This report looks at safety nets in the new member states from the perspective of fiscal impact and effectiveness. Given the limited budgets for social assistance, ensuring that resources are spent well, reach those who need them, and optimize welfare gains and labor market outcomes. This also...

Transition has been a wrenching process for the labor markets of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), and the prospect of joining the European Union gives rise to both hopes and misgivings among their population. Similarly among other member countries, a new resolve to shake off a...

Poland's current challenge is to complete its transition to a fully developed market economy, while advancing towards integration into the European Union. This paper is devoted to analyzing the Polish labor market's main institutions, circa 1995, in the areas of labor reallocation, wage setting,...

The free circulation of workers and services in the European Union after its latest enlargements has been believed to foster a ‘race to the bottom’ in wage standards. This paper explains the strategies of national employer associations towards labour market regulations geared to protect...