Unemployment in the 1930s was low in France by international standards, nevertheless there was a virulent drive to expel immigrant workers as a means of limiting domestic unemployment. This involved not only the repatriation of the foreign chômeur, but also legislation to displace the foreign...

The paper examines the contentious issue of the extent of surplus labour that remains in China.  China was an extreme example of a surplus labour economy, but the rapid economic growth during the period of economic reform requires a reassessment of whether the second stage of the Lewis model...

We study the role of preferences in the process of unemployment benefit determination. Perhaps surprisingly, survey evidence for the UK suggests that both the employed and unemployed wish to see a more generous level of unemployment benefits.

We present a simple model where unemployment benefits are determined in an economy in which there is endogenous delay in finding a job so that workers desire insurance against the possibility of unemployment.

What drives migration and remittance behaviour in South Africa, and what are the implications for public policy? This paper evaluates existing empirical evidence, posits a simple theoretical model and undertakes a fresh evaluation using longitudinal data spanning 1993 to 2004 from KwaZula-Natal...

A nationally representative rural labour force survey of Chine is analysed to explore the allocation of labour among farming, local non-farming and temporary migration activites. The returns to non-farming greatly exceed those to farming, for reasons which are explored.

A suvey of rural migrants employed in enterprises in four Chinese cities is analysed. The process of migration is analysed from three perspectives : that of the rural migrants themselves, of their urban employers, and of the government. They survey results are combined with marcroeconomic...

What is the impact of joining the European Union on a small, less developed economy? This is the general question driving this research paper. In particular, the role of factor movements in explaining real wage behavior in Portugal after its entry in the European Union (EU) is evaluated. Based...

Joining the EU is a natural experiment that drastically opens the borders of richer European countries to immigration.  However, migration flows from southern Europe responded little to  free migration after 1986, despite substantial differentials in real GDP per worker.  The simple...