This paper examines the role of the labor market in the transmission process of adjustment policies in developing countries. It begins by reviewing the recent evidence regarding the functioning of these markets. It then studies the implications of wage inertia, nominal contracts, labor market segmentation, and impediments to labor mobility for stabilization policies. The effect of labor market reforms on economic flexibility and the channels through which labor market imperfections alter the effects of structural adjustment measures are discussed next. The last part of the paper identifies a variety of issues that may require further investigation, such as the link between changes in relative wages and the distributional effects of adjustment policies.

This overview of a symposium on labor markets and adjustment concludes that: (1) real wages are more flexible than generally supposed, (2) labor reallocations across sectors have been more or less in the desired direction, and (3) the role of labor unions, generally supposed to be an impediment to adjustment, is more subtle than generally supposed.

This book provides a description of a number of institutional features of the U.S. labor market and prompts an analytical debate about the origins of the institutions it describes and their significance for the operation of the U.S. economic system.

This Handbook captures the salient features of Middle Eastern economies and critically examines the public policy responses required to address the challenges and opportunities across the region. Bringing together wide-ranging perspectives from carefully selected and renowned subject specialists, the collection fills a gap in this relatively young and growing academic field. Combining discussion of theory and empirical evidence, the book maps out the evolution of Middle East economics as a field within area studies and applied development economics. Presented in six thematic sections, the book enables the reader to gain a comprehensive understanding of the region’s main economic themes and issues: • Growth and development in comparative perspectives • Labour force and human development • Natural resources, resource curse and trade • Poverty, inequality and social policy • Institutions and transition to democracy • Corruption, conflict and refugees Providing an overview of the principal economic problems, policies and performances relating to the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, this collection will be a key resource for upper-level undergraduates, graduates and scholars with an interest in Middle East economics, applied development economics, development studies and area studies.

Labor markets in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are characterized by high levels of informality and relatively rigid regulation. This paper shows that these two features are related and together make the speed of adjustment of employment to shocks slower, especially when regulations are tightly enforced. Evidence suggests that strict labor market regulations also have an adverse effect on medium-term growth. While both regulations on prices (minimum wages) and quantities (employment protection) decrease the speed of adjustment to shocks, they appear to be binding in different phases of the cycle—the former affects mostly the (net) job creation margin and the latter the (net) job destruction margin. The results also highlight possible interactions between labor market regulations and the effectiveness of macro-stabilization tools—including exchange rate depreciation.

Recent international economic events have demonstrated the vulnerability of individual countries to external disturbances, or `shocks'. Such disturbances necessitate major adjustments to developing countries' trade behaviour, and therefore also to their domestic economies.This volume is an integrated theoretical and econometric study of the impact of global economic changes on the developing Turkish economy during the period 1970-1983. Structural adjustment is defined and presented in the context of a small open economy reacting to external shocks. The interaction of government and private sector is incorporated explicitly in an intertemporal model through examination of dynamic game equilibria, and the implications of this interaction for the effectiveness of stabilization and liberalization policies are explored. This theoretical structure provides the structure for macroeconomic estimation. The estimated model then is employed for an econometric decomposition of Turkish historical economic experience into portions due to various external shocks and government policy changes.The theoretical section demonstrates the necessity of consideration of government/private interactions when measuring and evaluating structural adjustment policies. The econometric results confirm the importance of such analysis for Turkey, and provide evidence of the impact of various government policies on aggregate consumption, investment, inflation and current account deficits.This book will be of use to both international and development economists as a systematic and insightful examination of structural adjustment in Turkey, as well as a template for similar analyses for other open economies.

We examine patterns of regional adjustments to shocks in the US during the past 40 years. Using state-level data, we estimate the dynamic response of regional employment, unemployment, participation rates and net migration to state-relative labor demand shocks. We find that (i) the long-run effect of a state-specific shock on the state employment level has decreased over time, suggesting less overall net migration in response to a regional shock, (ii) the role of the participation rate as absorber of regional shocks has increased, (iii) the response of net migration to regional shocks is stronger, while that of relative unemployment is weaker during aggregate downturns, and (iv) the change in the response intensity of migration is related to the declining trend in regional dispersion of labor market conditions. Finally, using regional data for a set of 21 European countries, we show that while the short-term response of participation rates to labor demand shocks is typically larger in Europe than in the US, the immediate response of net migration in Europe has increased over time.

Roles of the manpower planner; Abandoning manpower requirements forecasting; Introducing labor market signalling; Sources of labor market information.

Latin America is a diverse group countries with extremely diverse economies and political dynamics. Some are heavy in poverty and others are booming with petrodollars. They speak Spanish, Portuguese, and French. This book brings together analyses detailing crucial issues at the beginning of the 21st century.