In this paper we investigate trade union formation. To this end we apply a model with two types of labour where both groups decide on whether they prefer to be represented by either two independent craft-specific (professional) labour unions or by a joint (encompassing) labour union. Applying...

In our increasingly interconnected and open world, international migration is becoming an important socio-economic phenomenon for many countries. Since the early 1980s, many studies have been undertaken of the impact of immigration on host labour markets. Borjas (2003) noted that the estimated...

Several studies have identified the impact of trade liberalization in developing countries on the return to education within a Mincerian framework through a difference-in-difference estimator or with industry-level measures of trade openness. These studies have typically estimated the return to...

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...

Inspired by a recent observation about an online retail company, this paper explains why a firm may find it optimal to offer an exit bonus to recent hires so as to induce self-selection. We study a double adverse selection problem, in which the principal can neither observe agents’ commitment...

In the last decade we have seen extensive international research on the extent to which wages of individuals respond to changing local labour market conditions. For many countries and periods, an inverse relationship between wages and unemployment rates has been found. Following Blanchflower and...

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the <A HREF="https://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=5&SID=T2lPmvB33HytcbnHQmV&page=1&doc=4">'Oxford Economic Papers-New Series'</A>, 2013, 65(2), 219-239.<P> This paper first documents the increase in the time lag with which labor input reacts to output fluctuations ("the labor adjustment lag") that is visible in US data since the...</p></a>

In this era of globalisation the traditional Ricardian theory of trade in products governed by comparative advantages is replaced by a modern theory of trade in tasks. Tasks are outsourced to those places in the world where the lower production costs outweigh the additional transaction costs...

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the <A href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629614001180">'Journal of Health Economics'</A> 2015, 39, 17-30.<P> This is the first study to analyze effects of in utero exposure to the severe Dutch Hunger Winter famine (1944/45) on labor market outcomes and hospitalization. This famine is clearly demarcated...</p></a>