581 research outputs found
Micro-macro links in West Germany's unemployment
No full textThe main point of this paper will be that West German unemployment in the late 1980's has a curious double character: while its genesis is largely determined by the macroeconomic events of the last two decades - two stabilization crises and one wage revolution -, its current state reveals strongly microeconomic features which call for micro rather than macro policy measures. To make our case, we proceed as follows. In section II of the paper, we clear up our use of the terms 'macro' and 'micro' which may diverge somewhat from the normal textbook wording. In section III, we evaluate four major macro-paradigms of unemployment in West Germany: the traditional Keynesian demand-gap and the neoclassical wage-gap approach, the transatlantic crowding-out theory as recently advanced by Fitoussi, Phelps (1988), and, at some length, the hysteresis- theory as pioneered by Blanchard, Summers (1986a, b, c; 1988). We shall argue that none of these paradigms provides a sufficient explanation of the current persistence of unemployment in Germany, but that some of them - notably the wage-gap and the hysteresis-theory - contain most valuable elements; what they all lack is a due account of the structural and institutional (i.e. the 'micro') elements which are likely to cement an economy's macro inclination towards hysteresis. In section IV, we try to fill this gap by postdelivering a summary of these elements, with a focus on the structure of long-term unemployment, regional disparities and structural change between sectors of economic activity. In the final section V, we briefly evaluate different employment policy options and, from our own standpoint, make a policy choice.
Payroll tax reductions for the low paid.
No full textA review of different theoretical models confirms that economists of opposing beliefs find themselves agreeing about the usefulness of employment subsidies. In a country with a relatively high wage floor, they reduce the cost of labour for firms. In countries where wage floors are low, subsidies can increase the net real wage of workers. In both cases, employment is likely to rise. Generally, allowing the price system to perform its allocative function while pursuing distributive objectives through the tax system is welfare enhancing. It is therefore surprising that such a remedy has not yet been implemented on a large scale in all countries suffering from labour market problems. One reason is that there may be a problem of transition. Empirical evidence suggests that reductions in taxes on labour will not solve employment and distribution problems, but will, in the long run, promise progress in both.
Hawk and handsaws: What can France learn from the "Nordic Model"? CES Working Papers Series 168, 2008
No full textIn this paper, we try to point out some important weaknesses of the contemporary French social-economic model, focusing on relevant elements of comparison with Nordic countries. In doing so, we rely on the idea that large and small countries differ in terms of growth and governance strategies. Hence, while a look at the “Nordic model” can be a good way to reveal of some of France’s major problems, it is also an ambiguous template for reform. The paper starts by examining the question of growth strategy (macroeconomic management and structural reforms), then goes on to investigate governance strategy (trust, confidence, governance quality) and finally explores the issues of diversity and integration policy
North by Northwest: What's Wrong with the French Model and How Can the Nordic Model Help. The Nordic Model: Solutions for Continental Europe’s Problems?”, Center for European Studies, Harvard University, May 9-10, 2008..
No full textIn this paper, we try to point out some important weaknesses of the contemporary French socialeconomic model, focusing on relevant elements of comparison with Nordic countries. In doing so, we rely on the idea that large and small countries differ in terms of growth and governance strategies. Hence, while the “Nordic model” can be a good revelatory of some of France’s major problems, it is also an ambiguous template for reform. The paper starts by examining the question of growth strategy (macroeconomic management and structural reforms), then goes on to investigate governance strategy (trust, confidence, governance quality) and finally explores the issues of diversity and integration policy.
