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The transition to a market economy has been analyzed primarily from a stabilization prospective. To complement that approach, we focus on a pure relative price shock and subsequent price adjustments. A model of monopolistic competition with costly labor adjustment indicates that relative price shocks can induce overall output decline because rigid sectoral real wages do not adjust to offset sectoral price changes, and firms that benefit from the price shock engage in monopolistic behavior. In Poland, empirical evidence suggests that relative wage rigidity contributed to lower employment and output, but there is no strong evidence that competition was important.

Little is known about the fiscal costs of natural disasters, especially regarding social safety nets that do not specifically target extreme weather events. This paper shows that US hurricanes lead to substantial increases in non-disaster government transfers, such as unemployment insurance and public medical payments, in affected counties in the decade after a hurricane. The present value of this increase significantly exceeds that of direct disaster aid. This implies, among other things, that the fiscal costs of natural disasters have been significantly underestimated and that victims in developed countries are better insured against them than previously thought.

Since the early 1990s, most developing economies have become more integrated with the world's economy. Trade and foreign investment barriers have been progressively lifted and international trade agreements signed. These reforms have led to important changes in the structures of these economies. The labor markets have adjusted to these major changes, and workers were required to adapt to them in one way or another. In 2006, the Social Protection Unit of the World Bank launched an important research program to understand the impact that these profound structural changes have had on workers in developing countries. 'Globalization, Wages, and the Quality of Jobs: Five Country Studies' presents the findings and insights of this important research program. In particular, the authors present the similar experiences of low-income countries with globalization and suggest that low-income countries' working conditions have improved in the sectors exposed to globalization. However, 'Globalization, Wages, and the Quality of Jobs' also highlights concerns about the sustainability of these improvements and that the positive demonstration effects on the rest of the economy are unclear. The empirical literature that exists, although vast, does not lead to a consensus view on globalization's eventual impact on labor markets. Understanding the effects of globalization is crucial for governments concerned about employment, working conditions, and ultimately, poverty reduction. Beyond job creation, improving the quality of those jobs is an essential condition for achieving poverty reduction. 'Globalization, Wages, and the Quality of Jobs' adds to the existing literature in two ways. First, the authors provide a comprehensive literature review on the current wisdom on globalization and present a micro-based framework for analyzing globalization and working conditions in developing countries. Second, the authors apply this framework to five developing countries: Cambodia, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia, and Madagascar. This volume will be of interest to government policy makers, trade officials, and others working to expand the benefits of globalization to developing countries.

This paper explores the evolution of the average wage of employees over the life-cycle of a manufacturing plant. The average wage starts out low for a new plant and increases along with labor productivity as the plant ages. As a plant approaches exit, its average wage falls, but more slowly than it rises in the case of growing plants. Moreover, the average wage does not fall as fast as productivity does. A dynamic model of labor quality and quantity choice by plants is estimated to assess the costs of altering labor quality and quantity over the plant life-cycle.

PurposeThis study aims to explore, in the context of Machinery and Equipment sector of Malaysia, the association between average wages and share of employment in automatable jobs, specifically whether the association between average wages and share of employment automatable jobs is asymmetric in nature.Design/methodology/approachThe responses obtained from the structured interview of 265 firms are used to build up the empirical models (conditional mean regression and quantile regression).FindingsThe conditional mean regression findings show that employment levels in some low-waged, middle-skilled jobs are negatively associated with average wages. Furthermore, the quantile regression results add that firms that possess higher levels of share of employment in automation jobs are found to have a stronger association to average wages than those possessing a lower share of employment in automation jobs.Practical implicationsFrom the theoretical perspective, the findings of this study add to the body of knowledge of the theory of minimum wages and the concept of job polarization. From a policy perspective, the findings of this study can serve as a critical input to standard setters and regulators in devising industrial and as education policies.Originality/valueBased on the assumption of a constant average policy effect on automatable jobs, conditional mean regression models have been commonly used in prior studies. This study makes the first attempt to employ the quantile regression method to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between wages and employment in automatable jobs.

