EMU started with eleven member countries as scheduled on January 1, 1999. The paper shows that the primacy of politics over economics in this decision could have serious consequences concerning the stability of EMU in the transition phase. Speculative attacks against currencies which are in...

“Make work pay” strategies are an integral part of labour market policy instruments in developed countries. There are two considerations behind these measures. Firstly, subsidizing employment at the bottom of the income distribution should motivate the unemployed to accept jobs with lower...

Der Beitrag geht auf theoretischer und empirischer Ebene der Frage nach, wie Lohnsubventionen und Mindestlöhne in Bezug auf Beschäftigungschancen interagieren und wie diese Interaktionseffekte zwischen einzelnen Arbeitnehmergruppen variieren können. Unter der Annahme eines neoklassischen...

We examine theoretically and empirically how wage subsidies and minimum wages interact regarding to employment opportunities, and how these interactive effects vary across different groups of workers. Assuming a neoclassical labor market and heterogeneous work, subsidized lowskilled worker...

This paper discusses whether European Monetary Union (EMU) will promote labor-market reforms. Labor-market reforms carry a double dividend: not only structural unemployment but also equilibrium inflation is decreased. However, with labor-market reforms being implemented nationally, the latter...

This paper explores the puzzling inaction of governments in Europe concerning labor market liberalization. Although a more liberalized labor market is a prerequisite for mitigating mass unemployment, very little in terms of actual reforms has been achieved. This puzzle can be solved by adopting...