IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2018-073.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the Impact of Structural Reforms on Output and Employment: Evidence from a Cross-country Firm-level Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Luiza Antoun de Almeida
  • Vybhavi Balasundharam

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of selected structural reforms on output and employment in the short and medium term. It uses a comprehensive cross-country firm-level dataset covering both advanced and emerging market economies over the period 2003-2014. In line with previous studies, it finds that structural reforms have in general a positive impact on output and employment in the medium term. Furthermore, the paper also assesses whether the impact of structural reforms varies with firm-specific characteristics, such as size, leverage, profitability, and sector. We find evidence that firm characteristics do influence the effectiveness of structural reforms. These findings have relevant policy implications as they help policymakers tailor the design of structural reforms to maximize their payoffs, taking into account their heterogeneous impact on firms.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=45786
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalina Manova, 2013. "Credit Constraints, Heterogeneous Firms, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(2), pages 711-744.
    2. Coricelli, Fabrizio & Driffield, Nigel & Pal, Sarmistha & Roland, Isabelle, 2012. "When does leverage hurt productivity growth? A firm-level analysis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1674-1694.
    3. Alberto Alesina & Edward Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote, 2005. "Work and Leisure in the U. S. and Europe: Why so Different?," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2068, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    4. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    5. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Working Paper Series 820, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    6. Fernandes, Ana M., 2007. "Trade policy, trade volumes and plant-level productivity in Colombian manufacturing industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 52-71, March.
    7. Jens Matthias Arnold & Beata Javorcik & Molly Lipscomb & Aaditya Mattoo, 2016. "Services Reform and Manufacturing Performance: Evidence from India," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(590), pages 1-39, February.
    8. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907.
    9. Peter N. Gal & Alexander Hijzen, 2016. "The Short-Term Impact of Product Market Reforms: A cross-country firm-level analysis," IMF Working Papers 2016/116, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633.
    11. Luc Laeven & Christopher Woodruff, 2007. "The Quality of the Legal System, Firm Ownership, and Firm Size," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(4), pages 601-614, November.
    12. Thomas Chaney, 2016. "Liquidity Constrained Exporters," Post-Print hal-03389283, HAL.
    13. Marianne Bertrand & Francis Kramarz, 2002. "Does Entry Regulation Hinder Job Creation? Evidence from the French Retail Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1369-1413.
    14. Mr. Sergi Lanau & Petia Topalova, 2016. "The Impact of Product Market Reforms on Firm Productivity in Italy," IMF Working Papers 2016/119, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Nataraj, Shanthi, 2011. "The impact of trade liberalization on productivity: Evidence from India's formal and informal manufacturing sectors," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 292-301.
    16. Ann E. Harrison & Margaret S. McMillan, 2022. "Does direct foreign investment affect domestic credit constraints?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 7, pages 153-180, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. 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.
    18. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    19. Chaney, Thomas, 2016. "Liquidity constrained exporters," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 141-154.
    20. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli‐Ozcan & Selin Sayek, 2009. "FDI, Productivity and Financial Development," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 111-135, January.
    21. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Comparative Advantage and Heterogeneous Firms," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(1), pages 31-66.
    22. Mr. Alexander Culiuc & Ms. Annette J Kyobe, 2017. "Structural Reforms and External Rebalancing," IMF Working Papers 2017/182, International Monetary Fund.
    23. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    24. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2009. "Unemployment, institutions, and reform complementarities: re-assessing the aggregate evidence for OECD countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 40-59, Spring.
    25. Romain Bouis & Romain Duval, 2011. "Raising Potential Growth After the Crisis: A Quantitative Assessment of the Potential Gains from Various Structural Reforms in the OECD Area and Beyond," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 835, OECD Publishing.
    26. Varouj A. Aivazian & Ying Ge & Jiaping Qiu, 2005. "Debt Maturity Structure and Firm Investment," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 34(4), Winter.
    27. Coen N. Teulings & Nikolay Zubanov, 2014. "Is Economic Recovery A Myth? Robust Estimation Of Impulse Responses," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 497-514, April.
    28. Barry Eichengreen, 2015. "Secular Stagnation: The Long View," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 66-70, May.
    29. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, February.
    30. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5g3sadr9h8gbri8hrtq0h6au2 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Petia Topalova & Amit Khandelwal, 2011. "Trade Liberalization and Firm Productivity: The Case of India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(3), pages 995-1009, August.
    32. Kira R. Fabrizio & Nancy L. Rose & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2007. "Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on US Electric Generation Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1250-1277, September.
    33. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    34. Francesco Nucci & Alberto F. Pozzolo & Fabiano Schivardi, 2005. "Is Firm's Productivity Related to its Financial Structure? Evidence from Microeconomic Data," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 95(1), pages 269-290, January-F.
