IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hoh/hohdip/228.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Institutional Uncertainty and European Social Union: Impacts on Job Creation and Destruction in the CEECs

Author

Listed:

Abstract

With the extension of its competence for social policy legislation in the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties, the EU has adopted a significantly new social dimension in the past ten years. According to the Copenhagen criteria, the CEEC candidate countries have to adopt the former via the acquis communautaire. This paper discusses the effect of an adoption of this EU social law on future labor market performance in the CEECs. For this purpose, we model and investigate the impact of institutional uncertainty (and of its elimination) on job creation and job destruction in the CEEC candidate countries. We conclude that structural change on CEEC labor markets tends to be fostered via reducing institutional uncertainty. However, these kinds of benefits of the adoption of the acquis have to be weighed against the danger that the adoption of inefficient EU social and labor policy regulations imposed by the acquis might also entail significant risks for employment in the CEECs similar to those which have materialized in the former EU. This rather pessimistic view can be substantiated based on a public choice analysis of why the old EU members will want to impose the Social Charter even though it will harm the new members. These risks consist of a significant increase in hiring and firing costs and of higher wage rates. Based on a simple option value analysis, we investigate and evaluate the trade-off between lower institutional uncertainty and higher employment costs induced by the adoption of the acquis.

Suggested Citation

  • Ansgar Belke & Matthias Göcke & Martin Hebler, 2003. "Institutional Uncertainty and European Social Union: Impacts on Job Creation and Destruction in the CEECs," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 228/2003, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:hoh:hohdip:228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/RePEc/hoh/papers/228.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. B Bell & Stephen Nickell, 1996. "Would Cutting Payroll Taxes on the Unskilled Have a Significant Effect on Unemployment?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0276, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Rudiger Dornbusch, 1987. "Open Economy Macroeconomics: New Directions," NBER Working Papers 2372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Luigi Guiso & Giuseppe Parigi, 1999. "Investment and Demand Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 185-227.
    4. Samuel Bentolila & Giuseppe Bertola, 1990. "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad is Eurosclerosis?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(3), pages 381-402.
    5. Marie Lavigne, 1998. "Conditions for accession to the EU," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 40(3), pages 38-57, September.
    6. Sinn Hans-Werner, 2000. "EU Enlargement, Migration, and Lessons from German Unification," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(3), pages 299-314, August.
    7. Burda, Michael C, 1998. "The Consequences of EU Enlargement for Central and Eastern European Labour Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 1881, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Dixit, Avinash K, 1989. "Entry and Exit Decisions under Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 620-638, June.
    9. Franz, Wolfgang, 1994. "Central and East European labor markets in transition: Developments, causes, and cures," Discussion Papers 19, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    10. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    11. Belke, Ansgar & Gocke, Matthias & Hebler, Martin, 2005. "Institutional uncertainty and European Social Union: Impacts on job creation and destruction in the CEECs," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 345-354, April.
    12. Tito Boeri & Katherine Terrell, 2002. "Institutional Determinants of Labor Reallocation in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 51-76, Winter.
    13. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    14. Ansgar Belke & Martin Hebler, 2000. "EU enlargement and labour markets in the CEECs," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 35(5), pages 219-230, September.
    15. repec:bla:scotjp:v:46:y:1999:i:3:p:260-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Feldmann, Horst, 1999. "Zehn Jahre EU-Sozialcharta," Wirtschaftsdienst – Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik (1949 - 2007), ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 79(11), pages 670-676.
    17. Cox, John C. & Ross, Stephen A. & Rubinstein, Mark, 1979. "Option pricing: A simplified approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 229-263, 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. Ansgar Belke & Dominik Kronen, 2017. "The impact of uncertainty on macro variables - An SVAR-based empirical analysis for EU countries," ROME Working Papers 201708, ROME Network.
    2. Rainer Schweickert & Inna Melnykovska & Ansgar Belke & Ingo Bordon, 2011. "Prospective NATO or EU membership and institutional change in transition countries," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(4), pages 667-692, October.
    3. Henry Aray, 2015. "Hysteresis and import penetration with decreasing sunk entry costs," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 175-188, June.
    4. Ansgar Belke & Dominik Kronen, 2016. "Exchange rate bands of inaction and play-hysteresis in Greek exports to the Euro Area, the US and Turkey: sectoral evidence," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 43(2), pages 349-390, May.
    5. Rangan Gupta & Charl Jooste, 2018. "Unconventional monetary policy shocks in OECD countries: how important is the extent of policy uncertainty?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 683-703, July.
    6. Saam, Nicole J. & Sumpter, David, 2008. "EU institutional reforms: How do member states reach a decision," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 71-86.
    7. Esther Ademmer & Joscha Beckmann & Rainer Schweickert, 2014. "Large-scale Transformations of Socio-economic Institutions," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 50892.
    8. Belke, Ansgar & Gocke, Matthias & Hebler, Martin, 2005. "Institutional uncertainty and European Social Union: Impacts on job creation and destruction in the CEECs," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 345-354, April.
    9. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Giombini, Germana & Saltari, Enrico, 2009. "Financial and labor market imperfections and investment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 22-26, January.
    10. Sánchez-Martín, Miguel Eduardo & de Arce, Rafael & Escribano, Gonzalo, 2014. "Do changes in the rules of the game affect FDI flows in Latin America? A look at the macroeconomic, institutional and regional integration determinants of FDI," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 279-299.
    11. Belke, Ansgar & Kronen, Dominik, 2017. "Exchange rate bands of inaction and hysteresis in EU exports to the global economy: The role of uncertainty," Ruhr Economic Papers 695, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Kronen Dominik & Belke Ansgar, 2017. "The Impact of Policy Uncertainty on Macro Variables – An SVAR-Based Empirical Analysis for EU Countries," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 93-116, August.
    13. Paulo Mota & José Varejão & Paulo Vasconcelos, 2015. "A hysteresis model-based indicator for employment adjustment rigidity," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 547-569, August.
    14. Ansgar Belke & Ingo Bordon & Inna Melnykovska & Rainer Schweickert, 2009. "Prospective NATO or EU Membership and Institutional Change in Transition Countries," Ruhr Economic Papers 0131, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Belke, Ansgar & Bordon, Ingo G. & Melnykovska, Inna & Schweickert, Rainer, 2009. "Prospective membership and institutional change in transition countries," Kiel Working Papers 1562, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    16. repec:zbw:rwirep:0131 is not listed on IDEAS

