One of the key issues in economics is the explanation of unemployment and its variation across different economies. Doing so, modern mainstream macroeconomics refers to the effects of financial crises and to institutional structures and their variation across countries. However, unemployment...

One of the key issues in economics is the explanation of unemployment. Doing so "modern mainstream macroeconomics" frequently refers to institutional structures in the individual countries (e.g. Layard, Nickell & Jackman 1991, 2006; Carlin & Soskice 2006). However, unemployment within states varies...

A highly segmented labor market usually favors a mismatch between supply and demand, significantly limiting the functional flexibility and the resilience of this market to macroeconomic shocks. From this perspective, such a market hampers the transition of an EU member to the euro zone,...