Institute for the Study of Labor

About: Institute for the Study of Labor is a nonprofit organization based out in Bonn, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Wage & Unemployment. The organization has 2039 authors who have published 13475 publications receiving 439376 citations.

Job Stability in the United States

Abstract: Two key attributes of a job are its wage and its duration. Much has been made of changes in the wage distribution in the 1980s, but little attention has been given to job durations since Hall (1982). We fill this void by examining the temporal evolution of job retention rates in U.S. labor markets, using data assembled from the sequence of Current Population Survey job tenure supplements. In contrast to the distribution of wages, which clearly changed in the 1980s, we find that job retention rates have remained stable.

Recent Advances in the Economics of Individual Subjective Well-Being

Abstract: Over the last decades, empirical research on subjective well-being in the social sciences has provided a major new stimulus to the discourse on individual happiness. Recently this research has also been linked to economics where reported subjective wellbeing is often taken as a proxy measure for individual welfare. In our review, we intend to provide an evaluation of where the economic research on happiness stands and of three directions it might develop. First, it offers new ways for testing the basic assumptions of the economic approach and for going about a new understanding of utility. Second, it provides a new possibility for the complementary testing of theories across fields in economics. Third, we inquire how the insights gained from the study of individual happiness in economics affect public policy.

Now and Forever? Initial and Subsequent Location Choices of Immigrants

Abstract: This paper exploits a natural experiment to study the influence of regional factors on initial and subsequent location choices among immigrants. The results suggest that immigrants to Sweden are attracted to regions with high representation from the individual's birth country and large overall immigrant populations. Labor market opportunities affect location decisions, but people also tend to choose localities with many welfare recipients. The impact of most regional factors does not change over time. Thus, there is little evidence that information improves or that preferences differ between initial and subsequent stages.

Opportunistic matching in the housing market

Abstract: We construct a model of the housing market in which agents differ in their flow values while searching. Agents enter the market relaxed (with high flow values) but move to a desperate state (low flow values) at a Poisson rate if they have not already transacted. We characterize the equilibrium steady-state matching pattern and the joint distribution of price and time to sale (for sellers). The expected price conditional on time to sale falls with time spent on the market, whereas the conditional variance of price first rises and then falls with time on the market.

The Effects of Overcrowded Housing on Children's Performance at School

Abstract: In France, almost one in five 15 year olds lives in a home with at least two children per bedroom. More than 60% of these adolescents have been held back in primary or middle school, a proportion that is more than 20 points higher than it is on average for adolescents of the same age. This Paper develops a semi-parametric analysis that suggests a relation of cause and effect between living in an overcrowded home and falling behind at school. According to our estimations, the disparity in living conditions is a very important channel through which parents' lack of financial resources affects their children's schooling.