The reform of the simplified taxation system is one of the important goals of the state's financial policy, as set out in the National Revenue Strategy until 2030 and Ukraine's integration into the European economic area. The current simplified taxation system in Ukraine is not in line with European practice and is used by large businesses to minimise tax liabilities.The purpose of the article is to substantiate the options for the simplified taxation system reform in Ukraine in accordance with the National Revenue Strategy until 2030, taking into account the European experience.The main results of the study. The systematisation and substantiation of the essence of special VAT schemes for SMEs in the EU countries, as provided for by Council Directive 2006/112/EC, were further developed. This made it possible to study the thresholds for VAT registration and application of certain schemes determined by the European Commission and the OECD, and to substantiate practical recommendations and warnings regarding changes in the threshold for VAT registration in Ukraine.It is proven that simplified taxation of entrepreneurs' income is a rare occurrence in European practice, but in Ukraine, it should be preserved to maintain a favourable business environment and stimulate entrepreneurial activity.The approaches to the simplified taxation system reform have been improved. They include reducing the number of taxpayer groups by consolidating them; cancelling the possibility to be on the simplified taxation system for legal entities; optimising the amount of net income that gives the right to use this system; and introducing a new methodology for determining the single tax rate for taxpayers of the first group based on the average or minimum wage. The latter innovation will help minimise the effect of artificial business splitting to reduce tax liabilities, stimulate entrepreneurial activity, and generate additional budget revenues. In developing the final parameters of the simplified taxation system reform, it is important to take into account the restrictive effect of the military tax and to provide financial support schemes for SMEs.

Despite since the 1970s many economists having emphasised a concerning economic trend known as the decoupling of workers’ wages from overall economic productivity, there is still no agreement on the causes of this phenomenon. The aim of this article is thus to systematically present two supposedly alternative accounts of such decoupling: the theory of ever greater imbalance in the shares held by capital and labour in the national income and the theory of the growing wage disparity between differently qualified groups of workers. The main finding is that these two accounts in fact do not provide alternative explanations of the decoupling of wages from productivity and instead explain two different processes altogether. The political division between the proponents of each theory is therefore unproductive and might at least partly be overcome upon consideration of this finding.

Large regional disparities in labor market indicators exist in Central Europe and the Baltic region. Such disparities appear to be persistent over time indicating, in part, a lack of flexibility in the prevailing adjustment mechanisms. Internal labor mobility is often seen as an important instrument to reduce adjustment costs when other mechanisms fail. Drawing from a variety of data sources and utilizing a common empirical framework and estimation strategy, this study identifies patterns and statistical profiles of geographical mobility. It finds internal migration to be generalily low and highly concentrated among better-educated, young, and single workers. This suggests that migration is more likely to reinforce existing inequalities than to act as an equalizing phenomenon. By way of contrast, commuting flows have grown over time and are more responsive to regional economic differentials. The findings suggest the need for appropriate and country-tailored policy measures designed to increase the responsiveness of labor flows to market conditions.

Offering evidence from both detailed individual country studies and homogenized statistics across the Latin American and Caribbean region, this book examines the impact of the minimum wage on wages, employment, poverty, income distribution and government budgets in the context of a large informal sector and predominantly unskilled workforces.

The study deals with the evaluation of the impact of macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product, unemployment, the implicit tax rate on labour and the consumer price index on the minimum and average wages in the countries of the Visegrad Four. The set of input analysed data is obtained from databases of national statistical offices, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Eurostat. Since the minimum wage is influenced by state intervention, it is an intervention in the market mechanism and its costs are borne primarily by employers, it is an important indicator in assessing the impacts in the payroll field. Employers have a direct impact on the level of the average wage. From the results of derived VAR models, it cannot be argued that short-term relations in selected countries show the same regularities. However, common characteristics can be found between macroeconomic indicators and minimum and average wage. The results of the article show that if the endogenous variable is the minimum wage, there are no significant dependencies between the above-mentioned indicators. Each of the analysed countries has its own instrument for regulating the minimum wage independent of macroeconomic factors, which has been confirmed. If an average wage indicator is an endogenous variable, this variable has both a positive and negative impact on the remaining indicators analysed. The implicit tax rate on labour was evaluated as the most statistically significant indicator affecting the average wage. The results of the testing between the minimum or average wage and the macroeconomic indicators in the sense of Granger causality confirmed the fact that the development of selected macroeconomic indicators contributes to an increase in the accuracy of the forecast of the evolution of the average wage in the examined countries.