This paper examines the evolution of the returns to education in Portugal over the 1980s and early 1990s. The main findings indicate that the returns to education have increased, particularly after joining the European Union in 1986. Since this occurred along with an increase in the level of...

The Portuguese economy has been characterised by modernisation since

Firms hiring fresh graduates face uncertainty on the future productivity of workers. Theory suggests that starting wages reflect this, with lower pay for greater uncertainty. We use the dispersion of exam grades within a field of education as an indicator of the unobserved heterogeneity that...

The risk of investment in schooling has largely been ignored. We assess the variance in the rate of return by surveying the international empirical literature from this fresh perspective and by simulating risky earnings profiles in alternative options. choosing parameters on basis of the very...

We ask individuals for their reservation price of a specified lottery and deduce their Arrow-Pratt measure of risk aversion. This allows direct testing of common hypotheses on risk attitudes in three datasets. We find that risk aversion indeed falls with income and wealth. Entrepreneurs are less...

This paper surveys migration to and from the Netherlands since the sixteenth century with an emphasis on the post-war period. Existing studies on the labour market performance of immigrants and ethnic minorities are considered and some new results from our recent research are presented. <BR><BR>

We develop a simple human capital model for optimum schooling length when earnings are stochastic, and highlight the pivotal role of risk attitudes and the schooling gradient of earnings risk. We use Spanish data to document the gradient and to estimate individual response to earnings risk in...

How valuable are cognitive and social abilities for entrepreneurs’ incomes as compared to employees? We answer three questions: (1) To what extent does a composite measure of ability affect an entrepreneur's earnings relative to employees? (2) Do different cognitive abilities (e.g. math...

This study investigates the extent of labour market competition among native Dutch workers and ethnic minorities, using national survey of the SEO and the Population statistics of the CBS. Firstly, the direct effect of immigrants on local labour markets is considered. It is shown that ethnic...

In the Netherlands auditors can be trained in a part-time educational track in which students combine working and studying or in a full-time educational track. The former training is relatively firm-specific whereas the latter training is relatively general. Applying human capital theory, we...