IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecosys/v39y2015i1p3-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The joint impact of labour policies and the “Great Recession” on unemployment in Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Dal Bianco, Silvia
  • Bruno, Randolph L.
  • Signorelli, Marcello

Abstract

The paper consists of an empirical analysis of the separate as well as joint impacts on total and youth unemployment of indicators of labour market policies on the one hand, and the financial crisis associated with the “Great Recession” on the other. In particular, we investigate labour market data in the past two decades for the Enlarged Europe and adopt a variable accounting for the idiosyncratic severity shock of the crisis. This time-varying and country-specific crisis variable enables us to test empirically and in a novel way the joint impact of labour market policies and the economic crisis on labour market dynamics even when accounting for common macro shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Dal Bianco, Silvia & Bruno, Randolph L. & Signorelli, Marcello, 2015. "The joint impact of labour policies and the “Great Recession” on unemployment in Europe," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 3-26.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:39:y:2015:i:1:p:3-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2014.06.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362514000776
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecosys.2014.06.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monacelli, Tommaso & Quadrini, Vincenzo & Trigari, Antonella, 2023. "Financial markets and unemployment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 596-626.
    2. Mr. Luc Laeven & Mr. Fabian Valencia, 2010. "Resolution of Banking Crises: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," IMF Working Papers 2010/146, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Robert Solow, 2000. "Unemployment in the United States and in Europe - A Contrast and the Reasons," CESifo Working Paper Series 231, CESifo.
    4. Lorenzo E Bernal-Verdugo & Davide Furceri & Dominique Guillaume, 2012. "Labor Market Flexibility and Unemployment: New Empirical Evidence of Static and Dynamic Effects," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 251-273, June.
    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. Enrico Marelli & Roberto Patuelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Regional unemployment in the EU before and after the global crisis," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 155-175, January.
    7. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i::p:661-685 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    9. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 1998. "The European Unemployment Dilemma," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(3), pages 514-550, June.
    10. 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.
    11. Paul Ryan, 2001. "The School-to-Work Transition: A Cross-National Perspective: Corrigendum," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 767-767, September.
    12. Tito Boeri & J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Vincenzo Galasso, 2012. "The Political Economy Of Flexicurity," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 684-715, August.
    13. Mr. Fabian Valencia & Mr. Luc Laeven, 2008. "Systemic Banking Crises: A New Database," IMF Working Papers 2008/224, International Monetary Fund.
    14. O'Higgins, Niall, 2015. "Youth Unemployment," IZA Policy Papers 103, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Etienne Wasmer & Philippe Weil, 2004. "The Macroeconomics of Labor and Credit Market Imperfections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 944-963, September.
    16. Philippe Weil & Etienne Wasmer, 2004. "The macroeconomics of credit and labor market imperfections," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13436, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    17. Lee, Jim, 2000. "The Robustness of Okun's Law: Evidence from OECD Countries," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 331-356, April.
    18. Nicola Brandt & Jean-Marc Burniaux & Romain Duval, 2005. "Assessing the OECD Jobs Strategy: Past Developments and Reforms," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 429, OECD Publishing.
    19. Misbah Tanveer Choudhry & Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Youth unemployment rate and impact of financial crises," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 76-95, March.
    20. Tito Boeri & Pietro Garibaldi & Espen R Moen, 2013. "Financial Shocks and Labor: Facts and Theories," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 631-663, December.
    21. Greenwald, Bruce C. & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1987. "Imperfect information, credit markets and unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 444-456.
    22. Cristiano Perugini & Marcello Signorelli, 2004. "Employment Performance and Convergence in the European Countries and Regions," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 1(2), pages 243-278, December.
    23. Blanchard, Olivier J. & Summers, Lawrence H., 1987. "Hysteresis in unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 288-295.
    24. Robert Solow, 2000. "Unemployment in the United States and in Europe : a contrast and the reasons ; the European unemployment problem," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 1(01), pages 3-5, October.
    25. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    26. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Francesco Pastore, 2007. "The Youth Experience Gap: Explaining Differences across EU Countries," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 41/2007, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    27. Stefano Scarpetta & Anne Sonnet & Thomas Manfredi, 2010. "Rising Youth Unemployment During The Crisis: How to Prevent Negative Long-term Consequences on a Generation?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 106, OECD Publishing.
    28. Sergio Destefanis & Giuseppe Mastromatteo, 2010. "Labour‐market performance in the OECD: some recent cross‐country evidence," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(7), pages 713-731, October.
    29. Josef C Brada & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Comparing Labor Market Performance: Some Stylized Facts and Key Findings," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 231-250, June.
    30. Fiori, Giuseppe & Nicoletti, Giuseppe & Scarpetta, Stefano & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 2007. "Employment Outcomes and the Interaction Between Product and Labor Market Deregulation: Are They Substitutes or Complements?," IZA Discussion Papers 2770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    31. Randolph L. Bruno & Riccardo Rovelli, 2010. "Labour Market Policies and Outcomes in the Enlarged EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 661-685, June.
    32. 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.
    33. Pierre Cahuc & Yann Algan, 2009. "Civic Virtue and Labor Market Institutions," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 111-145, January.
    34. Paul Ryan, 2001. "The School-to-Work Transition: A Cross-National Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 34-92, March.
    35. Walter Y. Oi, 1962. "Labor as a Quasi-Fixed Factor," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(6), pages 538-538.
    36. Stephen Nickell & Luca Nunziata & Wolfgang Ochel, 2005. "Unemployment in the OECD Since the 1960s. What Do We Know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(500), pages 1-27, January.
    37. Furceri, Davide & Mourougane, Annabelle, 2012. "The effect of financial crises on potential output: New empirical evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 822-832.
    38. Marcello Signorelli & Misbah Choudhry & Enrico Marelli, 2012. "The Impact of Financial Crises on Female Labour," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(3), pages 413-433, July.
    39. Glenda Quintini & Thomas Manfredi, 2009. "Going Separate Ways? School-to-Work Transitions in the United States and Europe," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 90, OECD Publishing.
    40. Enrico Marelli & Misbah T. Choudhry & Marcello Signorelli, 2013. "Youth and total unemployment rate: the impact of policies and institutions," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 121(1), pages 63-86.
    41. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 35, OECD Publishing.
    42. Verick, Sher, 2009. "Who Is Hit Hardest during a Financial Crisis? The Vulnerability of Young Men and Women to Unemployment in an Economic Downturn," IZA Discussion Papers 4359, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    43. O'Higgins, Niall, 2012. "This Time It's Different? Youth Labour Markets During 'The Great Recession'," IZA Discussion Papers 6434, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    44. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    45. Roger E. A. Farmer, 1985. "Implicit Contracts with Asymmetric Information and Bankruptcy: The Effect of Interest Rates on Layoffs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(3), pages 427-442.
    46. Randolph Luca Bruno, 2006. "Optimal speed of transition with a shrinking labour force and under uncertainty," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(1), pages 69-100, March.
    47. Oliver D. Hart, 1983. "Optimal Labour Contracts under Asymmetric Information: An Introduction," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(1), pages 3-35.
    48. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8812 is not listed on IDEAS
    49. Betcherman, Gordon & Olivas, Karina & Dar, Amit, 2004. "Impacts of active labor market programs : new evidence from evaluations with particular attention to developing and transition countries," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 29142, The World Bank.
    50. Cristiano Perugini & Marcello Signorelli, 2007. "Labour Market Performance Differentials and Dynamics in EU-15 Countries and Regions," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 4(2), pages 209-262, September.
    51. Mauro, Luciano & Carmeci, Gaetano, 2003. "Long run growth and investment in education: Does unemployment matter?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-137, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Mussida, Chiara & Zanin, Luca, 2023. "Asymmetry and (in-)stability of Okun’s coefficients in nine European countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).

