[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/12460.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Euro-Productivity and Euro-Jobs since the 1960s: Which Institutions Really Mattered?

Author

Listed:
  • Gayle Allard
  • Peter H. Lindert
Abstract
How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Western Europe, relative to industrialized Pacific Rim countries? Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Protectionist labor-market policies such as employee protection laws seem to have become more costly since about 1980, not through overall employment effects, but through the net human-capital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations in core sectors may also have reduced GDP, though here the evidence is less robust. By contrast, high general tax levels have shed the negative influence they might have had in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, other institutions closer to the core of the welfare state have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. The welfare state's tax-based social transfers and coordinated wage bargaining have not harmed either employment or GDP. Even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Gayle Allard & Peter H. Lindert, 2006. "Euro-Productivity and Euro-Jobs since the 1960s: Which Institutions Really Mattered?," NBER Working Papers 12460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12460
    Note: DAE PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w12460.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans-Werner Sinn, 1994. "A Theory of the Welfare State," CESifo Working Paper Series 65, CESifo.
    2. Friedrich Schneider & Robert Klinglmair, 2004. "Shadow economies around the world: what do we know?," Economics working papers 2004-03, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    3. Schneider, Friedrich, 2005. "Shadow economies around the world: what do we really know?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 598-642, September.
    4. Agell, Jonas, 1999. "On the Benefits from Rigid Labour Markets: Norms, Market Failures, and Social Insurance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(453), pages 143-164, February.
    5. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    6. Stephen Nickell, 2003. "Employment and Taxes," CESifo Working Paper Series 1109, CESifo.
    7. Giuseppe Bertola & Francine Blau & Lawrence Kahn, 2007. "Labor market institutions and demographic employment patterns," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(4), pages 833-867, October.
    8. Gustavo Gonzaga, 2003. "Labor Turnover and Labor Legislation in Brazil," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2003), pages 165-222, August.
    9. Bertola, Giuseppe & Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence, 2001. "Comparative Analysis of Labour Market Outcomes: Lessons for the US from International Long-Run Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 3023, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Edward P. Lazear, 1990. "Job Security Provisions and Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 699-726.
    11. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    12. Hans-Werner Sinn, 1996. "Social insurance, incentives and risk taking," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(3), pages 259-280, July.
    13. Peter Lindert, 2004. "Social Spending and Economic Growth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 6-16.
    14. Bean, Charles R, 1994. "European Unemployment: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 573-619, June.
    15. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    16. Robert J. Gordon, 2004. "Why was Europe Left at the Station When America's Productivity Locomotive Departed?," NBER Working Papers 10661, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2004. "Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 91-134.
    18. Robert J. Flanagan, 1999. "Macroeconomic Performance and Collective Bargaining: An International Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1150-1175, September.
    19. Richard Freeman, 2005. "Labour market institutions without blinders: The debate over flexibility and labour market performance," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 129-145.
    20. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 2001. "Insiders versus Outsiders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, Winter.
    21. Gordon, David M, 1994. "Bosses of Different Stripes: A Cross-National Perspective on Monitoring and Supervision," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 375-379, May.
    22. James J. Heckman & Carmen Pagés, 2004. "Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number heck04-1.
    23. Olivier Blanchard, 2004. "The Economic Future of Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 3-26, Fall.
    24. Helms, L Jay, 1985. "The Effect of State and Local Taxes on Economic Growth: A Time Series-Cross Section Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(4), pages 574-582, November.
    25. repec:bla:scandj:v:97:y:1995:i:4:p:495-526 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Ian Dew-Becker & Robert J. Gordon, 2005. "Why did Europe’s productivity catch-up sputter out? a tale of tigers and tortoises," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    27. Kneller, Richard & Bleaney, Michael F. & Gemmell, Norman, 1999. "Fiscal policy and growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 171-190, November.
    28. Polachek,Solomon W. & Siebert,W. Stanley, 1993. "The Economics of Earnings," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521367288, September.
    29. Fallon, Peter R & Lucas, Robert E B, 1991. "The Impact of Changes in Job Security Regulations in India and Zimbabwe," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 5(3), pages 395-413, September.
    30. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "I Just Ran Two Million Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 178-183, May.
    31. Siebert, Horst, 1997. "Labor market rigidities and unemployment in Europe," Kiel Working Papers 787, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    32. Andrea Bassanini & Stefano Scarpetta & Philip Hemmings, 2001. "Economic Growth: The Role of Policies and Institutions: Panel Data. Evidence from OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 283, OECD Publishing.
    33. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira, 2003. "The Economics of Employment Protection," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 24(1), pages 85-129, January.
    34. Dean Baker & Andrew Glyn & David Howell & John Schmitt, 2002. "Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment: A Critical Assessment of the Cross-Country Evidence," SCEPA working paper series. 2002-17, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    35. Richard B. Freeman, 2000. "Single Peaked Vs. Diversified Capitalism: The Relation Between Economic Institutions and Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 7556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. repec:bla:obuest:v:63:y:2001:i:0:p:647-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Horst Siebert, 1997. "Labor Market Rigidities: At the Root of Unemployment in Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 37-54, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Lynn Parramore: Mr. Davidson's Planet: NPR/NYT Guru Adam Davidson's Discredited Economic Principles
      by Lynn Parramore in huffington post business on 2012-01-13 22:52:35

