The Political Economy of Reform
Lessons from Pensions, Product Markets and Labour Markets in Ten OECD Countries
This report examines why some policy reforms get implemented and others languish by examining 20 structural reform efforts in 10 OECD countries over the past two decades. The case studies cover a wide variety of reform attempts in three key areas: pensions, labour- and product-market regulation. Key factors in the political, economic and reform-specific arenas are identified as helping or hindering reform, and these findings are cross-checked using a relatively simple set of Spearman rank correlations. The report’s two-pronged analytical approach – quantitative and qualitative – results in unique insights for policy makers designing, adopting and implementing structural policy reforms.
Also available in: French
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France
The contrat d'insertion professionnelle, 1994
In an effort to reduce France’s high rates of youth unemployment, the government of Edouard Balladur attempted in 1993-94 to introduce a new form of employment contract with a lower minimum wage for the young. It would have allowed employers to pay younger workers as little as 80% of France’s statutory minimum wage. This triggered several weeks of sometimes violent protests that compelled the government to scrap the measure a month after issuing the decrees.
Also available in: French
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