Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market

Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market

Author: George A. Akerlof

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1986-11-28

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780521312844

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The contributors explore the reasons why involuntary unemployment happens when supply equals demand.


Optimal Unemployment Insurance

Optimal Unemployment Insurance

Author: Andreas Pollak

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9783161493041

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Designing a good unemployment insurance scheme is a delicate matter. In a system with no or little insurance, households may be subject to a high income risk, whereas excessively generous unemployment insurance systems are known to lead to high unemployment rates and are costly both from a fiscal perspective and for society as a whole. Andreas Pollak investigates what an optimal unemployment insurance system would look like, i.e. a system that constitutes the best possible compromise between income security and incentives to work. Using theoretical economic models and complex numerical simulations, he studies the effects of benefit levels and payment durations on unemployment and welfare. As the models allow for considerable heterogeneity of households, including a history-dependent labor productivity, it is possible to analyze how certain policies affect individuals in a specific age, wealth or skill group. The most important aspect of an unemployment insurance system turns out to be the benefits paid to the long-term unemployed. If this parameter is chosen too high, a large number of households may get caught in a long spell of unemployment with little chance of finding work again. Based on the predictions in these models, the so-called "Hartz IV" labor market reform recently adopted in Germany should have highly favorable effects on the unemployment rates and welfare in the long run.


Law and Employment

Law and Employment

Author: James J. Heckman

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-11-01

Total Pages: 585

ISBN-13: 0226322858

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Law and Employment analyzes the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets and presents empirically grounded studies of the costs of regulation. Numerous labor regulations that were introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés document the behavior of firms attempting to stay in business and be competitive while facing the high costs of complying with these labor laws. They challenge the prevailing view that labor market regulations affect only the distribution of labor incomes and have little or no impact on efficiency or the performance of labor markets. Using new micro-evidence, this volume shows that labor regulations reduce labor market turnover rates and flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers. Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States. The book breaks new ground by quantifying not only the cost of regulation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in the OECD, but also the broader impact of this regulation.


Efficiency Wages

Efficiency Wages

Author: Andrew Weiss

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 140086206X

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Known for his seminal work in efficiency-wage theory, Andrew Weiss surveys recent research in the field and presents new results. He shows how wage schedules affect the kinds of workers a firm employs and how well those workers perform on the job. Using straightforward examples, he demonstrates how efficiency-wage theory can explain labor market outcomes and guide government policy. There is a separate section of applications to less developed countries. "Efficiency-wage models represent one of the most important developments in economic theory of recent years. They have, at last, provided integrated explanations both of macroeconomic phenomena, such as unemployment and wage rigidity, and microeconomic phenomena, such as wage dispersion. Weiss--one of the pioneers of efficiency-wage theory--provides here a masterful survey, a lucid and systematic and yet critical account of this rapidly developing branch of economics. This book should be required reading in all courses in macroeconomics."--Joseph Stiglitz, Stanford University "Efficiency Wages should be on the bookshelf of all labor and macroeconomists."--Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard University "A splendid monograph ... most readable... I will put it on my reading list."--Partha Dasgupta, Stanford University Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Advances in the Theory and Measurement of Unemployment

Advances in the Theory and Measurement of Unemployment

Author: Yoram Weiss

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1989-06-18

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1349106887

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A collection of papers which analyzes and measures unemployment as a search activity, discusses efficiency wage models and which considers the impact of government and unions on employment and unemployment.


The Wage Curve

The Wage Curve

Author: David G. Blanchflower

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 9780262023757

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The Wage Curve casts doubt on some of the most important ideas in macroeconomics, labor economics, and regional economics. According to macroeconomic orthodoxy, there is a relationship between unemployment and the rate of change of wages. According to orthodoxy in labor economics and regional economics an area's wage is positively related to the amount of joblessness in the area. The Wage Curve suggests that both these beliefs are incorrect. Blanchflower and Oswald argue that the stable relationship is a downward-sloping convex curve linking local unemployment and the level of pay. Their study, one of the most intensive in the history of social science, is based on random samples that provide computerized information on nearly four million people from sixteen countries. Throughout, the authors systematically present evidence and possible explanations for their empirical law of economics.


Essential Readings in Economics

Essential Readings in Economics

Author: Saul Estrin

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1995-05-24

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 1349240028

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Intellectual advances in economics often come from debates that have been long forgotten but which offer context, depth and clarity to contemporary study. Essential Readings in Economics makes available in a single volume some of the seminal papers in the areas of microeconomics and macroeconomics for intermediate courses in economic principles. The readings are organised in two groups: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Part 1 looks at topics ranging from 'The Theory of Demand' and 'The Firm and Supply' to 'The Economics of Uncertainty and Information'. In Part 2 the wide ranging debates over the last 55 years are illustrated with contributions from Keynes, Friedman, Phillips and other leading Economists. This vigorous and accessible collection of readings is intended to supplement and extend the understanding students could obtain from conventional introductory textbooks.