Labour market implications of EU product market integration
综述了欧盟产品市场一体化影响劳动力市场的渠道，实证分析发现一体化正逐步导致工资趋同和相互依赖增强，但并未支持“逐底竞争”或快速侵蚀国内劳动力市场标准的观点。
EU labour markets Effects of greater product market integration European labour markets are in a state of flux due to the changing market situation induced by international integration. This process affects wage formation through more fierce product market competition and increased mobility of jobs. This development is by some observers taken to enforce labour market flexibility, while for others it signals an erosion of social standards and in turn possibly the welfare society. Since labour is not very mobile in Europe, the effects of international integration on labour markets are mostly indirect via product market integration. We review the channels through which product market integration affects labour markets and perform an empirical analysis of the convergence and interdependencies in wage formation among EU countries. We find that integration is changing labour market structures and inducing wage convergences as well as stronger wage interdependencies, but it is a gradual process. Moreover, the present study does not support the view that international integration will lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ and rapidly erode domestic labour markets standards, nor that it will relieve politicians of the need to consider labour market reforms to improve labour market performance. — Torben M. Anderson, Niels Haldrup and Jan Rose Sørensen