Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn from the Lab?

This paper surveys the contributions of laboratory experiments to labor economics. We begin with a discussion of methodological issues: why (and when) is a lab experiment the best approach; how do laboratory experiments compare to field experiments; and what are the main design issues? We then summarize the substantive contributions of laboratory experiments to our understanding of principal-agent interactions, social preferences, union-firm bargaining, arbitration, gender differentials, discrimination, job search, and labor markets more generally.personnel economics, principal-agent theory, laboratory experiments, labor economics

Regional Convergence in Portugal: Policy Impacts (1990-2001)

In this study we look at whether the seven Portuguese NUTS II regions have been able to share equally in the country’s overall growth or whether there have been asymmetries and divergences in their growth patterns. We assess the regional impact of a wide range of Portuguese domestic policies on cohesion. We focus mainly on regional economic cohesion, although social cohesion effects are also considered. As in the case of Portugal structural operations within the community framework programmes and national efforts were highly intertwined, we also contrast the impact of Community policies in two regions.Portugal, European Union, Regional Convergence, Cohesion, National Policies, Structural Funds, Institutions.

Institutional Challenges to Romania’a Regional Policy in the Perspective of Accession to the European Union

Starting with 1998, when the process of Romania’s accession to the EU was officially launched, the legal and institutional framework for regional development policy has been created, followed by the elaboration of the National Development Plan. As the programming document that builds up Romania’s access to the structural-type funds in the pre-accession period and to the structural and cohesion ones after accession to the EU, the NDP responds to both ‘internal necessities’ and ‘external requirements’, revealing the philosophy of the EU support via pre-accession instruments, which has a twofold significance: on the one hand the financial aid is viewed as a way of reducing economic and social disparities between the candidate and the EU member countries; on the other hand, working with pre-accession instruments, creating the institutional framework for measures implementation, action monitoring and impact evaluation allow the candidate countries’ authorities to get used to European Commission’s procedures and, thus, to be prepared for the administration of the much higher amounted financial funds after accession to the EU. Though, in the case of Romania the institutional framework for regional development policy has suffered a lot of changes since 1998, with negative consequences on the absorption capacity of EU funds, serving as a good example for explaining why so many times Romania has been severely criticised by EU for institutional instability and delays in institutional reform. This paper proposes an analysis of Romania’s regional development policy in the perspective of accession to the European Union, with a particular emphasis on the institutional transformations and future challenges, especially those referring to the post-accession period. The author’s contribution to a recent study on Romania’s capacity to absorb the EU funds (developed under the auspices of the European Institute of Romania) will be presented, offering an evaluation of the components that characterise the administrative capacity of absorption in programming field.

Relationship Banking, State Co-Ordination and Long-Term Debt: Reinterpreting the Big Push

We develop a lending game in which relationship-specific investments by firms benefit banks and vice versa. We show that even if all firms and banks prefer high-tech relationship loans under the first-best, asymmetric information and investment non-contractibility make them choose low-tech transaction loans. However, governments with intermediate risk ratings can use Groves subsidies for a concerted switch to long-term relationship loans. To avoid premature liquidation, they finance the scheme with long-term foreign debt. Thus, we try to explain the positive correlation between subsidies and long-term domestic and foreign debt, which was a salient feature of the East Asian development experience.Relationship Banking; Groves Subsidies; Intermediate Rating; Long-term Debt

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics: Mechanism Design Theory

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson, for their contributions to mechanism design theory. The article discusses the importance of mechanism design theory for modern economics, focusing on some of its implications for economic policy making.Nobel Prize, mechanism design, economic policy

Equilibrium with co-ordination and exchange institutions: A comment

Equilibrium Theory;econometrics

Overcoming Challenges to Teamwork in Patient-Centered Medical Homes: A Qualitative Study

There is emerging consensus that enhanced inter-professional teamwork is necessary for the effective and efficient delivery of primary care, but there is less practical information specific to primary care available to guide practices on how to better work as teams. The purpose of this study was to describe how primary care practices have overcome challenges to providing team-based primary care and the implications for care delivery and policy

Industrial adjustment in Western Europe: Retrospect and prospect

The purpose of this paper is to discuss major factors behind failures and successes in structural adjustment. The analysis includes the experience of four major European countries: France, Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. These countries are known for diverging performances. Germany has the highest real per capita income, the lowest inflation, and the strongest currency, while its unemployment rate, though depressing by her own historical standards (8 per cent in 1986 as compared to 1 per cent on average during the sixties), is distinctly below those of the other three countries. On the other side of the spectrum is Italy, but this nation is in fact composed of three economies - a highly developed and rapidly growing one in the north, a very backward one in the south and a dynamic economia somersa almost everywhere. The United Kingdom has become the only oil-rich country in the sample, but probably the one which has been struggling most with micro-economic inefficiencies and the power of interest groups (labour unions in particular) in the economic-political decision process for decades. France has become an industrial and technological leader in a shorter space of time (starting its economic transformation in the late fifties) than any of the other sample countries, but it also was struck by an unparalleled experimentation with socialism during the early eighties.

Reconciling Actors' Preferences in Agricultural Policy - Towards a New Management of Public Decisions

To attain sustainable development in the 21st century, the world's population still has to overcome many challenges; hunger, poverty, environmental degradation and depletion. Policy design in such a context is and will remain a complex task. On one hand, policy makers often lack information on stakeholders' strategies and constraints as well as on potential options for improvement. On the other hand, stakeholders do not always adhere to policies for lack of understanding of the pursued goals. It is not unusual to observe that often, real policy effects are not those initially expected. Furthermore, existing decision-making mechanisms for public intervention are increasingly questioned due to pressure for market liberalization, decentralization processes and the increasing role of the civil society. However, while the classical role of government is challenged, few methods have been proposed to enable the design of viable alternatives. The approach presented in this book is a contribution to the improvement of efficiency in public decision-making. Based on practical experience from Viet Nam, Indonesia and other countries, it proposes new methods for the identification of policy objective, stakeholders and issues at stake, and for the definition and implementation of concrete actions. It also provides means and guidance to foster progressive actors' participation and involvement in decision-making and policy implementation processes. Key Words: analytical methods, tools, decision making, agricultural policiesanalytical methods, tools, decision making, agricultural policies, Agricultural and Food Policy,