ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates when and why economic ideas were transformed into specific labour market policy in the United States of America, Germany, and France and its consequences for human flourishing. After the Second World War, the three countries converged upwards. From the 1980s downward convergence can be recorded. The conditions for human flourishing deteriorated in the United States more than in Germany and France. Trifurcated convergence applies in selective areas of the labour market. Labour market regulations in the United States are dominated by laissez-faire. The current labour market shows similarities with the 1920s and 1930s; the COVID-19 crisis may trigger a New Deal 2.0. The German labour market policy is highly influenced by the ordoliberals’ idea of a social market economy. The Hartz reforms and the decentralization of wage setting caused wage inequality and poverty and may result in a rebalance of the market and the social part in the social market economy after the 2021 elections. In France dirigisme, an influential state and detailed labour market regulation are still important. German-style reforms have been introduced to promote economic growth and employment. The high level of long-term unemployment still needs to be addressed either by the market or by the government.
