Course 2008-2009 a.y.

Course Objectives

This course aims at providing the basic analytical tools needed to understand the role of different institutions in shaping the labour market. The course will study both the goals and effects of different labour market institutions (regulation of permanent and temporary employment; minimum wage; welfare benefits; unions), with a particular emphasis on the approach of political economy. In other words, the analysis will focus on the winners and losers of different institutions and reforms, so as to understand their political support and feasibility. The theoretical discussion is complemented by the institutional and statistical analysis of the European and US labour markets.

Course Content Summary

• The European and US labour markets in comparative perspective
• Productivity and hours of work
• Are Europeans lazy or Americans crazy?
• Labour market regulation
• The aims and effects of labour market institutions
• Firing restrictions and temporary employment
• The minimum wage
• Unemployment benefits and workfare
• Trade unions and collective bargaining
• The political economy of labour market institutions
• Insider-outsider theories of unemployment
• Labour market reforms and two-tier systems
• Wage rigidity and social cohesion
• A footnote on globalization and labour market institutions

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Textbooks

• T. BOERI, J. van OURS, The Economics of Imperfect Labour Markets, Princeton University Press, 2008.

A more precise reading list are made available at the beginning of the course