tasks with endogenous supply of skills. The model has 2 key features. First, skills are endogenous and multidimensional. Second, two types of assignment occur; workers self-select the type of skills to supply and firms...

Formal education is widely thought to be a major determinant of individual earnings. This paper uses the American Community Survey to examine the effect of formal schooling on worker wages. Given the potential endogeneity of education decisions, I instrument for individual schooling using...

This paper studies whether skilled migrants contribute to the host country's 'productive efficiency' (Farrell, 1957) using input-output and immigration sectoral data for seven industries in twelve countries during the period 1999-2001. We find that skilled migrants contribute positively to a...