Progressive income taxes moderate wage demands by trade unions and thereby reduce unemployment, but also they reduce incentives to acquire skills and lower productivity of workers. The optimal response of the government to this dilemma is to choose a system of progressive taxes and to (partly)...

A stronger focus on jobs and growth is part of an effort to renew the Lisbon strategy. Yet the view that economic expansion contributes to maintaining Lisbon’s other goals of social cohesion as well as the environment is somewhat optimistic. First, there are structural trade-offs among the...

Progressive income taxes moderate wage demands by trade unions and thereby reduce unemployment, but alsothey reduce incentives to acquire skills and lower productivity of workers. The optimal response of the governmentto this dilemma is to choose a system of progressive taxes and to (partly)...

We investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of alternative measures to increase standards in low-income countries in a two-country framework where (a) trade and standards in low-income countries are negatively related, and (b) free trade is not longer optimal for the high-income country due...

Unemployment rates as well as income per capita differ vastly across the regions of Europe. Labour mobility can play a role in resolving regional disparities. This paper focuses on the questions why labour mobility is low in the EU and how it is possible that it remains low. We explore whether...