Showing papers by "Peter H. Lindert published in 2006"
TL;DR: For example, this article found that the welfare state%u2019s tax-based social transfers and coordinated wage bargaining have not harmed either employment or GDP, and even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.
Abstract: How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Western Europe, relative to industrialized Pacific Rim countries? Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Protectionist labor-market policies such as employee protection laws seem to have become more costly since about 1980, not through overall employment effects, but through the net human-capital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations in core sectors may also have reduced GDP, though here the evidence is less robust. By contrast, high general tax levels have shed the negative influence they might have had in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, other institutions closer to the core of the welfare state have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. The welfare state%u2019s tax-based social transfers and coordinated wage bargaining have not harmed either employment or GDP. Even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.
33 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose an eclectic approach and give a clearer answer to the question of how labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Europe, and they show that the welfare state's tax-based social transfers and even unemployment benefits have not clearly harmed employment or GDP.
Abstract: How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Europe? Many studies have tackled this question, with mixed results. This paper proposes an eclectic approach and gives a clearer answer to the issue. Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Labor-market policies such as employment protection laws have become more costly since 1980 through their humancapital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations may have reduced GDP, though the evidence is less robust. However, high taxes have shed the negative influence they had in the 1960s and 1970s, and other welfare-state institutions have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. Coordinated wage bargaining has saved jobs with no cost in productivity. The welfare state’s tax-based social transfers and even unemployment benefits have not clearly harmed employment or GDP.
26 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comparative economic history of European government institutions and welfare-state transfers, showing that the welfare state?s tax-based social transfers have not harmed either employment or GDP.
Abstract: How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Western Europe, relative to industrialized Pacific Rim countries? Many studies have tackled this question, with mixed and often unclear results. This paper proposes an eclectic comparative economic history, giving a clearer answer to the issue than past studies have implied. Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Protectionist labor-market policies such as employee protection laws seem to have become more costly since about 1980, not through overall employment effects, but through the net human-capital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations in core sectors may also have reduced GDP, though here the evidence is less robust. By contrast, high general tax levels have shed the negative influence they might have had in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, other institutions closer to the core of the welfare state have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. Coordinated collective wage bargaining has saved jobs throughout the postwar period, with no cost in terms of productivity. The welfare state?s tax-based social transfers have not harmed either employment or GDP. Even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.
6 citations