This paper first provides empirical evidence that labour market outcomes for the less educated, who also tend to be poorer, are substantially more volatile than labour market outcomes for the well-educated, who tend to be richer. We estimate job finding rates and separation rates by educational...

This paper first provides empirical evidence that labour market outcomes for the less educated, who also tend to be poorer, are substantially more volatile than labour market outcomes for the well-educated, who tend to be richer. We estimate job finding rates and separation rates by educational...

We assess the consequences of increases in the scale of tax and transfer programs in the context of a model with idiosyncratic productivity shocks and incomplete markets. We contrast the outcomes for both hours worked and welfare relative to the results obtained in a stand-in household model,...

Job security provisions are commonly invoked to explain the high and persistent European unemployment rates. This belief has led several countries to reform their labor markets and liberalize the use of fixed-term contracts. Despite how common such contracts have become after deregulation, there...

This paper studies the effects of a flat-tax reform in a dynamic, general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents and occupational choice. Each agent has a choice to be a worker or to establish a firm and become an entrepreneur with a limited ability to borrow in financial markets. Because...

Job security provisions are commonly invoked to explain the high and persistent European unemployment rates. This belief has led several countries to reform their labor markets and liberalize the use of fixed-term contracts. Despite how common such contracts have become after deregulation, there...

In this paper, we provide a dynamic model with heterogeneous agents to study child labor in an economy with idiosyncratic shocks to employment. Households facing adverse shocks may use child labor as a buffer to smooth consumption. We show that the introduction of an unemployment insurance...

This paper first establishes the empirical fact that over the last quarter of the 20th century, the average weekly hours worked increased for workers in the highest wage quintile while it decreased for the ones at the lowest. In 1976, a worker in the lowest quintile worked 2.8 hours more per...

In this paper we compare the welfare effects of unemployment insurance (UI) with an universal basic income (UBI) system in an economy with idiosyncratic shocks to employment. Both policies provide a safety net in the face of idiosyncratic shocks. While the unemployment insurance program should...

Using a two-agent model comprised of capitalists and workers, this paper examines the importance of imperfect competition in product and labour markets in determining the welfare effects of tax reform. The reform considered consists of eliminating the capital tax alongside a concurrent rise in...