    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. Ansgar Belke & Matthias Göcke, 2003. "Monetary Policy (In-) Effectiveness under Uncertainty - Some Normative Implications for European Monetary Policy," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 223/2003, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    2. Ansgar Belke & Martin Hebler, 2002. "Towards a European Social Union: Impacts on Labor Markets in the Acceding Countries," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 313-335, December.
    3. Matthias Göcke & Ansgar Belke, 1999. "Micro and Macro Hysteresis in Employment under Exchange Rate Uncertainty," Computing in Economics and Finance 1999 722, Society for Computational Economics.
    4. Belke, Ansgar & Kotz, Hans-Helmut & Paul, Stephan & Schmidt, Christoph M. (ed.), 2009. "Wirtschaftspolitik im Zeichen europäischer Integration: Festschrift für Wim Kösters anlässlich seines 65. Geburtstages," RWI Schriften, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, volume 83, number 83.
    5. Ansgar Belke & Matthias Göcke, 2005. "Real Options Effects on Employment: Does Exchange Rate Uncertainty Matter for Aggregation?," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(2), pages 185-203, May.
    6. Kronen Dominik & Belke Ansgar, 2017. "The Impact of Policy Uncertainty on Macro Variables – An SVAR-Based Empirical Analysis for EU Countries," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 68(2), pages 93-116, August.
    7. Ansgar Belke & Dominik Kronen, 2017. "The impact of uncertainty on macro variables - An SVAR-based empirical analysis for EU countries," ROME Working Papers 201708, ROME Network.
    8. Anubha Dhasmana, 2021. "Employment growth in the face of exchange rate uncertainty: The role of trade and foreign equity finance," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 79-117, July.
    9. Tsekrekos, Andrianos E., 2010. "The effect of mean reversion on entry and exit decisions under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 725-742, April.
    10. Belke, Ansgar & Göcke, Matthias, 2019. "Interest rate hysteresis in macroeconomic investment under uncertainty," Ruhr Economic Papers 801, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. John A. List & Michael S. Haigh, 2010. "Investment Under Uncertainty: Testing the Options Model with Professional Traders," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 974-984, November.
    12. Paulo R. Mota & Abel L. C. Fernandes & Paulo B. Vasconcelos, 2018. "Employment Hysteresis: An Argument For Avoiding Front-Loaded Fiscal Consolidations In The Eurozone," FEP Working Papers 610, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    13. Ansgar Belke & Matthias Göcke & Laura Werner, 2014. "Hysteresis Effects in Economics – Different Methods for Describing Economic Path-dependence," Ruhr Economic Papers 0468, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    14. Matthias Goecke, 2019. "Economic Hysteresis with Multiple Inputs - A Simplified Treatment," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 17(1-B), pages 98-113.
    15. Li, Jing & Rugman, Alan M., 2007. "Real options and the theory of foreign direct investment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 687-712, December.
    16. Ryan Kellogg, 2014. "The Effect of Uncertainty on Investment: Evidence from Texas Oil Drilling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1698-1734, June.
    17. Belke, Ansgar & Frenzel Baudisch, Coletta & Göcke, Matthias, 2020. "Interest rate bands of inaction and play-hysteresis in domestic investment – Evidence for the Euro Area," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 19-39.
    18. Andrew B. Abel & Avinash K. Dixit & Janice C. Eberly & Robert S. Pindyck, 1996. "Options, the Value of Capital, and Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 753-777.
    19. Ansgar Belke & Thomas Osowski, 2019. "International Effects Of Euro Area Versus U.S. Policy Uncertainty: A Favar Approach," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 453-481, January.
    20. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hoh:hohdip:228. 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: Ulrike Berberich (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ivhohde.html .

    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.