We present the results from a natural experiment in which single mothers on welfare were stimulated to find a job. Two policy instruments were introduced: an earnings disregard and job creation. The experiment was performed at the level of municipalities in The Netherlands, a country with...

The Great Recession is characterized by a GDP-decline that was unprecedented in the past decades. This paper discusses the implications of the Great Recession analyzing labor market data from 20 OECD countries. Comparing the Great Recession with the 1980s recession it is concluded that there is...

This paper studies the causes and consequences of in-season changes of the headcoach of association football teams. We exploit data from the highest level of<br/>Dutch professional football during 14 successive seasons. An in-season change of<br/>the head-coach depends on recent match results and the...

Cannabis is the most popular illegal drug. Its legal status is typically justified on<br/>the grounds that cannabis use has harmful consequences. Empirically investigating<br/>this issue has been a fertile topic for research in recent times. We provide an<br/>overview of this literature, focusing on studies...

We present a theoretical explanation of the gender wage gap which turns on the interaction between men and women in households.In equilibria where men are over-represented in full-time work, we show that firms rationally choose to hire women only at strictly lower wages than men.The model...

Kweywords: unemployment

This paper discusses developments in the Netherlands concerning unemployment insurance, unemployment assistance and disability insurance.The emphasis is on how incentives for individual workers and firms affect flows of benefit recipients.

Abstract: We use data from the 24-hours Belluno run which has the unique characteristic that participants are affiliated with teams and run for an hour. This allows us not only to study the individual relationship between age and performance but also to study group dynamics in terms of...

This paper presents a test of the educational signaling hypothesis.If employers use education as a signal in the hiring process, they will rely more on education when less is otherwise known about applicants.We nd that employers are more likely to lower educational standards when an informal,...

In an experimental setting some Danish unemployed workers were assigned to an activation program while others were not. Unemployed who were assigned to the activation program found a job more quickly. We show that the activation effect increases with the distance between the place of residence...