At the turn of the millennium three frequently cited potential causes of new challenges for wage policy in Germany are revisited in this study: skill-biased technological progress, the increasing international integration of labor and product markets, and the monetary integration of the EMU....

This paper reports on ongoing research on the interactions between product regulation and labor market outcomes. In particular, I summarize work on the employment effects of shop-closing regulation in the retail and other related sectors. Evidence on employment in the retail sector from Germany,...

This paper develops a model of search on the labour market with training. The model reveals how the tax system can restore the social optimum if the Hosios condition is not satisfied in the private equilibrium. Furthermore, the effects are explored of a second-best reform from average to...

The paper develops a unified general equilibrium model includingsavings with overlapping generations, investment and search unemploament. Long-run analytical results for the small open economy identify capital accumulation as a prime transmission channel. The effects of integration on...

This paper studies a model of the distribution of income under bounded needs. Utility derived from any given good reaches a bliss point at a finite consumption level of that good. On the other hand, introducing new varieties always increases utility. It is assumed that each variety is owned by a...

We construct a two sector general equilibrium model in which one sector produces a homogeneous good and the other sector produces a vertically differentiated good. We demonstrate that uniform (across sectors) and (Hicks) neutral technologies change can cause an increase in the skill premium.

To explain the rise in the college wage premium in developed economies in the past decades, the present paper examines the effects of technological progress on workers' effort incentives, which determine the effective labor supply. Five effort incentive effects of technological progress are...

To examine how human capital accumulation influences both economic growth and income quality, we carefully endogenize the demand and supply of skills. We explicitly introduce the costs and externalities in education, and examine how both relate to learning-by-doing and R&D intensity. In...

Between 1960 and 1997, life expectancy at birth of Americans increased approximately 10% - from 69,7 to 76,5 years - and it has been estimated that the value of life extension during this period nearly equaled the gains in tangible consumption. While life expectancy has tended to increase, there...