This paper asks whether corruption might be the outcome of a lack of outside options for public officials or civil servants. We propose an occupational choice model embedded in an agency framework to address the issue. We show that technology-induced private sector expansion leads to a decline...

In all modern bureaucracies, politicians retain some discretion in public employment decisions, which may lead to frictions in the selection process if political connections substitute for individual competence. Relying on detailed matched employer-employee data on the universe of public...

We study the long-run implications of regional and ethnic favoritism in Africa. Combining geocoded individual-level survey data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) with data on national leaders’ birthplaces across 41 African countries, we explore the educational attainment of adults...

Starting a firm with expansive potential is an option for educated and high-skilled workers. This option serves as an insurance against unemployment caused by labor market frictions and hence increases the incentives for education. We show within a matching model that reducing the start-up costs...

We study the long-run implications of regional and ethnic favoritism in Africa. Combining geocoded individual-level survey data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) with data on national leaders’ birthplaces across 41 African countries, we explore the educational attainment of adults...

The idea that corruption may, in some situations, be beneficial is widely studied within the context of growth. In the field of entrepreneurship, a unique paper by Dreher and Gassebner (2011) explicitly documents it. Their findings support the assumption that corruption “greases the wheels”...

Lack of application of the rule of law in Thailand has various negative impacts on labour market and business environment. Lax policing of minimum wage legislation and unknown numbers of migrant workers contribute to depression of wages as whole and reduced incentives to add value to production....

Promotionsstellen und -gelegenheiten weisen einige Besonderheiten auf, insbesondere die Möglichkeit zur Promotion. Doch auch bei den universitären Stellenanbietern und -ausschreibungen gibt es Eigenarten, deren Kenntnis wichtig ist, um sich für oder gegebenenfalls auch gegen entsprechende...

This paper analyses theoretically favouritism in recruitment decisions. We study the investments in connections by applicants for jobs which pay a wage rent and the behaviour of public or private managers intending to favour the recruitment of connected agents in place of more competent...

Starting a firm with expansive potential is an option for educated and high-skilled workers. If there are labor market frictions, this additional option can be seen as reducing the chances of ending up in a low-wage job and hence as increasing the incentives for education. In a matching model,...