Standard search models are inconsistent with the amount of frictional wage dis- persion found in U.S. data. We resolve this apparent puzzle by modeling skill development (learning by doing on the job, skill loss during unemployment) and duration dependence in unemployment benefits in a random on...

The reservation wage is an integral part of most theories of involuntary unemployment. We use panel data to examine the empirical determinants of the reservation wage - in particular the inßuence of previous wages - and consider what this implies for the evolution of the natural rate of...

The classical Salant-condition for the comparison of the mean interrupted spell length of the stock of unemployed and the mean completed spell length of the corresponding flow can be substantially weakened: for a NWUE [New Worse than Used in Expectation] distribution the former is greater than...

A firm monopsonistically hires labor from a pool containing both skilled and unskilled workers. The marginal value of a worker depends on the match between the job and the worker's skill level. Unskilled workers can have negative productivity if they are placed in a skilled job. The firm cannot...

Rising wage inequality in the U.S. and Britain (especially in the 1980s) and rising continental European unemployment (with rather stable wage inequality) have led to a popular view in the economics profession that these two phenomena are related to negative relative demand shocks against the...

The paper investigates whether (unsubsidised) fixed-term contracts (FTCs) are a means of integration for the unemployed in the West German labour market. This is done by analysing whether entering into an FTC improves the employment opportunities of an unemployed person in terms of the...

Aufbauend auf der Hypothese, dass Arbeitsmärkte durch unvollständige Information charakterisiert sind, werden in diesem Arbeitspapier neuere Entwicklungen innerhalb eines Zweiges informationsökonomischer Ansätze vorgestellt: der Suchtheorie. Dabei werden ausführlich insbesondere jene...

Diese Arbeit untersucht empirisch den Zusammenhang von Beschäftigung und Lohnstrukturen zwischen sowie innerhalb von Qualifikations- und Altersgruppen. Zunächst werden Substitutionselastizitäten zwischen Qualifikations- und Altersgruppen geschätzt und die Lohnveränderungen bestimmt, die...

This paper analyzes changes in the risk of unemployment and changes in the distribution of unemployment duration for the 26 to 41 years old working population in West-Germany during the 1980ties and 1990ties. The comprehensive IAB employment subsample 1975- 1997 is used for the analysis. It...

This paper empirically analyzes the distribution of unemployment durations in West- Germany before and after the changes during the mid 1980s in the maximum entitlement periods for unemployment benefits for elderly unemployed. The analysis is based on the comprehensive IAB employment subsample...