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This paper addresses the problem of the dualism of the Italian economy, particularly of its labor market. Although the Italian labor market is considered to be the most highly regulated among OECD countries, the unemployment rate in the North, which represents two thirds of the whole economy, is one of the lowest in Europe. In contrast, the South faces an unemployment rate between two to five times higher than the North. GDP per capita is also twice in the North than in the South, while nominal wages do not differ substantially across regions. Finally internal migration is the lowest among European countries since the middle seventies. This paper argues that the uniform wage is the result of the centralized wage setting carried on by unions, and that the absence of migration is the result of the proactive role of the government, which in the seventies stopped the mass internal migration from the South to the North and since then is acting to prevent the reappearance of such phenomenon. Uniform wage across regions, the active role of the government to prevent internal mass migration and a structural productivity divide between North and South are the institutional features that, within a general equilibrium matching model, explain the high unemployment rate in the South and, perhaps more interestingly, the low unemployment rate accompanied by low wages in the North even when compared to other western European countries.

Der Nobelpreis für Wirtschaftswissenschaften geht 2021 an David Card für seine empirischen Beiträge zur Arbeitsökonomik sowie an Joshua Angrist und Guido Imbens für ihre methodischen Beiträge zur Analyse kausaler Zusammenhänge. Die Analyse kausaler Zusammenhänge in der empirischen Ökonomik wurde durch die von den Preisträgern maßgeblich vorangetriebene Methodik der natürlichen Experimente revolutioniert. Anhand der Wirkung von Mindestlöhnen, Mitbestimmung und der Arbeitslosenversicherung lässt sich illustrieren, wie durch natürliche Experimente neue wissenschaftliche Einsichten erlangt werden, die eine empirische Grundlage für eine evidenzbasierte Politikberatung bilden können. This year's Nobel Prize in Economics honoured David Card of the University of California, Berkeley "for his empirical contributions to labour economics", and Joshua Angrist of MIT and Guido Imbens of Stanford University "for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships". We explain how the laureates revolutionised the analysis of causal relationships in empirical economics through the methodology of natural experiments. Three examples from the German labour market on the effects of minimum wages, code-termination and unemployment insurance illustrate how natural experiments yield new insights, which can form the foundation for evidence-based policy advice.

Die mit dem Verhalten auf dem Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarkt einhergehenden Karrierefragen von Abiturienten, Studierenden und Hochschulabsolventen stellen zunehmend einen Schwerpunkt bei angehenden Studierenden, zum Beispiel bei der Auswahl der passenden Hochschule, als auch bei Universitäten, zum Beispiel für die Akquirierung der besten Forscher, Dozenten und Studierenden, dar. Diese kumulative Arbeit setzt dabei den Fokus auf die Karrierefragen von Sportwissenschaftlern und prüft, warum sich Abiturienten entscheiden das Fach Sportwissenschaft zu studieren, welche Konsequenzen es mit sich bringt, ein solches Studium an einer Berufsakademie zu absolvieren, welche Unterschiede zwischen den Studierenden der Sportwissenschaft und den Studierenden der Studiengänge Physik, Chemie, Musik und Informatik an der Universität des Saarlandes festzustellen sind, wie der Übergang in den Arbeitsmarkt erfolgt, ob dieser dem Modell der sequenziellen Arbeitsplatzsuche folgt und ob bei den Arbeitgeberwechseln auf dem Arbeitsmarkt eine optimierte Suchstrategie angewandt wird. Die bearbeiteten Forschungsfragen sind eingebettet in einen Forschungsschwerpunkt im Arbeitsbereich für Sportökonomie und Sportsoziologie an der Universität des Saarlandes, wobei die soziologische und ökonomische Untersuchung der Studierenden an unterschiedlichen Universitäten, das Verhalten von Absolventen beim Übertritt und auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Fokus stehen. The career issues of high school graduates, students and university graduates, which are associated with the behavior on the education and employment market, are increasingly becoming a focus of prospective students, for example in the selection of suitable universities, as well as for universities, for example for the acquisition of the best researchers, lecturers and students. This cumulative work places the focus on the career issues of sports scientists and examines why graduates decide to study sports science, which consequences it entails to complete such a study at a university of cooperative education, which differences occur between the students of sports science and students of physics, chemistry, music and computer science at the Saarland University, how the transition into the labor market takes place, whether it follows the model of sequential job search and whether an optimized search strategy is applied in job changes on the labor market. The research questions dealt with are embedded in a research focus in the Department of Sports Economics and Sports Sociology at the Saarland University, focusing on the sociological and economic study of students at different universities, the behavior of graduates in transition and on the labor market.The career issues of high school graduates, students and university graduates, which are associated with the behavior on the education and employment market, are increasingly becoming a focus of prospective students, for example in the selection of suitable universities, as well as for universities, for example for the acquisition of the best researchers, lecturers and students. This cumulative work places the focus on the career issues of sports scientists and examines why graduates decide to study sports science, which consequences it entails to complete such a study at a university of cooperative education, which differences occur between the students of sports science and students of physics, chemistry, music and computer science at the Saarland University, how the transition into the labor market takes place, whether it follows the model of sequential job search and whether an optimized search strategy is applied in job changes on the labor market. The research questions dealt with are embedded in a research focus in the Department of Sports Economics and Sports Sociology at the Saarland University, focusing on the sociological and economic study of students at different universities, the behavior of graduates in transition and on the labor market.

