This paper starts from the observation that despite their very high levels of unemployment, major European countries have devoted few resources to reducing it. This suggests that there is little political concern about high unemployment. I develop a model where the government tries to increase...

In this paper we present an investigation of unemployment persistence in Japan, the United States and fourteen European economies. We concentrate on the sources of slow adjustment in the labour market, such as sluggishness in labour demand and persistence in the employment and wage targets of...

This Paper analyses the evolution of quantitative measures of employee rents in Europe during the nineties, using the European Household Panel Survey. I look at two classes of measures: wage differentials between workers along industry and firm size dimensions; and estimated welfare differences...

We estimate the effect of immigrant flows on native employment in Western Europe, and then ask whether the employment consequences of immigration vary with institutions that affect labour market flexibility. Reduced flexibility may protect natives from immigrant competition in the near term, but...

The distributional effects of the minimum wage are analysed in a model where skilled and unskilled labour enter the production function. It is argued that distributional goals are best achieved by letting the labour market clear and achieving redistribution through taxes and transfers.

This paper studies the link between volatility, labour market flexibility, and international trade. International differences in labour market regulations affect how firms can adjust to idiosyncratic shocks. These institutional differences interact with sector specific differences in volatility...

We study a number of mechanisms through which an economy can be stuck at a high unemployment equilibrium because a poor labour market is associated with support for poor policy. These mechanisms are consistent with the relative scarcity of measures that have been undertaken to cure unemployment....

This paper assesses the effects of applying VAT or a sales tax on (intermediate or final) sales of the financial sector. It uses a CGE Model calibrated for a small open economy. It highlights the differentiated sectoral and redistributional effects of these taxes and shows the importance of the...