Does a reduction in the length of the working week reduce unemployment? Some evidence from the Italian economy during the Great Depression

Mattesini, Fabrizio; Quintieri, Beniamino

doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2005.04.001

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…However, the binary dummy variable constructed by us is a very rudimentary measure of the institution's effect. Furthermore, we have ignored the impact of trade and labour policy in our empirical analysis, which has already been taken into account separately for Italy in the 1930s (see Federico and Tena 1988a for trade; Mattesini andQuintieri 2006 andGiordano, Piga andTrovato 2012 for labour), yet should be taken into account jointly, together with competition policies. Moreover, this study could be extended to later time periods, so as to better understand whether there was any impact of the industrial policy conducted in the 1930s on the post-World War Two boom.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…100 For an analysis of the effects of the 1934 agreement on unemployment, see Mattesini and Quintieri (2006). 101 We refer to Appendix A for details.…”

Section: Accounting For Changes In Hours Workedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…119 Finally, conversely to Broadberry and Crafts' model, we do not include the 1929-1932 drop in employment since our time-span covers a much longer period than that of the Great Depression years, nor do we include the unionized industries' dummy. As Mattesini and Quintieri (2006) and Giordano, Piga and Trovato (2012) point out workers' conditions after the Palazzo Vidoni Agreement of 1926 were placed into the hands of a sole Fascist trade union, acquiescent towards the regime, who did not oppose a series of mandatory wage cuts in the following years, officially justified by the widespread deflation. Workers' bargaining power was hence small for most of the period and in all of the industries considered; thus this channel was here not investigated.…”

Section: New Econometric Evidence For Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tale of two Fascisms: Labour productivity growth and competition policy in Italy, 1911–1951

Giordano¹,

Giugliano

2015

Explorations in Economic History

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The purpose of the Economic History Working Papers (Quaderni di Storia economica) is to promote the circulation of preliminary versions of working papers on growth, finance, money, institutions prepared within the Bank of Italy or presented at Bank seminars by external speakers with the aim of stimulating comments and suggestions. The present series substitutes the Historical Research papers -Quaderni dell'Ufficio Ricerche Storiche. The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not involve the responsibility of the Bank.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…100 For an analysis of the effects of the 1934 agreement on unemployment, see Mattesini and Quintieri (2006). 101 We refer to Appendix A for details.…”

Section: Accounting For Changes In Hours Workedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: New Econometric Evidence For Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A tale of two Fascisms: Labour productivity growth and competition policy in Italy, 1911–1951

Giordano¹,

Giugliano

2015

Explorations in Economic History

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“…terms of absorption of excess labor supply. The introduction of work-sharing, that is, of a work week of a maximum of 40 hours, enforced by a law in 1934, was more effective as a measure against unemployment [Mattesini and Quintieri (2006)]. Finally, a fourth labor policy concerned the introduction of unemployment subsidies, which are known, however, to possibly entail a rise in unemployment, rather than its decrease.…”

Section: Employment and Wage Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Italy's Industrial Great Depression: Fascist Price and Wage Policies

2013

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Industrial production and employment in Italy were hard hit by the Great Depression, and remained below trend until at least 1936. Few quantitative studies have been conducted on the causes of Italy's recession and slow recovery. Using monthly data, and reviving an aggregate supply model published in Bernanke and Carey [Quarterly Journal of Economics111 (1996), 853–883], we empirically test whether Italy's 1930s industrial performance could be related to the Fascist wage and price policies, which, aiming at keeping workers' real wages constant, actually raised firms' labor costs, computed as nominal wages deflated by wholesale prices, hence stalling industrial production. We find evidence of a strong countercyclicality of real wages and of nominal wage stickiness in the period 1929–1936, which would confirm our hypothesis. Trade restrictions are found to play a smaller role in hindering industrial production than previously stated in the literature, whereas we confirm the weak transmission of financial turbulence to the real economy.

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“…There are two reasons to think that reduced working time will have an effect on labor supply. According to previous studies (Mattesini and Quintieri, 2006; Skans, 2004; Booth and Ravallion, 1993; Houpis, 1993), the reduced hours of work has raised the wage pressure and employment as long as the foregone leisure cost is insignificant in a shorter work week. Wage type will also affect the relationship between reduced working time and employment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Labor market effects of work‐sharing arrangements in Taiwan, ROC

Lai

Sarkar²

2013

International Journal of Manpower

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Purpose -To measure the effects of work-sharing arrangements on participants' subsequent labor market outcomes in Taiwan such as full-time employment rates, working hours of women and men and the difference in scale effect and effect of substitution between hours and employment for women and men. Design/methodology/approach -Using the data from Manpower Utilization Survey, we applied the differences-in-differences estimation method to test the effects of work-sharing arrangements on working hours, wage and employment. Multinomial logit was used to measure the effects of work sharing on full-time employment. In order to correct the simultaneity and selectivity problems, we followed the Heckman two-stage selection procedures to solve the selection bias, and used weighted least squares to solve heteroskedasticity in the wage and hour equations. The instrumental variable (IV) method was used to avoid simultaneity bias in the hour equation.Findings -This paper found the restrictions enforced by law on working hours have negative effects on employees' working conditions in certain industries in Taiwan. After controlling the working hours, we found the wages paid to women and men have increased subsequent to the enforcement of law. However, compared to men the net wage earned by women has increased to a lesser extent. It was further observed that with enactment of work-sharing law, the employment rate of women has considerably declined since 2001. Main findings assimilating the results for hour, wage and full-time employment suggest that a country like Taiwan (with work-sharing arrangements implemented by law) has witnessed a smaller gap between women's and men's working time and wages during

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Does a reduction in the length of the working week reduce unemployment? Some evidence from the Italian economy during the Great Depression

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

A tale of two Fascisms: Labour productivity growth and competition policy in Italy, 1911–1951

A tale of two Fascisms: Labour productivity growth and competition policy in Italy, 1911–1951

Italy's Industrial Great Depression: Fascist Price and Wage Policies

Labor market effects of work‐sharing arrangements in Taiwan, ROC

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