Offshoring and employment structure in the EU periphery: the case of Spain

The effects of offshoring of production have received a great deal of interest due to their implications on labour markets. However, the main theoretical predictions related to this issue are not always fulfilled in the empirical analysis; according to the Stolper–Samuelson theorem, there seems to be unanimous support for its effects in advanced countries whose production is relocated but not at all for recipient economies of the same. Additionally, there is a lack of empirical evidence in countries specialized in unskilled-labour tasks which are, at the same time, economies with higher relative wages in a global framework such as the Spanish economy. In this sense, the aim of this article is to analyse the effects of material offshoring in the relative composition of employment in the Spanish manufacturing industry during the period 1990–2007. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of immigrant labour and the temporary employment rate due to its increasing relevance in the Spanish economy during the period analysed. Using a generalized methods of moments (GMM) approach, our results suggest that, as opposed to most developed countries, offshoring in Spain has favoured the demand for blue-collar workers. In addition, we confirm that the increase in immigration and the increasing use of temporary contracts have enlarged the share of low-skilled workers.     

Coordination versus flexibility in wage formation: a focus on the nominal wage impact of productivity in Germany,Greece, Ireland,Portugal, Spain and the United States

Wage coordination between countries of the European Monetary Union (EMU) aims at aligning nominal wage growth with labour productivity growth at the national level. We analyse the developments in Germany, the EMU’s periphery countries Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain along with the United States over the period 1980 to 2010. Apart from the contribution of productivity to nominal wages, we take into account the contributions of prices, unemployment, replacement rates and taxes by means of an econometrically estimated nonlinear equation resulting from a wage bargaining model. We further study the downward rigidities of nominal wages. The findings show that in past times of low productivity, price inflation and reductions in unemployment still put significant upward pressure on nominal wage growth. The periphery countries are far from aligning nominal wage growth with productivity growth. German productivity is a major wage determinant, but surely not the only one. Within the context of a free bargaining process between employers and labour unions, policy-makers can effectively use the replacement rate to steer the nominal wages outcome.     

Costs of haematological adverse events in chronic myeloid leukaemia patients: a retrospective cost analysis of the treatment of anaemia,neutropenia and thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia

Abstract

Objective: The study aim was to assess costs of haematological adverse events (AE) related to pharmacologic treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using patient records of adults (n=91) with chronic-phase CML treated at a single university medical centre in the Netherlands. Occurrence of grade III/IV haematological AEs, defined according to CTC-NCI guidelines criteria, was derived from the laboratory registration. Mean age at time of diagnosis was 48 years; 56% male. A healthcare perspective was adopted. Cost estimates are presented in 2006 euros.

Results: Average cost of an episode of anaemia was €1,572, of thrombocytopenia €2,955, and of neutropenia €1,152. The mean cost of febrile neutropenia amounted to €2,462.

Conclusions: Treatment costs of AEs varied considerably. However, apart from the cost of anaemia, the results presented seem to be in line with information from the international literature. The key limitations of the study concern the relatively small cohort of patients at a single centre, the retrospective design and the various treatment regimens of CML during the follow-up.