Inflexible labor markets are said to be the most important cause of economic stagnation and high unemployment rates. So certain are some advocates of this claim that casual observers might believe it is undisputed. These three economists show how flimsy the empirical support for such a claim...

Globalization is widely misinterpreted. In particular Its quantitative extent and novelty are exaggerated. This article aims to put the facts in historical and statistical perspective. It criticizes the use of inappropriate statistical measures, conclusions drawn from little data, and the...

This paper documents the employment disadvantage faced by the less qualified part of the labor force and examines the factors that influence the differing extent of this disadvantage across OECD countries. We argue that employment rates for quartiles of the population ranked by educational...

With contributions from the leading commentators in the field and an over-arching introduction from the editor, the concerns of this updated and revised Handbook are two-fold. Firstly, to redefine the concept of globalisation and dispel the haze that surrounds it through a systematic and...

The operating results of the collieries comprising the U.K. coal industry are analyzed for the year after the 1984-85 miners' strike. Productivity increased rapidly, mainly due to higher productivity in the continuing coal mines. Closures played a relatively small role, and were only partially...

The impact of profitability on capital accumulation, neglected in conventional accounts, is confirmed by a cross-sectional analysis of the postwar experience of manufacturing in OECD economies which is consistent with a body of time-series and firm-level studies. The effect of capital...

Over the last quarter century, public finances have been under pressure in most OECD countries as deficits and debts rose under the pressure of relatively slow growth and high interest rates. This, in turn, has affected the welfare state, since efforts at containing deficits have often been...

The assessment attempts to provide a broad explanation of the post-war pattern of real interest rates, drawing on the theoretical and empirical papers in this issue of the Oxford Review. It is argued that the concept of the "neutral" rate of interest, at which the economy grows at its productive...

The rise in unemployment in OECD economies is considered in the context of the changing patterns of labour demand and supply since 1973. The deteriorating position of the least qualified is highlighted with an index which combines both their employment and earnings experience; the importance of...