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The Impact of Labour Market Deregulation: Lessons from the

Author

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  • Cees Gorter

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Jacques Poot

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

Abstract

Unemployment remains a major economic and social problem in many developedeconomies. Thispaper provides theoretical and empirical perspectives on the impact of labourmarket deregulation as a means of combatting unemployment and of enhancing competitivewage determination. The paper focusses specifically on The Netherlands and NewZealand, two small open economies in which unemployment rates reduced to close to half of theirrespective post-1980 peaks. The labour market policies that contributed to these outcomes arereferred to as the "Polder" model and the "Kiwi" model respectively. Despite some similarities,there are significant differences between these models. These are highlighted in thepaper. It is found that the effects of deregulation are hard to separate out from other influenceson the labour market. The success of the deregulation policies is easily overstated by aselective use of labour market indicators, or by making trough to peak comparisons along thebusiness cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Cees Gorter & Jacques Poot, 1999. "The Impact of Labour Market Deregulation: Lessons from the," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 99-001/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:19990001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Arup Mitra & Chandan Sharma, 2014. "Technology Intensity and Global Competitiveness: Issues in Labour Cost and Employment," Working Papers id:6217, eSocialSciences.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour markets; flexibility; deregulation; international comparisons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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