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Barriers to Reallocation and Economic Growth: the Effects of Firing Costs

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Abstract

We study how factors that hinder the reallocation of inputs across firms influence aggregate productivity growth. We extend Hopenhayn and Rogerson's (1993) general equilibrium firm dynamics model to allow for endogenous innovation. We calibrate the model using US data, and then evaluate the effects of firing taxes on reallocation, innovation, and aggregate productivity growth. In our baseline specification, we find that firing taxes reduce overall innovation and productivity growth. We also show that firing taxes can have opposite effects on the entrants' innovation and the incumbents' innovation, and thus the overall outcome depends on the relative strengths of these forces.

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  • Toshihiko Mukoyama & Sophie Osotimehin, 2018. "Barriers to Reallocation and Economic Growth: the Effects of Firing Costs," Working Papers gueconwpa~18-18-02, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~18-18-02
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    1. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Do Employment Protections Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States," NBER Working Papers 12860, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Micco, Alejandro & Pagés, Carmen, 2006. "The Economic Effects of Employment Protection: Evidence from International Industry-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2433, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Rogerson, Richard & Wallenius, Johanna, 2009. "Micro and macro elasticities in a life cycle model with taxes," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(6), pages 2277-2292, November.
    4. Eric Bartelsman & John Haltiwanger & Stefano Scarpetta, 2009. "Measuring and Analyzing Cross-country Differences in Firm Dynamics," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 15-76, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Haltiwanger, John & Scarpetta, Stefano & Schweiger, Helena, 2014. "Cross country differences in job reallocation: The role of industry, firm size and regulations," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 11-25.
    6. Ohanian, Lee & Raffo, Andrea & Rogerson, Richard, 2008. "Long-term changes in labor supply and taxes: Evidence from OECD countries, 1956-2004," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1353-1362, November.
    7. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence From US States," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 189-217, June.
    8. Micco, Alejandro & Pagés, Carmen, 2006. "The Economic Effects of Employment Protection: Evidence from International Industry-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2433, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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    Cited by:

    1. Da-Rocha, José-María & Restuccia, Diego & Tavares, Marina Mendes, 2019. "Firing costs, misallocation, and aggregate productivity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 60-81.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & John Van Reenen, 2023. "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(11), pages 2894-2936, November.
    3. Eero Mäkynen, 2021. "Economic Growth through Worker Reallocation: The Role of Knowledge Spillovers," Discussion Papers 147, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    4. Brendan K. Beare & Alexis Akira Toda, 2022. "Determination of Pareto Exponents in Economic Models Driven by Markov Multiplicative Processes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1811-1833, July.
    5. Marek Ignaszak & Petr Sedlacek, 2021. "Profitability, Productivity and Growth," Discussion Papers 2115, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    6. Diego Restuccia, 2019. "Misallocation and aggregate productivity across time and space," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-32, February.
    7. Dan Cao & Erick Sager & Henry Hyatt & Toshihiko Mukoyama, 2019. "Firm Growth through New Establishments," 2019 Meeting Papers 1484, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Sahin Avcioglu & Bilgehan Karabay, 2020. "Labor market regulation under self‐enforcing contracts," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(6), pages 1965-2018, December.
    9. Lopez-Martin, Bernabe & Perez-Reyna, David, 2021. "Contracts, firm dynamics, and aggregate productivity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    10. García-Vega, María & Kneller, Richard & Stiebale, Joel, 2021. "Labor market reform and innovation: Evidence from Spain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    11. Federico S. Mandelman & Mehra dup Mishita & Hewei Shen, 2024. "Skilled Immigration Frictions as a Barrier for Young Firms," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2024-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    12. Marcin Bielecki, 2022. "Innovation and Endogenous Growth over the Business Cycle with Frictional Labor Markets," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 14(3), pages 263-302, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; R&D; Reallocation; Firing costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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