Policy advisers repeatedly call on Western European countries to reform their employment protection legislation (EPL) by adopting layoff taxes to finance unemployment insurance (UI). This new design, ...partly based on the existing "experience-rating" (ER) system in the U.S., would induce firms to internalize layoff fiscal costs and hence reduce unemployment. Its success remains uncertain in economies with a collective wage-setting system, as in many Western European countries. Using a matching model with endogenous job destruction, we provide an ex-ante evaluation of this policy reform’s effects on labor market outcomes in a firm-level bargaining economy and a sector-level bargaining one. Using numerical exercises, we show that compared to a scenario of a simple increase in EPL stringency, the implementation of an ER system results in a decrease in unemployment under both bargaining regimes. Because of the possibility for firms to adjust most terms and conditions of employment (including wage) in decentralized negotiations, juxtaposing the ER system with the existing EPL yields the best labor market performance under a firm-level bargaining regime. The lack of internal flexibility in sector-level bargaining calls for accompanying the implementation of the ER with a relaxation of the existing EPL’s stringency. Lastly, we show that in industries with a turbulent economic environment, accompanying the introduction of ER while reducing the existing EPL’s strictness is recommended.
We investigate the role of collective wage bargaining institutions on the relationship between wage growth and unemployment, that is, the wage Phillips curve. Based on a labour market model with ...frictions and collective bargaining, we hypothesize that when the economy deteriorates, wages fall less in parts of the economy covered by collective wage agreements negotiated by trade unions at a centralized level than in economies with bargaining fully decentralized within companies. We move from theory to empirical analysis using regional NUTS-2 data from European countries, which show evidence that the wage Phillips curve flattens when unemployment is high—and gets steeper when the labor market is overheated —, in economies where the sectoral or cross-sectoral levels play a role in the collective wage bargaining. We also find that from a level of centralization intermediate between the company and the sector levels, the wage Phillips curve is twice as flat.
We investigate the role of collective wage bargaining institutions on the relationship between wage growth and unemployment, that is, the wage Phillips curve. Based on a labour market model with ...frictions and collective bargaining, we hypothesize that when the economy deteriorates, wages fall less in parts of the economy covered by collective wage agreements negotiated by trade unions at a centralized level than in economies with bargaining fully decentralized within companies. We move from theory to empirical analysis using regional NUTS-2 data from European countries, which show evidence that the wage Phillips curve flattens when unemployment is high—and gets steeper when the labor market is overheated —, in economies where the sectoral or cross-sectoral levels play a role in the collective wage bargaining. We also find that from a level of centralization intermediate between the company and the sector levels, the wage Phillips curve is twice as flat.
We study the influence of wage differential on the emergence of endogenous fluctuations. In this way, we introduce a dual labor market, based on the Shapiro–Stiglitz efficiency wage theory in an ...overlapping generations model. We show that wage inequality is a source of endogenous fluctuations. Indeed, a sufficiently strong wage differential leads to the occurrence of cycles of period 2 and local indeterminacy. Moreover, in contrast to several existing contributions, these results depend neither on increasing returns to scale nor on the degree of capital–labor substitution.
Recently, the use of confocal laser endomicroscopy （CLE） in the diagnosis of chronic ulcerative colitis （CUC） was reported. In this brief report we aimed to assess the application of probe-based CLE ...to characterize colonic mucosa and dysplasia in CUC. The study involved a patient presenting long-standing CUC. Confocal imaging of both the inflamed mucosa, a circumscribed lesion （dysplasiaassociated lesional mass）, and adjacent colonic mucosa are demonstrated and the correlation between the CLE and histological images. Inflamed mucosa and dysplasiashowed specific alteration of crypt architecture, cellular infiltration, and vessel architecture with an excellent correlation between CLE and standard histological ex- amination.
Monetary policy with weakened unions BARBIER-GAUCHARD, Amélie; De PALMA, Francesco; BETTI, Thierry
IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc,
01/2020
Paper
Odprti dostop
We assess the impact of union bargaining power on inflation and employment in the case of efficiency bargaining following Mac Donald & Solow (1981). We consider a Stackelberg two-stage game between ...the Central Bank and social partners (firms and union). Firms and unions negotiate employment and nominal wage, the Central Bank sets the inflation rate. We show that a decrease in union bargaining power tends to reduce nominal wage and employment. In such a context, where the Central Bank is concerned with inflation and employment, the optimal monetary policy consists in a stronger stabilization of employment at the expense of inflation stabilization. We then employ a panel data model for 36 OECD countries to empirically assess the link between the bargaining power of unions and inflation. Our estimates confirm this theoretical result by showing that a low degree of union bargaining power is associated with higher inflation.
In this study we investigated the species involved in the process of hexokinase inactivation induced by ascorbic acid/Fe(II) in rabbit erythrocytes. Our results suggest a model in which divalent iron ...is first oxidized to the trivalent state and then triggers the oxidation of ascorbic acid. The H2O2formed during this process accelerates the formation of dehydroascorbic acid, which appears to be necessary and sufficient to induce hexokinase inactivation. This model was validated by showing that: (a) H2O2-decomposing enzymes, unlike scavengers of the hydroxyl radicals, reduced the extent of hexokinase inactivation; (b) when H2O2was used instead of ascorbate/Fe(II), it was unable, even at very high concentrations, to inhibit hexokinase activity; (c) replacing Fe(II) with either Fe(III) or H2O2resulted in comparable levels of ascorbic acid-induced hexokinase inactivation; (d) expression of maximal hexokinase inhibiting activity was also triggered via enzyme-catalyzed oxidation of ascorbic acid or direct addition of dehydroascorbic acid; (e) the level of dehydroascorbic acid, which was actively generated in the external medium upon addition of ascorbic acid/Fe(II), increased as a function of time. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the process of hexokinase inactivation induced by ascorbic acid/Fe(II) is mediated by dehydroascorbate and that iron and H2O2have the sole function of accelerating its formation.
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