Using a Phillips-type equation and annual aggregate data from 15 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, we estimate the effects of the following policies on the ‘non‐accelerating inflation rate of unemployment’ (NAIRU): restrictions on firing, growth in...

As argued by Summers et al. (Quarterly Journal of Economics 1993; 108: 385-411) and Cigno ('Is There a Social Security Tax Wedge?', CESifo Working Paper No. 1772, 2006) public old-age pension benefits may work as a wage-moderating device, thereby lessening the distorting effects of labour taxation...