This paper studies the labour market transitions of female workers from 1993 to 2004, a period of unprecedented economic stagnation for Japan. It provides an excellent setting to investigate how workers are affected and how firms have adjusted their workforces during difficult economic times. To...

Extract: Globalization is very much part of the modern vernacular. Arguably, it was first used by McLuhan and Fiore (1968) when they introduced the concept of the "global village". Globalization is characterized by the growth of the international trade of goods and services, the growth in...

Introduced in the mobile telecommunications market across world, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are considered an effective way to promote competition. However, possible adverse consequences for infrastructure investment of mobile network operators (MNOs) create concern. In this paper,...

This paper examines whether a country’s economic reforms are affected by reforms adopted by other countries. A simple model of economic reforms is developed to motivate the econometric work. Unsurprisingly, the model predicts that reforms are more likely when factors of production are...

Does trade affect the equilibrium rate of unemployment? To theoretically examine this question, we incorporate firm-union bargaining considerations into a model with a booming external sector and a stagnating manufacturing sector. In the model, a sustained improvement in the terms of trade...

We study the political economy of labour market policies. First, it is shown that tax and redistributive considerations lead inside workers to prefer spending on active labour market programmes to passive spending, e.g., on unemployment benefits. We also show that greater active spending may be...

This paper examines whether a country's economic reforms are affected by reforms adopted by other countries. A simple model of economic reforms is developed to motivate the econometric work. Unsurprisingly, the model predicts that reforms are more likely when factors of production are...

There has been no shortage of theories which purport to explain why globalisation may have, adverse, insignificant or even beneficial effects on income and earnings inequality. Surprisingly, the empirical realities remain an almost complete mystery. In this paper we use data on industrial wage...

For a number of OECD countries, the deterioration of labour market outcomes for less-skilled workers since the early 1980's has coincided with a steady decline in union membership. Globalisation is commonly believed to have contributed to both developments. However, recent studies fail to find...