|
on Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, and Wages |
| By: | Haotian Deng; Sam Desiere; Bart Cockx; Gert Bijnens (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how employment subsidies for start-ups shape their performance. We exploit an unexpected policy reform in Belgium that permanently exempted start-ups hiring their first employee from payroll taxes for that employee. Using firm-level administrative data and a regression-discontinuity-in-time design, we find that subsidized post-reform startups employed fewer workers and generated lower output, value added, and profits compared to pre-reform start-ups. However, post-reform start-ups were more likely to survive as employers. These effects emerged within the first year after hiring and remained stable over a medium horizon of three years. Our findings indicate a compositional shift: the subsidy primarily induced low-productivity firms to enter the market. As most firms nowadays are nonemployers, our results meaningfully generalize the theoretical implications of standard neoclassical entrepreneurship models (employee–employer margin) and fill the important gap of the nonemployer–employer margin. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, start-up, employment subsidy, tax reduction, labor demand, small firms |
| JEL: | H25 J23 J24 J38 L25 L26 M51 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:26/1135 |
| By: | Kharazi, Aicha (University of Warwick); Lu, Saite (University of Cambridge); Mustafa, Ghulam (University of Derby & London School of Economics and Political Science) |
| Abstract: | Public support for raising minimum wages as a policy response to economic inequality is increasing; however, empirical evidence from highly informal and weakly regulated labour markets remains limited. This study estimates the impact of minimum wage increases on earnings and hours worked in Pakistan, drawing on 21 waves of nationally representative Labour Force Survey data between 1992 and 2021. By leveraging national time variation in statutory minimum wages and pre-policy district exposure, proxied by the proportion of workers earning below the minimum wage prior to policy changes, we find that increases in the minimum wage are associated with statistically significant but modest gains in real hourly earnings, with stronger wage pass-through observed in local labour markets with higher initial exposure. The benefits are disproportionately greater for male workers; however, the policy has achieved only limited and uneven progress in reducing gender pay disparities. On the intensive margin, minimum wage increases are associated with reductions in hours worked, particularly among women. This pattern is consistent with adjustment through hours in segments characterised by part-time work and weaker compliance. Overall, the findings indicate that minimum wage policy can increase earnings in low-wage areas under conditions of partial compliance, yet has limited capacity to address persistent structural gender inequality in highly informal contexts. These results underscore the need for stronger enforcement and complementary, gender-sensitive labour market interventions |
| Keywords: | minimum wage ; hourly earnings ; hours worked JEL codes: J22 ; J31 ; J38 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1597 |
| By: | Sebastian, Raquel; Salas-Rojo, Pedro (London School of Economics and Political Science); C. Palomino, Juan; G. Rodríguez, Juan |
| Abstract: | Technological change fuels economic growth, but its impact on wage inequality remains contested. This study presents a unified empirical framework that isolates the effects of new technologies such as automation and AI on the entire wage distribution. We develop a continuous and task-sensitive automation index and propose a distributional counterfactual-based method. Applying the approach to Spanish micro-data for 2000-2019 and instrumenting technology variables, we find automation to be a key driver of inequality: without task displacement the Gini coefficient would be 21.5% lower and significant wage shares would shift from the top 10% towards middle and bottom groups. Automation is found to barely affect the gender gap in the period studied, yet to widen the education premium. Like automation, AI exposure increases inequality, although the mechanisms to impact wages differ: automation tends to negatively impact wages in the middle of the distribution, while AI tends to increase wages at the top. Trade, offshorability, educational attainment, employment rates and mark-ups play secondary, period specific roles. The results can inform policies on skill formation and inclusive innovation. |
| Keywords: | automation; AI; wage inequality; structural change; job tasks |
| JEL: | O33 D33 J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amz:wpaper:2026-04 |
| By: | Pineda-Hernández, Kevin; Rycx, François; Volral, Mélanie; Waroquier, Alexandre |
