http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/846/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/10910/ 2008-01-18T00:00:00Z This study documents two empirical regularities, using data for Denmark and Portugal. First, workers who are hired last, are the first to leave the firm (Last In, First Out; LIFO). Second, workers’ wages rise with seniority (= a worker’s tenure relative to the tenure of her colleagues). We seek to explain these regularities by developing a dynamic model of the firm with stochastic product demand and hiring cost (= irreversible specific investments). There is wage bargaining between a worker and its firm. Separations (quits or layoffs) obey the LIFO rule and bargaining is efficient (a zero surplus at the moment of separation). The LIFO rule provides a stronger bargaining position for senior workers, leading to a return to seniority in wages. Efficiency in hiring requires the workers’ bargaining power to be in line with their share in the cost of specific investment. Then, the LIFO rule is a way to protect their property right on the specific investment. We consider the effects of Employment Protection Legislation and risk aversion. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/6639/ 2004-06-01T00:00:00Z In this paper we develop a structural model for job search behavior of students entering the labor market. The model includes endogenous search effort and on-the-job search. Since students usually do not start a regular job before graduation but start job search earlier, our model is non stationary even if all structural parameters are constant. The model explains the common finding that a substantial share of individuals starts working immediately upon graduation. We estimate the model using a unique data set of individuals who completed undergraduate education in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2001. Our estimation results show that a 1 percent point decrease in unemployment rate increases wage offers with 3 percent, that there are substantial returns to work experience and that individuals devote less effort to job search than optimal. Employment rates at graduation could be increased from 40 percent to 65 percent if all individuals start job search 6 month prior to graduation. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/6702/ 2003-07-07T00:00:00Z How much does a nation spend on resources to 'grease the wheels of trade'? To examine this question the Dutch economy is used as an exemplary case as the Netherlands are known as a nation of traders. This image was derived in the seventeenth century from successes in long distance trade, shipping and financial innovations. Despite its historical background in trading the potential to 'truck and barter' has never been adequately measured. In this paper we present a first attempt in measuring and describing the Dutch transaction sector. Measurement by means of occupational data points out that approximately 25 percent of Dutch workers are employed in transaction jobs, and 29 percent if one includes transport and distribution tasks. From a historical perspective this may seem large, but we make the case that traditional sector categories underestimate the true trading character of an economy. Furthermore, we find that in enhancing transactions cities or agglomerations remain important, suggesting that face-to-face trade remains an important element of modern transactions. In contrast to the history of immigrants in the Netherlands, the main immigrant groups of today do not fulfill a brokerage function in bringing about trade between different cultures.