We study empirically whether there is scope for parents to shape the economicpreferences and attitudes of their children through purposeful investments. Weexploit information on the risk and trust attitudes of parents and their children, as well as rich information about parental efforts in the...

Using data from the 1997 Skills Survey of the Employed British Workforce, we examine the returns to computer skills in Britain. Many researchers, using information on computer use, have concluded that wage differentials between computer users and non-users might, among others, be due to...

We use a rich personnel data set from a Russian firm for the years 1997 to 2002 to analyze how the firm adjusts wages and employment during this period in which local labor market conditions changed in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 1998. We relate the development of turnover and wages...

In this paper we develop and test a new set of measures of skill mismatches, based on data on skill levels and skill use in the domains of literacy and numeracy from the PIAAC project. The measures we develop represent the extent of skill use relative to ones own skill level. We test the...

We explore the link between parental selection and criminality of children in a newcontext. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East Germany experienced a very large, but temporary, drop in birth rates mostly driven by economic uncertainty. We exploit this natural experiment in a...

We study the effect that a series of fundamentalist-Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe had on the attitudes of Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands towards integration. Shortly after the attacks, Muslim immigrants perceived integration, as measured by various indicators, decreased significantly...

This paper measures determinants of individual academic achievements. In addition to an extensive list of individual characteristics, skills obtained during study and socio-economic background factors, many dimensions of selectivity into academic study subjects are shown to drive individual...

We study the relation between workers age and their productivity in work teams, based on a new and unique data set that combines data on errors occurring in the production process of a large car manufacturer with detailed information on the personal characteristics of workers related to the...

In this paper, we reflect on the skills higher education graduates are expected to have in todays economy and the role of higher education in equipping graduates with these skills. First, we identify 6 trends which form the basis of the changing role of graduates in economic life. These trends...

The effects of childbirth on future labor market outcomes are a key issue for policy discussion. This paper implements a dynamic treatment approach to estimate the effect of having the first child now versus later on future employment for the case of Germany, a country with a long maternity...