Inequality and Macroeconomic Performance
No full textThis paper argues that although the crisis may have emerged in the financial sector, its roots are much deeper and lie in a structural change in income distribution that has been going on for the past three decades. The widespread increase of inequality depressed aggregate demand and prompted monetary policy to react by maintaining a low level of interest rate which itself allowed private debt to increase beyond sustainable levels. On the other hand the search for high-return investment by those who benefited from the increase in inequalities led to the emergence of bubbles. Net wealth became overvalued, and high asset prices gave the false impression that high levels of debt were sustainable. The crisis revealed itself when the bubbles exploded, and net wealth returned to normal level. We further argue that how the trend of increasing inequality interacted differently with policies and institutions, to yield radically different outcomes in the US and in the large European Union countries before the onset of the crisis.Financial crisis, income inequality, US and EU comparison, household debt, aggregate demand
Terziario futuro. Le prospettive delle imprese del terziario tra il 2007 e il 2009
No full textRicerca condotta per conto di CFMT - Centro di Formazione Management del Terziari
Effect of the matrix behavior on the damage of ethylene–propylene glass fiber reinforced composite subjected to high strain rate tension
No full textThis study investigates the origin of the strain rate effect on the mechanical behavior of a discontinuous glass fiber reinforced ethylene–propylene copolymer (EPC) matrix composite. This kind of composite materials are commonly used for automotive functional and structural applications. To this aim, a multi-scale experimental approach is developed. The deformation processes and the damage mechanisms observed at the microscopic scale are related to the material mechanical properties at the macroscopic scale. Tensile tests up to failure and specific interrupted tensile tests have been optimized and performed for high strain rates up to 200 s 1 to quantify the strain rate effect at different scales. High speed tensile tests have also been performed on the pure copolymer matrix. The threshold and the kinetic of damage have been quantified at both microscopic and macroscopic scales. Experimental results show that the composite behavior is strongly strain-rate dependent. The multi-scale analysis leads to the conclusion that the strain rate effect on the damage behavior of the EPC matrix composite is mainly due to the viscous behavior of the EPC matrix. SEM observations and analysis show that a localized deformation in the interface zone around fibers occurs at high strain rates and directly affects the visco-damage behavior. It is established that when the strain rate increases, the local deformation zone around the fibers behaves like a dissipation zone. Consequently, the damage initiation is delayed and the related kinetic is reduced with respect to the quasi-static loading case
Protection against lethal cytomegalovirus infection by a recombinant vaccine containing a single nonameric T-cell epitope
No full textThe regulatory immediate-early (IE) protein pp89 of murine cytomegalovirus induces CD8+ T lymphocytes that protect against lethal murine cytomegalovirus infection. The IE1 epitope is the only epitope of pp89 that is recognized by BALB/c cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL). Using synthetic peptides, the optimal and minimal antigenic sequences of the IE1 epitope have been defined. To evaluate the predictive value of data obtained with synthetic peptides, recombinant vaccines encoding this single T-cell epitope were constructed using as a vector the hepatitis B virus core antigen encoded in recombinant vaccinia virus. In infected cells expressing the chimeric proteins, only IE1 epitope sequences that were recognized as synthetic peptides at concentrations lower than 10(-6) M were presented to CTL. Vaccination of mice with the recombinant vaccinia virus that encoded a chimeric protein carrying the optimal 9-amino-acid IE1 epitope sequence elicited CD8+ T lymphocytes with antiviral activity and, furthermore, protected against lethal disease. The results thus show for the first time that recombinant vaccines containing a single foreign nonameric CTL epitope can induce T-lymphocyte-mediated protective immunity
Country size and strategic aspects of structural reforms in the EU. NERO meeting, OECD, Paris, June 12, 2006.
No full textThis item has no abstract
Voucher privatization with investment funds : an institutional analysis
No full textCommon wisdom among post-socialist reformers has beento use voucher investment funds to provide the corporate governance needed to restructure newly privatized enterprises after mass privatization efforts. The idea has been that mass privatization would spread the ownership too wide and make corporate governance difficult. The author examines the likely institutional behavior of voucher funds and the possible effects of their development on a transition economy. Since most policy advice has been in favor of voucher privatization with investment funds, the author can be seen as playing the devil's advocate, but his argument is institutional, not statistical. Policymaking requires insight and foresight into how institutions will tend to function. He concludes that voucher funds will introduce a bias in the economy away from the real industrial sector toward an ersatz"financial sector"that will have little if any positive financial role but will be well-protected by friendly regulators. One long-term consequence of voucher privatization with investment funds, according to this view, is a de facto"industrial policy"of real sector decapitalization in favor of short-term rent-seeking by fund managers through board sinecures and lucrative side deals with portfolio companies and through financial market manipulation and paper entrepreneurship in the"financial sector."Without strong corporate governance from the funds and without stable ownership of their own, many enterprise managers will exploit the post-socialist version of the"separation of ownership and control"to grab what they can in the form of salaries, bonuses, perquisites, and side deals. The most likely results of the strategy of voucher privatization with investment funds may be a two-sided grab fest by fund managers and enterprise managers -- together with the accompanying drift, stagnation, and decapitalization of the privatized industrial sector.Economic Adjustment and Lending,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Adjustment and Lending,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research
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