IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v77y2023icp876-896.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Club convergence of labor market institutions in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Obadić, Alka
  • Arčabić, Vladimir
  • Rogić Dumančić, Lucija

Abstract

This paper analyzes the convergence of labor market institutions in the European Union (EU) to test for the economic integration of EU countries from 1993 to 2018. The convergence is measured by using a flexible approach of the log-t regression for five indicators of labor market institutions: employment protection legislation index (EPL), tax wedge, unemployment benefits, active labor market policies, and minimum wages. The results suggest no convergence in labor market institutions between the EU member states. The differences between the institutions are still substantial, and the labor market institutions are changing too slowly to converge. The empirical analysis also considers the possibility of club convergence, differentiating between the endogenous clubs based on clustering algorithm, and the exogenous clubs based on geographical proximity and similarities of labor market institutions. Convergence is present only in endogenous clubs that are determined by different demographic, competitiveness, and economic factors. Since labor market institutions are the fundamental determinants of employment and unemployment, the differences found in the labor market institutions suggest that employment and unemployment levels in the EU will hardly converge, implying weak labor market integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Obadić, Alka & Arčabić, Vladimir & Rogić Dumančić, Lucija, 2023. "Club convergence of labor market institutions in the European Union," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 876-896.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:77:y:2023:i:c:p:876-896
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2022.12.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592622002296
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2022.12.021?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michèle Belot & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Does the recent success of some OECD countries in lowering their unemployment rates lie in the clever design of their labor market reforms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 621-642, October.
    2. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2007. "Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(6), pages 1771-1855, November.
    3. Hashem Pesaran, M., 2007. "A pair-wise approach to testing for output and growth convergence," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 312-355, May.
    4. Ángel Estrada & Jordi Galí & David López-Salido, 2013. "Patterns of Convergence and Divergence in the Euro Area," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 601-630, December.
    5. Eichhorst, Werner & Escudero, Veronica & Marx, Paul & Tobin, Steven, 2010. "The Impact of the Crisis on Employment and the Role of Labour Market Institutions," IZA Discussion Papers 5320, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    7. Bartkowska, Monika & Riedl, Aleksandra, 2012. "Regional convergence clubs in Europe: Identification and conditioning factors," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 22-31.
    8. Bernard, Andrew B. & Durlauf, Steven N., 1996. "Interpreting tests of the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 161-173.
    9. Hodrick, Robert J & Prescott, Edward C, 1997. "Postwar U.S. Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, February.
    10. Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez & Hector Sala, 2018. "Inequality and Unemployment Patterns in Europe: Does Integration Lead to (Real) Convergence?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 703-724, September.
    11. Ulrich Fritsche & Vladimir Kuzin, 2011. "Analysing convergence in Europe using the non-linear single factor model," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 343-369, October.
    12. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
    13. Mihaela Simionescu, 2015. "About regional convergence clubs in the European Union," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 33(1), pages 67-80.
    14. Krištić, Irena Raguž & Dumančić, Lucija Rogić & Arčabić, Vladimir, 2019. "Persistence and stochastic convergence of euro area unemployment rates," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 192-198.
    15. Bernard, Andrew B & Durlauf, Steven N, 1995. "Convergence in International Output," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(2), pages 97-108, April-Jun.
    16. Vasco M. Carvalho & Andrew C. Harvey, 2005. "Convergence in the trends and cycles of Euro‐zone income," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 275-289.
    17. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185.
    18. Ruud Muffels & Ruud Luijkx, 2008. "Labour market mobility and employment security of male employees in Europe: `trade-off' or `flexicurity'?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(2), pages 221-242, June.
    19. Cristiano Perugini & Marcello Signorelli, 2004. "Employment Performance and Convergence in the European Countries and Regions," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 1(2), pages 243-278, December.
    20. David Neumark, 2018. "Employment effects of minimum wages," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-6, December.
    21. Kerui Du, 2017. "Econometric convergence test and club clustering using Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(4), pages 882-900, December.
