Cover -- Contents -- Abstract -- I. Introduction -- II. Defining Informality -- III. Informality: Putting Paraguay on the Map -- IV. Linkages with Growth, Inequality and Institutions -- V. Informality, Labor and Firms in Paraguay -- VI. The Role of Public Policy -- VII. Final Remarks -- A....

Over the last 15 years, the reforms of employment protection legislation (EPL) in European countries have mainly eased hiring and firing restrictions for temporary employment while leaving the strict EPL provisions for regular or permanent contracts unchanged. Recent reforms in France follow...

This paper addresses two questions. First, under what circumstances will a centralized wage-bargaining system offer higher output and employment than a decentralized system? Second, what is the relationship between the degree of wage centralization and inflation? The paper argues that...

Since the global financial crisis, sector-level bargaining has come under renewed scrutiny. While in Southern Europe, the crisis raised concerns about the role of collective bargaining as an obstacle to labor market adjustment, in Northern Europe it was perceived more favourably and, according...

In many countries, notably across Europe, collective bargaining coverage is enhanced by government-issued extensions that widen the reach of collective agreements beyond their signatory parties to all firms and workers in the same sector. This paper analyses the causal impact of such extensions...

The paper analyzes the macroeconomic implications of different systems of industrial relations. After reviewing the relevant literature, and analyzing cross-country evidence, the paper focuses on the experience of centralized bargaining characterizing Spain in the period 1979-86. The paper...