The paper analyzes the problems of low growth, unemployment, especially youth unemployment, and high public debt afflicting the Italian economy even before the global financial crisis. These problems certainly have worsened as a result of the crisis itself. The aim of the present work is to...

In this paper, we examine the role of the business cycle in divorce. To do so, we use a panel of 30 European countries covering the period from 1991 to 2010. We find a negative effect of the unemployment rate on the divorce rate, pointing to a pro-cyclical evolution of the divorce rate, even...

Economic growth and unemployment exhibit an ambiguous relationship – according to empirical studies. This ambiguity can be investigated by observing the role of the underground economy in shaping the productivity of firms. Indeed, unemployment may be absorbed by underground firms, which adopt...

The findings of the existing literature on the relationship between employment protection legislation and the unemployment rate are mixed. This study analyzes the relationship between employment protection legislation measured by the OECD Employment Protection Index and the unemployment rate...

The relation of the Greek employment policy to the European one, as it was formulated within EES and the Lisbon strategy, was a particular one. The Greek employment policy fully adopted the form, the structure and the discourse of the EES but it was only marginally influenced by the “way of...

Citizens of Southern Europe have been presented by the German media and politicians as lazy and work aversive. First, it is checked whether and to what extent those characterizations do reflect reality, and then, in view of the Greek economic crisis, it is shown that crises and not laziness...

The article discusses the incompatibility of promoting individual interests of capitalists and workers with the promotion of macroeconomic goals of society. The article implements the ``instrumental method'' developed by Adolph Lowe, and articulates the separation of microeconomic goals with...

An Income Gap Theory and it effects on Unemployment and Economic Growth By Drs Kees De Koning Abstract An income gap is often described as the difference in incomes between the rich and poor. This is a relative gap. In economies a different income gap can occur which can be defined as the...

This set of three volumes argues that the mind – human consciousness – may be measured by considering mathematically the aggregate of that consciousness, i.e. social history. From this beginning theme of discussion three questions must arise. 1. How might this measurement be made? 2. Of what...

In this paper we present a macroeconomic microfounded framework with heterogeneous agents – households, firms, banks – which interact through a decentralized matching process presenting common features across four markets – goods, labor, credit and deposit. We study the dynamics of the...