This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical relationship between economic growth and financial systems. Firstly, the existence of financial systems has a positive effect on growth because it increases the insurance against the illiquidity of real investment, the diversification of...

A policy proposal is to abolish the distinction between regular open-end employment contracts and fixed-term contracts and substitute a unique labour contract with a degree of employment protection increasing with tenure. A question on the desirability of the "contrat unique" was included in the...

This paper studies how the assignment of patents as collateral determines the savings of firms and magnifies the effect of innovative rents on investment in research and development (R&D). We analyse the behaviour of innovative firms that face random and lumpy investment opportunities in R&D....

A model of technology diffusion and growth originally proposed by Batten (1987), taking into account the interaction of the supply of and demand for a new product, is modified so as to admit a production technology with increasing returns to scale and the possibility of a competition between two...

This paper provides new evidence on the linkages between a large array of institutional arrangements (on product, labour and financial markets) and employment performance. Our analysis includes unemployment, inactivity and jobless rates, thus allowing us to control for possible substitution...

Hysteresis is one of the main concepts used in Layard, Nickell and Jackman′s book, Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market . Attempts to clarify the concept of hysteresis, from its formal representation to its empirical applications. Emphasizes the idea that hysteresis...

This book proposes a comparative analysis of modern capitalism. It identifies five different types of modern economies: the market-based economies, Asian capitalism, the Continental European model, the social democratic economies, and the Mediterranean model. It presents their main institutional...