We study the relationship between employee satisfaction and abnormal stock returns around the world, using lists of the “Best Companies to Work For” in 14 countries. We show that employee satisfaction is associated with positive abnormal returns in countries with high labor market...

Can stringent labor laws be efficient? Possibly, if they provide firms with a commitment device to not punish short-run failures and thereby incentivize the pursuit of value-maximizing innovative activities. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence that strong labor laws indeed appear to...

This paper investigates economic determinants and effects of aggregate union membership in the Federal Republic of Germany. We establish that in the long run, high union membership levels coincide not only with a large labour force, but also with a high level of real wages, a small dispersion of...

This paper develops a theoretical model of the <MI>simultaneous<D> determination of union wages and union membership, and empirically implements the model using the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The empirical literature on union wage gaps has long recognized that union membership may be...</d></mi>

The paper examines the appropriate domain of the Welfare State by exploring the areas in which free enterprise fails to provide adequate welfare state services. The paper outlines a simple coherent strategy for formulating government welfare state policy by identifying the relevant market...

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical aspects of the interaction between Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union and recent labour market developments. Policies meant to increase and stabilize labour incomes also tend to reduce employment and productivity: theory suggests that the latter...

In this paper we analyse the underlying causes behind Spanish unemployment which is now at 24%. We interpret this unfortunate outcome as the result of a series of adverse shocks, compounded by disinflationary policies and by a flawed system of labour market institutions. Our aim is to explain...

The rapid wage increases observed in Eastern Germany over the past two years have important implications for the direction taken by structural change in this region. These implications are not solely negative, and remain controversial in the public debate. This paper discusses four aspects of a...

A vast labour literature has found evidence of a 'glass ceiling', whereby women are under-represented among senior management. A key question remains the extent to which this reflects unobserved differences in productivity, preferences, prejudice, or systematically biased beliefs about the...