Youth and the Crisis

The recent recession has led to an ongoing crisis in the youth labour market in Europe. This timely book deals with a number of areas related to the context, choices and experiences of young people, the consequences of which resonate throughout their lives. The focus of the contributions to this volume is on issues which, whilst undoubtedly important, have thus far received less attention than they arguably deserve. The first part of the book is concerned with issues related to education and training, covering matters such as the role of monopsony in training, the consequences of over-education, and the quality of educational institutions from primary to tertiary. The second part is primarily concerned with the long-term consequences of short-term choices and experiences including contributions on health-related choices, health consequences later in life, factors affecting the home-leaving decision, as well as an analysis of the increasing intergenerational transmission of inequality; a trend which accelerated during the recession. The last part of the book deals with issues related to youth unemployment and NEET - the direct consequence of the recession. This book contains a number of innovative analyses reporting significant findings that contrast with standard models. Some of the more interesting results directly contradict conventional wisdom on a number of topics from the importance of monopsony in training markets to the importance of transitory income changes on consumption of addictive goods. This book is suitable for those who study labor economics, political economy as well as employment and unemployment.

Gianluigi Coppola is Lecturer in Economics at the Department of Economic Science and Statistics, University of Salerno, Italy. Niall O'Higgins is Senior Research Specialist in the ILO's Youth Employment Programme and Professor of Economics at the University of Salerno, Italy.

1. Editor's Introduction Youth and their future Part I: Education and training - choices and outcomes 2. Monopsony power and work-based training 3. Overeducation: A disease of the school-to-work transition system 4. Should I stay or should I go? Dropping Out from University: an Empirical Analysis of Students' Performance 5. University Dropout rates in Italy 6. The future has early roots. Learning outcomes and school's effectiveness in Tuscany's primary education system Part II: Short-term choices with long-term consequences: Health, Home-leaving and intergenerational mobility 7. Smoking, drinking, never thinking of Tomorrow? Income and risky choices amongst young adults in the UK. 8. Obesity and the economic performance of young people in Italy 9. Leaving home and housing prices. The experience of Italian youth emancipation 10. Leaving Home and Poverty before and after the economic crisis in Southern European Countries 11. Youth unemployment and health over 50: evidence for the European countries 12. Intergenerational equity and intergenerational mobility in Italy: an analysis from SHIW PART III Youth labour markets, NEET and the crisis 13. Youth re-employment probabilities in a gender perspective: the case of Italy 14. The regional impact of the crisis on young people in different EU countries 15. Young people in transitions: conditions, indicators and policy implications. To NEET or not to NEET?