The functioning of the labor market often has been stressed as a clear determinant in explaining poverty trends in developed countries. In this paper, we analyze the role of gender wage discrimination on household poverty rates in several EU countries, linking two related phenomena that rarely...

This Selected Issues paper analyzes the challenge of population aging for Belgium. It argues that the aging strategy should be broadened to include more explicitly the objective of raising employment rates to foster potential growth. The paper discusses assumptions underlying the official aging...

The Selected Issues paper on Finland underlies public finances and structural reform. The structural reforms encompassing labor and product markets as well the pension system would substantially improve the outlook for fiscal sustainability. Reductions in labor and product market inefficiencies...

The staff report for the 2004 Article IV Consultation on Finland highlights economic background and policy discussions. Sustained economic growth, among the highest in the industrialized world, has been underpinned by productivity gains led by the high technology electronics sector. The...

Using unobserved stochastic components and Kalman filter techniques, the paper assesses the relative importance of transitory and permanent shifts in Italian real GDP within a production function framework. Evidence suggests that the increase in hours worked that has accompanied pension and...

Este trabajo explora la dinámica de participación laboral de las mujeres en Chile utilizando una base de datos longitudinales contenidas en la Encuesta de Protección Social. El objetivo primordial es evaluar en qué medida el nacimiento de los hijos puede afectar la decisión de empleo de las...

We perform a dynamic general equilibrium analysis of the observed increase in the average weight of American adults during the last 40 years. Data suggests that this increase in weight can be attributed to a dramatic rise in the consumption of foods prepared away from home, which resulted in...

Pakistan's knitwear exports had been struggling since the quota phase-out until 2009. A particular feature of Pakistan's garment industry is that hiring more male sewing operators at piece rates. Recently, a few surviving knitwear factories have adopted a strategy of shifting from male...