We analyze the relationship between social gender norms and adolescents' occupational choices by combining regional votes on constitutional amendments on gender equality with job application data from a large job board for apprenticeships. Results show that adolescent males in regions with...

In this paper we follow the students that took the PISA 2012 test in Switzerland and analyze their transition into and progress in uppersecondary education. We observe a substantive difference in the rate of progress between natives and students with a migration background. One year after...

Italy has an immobile social structure. At the heart of this immobility is the educational system, with its high direct, but especially indirect cost, due to the extremely long time necessary to get a degree and to complete the subsequent school-to-work transition. Such cost prevents the...

Using the 2010 and 2014 data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper analyzes the effect of human capital on the gender earnings gap, both within cohorts and across cohorts using regression, Oaxaca-Blinder, and Juhn-Murphy-Pierce decomposition analyses. On the one hand, over the...

This study investigates empirically how human capital, measured by educational attainment, is related to income distribution. The regressions, using a panel data set covering a broad range of countries between 1980 and 2015, show that a more equal distribution of education contributes...

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus and the resulting falls in demand due both to uncertainty and policy interventions such as lockdowns, "social distancing", and travel restrictions are having a severe impact on Asian economies and hence on Asian households. These negative impacts come through a...

This paper examines whether children are better off if their parents have stronger social networks. Using data on high-school friendships of parents, we analyze whether the number and characteristics of friends affect the labor-market outcomes of children. While parental friendships formed in...

This paper analyses the role of remittances and migration on the occupational outcomes of the household members left behind in Tajikistan. Using the control function approach, we show that, contrary to some existing evidence, there is no "dependency" effect of remittances. Our results show that...

How and why does the firm size distribution differ across countries? Using two datasets covering more than 30 countries, this paper documents that several features of the firm size distribution are strongly associated with income per capita: the entrepreneurship rate and the fraction of small...