Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India
Abstract
This paper investigates whether the industrial relations climate in Indian states has affected the pattern of manufacturing growth in the period 1958-1992. We show that states which amended the Industrial Disputes Act in a pro-worker direction experienced lowered output, employment, investment, and productivity in registered or formal manufacturing. In contrast, output in unregistered or informal manufacturing increased. Regulating in a pro-worker direction was also associated with increases in urban poverty. This suggests that attempts to redress the balance of power between capital and labor can end up hurting the poor. © 2004 the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDownload Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Volume (Year): 119 (2004)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 91-134
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Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2002. "Can Labour Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," STICERD - Development Economics Papers - From 2008 this series has been superseded by Economic Organisation and Public Policy Discussion Papers 33, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
- Besley, Timothy J. & Burgess, Robin, 2002. "Can Labour Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," CEPR Discussion Papers 3260, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
- H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
- I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General
- J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
- K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General
- L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
- L - Industrial Organization
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