This paper analyses the intergenerational income mobility for natives and immigrants inSwitzerland. An IV approach based on data from two different data sets is used. As there is noadequate data on fathers, I revert to information from a period that differs from actual fathers’work period....

We analyze how an entry regulation that imposes a mandatory educational standard affectsentry into self-employment and occupational mobility. We exploit the German reunification asa natural experiment and identify regulatory effects by comparing differences betweenregulated occupations and...

This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of language capital amongstimmigrants, and the effect of language deficiencies on the economic performance of secondgeneration immigrants...

This paper uses longitudinal data from Australia to examine the extent to which overskilling -the extent to which work-related skills and abilities are utilized in current employment - is atransitory phenomenon...

Market imperfections may cause firms and workers to under-invest in specific training. Thispaper shows that profit sharing may be a suitable instrument to enhance specific traininginvestments, either by enhancing wage flexibility or by increasing the returns to training...

We develop a simple labour turnover model of general training. Upon completion of theirtraining, apprentices are equipped with general skills and they accumulate firm-specificskills by continuing working for their training firm. Job turnover is associated with a loss ofaccumulated firm-specific...

This paper analyses the impact of a change in Australia’s immigration policy, introduced inthe mid-1990s, on migrants’ probability of becoming entrepreneurs. The policy changeconsists of stricter entry requirements and restrictions to welfare entitlements. The resultsindicate that those who...

The European Social Survey data are used to analyze informal employment at the main jobin 30 countries. Overall, informality decreases from South to West to East to North. However,dependent work without contract is more prevalent in Eastern Europe than in the West,except for Ireland, the UK and...

This paper provides an introduction and overview of my research on the Economics of Language. The approach is that language skills among immigrants and native-born linguistic minorities are a form of human capital. There are costs and benefits associated with this characteristic embodied in the...