Stephen Bazen – författare

This book provides an accessible presentation of the standard statistical techniques used by labour economists. It emphasises both the input and the output of empirical analysis and covers five major topics concerning econometric methods used in labour economics: regression and related methods, choice modelling, selectivity issues, duration analysis, and policy evaluation techniques. Each of these is presented in terms of model specification, possible estimation problems, diagnostic checking, and interpretation of the output. It aims to provide guidance to practitioners on how to use the techniques and how to make sense of the results that are produced. It covers methods that are considered to be ''standard'' tools in labour economics, but which are often given only a brief and highly technical treatment in econometrics textbooks. It will be a useful reference for postgraduates and advanced undergraduates, researchers embarking on empirical labour market analysis, and for more experienced economists wishing to apply these techniques for the first time.

Low-skilled workers face a future of joblessness or low-wage, insecure employment as technological change and globalization impact on the advanced economies. 'The European social model' of collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment rights, and social welfare support is alternately cited as both cause and cure. The contributions to this book review the evidence and find that, while the European model cannot remedy adverse global trends affecting low-skilled workers, it does achieve significant success in moderating them. Collective bargaining and wage regulation reduce the incidence of low pay. Minimum wages at prevailing levels provide significant wage protection for more vulnerable workers, without substantial job losses. The significant 'jobs deficit' of Germany relative to the USA in low-wage services is not the outcome of excessively high German wages. Conversely, reliance on wage flexibility to create jobs for the low-skilled does not emerge as economically effective, and can no longer be regarded as the simple panacea.