This paper deals with a critical assessment and a reestimation of the “non–accelerating inflation rate of unemployment” (NAIRU) for Germany. There are quite a few obstacles to perceiving the NAIRU as an understandable and easy–to–use analytical instrument, suitable for economic policy: the possibility of a non–vertical Phillips curve (e.g. in times of low inflation), the occurrence of shocks an...

Interactions between Private and Public Sector Wages We examine the interactions between public and private sector wages per employee in OECD countries. The growth of public sector wages and of public sector employment positively affects the growth of private sector wages. Moreover, total factor productivity, the unemployment rate and the degree of urbanisation are also important determinants o...

The Ins and Outs of European Unemployment In this paper we study the contribution of inflows and outflows to the dynamics of unemployment in three European countries, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. We compare performance in these three countries making use of both administrative and labor force survey data. We find that the impact of the 1980s reforms in Britain is evident in the contrib...

Who Pays for It? The Heterogeneous Wage Effects of Employment Protection Legislation Theory predicts that the wage effects of government-mandated severance payments depend on workers’ and firms’ relative bargaining power. This paper estimates the effect of employment protection legislation (EPL) on workers’ individual wages in a quasi-experimental setting, exploiting a reform that introduced un...

This paper studies the impact of tax-financed universal health coverage schemes on macroeconomic aspects of labor supply, asset holding, inequality, and welfare, while taking into account features common to developing economies, such as informal employment and tax avoidance, by constructing a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. Agents have different education...

Heterogeneity in Real Wage Cyclicality This paper presents evidence that real wage cyclicality can be a particularly heterogeneous parameter, depending on different worker characteristics and also on the specific stage of the business cycle. Using matched employer-employee panel data for Portugal covering the period 1986-2004, real wages are shown to be considerably more procyclical during rece...

Product Market Regulation, Firm Selection and Unemployment This paper analyzes the effect of Product Market Regulation (PMR) on unemployment in a search model with heterogeneous multiple-worker firms. In our setup, PMR modifies the distribution of firm productivities, thereby affecting the equilibrium rate of unemployment. We distinguish between PMR related to entry costs and PMR that generates...

Does the Quality of Industrial Relations Matter for the Macro Economy? A Cross-Country Analysis Using Strikes Data Using international data, we investigate whether the quality of industrial relations matters for the macro economy. We measure industrial relations inversely by strikes – which proxy we cross-check with an industrial relations reputation indicator – and our macro performance outcom...

This paper incorporates assignment frictions and sector-specific training into the Roy model of occupational choice. Assignment frictions represent the extent of the market whereas differences in sector-specific training reflect worker specialization. This framework thus captures Adam Smith’s idea that the extent of the market determines the division of labor. The paper demonstrates the way in ...

To clarify the causal links between financial activity and economic growth, three theoretical models are analyzed and a structural equation path models is estimated. In the modeling part, poverty traps result from large fixed costs or high proportions of real investment to run a financial sector. Human capital allocated to financial activities will improve long-run levels but may reduce growth ...