In this empirical paper, I use the 1996 wave of the ECHP dataset to investigate the relationship between measures of wage compression and training incidence in 11 European countries. After controlling for individual factors and country specific institutional differences, I find evidence of a...

Recent empirical evidence suggests that the density of local economic activity measured as the number of employees per squared kilometer positively affects local average productivity. In this paper we use British data from the European Community Household Panel to ask whether local density...

We study the empirical relationship between labor taxation and pretax wages in Italy. We find that higher tax progressivity increases pretax wages. To explain this result, we introduce in an informal way a relative wage effect and argue that the combination of this effect with the labor supply...

We model a two sector economy with unionized labor markets and competitive product markets, where workers and unions care about their relative wages, and show that the presence of a relative wage concern could help generation a positive relationship between tax progressivity and wage pressure.

We study the efficiency of secondary school design by focusing on the degree of differentiation between vocational and general education. Using a simple model of endogenous job composition, we analyze the interaction between relative demand and relative supply of skills and characterize...

This paper reviews both the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical evidence in support of the under-provision of training. While there is little if any evidence in support of under-provision because of liquidity constraints to the demand side of the market, there is evidence that employers...

By focusing on the Italian experience, we ask whether the relationshipbetween labor taxes and unemployment varies across regions. In spite of similar national labor market institutions, we show that this relationship is significantly stronger in the highly industrialized North than in the...