Capital Mobility and Unemployment Dynamics: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries

We use a panel of 20 OECD countries over a 30-year period to estimate the implications of international capital mobility for unemployment. We find that the increase in capital flows since the mid1980s has contributed to an amplification of the impulse response of unemployment to country-specific shocks and to a fall in the persistence of unemployment in response to the same shocks.unemployment persistence, unemployment volatility, international capital flows,OECD countries

Job flow dynamics and firing restrictions: evidence from Europe

We exploit homogeneous firm level data of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors to study the impact of firing restrictions on job flow dynamics across 14 European countries. We find that more stringent firing laws dampen the response of job destruction to the cycle, thus making job turnover less counter-cyclical. Moreover, the impact of firing costs on job creation and job destruction varies across sectors, depending on sector-specific trend growth. Our findings clearly suggest that such costs are more important in contracting than in growing sectors. JEL Classification: J23, J63, J68business cycle, Europe, Firing Costs, Gross Job Flows

Productivity Growth and Employment: Theory and Panel Estimates

Theoretical predictions of the effect of TFP growth on employment are ambiguous, anddepend on the extent to which new technology is embodied in new jobs. We estimate amodel for employment, wages and investment with an annual panel for the United States,Japan and Europe and find that TFP growth increases employment. For the United StatesTFP growth explains the trend change in unemployment. We evaluate the model and findthat creative destruction plays no part in aggregate unemployment dynamics. The model canexplain up to half of the estimated impact of growth on unemployment.TFP growth, employment, creative destruction, capitalization effect,unemployment dynamics, embodied technology

Pi\uf9 autonomia e pi\uf9 responsabilit\ue0: evitare un ritorno al centralismo nella scuola per favorire crescita e occupazione giovanile

Il capitolo fornisce una quantificazione dei benefici economici (e sociali) ottenibili dall\u2019Italia intervenendo sulla scuola secondaria al fine di migliorarne la qualit\ue0 ed i risultati. Individuati i fattori che, in base alla letteratura economica di riferimento, concorrono a determinare una migliore o peggiore performance del sistema scolastico, passiamo a rappresentare il livello e l\u2019andamento della performance del sistema scolastico italiano, cos\uec come messa in luce dai risultati dei test scolastici PISA condotti dall\u2019OCSE. Procediamo poi a valutare i margini di miglioramento possibili per le scuole italiane, allineando il sistema educativo italiano alle best practice in Europa: questo ci consente di stimare \u2013 con un modello di riferimento analitico - i benefici economici in termini di reddito e occupazione di sistema scolastico pi\uf9 efficiente

Lavoro sommerso, costi di licenziamento e produttivit\ue0 d\u2019impresa

Un dato acquisito della letteratura in tema compliance alle normative fiscali e del lavoro \ue8 che eludere norme che regolano sotto vari profili l\u2019attivit\ue0 imprenditoriale ha un effetto negativo sulla produttivit\ue0. Tuttavia, un risultato altrettanto consolidato \ue8 che l\u2019eccessiva onerosit\ue0 del fardello regolamentare e fiscale rappresenta uno degli incentivi principali che spingono le imprese ad operare informalmente. La decisione di attingere al serbatoio del lavoro informale pu\uf2 essere vista in termini di valutazione tra i costi dell\u2019informalit\ue0 e i costi di compliance; le imprese italiane, ad esempio, hanno ridotto i flussi di impiego nel settore ufficiale, a vantaggio del lavoro informale, in risposta ad un mercato del lavoro rigido. Considerati gli effetti deleteri dell\u2019economia sommersa per la crescita, il dibattito sulle riforme della legislazione in tema di lavoro non dovrebbe trascurare i costi di compliance delle norme e, quindi, le ricadute che queste possono avere sull\u2019incidenza del sommerso e sulla produttivit\ue0 del sistema

Institutions' and firms' adjustments: Measuring the impact of courts' delays on job flows and productivity

