We use a calibrated general equilibrium model with heterogeneous labor and search to evaluate the quantitative effects of various labor tax cut scenarios. The focus is on skill heterogeneity combined with downward wage rigidities at the low end of the skill ladder. Workers can take jobs for...

This study was prepared by Stefan Lachenmaier while he was working with the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. It was completed in March 2007 and was accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Economics Department of the University of Munich (LMU). The subject of this study is an econometric...

This paper evaluates the implications for employment, productivity and wages of allowing for more flexibility in weekly hours worked introduced in the recent Spanish labour market reform ("the 2012 reform"). A crucial aspect of the model will be the extent to which firms will be able to choose...

One of the key issues in economics is the explanation of unemployment and its variation across different economies. Modern mainstream macroeconomics refers to the effects of financial crises and to institutional structures and their variation across countries. However, unemployment within the...