    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. Enrico Marelli & Misbah T. Choudhry & Marcello Signorelli, 2013. "Youth and total unemployment rate: the impact of policies and institutions," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 121(1), pages 63-86.
    2. Josef C Brada & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Comparing Labor Market Performance: Some Stylized Facts and Key Findings," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 231-250, June.
    3. G. S. F. Bruno & M. T. Choudhry & E. Marelli & M. Signorelli, 2014. "Youth Unemployment: Key Determinants and the Impact of Crises," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Miguel Ángel Malo & Dario Sciulli (ed.), Disadvantaged Workers, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 121-148, Springer.
    4. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Elvira Ciociano & Sergio Destefanis, 2017. "Youth Labour-Market Performance, Institutions and Vet Systems: A Cross-Country Analysis," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(1), pages 39-69, March.
    5. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Elvira Ciociano & Sergio Destefanis, 2017. "The role of the education systems and the labour market institutions in enhancing youth employment: a cross-country analysis," Discussion Papers 1_2017, CRISEI, University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    6. Olga Demidova & Marcello Signorelli, 2010. "The Impact of Crises on Youth Unemployment of Russian Regions: An Empirical Analysis," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 78/2010, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    7. Enrico MARELLI & Elena VAKULENKO, 2014. "Youth Unemployment in Italy and Russia: Aggregate Trends and the Role of Individual Determinants," Working papers of the Department of Economics - University of Perugia (IT) 0001/2014, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    8. Enrico Marelli & Elena Vakulenko, 2016. "Youth unemployment in Italy and Russia: Aggregate trends and individual determinants," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 387-405, September.
    9. Borsi, Mihály Tamás, 2018. "Credit contractions and unemployment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 573-593.
    10. Ghoshray, Atanu & Ordóñez, Javier & Sala, Hector, 2016. "Euro, crisis and unemployment: Youth patterns, youth policies?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 442-453.
    11. Misbah Tanveer Choudhry & Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Youth unemployment rate and impact of financial crises," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 76-95, March.
    12. Feldmann, Horst, 2012. "Banking deregulation around the world, 1970s to 2000s: The impact on unemployment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 26-42.
    13. Giovanni S F Bruno & Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2014. "The Rise of NEET and Youth Unemployment in EU Regions after the Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(4), pages 592-615, December.
    14. Enrico Marelli & Giovanni Bruno & Marcello Signorelli, 2013. "Young People in Crisis: NEETs and Unemployed in EU Regions," ERSA conference papers ersa13p895, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Luis Gil-alana, 2014. "Youth Unemployment in Europe: Persistence and Macroeconomic Determinants," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 56(4), pages 581-591, December.
    16. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    17. Riza Bayrak, Halim Tatli, 2018. "The Determinants of Youth Unemployment: A Panel Data Analysis of OECD Countries," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 15(2), pages 231-248, December.
    18. Giovanni S. F. Bruno & Misbah Choudhry Tanveer & Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2017. "The short- and long-run impacts of financial crises on youth unemployment in OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(34), pages 3372-3394, July.
    19. Lucia Mýtna Kureková & Zuzana Žilinčíková, 2016. "Are student jobs flexible jobs? Using online data to study employers’ preferences in Slovakia," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Janiak, Alexandre, 2013. "Structural unemployment and the costs of firm entry and exit," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-19.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Youth unemployment; Crisis; Labour market policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:eee:ecosys:v:39:y:2015:i:1:p:3-26. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/osteide.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.