This study analyzes real wage cyclicality for male full-time workers within employer-employeematches in Germany over the period 1984-2004. Five different wage measures arecompared: the standard hourly wage rate; hourly wage earnings including overtime andbonus pay; the effective wage, which takes...

Payroll taxes represent a major distortionary influence of governments on labor markets. Thispaper examines the role of payroll taxation and the social safety net for cyclical fluctuations ina nonmonetary economy with labor market frictions and unemployment insurance, when thelatter is only...

This paper analyzes the effects of different labor market institutions on inflation and outputvolatility. The eurozone offers an unprecedented experiment for this exercise: since 1999, nonational monetary policies have been implemented that could account for volatilitydifferences across member...

This paper investigates to what extent the tax and transfer systems in Europe protecthouseholds at different income levels against losses in current income caused by economicdownturns like the present financial crisis. We use a multi country micro simulation model toanalyse how shocks on market...

Using a longitudinal matched employer-employee data set for Portugal over the 1986-2005period, this study analyzes the heterogeneity in wages responses to aggregate labor marketconditions for newly hired workers and existing workers. Accounting for both worker and firmheterogeneity, the data...

This paper estimates an unobserved components model to explore the macro dynamics ofentrepreneurship in Spain and the US. We ask whether entrepreneurship exhibits hysteresis,defined as a macro dynamic structure in which cyclical fluctuations have persistent effects onthe natural rate of...

Rejuveniles are "grown-ups who cultivate juvenile tastes in products and entertain-ment". In this note, we study a standard AK growth model of overlapping gener-ations populated by rejuveniles. For our purposes, rejuveniles are old agents whoderive utility from "keeping up" their consumption...

By simplifying the computational tasks and by providing step-by-step explana-tions of the procedures required to study a linear dynamic rational expectations(LDRE) model, this paper and the accompanying \LDRE Toolbox" of Matalb func-tions guide a researcher with almost no experience in...

We study differences in the adjustment of aggregate real wages in the manufacturing sectorover the business cycle across OECD countries, combining results from different data anddynamic methods. Summary measures of cyclicality show genuine cross-countryheterogeneity even after controlling for...

This paper studies optimal unemployment benefit levels and optimal proportional income taxrates over the business cycle. Previous research suggests that policy makers should makeunemployment insurance (UI) dependent on the business cycle because the UI system canbe used to smooth consumption...