Opportunity Costs of Having a Child, Financial Constraints and Fertility.

Economic theory often assumes that the opportunity costs of having a child and financial constraints have a simultaneous but opposite influence on fertility. This empirical paper aims to test the concomitance of these effects using the answers to an original survey carried out in 2003 amongst nearly 1,000 French employees, giving information about the impact of their working schedule on the number of children they intend to have. The statistical analysis, based on a "ceteris paribus" approach using Log it estimates, strongly confirms the simultaneous presence of these two explanatory dimensions.Family Size ; Fertility ; Work-Life Balance

Education, Market Rigidities and Growth.

This paper investigates the effects of the education level, product market rigidities and employment protection legislation on growth. It exploits macro-panel data for OECD countries. For countries close to the technological frontier, education and rigidities are significantly related to TFP growth. The contribution of the interaction between product market regulation and labour market rigidity seems particularly substantial.Productivity ; Growth ; Regulations ; Market Rigidities ; Education

Youth Unemployment in the OECD: The Role of Institutions

This paper analyzes the role of labor market institutions for youth unemployment, as contrasted to total unemployment. The empirical results are basically consistent with an insider view of labor market institutions. Labor market institutions tend to protect (older) employees but might harm (young) entrants. Remarkable is especially the significant and very high effect of employment protection for regular jobs on youth unemployment. In addition, the combined effects of powerful unions and a coordinated wage bargaining system are beneficial for older people and detrimental to youth. Finally, the paper establishes significant labor supply effects and effects of the education system on youth and total unemployment