We show that a minimum wage introduced in the presence of asymmetric information about worker productivities will lead to lower unemployment levels than predicted by the standard labour market model with heterogeneous labour and symmetric information. -- minimum wages ; unemployment ; asymmetric...

Individual labour productivities are often unobservable for firms when hiring new workers. Job protection may prevent firms ex post from using information about labour productivities. We show that a binding minimum wage introduced in the presence of job protection will lead to lower unemployment...

Die Europäische Union hat sich verpflichtet, ihre CO2-Emissionen bis 2020 um 20% zu reduzieren. Für dieses Ziel ist die EU-Verordnung zu den Emissionsnormen für neue Personenkraftwagen von besonderer Bedeutung. Sie hat dazu beigetragen, dass die CO2-Emissionen pro Neuwagen in der EU bereits...

This paper focuses on the evaluation of an incentive program for firms implemented in southern Italy during the last decade. In the framework of the policy instruments aimed to reduce territorial disparities, and to support local development, territorial integrated projects (TIP) constituted a...

This paper describes the privatization program in Italy during the 1990s and puts that policy in the context of macroeconomic adjustment, general market deregulation, and promotion of private investment in the provision of public infrastructure. The wave of state divestitures reached Italy later...

This discussion paper reviews the literature on experiences with innovation under the existing emissions trading schemes in the USA. The basic result from this review is that the innovation effects triggered by emissions trading have been limited because a) targets were not constraining in the...

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, we warn analysts against the use of structural coeffcient estimates alone for deducing quantitative inferences concerning many policy experiments. Second, we offer a potential solution to the problem by proposing a mutatis mutandis approach to...

In this paper we analyse the current trend towards a higher degree of market integration in Europe and identify those aspects that are particularly relevant for Italy. The Italian involvement in this process appears comparatively modest: contributions from policy makers, practitioners and...

We investigate the contemporaneous mortality consequences of alcohol prohibition laws introduced in America between 1900 and 1920. We improve on existing studies by constructing a time-varying measure of prohibition at the state-level that corrects for the timing of prohibition enforcement and...

Special economic zones following the enormous success of China have been widely imitated. But it is to be entirely anticipated that the results would vary greatly. Earlier avatars of SEZs in the form of Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) and Export Promotion Zones (EPZs) were important in the export led...