    22. Arčabić, Vladimir & Kim, Kyoung Tae & You, Yu & Lee, Junsoo, 2021. "Century-long dynamics and convergence of income inequality among the US states," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    23. Holmes, Mark J. & Iregui, Ana María & Otero, Jesús, 2019. "Interest rate convergence across maturities: Evidence from bank data in an emerging market economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 57-70.
    24. Richard Freeman, 2005. "Labour market institutions without blinders: The debate over flexibility and labour market performance," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 129-145.
    25. Vladimir Arcabic, 2018. "Fiscal convergence and sustainability in the European Union," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(4), pages 353-380.
    26. repec:ilo:ilowps:374124 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Sjef Ederveen & Laura Thissen, 2007. "Can labour market institutions explain high unemployment rates in the new EU member states?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 299-317, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Medrano-Adán, Luis & Salas-Fumás, Vicente, 2023. "Do minimum wages deliver what they promise? Effects of minimum wage on employment, output, and income inequality from occupational choice theory," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 366-383.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alka Obadić & Vladimir Arčabić & Lucija Rogić Dumančić, 2021. "Labor market institutions convergence in the European Union," EFZG Working Papers Series 2102, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    2. Cavallaro, Eleonora & Villani, Ilaria, 2021. "Real income convergence and the patterns of financial integration in the EU," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    3. Belloc, Ignacio, 2024. "Family house prices in the US: Convergence clubs by county (1975-2022)," MPRA Paper 121487, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Krištić, Irena Raguž & Dumančić, Lucija Rogić & Arčabić, Vladimir, 2019. "Persistence and stochastic convergence of euro area unemployment rates," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 192-198.
    5. Juan Ángel Lafuente & Amparo Marco & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "Social Exclusion and Convergence in the EU: An Assessment of the Europe 2020 Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Vladimir Arcabic, 2018. "Fiscal convergence and sustainability in the European Union," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(4), pages 353-380.
    7. Kacou Yves Thierry Kacou, 2022. "Interregional inequality in Africa, convergence, and multiple equilibria: Evidence from nighttime light data," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 918-940, May.
    8. Arčabić, Vladimir & Kim, Kyoung Tae & You, Yu & Lee, Junsoo, 2021. "Century-long dynamics and convergence of income inequality among the US states," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    9. Linda Glawe & Helmut Wagner, 2021. "Divergence Tendencies in the European Integration Process: A Danger for the Sustainability of the E(M)U?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Belloc, Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto, 2023. "Are greenhouse gas emissions converging in Latin America? Implications for environmental policies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 337-356.
    11. Desli, Evangelia & Gkoulgkoutsika, Alexandra, 2021. "Economic convergence among the world’s top-income economies," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 841-853.
    12. Mihály Borsi & Norbert Metiu, 2015. "The evolution of economic convergence in the European Union," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 657-681, March.
    13. Nicholas Apergis & Christina Christou & Stephen Miller, 2012. "Convergence patterns in financial development: evidence from club convergence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 1011-1040, December.
    14. Cutrini, Eleonora, 2019. "Economic integration, structural change, and uneven development in the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 102-113.
    15. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordóñez, 2020. "Stochastic convergence in real personal disposable income in the EU," Working Papers 2020/09, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    16. Monfort, Mercedes & Cuestas, Juan Carlos & Ordóñez, Javier, 2013. "Real convergence in Europe: A cluster analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 689-694.
    17. James E. Payne & James W. Saunoris & Saban Nazlioglu & Cagin Karul, 2023. "The convergence dynamics of economic freedom across U.S. states," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(4), pages 1216-1241, April.
    18. Fabio Mazzola & Pietro Pizzuto, 2020. "Great Recession and club convergence in Europe: A cross‐country, cross‐region panel analysis (2000–2015)," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 676-711, June.
    19. Bastianin, Andrea & Galeotti, Marzio & Polo, Michele, 2019. "Convergence of European natural gas prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 793-811.
    20. Peter C. B. Phillips & Donggyu Sul, 2009. "Economic transition and growth," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 1153-1185, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor market; Institutions; Convergence; Club convergence; Market integration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:77:y:2023:i:c:p:876-896. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.