Description of the programme

The overall objective of this Action is to increase the knowledge that is available to the European community at large of the effect of policy interventions on the functioning of the labour market. This knowledge will help to design future interventions and to maximise their effectiveness.

Main instrument in this Action are the new micro-econometric methods, which have been developed in the last years. Using these techniques, pitfalls in the evaluation of effects of policy interventions can be uncovered and avoided. This might contribute to a substantial improvement of the effectiveness of policies that are actually implemented and therefore save a substantial amount of public funds.

This Action brings together top specialists from a number of countries. The intention is to exchange knowledge in conferences (twice a year), by short term scientific missions by young researchers and in working groups around the following themes:

Programme evaluation: Co-ordinator: Mr. M. Arellano (Spain)
Human capital policies: Co-ordinator: Mr. P. Edin (Sweden)
Design of social security and taxes: Co-ordinator: Martin Browning (DK)
Employment position and legislation: Co-ordinator: Erling Barth (Norway)

[Full description of the programme]