IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Login to save this article or follow this journal

Flexibility and Growth

Author Info

  • 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
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. bertola, G. & Rogerson, R., 1996. "Institutions and Labor Reallocation," Papers 272, Banca Italia - Servizio di Studi.
  2. Avinash Dixit, 1992. "Investment and Hysteresis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 107-132, Winter.
  3. repec:sae:niesru:v:155:y::i:1:p:81-89 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Paul Geroski & Paul Gregg & John van Reenen, 1995. "Market Imperfections and Employment," OECD Jobs Study Working Papers 5, OECD Publishing.
  5. Burda, Michael C & Wyplosz, Charles, 1993. "Gross Worker and Job Flows in Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 868, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  6. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1996. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," NBER Working Papers 5487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  7. André Sapir & Marco Buti, 1998. "Economic policy in EMU," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8078, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  8. Samuelson, P.A., 1997. "Wherein Do the European and American Models Differ?," Papers 320, Banca Italia - Servizio di Studi.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. Pain, Nigel & Weale, Martin & Young, Garry, 1997. "Britain's Fiscal Problems," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1142-56, July.
  12. R. Jackman & R. Layard & S. Nickell, 1996. "Combatting unemployment: is flexibility enough?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47446, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  13. Bean, Charles R, 1994. "European Unemployment: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 573-619, June.
  14. Rowthorn, Robert, 1995. "Capital Formation and Unemployment," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 26-39, Spring.
  15. Blanchard, Olivier & Jimeno, Juan F, 1995. "Structural Unemployment: Spain versus Portugal," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 212-18, May.
  16. Snower, Dennis J., 1994. "The Simple Economics of Benefit Transfers," CEPR Discussion Papers 1086, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  17. A B Atkinson, 1995. "Income Distribution in Europe and the United States," Economics Papers 13 & 103., Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
  18. Ana L. Revenga & Samuel Bentolila, 1995. "What Affects the Employment Rate Intensity of Growth?," Banco de Espa�a Working Papers 9517, Banco de Espa�a.
  19. Laurence Ball, 1996. "Disinflation and the NAIRU," NBER Working Papers 5520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  20. 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.
  21. Dreze, J. H. & Malinvaud, E., . "Growth and employment: The scope of a European initiative," CORE Discussion Papers RP -1097, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  22. Stephen Machin & Alan Manning, 1992. "Minimum Wages," CEP Discussion Papers dp0080, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  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. Richard B. Freeman, 1996. "Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do About It?," NBER Working Papers 5451, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  25. Snower, Dennis J, 1994. "Converting Unemployment Benefits into Employment Subsidies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 65-70, May.
  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. 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 302-08, May.
  28. Wood, Adrian, 1995. "North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill-Driven World," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198290155.
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. 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.
  2. 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.

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.