Leseprobe ----- Zusammenfassung Folgt man gangigen Arbeitsmarkttheorien, so unterscheiden sich interne und externe Arbeitsmarkte hinsichtlich ihrer strukturierenden Merkmale deutlich voneinander. Es besteht nach wie vor Konsens daruber, dass die Arbeitsmarktsegmente in Bezug auf die Beschaftigungsstabilitat, die Integration von Arbeitskraften in betriebliche Wertschopfungsprozesse sowie hinsichtlich der Beschaftigungsrisiken unterschiedlich strukturiert sind. Auf der Basis von qualitativen Intensivfallstudien in unterschiedlichen Segmenten der Verlagsindustrie und der Analyse der betrieblichen Nutzungsformen von Solo- Selbststandigkeit wird gezeigt, dass die konzeptionell scharfe Trennung von internen und externen Arbeitsmarkten nicht aufrechtzuerhalten ist. So wird externe Beschaftigung zum Teil sehr arbeitnehmerahnlich und langfristig in allen betrieblichen Kernbereichen genutzt. Die heterogene Integration in betriebliche Wertschopfungsprozesse fuhrt zu neuen spezifischen Markt- und Prekarisierungsrisiken fur Solo-Selbststandige. Die Befunde deuten dabei auf einen generellen Funktionswandel von externen Arbeitsmarkten hin. ----- Change of external labour markets and new risks of precariousness Abstract Internal and external labour markets are conceptualized as clearly separated in labour market theory. There is a consensus that labour market segments differ with regard to employment stability, the integration of workers into core areas of value creation, and their risks of precariousness. Based on qualitative case studies in different segments of the publishing industry and the analysis of how companies use freelance work, the results call into question the sharp distinction between internal and external labour markets. There is a long-term use of external workers in core activities of organizations, which leads to new specific risks of precariousness for freelancers. The results point to a change of how external labour markets are used and offer functional as well as numerical flexibility. Keywords: freelance work, segmented labour markets, precarious employment, publishing industry (JEL: J21, J42, J83, L82) ----- Bibliographie: Tunte, Markus: Der Funktionswandel von externen Arbeitsmarkten und die Heterogenitat von Prekarisierungsrisiken, Industrielle Beziehungen, 1-2017, S. 54-74. https://doi.org/10.3224/indbez.v24i1.04

This paper presents a theory of the labor market matching process in terms of incentive-based, two-sided search among heterogeneous agents. The matching process is decomposed into its two component stages: the contact stage, in which job searchers make contact with employers, and the selection stage, in which they decide whether to match. We construct a theoretical model explaining two-sided selection through microeconomic incentives. Firms face adjustment costs in responding to heterogeneous variations in the characteristics of workers and jobs. Matches and separations are described through firms' job offer and firing decisions and workers' job acceptance and quit decisions. Our calibrated model for the United States can account for important empirical regularities, such as the large volatilities of labor market variables, that the conventional matching model cannot.

There have been continuous deregulation efforts concerning temporary agency employment in almost all European countries aiming at an increasing flexibility in the European labor markets. This paper theoretically investigates the effects of a legal deregulation of temporary agency employment on wage setting and the employment structure in a unionized economy with labor market frictions. Multiple-worker firms bargain simultaneously with temporary agencies and labor unions to determine the respective labor costs. It is shown that there is a hump-shaped relationship between the degree of legal deregulation of temporary agency employment and the rate of temporary employment used in the production process. Temporary agency employment may even decrease despite its deregulation. Furthermore, regular employment monotonically increases, while individual workers and labor unions suffer from deregulation due to declining wages and a reduction in labor union's utility.

