We study how the interaction between economic openness and competitive selection affects the effectiveness of employment (and entry) subsidisation. Within a twocountry heterogeneous-firms model with endogenous labour supply, we find that optimal employment subsidies are always positive even...

High inter-country variability characterises the responsiveness of both output to (exogenous) shocks and employment to output contractions. We argue that intercountry differences in firm-size distributions contribute to explaining this variability. Within an open economy model, we show that...

We study how the interaction between economic openness and competitive selection affects the effectiveness of employment (and entry) subsidisation. Within a twocountry heterogeneous-firms model with endogenous labour supply, we find that optimal employment subsidies are always positive even...

High inter-country variability characterises the responsiveness of both output to (exogenous) shocks and employment to output contractions. We argue that intercountry differences in firm-size distributions contribute to explaining this variability. Within an open economy model, we show that...

High inter-country variability characterises the responsiveness of both output to (exogenous) shocks and employment to output contractions. We argue that intercountry differences in firm-size distributions contribute to explaining this variability. Within an open economy model, we show that...

In the theoretical macroeconomics literature, fiscal policy is almost uniformly taken to mean taxing and spending by a ‘benevolent government’ that exploits the potential aggregate demand externalities inherent in the imperfectly competitive nature of goods markets. Whilst shown to raise...

In the theoretical macroeconomics literature, fiscal policy is almost uniformly taken to mean taxing and spending by a ‘benevolent government’ that exploits the potential aggregate demand externalities inherent in the imperfectly competitive nature of goods markets. Whilst shown to raise...

Using a two-sector-two-country model with aggregate scale economies and unionisation, we show that optimal welfare state policy entails positive levels of unemployment benefits under free-trade and capital mobility. In this setting, economic integration does not reduce the revenue raising...

We examine the relationship between welfare state policies and economic performance in a small open economy with (i) free trade in final goods and international capital mobility, and (ii) aggregate increasing returns to scale. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that a retrenchment of...