Essays on European labor markets

Chapter 1 examines whether immigrants gain a comparative advantage relative to natives in highly protected labor markets. This may be the case if immigrants, being new to the country, are less aware of employment protection regulations and less likely to claim their rights. I test this hypothesis drawing on evidence for the EU and on two natural experiments for Spain and Italy. The results suggest that stricter Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) does indeed benefit immigrants relative to natives. Stricter EPL is found to reduce employment and reduce hiring and firing rates for natives. By contrast, it has no effect on most immigrants and may even increase employment rates for those who have been in the country for a longer period. Chapter 2 is the product of joint work with Marcello Esteviio (IMF) and looks at the effect of the 35-hour workweek in France on wages, employment, dual job holdings and happiness. It explores the different timing of implementation of the shorter workweek in large and small firms to measure its causal effect. The results suggest that the reduction in hours did not succeed in increasing employment and generated a series of behavioural responses that are likely to have reduced welfare, as workers and firms tried to avoid the rigidities created by the reform. This suggests that the French government should increase the flexibility of workers and firms in setting hours of work. Chapter 3 is the product of joint work with Olivier Blanchard (MIT) and Francesco Giavazzi (UniversitA Commerciale Luigi Bocconi). Two main forces lie behind the large U.S. current account deficits: an increase in U.S. demand for foreign goods and an increase in foreign demand for U.S. assets.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Sa, Filipa

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joshua Angrist and Olivier Blanchard.

• Economics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42393

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/42393