Using a data set of individual labor disputes brought to court over the years 1990 to 2003 in France, we examine the impact of the enforcement of Employment Protection Legislation on labor market outcomes. First, we present a simple theoretical model showing that judicial case outcomes cannot be...

This paper analyses information from survey data collected in the framework of the Eurosystem's Wage Dynamics Network (WDN) on patterns of firm-level adjustment to shocks. We document that the relative intensity and the character of price vs. cost and wage vs. employment adjustments in response...

The Generalized Calvo and the Generalized Taylor model of price and wage-setting are, unlike the standard Calvo and Taylor counterparts, exactly consistent with the distribution of durations observed in the data. Using price and wage micro-data from a major euro-area economy (France), we develop...

We develop a simple model to study the interactions between a supplier's financial constraints and contract incompleteness in a vertical relationship. Production complexity increases the extent of contract incompleteness and the hold-up problem, which generates a cost when the supplier needs...

This paper describes a forecasting model of the French consumer price index. Its purpose is to allow for rapid and detailed analysis of recent inflation developments, as well as frequent forecasts. Its characteristics are therefore the following: a small number of equations, a monthly frequency,...

To explain the existence of stop-loss rules in financial institutions, we develop a principal/agent model, where an investment firm (the principal) has to rely on the expertise of a trader (the agent) to invest in a risky asset (a future contract, say). When the trader faces a limited liability...

This paper deals with tests of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure on French, German, UK and US short-term interest rates. Three tests are examined: the first is based on forward rates and the other two are based on the interest rates spread. First, we show that the puzzle...

This paper focuses on the expectations hypothesis of the term structure on long-term government bonds. Standard tests (based on the relationships between the change in the long-term rate and the spread and between the change in the short-term rate and the spread) lead to a puzzle close to the...

Central banks should dispose of a precise measure of the structural inflation, i.e. the inflation adjusted from the economic cycle. This component of inflation, also called core inflation, is deduced from a structural VAR. Economists agree upon the long-term neutrality of inflation on...