Youth Employment in Europe: Institutions and Social Capital Explain Better than Mainstream Economics
Abstract
Why did employment growth – high in the last decade – take place at the expense of young workers in the countries of Central and Southern Europe? This is the question addressed in this paper. Youth unemployment has approached or exceeded 20% despite a variety of factors, common to most EU countries. According to neo-classical economics all would be expected to exert a positive impact on its evolution: population ageing and the demographic decline, low labor cost of young workers, flexibility of working arrangements, higher educational attainment, low unionization of young workers, early retirement practices of workers 50+. But neither seems to provide a convincing explanation. Historically based institutions and political tradition, cultural values, social capital – factors that go beyond the standard explanation of economic theory – provide a more satisfying interpretation.Download Info
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 4718.Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2010
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4718
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Related research
Keywords: youth employment; unemployment; social capital; institutions;Other versions of this item:
- Bruno Contini, 2009. "Youth Employment in Europe: Institutions and Social Capital Explain Better than Mainstream Economics," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 97, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
- Bruno Contini, 2010. "Youth Employment in Europe: Institutions and Social Capital Explain Better than Mainstream Economics," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 102, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
- J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
- J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
- J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2010-02-13 (All new papers)
- NEP-EUR-2010-02-13 (Microeconomic European Issues)
- NEP-HPE-2010-02-13 (History & Philosophy of Economics)
- NEP-LAB-2010-02-13 (Labour Economics)
- NEP-LTV-2010-02-13 (Unemployment, Inequality & Poverty)
- NEP-SOC-2010-02-13 (Social Norms & Social Capital)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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