Temporary Employment, Job Flows and Productivity: A Tale of Two Reforms
利用意大利企业面板数据，研究学徒合同改革和固定期限合同改革对就业流动、资本密集度和生产率的不同影响，发现前者提升生产率而后者造成损失。
We investigate the effects of two reforms of temporary employment using panel data on Italian firms. We exploit variation in their implementation across regions and sectors for identification. Our results show that the reform of apprenticeship contracts increased job turnover and induced the substitution of external staff with firms’ apprentices, with an overall productivity-enhancing effect. The reform of fixed-term contracts instead did not produce the intended results: it induced a substitution of temporary employees in favour of external staff and reduced capital intensity, generating productivity losses. We estimate substitution elasticities across various types of temporary contracts that are consistent with this interpretation.