Occupations and sectors are the two fundamental dimensions of structural change. From the evolution of the high/low-skill employment levels and wage ratio, we can understand which sectors have been undertaking a process of technical change. By using Eu-Silc database we investigate four...

Also due to the competitive pressure of imports from the developing countries, a switch to labour-saving techniques has happened in most sectors of OECD countries in the last decades. The distribution of earnings levels has been significantly affected. Wage dispersion is strictly interwoven with...

An aspect of lack of real convergence among the European regions is represented by polarization within countries. In the 1990s, East Germany as well as Southern Italy have not shown any catching up with the rest of their countries. The paper compares the thesis referring to “institutional...

This paper aims at a deeper understanding of the determinants of wage inequality, the most important component of income inequality, in the European countries. We investigate on how wage inequality is affected by government regulation in the labour market and by the redistribution operated by...

The aim of this paper is to cast light on possible influences of current account imbalances on the escalation of systemic risk which hit the Eurozone. The hypothesis, which was set up by examining empirical evidence, points to heterogeneity across the macroeconomic conditions prevailing in...

This paper investigates the causes of disproportionate increases of sovereign yields with respect to the interest rate on the 10 years German Bund within the Eurozone. Empirical evidence drawn from the BIS dataset on banks' portfolios shows that rapid financial integration, following the launch...

The chapter documents the rising trend in wage inequality in Europe and trace it back to a number of factors. Industrial relations have an influence on the degree of wage dispersion, thus being a determinant of macroeconomic performance. Social pacts do not necessarily have a negative influence...