Documents Langot, François 12 results

"Our paper seeks to gain insights on the effect of labor market institutions on the evolution of overeducation (job competition), unemployment inequalities and job instability during the polarization process of the labor market fostered by the diffusion of novel technologies. Based on micro data, we first present some stylized facts characterizing the occidental countries' labor markets. We then develop an endogenous job destruction framework á la Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) where each individual is endowed with a given ability level. The process of contact between the set of heterogeneous workers and firms is represented by a traditional matching function. The segmentation of the labor market between workers having the required ability to occupy cognitive jobs (where novel technologies are used) and the rest of the workers occupying simple jobs is endogenously determined. Firms offering a cognitive job support a set up cost but ICT are assumed to improve their productivity. When simulated the model manages to reproduce the U-shaped path followed by the ability requirements needed in cognitive positions as ICT got increasingly diffused. Furthermore, we also draw conclusions concerning the evolution of job stability, the size of each labor market segment and the unemployment rates."

"This paper develops an on-the-job search model with wage posting where unemployment benefits are proportional to past wages. We emphasize that this contributes to increasing the reservation wages of unemployed workers and introduces a feedback effect of the distribution of wages on the distribution of unemployment benefits. We show that the model predictions are consistent with some stylized French facts and quantify the impact of inefficient rejections of low-wage offers by the unemployed. We find that, by reducing the indexing of unemployment benefits to previous earnings and increasing lump-sum transfers, it is possible to increase both employment and welfare."

"This paper examines the age-related design of firing taxes by extending the theory of job creation and job destruction to account for a finite working life-time. We first argue that the potential employment gains related to employment protection are high for older workers, but higher firing taxes for these workers increase job destruction rates for the younger generations. On the other hand, age-decreasing firing taxes can lead to lower job destruction rates at all ages. Furthermore, from a normative standpoint, because firings of older (younger) workers exert a negative (positive) externality on the matching process, we find that the first best age-dynamic of firing taxes and hiring subsidies is typically hump-shaped. Taking into account distortions related to unemployment benefits and bargaining power shows the robustness of this result, in contradiction with the existing policies in most OECD countries. "

"Since 1960, the dynamics of the aggregate hours of market work exhibit dramatic differences across industrialized countries. Before 1980, these differences seem to come from the hours worked per employee (the intensive margin). However, since 1980 a notable feature of the data is that the divergence across countries responds to quantitatively important differences along the employment rate (the extensive margin). In this paper we develop an equilibrium matching model where both margins are endogenous. The model is rich enough to account for the behavior of the two margins of the aggregate hours when we include the observed heterogeneity across countries of both the taxes and the labor market institutions such as the unemployment benefits and the bargaining power. Because these findings come from an unified framework, they also give a strong support to the matching models."

"This paper extends the job creation - job destruction approach to the labor market to take into account the life-cycle of workers. Forward looking decisions about hiring and firing depend on the time over which to recoup adjustment costs. The equilibrium is typically featured by increasing (decreasing) firing (hiring) rates with age, and a hump-shaped age-dynamics of employment. The empirical plausibility of the model is assessed by incorporating existing age-specific labor market policies in France. Finally we show that the age-dynamics of employment is optimal when the Hosios condition holds and we design the optimal age-pattern for employment policies when this condition does not apply."

"En France, l'emploi des seniors est en panne, tandis que nos voisins européens ont mieux réussi dans ce domaine depuis le milieu des années 1990. Existe-t-il une spécificité, voire une fatalité française, ou nos réformes sont-elles inadaptées, donc inopérantes?
Cet opuscule propose d'aller beaucoup plus loin dans les politiques d'incitation à la prolongation d'activité, encore bien timides en France. Il faut casser la norme du départ précoce en mettant en place de fortes surcotes en capital et une liberté complète dans le cumul emploi-retraite. Une telle politique aura des conséquences positives sur l'emploi après 60 ans, mais également sur celui des quinquagénaires en repoussant les effets de bord créés par l'âge de la retraite, qui freinent fortement la demande et l'offre de travail des seniors."

"This paper analyzes whether taxation can be successfully used to reduce the incidence of labor informality and achieve higher equality in a globalized economy. To this purpose, it develops a two-area model: a developed country and an emerging country. The two areas differ according to the size of the informal sector, which is characterized by a more flexible labor market and lower productivity. To illustrate the potential role of taxation in achieving a more fair income distribution, the paper introduces a trade shock to simulate the effects of trade liberalization. Trade expansion has often been blamed for leading to an expansion of the informal sector and a widening of wage income disparities. In this context, the paper analyzes whether a budget-neutral tax reform – switching the tax burden from payroll taxes paid by firms operating in the formal sector to a consumption tax – can mitigate possible adverse effects of trade liberalization and support labor formalization. The effects of taxation are seen in the context of the trade-offs between growth, labor formality and equity. The analysis suggests that small improvements in formalization, resulting from the tax reform, come at the cost of widening income inequality. To reduce the incidence of low-quality jobs, tax policy interventions should go hand in hand with more effective social protection systems and labor laws."