| Abstract: | While rent-sharing is known to vary according to worker characteristics, the impact of profits on the gender wage gap warrants closer examination. Most studies adopt a single-gender view, neglecting factors tied to bargaining power. Our paper aims to fill this gap by leveraging rich matched employer-employee data covering the Belgian private sector from 1999 to 2016 and by examining whether the relationship between rent-sharing and gender depends on variables reflecting bargaining power, i.e. level of education, field of study, tenure, occupation and type of wage agreement. Accounting for a wide range of individual, job and firm characteristics, and addressing potential endogeneity issues, we find a wage-profit elasticity of 2.8%, which does not differ statistically between women and men. Our results further indicate that firms share more of their profits with workers who have greater bargaining power, as assessed by our moderators. This result holds overall for both women and men, so that the price effect associated with rent-sharing is generally insignificant in explaining the gender wage gap. Conversely, given that women, regardless of their bargaining power, tend to be employed in less profitable firms than their male counterparts, the quantity effect associated with rent-sharing appears to play a non-negligible role. In short, our findings suggest that it is not so much the unequal sharing of profits within companies that fuels the gender pay gap, but rather the segregation of women, particularly those with limited bargaining power, into less profitable companies. |
| Keywords: | Rent-sharing, linked employer-employee data, wage decompositions, instrumental variables, gender wage gap, bargaining power |
| JEL: | C26 J16 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1709 |
| By: | Andriy Tsapin (National Bank of Ukraine) |
| Abstract: | 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 Ukraine. Specifically, our findings evidence that destructive military shocks adversely affected the number of employees hired, productivity, and wages paid in the corporate sector. We emphasize that the war effects are heterogeneous across firm size and labor intensity and depend on external debt and bank financing. The results obtained have considerable policy implications, making them valuable to both researchers and policymakers. |
| Keywords: | Labor market; War; employment; productivity; wages; Ukraine |
| JEL: | H56 J21 J23 J31 O12 |
| Date: | 2026–02–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp03-2026 |
| By: | Weikl, Jan |
| Abstract: | Performance-contingent pay raises productivity, yet in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) only about 16% of workers report receiving performance pay, with the incidence being roughly seven percentage points higher among university graduates than among non-graduates. This coexistence of low aggregate take-up and a strong skill gradient is puzzling. This paper accounts for these twin facts with a principal-agent model in which the entire preference vector-risk aversion, probability weighting, time discounting, and effort cost-varies systematically with schooling. Endogenizing preferences yields two predictions: (i) optimal incentive slopes and induced effort increase with education-linked preferences; (ii) the productivity threshold for accepting performance pay falls with schooling, while heterogeneity in tastes keeps worker participation incomplete. A light calibration guided by documented schooling gradients reproduces modest overall incidence alongside a pronounced skill gradient. The key novelty is to treat the preference vector as an endogenous state variable that enters both sides of the principal-agent problem, shaping the optimisation problems of both the firm and the worker rather than being taken as a fixed primitive. |
| Abstract: | Leistungsabhängige Vergütung steigert die Produktivität. Im Sozio-Ökonomischen Panel (SOEP) berichten jedoch nur rund 16 % der Beschäftigten, leistungsbezogene Entlohnung zu erhalten. Zugleich liegt die Inzidenz unter Hochschulabsolventen um etwa sieben Prozentpunkte höher als unter Nicht-Absolventen. Dieses Nebeneinander aus geringer Gesamtverbreitung und ausgeprägtem Bildungsgradienten ist erklärungsbedürftig. Diese Arbeit erklärt beide Befunde in einem Prinzipal-Agenten-Modell, in dem der gesamte Präferenzvektor systematisch mit dem Bildungsniveau variiert. Die Endogenisierung von Präferenzen liefert zwei Implikationen: (i) optimale Anreizintensitäten und die induzierte Anstrengung steigen mit bildungsbezogenen Präferenzparametern; (ii) die Produktivitätsschwelle für die Akzeptanz leistungsabhängiger Vergütung sinkt mit dem Bildungsniveau, während Präferenzheterogenität die Teilnahme insgesamt unvollständig hält. Eine einfache Kalibrierung, welche sich an dokumentierten Bildungsgradienten orientiert, repliziert eine moderate Gesamtinzidenz bei gleichzeitig starkem Qualifikationsgradienten. Der Beitrag dieser Arbeit besteht darin, den Präferenzvektor als endogene Zustandsvariable zu modellieren, die die Optimierungsprobleme von Unternehmen und Beschäftigten gleichermaßen bestimmt, statt exogen vorgegeben zu sein. |
| Keywords: | performance pay, incentives, risk preferences, time discounting, contract theory |
| JEL: | D81 D82 D86 J24 J33 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:336772 |
