175 research outputs found
Euro area labour markets: different reaction to shocks?
A small labour market model for the six largest euro area countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium) is estimated in a state -space framework. The model entails, in the long run, four driving forces: a trend labour force component, a trend labour productivity component, a long-run inflation rate and a trend hours worked component. The short run dynamics is governed by a VAR model including six shocks. The state-space framework is convenient for the decomposition of endogenous variables in trends and cycles, for shock decomposition, for incorporating external judgement, and for running conditional projections. The forecast performance of the model is rather satisfactory. The model is used to carry out a policy experiment with the objective of investigating whether euro area countries differ in the labour market adjustment to a reduction in labour costs. Results suggest that, following the 2008-09 recession, moderate wage growth would significantly help delivering a more job-intense recovery. JEL Classification: C51, C53, E17, J21forecasting, Kalman filter, Labor market
Sectoral explanations of employment in Europe: the role of services
This paper investigates the determinants of the service sector employment share in the EU-15, for the aggregate service sector, four sub-sectors and twelve service sector branches. Recently, both Europe and the US have experienced an increase in the share of service-related jobs in total employment. Although converging in all European countries, a significant gap in the share of service jobs in Europe relative to the US persists. Understanding the main factors behind this gap is key to achieving higher employment levels in Europe. This paper focuses on the role of barriers in the EU-15 which may have hindered its ability to absorb labour supply and therefore to adjust efficiently to the sectoral reallocation of labour. We find that a crucial role in this process has been played by the institutional framework affecting flexibility in the labour market and by the mismatch between workers' skills and job vacancies.
Differently unequal Zooming-in on the distributional dimensions of the crisis in euro area countries. LEQS Discussion Paper No. 86/2015 January 2015
This paper discusses how income inequality developed during the current crisis in euro area
countries, as well as the role played by each income source. Based on an extended definition
of income â including additional components which do not appear in the standard Eurostat
definitions â we complement the information provided by the Gini index and quantile ratios
by computing an alternative inequality indicator, developed by Zenga (2007), and its
decomposition by income source. While broadly confirming the distributional effect of the
crisis documented in previous studies, we find that in specific countries the level of inequality
appears higher when alternative measures are taken into account, and that the rise of
inequality since 2008 has not been as modest as previous studies would suggest. The paper
further looks at how the distribution of income has evolved during the crisis by income
quantile groups (i.e. âzooming-inâ). The results point to varying contribution of labour income
in 2011 compared to 2007. In addition, while the impact of individual householdsâ
characteristics shows a non-linear pattern across income quantile groups before the crisis,
such dispersion has decreased in 2011. We argue that, on the basis of our analysis, not only
euro area countries are âdifferently unequalâ in that inequality has developed in a very
peculiar way in different countries, but also that it needs to be tackled at a finer level of
analysis
Euro-area labour markets: Different reaction to shocks?
A small labour market model for the six largest euro-area countries (Germany, France, Italy,
Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium) is estimated in a state space framework. The model entails,
in the long run, four driving forces: trend labour force, trend labour productivity, long-run inflation
rate and trend hours worked. The short run dynamics is governed by a VAR model including six
shocks. The state-space framework is convenient for the decomposition of endogenous variables
in trends and cycles, for shock decomposition, for incorporating external judgment, and for
running conditional projections. The forecast performance of the model is rather satisfactory.