Dieser Beitrag fasst die Ergebnisse unserer industrieokonomischen, theoretischen Forschung zur Fragestellung von Stabilitat und Wandel von Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen zusammen. Wir verfolgen dabei einen wettbewerbsokonomischen Forschungsansatz, der Marktmacht sowohl auf Arbeits- als auch auf Absatzmarkten unterstellt. In der Literatur hat sich hierfur der Begriff unionised oligopolies eingeburgert. Damit wird zum Ausdruck gebracht, dass die verwendeten Modelle einerseits Verhandlungsmacht auf Arbeitsmarkten und andererseits unvollstandigen Wettbewerb – und somit Marktmacht – auf Absatzmarkten berucksichtigen. Kern ist die Analyse von Wechselwirkungen zwischen Organisationsformen auf Arbeitsmarkten und Wettbewerbsverhaltnissen auf Produktmarkten. In unserer Forschung analysieren wir aktuelle Entwicklungen auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt wie die Einfuhrung sektorspezifischer Mindestlohne, die Rolle von Spartengewerkschaften, Formen der Gewinnbeteiligung von Arbeitnehmern sowie internationale Wettbewerbsaspekte wie die Verlagerung der Produktion durch internationale Unternehmen ins Ausland.

Facing the recent German debate on the minimum wage, this paper analyses theoretical effects of minimum wages on employment and wage distribution under a frictional setting. I??review new developments in search theory and discuss the influence of the minimum wage on wages and employment under each setting. Therefore, a major theoretical focus of the paper is the integration of heterogeneity on both sides of the market in equilibrium search models. In frictional models, minimum wages are generally binding and redistribute rents from firms to workers. Employment effects are more diverse. In the homogeneous case where workers and firms are identical, minimum wages do not affect employment, while in the heterogenous case theoretical results are mixed. There is no unique connection between unemployment and minimum wages, and the effect can be negative, zero or even positive. A positive effect can arise from a reaction in labor supply. However, the most advanced models, integrating heterogeneity on both sides of the market, seem to support the hypothesis that an increase in the minimum wage generally leads to an increase in unemployment as well. In this case, a social planner faces a trade off between redistribution of rents and unemployment.

Der Mindestlohn wird durch die neue Bundesregierung abermals in die Diskussion gebracht. Kritiker befürchten durch diese Maßnahme eine Zunahme der Abeitslosigkeit aufgrund einer größeren Lohnstarrheit und einer Abdrängung einer größeren Zahl von Erwerbsfähigen aus dem Arbeitsmarkt in die Sozialsysteme. Hält diese Befürchtung einer eingehenden Analyse stand? Lässt sich der Mindestlohn beschäftigungsneutral variieren?

Wie lassen sich verschiedene Akteure auf die bestmögliche Art und Weise zusammenbringen? Dieses zentrale wirtschaftliche Problem haben die US-Ökonomen Lloyd S. Shapley und Alvin E. Roth erforscht. Für die Entwicklung und Anwendung einer Theorie, bestimmte Märkte so zu gestalten, dass sie möglichst effizient und zum Wohle aller Beteiligten funktionieren, erhielten sie den Nobelpreis für Wirtschaftswissenschaften 2012. Ihre wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse helfen in der Praxis bei der Vergabe von Studienplätzen bis hin zur Verteilung von Spendernieren an Patienten.

We consider a signaling model where the receiver is able to update his belief about the sender’s type after the signaling stage. We introduce Bayesian learning in a variety of environments ranging from simple two-period to continuous time models with stochastic production. Signaling equilibria present two major departures from those obtained in models without learning. First, new mixedstrategy equilibria involving multiple pooling are possible. Second, pooling equilibria can survive the Intuitive Criterion when learning is fast enough., Julien Prat also acknowledges the support of the Barcelona GSE and of the Government of Catalonia.

This survey focuses on experimental labor markets investigating two aspects that deem us important for a better understanding of labor market relations and the consequences for labor market policies. The first part of the survey is dedicated to papers that assess the prevalence of reciprocal considerations in incomplete labor contracts. The second part summarizes the relatively small but growing experimental literature exploring labor issues in a macroeconomics and public finance setting and studying the interaction between taxation and labor market outcomes.

