This paper sheds light on how changes in the organization of work lead to wage inequality. We present a theoretical model in which workers with a wider span of competence (higher level of multitasking) earn a wage premium. Since abilities and opportunities to expand the span of competence are...

Now, at the end of the 20th century, many OECD countries face serious problems in achieving both prosperity and social cohesion. One important - and sadly neglected - source of these problems are the very policy systems that are meant to address them. I will argue that these policy systems -...

The proposal involves the establishment of ?welfare accounts? for every person in a country. There are to be four accounts: a retirement account (covering pensions), an unemployment account (covering unemployment support), a human capital account (covering education and training), and a health...

This paper examines the movements in EU unemployment from two perspectives: (a) the NRU/NAIRU perspective, in which unemployment movements are attributed largely to changes in the long-run equilibrium unemployment rate and (b) the chain-reaction perspective, in which unemployment movements are...

In jüngster Zeit wurde eine Vielzahl von Kombilohnvorschlägen zur Bekämpfung der Arbeitslosigkeit gemacht (vgl. z.B. Sinn et al. 2006; Sachverständigenrat 2006). Diese sollen Abhilfe bei der persistenten Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit und den hohen Arbeitslosenraten bei Niedrigqualifizierten schaffen....

Do firms reduce employment when their insiders (established, incumbent employees) claim higher wages? The conventional answer in the theoretical literature is that insider power has no influence on employment, provided that the newly hired employees (entrants) receive their reservation wages....

This paper offers a reappraisal of the inflation-unemployment tradeoff, based on ?frictional growth,? describing the interplay between nominal frictions and money growth. When the money supply grows in the presence of price inertia (due to staggered wage contracts with time discounting), the...

This manifesto challenges a pernicious orthodoxy that has gripped Europe's policy makers. It is that demand- and supply-side policies must have different aims, that a limited number of supply-side policies are to be devoted to fighting unemployment, and that demand management (and particularly...

The analysis provides a new explanation for two widespread problems concerning European unemployment policy: the disappointingly small effect of many past reform measures on unemployment, and the political difficulties in implementing more extensive reform programs. We argue that the heart of...