revised version available as working paper n. 52

This paper uses administrative longitudinal micro-data from the Social Security Institute (INPS) to estimate the extent of nominal and real wage rigidity in Italy. Using a switching regime model of individual wage changes, which accounts for both the determinants of notional wage changes and...

Theoretical considerations suggest that workers holding temporary contracts should accumulate more general human capital than workers under permanent contracts. Using matched employer-employee data, we find empirical support for this hypothesis, by showing that dismissed temporary workers are...

We use a 1998 - 2004 sample from WHIP in order to study the labor market transitions of young entrants. We consider seven labor market tates: permanent and temporary employment, apprenticeship, training pogrammes, self employment, quasi subordinate jobs and unemployment. After controlling for...

We show that the Italian wage curve, inexistent in the eighties and early nineties, has reemerged after the 1993 Income Policy Agreement, owing to the greater role granted to flexible and locally bargained top-up wage components.

In the current EU debate on labour market and employment policies, the concept of 'flexicurity' - the balance between the flexibility and security needs of employers and employees - has emerged as a central issue. This report puts forward four key indicators to be taken into account in the...

In the literature of happiness economics individual subjective utility is measured by directly asking individuals to self-assess their level of utility, usually on a numerical scale, using various terms such as happiness, life satisfaction and well-being, most of the times taking for granted...