The model is used to carry out a policy experiment with the objective of investigating whether
euro-area labour markets react differently to a reduction in labour costs. Results suggest that,
following the 2008â2009 recession, moderate wage growth would significantly help delivering
a more job-intense recovery
New advances in dye analyses. In situ gel-supported liquid extraction from paint layers and textiles for SERS and HPLC-MS/MS Identification
To date, it is still not possible to obtain exhaustive information about organic materials in cultural heritage without sampling. Nonetheless, when studying unique objects with invaluable artistic or historical significance, preserving their integrity is a priority. In particular, organic dye identification is of significant interest for history and conservation research, but it is still hindered by analytesâ low concentration and poor fastness. In this work, a minimally invasive approach for dye identification is presented. The procedure is designed to accompany noninvasive analyses of inorganic substances for comprehensive studies of complex cultural heritage matrices, in compliance with their soundness. Liquid extraction of madder, turmeric, and indigo dyes was performed directly from paint layers and textiles. The extraction was supported by hydrogels, which themselves can undergo multitechnique analyses in the place of samples. After extraction, Ag colloid pastes were applied on the gels for SERS analyses, allowing for the identification of the three dyes. For the HPLC-MS/MS analyses, re-extraction of the dyes was followed by a clean-up step that was successfully applied on madder and turmeric. The colour change perceptivity after extraction was measured with colorimetry. The results showed ÎE values mostly below the upper limit of rigorous colour change, confirming the gentleness of the procedure
Dyes of a Shadow Theatre: Investigating Tholu Bommalu Indian Puppets through a Highly Sensitive Multi-Spectroscopic Approach
Tholu Bommalu are typical leather puppets of the traditional Indian shadow theatre. Two of these objects are part of a collection in the International Puppets Museum âAntonio Pasqualinoâ (Palermo, Sicily, Italy), which can count on one hundred-seventy-three of artifacts. These Indian puppets were investigated to obtain information related to the use of dyes for their manufacturing through a multi-technical approach exploiting the combination of highly sensitive spectroscopic techniques. Wet cotton stubbons were used to entrap small particles of dyes on the fibers from the art objects for the consequent analyses. Visible Light Micro-Reflectance spectroscopy was employed for the preliminary identification of the molecular class of dyes directly on the swabs, while Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering allowed the identification of the specific dye. Several synthetic dyes belonging to different typologies of coloring compounds were identified. The study resulted in an interesting overview of dyes used in recent Tholu Bommalata manufacturing through the combination of micro-invasive techniques directly on the sampling substrate
Inside the history of Italian coloring industries. An investigation of ACNA dyes through a novel analytical protocol for synthetic dye extraction and characterization
The introduction of synthetic dyes completely changed the industrial production and use of colorants for art materials. From the synthesis of the first synthetic dye, mauveine, in 1856 until today, artists have enjoyed a wider range of colors and selection of chemical properties than was ever available before. However, the introduction of synthetic dyes introduced a wider variety and increased the complexity of the chemical structures of marketed dyes. This work looks towards the analysis of synthetically dyed objects in heritage collections, applying an extraction protocol based on the use of ammonia, which is considered favorable for natural anthraquinone dyes but has never before been applied to acid synthetic dyes. This work also presents an innovative cleanup step based on the use of an ion pair dispersive liquidâliquid microextraction for the purification and preconcentration of historical synthetic dyes before analysis. This approach was adapted from food science analysis and is applied to synthetic dyes in heritage science for the first time in this paper. The results showed adequate recovery of analytes and allowed for the ammonia-based extraction method to be applied successfully to 15 samples of suspected azo dyes from the Azienda Coloranti Nazionali e Affini (ACNA) synthetic dye collection, identified through untargeted HPLC-HRMS analyses
Differently unequal: Zooming-in on the distributional dimensions of the crisis in euro area countries
This paper discusses how income inequality developed during the current crisis in euro area countries, as well as the role played by each income source. Based on an extended definition of income - including additional components which do not appear in the standard Eurostat definitions - we complement the information provided by the Gini index and quantile ratios by computing an alternative inequality indicator, developed by Zenga (2007), and its decomposition by income source. While broadly confirming the distributional effect of the crisis documented in previous studies, we find that in specific countries the level of inequality appears higher when alternative measures are taken into account, and that the rise of inequality since 2008 has not been as modest as the previous studies would suggest. The paper further looks at how the distribution of income has evolved during the crisis by income quantile groups (i.e. 'zooming-in'). The results point to varying contribution of labour income in 2011 compared to 2007. In addition, while the impact of individual households' characteristics shows a non-linear pattern across income quantile groups before the crisis, such dispersion has decreased in 2011.We argue that, on the basis of our analysis, not only euro area countries are "differently unequal" in that inequality has developed in a very peculiar way in different countries, but also because it needs to be tackled at a finer level of analysis
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