We characterize efficient allocations and business cycle fluctuations in a labor selection model. Due to forward-looking hiring and labor supply decisions, efficiency entails both static and intertemporal margins. We develop welfare-relevant measures of marginal rates of transformation and efficiency along each margin that nest their counterparts in frictionless labor markets. In a calibrated version of the model, efficient fluctuations feature highly volatile unemployment and job-finding rates, in line with empirical evidence. We show analytically in a simplified version of the model that volatility arises from selection effects, rather than general equilibrium effects. We also develop sufficient conditions on wages, which are independent of the wage-determination process, that decentralize efficient allocations. Unlike the Hosios condition for matching models, there is no simple restriction on Nash bargaining that guarantees that Nash wages can support efficient allocations. Cyclical fluctuations in the Nash-bargaining economy display even larger amplification of productivity shocks into labor market outcomes than in the efficient economy, without extreme assumptions about bargaining shares, inflexibility of wages, or the size of surpluses that govern labor demand. The results establish normative and positive foundations for DSGE labor selection models.

This paper analyzes the role of the period length in a search model of the labor market and argues that it has profound implications for the market equilibrium. In the model, job offers and job destruction shocks arrive according to a Poisson process in continuous time, but institutional factors and/or informational frictions may delay workers' transitions into or out of a job. This effectively creates discrete time periods of arbitrary length, with continuous time being the limit case when the period length goes to zero. Longer periods introduce the possibility of simultaneity or recall of job offers, affecting the labor share, the amount of wage dispersion, as well as the allocation of workers over jobs with different productivity levels. Misspecification of the period length may therefore lead to inconsistent estimates of structural parameters and wrong conclusions on optimal policy.

This chapter reviews options of labour market modelling in a CGE framework. On the labour supply side, two principal modelling options are distinguished and discussed: aggregated, representative households and microsimulation based on individual household data. On the labour demand side, we focus on the substitution possibilities between different types of labour in production. With respect to labour market coordination, we discuss several wage-forming mechanisms and involuntary unemployment.

This paper implements a simple Bayesian approach to quantitatively study the Hansen and Imrohoroglu (1992) economy, a calibrated GE model with uninsurable employment risk, designed to assess the optimal replacement rate for a public Unemployment Insurance scheme. The results of this sensitivity analysis are consistent with the original findings, but with several caveats. One novel result in particular is that the distribution of the optimal UI is bimodal. Depending on the calibrated parameters, the optimal UI is in one of two regimes: a very generous scheme with high replacement ratios, where insurance is mainly provided by the UI scheme, or one with low replacement ratios, where insurance is mainly achieved through self-insurance. Even in the absence of moral hazard, it is never optimal to provide full insurance. Moreover, for many plausible parameters' configurations, the welfare maximizing replacement rate does not decrease with the level of MH. The qualitative patterns and quantitative findings are not altered substantially when considering an enlarged labor force, which includes the marginally attached workers. Finally, the parameters representing the hours worked, the leisure share in the households' consumption bundle, and the intertemporal elasticity of substitution have a first order impact on the average welfare. The determination of the optimal UI scheme depends heavily on them. This finding suggests that extra caution should be paid when calibrating these parameters in similar environments.

Does trade affect the equilibrium rate of unemployment? To theoretically examine this question, we incorporate firm-union bargaining considerations into a model with a booming external sector and a stagnating manufacturing sector. In the model, a sustained improvement in the terms of trade lowers unemployment. To empirically investigate the predicted determinants of the unemployment rate, we use data for Australia, a country whose prosperity has always depended on the value of its exports. We find strong evidence that higher export prices, capital accumulation in tradeable goods industries and a lower unemployment benefit replacement rate each reduce the equilibrium unemployment rate.

