This paper provides a first set of results on the impact of minimum wage regulation in Switzerland. We study the effects of an unexpected Supreme Court ruling mandating the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel to enforce a minimum hourly wage of around CHF 20 previously accepted via popular ballot. Given...

The Western Balkans is experiencing an ongoing inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry as several European enterprises have already established their presence in the region. These inflows have generated large-scale ICT...

We analyze expectations of the Dutch population ages 25 and older concerning future generosity of state and occupational pensions, the main pillars of the Dutch pension system. We use rotating panel data with monthly observations from 2006 until 2012 on individuals’ subjective expectations...

This paper studies the recent trends in inflation in the euro area and estimates to what extent the current inflationary pressures are driven by demand expansion and by supply side disruptions. First of all, consumer price inflation is particularly pronounced in goods and less so in the case of...

In December 2005, the Belgian government adopted the law on the Intergenerational Solidarity Pact (ISP) aimed at increasing the employment rate of older workers. The main policies of the ISP consist of a pension bonus, reductions in employers' social security contributions and measures...

For the last two decades, the increase of employment among individuals aged 50+ has been a policy objective on the European employment agenda. The present paper focuses on the case of Belgium, France, Germany, and The Netherlands over the period 1997–2011. First, we provide descriptive...

Using a novel dataset from the 2006 Portuguese Labour Force Survey this paper examines the impact of a voluntary reduction in hours of work, before retirement, on the moment of exit from the labour force. If, as often suggested, flexibility in hours of work is a useful measure to postpone...

Rentenleistungen für Elternschaft und Kinderbetreuungszeiten, den sogenannten Mütterrenten, wird eine hohe Bedeutung zur Reduktion der Geschlechterungleichheit beim Alterseinkommen zugeschrieben. So haben fast alle europäischen Länder entsprechende Regelungen in ihren ansonsten überwiegend...

We study job retention rates - the shares of workers who continue to work in the same job over the next five years - in Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Job retention among older workers is key to prolonging careers and increasing employment of older people which in turn is a crucial...

In the title of this work, one may notice a nod towards Shakespearean drama. Here the tragedy of the situation relates to making a choice on whether people at the age of retirement should be left with an unequivocal choice: either work and receive remuneration for it, or retire. However, would...