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Schaik, A.B.T.M. & van de Klundert, T.C.M.J., 2010. "Productivity Growth and the Labor Market," Other publications TiSEM 6eb6d2c5-95a7-44e9-9cd4-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. International Monetary Fund, 2007. "Republic of Lithuania: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2007/137, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Jason Heyes & Paul Lewis, 2015. "Relied upon for the heavy lifting: can employment protection legislation reforms lead the EU out of the jobs crisis?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 81-99, March.
    4. Ton van Schaik & Theo van de Klundert, 2013. "Employment protection legislation and catching-up," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(8), pages 973-981, March.
    5. Zuzanna Brzozowska, 2013. "Was falling fertility in the communist Poland driven by changes in women’s education?," Working Papers 54, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    6. Gordon, Robert J. & Dew-Becker, Ian, 2008. "The Role of Labour Market Changes in the Slowdown of European Productivity Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 6722, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Karl Aiginger & Alois Guger & Thomas Leoni & Ewald Walterskirchen, 2007. "Reform Perspectives on Welfare State Models in Global Capitalism," WIFO Working Papers 303, WIFO.
    8. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Iga Magda, 2013. "Decomposition of trends in youth unemployment – the role of job accessions and separations in countries with different employment protection regimes," Working Papers 53, Institute of Statistics and Demography, Warsaw School of Economics.
    9. Albert van der Horst & Hugo Rojas-Romagosa & Leon Bettendorf, 2009. "Does employment affect productivity?," CPB Discussion Paper 119, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Alberto Behar, 2009. "Tax Wedges, Unemployment Benefits and Labour Market Outcomes in the New EU Members," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 3(1), pages 069-092, March.
    11. van Schaik, A.B.T.M. & van de Klundert, T.C.M.J., 2010. "Productivity Growth and the Labor Market," Discussion Paper 2010-06, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    12. Ton Van Schaik & Theo van De Klundert, 2011. "Employment Protection Legislation and Catching up," Post-Print hal-00747937, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gayle Allard & Peter H. Lindert, 2006. "Euro-Productivity and Euro-Jobs since the 1960s: Which Institutions Really Mattered?," NBER Working Papers 12460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. H Buscher & C Dreger & R Ramos & J Surinach, 2009. "The Impact of Institutions on the Employment Performance in European Labour Markets," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 14(1), pages 17-34, March.
    3. Howell David R. & Baker Dean & Glyn Andrew & Schmitt John, 2007. "Are Protective Labor Market Institutions at the Root of Unemployment? A Critical Review of the Evidence," Capitalism and Society, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-73, May.
    4. Alfred Stiglbauer, 2006. "The (New) OECD Jobs Study: Introduction and Assessment," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 3, pages 58-74.
    5. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    6. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    7. Kittel, Bernhard, 2001. "How bargaining mediates wage determination: An exploration of the parameters of wage functions in a pooled time-series cross-section framework," MPIfG Discussion Paper 01/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    8. John T. Addison & Orgul Demet Ozturk, 2012. "Minimum Wages, Labor Market Institutions, and Female Employment: A Cross-Country Analysis," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(4), pages 779-809, October.
    9. Jonas Agell, 2004. "Efficiency and Equality in the Labour Market," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 50(2), pages 255-278.
    10. Anastasia Koutsomanoli-Filippaki & Emmanuel Mamatzakis, 2013. "How labour market regulation shapes bank performance in EU-15 countries?," Working Papers 162, Bank of Greece.
    11. Parsons, Donald O., 2011. "Mandated Severance Pay and Firing Cost Distortions: A Critical Review of the Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5776, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. David R. Howell & Miriam Rehm, 2009. "Unemployment compensation and high European unemployment: a reassessment with new benefit indicators," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 60-93, Spring.
    13. Micco, Alejandro & Pagés, Carmen, 2006. "The Economic Effects of Employment Protection: Evidence from International Industry-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2433, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Eckhard Hein & Achim Truger, 2005. "What ever happened to Germany? Is the decline of the former european key currency country caused by structural sclerosis or by macroeconomic mismanagement?," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 3-28.
    15. Lackó, Mária, 2006. "Az adóráták és a korrupció hatásai a munkapiacra. Keresztmetszeti összehasonlító elemzés az OECD-országokon [The effects of tax rates and corruption on the labour market. A cross-sectional comparat," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 961-985.
    16. David R. Howell, 2010. "Institutions, Aggregate Demand and Cross-Country Employment Performance: Alternative Theoretical Perspectives and the Evidence," Working Papers wp228, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    17. David R. Howell & Dean Baker & Andrew Glyn & John Schmitt, 2006. "Are Protective Labor Market Institutions Really at the Root of Unemployment? A Critical Perspective on the Statistical Evidence," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2006-14, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    18. Mamatzakis, Emmanuel & Tsionas, Mike G. & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Koutsomanoli-Filippaki, Anastasia, 2015. "Does labour regulation affect technical and allocative efficiency? Evidence from the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(S1), pages 84-98.
    19. Jahn, Elke J., 2005. "Wie wirkt der Kündigungsschutz? (What are the effects of employment protection?)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 284-304.
    20. Hipp, Lena & Anderson, Christopher J., 2015. "Laziness or liberation? Labor market policies and workers' attitudes toward employment flexibility," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101872, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12460. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.