The share of flexible jobs on the Dutch labour market is among the highest in Westerncountries, in particular for recent graduates. In this study we examine why recentgraduates enter into temporary contracts and whether flexible jobs match theirqualifications worse than permanent jobs do....

We document the importance of negatively reciprocal inclinations in labor relationshipsby showing that a retrenchment of pension rights, which is perceived as unfair,causes a larger reduction in job motivation the stronger workers’ negatively reciprocalinclinations are. We exploit unique...

This paper proposes an assignment model where sorting occurs on attributes that aresimultaneously a skill (Sattinger, 1979) and a preference (Tinbergen, 1956). The keyfeature of this model is that the wage function admits both jobs and workers attributesas arguments. Since this function is...

This paper discusses the effects of human capital on both the level and growth of labour productivity in manufacturing sectors in seven Member States of the European Union. Sectoral labour productivity is regarded as a measure of international competitiveness. Human capital is represented by the...

This study analyzes four different transmission mechanisms, through which father’searnings affect son’s earnings: the educational attainment, cognitive skills, the culturalcapital of the family and the social capital in the neighborhood. Using a unique dataset that combines panel data from a...

This paper studies the impact of incentives on worker self-selection in a controlledlaboratory experiment. Subjects face the choice between a fixed and a variable paymentscheme. Depending on the treatment, the variable payment is a piece rate, a tournamentor a revenue-sharing scheme. We find...

(Forthcoming in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, DOI 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.08.001)A huge cross-section literature, written by economists and others, argues thathuman well-being is U-shaped through the life cycle. In many cases this U-shapeis robust (with as a well-known exception the...

In this paper, we compare experience-earnings profiles of employees with vocational andgeneral education background in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom,three countries with fundamentally different education systems. Using Mixed-EffectsLinear Regression Models we show that earnings...

Conferences are an important element in the work of researchers, requiring substantialinvestments in fees, travel expenses and the time spent by the participants. The aimof this paper is to identify the preferences of participants with respect to conferencecharacteristics. Based on a sample of...

Using data on individuals of age 50 and older from 11 European countries, we analyzetwo economic aspects of subjective well-being of older Europeans: satisfaction withhousehold income, and job satisfaction. Both have been shown to contribute substantiallyto overall well-being (satisfaction with...