<Para ID="Par1">Sri Lanka’s Termination of Employment of Workmen Act (TEWA) requires that firms with 15 or more workers justify layoffs and provide generous severance pay to displaced workers, with smaller firms being exempted. Although formally subject to TEWA, firms in Export Promotion Zones (EPZs) do not...</para>

Unemployment insurance and employment protection are typically discussed and studied in isolation. ln this paper, we argue that they are tightly linked, and we focus on their joint optimal design in a simple model, with risk averse workers, risk neutral firms, and random shocks to productivity....

This paper investigates the welfare effects of labor market institutions, placing an emphasis on how the institutions’ effects are differentiated by socio-demographic subgroups. We study how life satisfaction is affected by employment protection and the level and duration of unemployment...

Family size equivalency scale is widely used in income inequality studies to deal with the differences in the size of each household, and it is widely accepted that the use of different scales significantly alters the estimated values of the inequality indexes and produces U-shaped pattern. This...

This study attempts to measure what effects the direction and size of contributions of a number of different income sources at the household level has on the changes in inequality indexes in Korea between 1988 and 2002. Based on the Urban Household Income and Expenditure Survey (UHIES) from the...

This paper investigates how to test and correct for nonresponse selection bias induced by missing income information when estimating wage functions. The novelty is to use the variation in interviewer-specific response rates as exclusion restriction within the framework of a sample selection...

The micro- and macroeconomic effects of the declining power of trade unions have been hotly debated by economists and policymakers. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence shows that the impact of the decline on economic aggregates and firm performance is not an overwhelming cause for concern....

The level of compliance with minimum wage laws often depends on factors specific to each labor market. In most developing countries, a substantial share of workers still earns less than the legal minimum. Enforcement has not kept up with growth in regulations to protect workers from low wages...

It is a well-established view amongst economists that goodlooking people have a better chance of employment and can earn more than those who are less physically attractive. A "beauty premium" is particularly apparent in jobs where there is a productivity gain associated with good looks, though...

The economic situation of young people is unsatisfactory. Educational inequalities have been widening for over a decade, due to a sharp decline in the results of the most highly disadvantaged students. The unemployment rate for the 20-24 age bracket has not dropped below 16% for nearly 30 years....