Putnam (1995)'s seminal work was one of the first to describe the decline of social capital in the US after the 1960s, a period that saw a large increase in the flow of immigrants into the US. Using the Volunteer Supplement of the September Sample of the Current Population Survey (CPS) between...

Using data on Israeli closures inside the West Bank, we provide novel evidence on the labor market effects of conflict-induced restrictions to mobility. To identify the effects we exploit the fact that the placement of physical barriers by Israel was exogenous to local labor market conditions....

The present study examines the evolution of employment and labour market trends in the new EU member states (NMS), the accession countries (ACs) and the countries of Southeastern Europe (SEE) over the past decade and a half. It focuses on selected labour market indicators and compares them with...

The 2004 accession of Eastern European countries to the EU has generated concerns about the influx of low-skill immigrants to those countries which did not impose restrictions to immigration, namely Ireland, Sweden, and the UK. However, there is lack of recent systematic evidence on the level of...

Gegenstand der vorliegenden Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Sozialordnung sind die Auswirkungen der geplanten EU-Osterweiterung auf die Arbeitsmärkte und die öffentlichen Finanzen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Zur Abschätzung des Migrationspotentials nach der...

In Switzerland a sudden policy uncertainty shock happened in February 2014 with the close and largely unexpected acceptance of a referendum aiming at limiting free movement of persons. The referendum requires Switzerland to reintroduce annual quotas for immigrants within three years. The...

The global financial and economic crisis – including two euro area recessions in 2008-2009 and 2011-2013 – has had a heavy impact on euro area labour markets. A notable feature throughout the crisis has been the considerable degree of cross-country heterogeneity of labour market adjustments...

This volume was prepared by Jens Ruhose while he was working at the Ifo Institute. It was completed in December 2014 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It includes four self-contained chapters that contribute to the understanding of the...