Standard economic theory predicts that firms will not invest in general training and will underinvest in specific training. Empirical evidence, however, indicates that firms do invest in general training of their workers. Evidence from laboratory experiments points to less underinvestment in...

This paper proposes a new approach to identify the wage effects of training.The idea is to narrow down the comparison group by only taking into consideration theworkers who wanted to participate in training but did not do so because of some randomevent. The point estimate of the return to...

Policies need not only to be well designed to effectively address market failures, but their parameters also need to be part of agents’ information sets. This is illustrated by government student loans in the Netherlands which are intended to alleviate liquidity constraints. Despite generous...

This paper explores the hypothesis that wage differentials between skill groups across countries are consistent with a demand and supply framework. Using micro data from 15 countries we find that about one third of the variation in relative wages between skill groups across countries is...

This paper investigates the effect of sibship size and birth order on educational attainment, for the United States and the Netherlands. An instrumental variables approach is used to identify the effect of sibship size. Instruments for the number of children are twins at last birth and the sex...

This paper uses a relatively new approach to investigate the effect of parents' schooling on child's schooling; a nonparametric bounds analysis based on Manski and Pepper (2000), using the most recent version of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We start with making no assumptions and then add...

We apply a partial identification analysis using comprehensive Norwegian register data to investigate the causal effect of father's income on child income. We find a strong association between the incomes of fathers and children. The causal effect, however, equals at least 1% and at most 51% of...

This paper uses a relatively new approach to investigate the effect of parents' schooling on child's schooling; a nonparametric bounds analysis based on Manski and Pepper (2000), using the most recent version of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. We start with making no assumptions and then add...

In a corporatist country, of which the Netherlands is an example, wages should not be distinguished by union membership status, but by the bargaining regime. Four bargaining regimes can be distinguished: (i) company level bargaining, (ii) industry level bargaining, (iii) mandatory extension of...

A large empirical literature in behavioral economics investigates heterogeneity across individuals and groups in preferences for competition. In this study, we provide a more detailed view on competitiveness by differentiating between four different motivations for entering competitions –...