IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2009-047.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Italian Labor Market: Recent Trends, Institutions, and Reform Options

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Martin Schindler

Abstract

Despite improvements in labor market performance over the past decade, owing in part to past reforms, Italy's employment and productivity outcomes continue to lag behind those of its European peers. This paper reviews Italy's institutional landscape and labor market trends from a cross-country perspective, and discusses possible avenues for further reform. The policy discussion draws on international reform experience and on simulations based on a calibrated labor market matching model. A key lesson is that the details of reform design, and the sequencing of reforms, matter greatly for labor market outcomes and for the fiscal costs associated with these reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Martin Schindler, 2009. "The Italian Labor Market: Recent Trends, Institutions, and Reform Options," IMF Working Papers 2009/047, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2009/047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=22755
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcello Estevão, 2007. "Labor Policies to Raise Employment," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 54(1), pages 113-138, May.
    2. Annabelle Mourougane & Lukas Vogel, 2009. "Speed of Adjustment to Selected Labour Market and Tax Reforms," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 51(4), pages 500-519, December.
    3. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907.
    4. Edward C. Prescott, 2004. "Why do Americans work so much more than Europeans?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 28(Jul), pages 2-13.
    5. Bruno Amable & Lilas Demmou & Donatella Gatti, 2007. "Employment Performance and Institutions: New Answers to an Old Question," CEPN Working Papers hal-04021096, HAL.
    6. Acemoglu, Daron & Shimer, Robert, 2000. "Productivity gains from unemployment insurance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1195-1224, June.
    7. 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.
    8. Rogerson, Richard & Schindler, Martin, 2002. "The welfare costs of worker displacement," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1213-1234, September.
    9. de Neubourg, Chris & Castonguay, Julie & Roelen, Keetie, 2007. "Social safety nets and targeted social assistance : lessons from the European experience," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 41529, The World Bank.
    10. Helge Berger & Stephan Danninger, 2007. "The Employment Effects of Labor and Product Market Deregulation and Their Implications for Structural Reform," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 54(3), pages 591-619, July.
    11. Rachel Griffith & Rupert Harrison & Gareth Macartney, 2007. "Product Market Reforms, Labour Market Institutions and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 142-166, March.
    12. 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).
    13. Jespersen, Svend T. & Munch, Jakob R. & Skipper, Lars, 2008. "Costs and benefits of Danish active labour market programmes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 859-884, October.
    14. Paul Conway & Véronique Janod & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2005. "Product Market Regulation in OECD Countries: 1998 to 2003," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 419, OECD Publishing.
    15. Mr. Anthony M Annett, 2007. "Lessons from Successful Labor Market Reformers in Europe," IMF Policy Discussion Papers 2007/001, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Mr. H. Takizawa, 2003. "Job-Specific Investment and the Cost of Dismissal Restrictions: The Case of Portugal," IMF Working Papers 2003/075, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. International Monetary Fund, 2009. "Italy: 2008 Article IV Consultation: Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Italy," IMF Staff Country Reports 2009/045, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Piton Céline & Rycx François, 2019. "Unemployment Impact of Product and Labor Market Regulation: Evidence from European Countries," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, June.
    3. Donatella Gatti & Christophe Rault & Anne-Gael Vaubourg, 2012. "Unemployment and finance: how do financial and labour market factors interact?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(3), pages 464-489, July.
    4. Céline Piton, 2022. "The labour market performance of vulnerable groups: towards a better understanding of the main driving forces," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/352519, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Céline Piton, 2018. "The unemployment impact of product and labour market regulation: Evidence from European countries," Working Paper Research 343, National Bank of Belgium.
    6. Koskela, Erkki & Stenbacka, Rune, 2012. "The relationship between product market competition and unemployment with profit sharing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 291-297.
    7. Céline Piton, 2018. "The unemployment impact of product and labour market regulation: Evidence from European countries," Working Paper Research 343, National Bank of Belgium.
    8. Sachs, Andreas, 2010. "A Bayesian approach to determine the impact of institutions on the unemployment rate," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-058, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Moretti, Laura, 2014. "Inflation targeting and product market deregulation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 372-386.
    10. Brand, Claus & Obstbaum, Meri & Coenen, Günter & Sondermann, David & Lydon, Reamonn & Ajevskis, Viktors & Hammermann, Felix & Angino, Siria & Hernborg, Nils & Basso, Henrique & Hertweck, Matthias & Bi, 2021. "Employment and the conduct of monetary policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 275, European Central Bank.
    11. Horst Feldmann, 2012. "Product Market Regulation and Labor Market Performance around the World," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 26(3), pages 369-391, September.
    12. International Monetary Fund, 2009. "Greece: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2009/245, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Horst Feldmann, 2013. "Technological unemployment in industrial countries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 1099-1126, November.
    14. Susanne Prantl & Alexandra Spitz‐Oener, 2009. "How does entry regulation influence entry into self‐employment and occupational mobility?1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 17(4), pages 769-802, October.
    15. Giorgio Calcagnini & Annalisa Ferrando & Germana Giombini, 2015. "Multiple market imperfections, firm profitability and investment," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 95-120, August.
    16. Fabio Schiantarelli, 2016. "Do product market reforms stimulate employment, investment, and innovation?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 266-266, June.
    17. Tino Berger & Freddy Heylen, 2011. "Differences in Hours Worked in the OECD: Institutions or Fiscal Policies?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(7), pages 1333-1369, October.
    18. Horst Feldmann, 2010. "Venture Capital Availability and Labor Market Performance in Industrial Countries: Evidence Based on Survey Data," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 23-54, February.
    19. Rault, Christophe & Vaubourg, Anne-Gaël, 2011. "Labour Market Institutions and Unemployment: Does Finance Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 5606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Donatella Gatti & Anne-Gael Vaubourg, 2010. "Credit and Unemployment: Do Institutions Matter?," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 11(01), pages 37-43, April.

    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:imf:imfwpa:2009/047. 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: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.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.