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The decisions of firms on investment and hiring play a crucial role in business cycle fluctuations. This paper explores their dynamic behavior in the presence of frictions. It does so within a unified framework, stressing their mutual dependence and placing the emphasis on their joint,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013104684
We develop a theory of firm scope in which integrating two firms into one facilitates the allocation of resources, but … leads to weaker incentives for effort, compared with nonintegration. Our theory makes minimal assumptions about the … integration or non-integration is optimal. Our theory thus provides a simple answer to Williamson's "selective …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013317478
Working time account is an organization tool that allows firms smoothing their demand for hours employed. Descriptive literature suggests that working time accounts reduce turnover and inhibit increase in unemployment during recessions. In a model of optimal choice of hours by a firm I show that...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012959057
Because accountability may improve the comparability that is compromised by lenient grading, we compare exit exam outcomes in the same schools before and after a policy change that increased teacher accountability by anchoring grading scales. In particular, using a large administrative dataset...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012860524
In the last decades, international trade has increased between industrialised countries and between high- and low-wage countries. This important change has raised questions on how international trade affects the labour market. In this spirit, this paper aims to investigate the impact of...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013127724
We develop a collective household model with spousal matching in which there exists marital gains to assortative matching and marriage quality for each couple is revealed ex post. Changes in alimony laws are shown to affect existing couples and couples-to-be differently. For existing couples,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013127939
This article experimentally examines voluntary contributions when group members' marginal returns to the public good vary. The experiment implements two marginal return types, low and high, and uses the information that members have about the heterogeneity to identify the applied contribution...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013128231
The risk of default that business firms face is very significant and differs widely across countries. This paper explores the links between countries' business conditions and international trade embedment and the default risk at the country level from a theoretical point of view. Our main...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013128748
We investigate wage differences between newly hired and incumbent employees. We show in a formal model that when employees care for wages as well as match-specific utility, incumbents earn less than new recruits if and only if firm-specific human capital is not too important. The existence and...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013129084
Nowcasting has been a challenge in the recent economic crisis. We introduce the Toll Index, a new monthly indicator for business cycle forecasting and demonstrate its relevance using German data. The index measures the monthly transportation activity performed by heavy transport vehicles across...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013129098