In this paper we explain the prevalence of explicit contracts of employment, particularly those that embody high- rather than low-powered incentives and clauses that supersede the common law defaults. Our analysis is based on an understanding of two fundamental problems that arise when agency...

In this paper we consider a standard policy game between the Government and a union. In such a framework, we first investigate the effects of corporatism on macroeconomic performance vis-à-vis different kinds of non-co-operative equilibria. Afterwards, we introduce in the literature the issue...

This paper challenges the institutional sclerosis view of the German crisis according to which rigid labour markets and generous welfare state institutions have driven Germany into its position as „Europe’s sick man“. In general, the view is not convincing, because the underlying...

Using the Africa Educational Trust (AET) as a case study, the primary aim of the research was to investigate whether or not the employment outcomes of those refugees who received financial grants to enable them attend their education/training courses were different from those who did not. 122...

This Productivity Commission staff working paper, The Growth of Labour Hire Employment in Australia, was released in February 2005. This staff working paper is part of an ongoing labour market research program at the Productivity Commission to examine developments in employment relationships and...

This paper uses panel data from 1989 to 1995 on blue-collar workers in Finnish manufacturing industries and their establishments to assess the extent to which hours of work are affected by individual or establishment characteristics - observed as well as unobserved. We argue that recent research...

This paper compares the role of technological change with that of trade in explaining the increased demand for skilled workers. The paper shows technology has played the dominant role in changing employment patterns in Australia. The finding is consistent across industries, including those...

Examines the incidence and adjustment experiences of workers who are displaced by economic change. Since the mid-1970s, the aggregate annual rate of retrenchment has fluctuated in a counter-cyclical pattern around a relatively stable long-term trend of about 5 per cent. The paper shows that the...

The paper examines the structure of employment defined by industry, skill, age, part-time and casual employment status and the distribution of earnings. Employment patterns, and changes in employment profiles, are examined for differences between high productivity growth industry sectors and low...