Wage rigidity, collective bargaining and the minimum wage: evidence from French agreement data.

We highlight different stylized facts concerning wage stickiness. First, in France, the typical duration of a wage agreement is one year. Consequently, a Taylor (1980) -type model appears to reproduce appropriately the distribution of agreement durations. Some 30 percent of settlements stipulate several predetermined wage changes during the year following the date of signature of the agreement. The frequency of wage agreements is highly seasonal, but the dates at which agreements take effect are more staggered. The date at which the national minimum wage level is revised each year has a significant impact on the timetable of wage agreements, both at the firm- and at the industry-levels. Wage increases negotiated at these two levels mainly depend on the inflation regime, the firm profitability and the proportion of minimum-wage workers in the same industry.Wage Stickiness, Wage Bargaining, Minimum Wage, Downward nominal Wage Rigidity.

Les ajustements microéconomiques des prix : une synthèse des modèles théoriques et résultats empiriques.

Microeconomic price rigidity is one of the main assumptions of the neo-keynesian macroeconomic models. Firms are not able to adjust continuously their prices. In this paper, we make a synthesis of the main microeconomic price setting theoretical models and of their empirical counterparts. Price rigidity is often justified by two models: a first one assumes that prices are time-dependent. At each period, a constant proportion of firms can change their prices. A lot of recent empirical works provide estimates of this proportion and evaluate its stability over time. A second model assumes that prices are state-dependent. Firms have to pay an adjustment cost each time they change their price and it can be optimal to differ a price change. These adjustments costs are empirically measured and empirical studies focus on the impact of these menu costs on the inflation process.Price rigidity ; Inflation ; Monetary policy.

Institutional features of wage bargaining in 23 European countries, the US and Japan.

This paper presents information on wage bargaining institutions, collected using a standardised questionnaire. Our data provide information from 1995 and 2006, for four sectors of activity and the aggregate economy, considering 23 European countries, plus the US and Japan. Main findings include a high degree of regulation in wage setting in most countries. Although union membership is low in many countries, union coverage is high and almost all countries also have some form of national minimum wage. Most countries negotiate wages on several levels, the sectoral level still being the most dominant, with an increasingly important role for bargaining at the firm level. The average length of collective bargaining agreements is found to lie between one and three years. Most agreements are strongly driven by developments in prices and eleven countries have some form of indexation mechanism which affects wages. Cluster analysis identifies three country groupings of wage-setting institutions.Wage Bargaining ; Institutions ; Indexation ; Trade Union Membership, Cluster Analysis

3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators

Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas target. In particular it was reported that appropriate density tailoring can result in improved injection, acceleration and collimation of laser-accelerated electron beams. To achieve such profiles innovative target designs are required. For this purpose we have reviewed the usage of additive layer manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard techniques, namely selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA). Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling (FDM) to reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at Laboratoire d'Optique Appliqu\'ee

Rol de la concentración de Níquel en cátodos de óxidos Mn-Ni

Se estudió el comportamiento catódico de óxidos NixMn3 - xO4 (x=0,4; 0,5; 0,6; 0,7; 0,8) en medio ácido. Se muestra la influencia del níquel en la reactividad electroquímica de los cátodos. Los mejores resultados se obtienen con NiO,6Mn2,4O4 . La reactividad de los óxidos en la reducción catódica se explica a través de la concentración de los cationes en la estructura y de la ocurrencia del proceso redox entre Ni2+ y Mn3+ de los sitios octaédricos de la espinela

Les ajustements des prix de production en France et dans la zone euro. Une synthèse à partir de données quantitatives et qualitatives.

Les modifications de l’environnement économique constituent pour les entreprises des incitations à modifier leurs prix. On observe toutefois que l’ampleur de ces révisions est assez modérée et que près d’une fois sur deux, ces révisions consistent en une baisse de prix.rigidité des prix, prix de production, fréquence de changement de prix.

Spinal cord repair strategies: Schwann cells, neurotrophic factors, and biodegradable polymers

Injury to the adult mammalian spinal cord leads to permanent loss of controlled neurological function. Endogenous repair mechanisms fail to reestablish functional synoptic connections. Moreover, neurological outcome usually gets worse in time, due to neurodestructive processes inherent to the adult spinal cord. Surgical repair strategies need to focus on replacing damaged/lost nervous tissue, promoting axonal regeneration and reestablishing functional synaptic contacts. This review will discuss the current understanding of the potential beneficial role of Schwann cells, neurotrophic factors, biodegradable polymers or combinations thereof in spinal cord injury. Replacement, of injured spinal tissue with a Schwann cell graft promotes axonal regeneration and myelination. Neurotrophic factors initiate and/or enhance events that are crucial for functional recovery, such as cell survival and axonal regeneration. Biodegradable polymers can be used as a scaffold for cell implantation and/or as a drug delivery vehicle. The complex nature of spinal cord injury demands a combinatorial restorative approach. For the future, the challenge will be to combine individual growth-promoting properties such that neurological recovery in spinal cord injured humans can be achieved.Biomedical Reviews 1999; 10: 75-88

Electrochemical transduction of cation recognition by crown ether nitroxide derivatives : influence of the distance between macrocycle/redox sensor

Date du colloque : 06/2011</p