Mit der Bereitstellung des Mikrozensus als Paneldatensatz sind erstmals Längsschnittanalysen durchführbar, die eine Untersuchung der Lebens- und Arbeitssituation von Personen über mehrere Jahre hinweg erlauben. Aufgrund der gesetzlich verpflichtenden Teilnahme an der Erhebung ist der Antwortausfall sehr gering. Durch die hohe Fallzahl sind Analysen selbst kleiner Personengruppen möglich. Die Stille Reserve ist eine solche Subpopulation, die als ein ungenutztes Potenzial des Arbeitsmarktes zur Sicherung des Arbeitskräftebedarfs beitragen kann. Das Ziel dieser Machbarkeitsstudie liegt in einer Überprüfung der Eignung des Mikrozensuspanels 2001-2004 für die Analyse der Stillen Reserve, die sich nach dem Konzept des Instituts für Arbeitsmarkt und Berufsforschung aus der Stillen Reserve 'in Maßnahmen' und der Stillen Reserve 'im engeren Sinn' zusammensetzt. Während die im engeren Sinn im Mikrozensuspanel ermittelt werden kann, sind dort keine Angaben zur Stillen Reserve in Maßnahmen enthalten. Daher geht in diese Analyse nur die Stille Reserve im engeren Sinn ein. Diese wurde nach einem eigenen Ansatz anhand der Merkmale Arbeitswunsch, Arbeitssuche und Verfügbarkeit definiert. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die Ermittlung der Stillen Reserve im engeren Sinn im Mikrozensuspanel 2001-2004 prinzipiell machbar ist. Eine wesentliche Einschränkung stellt in der Untersuchung jedoch die räumliche Mobilität dar, die sich aus dem Erhebungsdesign einer Flächenstichprobe ergibt und dadurch gekennzeichnet ist, dass wegziehende Haushalte nicht weiter befragt werden. Demzufolge finden im Mikrozensuspanel nur immobile Personen Berücksichtigung. Durch die hohen Anforderungen an die Anonymisierung ist zudem nur der Übergang von 2002 auf 2003 analysierbar. Desweiteren sind die Hochrechnungsfaktoren für die Längsschnittuntersuchung nur eingeschränkt nutzbar. By arranging the Microcensus (the German Labour Force Survey) as a set of panel data it is possible to carry out longitudinal analyses. As participation in the survey is obligatory by law, the cases of non-response are minimal. For that reason the number of cases available is comparably high, so that analyses are even possible for small groups. This applies, for instance, to such a sub-population as the hidden labour force - an unused potential of the labour market that can contribute to securing the labour supply. The aim of this feasibility study is to assess whether the Microcensus Panel 2001-2004 can be used for the analysis of the hidden labour force. Due to the kind of data the study sets up the priority in the estimation of the discouraged workers, which might be understood as a subgroup of the hidden labour force. Discouragement has been defined according to the characteristics desire for work, looking for a job, and availability. The results show that it is possible to identify the discouraged workers in the Microcensus 2001-2004. However the analysis is limited by spatial mobility because the Microcensus has been designed as an area sample and is characterised by the fact that households which move elsewhere are no longer interviewed. As a result, only persons who do not move are covered by the Microcensus. As mobility is probably related to the labour market status this feature of the sampling might cause biased panel estimation. Unfortunately the panel weights are only of limited use as well. In addition, because of the high requirements of anonymisation, only the transition between 2002 and 2003 can be analysed.

In dem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob Berufe durch ihre strukturellen Merkmale zu einer sozialen Schließung beitragen. Zu diesem Zweck wurden auf Basis der Berufsordnungen der KldB88 die vier Strukturindikatoren berufliche Spezifität, Standardisierung durch eine Ausbildungsvorschrift, freiwillige Zertifizierung durch private Bildungsträger und Repräsentation durch einen Berufsverband gebildet. Konkret wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwiefern diese vier Strukturmerkmale die berufliche Mobilität von Absolventen einer dualen Ausbildung restringieren. Aus theoretischer Sicht ist zu erwarten, dass bei einer hohen Ausprägung der Indikatoren eine größere soziale Schließung des jeweiligen Berufs herrscht und somit ein Wechsel in einen solchen Beruf schwieriger möglich sein sollte. Empirisch zeigt sich, dass drei Strukturindikatoren in die prognostizierte Richtung weisen: Der Zugang zu Berufen, die durch eine Ausbildungsvorschrift standardisiert oder durch private Träger zertifiziert sind, ist schwieriger. Auch bei einer höheren Ausprägung der beruflichen Spezifität sinken die Chancen, in einen solchen Beruf zu wechseln. Entgegen der theoretischen Überlegungen verhält sich jedoch die Variable Berufsverband - sie besitzt einen positiven Einfluss auf berufliche Mobilitätschancen. Die gleichen Wirkungszusammenhänge ergaben sich, bei einer nach Berufsbereichen differenzierten Betrachtung, für Technische und Dienstleistungsberufe. Im Fertigungsbereich allerdings weichen die Effekte der beruflichen Spezifität und der Berufsverbände von den übrigen Ergebnissen ab. This article examines if occupations contribute to social closure by their structural characteristics. For this purpose the four structural indicators occupational specificity, standardization by training regulation, voluntary certification by private educational providers and representation by an occupational association were created on the basis of the Berufsordnungen of the KldB88. The main question is how these structural traits restrict occupational mobility of graduates of an apprenticeship in the dual system. From a theoretical perspective it is expected that a high manifestation of these indicators goes along with a stronger social closure of the particular occu-pation and so switching into such an occupation is more difficult. The empirical results show that three structural variables indicate the predicted tendency: the access to occupations which are standardized by a training regulation or certified by private educational providers is more difficult. A higher manifestation of occupational specificity also decreases the opportunities to switch into such an occupation. Contrary to the supposed correlations is the variable occupational associations - it has a positive effect on occupational mobility. The differentiation into three occupational areas showed the same results for technical and service occupations. However, in the production sector the effects of occupational specificity and occupational associations differed.

