During the recent boom in the world economy, many western developed countries, of varying political complexion, adopted neoliberal welfare policies and deregulated labour markets. For the unemployed these reforms were characterised by contracting-out of labour exchange functions (public...

We examine whether economic downturns reshape the distribution of population income giving rise to a "middle-class squeeze." We test this hypothesis using alternative definitions of middle-class, such as income-based measures from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), and perceived measures from...

The basic conclusion of this paper is that ignoring the negative welfare effects of unemployment in the form of terrorism and consequent loss of output leads to the adoption of (i) level of employment of labour which is sub-optimal, (ii) levels of employment of capital and capital/labour ratios...

Prof. Dr. Knut Borchardt em., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, behandelt in diesem Beitrag, den er im Rahmen der »Münchner Seminare« im Sommer 2003 vorstellte, die Frage, inwieweit die Erfahrungen aus der Weltwirtschaftskrise Wege aus der Arbeitslosigkeit aufzeigen können.

Making use of an international survey that directly assesses the participants' cognitive skills, I study the effect of skills on employment in 32 countries. On average, a one-standard-deviation increase in numeracy skills is associated with an 8.4 percentage-point increase in the probability of...

Using an international survey that directly assesses the cognitive skills of the adult population, I study the relation between skills and unemployment flows across 37 countries. Depending on the specifically assessed domain, I document that skills have an unconditional correlation with the...

Using an international survey that directly assesses the cognitive skills of the adult population, I study the relation between skills and unemployment flows across 37 countries. Depending on the specifically assessed domain, I document that skills have an unconditional correlation with the...

Prof. Dr. Knut Borchardt em., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, behandelt in diesem Beitrag, den er im Rahmen der »Münchner Seminare« im Sommer 2003 vorstellte, die Frage, inwieweit die Erfahrungen aus der Weltwirtschaftskrise Wege aus der Arbeitslosigkeit aufzeigen können.

Do aggregate income shocks, such as those caused by macroeconomic crises or droughts, reduce child human capital? The answer to this question has important implications for public policy. If shocks reduce investments in children, they may have a long-lasting impact on poverty and its...

We argue that one major cause of the U.S. postwar baby boom was the increased demand for female labor during World War II. We develop a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous fertility and female labor-force participation decisions. We use the model to assess the...