IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this article

Flexibility and Growth

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Annamaria Simonazzi
  • Paola Villa

Abstract

After two decades of theoretical discussion and application of labour policies aimed at flexibility, ever-spreading unemployment in Europe has compelled some official institutions to admit that the 'rigidity' of the labour market does not suffice to account for the different trends in employment displayed by Europe and the United States. In this paper, we focus on the role played by differentials in income growth. After briefly reviewing the explanations of European unemployment based on labour market rigidity and their respective weaknesses, we look at the relationship between growth and employment, concluding that there are grounds for maintaining that the causes of Europe's higher unemployment reside mainly in its lower rate of growth.We therefore investigate the reasons that may be responsible for a more stringent macroeconomic constraint on European growth.We conclude that if a lack of growth is at the root of European unemployment, then merely dismantling labour market institutions, and replacing them with a more flexible system of industrial relations, will not only fail to produce the expected results but may also have negative effects, in both the social and productive structure.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/026921799101562
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Article provided by Taylor & Francis Journals in its journal International Review of Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): 13 (1999)
Issue (Month): 3 ()
Pages: 281-311

as
in new window

Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:13:y:1999:i:3:p:281-311
DOI: 10.1080/026921799101562
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIRA20

Order Information: Web: http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIRA20

Keywords:

References listed on IDEAS
Please 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.:

as
in new window


  1. Samuelson, P.A., 1997. "Wherein Do the European and American Models Differ?," Papers 320, Banca Italia - Servizio di Studi.
  2. Bean, Charles R, 1994. "European Unemployment: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 573-619, June.
  3. Burda, Michael & Wyplosz, Charles, 1994. "Gross worker and job flows in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1287-1315, June.
  4. Bertola, Giuseppe & Rogerson, Richard, 1997. "Institutions and labor reallocation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1147-1171, June.
  5. Richard B. Freeman, 1996. "Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do about It?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 25-42, Winter.
  6. Blanchard, Olivier & Jimeno, Juan F, 1995. "Structural Unemployment: Spain versus Portugal," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 212-218, May.
  7. Snower, Dennis J., 1994. "The Simple Economics of Benefit Transfers," CEPR Discussion Papers 1086, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  8. Ana L. Revenga & Samuel Bentolila, 1995. "What Affects the Employment Rate Intensity of Growth?," Working Papers 9517, Banco de España;Working Papers Homepage.
  9. Richard Jackman & Richard Layard & Stephen Nickell, 1996. "Combatting Unemployment: Is Flexibility Enough?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0293, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  10. Dreze, Jacques H. & Malinvaud, Edmond, 1994. "Growth and employment: The scope of a European initiative," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 489-504, April.
  11. Laurence M. Ball, 1997. "Disinflation and the NAIRU," NBER Chapters,in: Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy, pages 167-194 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. André Sapir & Marco Buti, 1998. "Economic policy in EMU," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8078, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  13. Stephen Machin & Alan Manning, 1992. "Minimum Wages," CEP Discussion Papers dp0080, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  14. Snower, Dennis J, 1994. "Converting Unemployment Benefits into Employment Subsidies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 65-70, May.
  15. Atkinson, A B, 1996. "Income Distribution in Europe and the United States," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 15-28, Spring.
  16. Nickell, Stephen & Bell, Brian, 1996. "Changes in the Distribution of Wages and Unemployment in OECD Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 302-308, May.
  17. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 843-877, August.
  18. Paul Geroski & Paul Gregg & John van Reenen, 1995. "Market Imperfections and Employment," OECD Jobs Study Working Papers 5, OECD Publishing.
  19. repec:sae:niesru:v:155:y::i:1:p:81-89 is not listed on IDEAS
  20. Freeman, Richard, 1995. "The Limits of Wage Flexibility to Curing Unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 63-72, Spring.
  21. Avinash Dixit, 1992. "Investment and Hysteresis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 107-132, Winter.
  22. Pain, Nigel & Weale, Martin & Young, Garry, 1997. "Britain's Fiscal Problems," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1142-1156, July.
  23. Stephen Rose, 1999. "Is Mobility in the United States Still Alive? Tracking career opportunities and income growth," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 417-436.
  24. Rowthorn, Robert, 1995. "Capital Formation and Unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 26-39, Spring.
  25. Bruno Contini & Fabio Rapiti, 1999. "'Young In, Old Out' Revisited: New Patterns of Employment Replacement in the Italian Economy," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 395-415.
  26. Faini, Riccardo & Galli, Giampaolo & Gennari, Pietro & Rossi, Fulvio, 1997. "An empirical puzzle: Falling migration and growing unemployment differentials among Italian regions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 571-579, April.
  27. Wood, Adrian, 1995. "North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill-Driven World," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198290155.
  28. Annamaria Simonazzi & Paola Villa, 1996. "Employment, Growth and Income Inequality: some open Questions," Department of Economics Working Papers 9601, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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

as
in new window


Cited by:

  1. Robert Buchele & Jens Christiansen, 1999. "Employment and Productivity Growth in Europe and North America: The Impact of Labor Market Institutions," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 313-332.
  2. Raul Eamets, 2004. "Labour market flows and adjustment to macroeconomic shocks in the Baltic States," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 47-71.
  3. Gabriella Berloffa & Eleonora Matteazzi & Alina Sandor & Paola Villa, 2016. "Youth employment security and labour market institutions: a dynamic perspective," Working Papers 392, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:13:y:1999:i:3:p:281-311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Michael McNulty)

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.