National Labor Market Institutions and the EU Integration Process

This paper outlines theoretical insights regarding the motivationand effects of labor market institutions, and reviews empiricalstudies of relevant evidence from European and other countries'historical experience. Institutional interference with laissezfaire labor market outcomes has both economic and distributionalimplications, which depend on the structure of markets and onthe details of policy implementation. The resulting conceptualframework is brought to bear on a discussion of possible reformsof European labor markets in the context of the Economic andMonetary Union process. (JEL F02, J00)