Why do many democracies fail to reform their labor market institutions? We study the feasibility of reforms that include the compensation of the insiders for the removal of labor market regulations. In our model workers differ in their ability to perform well on a liberalized labor market. The...

Why do many democracies fail to reform their labor market institutions? We study the feasibility of reforms that include the compensation of the insiders for the removal of labor market regulations. In our model workers differ in their ability to perform well on a liberalized labor market. The...

The U.S. minimum wage declined in real terms since the late 1970s. In the same time, the wage of the least skilled workers fell in real terms, while the wage of the highest skilled workers increased. To shed light on these issues, I use a simple model of routinization. High-ability workers,...

In this paper, we study the effect of skill-biased technological change on unemployment when benefits are linked to the evolution of average income and when this is not the case. In the former case, an increase in the productivity of skilled workers and hence their wage leads to an increase in...