We propose a test that uses information on workers' mobility, wages and firms' profits to identify the sign and strength of assortative matching. The basic intuition underlying our empirical strategy is that, in the presence of positive (negative) assortative matching, good workers are more...

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore whether temporary jobs are a port of entry into permanent employment and to argue that the answer crucially depends on the type of temporary contracts being considered. Design/methodology/approach – The paper bases its empirical evidence on a...

This paper estimates the extent of downward wage rigidity in Italy using a micro-econometric model and the recently released WHIP longitudinal data. The econometric approach distinguishes between downward nominal wage rigidity – i.e., the impediment to nominal wage cuts – and downward real...

Theoretical considerations suggest that workers holding temporary contracts should accumulate more general human capital than workers under permanent contracts. Using matched employer-employee data, we find empirical support for this hypothesis, by showing that dismissed temporary workers are...

type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>This article estimates poverty persistence over an individual's lifetime, using two definitions: income poverty and a multidimensional index of lifestyle deprivation. We stress the ability of the two definitions to provide a generally consistent characterization of poverty...</p>

Rent-sharing by workers can reduce the incentives for investment if some of the returns to sunk capital are captured in higher wages. We propose a simple measure of this "holdup" effect based on the size of the wage offset for firm-specific capital accumulation. Using Social Security earnings...

We propose a simple test that uses information on workers’ mobility, wages and firms’ profits to identify the sign and strength of assortative matching. The basic intuition underlying our empirical strategy is that, in the presence of positive (negative) assortative matching, good workers...

Using the 1985-99 "WHIP" data, we find a sizable amount of downward wage rigidity in Italy, with a prevalence of real over nominal rigidity. The results hold when real rigidity is identified either with reference to collective bargaining dispositions or to price inflation. Consistently with the...

This paper uses longitudinal data from the BHPS, waves 1-7, to document low-income dynamics for individuals living in Britain in 1990s. Poverty entry and exit hazard rates are estimated and used to calculate the distribution of time spent poor over a six-year period. The results underline the...