This paper addresses the question of why high unemployment rates tend to persist even after their proximate causes have …

The paper examines the relative effectiveness of two policy proposals in reducing unemployment and working poverty …: unemployment vouchers and low-wage subsidies. The unemployment vouchers are targeted exclusively at the unemployed (especially the … workers are (i.e. the more their wages rise with employment duration), the more effective will unemployment vouchers be …

The analysis provides a new explanation for two widespread problems concerning European unemployment policy: the … disappointingly small effect of many past reform measures on unemployment, and the political difficulties in implementing more … implement broad-based reform strategies. Our analysis suggests that major unemployment policies are characterised by economic …