Several studies have examined the effects of training programs on employment. Most of them assume that the effects of training are constant for all potential trainees. We use an econometric framework that allows studying the heterogeneous training effects on discrete outcomes. The treatment...

Matching estimators use observed variables to adjust for differences between groups to eliminate sample selection bias. When minimum relevant information is not available, matching estimates are biased. If access to data on usually unobserved factors that determine the selection process is...

Several recent studies in labour and population economics use retrospective surveys to substitute for the high cost and limited availability of longitudinal survey data. Although a single interview can obtain a lifetime history, inaccurate long-term recall could make such retrospective surveys a...

Numerous empirical studies show that unions reduce wage differences. But surprisingly few attempts have been made to understand why. Swedish unions reveal that the reason is both ideological and strategic. Relying on employers to voluntarily increase higher wages, to protect efficiency-enhancing...

The objective of this work is to study the impact of the unions bargaining power on production and wages. We present a model where a competitive final good is produced through two substitutable intermediate goods, one produced by unskilled labor and the other by skilled labor. Potential workers...

The effects of wage dispersion on productive efficiency is a topic rich in theoretical conjecture, a common object of Scandinavian polemical debate and at the same time an issue almost barren of systematic econometric evidence. The Swedish record of enormous compression of relative wages under...

How does globalization affect inter-occupational wage inequality within countries? This paper empirically examines this issue by focusing on two dimensions of globalization, openness to trade and openness to capital, using a relatively new dataset on occupational wages. Estimates from dynamic...

Using a sample of 2,789 Swedish residents on working age, this paper analyzes long-term absences from work due to sickness. The database contains all compensated sickness spells in the period January 1986 to December 1991. Earlier studies of work absence due to sickness did not analyze multiple...

The goal of this paper is to analyze short term-absences from work (i.e., periods of seven days or less) in Sweden during a period with two different reforms. As a theoretical model we use a utility-maximization framework with two restrictions (time and budget constraints). Using multiple spell...

Using a longitudinal data for about 1800 persons observed between 1986 and 1991, this study investigates the incentive effects on short-term sickness spells of two important regime changes in the social insurance system in Sweden implemented in 1987 and 1991. The results indicate that the rules...