The Labour Market Impact of the EU Enlargement - A New Regional Geography of Europe?

Acknowledgements

Contents

Contributors

Introduction

References

Part I An Overview of the Main Issues and the Role of Structural Change

Structural Change and Labour Reallocation Across Regions: A Review of the Literature

Introduction

Motivation

The Link Between Local Worker Reallocation and Unemployment

The Sources of Worker Reallocation

The Weakness of Backward Regions

Globalisation and Regional Imbalances

Adjustment Through Migration?

Poverty Trap Mechanisms

Policy Implications

Benefit Systems and Their Interaction with ALMP

EU Regional Policy

Concluding Remarks

References

Organized Labour and Restructuring: Coal Mines in the Czech Republic and Romania

Introduction

Restructuring Experiences of the Two Regions

Evaluating the Restructuring Paths

Measuring the Value of Labour inside Mines

Measuring the Value of Labour outside Mines

Measuring the Efficiency of Restructuring Paths

Explaining the Restructuring Paths

Gradual Restructuring with Transfer Payments

The Nature of the Miners´ Action

The Corroborating Factors for the Miners´ Action

Conclusion

References

Part II New Evidence on Spatial Convergence

Labour Productivity Polarization Across Western European Regions: Threshold Effects Versus Neighbourhood Effects

Introduction

Regional Productivity Differentials in Europe: Polarization and Spatial Clustering

Explaining Polarization

The Conditioning Scheme

Growth Regression Model Specifications

Regression Results

Conditioned Ergodic Distributions

Discussion and Conclusions

Appendix: List of regions

References

Transition, Regional Features, Growth and Labour Market Dynamics

Introduction

Transition, Regional Features and Economic Performance: A Partial Review of the Literature

Regional Labour Market Dynamics in Transition Economies

Economic and Structural Convergence of Regions in Europe and in the Transition Countries

Initial Conditions, Transition and Economic Performance: Some Stylized Facts

Initial Economic and Institutional Conditions

Institutional Change and Reform Policies

Economic Performance

Regional Features of Transition Countries: Some Empirical Results

Regional Convergence, Growth, Employment and Institutional Change: Econometric Investigations

Income Convergence of Regions

Value Added and Employment Growth in CEEC Regions

Conclusions and Policy Implications

Appendix

References

Regional Dynamics of Unemployment in Poland A Convergence Approach

Introduction

Literature Review

Methodology

Data

Results - Distribution Dynamics

Results - beta Convergence

Conclusions

References

Spatial Distribution of Key Macroeconomic Growth Indicators in the EU-27: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation

Introduction

Long-Run Dynamics

Spatial Distribution of Basic Macroeconomic Variables

Estimating the Natural Rate of Unemployment

Estimating ``Pure Productivity´´

Concluding Remarks

Appendix1

Appendix2

Appendix3

Appendix4

References

Part III Is Migration Reinforcing Regional Unemployment Differences?

Internal Labour Mobility in Central Europe and the Baltic Region: Evidence from Labour Force Surveys

Introduction

Review of the Literature

Covariates of Labour Mobility

Data and Methodology

Definition of Mobility

Specification

Main Results

On the Determinants of Commuting

On the Determinants of Migration

Conclusions and Their Implications for Policy

Conclusions

Some Policy Implications

References

Spatial Search and Commuting with Asymmetric Changes of the Wage Distribution

Introduction

Reservation Wages

Search Intensities

Maximal Acceptable Travel Cost

Participation and Commuting

Data

Estimation

Conclusion

Appendix

Proof of Proposition 1

Proof of Proposition 2

Proof of Proposition 3

Negative Binomial Model

Zero-Inflated Models

Data Used

References

Where Do the Brainy Italians Go?

Introduction

The Italian Research System and Related Literature

The Italian System

Previous Related Research

Model, Variables, and Data

Model of Country Choice

Independent Variables and Hypotheses

Data

Results

Sample Characteristics

Multinomial Logit Results

Summary and Conclusion

References

Part IV Some Policy Tools

Assessing Active Labour Market Policies in Transition Economies

Introduction

Types of Active Labour Market Policies, Scope and Applicability

Macroeconometric Evaluation of ALMP Measures

The Microeconometric Evaluation Problem and ``First Generation´´ Papers on the Evaluation of ALMP in Transition Coun

Vodopivec (1999) on Slovenia

Some Second Generation Models and Their Contribution to the Literature

Micklewright and Nagy (2005) on Hungary

Rodriguez-Planas and Benus (2006) on Romania

Bonin and Rinne (2006) on Serbia and Montenegro

Van Ours (2004) on Slovakia

Kluve et al. (2008) on Poland

Implementing a ``Moving Window´´

The Matching Estimator

Empirical Results

Conclusions

References

Regional Female Labour Force Participation: An Empirical Application with Spatial Effects

Introduction

Empirical Model

Data and Descriptive Statistics

Empirical Results

Conclusions

References

About the Editors

Subject Index