Documents Donado, Alejandro 5 results

"Using a large European data set, I investigate the impact of knowing foreign languages on unemployment for the first time. The focus is on natives (not on immigrants). I find that (1) knowing a foreign language reduces the probability of being unemployed by at least 3.4 percentage points; (2) females benefit more than males from learning foreign languages; (3) English and German tend to have a larger and more robust impact on unemployment than French, Spanish, and Italian; (4) but the impact of all these five languages varies considerably across countries."

"Most empirical studies have estimated a positive union–nonunion “injury gap,” suggesting that unionized workers are more likely than their nonunion counterparts to have a nonfatal occupational injury. Using individual-level panel data for the first time in this type of study, the author explores several explanations for this puzzling result. He finds that controlling for time-invariant individual fixed effects already reduces the gap by around 40%. Some of the explanations he studies contribute to reducing this gap even further. The author does not, however, find evidence of the gap becoming negative, and the impact of unions on nonfatal injuries appears to be insignificant at best."

"Trade unions have always played an important role in the determination of labour standards. This activity can be argued to increase output and welfare of a country. This paper presents a theoretical framework representing a world consisting of the North and the South where labour standards in the North are set by trade unions. There are no unions in the South implying suboptimal work standards. Global integration of these countries can imply a reduction in work standards in the North. Moreover, when trade unions are established in the South, the North, including northern unions, tends to lose out. Quantitatively, these effects are small and overcompensated for by gains in the South. The existing empirical literature tends to support our findings."

"Worker movements played a crucial role in making workplaces safer. Workplace safety is costly for firms but increases labour supply. A laissez-faire approach leaving safety of workplaces unknown is suboptimal. Safety standards set by better-informed trade unions are output and welfare increasing. Trade between a country with trade unions (the North) and a union-free country (the South) can imply a reduction in work standards in the North. When trade unions are established in the South, the North, including northern unions, tend to lose. Quantitatively, these effects are small and overcompensated by gains in the South. "