Henri de Groot
| Date of Ph.D. defense: | October 21, 1998 |
| Title of thesis: | Economic Growth, Sectoral Structure and Unemployment |
| ISBN: | 90 5668 042 0 |
| Promotors: | Prof.dr. Theo Van de Klundert and Prof.dr. Anton Van Schaik |
Abstract:
This thesis consists of three parts that deal with the relationship between the relative wealth
of nations, economic growth, and the sectoral structure of economies. In the first part, the
focus is on the relative stagnancy of Europe versus the USA in terms of productivity levels
and unemployment. It is argued that generous social security systems in Europe and the
high-fixed-cost technologies employed in the USA put the USA in a relatively advantageous
position to perform Research and Development. Part two explicitly considers the
relationship between growth and unemployment in the context of a dual labour market. This
part examines how the organisation of work, competition, the generosity of the social
security system, the presence of trade unions, and institutional designs that link unemployment benefits to previous earnings affect both growth and unemployment. In part three,
the determination, development, and social optimality of the sectoral composition of
economies is discussed. Differential productivity growth between sectors, non-unitary
income elasticities of demand, and outsourcing of non-core activities are shown to be
important candidates for explaining the observed process of deindustrialization in advanced
economies.
Global / English