Using a combination of rich administrative and household survey data, we document a series of new facts on earnings inequality and dynamics in a developing country with a large informal sector: Brazil. Since the mid-1990s, both inequality and volatility of earnings have declined significantly in...

We show that a minimum wage can have large effects throughout the earnings distribution, using a combination of theory and empirical evidence. To this end, we develop an equilibrium search model featuring empirically relevant worker and firm heterogeneity. We use the estimated model to evaluate...

We document a large decrease in earnings inequality in Brazil between 1996 and 2012. Using administrative linked employer-employee data, we fit high-dimensional worker and firm fixed-effects models to understand the sources of this decrease. Firm effects account for 40 percent of the total...

This paper sheds light on the microfoundations of reduced-form returns to education. Specifically, we ask: are more advanced higher education degrees associated with increased earnings within employers or higher average pay across employers? And to the extent that sorting across firms matters,...

We study the nature of firm pay dynamics using matched employer-employee data from Sweden, including rich, administrative firm financial data. To this end, we propose and estimate a statistical model that extends the seminal framework by Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999a, henceforth AKM) to...