This paper presents estimates of the cyclical fluctuations of price-cost margins, following an extended version of the Rotemberg and Woodford (1991) approach. The results support the hypothesis of counter-cyclical price margins in most manufacturing industries, especially in the presence of...

We analyse the impact of innovation activity and product and labour market institutions on multi-factor productivity in a panel of 23 industries in 18 OECD countries using a novel harmonised database. First, we provide evidence of convergence in productivity levels within most industries across...

In this paper, we present estimates of the mark-up of product price over marginal costs for the manufacturing industries of the US and the other G-5 countries. The paper extends the analysis used in previous studies based on nominal productivity residuals by considering intermediate inputs and...

Bartelsman, Haltiwanger, and Scarpetta provide an analysis of the process of creative destruction across 24 countries and 2-digit industries over the past decade. They rely on a newly assembled dataset that draws from different micro data sources (business registers, census, or representative...

This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of industry-level multifactor productivity growth. We focus on "traditional factors", including the process of technological catch up, human capital and R&D as well as institutional factors affecting labor adjustment costs. The analysis...

Problems of unemployment and low pay amongst the low skilled and those with little work experience are severe in many OECD countries. Employment-conditional schemes are policy instruments designed to increase the employment prospects of the low skilled as well as to support their living...

The purpose of this paper is to distill the lessons for labour market reforms from the ?successes? and ?failures?. It begins by discussing the structural unemployment indicator which the OECD has used to identify the successful countries. This is followed by a review of the cross-country...

Somewhat surprisingly, cross-country empirical evidence (at least in the cross section) does not seem to support the predictions of standard models that economies with stricter regulations on hiring and firing should have a lower pace of job reallocation. One problem in exploring these issues...