A matching model in the line of Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) is augmented with a low- skill labor market and firing costs. It is shown that even with flexible wages unemployment is higher among the low-skilled and increases with skill-biased technological change. The two main reasons are that...

Not only the level of aggregate unemployment but also the properties of its dynamics are an important topic in macroeconomics and labor economics. Several models like e.g. matching models with endogenous job destruction explicitly predict an asymmetric pattern in the evolution of unemployment,...

We argue in the present paper that the Stability and Growth Pact and its application can be improved, taking into account the experience gained during the last years. The reform debate should focus on the fundamental economic rationale and the initial orientation of the Pact. It puts more weight...

We argue in the present paper that the Stability and Growth Pact and its application can be improved, taking into account the experience gained during the last years. The reform debate should focus on the fundamental economic rationale and the initial orientation of the Pact. It puts more weight...