The year 2009 was marked by a deep global economic crisis triggered by turbulence on the financial markets. The crisis has affected different countries' economies to differing degrees. The impact on national labor markets was even more severe, and wider in scope, than the resulting economic slump itself. It appears likely that the different institutions are (at least partly) to blame.Against this backdrop, the 73rd ARGE meeting examined the relationships between institutions - labor market institutions but others as well - and labor market developments in times of crisis. The key question was whether and how institutions can serve as a "protective shield" for employment. The lectures focuses on the following aspects: European labor markets in international comparison, the role of labor market institutions in the crisis, labor market reforms and competition, labor force cohorts, meta-analysis of the minimum wage, and labor market regulation.

This book sheds light on the impact of the Great Recession from the perspective of both developing and developed countries. It traces the complex and multiple causes of the Great Recession, delineates the diversity in the macroeconomic and labour market consequences, and highlights the effectiveness of policy responses undertaken so far.

This book reviews the experience of workers in developing countries during the global financial crisis of 2009, asseses the recovery, and provides new evidence on the policy response that countries undertook in response to the crisis.

Using a sample of 97 countries spanning the period 1980?2008, we estimate that financial crises have a large negative impact on unemployment in the short term, but that this effect rapidly disappears in the medium term in countries with flexible labor market institutions, whereas the impact of financial crises is less pronounced but more persistent in countries with more rigid labor market institutions. These effects are even larger for youth unemployment in the short term and long-term unemployment in the medium term. Conversely, large upfront, or gradual but significant, comprehensive labor market policies have a positive impact on unemployment, albeit only in the medium term.

This book seeks to explain the global financial crisis and its wider economic, political, and social repercussions, arguing that the 2007-9 meltdown was in fact a systemic crisis of the capitalist system. The volume makes these points through the exploration of several key questions: What kind of institutional political economy is appropriate to explain crisis periods and failures of crisis-management? Are different varieties of capitalism more or less crisis-prone, and can the global financial crisis can be attributed to one variety more than others? What is the interaction between the labour market and the financialization process? The book argues that each variety of capitalism has its own specific crisis tendencies, and that the uneven global character of the crisis is related to the current forms of integration of the world market. More specifically, the 2007-09 economic crisis is rooted in the uneven income distribution and inequality caused by the current financial-led model of growth. The book explains how the introduction of more flexibility in the labour markets and financial deregulation affected everything from wages to job security to trade union influence. Uneven income distribution and inequality weakened aggregate demand and brought about structural deficiencies in aggregate demand and supply. It is argued that the process of financialization has profoundly changed how capitalist economies operate. The volume posits that financial globalization has given rise to growing international imbalances, which have allowed two growth models to emerge: a debt-led consumption growth model and an export-led growth model. Both should be understood as reactions to the lack of effective demand due to the polarization of income distribution.

This book looks at the impacts of the Asian economic crisis on the labor market, examining how various countries respondedIt identifies the labour policy reforms needed in areas of unemployment benefit, active labour market programs, support for vulnerable groups and social dialogue.

The Great Recession pushed Japan’s unemployment rate to historic highs, but the increase has been small by international standards and small relative to the large output shock. This paper explores Japan’s cyclical labor market response to the global financial crisis. Our findings suggest that: (i) employment responsiveness has been historically low but rising over time with the increasing importance of the non-regular workforce; (ii) the labor market response was consistent with historical patterns once we control for the size of the output shock; and (iii) the comparatively lower employment response vis-à-vis other countries can in part be explained by the quick implementation of an employment subsidy program, a more flexible wage system, and a corporate governance structure that places workers rights above shareholders.