| By: | Byung-Cheol Kim (University of Alabama); Jin Yeub Kim (Yonsei University); Hyunjun Cho (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | We study partner selection when higher productivity comes at the cost of weaker expected collaborative fit. When this tradeoff is strong, expected surplus is U-shaped: both high-productivity "difficult stars" and low-productivity "team players" generate higher expected value than moderately productive partners. This Moderate's Trap overturns the standard economic prediction that surplus increases monotonically with talent. In competitive labor markets, moderate workers are disadvantaged, and workers invest to specialize at the extremes, polarizing the productivity distribution. Our framework microfounds a demand-side force that operates against moderate performers, complementing existing technology-based explanations of modern labor market polarization and specialization. |
| Keywords: | Partner selection, productivity, collaborative fit, difficult stars, wage polarization |
| JEL: | C78 D82 J31 L23 M51 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yon:wpaper:2026rwp-279 |
| By: | Rai, Sabhya |
| Abstract: | Accumulated entrepreneurial experience, as a form of human capital, plays a critical role in shaping current venture revenue. Building on insights from entrepreneurship and human capital theory, the study establishes a causal inverted U-shaped relationship between prior entrepreneurial experience and current revenue. By providing an observable measure of financial performance, the analysis helps investors identify ventures whose co-founders fall within an optimal experience range to maximize financial and strategic returns, and guides entrepreneurs in assembling founding teams with experience profiles that enhance revenue and investment prospects. To address endogeneity, it employs Caetano et al.'s (2023) control function approach, leveraging 'bunching' at zero average venture experience to isolate the effect from potential confounders. The findings reveal that in ventures with three co-founders (the most common team size), each additional prior venture increases current revenue by approximately 10%, up to a combined average of 13 prior ventures across the founding team. Beyond this threshold, additional experience yields diminishing returns on performance. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, venture performance, bunching |
| JEL: | J24 M13 C21 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1711 |
| By: | Soares Martins Neto, Antonio; Liu, Yan; Khunara, Saloni; Porras Lopez, Juan Manuel |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first comprehensive, cross-country evidence on the wage returns to digital skills, using more than 67 million job postings from 29 countries between 2021 and 2024. The paper develops a harmonized digital skills taxonomy and examines returns across extensive (any digital skill required), intensive (number of digital skills), and qualitative (type of digital skill) margins. Digital skills command substantial wage premiums globally, with particularly pronounced returns in low- and middle-income countries where such competencies remain scarce. Requiring at least one digital skill raises advertised wages by 1.6 percent on average, with returns of 1.3 percent in high-income countries and 7.5 percent in low- and middle-income countries. Each additional digital skill increases wages by 0.5 percent in high-income countries and 2.6 percent in low- and middle-income countries. Intermediate and advanced skills yield even higher premiums of 0.8 percent in high-income countries and 3 percent in low- and middle-income countries. Each traditional artificial intelligence skill offers returns of 2.9 percent across all countries. Most remarkably, generative artificial intelligence skills demonstrate the highest premiums: wage increases of 7 to 9 percent in technical occupations, and sizable premiums of 25 to 36 percent for generative artificial intelligence literacy skills in nontechnical roles, reflecting both their productivity potential and current scarcity. Returns are consistently higher in digitally-intensive industries and occupations and are amplified by workers’ education and experience, suggesting strong complementarities between digital competencies and traditional human capital. These findings highlight the critical importance of digital skills for individual earnings and economic development, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. |
| Date: | 2026–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11313 |
| By: | Sean Bassler; Kevin Rinz; David Wasser; Abigail Wozniak |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, research on labor market adjustment following local demand shocks has expanded to explore a wide variety of measured shocks. However, the worker adjustments observed in response to these shocks are not always consistent across studies. We create a harmonized set of annual commuting-zone-level shocks following the major approaches in the literature to investigate these differences. As one might expect, shocks of different types exhibit different geographic and temporal patterns and are generally weakly correlated with each other. We find they also generate different employment and migration responses, with trade-related shocks showing little response on either margin, while more general Bartik-style shocks are associated with economically meaningful changes in both employment and migration. |
