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Labour Markets and Flexibility in the 1990s: The Europe-USA opposition revisited

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  • Francesca Bettio
  • Samuel Rosenberg

Abstract

Economists' contest on labour market flexibility has quickly pivoted around the stylised trade off between more flexibility and growth on the one hand and increased inequality of income on the other, the welfare implications of this trade off being too often assumed rather than verified. This article uses the essays collected in the Special Issue on Labour Markets and Flexibility in the 1990s of the International Review of Applied Economics to challenge the terms of this trade off as well as the related welfare assumptions. Some of the most popular tenets in the literature are assessed in the light of the evidence and the arguments put forward by the authors contributing to the Special Issue, in particular, the notion that the European labour market is rigid, the contention that more flexibility is imposed by international competition, or that labour market regulation weakens both employment and output growth, the belief that the main welfare cost of flexibility is increased inequality of earnings or the fear that flexibility may be primarily 'female'.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Bettio & Samuel Rosenberg, 1999. "Labour Markets and Flexibility in the 1990s: The Europe-USA opposition revisited," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 269-279.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:13:y:1999:i:3:p:269-279
    DOI: 10.1080/026921799101553
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Haskel, Jonathan & Kersley, Barbara & Martin, Christopher, 1997. "Labour Market Flexibility and Employment Adjustment: Micro Evidence from UK Establishments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 362-379, July.
    2. 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.
    3. Freeman, Richard, 1995. "The Limits of Wage Flexibility to Curing Unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 63-72, Spring.
    4. 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.
    5. repec:ilo:ilowps:267906 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Topel, Robert, 1993. "What Have We Learned from Empirical Studies of Unemployment and Turnover?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 110-115, May.
    7. Standing, Guy., 1989. "Global feminisation through flexible labour," ILO Working Papers 992679063402676, International Labour Organization.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Parisi, Maria Laura, 2017. "Labor market rigidity, social policies and the labor share: Empirical evidence before and after the big crisis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 492-512.

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