Jan van Ours - Böcker

Increase in life expectancy is arguably the most remarkable by-product of modern economic growth. In the last 30 years we have gained roughly 2.5 years of longevity every decade, both in Europe and the United States. Successfully managing ageing and longevity over the next twenty years is one of the major structural challenges faced by policy makers in advanced economies, particularly in health spending, social security administration, and labour market institutions. This book looks closely into those challenges and identifies the fundamental issues at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic level.The first half of the book studies the macroeconomic relationships between health spending, technological progress in medical related sectors, economic growth, and welfare state reforms. In the popular press, longevity and population ageing are typically perceived as a tremendous burden. However, with a proper set of reforms, advanced economies have the option of transforming the enormous challenge posed by longevity into a long term opportunity to boost aggregate outcomes. The basic prerequisite of a healthy ageing scenario is a substantial structural reform in social security and in labour market institutions. The second part of the book looks closely into the microeconomic relationship between population ageing and productivity, both at the individual and at the firm level. There is surprisingly little research on such key questions. The book contributes to this debate in two ways. It presents a detailed analysis of the determinants of productivity, with a focus on both the long-run historical evolution and the cross sectional changes. It also uses econometric analysis to look into the determinants of the various dimensions of individual productivity. The volume concludes that the complex relationship between population ageing and longevity is not written in stone, and can be modified by properly designed choices.

Includes minimum wages, employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits, active labor market policies, working-time regulations, family policies, equal opportunity legislation, collective bargaining, early retirement programs, education and migration policies, payroll taxes, and employment-conditional incentives.

The leading textbook on imperfect labor markets and the institutions that affect them—now completely updated and expandedToday's labor markets are witnessing seismic changes brought on by such factors as rising self-employment, temporary employment, zero-hour contracts, and the growth of the sharing economy. This fully updated and revised third edition of The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets reflects these and other critical changes in imperfect labor markets, and it has been significantly expanded to discuss topics such as workplace safety, regulations on self-employment, and disability and absence from work. This new edition also features engaging case studies that illustrate key aspects of imperfect labor markets.Authoritative and accessible, this textbook examines the many institutions that affect the behavior of workers and employers in imperfect labor markets. These include minimum wages, employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits, family policies, equal opportunity legislation, collective bargaining, early retirement programs, and education and migration policies. Written for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students, the book carefully defines and measures these institutions to accurately characterize their effects, and discusses how these institutions are being transformed today.Fully updated to reflect today's changing labor marketsSignificantly expanded to discuss a wealth of new topics, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemicFeatures quantitative examples, new case studies, data sets that enable users to replicate results in the literature, technical appendixes, and end-of-chapter exercisesUnique focus on institutions in imperfect labor marketsSelf-contained chapters cover each of the most important labor-market institutionsInstructor's manual available to professors—now with new exercises and solutions

Top economists provide a concise and accessible evaluation of major developments in trade and trade policy.* They examine the key issues pertinent to the multinational trading system, as well as regional trade arrangements and policy developments at the national level* Provides up-to-date assessments of the World Trade Organization's current Trade Policy Reviews*Economic Policy is written for all those with an informed interest in economic policy problems* All articles are submitted to rigorous scrutiny by a panel of distinguished economists from around the world, resulting in a volume of authoritative and accessible articles, each followed by the comments of panel members