This paper provides a new perspective by classifying active labor market programs (ALMPs) depending on their main objectives and their relevance and cost-effectiveness during normal times, during a crisis, and during recovery. We distinguish ALMPs that provide: (i) incentives for retaining...

We apply well-known results of the econometric learning literature to a standard RBC model with unemployment. The unique REE is always expectationally stable with decreasing gain learning, and this result is robust to over-parametrisation of the econometric model relative to the minimum state...

Job losses during the Great Recession were concentrated among middle-skill workers, the same group that over the long run has suffered the most from automation and international trade. How might long-run occupational polarization be related to cyclical changes in middle-skill employment? We find...

Hours volatility has changed non-monotonically across skill groups since the mid-1980s. The welfare cost of business cycles of mid-skilled workers became similar to that of high-skilled workers, while the relative welfare cost of low- to high-skilled workers remains very high.

The share of non-regular employment has been increasing in many developed countries during the past two decades. The objective of this paper is to study a cause of the upward trend in non-regular employment by focusing on productivity growth. Data from Japan shows that productivity growth...

We identify the causal effect of lump-sum severance payments on nonemployment duration in Norway by exploiting a discontinuity in eligibility at age 50. We find that a severance payment worth 1.2 months’ earnings at the median lowers the fraction re-employed after a year by seven percentage...

We estimate Okun coefficients for five different age cohorts for several Eurozone countries. We find a stable pattern for all countries: The relationship between business-cycle fluctuations and the unemployment rate is the strongest for the youngest cohort and gets smaller for the elderly cohorts.

This paper analyses how much different cohorts can expect to contribute into the PAYGO-funded New Zealand Superannuation scheme, and contrasts it with the amount each cohort can be expected to obtain in benefits if the current scheme is continued. The analysis is based on historic census and...

The so-called Beveridge curve illustrates the relation between the unemployment rate and the job vacancy rate. Regarding the euro area, the rise in the unemployment rate and the increase in recruitment difficulties since the 2008-2009 recession indicate a risk of a higher level of structural...

The paper aims to assess the wage differential that would induce workers to switch between informal and formal sectors, analysing the informal labour market in the Colombian Caribbean region. Relying on the theory of equalising differences, we uncover which workers perceive the highest utility...