Simona Comi (University of Milano-Bicocca)
Limited evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of dual education systems. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the impact of Italy's Level I Apprenticeship reform, which integrates apprenticeships into the school curriculum, thereby establishing Italy's first comprehensive dual education model. Exploiting the staggered regional implementation of the reform, I apply multiple quasi-experimental techniques, including inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) and event study methods, to estimate the reform’s causal effects on labour market outcomes. The findings reveal a significant positive impact on employment probability and earnings, with considerable variation across demographic groups and firm characteristics. Specifically, dual education returns are more substantial for females and minors. Additionally, the reform has increased transitions to Level II apprenticeships and the probability of having an open-ended contract.