Not only is labor-market rigidity the result of legislative provisions, but it is de\uc2\uadtermined by the institutional framework at large. We argue that courts\ue2\u80\u99 delays in settling labor disputes affect the strictness of employment-protection legislation by increasing the expected firing costs. We exploit the variation in the length of labor trials across Italian judicial districts and the fact that the Italian leg\uc2\uadislation regarding firing prescribes different firing regimes for firms above the 15-employee threshold and provide evidence on the impact of courts\ue2\u80\u99 delays on job reallocation and firms\ue2\u80\u99 productivity. We show that in judicial districts with longer trials, the rate of job turnover is significantly lower. This occurs through lower rates of job destruction and, to a lesser extent, job creation. We also find a detrimental impact of courts\ue2\u80\u99 delays on the labor productivity of firms above the 15-employee threshold. The effect is stronger in sectors with higher flexibility requirements

Productivity Growth and Employment: Theory and Panel Estimates

Theoretical predictions of the effect of TFP growth on employment are ambiguous, and depend on the extent to which new technology is embodied in new jobs. We estimate a model for employment, wages and investment with an annual panel for the United States, Japan and Europe and find that TFP growth increases employment. For the United States TFP growth explains the trend change in unemployment. We evaluate the model and find that creative destruction plays no part in aggregate unemployment dynamics. The model can explain up to half of the estimated impact of growth on unemployment

Flexible wage contracts, temporary jobs and firm performance: evidence from Italian firms

This paper focuses on the effects of decentralized wage schemes and temporary forms of employment on firm performance. The effect of monetary incentives on workers\u2019 effort and firm performance is a central topic in economics. According to the principal-agent paradigm, firms (the principal) have to link employees' remuneration schemes to any verifiable indicator of performance in order to avoid opportunistic behaviour. The empirical evidence shows that financial incentives have the potential to exert strong effects on indicators of firm performance, such as productivity and worker absenteeism, though the degree of effectiveness of such schemes varies significantly according to the institutional/economic context in which firms operate. From both a theoretical and empirical point of view, the prediction on the effects of temporary types of employment on effort and productivity is less neat. In the light of these considerations, this paper uses a sample of Italian firms to provide further empirical evidence on whether and to what extent performance related pay schemes and contract flexibility affect workers\u2019 effort (in terms of absenteeism) and, in turn, firm productivity. These effects are analyzed for different types of workers (white collars vs. blue collars), working in workplaces characterized by a different degree of uncertainty and risk and in firms operating in different economic and institutional settings. Our results show that wage flexibility has a significant effect on effort and then on firm's productivity and that white collars are more responsive to monetary incentives than blue collars. Moreover, the presence of a large share of temporary contracts, implying a lower dismissal probability for permanent workers and a deterioration of the working environment, appears to reduce workers' motivation and effort

Gross job flows and institutions in Europe

We examine job flows in the 1990s for a sample of 13 European countries. By using a dataset of continuing firms that covers all sectors, we find firm characteristics to be important determinants of job flows, with smaller and younger firms within services typically having a larger degree of job turnover. Once controlled for firm and sectoral effects, the role of institutions in the dynamics of job creation and destruction is examined. As expected, employment protection is found to reduce job flows. Similarly, countries with higher unemployment benefits and more coordinated wage bargaining systems are characterised by lower job flows. JEL Classification: J23, J60Gross Job Flows, labour market institutions

The Gender Gap in Ph.D. Entrepreneurship: How do students perceive the academic environment?

This paper investigates gender issues in Ph.D. entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis is based on data from a questionnaire survey run in 2014–15 in Italy. We analyse how Ph.D. students perceive the institutional entrepreneurial environment, the drivers and the factors hindering entrepreneurship and gender-equality among faculties at the parent institution. We find evidence of a gender bias in Ph.D. entrepreneurship and that the perception about the factors either hampering or supporting entrepreneurship is deeply different between sexes. The academic environment can have a fundamental impact on students’ decisions to start new ventures and on the probability that they will abandon their entrepreneurial intentions. Female student entrepreneurs particularly benefit from the opportunity to engage with a gender-balanced work environment