Coping with Phantom Risks in the Courts

Dr. Huber describes phantom risks as those tending to hover indefinitely, never to crystallize. He argues that legal procedures should optimally lead\u27 to closure and eliminate unwarranted fears

Regional labor market developments in transition

The author analyzes regional labor market disparities in transition by presenting some data and summarizing existing literature. He finds that large and persistent regional labor market disparities developed in virtually all transition countries and that there is some evidence of polarization. Differences in starting conditions and market access seem to be the major reasons for regional divergence in transition. Furthermore, regional wages are only slightly more flexible than in many European Union labor markets, interregional migration is low, and capital seems to move toward high wage and low unemployment urban centers rather than to the most backward regions. Policy should thus take a long-run perspective on the existing regional disparities, focus on removing barriers to mobility, review existing institutions for implementing regional policy, and aim at a close coordination of regional and labor market policy instruments.Labor Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Youth and Governance,Country Strategy&Performance

On the Determinants of Cross Border Co-operation of Austrian Firms with Central and Eastern European Partners

I analyse cross-border co-operation of Austrian firms with CEEC partners. Firm size, previous experience with co-operation and depth of integration with the most important partner are more important determinants of co-operation than distance to the closest potential partner. Firms with experience of co-operation are more likely to enter business relationships and less likely not to co-operate. Small firms are unlikely to co-operate in incentive contracts, while firms which are part of production networks typically co-operate in business and ownership relationships. Distance to the closest potential partner increases the probability of not co-operating and reduces the probability of ownership relationships.

Inter-regional mobility in the accession countries : a comparison with EU15 member states

"This paper uses a data set covering 9 EU15 member states and 7 candidate countries and new member states to compare inter-regional migration patterns in the 1990s. We find that the level of migration is lower in candidate countries and new member states than in EU15 member states. Also in contrast to the EU15 member states, migration has fallen in candidate countries and new member states. This casts doubt an the viability of migration as an adjustment mechanism. Estimating place-to-place models of migration we find that migration is less reactive to regional disparities in candidate countries and new member states than it is in EU15 member states. If reaction to labor market disparities were similar to EU15 states, net migration should increase by a factor of between 2 and over 10." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))regionale Mobilität - internationaler Vergleich, Binnenwanderung, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, regionale Disparität, Mobilitätsbereitschaft - Determinanten, demografische Faktoren, ökonomische Faktoren, Arbeitsmarktgleichgewicht, Arbeitskräftemobilität, Wanderung - Modell, Europäische Union, Osteuropa

Do commuters suffer from job-education mismatch?

The migration literature shows that cross-border skill transfer is associated with a risk of increased job-education mismatch. This paper examines whether the problems of job-education mismatch often found among migrants also apply to cross-border commuters and compares cross-border commuters to within-country commuters as well as non-commuters and recent and established migrants in this respect. We find that cross-border commuters and recent migrants from EU15 countries have lower over- but higher under-education rates than non-commuters, but that for cross-border commuters and recent migrants from the NMS12 the opposite applies. Within-country commuters finally have lower over- but higher under-education rates than non-commuters in both regions. Please note: The alternative choice regarding Session theme is K. Spatial issues of the labour market

Regional Labour Market Developments in Transition: A Survey of the Empirical Literature

We summarize the empirical literature on regional labour market development in transition. This literature suggests that transition has been associated with increased regional disparities and there is some indication of polarisation. Capital cities and regions closer to EU-borders developed better and increased integration has also contributed to divergence. Spill-overs within countries, however, tend to be small. Regional disparities are also unlikely to diminish through migration, wage flexibility and capital mobility. Migration is lower in most transition economies than in the EU and capital mobility tends to reinforce existing regional disparities. Only wage flexibility is higher than in most European labour markets.Regional Labour Markets; Transition