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When Do Structural Reforms Work? On the Role of the Business Cycle and Macroeconomic Policies

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  • Miss Anna R Bordon
  • Mr. Christian H Ebeke
  • Ms. Kazuko Shirono

Abstract

Structural reforms are expected to lift growth and employment, but their effects are surprisingly difficult to pin down empirically. One reason is their potential endogeneity to the economic environment in which they are conducted. For example, the impact of a reform implemented shortly before a cyclical upswing is difficult to distinguish from the recovery itself. Similarly, macroeconomic policies conducted along a structural reform could affect the estimated impact. Exploring various options, this paper develops robust estimates of the impact of labor and product market reforms by using local projection techniques while controlling for endogeneity of reforms and other biases. The results suggest that labor and product market reforms have a lagged but positive impact on employment creation, and the positive effect remains even after controlling for the endogeneity of the decision to reform. Supportive macroeconomic policies are found to increase the effect of labor and product market reforms, consistent with the view that some structural reforms are best initiated in conjunction with supportive fiscal or monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Miss Anna R Bordon & Mr. Christian H Ebeke & Ms. Kazuko Shirono, 2016. "When Do Structural Reforms Work? On the Role of the Business Cycle and Macroeconomic Policies," IMF Working Papers 2016/062, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2016/062
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kouamé, Wilfried A.K. & Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A., 2019. "Structural reforms and firms’ productivity: Evidence from developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 157-171.
    4. Romain Bouis & Mr. Romain A Duval & Johannes Eugster, 2016. "Product Market Deregulation and Growth: New Country-Industry-Level Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2016/114, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Javier Andres & Oscar Arce & Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde & Samuel Hurtado, 2022. "Deciphering the Macroeconomic Effects of Internal Devaluations in a Monetary Union," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(5), pages 1-47, December.
    6. Romain Duval & Davide Furceri, 2018. "The Effects of Labor and Product Market Reforms: The Role of Macroeconomic Conditions and Policies," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(1), pages 31-69, March.
    7. Masuch, Klaus & Anderton, Robert & Setzer, Ralph & Benalal, Nicholai, 2018. "Structural policies in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 210, European Central Bank.
    8. Vogel, Lukas, 2017. "Structural reforms at the zero bound," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 74-90.
    9. Mr. Norbert Funke & Asel Isakova & Maksym Ivanyna, 2017. "Identifying Structural Reform Gaps in Emerging Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia," IMF Working Papers 2017/082, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Peter Gal & Alexander Hijzen, 2016. "The short-term impact of product market reforms: A cross-country firm-level analysis," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1311, OECD Publishing.
    11. Theodore Katsanevas, 2016. "The debt trap of the Greek economy and the way out," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(3), pages 19-35.
    12. Luiza Antoun de Almeida & Vybhavi Balasundharam, 2018. "On the Impact of Structural Reforms on Output and Employment: Evidence from a Cross-country Firm-level Analysis," IMF Working Papers 2018/073, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Loewald, Christopher & Wörgötter, Andreas, 2019. "Do monetary unions dream of structural reforms?," ECON WPS - Working Papers in Economic Theory and Policy 01/2019, TU Wien, Institute of Statistics and Mathematical Methods in Economics, Economics Research Unit.
    14. Mr. Babacar Sarr & Mokhtar Benlamine & Zsuzsa Munkacsi, 2019. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Labor and Product Market Reforms in Morocco," IMF Working Papers 2019/222, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Brand, Claus & Obstbaum, Meri & Coenen, Günter & Sondermann, David & Lydon, Reamonn & Ajevskis, Viktors & Hammermann, Felix & Angino, Siria & Hernborg, Nils & Basso, Henrique & Hertweck, Matthias & Bi, 2021. "Employment and the conduct of monetary policy in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 275, European Central Bank.
    16. Krahé, Max, 2023. "Understanding Italy's stagnation," Papers 277913, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    17. Bańkowski, Krzysztof & Bouabdallah, Othman & Domingues Semeano, João & Dorrucci, Ettore & Freier, Maximilian & Jacquinot, Pascal & Modery, Wolfgang & Rodríguez-Vives, Marta & Valenta, Vilém & Zorell, , 2022. "The economic impact of Next Generation EU: a euro area perspective," Occasional Paper Series 291, European Central Bank.
    18. Céline Piton, 2018. "The unemployment impact of product and labour market regulation: Evidence from European countries," Working Paper Research 343, National Bank of Belgium.
    19. Rovo,Natasha, 2020. "Structural Reforms to Set the Growth Ambition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9175, The World Bank.
    20. Gamberoni, Elisa & Gradeva, Katerina & Weber, Sebastian, 2016. "Firm responses to employment subsidies: a regression discontinuity approach to the 2012 Spanish labour market reform," Working Paper Series 1970, European Central Bank.
    21. Céline Piton, 2022. "The labour market performance of vulnerable groups: towards a better understanding of the main driving forces," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/352519, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    22. Céline Piton, 2018. "The unemployment impact of product and labour market regulation: Evidence from European countries," Working Paper Research 343, National Bank of Belgium.

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