This paper critically discusses the theoretical and empirical literature on the quantitative andqualitative employment impact of technological change, compares the relative explanatorypower of the competing theories, and explains in detail the macro and micro evidence on theissue, with reference...

The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and ensuing government crackdown affectedChinese nationals not only at home but around the world. The U.S. government responded tothe events in China by enacting multiple measures to protect Chinese nationals present inthe U.S. It first suspended all forced...

Conventional wisdom about the relationship between income distribution and economicdevelopment has been subjected to dramatic transformations in the past century. Whileclassical economists advanced the hypothesis that inequality is beneficial for growth, theneoclassical paradigm dismissed the...

Based on representative data, the German Micro-Census, we provide an overview of thedevelopment of self-employment and entrepreneurship in Germany between 1991 and 2010,the first two decades after reunification. We investigate the socioeconomic background ofthese individuals, their education,...

Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are commonworldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. Weexploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to supportmanufacturing jobs...

It is puzzling that people feel quite unhappy when they become unemployed, while at thesame time active labor market policies are needed to bring unemployed back to work morequickly. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we investigate whether there isindeed such a puzzle. First, we...

Unlike other disability systems in developed economies, the Spanish system allows partiallydisabled individuals to work while receiving disability benefits. The puzzle is, however, thatemployment rates in this group of individuals are very low. The aim of this paper is tounderstand the...

This paper studies optimal unemployment benefit levels and optimal proportional income taxrates over the business cycle. Previous research suggests that policy makers should makeunemployment insurance (UI) dependent on the business cycle because the UI system canbe used to smooth consumption...

Worker-level panel data are used to analyse the separate employment effects of increases in the social security taxes paid by employers and increases in the minimum wage in Turkey between 2002 and 2005. Variation over time and among low-wage workers in the ratio of total labour costs to the...

Limited access of entrepreneurs to credit constrains the creation and growth of private firms.In Africa, access to credit is particularly limited for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) dueto unclear property rights and the lack of assets that can be used as collateral. This paperpresents a...