In this paper, we analyse the influence of firm characteristics and the regional environment on employment growth of East German manufacturing firms between 1992 and 1996. Our results confirm the negative impact of firm size and age on employment growth found in various studies for several...

Reputation indexes of employment protection have proven popular constructs in studies of the covariation of labor market institutions and macroeconomic outcomes. Portugal occupies an unenviable rank order in such measures of the stringency of employment protection. We critique this reputation in...

Total employment in Germany is supposed to increase if people could realize their desired working hours. However, this back-of-the-envelope calculation overestimates the effect of loosening hours constraints, because even in a very flexible labor market there will exist hours restrictions for...