We consider a dual labor market with a frictional formal sector and a competitive informal sector. We show that the size of the informal sector is generally too large compared to the optimal allocation of the workers. It follows that our results give a rationale to informality-reducing policies.

Using data on 74 countries and a large number of controls, this paper finds that a higher degree of ethnic fractionalization is correlated with a higher unemployment rate. This is probably mainly because fractionalization reduces labor market efficiency.

This paper suggests that a model in which firms face credit constrains on hiring labor can explain both the behavior of the labor wedge and the “jobless recoveries” phenomenon of the last three recessions. Using the corporate credit spread as a measure of firms' credit conditions, I show...

The labor market in Germany is more sclerotic and volatile than in the US. We show theoretically that sclerosis and large volatilities are two sides of the same coin. Both may be driven by large hiring costs and low quit rates.

This paper suggests that a model in which firms face credit constraints on hiring labor can explain both the behavior of the labor wedge and the “jobless recoveries” phenomenon of the last three recessions. Using the corporate credit spread as a measure of firms’ credit conditions, I show...

Hours volatility has changed non-monotonically across skill groups since the mid-1980s. The welfare cost of business cycles of mid-skilled workers became similar to that of high-skilled workers, while the relative welfare cost of low- to high-skilled workers remains very high.

Employing a vignette experiment, we test the empirical importance of key attitudes underlying the models of taste-based and statistical discrimination in explaining ethnic hiring discrimination. We find that employer concern that co-workers and customers prefer collaborating with natives drives...

This paper examines the Turkish wage curve using individual data from the Household Labor Force Survey including 26 NUTS-2 regions over the period 2005–2008. We find an unemployment elasticity of −0.099, with a higher elasticity for younger, less educated, less experienced and female workers.

This paper provides an empirical analysis of contracting decisions in the provision of welfare-to-work (WTW) services. Our findings suggest that contracting decisions are predominantly driven by cost considerations, both for the decision to contract with other municipalities and the share of...

When a central bank is in charge of both price and financial stability, a new time-inconsistency problem may arise. Monetary policy may be abused to reduce the private sector’s real debt burden after a financial shock materializes.