"Workweek reduction laws may be beneficial if market interactions do not fully take into account the preferences reflected in declining secular trends in working hours. The most recent law in France shortened the workweek from 39 to 35 hours in 2000 for large firms, and in 2002 for small firms....

Traditionally, shocks to total factor productivity (TFP) are considered exogenous and the response of employment is determined by their effect on aggregate demand. We approach the relationship between TFP and labour input differently, raising the possibility that in response to labour supply...

This study investigates the impact of the current financial crisis on Canada’s potential GDP growth. Using a simple accounting framework to decompose trend GDP growth into changes in capital, labour services, and total factor productivity, we find a sizeable drop in Canadian potential growth...

Using panel data for 15 industrial countries, active labor market policies (ALMPs) are shown to have a positive effect on employment rates, after controlling for institutional variables and country-specific effects. Among such policies, direct subsidies for job creation were the most effective....

Legally mandated reductions in the workweek can be either a constraint on individuals’ choice or a tool to coordinate individuals’ preferences for lower work hours. We confront these two hypotheses by studying the consequences of the workweek reduction in France from 39 to 35 hours, which...