The introduction of firm size into labor search models raises the question how wages are set when average and marginal product differ. We develop and analyze an alternative to the existing bargaining framework: Firms compete for labor by publicly posting long- term contracts. In such a competitive search setting, firms achieve faster growth not only by posting more vacancies, but also by offering higher lifetime wages that attract more workers which allows to fill vacancies with higher probability, consistent with empirical regularities. The model also captures several other observations about firm size, job flows, and pay. In contrast to bargaining models, efficiency obtains on all margins of job creation and destruction, both with idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks. The planner solution allows a tractable characterization which is useful for computational applications.

Bis in die 1980er Jahre führte der neoklassische Hauptstrang der ökonomischen Theorie Arbeitslosigkeit ausschließlich auf 'marktstörende' Institutionen wie zum Beispiel Mindestlöhne zurück. Wer nicht zum Marktlohn arbeiten wollte, entschied sich nach dieser Sichtweise 'freiwillig' für die Nichterwerbstätigkeit. Erst die Arbeiten der diesjährigen Wirtschaftsnobelpreisträger Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen und Christopher Pissarides haben gezeigt, dass Arbeitslosigkeit auch dann auftritt, wenn die Suche nach Stellen und Bewerbern ein kostenintensiver Prozess ist, bei dem beide Seiten des Marktes nur über ungenügende Informationen verfügen.

This paper investigates equilibria in a labor market where firms post wage/tenure contracts and risk-averse workers, both employed and unemployed, search for better paid job opportunities. Different firms typically offer different contracts. Workers accumulate general human capital through learning-by-doing. With on-the-job search, a worker's wage evolves endogenously over time through experience effects, tenure effects and quits to better paid employment. This equilibrium approach suggests how to identify econometrically between experience and tenure effects on worker wages.

This paper investigates the role of staggered wages and sticky prices in explaining stylized labor market facts. We build on a partial equilibrium search and matching model and expand the model to a general equilibrium model with sticky prices and/or staggered wages. We show that the core model creates too much volatility in response to a technology shock. The sticky price model outperforms the staggered wage model in terms of matching volatilities, while the combination of both rigidities matches the data reasonably well.

We examine theoretically and empirically the properties of the equilibrium wage function and its implications for policy. Our emphasis is on how the researcher approaches economic and policy questions when there is labor market heterogeneity leading to a set of wages. We focus on the application where hedonic models have been most successful at clarifying policy relevant outcomes and policy effects, that of the wage premia for fatal injury risk. Estimates of the overall hedonic locus we discuss imply the so-called value of a statistical life (VSL) that is useful as the benefit value in a cost-effectiveness calculation of government programs to enhance personal safety. Additional econometric results described are the multiple dimensions of heterogeneity in VSL, including by age and consumption plans, the latent trait that affects wages and job safety setting choice, and family income. Simulations of hedonic market outcomes are also valuable research tools. To demonstrate the additional usefulness of giving detail to the underlying structure we not only develop the issue of welfare comparisons theoretically but also illustrate how numerical simulations of the underlying structure can also be informative. Using a reasonable set of primitives we see that job safety regulations are much more limited in their potential for improving workplace safety efficiently compared to mandatory injury insurance with experience rated premiums. The simulations reveal how regulations incent some workers to take more dangerous jobs, while workers' compensation insurance does not (or less so).

