Using matched employer-employee data for Germany, we estimate firm production functions augmented with workers' personality traits. We find that emotional stability is the only trait that positively affects firm productivity. Its effect shows up mainly in large firms operating with a higher than...

This paper studies the impact of AI on productivity and inequality by focusing on the introduction of AlphaFold2. This AI algorithm can accurately predict protein structures, which were traditionally characterized by structural biologists through experiments. To capture the impact of AI on...

This paper provides new evidence on how the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) affects productivity and employment in Europe. Using matched EIBIS-ORBIS data on more than 12,000 non-financial firms in the European Union (EU) and United States (US), we instrument the adoption of AI by EU...

What are the returns to firms of paying more? We study a Fortune 500 firm's voluntary firm-wide $15/hour minimum wage, which affected some warehouses more than others. Using a continuous difference-in-differences design, we find that a $1/hour pay increase (5.5 percent) halves worker departures,...

This study examines the effects of the russia's full-scale invasion on the Ukrainian corporate labor market. We use the DID technique to analyze a panel data set of over 100,000 firms linked to geolocation and industry data spanning 2021-2024 and show how war harms the corporate labor market in...

This paper examines the existence and extent to which the "Baumol cost disease" could have affected aggregate growth in Europe. This would arise if lower productivity sectors began to account for an increasing share of output which would then put downward pressure on the prospective growth rate...

This paper develops a micro-founded framework linking price-cost and wage markups to intangible assets. Intangible assets, once created, are a source of firm rents. Owing to limits to enforceable ownership and the non-rival nature of knowledge, these rents can be both retained by the origin firm...

In this paper, we estimate a translog production function for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams that uses factor inputs for hitting, pitching and defence over the 1960-2024 MLB seasons. The computed elasticities of substitution suggest that hitting and pitching are used in fixed proportions,...

Microeconomic theory posits that in competitive markets, wages are determined by the marginal revenue product of labor. This study empirically tests this theoretical prediction using comprehensive firm-level register data from Finland's manufacturing and service industries in years 2000-2022. We...

This paper constructs a new global historical database on public expenditure and revenue and their components—particularly education and health expenditure—covering all world regions over the 1800-2025 period. We document a large rise of human capital expenditure (as % of GDP) in all parts...

We estimate relative wage discrimination for ethnic and migrant groups in New Zealand, using linked employer-employee and firm-level productivity data, and comparing each group's contribution to output with their share of their firm's wage bill. We find that wage discrimination is relatively...

We analyze the impact of AI-augmented training on worker productivity in a financial services company. The company introduced an AI tool that provides performance feedback on call center agents to guide their training. To estimate causal effects, we exploit the staggered roll out of the AI-tool....

This paper examines the relationship between firm productivity, wage dynamics, and employment patterns in Ethiopia's manufacturing sector, using firm-level data from the Large and Medium Manufacturing and Electricity Industries Survey (LIMMS) for 2018-2020. In line with the objectives of the...

Using German survey data, we estimate the determinants of employee quits examining the roles of performance appraisal and performance pay. We show that employees subject to performance appraisals are less likely to quit. Yet, this influence depends upon the financial consequences that flow from...

We quantify the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on firm productivity through a series of large-scale randomized field experiments involving millions of users and products at a leading cross-border online retail platform. Over six months in 2023-2024, GenAI-based enhancements...

We study the micro sources and macro consequences of worker–job matching across countries with large income differences. Using internationally comparable data on over 120,000 individuals in 30 countries, we document that workers' skills align more closely with their jobs' skill requirements in...

Daron Acemoglu and Pascal Restrepo uncover how automation disproportionately targets tasks that pay workers above-market wages, eroding those rents and amplifying wage losses for affected workers. Using U.S. data from 1980 to 2016, they show that this “rent dissipation” not only reduces wage...

This article investigates the link between personality traits and workers' productivity when working from home (WFH). We exploit a survey conducted in Latvia in 2021, providing measures of the "Big Five" personality traits for more than 1,700 recent teleworkers. Other things being equal,...