Publications
The Economic Journal, 2024, 134 (658): 614–647.
press coverage: VoxDev. [Replication package]
We draw on household survey data from countries of all income levels and document that average unemployment rates increase with GDP per capita. This is accounted for almost entirely by low-rather than high-educated workers. We interpret these facts in a model with frictional labor markets, a traditional self-employment sector, skill-biased productivity differences across countries, and unemployment benefits that become more generous with development. A calibrated version of the model does well in explaining the cross-country patterns we document. Counterfactual exercises point to skill-biased productivity differences as the most important factor in explaining the cross-country unemployment patterns.
Journal of Development Economics, 2023, 162: 103046.
Financial frictions adversely affect productivity by discouraging entrepreneurship, which is often measured by the self-employed. This paper distinguishes between own-account employment (self-employed without employees) and employers when studying this question. Using micro data for 77 countries from all income levels, we find almost universally negative selection on education into own-account status relative to wage workers and positive selection into employers. To quantify the effects of financial frictions, we introduce skill-biased productivity progress across countries in an occupational choice model. Our model predicts an average of 19% output gains in low-income countries from removing financial frictions. In contrast, an alternative model with skill-neutral technological change cannot match the high own-account employment share in low-income countries, thus overestimating the output gains by 13 percentage points.
Economics Letters, 2022, 210: 110190.
The age gap within marriage is one form of the gender gap. This paper uses micro data from 89 countries from all income levels to document that men marry women younger than themselves in all countries, and the age gap decreases with development.