Labour Market Reform and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy in EMU
Andrew Hughes Hallett and
Nicola Viegi
Journal of Economic Integration, 2003, vol. 18, 726-749
Abstract:
This paper analyses the interaction between a common monetary policy and differentiated labour market institutions. We develop a model of a two country monetary union. In each country, labour markets are distinguished by the degree of centralisation in wage bargaining. In each country the government can also use an instrument (general taxation or payroll taxes) to influence their overall labour costs. Finally a common monetary policy is followed in a "conservative" manner, as defined by Rogoff (1985). The results show structural and preference asymmetries matter, both in the determination of economic policy and in performance. In particular, centralised labour market institutions confer a certain comparative advantage in policy making which provides a natural incentive for the less flexible (or less reformed) to want to join a currency union; and also for the more flexible to stay outside. This lowers the incentives for reform inside the union, as Calmfors and others have conjectured.
Keywords: Monetary union; Labour market institutions; Asymmetries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E58 E61 F33 J51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)
There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:integr:0257
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Economic Integration is currently edited by Seongeun Kim
More articles in Journal of Economic Integration from Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Yunhoe Kim ().