We investigate the effects of two reforms of temporary employment using panel data on Italian firms. We exploit variation in their implementation across regions and sectors for identification. Our results show that the reform of apprenticeship contracts increased job turnover and induced the...

We provide two ways to reconcile small values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) that range between 0.35 and 0.5 with empirical evidence that the IES is large. We do this reconciliation using a model in which all agents have identical preferences and the same access to asset...

This paper investigates the degree of fixed-mobile call substitution (FMCS). We use quarterly data from 2004 to mid 2010 on 16 mainly Western European countries. By applying dynamic panel data techniques, we are able to estimate short-and long-run elasticities. The own-price and cross-price...

We develop a model of directed technological change, frictional unemployment and migration to examine the effects of a change in skill endowments on wages, employment rates and emigration rates of skilled and unskilled workers. We find that, depending on the elasticity of substitution between...

In this work we use an augmented Eaton-Kortum model to estimate the distribution costs of a group of consumption goods for 60 countries. Our results accord well with the distribution costs derived directly from the input-output tables for a slightly different group of goods. Our counterfactual...

We estimate the sensitivity of Internet retail purchasing to sales taxes using data from the eBay marketplace. Our first approach exploits the fact that seller locations are revealed only after buyers have expressed interest in an item by clicking on its listing. We use millions of location...