It is ironic that the travelogue of a French aristocrat became one of the canonical texts of American democracy. Even today, American liberals and conservatives rely on De la Démocratie en Amérique to support their arguments and assume that Tocqueville’s insights, including his conviction...

This article introduces the concept of household governance and investigates empirical differences in governance practices among Dutch households. It stresses informal household rules and conflict-handling strategies of cohabiting couples as important means to govern daily time allocation. The...

Job search models offer two complementary predictions about the effects of unemployment benefits on job search outcomes among unemployed workers. By raising workers reservation wages, unemployment benefits should contribute to both prolonged spell duration and improved post-unemployment job...

This paper surveys and compares national experience with performance management in European public employment services (PES) in the form of management by objectives (MBO). Part I of this paper reviews the relevant performance management literature and defines key terms. Part II presents the...

In the paper I examine sequences of school-to-work transitions in ten European countries by using explorative methods of optimal matching and cluster analysis. The process of labour market entry is observed for the five years following departure from school by examining monthly labour market...

In the context of the ongoing reforms on European labour markets the keyword flexicurity is presently gaining prominence. We therefore want to explore the importance of the flexicurity-concept on the example of the German Hartzreforms. Starting from the frequently used definition as a trade-off...

The international literature on active labour market programmes has generated inconsistent and confusing, but generally pessimistic, conclusions regarding their impact on the employment prospects of participants. This paper argues that much of this confusion is due to a general lack of attention...

Substantial theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been made in research on the implementation of EU policies during recent years. However, our findings have remained ambivalent and our theoretical insights disparate. It therefore seems high time to address some issues that cause...