| Keywords: | labor demand shocks, employment, migration |
| JEL: | J23 R23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:26-10 |
| By: | Marius Guenzel; Shimon Kogan; Marina Niessner; Kelly Shue |
| Abstract: | Human capital—encompassing cognitive skills and personality traits—is central for labor-market success, yet personality remains difficult to measure at scale. Leveraging advances in AI and comprehensive LinkedIn microdata, we extract the Big 5 personality traits from facial images of 96, 000 MBA graduates, and demonstrate that this novel “Photo Big 5” predicts school rank, job matching, compensation, job transitions, and career advancement. The Photo Big 5 provides predictive power comparable to race, attractiveness, and educational background, and is only weakly correlated with cognitive measures such as test scores. We show that individuals systematically sort into occupations where their personality traits are valued and earn higher wages when traits align with occupational demands. While the scalability of the Photo Big 5 enables new academic insights into the role of personality in labor markets, its growing use in industry screening raises important ethical concerns regarding statistical discrimination and individual autonomy. |
| JEL: | D91 J2 M5 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34808 |
| By: | Carla Coccia; Martina Jakob; Konstantin Büchel; Ben Jann |
| Abstract: | Despite billions spent annually on teacher training, rigorous evidence on standalone in-service programs remains scarce, as most evaluated programs bundle training with curriculum or material reforms. We address this gap through a large-scale randomized controlled trial with 338 schools and over 6, 000 students in El Salvador. Teachers are randomly assigned to either a control group or one of three training programs focusing on (i) content knowledge, (ii) pedagogical knowledge, or (iii) a combination of both inputs. We find lasting effects on teacher content and pedagogical knowledge of up to 0.3σ and 0.5σ respectively one year after program end. Yet, this only changes teachers' classroom practices in the short-run and does not translate into significant student learnings. The data most closely aligns with a setting where teachers face a dual challenge: introducing new ideas in a rigid environment while navigating the significant learning gaps present among students in later grades. |
| Keywords: | teacher training, teacher content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, randomized controlled trial, El Salvador, development economics |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–02–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bss:wpaper:51 |
| By: | Margarida Duarte; Diego Restuccia |
| Abstract: | We study the sectoral reallocation of employment over time and across countries, with a focus on the rise of services. We document substantial changes in the ratio of aggregate employment to working-age population across countries that are not systematically related to productivity growth or income levels, yet tightly linked to the rise in services employment. We assess the quantitative contribution of changes in aggregate employment to the rise of services using an otherwise standard model of sectoral reallocation calibrated to time-series for the United States. The calibrated model implies a high elasticity of changes in aggregate employment to services: a one percentage point change in aggregate employment generates on average a 0.7 percentage point change in services employment. The implication is that actual changes in aggregate employment account for one-third of the rise in services, on average across countries, and up to one-half in countries with sustained employment increases. |
| JEL: | O11 O41 O51 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34804 |
| By: | Virginia Sánchez-Marcos; Javier Fernández-Blanco |
| Abstract: | Social Security retirement programs are designed to provide full insurance against longevity risks through a progressive scheme. In line with previous work on earnings and race, we document, using HRS data, 2.5- and 5.5-year life-expectancy gaps by wealth and health at age 56, respectively. Such significant differences in life expectancy reduce the progressivity feature of the program. We examine the welfare costs of ignoring life expectancy conditional on wealth and health at the claiming age in a parsimonious way, by adding a wealth- or health-based correction factor to the current program. We build a rich life-cycle model in which married men decide their savings, labor supply and benefits-claiming age, and are heterogeneous in many dimensions, in particular in their fixed health type. We find that the welfare losses of ignoring differences in life expectancy by wealth and health at the claiming age are equivalent to a permanent consumption fall of 2.22% and 0.30%, respectively. Moreover, the effects are very heterogeneous across health types. |
| Keywords: | health, labor force participation, Life Expectancy, retirement benefits, Wealth |
| JEL: | J22 I14 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1556 |
| By: | Nebiler, Metin; Park, Kyunglin |
