Barely a day goes by without some expert telling us how the continental European economies are about to disintegrate unless their labour markets become more flexible. Basically, we are told, Europe has the wrong sort of labour market institutions for the modern global economy. These outdated...

Our conclusions are the most important influences on unemployment come from the following (i) The longer unemployment benefits are available the longer unemployment lasts. Similarly, higher levels of benefits generate higher unemployment, with an elasticity of around one half. On the other hand...

This paper studies the dynamics of labour demand and the determinants of employment rates across the OECD. We find: (i) labour demand adjusts less rapidly when employment protection is more strict and union density is higher; (ii) there is no evidence that overall job turnover is influenced by...

Over the period since 1970, Britain has improved its relative productivity performance, but there remains a significant gap in market sector productivity between Britain and both Continental Europe and the United States. Much of the gap between Britain and Continental Europe is due to lower...

This paper analyses time series data on some 800 British manufacturing companies to address various questions concerning the role of insiders and market power in wage determination. The following are the important results. First, firm specific factors such as productivity gains do influence wage...

This paper presents an empirical investigation of the hypothesis that increased R&D expenditure by companies generates a subsequent increase in fixed capital investment both within the same companies and in the companies which they supply. We use an investment framework which involves modelling...

How does monetary policy work? While one aspect of the investigation has focused on the behaviour of consumers, another has concentrated on the behaviour of companies faced with the kind of financial pressures associated with tight monetary policy. The general focus in this area is on the impact...

The title accurately reflects the subject matter of the paper and we come to the following conclusions. First, we note that well documented difficulties in hiring faced by firms in the tight labour market of a boom provides a perfectly satisfactory explanation of both asymmetric employment...

This paper investigates the impact of competition on the productivity performance of companies. The key hypothesis is that firms which operate in a more competitive environment have a higher levels of productivity and/or higher rates of productivity growth. We summarise the theoretical...

This paper considers three aspects of the job insecurity facing British men in the last two decades. The probability of becoming unemployed, the costs of unemployment in terms of real wages losses and the probability that the continuously employed will experience substantial real wage losses....