To assess the employment effects of labor costs it is crucial to have reliable estimates of the labor cost elasticity of labor demand. Using a matched firm-worker dataset, we estimate a long run unconditional labor demand function, exploiting information on workers to correct for endogeneity in...

The paper presents a tractable general equilibrium model of search unemployment that incorporates absence from work as a distinct labor force state. Absenteeism is driven by random shocks to the value of leisure that are private information to the workers. Firms offer wages, and possibly sick...

Temporary employment contracts allowing unrestricted dismissals were introduced in Spain in 1984 and quickly came to account for most new jobs. As a result, temporary employment increased from around 10% in the mid-eighties to more than 30% in the early nineties. In 1997, however, the Spanish...

Reducing labour taxes or offering incentives to hire new workers could motivate employers to either retain staff who might otherwise have been let go or to create new jobs. Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, both types of measure have been deployed in many EU Member States. This...

Reducing labour taxes or offering incentives to hire new workers could motivate employers to either retain staff who might otherwise have been let go or to create new jobs. Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, both types of measure have been deployed in many EU Member States. This...

Firms differ in their dependence on skilled labor and face labor adjustment costs that increase with their workers' skill level. We show that firms with a higher share of skilled workers, and thus less flexibility to adjust their labor demand in response to cash flow shocks, hold more...

Mit suggestiven Bildern wie der «Kostenexplosion» soll den Bürgern vermittelt werden, dass sie für ihre Gesundheit immer mehr bezahlen müssen, weil die Zahl älterer und damit pflegebedürftiger Menschen steige, der medizinische Fortschritt seinen Preis habe und ihre eigenen Ansprüche als...

The data indicate that non-wage labour costs in Germany have reached a record high in recent years. From 1972 to 2001, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in West German manufacturing industry rose from 55.6 per cent to 81.2 per cent. The topic of non-wage labour costs is...

Informality is at the center of the economic debate in Colombia, fueled by the high level prevalent in the country and its substantial increase during the 1990s. We study the effect of labor market rigidities, namely the increase in non-wage costs and the minimum wage on the size of the informal...

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling has provided a number of important insights about the interplay between environmental tax policy and the pre-existing tax system. In this paper, we emphasize that a labor market policy of recycling tax revenues from an environmental tax to lower...

The paper presents a general equilibrium model of search unemployment that incorporates absence from work as a distinct labor force state. Absenteeism is driven by random shocks to the value of leisure that are private information to the workers. Firms maximize profits while recognizing that the...

To assess the employment effects of labor costs it is crucial to have reliable estimates of the labor cost elasticity of labor demand. Using a matched firm-worker dataset, we estimate a long run unconditional labor demand function, exploiting information on workers to correct for endogeneity in...

The paper presents a general equilibrium model of search unemployment that incorporates absence from work as a distinct labor force state. Absenteeism is driven by random shocks to the value of leisure that are private information to the workers. Firms maximize profits while recognizing that the...

This paper uses firm level survey data from Portugal to investigate how firms adjust their labour costs in the presence of wage rigidities. We document that Portuguese firms, besides reducing employment or freezing nominal base wages, also make frequent use of other cost-cutting strategies, like...

The paper presents a tractable general equilibrium model of search unemployment that incorporates absence from work as a distinct labor force state. Absenteeism is driven by random shocks to the value of leisure that are private information to the workers. Firms offer wages, and possibly sick...

Die Arbeitskosten des westdeutschen Verarbeitenden Gewerbes beliefen sich im Jahr 2011 auf 37,57 Euro je Arbeitnehmerstunde. Damit lag Westdeutschland an sechster Stelle der IW-Arbeitskostenrangliste. Gegenüber dem Durchschnitt der etablierten Industrieländer hat die westdeutsche Industrie um...

Abstract: Die Belastung der Arbeitgeber durch Lohnzusatzkosten wird in Deutschland seit Jahren als gravierendes wirtschafts- bzw. arbeitsmarktpolitisches Problem diskutiert. Vor diesem Hintergrund war die Entkopplung der Gesundheitsausgaben von den Lohnkosten auch Ziel der jüngsten...

All tax indicator estimates, whether based on aggregate- or micro data, need to be corroborated by other information and preferably also other tax indicators before policy conclusions can reasonably be drawn. The purpose of this paper is to describe the way the (macroeconomic implicit tax rate...

The data indicate that non-wage labour costs in Germany have reached a record high in recent years. From 1972 to 2001, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in West German manufacturing industry rose from 55.6 per cent to 81.2 per cent. The topic of non-wage labour costs is...

The data indicate that non-wage labour costs in Germany have reached a record high in recent years. From 1972 to 2001, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in West German manufacturing industry rose from 55.6 per cent to 81.2 per cent. The topic of non-wage labour costs is...

The data indicate that non-wage labour costs in Germany have reached a record high in recent years. From 1972 to 2001, the ratio of non-wage labour costs to direct compensation in West German manufacturing industry rose from 55,6 per cent to 81.2 per cent. The topic of non-wage labour costs is...

Wohl kaum eine Behauptung bildet das seit langem derart stabile, dem politischen Streit weitgehend entzogene und scheinbar unbezweifelbare Credo politischer Reformprojekte, teils weitreichender Gesetzesvorhaben, wie auch der politischen Alltagssdiskussion wie das angebliche Anwachsen der...

Temporary employment contracts allowing unrestricted dismissals were introduced in Spain in 1984 and quickly came to account for most new jobs. As a result, temporary employment increased from around 10% in the mid-eighties to more than 30% in the early nineties. In 1997, however, the Spanish...

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling has provided a number of important insights about the interplay between environmental tax policy and the pre-existing tax system. In this paper, we emphasize that a labor market policy of recycling tax revenues from an environmental tax to lower...

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling has provided a number of important insights about the interplay between environmental tax policy and the pre-existing tax system. In this paper, we emphasize that a labor market policy of recycling tax revenues from an environmental tax to lower...