| Abstract: | Digital skills are becoming increasingly more important in the labor market as demand for them is increasing in all sectors. This paper explores the determinants of digital skill acquisition and estimates the impact of digital skills on wages in developing countries by using the latest round of the Life in Transition Survey from 30 countries in the Europe and Central Asia region. The results show that acquisition of digital skills is correlated with individual characteristics including age, education, and gender but also with household characteristics such as household income, place of residence, and parents’ educational attainment. These disparities translate directly into labor market outcomes: individuals with advanced digital skills earn, on average, 18.9 percent higher wages than those without such skills, with substantial heterogeneity within and between regions. The wage premium for high digital skills is higher in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe. Moreover, the results show that larger firms offer significantly higher premiums for digital skills. |
| Date: | 2026–02–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11308 |
| By: | Ann Harrison; Laura J. Kray; Noor Sethi |
| Abstract: | In the United States, much of the gap in earnings between men and women is due to the persistent gap for high wage earners. This paper explores changes in the gender wage gap for MBAs graduating from a large public university over 30 years. We document large gender wage gaps on average, which grow in the course of men’s and women’s careers. Comparing graduates at identical career stages across time periods to address composition concerns, we show that the raw gender wage gap has shrunk by 33 to 50 percent over the last two decades. Additionally, the temporal pattern of the gap has fundamentally shifted: while gaps only emerged over time in earlier decades, significant gaps now emerge immediately. Convergence in labor supply factors, particularly hours worked, explains much of the narrowing gap, alongside shifts in industry composition. However, unexplained wage gaps persist for recent graduates from the very start of their careers, suggesting different underlying mechanisms across cohorts. These findings highlight both progress in gender wage equity among business professionals and concerning patterns that emerge earlier in careers than in previous decades. |
| JEL: | J01 J30 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34809 |
| By: | Marco Palomeque (Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Jürgen Rösch (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar); Mafalda Gómez-Vega (Universidad de Valladolid) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender inequality in popular music using a newly constructed, comprehensive dataset covering the universe of songs that entered the Billboard Hot 100 between 1958 and 2025. By integrating chart histories with artist-level characteristics across multiple sources, the dataset enables dynamic analyses of participation, performance, and survival that were previously infeasible at this scale and horizon. Combining structural break analysis, dynamic participation models, and artists’ performance regressions, we show that non-male representation does not evolve cumulatively but is repeatedly reset at moments of technological and institutional change. Participation rises within regimes but drops sharply at structural transitions, consistent with renewed uncertainty and gatekeeping. Conditional on chart entry, non-male artists systematically over-perform at entry and peak visibility, yet exhibit weaker chart persistence, a pattern strongest in periods of stagnating participation. We interpret these findings as evidence of a Sisyphus Effect in the music industry, whereby higher effective entry thresholds force non-male artists to repeatedly rebuild representation under changing industry conditions. More broadly, the paper highlights conditional over-performance as a general empirical strategy for identifying discrimination in truncated markets when under-representation is observed in-sample. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Discrimination, Cultural Markets, Music Industry, Structural Change, Selection, Performance |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J24 Z11 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-02-2026 |
| By: | Leahy, John Vincent; Ranošová, Tereza |
| Abstract: | We exploit cross-sectional variation in the response of US states to a monetary policy shock to study how the impact of monetary policy varies with the share of married women who work. We find that the economy's response is more muted the lower the share of married women employed before the shock. We argue that a plausible explanation is a shielded demand response by households, insured by the "added worker effect". When women are only weakly attached to the labor market, they can flexibly enter and exit to supplement household income in times of need, providing a powerful insurance mechanism against aggregate shocks. We provide three additional pieces of evidence. First, monetary policy shocks have a stronger effect in states where married women are more firmly attached to the labor market (making fewer transitions in and out). Second, following an increase in the federal funds rate, married women themselves are comparatively more likely to be employed (and to enter employment) in states where the share of married women working pre- shock is low. Third, in contrast to employment, wages of married women fall more in states where married women have worked less, consistent with a differential labor supply response to the shock. |
