Prior to the recession of 2008/09 household saving was extremely low in the United States. In the context of the recession the saving rate has increased by about 2 percentage points to close to 4%. Such a rise is in line with the record from previous recessions. The study argues that, this time,...

Social expenditure in Poland appears to increase regional employment disparities. In particular, the farmers' social fund (KRUS) seems to contribute to the rising regional dispersion in the number of recipients of social transfers. This is the result of KRUS benefits being poorly related to...

Regional income and labour market disparities in Poland are characterised by three dimensions: the gap between the western and the eastern parts of the country, the privileged position of the capital region and rising differences between rural and urban regions. Disparities in labour markets are...

This study reviews the labour market in Cyprus, with the focus on immigration and wage indexation, in the context of euro area participation and the need to safeguard competitiveness. Assessed vis-à-vis the usual macroeconomic and Lisbon benchmarks the Cypriot labour market performs better than...

Unemployment has fallen considerably during the recent period of record growth in the Czech economy. This has ended a long period of relatively jobless growth during which GDP was driven by advances in productivity and capital deepening rather than rises in employment. This country focus...

In recent years, Slovakia has introduced wide-ranging reforms in the tax, pension, social and health care systems. These reforms have increased incentives to work, to create jobs and to invest, and have thus fostered growth and economic catching-up. The supply-side driven growth has so far...