Reduced- form tests of scale effects in markets with search, run when aggregate matching functions are estimated, may miss important scale effects at the micro level, because of the reactions of job searchers. A semi-structural model is developed and estimated on a British sample, testing for...

Reduced-form tests of scale effects in markets with search, based on aggregate matching functions, may miss important scale effects at the micro level, because of the reactions of job searchers. We estimate a semi-structural model on a British sample of unemployed people, testing for scale...

Recessions lead to short-term job loss, lower levels of happiness and decreasing income levels. There is growing evidence that workers who first join the labour market during economic downturns suffer from poor job matches that have a sustained detrimental effect on their wages and career...

This paper is an attempt to assess the extent to which the behaviour of an individual is the result of the constraints that he or she faces – factors beyond individual control - or the result of the exercise of his or her preferences. The study concentrates on participation or...

Wages are only mildly cyclical, implying that shocks to labour demand have a larger short-run impact on unemployment rather than wages, at odds with the quantitative predictions of the canonical search and matching model. This paper provides an alternative perspective on the wage flexibility...

The Great Recession has indicated that firms' leverage and access to finance are important for hiring and firing decisions. It is now empirically established that bank lending is correlated to employment losses when credit conditions deteriorate. We provide further evidence of this drawing on a...

To illustrate CEP's impact on public policy and debate, John Van Reenen introduces and presents the first in a series of 'big ideas', surveying the significant research findings that have emerged from the Centre over the past three decades.

This CASEbrief summarises findings from CASEpaper 40, Constraint and opportunity: Identifying voluntary non-employment by Tania Burchardt and Julian Le Grand

This paper aims to examine unemployment persistence in Spain by the soûcalled ''ladder'' effect. This arises when highly-skilled workers who do not find a job matching their skills accept jobs which previously were occupied by less qualified staff. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium...

The skill gap in geographical mobility is entirely driven by workers who report moving for a new job. A natural explanation lies in the large expected surplus accruing to skilled job matches. Just as large surpluses ease the frictions which impede job search in general, they also help overcome...