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How many hours per week should workers in the USA and Germany spend at their paying jobs? The present paper aims to address this question by constructing policymakers' reaction functions capable of modelling the optimal length of working time as a function of the relevant labour market variables.

The study is based on a counterfactual policy experiment. Given a policymaker's loss function and a structural model of the labour market alternative specifications of reaction functions are defined where the response coefficients indicate how policymakers should react to any news in the labour market in order to stabilise employment and wages.

The results suggest that simple rules perform quite well and that the advantages obtained from adopting an optimal control‐based rule are not so great. Moreover, the analysis emphasises the success of the wage‐based rule and of the employment‐based rule in the USA and Germany, respectively.

The study is based on a counterfactual policy experiment, which perhaps limits its operational value.

Labour market authorities might stabilise employment and wages by implementing policy rules.

The paper proposes a policy rule to capture the dynamics of the weekly working hours. According to the rule in the paper the length of the workweek is an inverse function of the deviation between the actual and potential employment level.

The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between gross domestic product (GDP) and agency work.

The paper develops a theoretical model for the time interdependence of GDP, agency work and regular employment and tested model predictions using a VAR model.

Results show that on the macro level temporary agency work leads GDP development. Temporary agency work is an excellent instrument for employers to adjust the size of their workforce to fluctuations in product demand. Temporary work agencies, however, have a tough job finding qualified personnel in tight labour markets because workers generally prefer the security of a permanent contract. It is shown in this paper that, as a result of these two countervailing forces, the number of hours worked through temporary work agencies precedes GDP development. Agency work increases in the last phase of a recession after regular workers have been dismissed. It expands further, in line with GDP, when the trough is passed until agency worker's labour supply stagnates. This leads to a decrease in agency hours even before the business cycle reaches its peak. Then agency work declines further, in line with GDP, until regular workers are dismissed and the cycle start again.

Temporary work arrangements have become a key area of interest for firms, academics and policy makers. This paper shows how the use of these work arrangement fluctuates over time. Also, this paper shows that agency work can be used in predicting future GDP development.

This paper aims to measure and analyse the wage gap between male part‐ and full‐timers in the private sector of six European countries, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Using a unique matched employer‐employee data set providing harmonised information on six European countries (the 1995 European Structure of Earnings Survey), the empirical strategy is based on the estimation of standard Mincer wage equations and the Oaxaca and Ransom wage gap decomposition technique. First, individual gross hourly wages are regressed on a set of human capital variables only and second, a wider range of control variables related to e.g. occupation, sector of activity, firm size, and level of wage bargaining is inserted.

The study finds that the raw gap in hourly gross pay amounts to 16 per cent of a male part‐timer's wage in Spain, to 24 per cent in Belgium, to 28 per cent in Denmark and Italy, to 67 per cent in the UK and to 149 per cent in Ireland. Human capital differences explain between 31 per cent of the observed wage gap in the UK and 71 per cent in Denmark. When the whole set of explanatory variables is included in the wage regressions, a much larger part of the gap is explained by differences in observed characteristics (except in Italy).

Unfortunately, the paper is not able to correct for workers' potential self‐selection into part‐time and full‐time employment. Results suggest that policy initiatives to promote lifelong learning and training are of great importance to help part‐timers catch up with full‐timers in terms of human capital. Moreover, except for Italy, they point to a persisting problem of occupational and sectoral segregation between men working part‐time and full‐time which requires renewed policy attention.

Economic theory advances a number of reasons for the existence of a wage gap between part‐time and full‐time workers. Empirical work has concentrated on the wage effects of part‐time work for women. For men, much less empirical evidence exists, mainly because of lacking data. This paper therefore makes a valuable contribution. The more so given that (to the best of our knowledge) there exists no cross‐national evidence with respect to men's part‐time wage penalty.

This paper is a cross‐national study of the incidence of part‐time work. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the difference between Germany and The Netherlands can be explained from the demand side of the labour market.

Several motives of employers for the introduction of part‐time jobs are distinguished. Their relevance is tested by means of firm‐level data for the two countries within the framework of a multivariate analysis.

The study finds that, in The Netherlands, part‐time jobs are more widespread than in Germany. The reasons for this difference are diverse: the difference in industrial structure (more manufacturing in Germany, more services in The Netherlands), less working students in Germany, and probably more reluctance on the side of German employers to meet the preferences of their workers.

