We examine the effect of the minimum wage on restaurant prices. We contribute to both the study of economic impact of the minimum wage and to the micro patterns of price stickiness. For that purpose, we use a unique dataset of individual price quotes collected to calculate the Consumer Price...

The process leading to the setting of the minimum wage so far has been fairly overlooked by economists. This paper suggests that this is a serious limitation as the setting regime contributes to explain cross-country variation in the fine-tuning of the minimum wage, hence in the way in which the...

Die Veröffentlichung des 3. Armuts- und Reichtumsberichts der Bundesregierung hat in der Öffentlichkeit Betroffenheit ausgelöst. Wie wird Armut gemessen und wie sollte sie bekämpft werden?

"This paper analyses theoretical effects of minimum wages on employment and the wage distribution under a frictional setting. I review new developments in search theory and discuss the influence of minimum wages on wages and employment under each setting. Thereby, a major theoretical focus of...

The legal basis of collective bargaining in Austria is laid down by the Labour Constitution Act (ArbVG). According to the ArbVG, collective agreements can be concluded only between collective organisations of employers and employees. Therefore, the Austrian labour law systematically benefits...

The Belgian collective bargaining system is highly institutionalised and coordinated. Over 90% of employees are covered by a collective agreement, placing Belgium among the countries with the highest coverage in Europe. Also, the Belgian trade unions have a relatively high level of membership...

The right to collective bargaining and the binding character of collective agreements is enshrined in the Spanish Constitution (Section 37.1). The system of collective bargaining is thoroughly regulated in Title III of the Workers’ Statute. In particular, Section 82.3 establishes the legally...

Low-wage employment has increased considerably in Germany in recent years due to the erosion of the collective bargaining system. At the same time the structure of the low-wage sector has changed. It has moved to the periphery of the labour market and career development prospects have decreased....

Binding minimum wages of whatever form not only cost jobs, they also frequently fail to achieve their generally socio-politically motivated objectives. The introduction of a minimum wage for some postal services and the decisions made by the coalition committee in June 2007 therefore constitute...