This paper surveys the contributions of laboratory experiments to labor economics. We begin with a discussion of methodological issues: why (and when) is a lab experiment the best approach; how do laboratory experiments compare to field experiments; and what are the main design issues? We then summarize the substantive contributions of laboratory experiments to our understanding of principal-agent interactions, social preferences, union-firm bargaining, arbitration, gender differentials, discrimination, job search, and labor markets more generally.

"The aim of this article is to critically assess the concept of transitional labour markets (TLM) and its scientific importance. It seeks to provide a stock-taking of the methodological tools and discuss future theoretical and methodological perspectives. Since the TLM concept is by definition interdisciplinary and multi-methodological in nature, we need to ask about the extent to which this kind of openness is appropriate. The methodological review will go beyond the traditional schism of qualitative vs. quantitative research by including additional dimensions such as exploration, causal modelling, and questions regarding research design and data quality. The sources supporting this 'TLM inventory' are the essential publications (books, working papers, and journal articles) of the two major research projects explicitly based on the TLM approach: TRANSLAM and TLM.NET. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions how to enhance the TLM concept in theoretical and methodological terms." (author's abstract) "Das Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist eine kritische Würdigung des Konzeptes der Übergangsarbeitsmärkte und seiner wissenschaftlichen Bedeutung. Er bietet eine Bestandsaufnahme der angewandten Forschungsmethoden und diskutiert zukünftige theoretische und methodologische Perspektiven. Das Konzept der Übergangsarbeitsmärkte hat per Definition einen interdisziplinären und multi-methodischen Charakter, so dass sich die Frage nach dem optimalen Maß dieser Offenheit stellt. Die methodische Bestandsaufnahme geht dabei über das klassische Schisma von qualitativer vs. quantitativer Forschung hinaus und berücksichtigt auch Dimensionen wie z.B. Exploration und Kausalmodelle sowie Fragen des Forschungsdesigns und der Dateneigenschaften. Die Quellen, auf die sich diese 'TLM-Bestandsaufnahme' stützt, sind die wichtigsten Publikationen (Monographien, Arbeitspapiere und wissenschaftliche Artikel) der beiden Hauptforschungsprojekte - TRANSLAM und TLM.NET - die explizit auf dem TLM-Konzept beruhen. Das Papier schließt mit einer Reihe von Anregungen, wie dieses Konzept in theoretischer wie auch methodischer Hinsicht weiterentwickelt werden sollte." (Autorenreferat)

The Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model is the workhorse of labor macro, but it has difficulty in simultaneously matching the cyclical behavior of job loss and vacancies when taken to the data. By completely ignoring frictions in job creation and focusing instead on firm-level heterogeneity, one can match the cyclical behavior of job flows and vacancies relatively well. In particular, one can generate a Beveridge Curve which looks much like the real Beveridge Curve, and one can replicate the approximately equal contributions of job creation and destruction to the cycle. Focusing on heterogeneity rather than on hiring costs seems to give an improved picture of hiring activity over the cycle.

In recent decades most developed countries have experienced an increase in income inequality. In this paper, we use an equilibrium search framework to shed additional light on what is causing an income distribution to change. The major benefit of the model is that it can accommodate shocks to the skill composition in the market, employee bargaining power and productivity. Further, when our model is subjected to skill-upgrading and changes in employee bargaining power, it is capable of predicting the recent changes observed in the Danish income distribution. In addition, the model emphasizes that shocks to the employees' relative productivity, i.e., skill-biased technological change, are unlikely to have caused the increase in income inequality.

This paper studies the impact of an European-like labor market regulation on the return to schooling, equilibrium unemployment and welfare. We show that firing costs and temporary employment have opposite effects on educational choices. We furthermore demonstrate that a laissez faire economy with no regulation is inefficient as it is characterized by insufficient educational investments leading to excess job destruction and inadequate job creation. By stabilizing employment relationships, firing costs may spur educational investments and therefore lead to welfare and productivity gains, though a first-best policy would be to subsidize education. However, there is little chance for a dual labor market, as is common in many European countries, with heavily regulated long-term contracts and more flexible short-term contracts to raise the incentives to schooling and aggregate welfare.

