Search results for "Market institution"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
The Nordic difference: Job quality in Europe 1995–2010
2012
Previous empirical research has pointed out that Nordic countries are distinguished from the rest of Europe in terms of job quality. On the other hand, it has been debated whether, in the longer run, the Nordic welfare state is able to insulate workers from globalization effects. This article investigates whether Nordic countries have retained their advantageous position concerning job quality compared with other EU countries. Empirical analyses are based on the European Working Conditions Survey collected in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. We use data on employees in the 15 member states of the EU prior to enlargement in 2004 (n = 61,457). The results partly confirm previous findings of high j…
Are Low Prices Compromises Collusion Guarantees? An Experimental Analysis of Price Matching Policies
2001
In this paper we experimentally test the ability of Price-Matching Guarantees (PMG) to rise prices above the competitive level. We implement three different treatments of symmetric duopolies to check the effect of PMG both as a market institution and as a business strategy. In the absence of any low-price guarantee, prices get close to the Bertrand-Nash equilibrium although in the 50 rounds of the experiment no full convergence is obtained. The existence of PMG as an institution in a market where firms decide only about prices results in a clear collusive outcome as all markets quickly and fully converge to the collusive prediction. If we allow subjects to decide whether they adopt price ma…
Labor Market Flexibility and Unemployment: New Empirical Evidence of Static and Dynamic Effects
2012
The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between labor market flexibility and unemployment outcomes. Using a panel of 97 countries from 1985 to 2008, the results of the paper suggest that improvements in labor market flexibility have a statistically and significant negative impact on unemployment outcomes (over unemployment, youth unemployment, and long-term unemployment). Among the different labor market flexibility indicators analyzed, hiring and firing regulations and hiring costs are found to have the strongest effect.
Essays on labour market institutions and macroeconomic dynamics
2019
Labour market reforms play an important role in the public debate and policy recommendations. This thesis aims to find evidence on how labour market institutions are related to economic dynamics and adjustment. The thesis contains an introductory chapter and three essays. The first essay uses data of OECD countries to study whether differences in labour market institutions explain the differences in business cycle dynamics across OECD countries. The second and third essays use theoretical models to study centralized wage-setting and wage-setting coordination. The results of the first essay suggest that labour market institution variables have explanatory power for the heterogeneity in the v…