(How) do flexible labour markets really work? The role of profitability in influencing unemployment
评估灵活劳动力市场政策降低失业的理论依据，通过四个国家案例检验盈利能力与投资、就业的关系，发现新资本投资对失业有显著影响，但并非源于正常利润的机械实现。
This paper assesses the theoretical justifications available for policies of flexible labour markets (FLMs) in reducing the level of unemployment in developed economies. It empirically assesses the OECD's rationalisation of policy linking profitability to investment and job creation in four country cases. New capital investment is found to be significant for unemployment in all cases but it is not found to be a consequence of the mechanistic achievement of 'normal' profits. Without an empirically supported mechanism for how FLMs reduce unemployment, the policy is open to the accusation of being no more than a political tool for altering distribution, without concern for the wider socio-economic consequences.