This paper proposes a model of the US unemployment rate which accounts for both its asymmetry and its long memory. Our approach, based on the tests of Robinson (1994), introduces fractional integration and nonlinearities simultaneously into the same framework (unlike earlier studies employing a...

A firm monopsonistically hires labor from a pool containing both skilled and unskilled workers. The marginal value of a worker depends on the match between the job and the worker's skill level. Unskilled workers can have negative productivity if they are placed in a skilled job. The firm cannot...

Border regions are likely to play a critical role within the spatial dynamics initiated by the enlargement of the EU. This paper deals with the effects of integration on labour markets in border regions. Within the framework of different theoretical approaches, the effects of integration on...

Recent studies of border effects have focused on the intra-country and inter-country comparison of trade flows. It is found that borders have a negative impact on the size of cross-border trade. In order to estimate border effects on a regional level one needs not only data on inter-country but...

In this paper we find evidence that the new economic geography approach is able to describe and explain the spatial characteristics of an economy, in our case the German economy. Using German district data we estimate the structural parameters of a new economic geography model as developed by...

Wie viele Menschen aus den mittel- und osteuropäischen Ländern (MOEL) werden von dem mit dem EU-Beitritt verbundenen Recht auf Freizügigkeit Gebrauch machen und nach Westen in die "alten" EU-Länder wandern? Die vorgestellten Simulationen ergeben eine Bandbreite für das...

Was bestimmt das individuelle Wanderungsverhalten? Herkömmliche migrationsökonomische Theorieansätze greifen oft zu kurz und überschätzen deshalb die grenzüberschreitenden Wanderungsbewegungen bei weitem. Dieses Diskussionspapier stellt die bisherige Optik auf den Kopf und sucht nach...

The low mobility of people in Europe is considered a problem for adjustment to asymmetric shocks and regional convergence in the European Monetary Union. We suggest a complement to the traditional migration theories, the insider advantages approach to explain why most Europeans prefer to stay....

The findings of recent studies on adjustment processes suggest that regional labour markets in the EU and the US differ significantly. Low wage flexibility and limited labour mobility in European countries involve persistent unemployment differentials across regions. However, the spatial...

This paper argues that global games need global rules. Times of globalisation call for an international framework to regulate efficiently international movements of people. More than ever before, migration is a global phenomenon. This paper discusses the economic necessity of a shift from...