Discussion paper

DP2387 Work Environment And Individual Background: Explaining Regional Shirking Differentials In A Large Italian Firm

The prevalence of shirking within a large Italian bank appears to be characterized by significant regional differentials. In particular, absenteeism and misconduct episodes are substantially more prevalent in the south. We consider a number of potential explanations for this fact: different individual backgrounds; group-interaction effects; sorting of workers across regions; differences in local attributes; different hiring policies and discrimination against southern workers. Our analysis suggests that individual backgrounds, group-interaction effects and sorting effects contribute to explain the north-south shirking differential. None of the other explanations appears to be of first-order importance.

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Citation

Ichino, A and G Maggi (2000), ‘DP2387 Work Environment And Individual Background: Explaining Regional Shirking Differentials In A Large Italian Firm‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 2387. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp2387