The paper proposes an intertemporal equilibrium model with monopolistic competition and free entry to explain the nexus between business formation and medium run growth. An investment externality is identified that results in underaccumulation of capital in the decentralized market equilibrium...

Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension schemes are becoming increasingly unsustainable in the face of drastic population aging. Simultaneously, the contribution rates may aggravate an already serious unemployment problem. A regime switch to a funded system could help to alleviate the unemployment problem...

This paper investigates the dynamic consequences of demographic change and various pension reform scenarios for Austria. The analysis is based on a computable overlapping-generations model with life-cycle labor supply, savings, and search unemployment. The public sector is decomposed into...

Eastern enlargement of the EU promises gains, but also imposes fiscal costs on incumbent countries. A sensitive issue concerns immigration, jobs and wages. We address these issues in a general equilibrium framework, both analytically and through numerical simulations. Analytical results identify...

This paper considers the role of flexicurity when jobs must be reallocated from a declining, traditional sector to a skill intensive expanding sector. Workers initially decide whether to acquire qualifications for skill-intensive tasks or to accept a less demanding traditional job. Unemployment...

The gains in life expectancy are expected to double the dependency ratio and increase population by 10% in Switzerland until 2050. To quantify the effects on social security and public finances, we use an overlapping generations model with five margins of labor supply: labor market...

This paper discusses transition strategies that might be used in moving from an income tax to consumption based business taxes in the form of an R-base cash-flow tax, an R+F-base tax, or an ACE (allowance for corporate equity) tax. While these three taxes have attractive neutrality properties,...