Research

Working Papers

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

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. Training subsidies introduced at the onset of the diffusion process are about 10% more effective than those enacted ten years later.

"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

Revise and resubmit, Labour Economics

[CESifo WP No. 12188, Oct. 2025] [IZA DP No. 17552, Dec. 2024]

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.

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

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

[VisitINPS Scholars Program]

Abstract: Brand capital is an intangible asset that differentiates a firm’s products from competitors and has grown in aggregate importance over recent decades. This paper studies how brand capital shapes labor demand, with a focus on heterogeneity between production workers and workers that favor market expansion. We leverage newly linked Italian administrative data that combines the trademark registry with the universe of firms’ financial statements and employer-employee social security records. This dataset allows us to observe firm-to-firm trademark transactions and use these events to identify the effects of brand-capital investment. We develop a model of production and market access with three inputs: production labor, expansionary labor, and brand capital. In the model, firms can invest in brand capital by purchasing existing trademarks. This framework delivers testable predictions and informs our empirical strategy. Using a matched difference-in-differences design, we find that acquiring a trademark increases firms’ intangible assets, boosts sales and value added, expands employment and the wage bill while keeping wages unchanged, and reduces the labor share. Extending the analysis to both trademark buyers and sellers, we show that the trademark market improves allocative efficiency: buyers' gains exceed sellers' losses, leading to net positive effects on output. These gains come with a decline in the combined labor share. Trademark acquisitions lead to employment gains that are concentrated among expansionary workers -- those in marketing and sales -- rather than production workers. This suggests that brand capital is not skill-neutral and complements expansionary labor. As a result, within-firm inequality rises.

Selected Work in Progress

Wage Disclosure, Amenities and Labor Search (with Ruben Piazzesi and Loujaina Abdel Wahed)

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