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On the Determinants of Labour Market Institutions: Rent Seeking vs. Social Insurance

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Author Info
Agell, Jonas () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)
Abstract

What determines the structure of labour market institutions? I argue that

common explanations based on rent seeking are incomplete. Unions, job

protection, and egalitarian pay structures may have as much to do with social

insurance of otherwise uninsurable risks as with rent seeking. In support of

this more benign complementary hypothesis the paper presents a range of

historical, theoretical, and cross-country evidence. The social

insurance perspective changes substantially the positive analysis of the

future of European labour market institutions. It is not clear that

globalisation and the “new economy” will force countries to make their labour

markets more flexible. These phenomena will probably increase the efficiency

costs of existing institutions, but they may also make voters more willing to

pay a high premium to preserve institutions that provide insurance.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Stockholm University, Department of Economics in its series Research Papers in Economics with number 2001:12.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: 25 Nov 2001
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2001_0012

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Department of Economics, Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 16 20 00
Fax: +46 8 16 14 25
Email:
Web page: http://www.ne.su.se/
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Related research
Keywords: Labour market institutions; comparative historical evidence; Sweden; Massachusetts; rent seeking; social insurance; union models; cross-country regressions; openness; linguistic fractionalisation;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - General, International, or Comparative

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