In Germany and elsewhere, historians are currently taking up investigations of the period of slower growth and increasing unemployment in developed economies which started in the mid-1970s. The Ifo Institute is co-operating with the Munich-based Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) on a project addressing the „Crisis of the Working Society 1973 to 1989“. In this project, historical research focuses on a comparative study of public perceptions of increasing unemployment in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom as well as increasing youth unemployment in Germany and France, also tracking the policy debates triggered as a response in these countries.
In a sub-project on „Labour Market Performance and Labour Market Institutions“, Ifo provides a framework for these studies in order to put them in a broader context in terms of both the time period and geographic area covered. Starting from a detailed description of labour market trends in EU and OECD countries for the period from about 1960 to the present, determinants of the long-term development on labour markets in highly developed economies are to be investigated. Here, the focus is on the role of institutional features, such as labour relations and public regulation in many relevant fields. To the extent that labour market institutions have changed over time, policy reactions to increasing unemployment are therefore included in this analysis, probably highlighting fundamental parallels, but also interesting differences, between the countries considered. At the same time, the scope of actual labour market reforms enacted could be in a noticeable contrast to the intensity of public discussions held at a national level.
Building on a survey of the fast growing literature on the role of labour market institutions for the economic performance in developed economies, a new data base is constructed which will then be used for fresh empirical work. The focus is on econometric analyses of the impact of national systems of wage setting, securing income for the unemployed, employment protection as well as taxes and other levies imposed on labour income.
Exploiting data sources that are publicly available (OECD; ILO; other research groups), comparability of the data is carefully checked; data are then further transformed where needed and combined to longer time series.
Flaig, G. and H. Rottmann (2009), "Labour Market Institutions and the Employment Intensity of Output Growth", Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik (Journal of Economics and Statistics) 229 (1), p. 22-35.
Flaig, G. and H. Rottmann, “Labour Market Institutions and the Employment Intensity of Output Growth: An International Comparison”, CESifo Working Paper No. 2175 (Download, 105 KB).
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