The paper fills a gap in the literature on part‐time work, especially about the importance of institutions differing between the countries. This evidence may be useful in designing policies to increase the incidence of part‐time work.

Many unemployed people become self‐employed. Self‐employment, however, does not necessarily lead to success. The main objective of the paper is to compare the economic outcome and success as self‐employed between those who entered self‐employment from paid employment, unemployment and inactivity. The question is if individuals who enter self‐employment from a weak position on the labour market are equally successful as those who enter self‐employment from a stronger position.

Micro‐econometric methods are used to estimate first the propensity to become self‐employed in the period 1998‐2002 among Swedish‐born men aged 20‐60 years who were unemployed, inactive or wage earners in 1998, and second, the economic outcome of self‐employment. Economic outcome in 2002 is measured using income from self‐employment and having employees in the firm.

The study finds that the unemployed, and even more the inactive, are overrepresented among those who become self‐employed. Those who were wage earners in 1998 have higher incomes and are also employing other people in their business to a much higher extent in 2002 than those who were unemployed or inactive in 1998.

The results indicate that support for unemployed to become self‐employed should be implemented with great care. The economic outcome of self‐employment is inadequate for many who were unemployed earlier.

The study will be valuable for those who are interested in those who become self‐employed and in the economic outcome of self‐employment for different groups.

The study aims to identify the impact of monetary policy tools on the performance of banks in India, and this could be an excellent suggestion to the regulators in framing the favourable interest rates which would meet the macroeconomic objectives of the Indian economy.

The design adopted in this study is descriptive and analytical research. Correlation and regression analysis is used to determine the relationship between bank rate (BR) and the performance of public sector banks in India. The sample chosen for this study is the public sector banks actively performing in India.

The performance is measured by taking three factors, and they are deposits, loans and advances (L&A) and total asset value of the banks. All three factors have shown an impact of BR on them during the five years. L&A affected the least amongst the three factors, but the other two were significantly impacted by the change in BR by the Reserve Bank of India. So, there should be a favourable fluctuation in the BR which will bring flexibility in the banking system, and they can perform well in the economy and the central bank also can concentrate on the macro-economic situation in the country.

This paper helps in giving suggestions to the Central bank, researchers, financial institutions to look into the financial performance and monetary policy rates and the central bank also can concentrate on the macro-economic situation in the country.

The rediscovery of the medieval routes of Norman origin in Sicily readvocates a system of interconnection between small villages, towns and cities which can be compared to the circulation system: ancient paths and roads are like veins and arteries which are ready to reanimate a body in need of resilience and exciting experiences. The slow tourism of historical routes in a new ecology of tourism currently contributes with increasing significance to the creation of green sustainable tourism, compatible with the territory and respectful of local identities.

This chapter aims to highlight the potential of the slow tourism of the historical routes in order to revive the internal areas from an economic and social point of view. The analysis is focused in particular on the Magna Via Francigena: this route links Palermo and Agrigento through the rural heart of Sicily touching 18 small towns inland. The creation of this route has rewoven broken territorial wefts, restoring dialogue and collaboration between the towns involved. It has revitalized the place consciousness of the territories. It has also encouraged place-based production chains and micro-economies, boosting new income. This route makes a definite contribution to placing marginalized area, towns and territories on the geographical map again.

Therefore the historical routes outline new ways of endogenous development based on the recovery and enhancement of identity assets and local resources.

The paper aims to present an analysis of the indirect and direct effects of active labour market policy measures at the regional level for Western Germany.

Most evaluation studies of active labour market policy focus on the microeconometric treatment effect using individual data and do not account for possible indirect effects like deadweight and substitution effects. The present study uses a dynamic specification of the augmented matching function at the regional level. A dynamic panel data model is estimated using monthly and regional variation of different labour market programmes as explanatory variables. Furthermore, spatial interactions are taken into account by adding a spatially correlated error term.

Almost no significant negative effects are found of the stock of participants in programmes of labour market policy on the number of outflows from unemployment into regular jobs. Thus, contrary to findings at the individual level, no lock‐in effect is found. The number of programme participants does not reduce the number of outflows from unemployment. On the other hand when looking not at the stocks but on the outflows from programmes, no positive effects on outflows from unemployment at the regional level are found.

Because of data limitations only a period up to six months after completing a programme is used.

The authors distinguish between the effects of the stock of programme participants and of the outflows from programmes. Furthermore, the authors account for spatially correlated error terms by using a GM estimator proposed by Mutl in 2006.