What determines the structure of labour market institutions? This paper argues that common explanations based on rent sharing are incomplete; unions, job protection, and egalitarian pay structures may have as much to do with social insurance of otherwise uninsurable risks as with rent sharing and...

We examine how tax avoidance in the form of trade in well-functioning asset markets affects the basic labor supply model. We show that tax arbitrge has dramatic implications for positive, normative and econometric analysis of how taxes affect work incentives.

What determines the structure of labour market institutions? This paper argues that common explanations based on rent sharing are incomplete; unions, job protection, and egalitarian pay structures may have as much to do with social insurance of otherwise uninsurable risks as with rent sharing and...

The common view that far-reaching labour market deregulation is the only remedy for high European unemployment is too simplistic. First, the ecidence suggests that deeply rooted social customs are an important cause of wage rigidity, going beyonf the legal constraints emphasized in the political...