Research
Research
This paper examines whether adverse initial labor market conditions experienced by parents have intergenerational consequences for children’s human capital accumulation. Using Swedish administrative data and variation in parents’ exposure to local unemployment rates between ages 18 and 25, I estimate the effects of parental labor market conditions on children’s educational outcomes. I find that children whose parents experience higher unemployment rates have significantly lower Grade 9 GPA, a lower probability of completing high school, lower high school GPA, and a lower probability of choosing an academic high school track. These effects are found for both mothers and fathers and are similar for daughters and sons. To investigate potential mechanisms, I examine how parents’ exposure to local unemployment rates between ages 18 and 25 shapes their subsequent outcomes. I find lower educational attainment, reduced earnings and a smaller share of years employed, more children and earlier first births, a lower likelihood of being married, and worse mental health outcomes later in life. Overall, adverse early labor market conditions can have long-lasting effects that extend from parents to their children, even in high-welfare-state context such as Sweden.
This paper examines whether age at school entry has long-run effects on participation in risky asset markets in adulthood. Using Swedish administrative data, I exploit the January 1 school-entry cutoff in a regression discontinuity design to compare individuals born just before and after the cutoff. I find that individuals who start school at a younger age are significantly less likely to participate in risky asset markets. This effect persists into adulthood and remains robust to a wide range of sensitivity checks. To shed light on potential mechanisms, I examine the effects of school-entry age on education, labor market and wealth outcomes, finding that younger school entrants complete fewer years of schooling, are less likely to obtain a college degree, and have lower labor income. The findings suggest that age at school entry has persistent consequences that extend into adulthood and shape an important dimension of household financial behavior.
This paper examines the impact of contractual frictions on firm export performance and multinational corporation activity. Using firm-level export data from China, we find that foreign firms have better export performance than domestic firms, especially in high contract-intensity industries. We further show evidence that this comparative advantage partly stems from the superior contract enforcement in their home countries, which helps reduce under-investment in relationship-specific assets.
Reproducible and Robust by Design: The Reproducibility and Robustness of Social Science Research by Method and Field (with Abel Brodeur, Derek Mikola, Juan P. Aparicio, Nikolai Cook, Lenka Fiala, Ghina Abdul Baki and others)