Search

There seems to exist a consensus that transnational labour mobility will help to equalize workers` incomes and domestic product per head between the member countries of a monetary union. However, the ´the new economic geography` which stresses the centrifugal spatial forces of economic activity cast doubts on this opinion. By contrasting neoclassical analysis with models of imperfect competition, this paper illustrates the view that labour mobility might aggravate as well as equalize the national differences in domestic product per head. Therefore, with respect to EMU, it seems reasonable to support forms of transnational mobility which avoid the potential polarizing effects as far as possible.

Innerhalb weniger Jahrzehnte hat sich der deutsche Arbeitsmarkt vom Vorbild zum Negativbeispiel verändert. Die Erklärung wird hier im Zusammenwirken von Schocks und Institutionen gesucht. Zwar fördern Regelungen wie der Beschäftigungsschutz die Unter-nehmens-interne Anpassung; die beobachteten starken Beschäftigungsschocks lösten aber externe Anpassungen aus, die – als sozialverträglicher Beschäftigungsabbau gestaltet – zunehmend das soziale Sicherungssystem finanziell belasteten und damit negative Rück-wirkungen auf die Beschäftigung ausübten. Zusammen mit weiteren Rückkopplungspro-zessen entwickelte sich ein Teufelskreis, der grundlegende Reformen erfordert. Hierzu plädiert der Verfasser für das Modell der „Flexicurity“, d. h. die Deckung des Lebensun-terhalts bleibt der Eigenverantwortung überlassen, während der Staat weiterhin eine tragende Rolle bei der Absicherung existenzieller Risiken und der Altersvorsorge behält.

An increase in legally binding severance payments creates both an incentive and a disincentive for workers to invest in firmspecific human capital. Which effect prevails on balance depends on the productivity of the worker's human capital investment. For strong positive reactions, increases in severance payments can even be mutually beneficial for workers and firms.

When a nation joins EMU it relinquishes monetary policy tools and its economy becomes more and more exposed to international competition. This has provoked (sometimes quite opposing) fears concerning the future of "Euroland". With respect to the labour markets of the EMU-zone some authors expect a catching-up of wages irrespectively of differences in productivity while others are suspicious of a process of competitive underbidding. Before addressing this controversy in chapter 4, the changes will be described that are relevant for the labour markets' participants and that have been brought about by the start of EMU. Since the beginning of this year the member states of the European Monetary Union no longer have at their disposal the instruments of monetary policy or the ability to adjust exchange rates. Further, the Stability and Growth Pact restrains their fiscal autonomy. The second chapter of this paper contains some general considerations of the consequences that may result from this fundamental change in the conduct of economic policy. At the same time, EMU probably will intensify the process of transnational economic integration and, thus, may further diminish the manoeuvrability of the member states. In the third chapter we will look at the effects of this development on the national labour markets in some detail. It is certainly not clear how the participants in the labour markets will respond to the important changes in the environment in which they operate. Some of the alternatives that have been discussed particularly in Germany, will be presented in the fourth chapter.