Two social security schemes are compared in the long run, one based on a basic income and on the other on unemployment benefits. The analysis is carried out in an overlapping generations model in which agents have to decide whether to become skilled or remain unskilled, and how much time to...

The paper presents the newly developed dynamic spatial general equilibrium model of European Commission, RHOMOLO. The model incorporates several elements from economic geography in a novel and theoretically consistent way. It describes the location choice of different types of agents and...

The paper presents the newly developed dynamic spatial general equilibrium model of European Commission - RHOMOLO, in which the interplay of agglomeration and dispersion forces can be analysed in a novel and theoretically consistent way. A particular attention is paid to flows of goods, factors...

We analyze the impact of a drop in fertility on the optimal allocation of resources in an overlapping generations economy where old workers care about leisure. We also characterize optimal dynamics and study the decentralization of the optimum by means of inter-generational transfers and/or...

In this paper we aim to understand the role a welfare state can play in stimulating risky but profitable activities like investment in education, and in reducing income inequality. We analyze how unemployment benefits may affect investment in education when the latter is characterized by...

In several OECD countries age-targeted wage subsidies have been introduced to increase the employment of older workers, but evidence on their effectiveness is scarce. This paper examines the effects of a permanent wage cost subsidy in Belgium on the employment rate, working time and hourly wage....

We study the impact of graduating in a recession in Flanders (Belgium), i.e. in a rigid labor market. In the presence of a high minimum wage, a typical recession hardly influences the hourly wage of low educated men, but reduces working time and earnings by about 4.5% up to twelve years after...