Evaluating Active Labour Market Policies: Empirical Evidence for Poland During Transition (ZEW Economic Studies (5))

Most governments in today's market economies spend significant sums of money on labour market programmes. The declared aims of these programmes are to increase the re-employment chances of the unemployed. This book investigates which active labour market programmes in Poland are value for money and which are not. To this end, modern statistical methods are applied to both macro- and microeconomic data. It is shown that training programmes increase, whereas job subsidies and public works decrease the re-employment opportunities of the unemployed. In general, all active labour market policy effects are larger in absolute size for men than for women. By surveying previous studies in the field and outlining the major statistical approaches that are employed in the evaluation literature, the book can be of help to any student interested in programme evaluation irrespective of the paticular programme or country concerned. As the Kyoto conference of the parties on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change once again underscored, man-made climate change has become one of the major challenges to our generation and many generations to come. Since scientific evidence on climate change can be seen as increasingly reliable, the focus of our attention has to turn more and more to the question of foreseeable damages and to possibilities to prevent and mitigate climate change. In other words, we need to analyse the economic aspects of man­ marle climate change and the policy options to prevent its most severe impacts. This book reports on the findings of an international workshop on these aspects of global climate change. It was organised by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, Germany on March 6th and 7th 1997. In the light of the ongoing international policy-making process on climate change, we decided to publish the report after the Kyoto conference from December Ist to 10th, 1997, to include the results of the conference, which emphasise the importance of economic aspects and economic policy options when it comes to addressing the problern of man-made climate change. Thus, this book went to press in February 1998 the moment we received the official version of the Kyoto Protocol, which is reproduced in the annex.

It is dealt with disparities in employment growth, unemployment, and wages between regional labor markets in Germany. First, endogenous formation and growth of industry locations due to agglomeration economies is established as a basic source of disparity in employment. Then, spatial frictions and local wage inflexibility due to central wage bargaining are detected as causes of unemployment disparities. Throughout the book theoretical analysis is combined with rigorous empirical testing using a large set of regional data at district level. In order to gain and robustify empirical results, recent methods in panel econometrics and spatial data analysis are employed. An overview on the extent of key regional labor market disparities in Germany is given. The book enables to assess our current understanding of the role of locational issues in causing those disparities, and thus to understand the basic justification of regional policy.

The book provides an integrated analysis of the implications for the energy system from adapting to meet climate change targets and analyses the role of improving energy technologies for the world and the EU markets. The first part of the book sets the stage for the analysis by presenting the European and World economic and energy outlook. The second part examines the policy options available for controlling greenhouse gases in the period to 2010. Over such a relatively short period, the role of technology lies mostly in making possible the more efficient use of energy. Finally, the third part of the volume examines the longer term role of technology in the context of a case study for the power generation sector.

This text provides an integrated analysis of the implications for the energy system from the need to adapt to meet climate change targets and analyzes the role of improving energy technologies for the world and the EU markets. The first part sets the stage for the analysis by presenting the European and world economic and energy outlook. The second part examines the policy options available for controlling greenhouse gases in the period 2010. The role of technology lies mostly in making possible the more efficient use of energy. The third part examines the longer term role of technology in the context of a case study for the power generation sector

The successful signing of the Kyoto Protocol showed that there is international consensus about the problem of man-made climate change and that substantial greenhouse gas emission targets will soon be established. Based on the current scientific knowledge about climate change this workshop report analyses the most important economic aspects of man-made climate change and the way effective and efficient policies can be designed to achieve the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the official versions of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol are included as a reference for the reader.

Climate technology becomes more and more relevant in international environmental policy negotiations. At the Kyoto conference binding emission reduction targets have been established for several regions of the world. The major challenge is how to realize these reduction goals with minimum costs without generating new distributional and social difficulties. The book analyses the macroeconomic structural and distributional impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for the EU and the member states. Front Matter....Pages I-XV Introduction....Pages 1-6 The Polish Labour Market in Transition....Pages 7-27 Macroeconometric ALMP Evaluation by Way of Augmented Matching Functions....Pages 28-105 Microeconometric ALMP Evaluation: Methodological Issues and Previous Work....Pages 106-143 Microeconometric ALMP Evaluation: Empirical Analysis for Poland....Pages 144-216 Conclusions....Pages 217-220 Back Matter....Pages 221-239 Examines explanations for regional disparities in employment and unemployment in West Germany. Focuses on three basic issues: interregional employment location, the interregional mobility of labour and regional wage formation. Includes some trends from 1978 to 1994 There is a growing need at the European Union level for concrete decisions concerning the implementation of specific policies that aim at reducing atmospheric emissions, often termed QELROs (Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Objectives). Evaluates programmes in Poland in the 1990s to increase the re-employment chances of the unemployed Energy is a key issue that is present in all the sectors of modem economies.