STEM-focused industries are critical to the innovation-driven economy. As many firms are running short of STEM workers, international immigrants are increasingly recognized as a potential for high-tech job recruitment. This paper studies STEM occupations in Sweden 2011-2015 and tests hypotheses...

This paper examines the role of various socioeconomic factors in mediating the local and cross-city transmissions of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in China. We implement a machine learning approach to select instrumental variables that strongly predict virus transmission among the rich...

This paper models the local and cross-city transmissions of the novel coronavirus in Chinabetween January 19 and February 29 in 2020. We examine the role of various socioeconomicmediating factors, including public health measures that encourage social distancing in localcommunities. Weather...

In 2007 the Italian central government started a program by transferring funds to regional governments to develop both private and public early childcare services. Exploiting the different timing of program implementation across regions, we evaluate its effectiveness in boosting the public...

Historically, the Spanish labor market has been quite unstable. The unexpected arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 has stressed these vulnerabilities. In this paper, we analyze the immediate impact of the pandemic on Spanish labor market outcomes. We find that, during the lockdown period, individuals...

I examine the short-term labor market effects of the Great Lockdown in the United States. I analyze job losses by task content (Acemoglu & Autor 2011), and show that they follow underlying trends; jobs with a high non-routine content are especially well-protected, even if they are not...

This paper combines pre-pandemic face-to-face survey data with follow up phone surveys collected in April-May 2020 to quantify the overall and differential impacts of COVID-19 on household food security, labor market participation and local food prices in Nigeria. We exploit spatial variation in...

In 1999, a reform of education was implemented in Poland, which added one year to the shortest available educational path, leading to the acquisition of basic vocational education. In the new system, students choosing this path acquire one more year of general education, which, according to the...

This paper analyzes the role of Uruguay's sharp minimum wage increases after 2004 amidst the country's slight wage inequality decrease. We found that the minimum wage increase has contributed to the reduction of wage inequality for formal workers mainly. However, we also found a negative impact...