Macroeconomic Policy Advice and the Article IV Consultations: A European Union Case Study

The IMF makes policy recommendations to European countries through its Article IV consultations and resulting papers. This paper examines IMF policy recommendations to see whether they have contributed to the ongoing crisis in Europe, and also how they might affect other European Union goals such as those of Europe 2020, which seeks to reduce social exclusion, promote public investment in research and development, and promote employment and education.The paper examines the policy advice given by the IMF to European Union countries in 67 Article IV agreements for the four years 2008-2011 (IMF 2012c).Content analysis finds a consistent pattern of policy recommendations, which indicates (1) a macroeconomic policy that focuses on reducing spending and shrinking the size of government, in many cases regardless of whether this is appropriate or necessary, or may even exacerbate an economic downturn; and (2) a focus on other policy issues that would tend to reduce social protections for broad sectors of the population (including public pensions, health care, and employment protections), reduce labor's share of national income, and possibly increase poverty, social exclusion, and economic and social inequality as a result.Europe remains mired in its second recession in three years, and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) most recent (October 2012) World Economic Outlook (WEO) sees its problems as perhaps the most important drag on world economic growth. The IMF is also part of the so-called "troika" -- with the European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank (ECB) that has been deciding or strongly influencing economic policy in the eurozone, as well as affecting policy in the rest of the European Union, especially since the world economic crisis and recession of 2008-2009. This paper raises questions as to whether the IMF's policy advice has contributed to the ongoing economic problems in Europe

The Affordable Care Act: A Hidden Jobs Killer?

Opponents of the ACA have labeled the health care bill a jobs killer. It seems implausible that the bill could be expected to have much impact on employment except among the relatively small number of firms that are near the 50-worker cutoff. However the bill does provide a clear incentive to reduce workers' hours below 30 per week and many employers claim to be making such reductions in hours. This issue brief looks at data from the Current Population Survey and finds only a small number (0.6 percent of the workforce) of workers report working just below the 30-hour cutoff in the range of 26-29 hours per week. Furthermore, the number of workers who fall in this category was actually lower in 2013 than in 2012, the year before the sanctions would have applied

The Relationship Between Financial Transactions Costs and Economic Growth

The opponents of financial transactions taxes (FTTs) have argued that the imposition of such taxes will slow economic growth by raising the cost of capital. The argument is that if the cost of buying and selling stock and other financial assets is higher, then it makes it more expensive for firms to raise capital. This is true even if the initial sale is exempted from the tax, since the fact that future sales will be subject to the tax will lower the price of stocks sold in the secondary market, which would mean that even initial offerings will command a lower price

Documenting the Need for a National Paid Family and Medical Leave Program: Evidence from the 2012 FMLA Survey

The United States is the only high-income country that does not mandate paid family and medical leave. Instead American workers rely on a patchwork of employer-provided benefits, private insurance, state programs, public assistance, and savings to make ends meet during a leave event. About 30 percent of private-sector employees taking unpaid leave incur debt as result of their leave. More than 2.5 million employees cannot afford to take leave to care for self, a family member with a serious health condition, during pregnancy, to bond with a new child, or to care for an injured military service member every year.Our analysis of the Department of Labor's 2012 Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Survey found that 12.6 percent of private-sector employees took family and medical leave in 2012, while 4.5 percent had unmet leave needs. This means that one-in-four employees needing leave had their leave needs unmet in the past 12 months. Not being able to afford unpaid leave (49.4 percent) and the risk of loss of job (18.3 percent) were the two most common reasons given for not taking needed leave. Employees with children living at home and female employees had the greatest need for leave, but also had the highest rates of unmet leave

Expanding Federal Family and Medical Leave Coverage: Who Benefits from Changes in Eligibility Requirements?

The Family and Medical Leave Act provides job-protected, unpaid leave to employees in firms with 50 or more employees. However, coverage and eligibility restrictions result in 49.3 million employees (44.1 percent) in the private sector being ineligible for leave in 2012. This paper looks at eligibility by demographic characteristics and finds that the probability of being eligible increases with educational attainment. Young men with high school degrees or less had the lowest rate of FMLA eligibility of all the demographic groups. Our analysis of the FMLA Employee and Workplace surveys examines various proposals to expand eligibility coverage. Expanding FMLA coverage to smaller employers and to employees working fewer hours would increase access to job-protected leave for 1.4 million to 8.3 million more employees in the private sector. Women of childbearing age would especially benefit from an expansion in eligibility coverage

Expanding Family and Medical Leave to Small Firms

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) gives eligible employees the right to take job-protected, unpaid leave to bond with a new child, care for a family member or military service member, or for one's own serious illness for up to 12 weeks in a year. About 60 million private sector employees (55.9 percent) were eligible for family and medical leave under the FMLA in 2012. However, more than two-in-five private sector employees do not have access to job-protected leave because they are employed by small employers, which are exempt from the FMLA, and/or because they do not meet the tenure and hours worked requirements for eligibility. If the FMLA were amended to cover all firms and worksites regardless of size, an estimated 34.1 million private-sector employees would gain access to job-protected family and medical leave, if they otherwise meet the eligibility requirements relating to length of tenure and hours of work

The Affordable Care Act: A Family-Friendly Policy

Most of the discussion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has focused on the extent to which it has extended health insurance coverage to the formerly uninsured. This is certainly an important aspect of the law. However by allowing people to buy insurance through the exchanges and extending Medicaid coverage to millions of people, the ACA also largely ends workers' dependence on their employer for insurance. This gives tens of millions of people the option to change their job, to work part-time, or take time off to be with young children or family members in need of care, or to retire early

Does It Pay to Volunteer? The Relationship Between Volunteer Work and Paid Work

It is widely believed that volunteering will improve workers' job prospects. The logic is that volunteering offers opportunities to expand work-related experience, develop new skills, and build a network of professional contacts. For young people with little history of paid employment it can also signal that a person would be a reliable and motivated employee. In spite of these widespread views about volunteering, surprisingly little research has been done on the effect of volunteering on employment and pay in the United States. This analysis examines volunteering as a pathway to employment during a period of high unemployment, when it is reasonable to expect the beneficial effects of volunteering to be especially pronounced