The paper examines the determinants of the division of labor within firms. It provides an explanation of the pervasive observed changes in work organization away from the traditional functional departments and towards multi-tasking and job rotation.

No abstract.

Although private equity firms are often criticized for layoffs, little evidence exists regarding which employees lose their jobs and why. We argue that explanations for the job polarization process can also explain layoffs after buyouts. Buyouts reduce agency problems, which triggers automation,...

No abstract.

Decentralisation of decision-making in active labour market policy makes it possible to use local information to the fullest, but may also impinge on the fulfilment of national objectives, as suggested by principal-agent theory. The purpose of this study is to ex-amine the effects of a Swedish...

We develop a model where information about jobs is essentially obtained through friends and relatives, i.e. strong and weak ties. Workers commute to a business center to work and to interact with other people. We find that housing prices increase with the level of social interactions in the city...

This paper develops a simple general equilibrium model with sequential search in which a non-degenerate wage offer distribution is endogenously determined. We use this model to analyze the comparative statics effects of increases in unemployment compensation on the unemployment rate and...

This paper presents a technique for qualitative comparative statics analysis in dynamic programming models. Let the value function v be the fixed point of a contraction mapping which depends differentially on some exogenous parameter theta. Then the derivative of v with respect to theta exists...

We analyze the rate of formation, the characteristics, and the performance of different types of new firms in Sweden over a decade. Comparisons to Denmark, Brazil, and the U.S. suggest that the environment for new firm formation in Sweden is not markedly different than elsewhere. In line with...