We analyze the employment gap between Roma and non-Roma men and women in local labor markets to test the hypothesis that ethnic prejudices against a minority have a more substantial labor market impact if the proportion of small firms is high in the local economy. We rely on Hungarian data from...

We study the entry into legitimate employment and earnings of a large sample of convicts released from Hungarian prisons in 2002-08. The employment rate of the prisoners falls short of 20% one year before incarceration, and they earn 25% below the national average. We identify the effect of...

We compare wages in multinational enterprises (MNEs) versus domestic firms, the earnings of domestic firm workers with past, future and no MNE experience, and estimate how the presence of ex-MNE peers affects the earnings of domestic firm employees. The analysis relies on monthly panel data...

We use the Labor Force Survey and the monthly Revenue Statistics of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office to investigate the short term economic impacts of the CoVid pandemic during its 1st wave. The microdata allow us to investigate the economic crisis beyond the aggregate statistics. The...

In 2013, the Hungarian government cut the school leaving age from 18 to 16. We study the impact of this unique reform on the country's sizeable Roma minority using census data on the universe of 17-year-olds in 2011 and a 10 percent random sample in 2016. School attendance fell by more than 20...

We use linked employer-employee data to investigate a large sample of past and future prisoners in Hungary, 2003-2011. We first compare their jobs, focusing on attributes that can reduce the penalty the employer must pay for a mistaken hiring decision. Second, we study if employers insure...

The paper analyses how the municipality-level unemployment rates of 1993 and their changes in 1993-2001 were affected by the availability of urban labour markets in Hungary. The year 1941 share of the Jewish population is used as an instrument for availability, in order to mitigate endogeneity,...

We extend the benchmark model of Aghion and Blanchard (1994) assuming two segments of the emerging private sector that differ in workers' productivity. We look at the paths of employment, wages, taxes, labor costs and profits during and after the transition, up until the shock is fully absorbed....

Primary degree holders have extraordinarily low employment rates in Central and East European (CEE) countries, a bias that largely contributes to their low levels of aggregate employment. The paper looks at the possible role for skills mismatch in explaining this failure. The analysis is based...