Labor Court Inputs, Judicial Cases Outcomes and Labor Flows: Identifying Real EPL.

Using a data set of individual labor disputes brought to court over the years 1990 to 2003 in France, we examine the impact of the enforcement of Employment Protection Legislation on labor market outcomes. First, we present a simple theoretical model showing that judicial case outcomes cannot be directly interpreted in terms of EPL. A large fraction of cases that go to trials may well be a sign of low firing costs when firms face low litigation costs and are therefore willing to go to court or a sign of high firing costs when workers face low litigation costs and are therefore willing to sue the firm. Second, we exploit our model as well as the French institutional setting to generate instruments for these endogenous outcomes. Using these instruments, we show that labor courts decisions have a causal effect on labor flows. More dropped cases and more trials cause more job destructions: more trials indeed are a sign of lower separation costs. More settlements, higher filing rates, a larger fraction of workers represented at trial, large lawyer density dampen job destruction. A larger judge density causes less job creation, in particular on the extensive margin.Employment protection legislation, Labor flows, Labor judges, Unfair dismissal, France

Labor Disputes and Labor Flows

About one in four workers challenges her dismissal in front of a labor court in France. Using a data set of individual labor disputes brought to French courts over the years 1996 to 2003, we examine the impact of labor court activity on labor market flows. First, we present a simple theoretical model showing the links between judicial costs and judicial case outcomes. Second, we exploit our model as well as the French institutional setting to generate instruments for these endogenous outcomes. In particular, we use shocks in the supply of lawyers who resettle close to their university of origin. Using these instruments, we show that labor court decisions have a causal effect on labor flows. More trials and more cases won by the workers cause more job destructions. More settlements, higher filing rates, and a larger fraction of workers represented by a lawyer dampen job destructions. Various robustness checks confirm these findings.labor judges, labor flows, employment protection legislation, unfair dismissal, France

Is the Inflation-Output Nexus Asymmetric in the Euro Area?

This paper challenges the assumption that the inflation process within the euro area is well-described by a linear Phillips curve and investigates in a nonparametric framework how inflation is sensitive to output growth. An asymmetric output-inflation trade-off is pointed out in the euro area at both aggregated and individual country levels.Nonlinear Phillips curve ; Price stability ; Kernel smoothing.

From architectural to literary symbolism: Proust in the school of Émile Mâle

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) debuted as a writer when the doctrine of symbolism was prevalent in the French literature. But his relationship with this contemporary trend is difficult to define. The reconstruction of historical and logical facts connected with this issue seems to indicate that Proust distanced himself from the poets and writers of symbolism; the word “symbol” itself would often be used in negative contexts in "In Search of Lost Time" which Proust started to write in 1908. At that time Proust was also impressed by the work of Émile Mâle entitled "L’Art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France" (Religious Art of the 13th century in France, 1898). Thus, it is through the contact with architecture, more than with literature, that the author of "In Search of Lost Time" explores the notion of symbolism when, based on consciously adopted rules, he gives his work the exact structure of a cathedral.Marcel Proust (1871-1922) debuted as a writer when the doctrine of symbolism was prevalent in the French literature. But his relationship with this contemporary trend is difficult to define. The reconstruction of historical and logical facts connected with this issue seems to indicate that Proust distanced himself from the poets and writers of symbolism; the word “symbol” itself would often be used in negative contexts in "In Search of Lost Time" which Proust started to write in 1908. At that time Proust was also impressed by the work of Émile Mâle entitled "L’Art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France" (Religious Art of the 13th century in France, 1898). Thus, it is through the contact with architecture, more than with literature, that the author of "In Search of Lost Time" explores the notion of symbolism when, based on consciously adopted rules, he gives his work the exact structure of a cathedral

El tiempo vivido

¿Qué es el tiempo? Pascal dice que todos nos entendemos cuando hablamos del tiempo, pero que no nos ponemos de acuerdo sobre la noción de tiempo. Es cierto. El concepto de tiempo no se corresponde con un solo significado. El concepto de tiempo nos remite a una realidad compleja en la que encontramos cambios, es decir, sucesiones y también duraciones. ¿Cómo vivimos el tiempo?: Lo sufrimos y lo construimos. Sufrir el tiempo es algo que se pone claramente de manifiesto mediante el condicionamiento clásico. Un estímulo que precede a la señal de una acción, se convierte él mismo en señal. Aquí nos encontramos con un efecto de sucesión, pero donde también interviene la duración. Por ejemplo, si damos de comer a un perro cada 30 minutos, el animal empieza a salivar hacia el final de cada período de 30 minutos. Esta interiorización del ritmo de los cambios es particularmente importante en nuestra vida cotidiana, en la que sufrimos el ritmo nictameral; en un periodo de 24 horas, el día sucede a la noche. Este ritmo se nos impone en los primeros años de nuestra vida y se interioriza. Se dice que deviene endógeno. De manera que si atravesamos rápidamente diversos husos horarios, en avión por ejemplo, nos encontramos desfasados en relación con los cambios exteriores y nos serán necesarios algunos días para readaptarnos al nuevo ritmo. Los cronobiólogos nos enseñan, por otra parte, que nuestro ritmo endógeno hace sucesiones de vigilias y de sueños; ello se traduce en numerosos cambios hormonales que se convierten en periódicos y se observa particularmente en la temperatura de nuestro cuerpo, que pasa por un mínimo hacia las tres de la madrugada y por un máximo por la tarde. Este ritmo endógeno persiste incluso si se sitúa a un individuo fuera del tiempo, es decir, si vive algunos meses sin ninguna referencia astronómica. Nuestra eficacia depende, por otra parte, del ritmo circadiano, como puede demostrarse, por ejemplo, por la rapidez del tiempo de reacción