Recent work on consumption allocations in village economies finds that idiosyncratic variation in consumption is systematically related to idiosyncratic variation in income, thus rejecting the hypothesis of full risk-pooling. We attempt to explain these observations by adding limited commitment...

This paper considers a class of two-player dynamic games in which each player controls a one-dimensional variable which we interpret as a level of cooperation. In the base model, there is an irreversibility constraint stating that this variable can never be reduced, only increased. It otherwise...

In this paper the evolution of skill imbalances in the UK labor market over the past two decades is investigated. Movements in the relative ease with which firms can recruit skilled workers can affect unemployment, inflation, and productivity. Any assessment of changes in the skill balance is...

Econometric evidence strongly suggests that unemployed job- seekers who use the services of a Public Employment Agency (PEA) have longer unemployment spells than those choosing alternative search methods. Yet, in some well-designed U.S. experiments, increased use of PEA services has been...

In this paper a matching model with variable search intensity that incorporates the inactive is developed and calibrated. The model is used to look at possible explanations for the recent sharp decline in the UK working-age unemployment rate, which has been accompanied by only a moderate...

This paper examines the main issues involved in translating domestic bankruptcy procedures to the sovereign context. It considers some of the principles by which domestic bankruptcy procedures operate, and the extent to which they apply to international lending. Two recent proposals are...

Labour market tightness is a phrase often used by commentators and policy-makers, but it is rarely defined. In this paper, the phrase 'labour market tightness' is interpreted as describing the balance between the demand for, and the supply of, labour. A logical consequence of this approach is...

This paper presents a new model of firms' decisions on training in a context of potential worker mobility. Such worker mobility can be influenced by employers coordination, namely through the operation of no-poach agreements and employers' associations (EAs). We then present supporting evidence...

This article explains how changes in payroll taxes might affect real wages and employment. It then estimates the responses of relative wages, prices and employment to the changes in employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs) that occurred in 1999. The empirical evidence is based on...

This paper studies firm-provided training in a context of potential worker mobility. We argue that such worker mobility may be reduced by employers' associations (EAs) through no-poach agreements. First, we sketch a simple model to illustrate the impact of employer coordination on training. We...