Research

"The Role of Training for Technology Diffusion" (Job Market Paper) [Paper]

with Ruben Piazzesi

Abstract: We study a dynamic model of new technology adoption in a labor market with search frictions, where worker training boosts the productivity gains from adopting the technology. Once trained, workers acquire general skills that can be used by any firm operating the new technology. As a result, firms can free-ride on the training investments of others, which inefficiently delays technology adoption and workforce training. We apply the model to the diffusion of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in Portugal—a leading software technology currently used by 43% of European firms—whose adoption requires training workers in transferable skills. Using matched employer–employee data, we show that as the technology diffuses, firms train fewer workers upon adoption, consistent with the model’s free-riding mechanism. The calibrated model implies a 14% present-value loss in net output due to underinvestment in adoption and training. Finally, policy counterfactual analysis shows that training subsidies introduced at the onset of the diffusion process are about 10% more effective than those enacted ten years later.

"The Labor Demand Implications of Brand Capital: Evidence from Trademark Transactions" [Paper]

with Jaime Arellano-Bover, Matteo Paradisi, and Liangjie Wu 

[CEPR DP No. 21799] Older versions: [RFBerlin DP No. 079/26] [IZA DP No. 1846]

Abstract: We study the labor-market effects of brand capital, a demand-side intangible asset that differentiates firms' products. Brand capital is difficult to study because its investments are typically unobserved. We leverage firm-to-firm trademark transfers, which create discrete changes in the ownership of legal rights over established brands. We link the universe of Italian trademark transfers to firm financial statements and matched employer-employee records, allowing us to document how acquiring brand capital affects firm scale, pay, labor composition, and labor shares. In a matched event-study design, trademark acquisitions raise intangible assets by 19%, sales by 8%, and employment by 6%, while leaving average weekly earnings unchanged. Since sales rise more than the wage bill, acquirers' labor shares fall. Employment gains are concentrated in market-facing work, as marketing and sales employment rises roughly twice as much as other employment. More generally, employment growth is concentrated among white-collar and managerial workers. Combining buyers and sellers, trademark transfers increase total sales and employment among transacting firms, and lower their combined labor share. Brand capital thus leads to firms' expansion, shifts labor demand toward market-facing tasks, and provides a micro-level channel through which demand-side intangible capital can lower labor shares.

Publications

"Unbundling the Effects of College on First-Job Search: Returns to Majors, Minors, and Extracurriculars" [Paper]

with Jaime Arellano-Bover, John M. Nunley and R. Alan Seals

Labour Economics, 2026

[Online Appendix] [Journal Link]

Abstract: We analyze the initial job-market matching of new US college graduates with a large-scale audit study conducted during 2016 and 2017, in which 36,880 résumés of college seniors were submitted to online job postings for business-related positions. We simulate the experience of US college students by incorporating variation in curricular and extracurricular activities. Our analysis reveals significant variation in callback rate returns to majors, with Biology and Economics majors receiving the highest rate, particularly in occupations involving high intensity of analytical and interpersonal skills. However, minors in History and Mathematics have precisely estimated zero effects on callback rates. Internship experiences that are social skills-oriented positively influence callbacks, yet this is not the case for analytical internships. Study abroad experiences enhance callback rates, predominantly in high interpersonal skill-intensive occupations. Listing both programming and data analysis skills significantly boosts callback rates. Our study provides a comprehensive characterization of which features of the college experience are more and less valuable during the high-stakes, first-job matching process.

Selected Work in Progress