An accessible, balanced account of the insider-outsider theory of labor market activity.

This book provides an accessible, balanced account of the insider-outsider theory of labor market activity. It focuses on how "insiders" (experienced incumbent employees whose jobs are protected by various labor turnover costs) get market power, what they do with that power, and how their activities affect the "outsiders" (who are either unemployed or work in the informal sector). The book examines the effect of insiders' activities on wages, employment, and unemployment, discusses the associated policy implications, and relates the insider-outsider theory to other theories of labor market activity. The central part of the book consists of a series of previously published articles that have been edited to convey a single coherent account of a theory of unemployment that is growing in popularity. Chapters are preceded by overviews summarizing the main ideas and relating them to the book's underlying theme. The concluding chapter points out the predictions and policy implications of the theory. Lindbeck and Snower have taken care to make the main ideas accessible to a wide audience, without sacrificing analytical rigor."The insider-Outside Theory of Employment and Unemployment is concerned with both the causes and consequences of insider power. It emphasizes unemployment in chapters that survey modern unemployment theories and provide a formal comparison of the insider-outsider and efficiency-wage explanations of involuntary unemployment. Other topics include labor turnover costs (how they arise from insiders' activities and from job security legislation, and how they give rise to insider power), Union activities (how unions can amplify labor turnover costs, and provide insiders with newtools of rent-creation, such as strikes and work-to-rule actions), and the effect that insider activities can have in perpetuating the effects of temporary macroeconomic shocks. Assar Lindbeck is Professor of International Economics and Director of the Institute of International Economics at the University of Stockholm. Dennis J. Snower is Professor of Economics, Birbeck College, University of London.

This book tackles the issue of involuntary employment, examining the issue in the light of Keynesian and Post-Keynesian theory.

Spain has the most serious and persistent unemployment problem in Europe, with an unemployment rate that reached 24.6 percent in early 1994. This paper explores the characteristics of this unemployment problem, its causes, and provides a brief discussion of recent labor market reform measures and their likely Impact. A demographic shift in recent years has produced a large rise in female labor force participation and a decrease in agricultural jobs to which the economy has been unable to adjust. The effects of generous unemployment benefits and the large underground economy may explain 6–12 percentage points of the resulting unemployment, but the remainder must be explained by failures and rigidities in the labor market. The paper presents econometric evidence that unemployment displays hysteresis, and that wages are not responsive to changes in the unemployment rate. This evidence supports the claim that insider-outsider factors and rigidities in the legal structure of the labor market are responsible for much of the high unemployment rate. Recent reforms have improved the functioning of the labor market, but they are unlikely to be sufficient to reduce unemployment to single digit rates without further action.

This paper examines the problem of unemployment in Ireland. A brief description of the main distinctive features of the structure of Irish unemployment is presented. Based on up to date literature, the possible causes behind unemployment are reviewed. Empirical studies that have quantified the contributions of different determinants to the increase in Irish unemployment are also surveyed. The paper concludes with some policy suggestions.