Marc Riudavets Barcons 

About me: 

I'm a fifth-year PhD student at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, under the supervision of Roope Uusitalo and Andrés Barrios-Fernández.

I work on labor and public economics. In my research, I use administrative data to study how labor market institutions and regulations affect labor market outcomes.

I will be on the 2024/2025 Job Market

Contact information: marc.riudavetsbarcons@helsinki.fi. Find my CV here.

JOB MARKET PAPER:

The Impact of Apprenticeship Contracts in the Labor Market [paper]

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of apprenticeship contracts on the labor market trajectories of young workers using high-quality administrative data from Spain. To address endogeneity issues related to contract use, I exploit a reform aimed at promoting apprenticeship contracts by temporarily removing external certification requirements and raising the age eligibility threshold from 25 to 30 years. I show that after the reform, there was an increase in the use of apprenticeship contracts. However, employment did not expand. The increase in apprenticeship contracts was crowded out by a decline in other types of contracts in the economy. Moreover, I show that workers who turned between 25 to 30 when the reform was passed and became apprentices experienced an average wage decrease of about 28\% in the short run, and of 11\% in the long run compared to workers similar in observables from those same cohorts that did not take an apprenticeship. Finally, analyzing a subsidy aimed at converting apprenticeship contracts into open-ended contracts, I find that, while the take-up rate is relatively low, the subsidy had a positive effect on improving the labor market attachment of the recipients. 

PUBLISHED PAPERS : 

Working papers and ongoing projects: