This paper investigates the role that idiosyncratic uncertainty plays in shaping social preferences over the degree of labor market flexibility, in a general equilibrium model of dynamic labor demand where the productivity of firms evolves over time as a Geometric Brownian motion...

This paper investigates the effects of organizational and technological changes on jobstability of different occupational categories in France. We conduct an empirical analysis inwhich we make extensive use of a unique data set on a representative sample of Frenchestablishments...

A substantial number of young unemployed participate in active labor market programs(ALMP) in Germany each year. While the aims of these programs are clear – a fast reintegrationinto employment or enrollment in further education – a comprehensive analysis oftheir effectiveness has yet to be...

This paper examines whether the chances of job placements improve if unemployed persons are counselled by caseworkers who belong to the same social group, defined by gender, age, education, and nationality. Based on an unusually informative dataset, which links Swiss unemployed to their...

This study analyzes the treatment effects of public training programs for the unemployed inGermany. Based on propensity score matching methods we extend the picture that has beensketched in previous studies by estimating treatment effects of medium-term programs fordifferent sub-groups with...

When treatment effects of active labour market programmes are heterogeneous in anobservable way across the population, the allocation of the unemployed into differentprogrammes becomes a particularly important issue. In this paper, we present a statisticalmodel designed to improve the present...

Recent empirical evidence has found that employment services and small-businessassistance programmes are often successful at getting the unemployed back to work. Oneimportant concern of policy makers is to decide which of these two programmes is moreeffective and for whom...

We build a theoretical model to study whether a minimum wage can be welfare-improving if itis implemented in conjunction with an optimized nonlinear income tax. We consider this issuein a framework where search frictions on the labor market generate unemployment. Workersdiffer in productivity...

Based on a sequence of reforms in the Norwegian unemployment insurance (UI) system, weshow that activity-oriented UI regimes – i.e., regimes with a high likelihood of requiredparticipation in active labor market programs, duration limitations on unconditional UIentitlements, and high sanction...

In July 2004, the Belgian government intensified monitoring within the UnemploymentInsurance scheme. Workers claiming unemployment benefits for more than 13 months arenotified that past job-search behavior will be monitored 8 months later...