The papers proposed in this e-book were selected from those presented at the International Conference organised by the Applied Econometrics Association on "Policies against Unemployment" held in Naples, Italy, 1-2 June 2006, at "Parthenope" University.

The main theme of the conference was the analysis and discussion of the key determinants of unemployment levels, with a consideration of identification of policies able to tackle such a stumbling-block against which economists and politicians collide. To this extent various radically different approaches were examined. The purpose of this e-book is to provide further new evidence on the impact of innovation and R&D on employment/unemployment and unemployment persistence.