| Keywords: | Added-worker effect, intrahousehold insurance, monetary policy |
| JEL: | J21 J11 E24 E52 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:336748 |
| By: | Keenan, Enda (Central Bank of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | The decline in average actual hours worked has become a salient feature of labour market developments in many advanced economies. Ireland is no exception, with average hours falling by 6.5 per cent between 2019 and 2024 despite record employment growth in the pandemic-recovery period. This analysis aims to address two questions: which demographic groups are driving this decline and what are the contributing factors among these groups. Using Labour Force Survey microdata, a combination of decomposition and regression approaches outline that behavioural changes are the dominant driver of aggregate decline in recent years. This contrasts with the greater role of compositional factors in the aftermath of the global financial crisis which led to higher average hours worked. Lower average hours reported amongst men and parents in recent years is in line with international findings for middle-to-high income economies. Factors such as labour hoarding, work absences and increased secondary employment are estimated to have contributed marginally to the aggregate decline in hours worked in recent years. These limited contributions are in part coincidentally driven by more fundamental behavioural and compositional factors explaining the longer-run decline in average hours worked and the related changing patterns of labour supply. |
| Keywords: | Hours of Work, Labour Supply, Work Week, Gender, Employment. |
| JEL: | J21 J22 J16 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:01/rt/26 |
| By: | Wim Naudé (RWTH Aachen University & University of Coimbra, CeBER) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a non-technical and selective explanation of the theory of innovation and economic growth, in light of the 2025 Bank of Sweden Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel, awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt. Their body of scholarship is critically evaluated, and the useful, less useful, and most problematic aspects are highlighted. The verdict is that it is largely a collection of anthropocentric stories of innovation and growth. It avoids spelling out why sustained growth is desirable, it reduces innovation’s ultimate goal to the pursuit of economic growth, it is based on a deep-seated notion of human exceptionalism, and it promotes directed technical change - based on the assumption that all resources are fungible and can be substituted - as a way to sustain economic growth without causing environmental destruction. Their analysis of growth is useful for highlighting the importance of scientific knowledge, for showing that creative destruction can be more destructive than creative, and that economic growth will only be sustained under very special conditions. However, the failure to satisfactorily address energy in innovation and growth remains a glaring gap in modern economic growth theory. For economics to become more useful, it would require becoming an Earth Systems Science based on biocentric holism. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, economic growth, technology, sustainability, energy |
| JEL: | O31 O33 J11 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:papers:2026-03 |
| By: | Larissa Marioni; Fillipe Guedes; Carlos Henrique Leite Corseuil; Ricardo da Silva Freguglia |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the allocation of Venezuelan migrants into the Brazilian labour market. Using a rich employer–employee administrative data and georeferenced information from firms, this study offers a comprehensive characterisation of this migration flow, shedding light on lesser–known aspects of Venezuelan migration to Brazil. The findings show that firms with pre–existing networks of foreign workers and those close to networks providing access to the country of origin were more likely to hire Venezuelans during the peak inflow. On average, firms that absorbed these workers were larger, less productive, and primarily employed lower–quality workers. Regarding the occupations for which migrants were hired, results show that these roles were low–quality, with lower hierarchical levels, and presented a smaller residual between the observed wage and the potential predicted wage. Overall, the results suggest that Venezuelan migrants have predominantly been allocated into lower–quality jobs within less productive firms, offering valuable insights into the economic integration challenges faced by displaced populations. |
| Keywords: | migration, forced displacement, firms, labour market allocation |
| JEL: | J31 J61 F22 F15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:574 |