This paper aims at evaluating the effect of the amount of older workers exits (aged 50 or more) on the entries of youngsters at a local labour market level, during years 1985 - 2002. If we can observe some effect of the exits on the entries, it will shed light on the substitution between older...

Traditional (i.e. analytical) modelling practices in the social sciences rely on a very well established, although implicit, methodological protocol, both with respect to the way models are presented and to the kinds of analysis that are performed. Unfortunately, computer-simulated models often...

This paper presents some artificial stylised facts emerging in a simulated contestable market where firms interact with each other in taking their stay or go decision. I use nearly zero-intelligence firms: no optimisation is considered, and all the firms sell at a fixed price an equal quantity...

In this paper I give a tentative assessment of the methodological status of agent based simulations. I first show under which conditions ABS can be a complement to traditional modelling. I then consider whether they can be held as a sound methodology of their own. Various topics relevant to the...

The aim of this paper is to challenge a rather common but stereotyped opinion, according to which the elderly in Italy live their last working years with a smooth transition from stable jobs into retirement. I use the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) to put the main stylized facts about...

We use a unique data set providing administrative information on earnings by skill-level (blue collars, white collars), on the local stock of human capital and on several firm’s characteristics, including balance sheet data, to investigate the size of localized human capital externalities in...

In this paper we document a common sense idea: When an individual is searching for a new job, the longer it takes the more s/he will be available to adapt her/his skills, often with a worsening in status and/or wage. We used a dataset of administrative source, containing a sample of individuals'...