    35. Bassanini, Andrea, 2015. "A Bitter Medicine? Short-term Employment Impact of Deregulation in Network Industries," IZA Discussion Papers 9187, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    36. Òscar Jordà, 2005. "Estimation and Inference of Impulse Responses by Local Projections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 161-182, March.
    37. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    38. Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2004. "Trade, Technology, and Productivity: A Study of Brazilian Manufacturers, 1986-1998," CESifo Working Paper Series 1148, CESifo.
    39. Minetti, Raoul & Zhu, Susan Chun, 2011. "Credit constraints and firm export: Microeconomic evidence from Italy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 109-125, March.
    40. Margaritis, Dimitris & Psillaki, Maria, 2010. "Capital structure, equity ownership and firm performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 621-632, March.
    41. Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Giang Ho & Ms. Annette J Kyobe, 2016. "Structural Reforms and Productivity Growth in Emerging Market and Developing Economies," IMF Working Papers 2016/015, International Monetary Fund.
    42. Alessandro Prati & Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato & Chris Papageorgiou, 2013. "Which Reforms Work and under What Institutional Environment? Evidence from a New Data Set on Structural Reforms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 946-968, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jesus Ferreiro & Carmen Gomez, 2022. "Employment protection, employment and unemployment rates in European Union countries during the Great Recession," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 240-258, July.
    2. Kwamivi Gomado, 2022. "Reigniting labour productivity growth in developing countries: Do structural reforms matter?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-87, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Stieglitz, Moritz & Setzer, Ralph, 2022. "Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Jesus Ferreiro & Carmen Gómez, 2018. "Employment protection and labour market performance in European Union countries during the Great Recession," FMM Working Paper 31-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    5. Arestis, Philip & Ferreiro, Jesus & Gomez, Carmen, 2023. "Does employment protection legislation affect employment and unemployment?11We acknowledge the comments of an editor and an associate editor of the journal and three reviewers. Their suggestions and r," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Jesus Ferreiro & Carmen Gomez, 2020. "Employment protection and labor market results in Europe," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 401-449, April.
    7. Arestis, Philip & Ferreiro, Jesus & Gómez, Carmen, 2020. "Quality of employment and employment protection. Effects of employment protection on temporary and permanent employment," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 180-188.
    8. Rovo,Natasha, 2020. "Structural Reforms to Set the Growth Ambition," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9175, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. David Kohn & Fernando Leibovici & Michal Szkup, 2023. "No Credit, No Gain: Trade Liberalization Dynamics, Production Inputs, And Financial Development," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(2), pages 809-836, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Yoshimichi Murakami, 2021. "Trade liberalization and wage inequality: Evidence from Chile," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 407-438, April.
    5. Francesco Nucci & Filomena Pietrovito & Alberto Franco Pozzolo, 2021. "Imports and credit rationing: A firm‐level investigation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(11), pages 3141-3167, November.
    6. Pian Shu & Claudia Steinwender, 2019. "The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Firm Productivity and Innovation," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 39-68.
    7. Philippe Aghion & Robin Burgess & Stephen J. Redding & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2008. "The Unequal Effects of Liberalization: Evidence from Dismantling the License Raj in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1397-1412, September.
    8. Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Grover,Arti & Kerr,Sari & Kerr,William Robert, 2016. "Will market competition trump gender discrimination in India ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7814, The World Bank.
    9. Daniela Maggioni, 2013. "Productivity Dispersion and its Determinants: The Role of Import Penetration," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 537-561, December.
    10. Olivier Cadot & Céline Carrère & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2013. "Trade Diversification, Income, And Growth: What Do We Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 790-812, September.
    11. C Sharma, 2016. "Does importing more inputs raise productivity and exports? Some evidence from Indian manufacturing," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 21(1), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Giang Ho & Ms. Annette J Kyobe, 2016. "Structural Reforms and Productivity Growth in Emerging Market and Developing Economies," IMF Working Papers 2016/015, International Monetary Fund.
    13. 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.
    14. Hansen, Thorsten, 2010. "Tariff Rates, Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from German and Austrian Firm-Level Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 11465, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    15. Bonfiglioli, Alessandra, 2016. "Comments on “Liquidity constrained exporters” by T. Chaney," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 155-158.
    16. Chen, Cheng & Steinwender, Claudia, 2021. "Import competition, heterogeneous preferences of managers, and productivity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    17. Nataraj, Shanthi, 2011. "The impact of trade liberalization on productivity: Evidence from India's formal and informal manufacturing sectors," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 292-301.
    18. Maria Bas & Ivan Ledezma, 2015. "Trade Liberalization and Heterogeneous Technology Investments," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 738-781, September.
    19. Nucci, Francesco & Pietrovito, Filomena & Pozzolo, Alberto Franco, 2023. "Intermediated trade and credit constraints: The case of firm’s imports," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 201-220.
    20. Albert Guangzhou Hu & Zhengning Liu, 2014. "Trade Liberalization and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Industries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 488-512, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/073. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.