Conventional labor theory argues that wages are determined by the interaction of labor supply and demand. Policy analysis on wage rigidity has emphasized distortions arising from exogenous intervention. One emphasis in adjustment lending has been deregulation of labor markets. Efficiency wage...

Czechoslovakia (CSFR) faces marked challenges for successfully accomplishing its transition to a market economy. In recent years the economy was characterized by a good deal of internal and external equilibrium, making possible the current market oriented reforms without the complications which...

In the 1970s, Chile underwent profound structural changes in market regulation, public sector policies, and foreign trade. These changes produced notable economic strain and high open unemployment. After the financial crisis of the 1980s the Chilean economy adjusted successfully and resumed...

The current economic crisis in Argentina is only partly the result of inappropriate domestic policies to cope with the recent external shocks. Years of inappropriate policies have damaged Argentina's economy. Even if no external shocks had occurred, the country would still have to change the...

The ratio of nonwage labor costs (for social security, pensions, vacation days, severence compensation, and the like) to direct wage costs is proportionately higher in Europe and Latin America than in Asia and Africa - largely because workers there are protected more by regulations. The...

Implicit in standard macroeconomics of adjustment is the assumption of well-integrated labor markets that are responsive to relative prices. But segmentation of the labor market is usually said to be an important source of labor market rigidities. In particular, if segmentation involves...