Limites des méthodes d'évaluation et pertinence du concept de déficit public structurel

In Europe the institutions and the functioning of labour markets vary greatly from one country to one other. Moreover, many empirical studies emphasised the heterogeneity of national labour demand and wage behaviours. However, the macroeconomic impact of these differences still has to be analysed. In this paper we offer such an evaluation. To this end we have built a small model based on recent estimations. We show that national wage and labour behaviours are not distinct enough to lead to national reactions that are strongly asymmetric in face of a common shock and to complicate the monetary policy in the EMU. In the meantime, in all the countries considered here, labour markets are characterised by a limited flexibility, in particular a low sensitivity of wages to the disequilibrium on the labour market. The EMU may of course change economic behaviours or bring about reforms, but it seems not reasonable to expect an increase in the labour market flexibility that would be strong enough to make up for the loss of stabilisation policy autonomy by countries of the Euro area.Bouthevillain Carine, Garcia Sophie. Limites des méthodes d'évaluation et pertinence du concept de déficit public structurel. In: Revue française d'économie, volume 15, n°1, 2000. pp. 75-121