This paper constructs a theory of the coexistence of fixed-term and permanent employment contracts in an environment with ex-ante identical workers and employers. Workers under fixed-term contracts can be dismissed at no cost while permanent employees enjoy labor protection. In a labor market characterized by search and matching frictions, firms find it optimal to discriminate by offering some workers a fixedterm contract while offering other workers a permanent contract. Match-specific quality between a worker and a firm determines the type of contract offered. We analytically characterize the firm’s hiring and firing rules. Using matched employer-employee data from Canada, we estimate the model’s parameters. Increasing the level of firing costs increases wage inequality and decreases the unemployment rate. The increase in inequality results from a larger fraction of temporary workers and not from an increase in the wage premium earned by permanent workers., Les auteurs élaborent un cadre théorique pour expliquer la coexistence de contrats à durée déterminée et de contrats de travail permanents dans un milieu où travailleurs et employeurs sont a priori identiques. Les travailleurs temporaires sont licenciables sans frais, alors que les employés permanents jouissent d’une protection d’emploi. Sur un marché du travail caractérisé par des frictions dans la prospection et l’appariement, les entreprises jugent optimal d’opérer des distinctions en proposant à certains travailleurs un contrat à durée déterminée et à d’autres un contrat permanent. La qualité intrinsèque de l’appariement entre le travailleur et l’entreprise motive le choix du contrat offert. Les auteurs définissent par analyse les règles d’embauche et de congédiement des entreprises. Les paramètres du modèle sont estimés à l’aide de données canadiennes relatives au jumelage employeurs-salariés. La hausse des coûts de licenciement accroît l’inégalité des salaires et réduit le chômage. Cette montée de l’inégalité est causée par la présence d’une plus grande proportion de travailleurs temporaires et non par la majoration du surplus de rémunération octroyé aux travailleurs permanents.

Several authors have proposed staggered wage bargaining as a way to introduce sticky wages into search and matching models while preserving individual rationality. I evaluate the quantitative implications of such an approach. I feed through a series of estimated shocks from US data into a search and matching model with sticky prices and wages. I compare the implications of how the sticky wages enter into the hiring decision, and there seems to be a tradeoff between generating business cycle volatility and matching the lack of a long-run relationship between vacancy creation and inflation. With regard to wages, the sticky wage model unconditionally does a better job at matching wages than the flexible wage model.

Globalization has entered a new stage, with new and varying constellations of winners and losers and thus, calls for a new policy paradigm. In contrast to the traditional way of thinking - the welfare state redistributes purchasing power to the disadvantaged to support them in the event of adverse shocks - now workers must be made more adaptable and be encouraged to stabilize themselves if hurt from globalization. This dissertation examines several labour market policies with various incentive models of the labour market, which explain the microeconomic decisions relevant to the transitions in the labour market in terms of the incentives that economic agents face. To fulfil its new role the following three reform policies for the welfare state are analysed: Unemployment accounts, employment subsidies and flexicurity. Finally, a new modelling strategy of two-sided search with frictions and heterogeneities, which is able to account for empirical stylized facts, is proposed for future policy analysis and prediction. Die neue Phase der Globalisierung, die immer neue und wechselnde Konstellationen von Gewinnern und Verlierern der Globalisierung hervorbringt, fordern nach einem neuen Politikmuster. Im Gegensatz zum traditionellen Denkansatz - der Wohlfahrtsstaat verteilt Kaufkraft an die benachteiligten um - müssen Arbeitnehmer jetzt anpassungsfähiger werden und deart unterstützt werden, dass sie sich selbst stabilisiern können, wenn sie zu Globalisierungsverlierern werden. Diese Dissertation behandeln verschiedene Arbeitsmarktpolitiken mit mehreren anreizbasierten Arbeitsmarktmodellen, die die mikroökonomischen Entscheidungen der Agenten in Bezug auf ihre Übergänge zwischen Abreitsmarktzuständen durch die Beschäftigungsanreize erklären. Es werden drei Reformmaßnahmen analysiert, die der neuen Rolle des Wohlfahrtsstaates gerecht werden: Beschäftigungskonten, Beschäftigungssubventionen und Flexicurity. Abschließend wird ein neuer Modellierungsansatz mit beidseitigem Suchverhalten, Friktionen und Heterogenitäten für zukünftige Politikanalyse und Vorhersage präsentiert, der empirische Fakten replizieren kann.