The aim of this thesis is to examine the direct effects of labour market institu- tions on unemployment rates in the selected EU Members. For this purpose, we use macroeconomic cross-country, time series analysis for 21 OECD European members over the 2001-2011 period. The results gained from our empirical ana- lysis are rather inconclusive over the possibility to explain the development of European unemployment solely by analysing the effects of labour market insti- tutions. This finding might as well be caused by the volatile evolution of both output and unemployment over the observed period. The importance of busi- ness cycle is confirmed by our results as the measure for the output gap appears highly significant in every model specification. Unlike the majority of previous literature, in our estimates the proxies for macroeconomic shocks do not turn out to be significant. Hence, we decided not to examine mutual interactions between macroeconomic shocks and institutions. JEL Classifications: J08, J30, J51, J64 Keywords: unemployment, labour market institutions, EU, active labour mar- ket policies Author s e-mail: janhnevkovsky@gmail.com Supervisor s e-mail: strielkowski@fsv.cuni.cz 1

1 Charles University in Prague Faculty of Science Department of Social Geography and Regional Development ACTORS AND MECHANISMS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON EXAMPLE OF THE ÚSTÍ REGION Dissertation thesis summary Petr Hlaváček Supervisor: Doc. RNDr. Jiří Blažek, PhD. Ústí nad Labem 2010 2 CONTENT Introduction and theoretical framework Hypotheses and structure of the dissertation Conclusion Selected literature 3 Introduction and theoretical framework Current research of regional development sees themes focused on the institutional context of regional development in the foreground [Rutten, Boekema 2007], regional mechanisms are evaluated, key categories and groups of actos for the long-term improvement of the competitiveness of the region are sought [Breschi, Malerba 2007]. The theory is that regional development operates with various actors concepts. Traditional neo-classic approaches stemming from the individualized concept of a actor in the market environment are often completed with institutional approaches that highlight the understanding of the actor as an entity interwoven by many specific market mechanisms and social structures - production chains, subcontractor relationships and further formal and informal boundaries that define market potential. From the institutional economy point of view, the actor...

While linkages between some macroeconomic phenomena (e.g. unemployment, GDP growth) and suicide rates in some countries have been explored, only one study, hitherto, has established a causal relationship between fiscal consolidation and suicide, albeit in a single country. This study examines the impact of budget consolidation on suicide mortality across all Eurozone peripheral economies, while controlling for various economic and sociodemographic differences. The impact of fiscal adjustments is found to be gender, age and time specific. In particular, fiscal consolidation has short-, medium- and long-run suicide increasing effects on the male population between 65 and 89 years of age. A one percentage point reduction in government spending is associated with an 1.39%, 2.35% and 2.64% increase in the short-, medium- and long-run, respectively, of male suicides rates between 65 and 89 years of age in the Eurozone periphery. These results are highly robust to alternative measures of fiscal consolidation. Unemployment benefits and substantial employment protection legislation seem to mitigate some of the negative effects of fiscal consolidation on suicide mortality. Plausible explanations for these impacts are provided and policy implications drawn. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

The thesis consists of three papers, summarized as follows.        "The Determinants of Labour Market Institutions: A Panel Data Study"    This paper analyses the argument that labour market institutions can be thought of as devices for social insurance. It investigates the hypotheses that a country's exposure to external risk and ethnic fractionalisation are correlated with labor market institutions. Extreme bounds analysis with panel data of fourty years indicates that countries that are more open to international trade have stricter employment protection, strong unions, and a more coordinated wage bargaining process. Moreover, there is evidence that union density is negatively associated with the degree of ethnic fracationalisation.  "Why do Some Studies Show that Generous Unemployment Benefits Increase Unemployment Rates? A Meta-Analysis of Cross-Country Studies"    This paper investigates the hypothesis that generous unemployment benefits give rise to high levels of unemployment by systematically reviewing 34 cross-country studies. In contrast to conventional literature surveys, I perform a meta-analysis which applies regression techniques to a set of results taken from the existing literature. The main finding is that the choice of the primary data and estimation method matter for the final outcome. The control variables in the primary studies also affect the results. "The Effects of Trade on Unemployment: Evidence from 20 OECD countries"    This study empirically investigates if international trade has an impact on aggregate unemployment in the presence of labour market institutions. Using data for twenty OECD countries for the years 1961-2008, this study finds that an increase in trade leads to higher aggregate unemployment as it interacts with rigid labour market institutions, whereas it may reduce aggregate unemployment if the labour market is characterised by flexibility. In a country with the average degree of the labour market rigidities, an increase in trade has no significant effect on unemployment rates.

Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies Three Essays on Labor Market Institutional Environment Dissertation Thesis Kamila Fialová Prague 2012 Abstract This thesis consists of three papers about labor market institutional environment. The first paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Effect on Labor Market Performance in the New EU Member Countries" estimates the effects of labor market institutions on various performance indicators (unemployment, long-term unemployment, employment, activity rate) in European countries. The results confirm that high taxes increase unemployment, whereas active labor market policies tend to reduce it. The paper also shows that stricter employment protection, higher taxes, and a larger economic burden represented by the minimum wage decrease employment and activity rates. The second paper "Labor Market Institutions and Their Impact on Shadow Economies in Europe" analyzes the role of labor market institutions in explaining developments of shadow economies in European countries using several alternative measures of the shadow sector. The results indicate that the one institution that unambiguously increases shadow production and employment is strict employment protection legislation. Other labor market institutions have less...

This thesis examines the measurement, applications and properties of consumer inflation expectations in the context of eight European Union countries: France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. The data proceed mainly from the European Commission's Consumer Survey and are qualitative in nature, therefore requiring quantification prior to use. This study first seeks to determine the optimal quantification methodology among a set of approaches spanning three traditions, associated with Carlson-Parkin (1975), Pesaran (1984) and Seitz (1988). The success of a quantification methodology is assessed on the basis of its ability to match quantitative expectations data and on its behaviour in an important economic application, namely the modelling of wages for our sample countries. The wage equation developed here draws on the theoretical background of the staggered contracts and the wage bargaining literature, and controls carefully for inflation expectations and institutional variables. The Carlson-Parkin variation proposed in Curto Millet (2004) was found to be the most satisfactory. This being established, the wage equations are used to test the hypothesis that the advent of EMU generated an increase in labour market flexibility, which would be reflected in structural breaks. The hypothesis is essentially rejected. Finally, the properties of inflation expectations and perceptions themselves are examined, especially in the context of EMU. Both the rational expectations and rational perceptions hypotheses are rejected. Popular expectations mechanisms, such as the "rule-of-thumb" model or Akerlof et al.'s (2000) "near-rationality hypothesis" are similarly unsupported. On the other hand, evidence is found for the transmission of expert forecasts to consumer expectations in the case of the UK, as in Carroll's (2003) model. The distribution of consumer expectations and perceptions is also considered, showing a tendency for gradual (as in Mankiw and Reis, 2002) but non-rational adjustment. Expectations formation is further shown to have important qualitative features.