This paper examines the role of worker and employer characteristics in the determination of wages in the Belgian private sector. Empirical findings, based on detailed matched employer-employee data covering the period 1995-2002, reveal the existence ceteris paribus of: i) a substantial but...

In this paper we analyze the system of long-term care insurance currently in place in Belgium or rather in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of the country), since the French and Germanspeaking parts have not yet such insurance. More precisely, we review the scope, benefits,financing and...

The Behavioral Portfolio Theory (BTP) developed by Shefrin and Statman (2000) considers a probability weighting function rather than the real probability distribution used in Markowitz’s Portfolio Theory (1952). The optimal portfolio of a BTP investor, which consists in a combination of bonds...

This paper examines the impact of wage dispersion on firm performance, measured by value-added per worker, in large Belgian firms. Using matched employer-employee data for 2003, we find the existence of a positive and hump-shaped relationship between (conditional) wage dispersion and firm...

The authors of this paper use detailed linked employer-employee data from a 2003 survey in Belgium to examine how collective bargaining features affect the extent of rent-sharing. Their results show that there is substantially more rent-sharing in decentralized than in centralized industries,...

This study compares the structure and determinants of inter-industry wage differentials in Eastern and Western European countries on the basis of the 2002 European Structure of Earnings Survey. Findings show substantial differences in earnings across sectors in all countries, even when...

The paper contributes to the debate on the stability/efficiency tradeoff of automatic stabilizers. A simple AD-AS two countries model is presented and illustrates circumstances where a reduction in taxes can foster stabilization. The testable implication from the model is that tax cuts can...

This note studies the volatility of the policy chosen by a committee whose members’ preferences are volatile, due to common and individual preferences shocks. It is shown that majority voting mitigates the latter but not the former. The volatility of the policy is smaller the smaller the...

This paper investigates inter-industry wage differentials (IWD) in Belgium, taking advantage of a unique matched employer-employee dataset covering the years 1999-2005. Findings show the existence of large wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics and working...

This article exposes the dynamics of electoral promises, building on an electoral competition model with endogenous policies. This framework allows to deal with the intertemporal dimension needed to understand the prevalent cycle of promises, disappointment, new promises, new disappointment