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Are All Labor Regulations Equal? Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

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  • Ahsan, Ahmad

    () (World Bank)

  • Pagés, Carmen

    () (Inter-American Development Bank)

Abstract

Using manufacturing data for India, this paper studies the economic effects of legal amendments on two types of labor laws: employment protection and labor dispute resolution legislation. We find that laws that increase employment protection or the cost of labor disputes substantially reduce registered sector employment and output. These laws do no seem to benefit workers either, as they do not increase the share of value added that goes to labor. Labor-intensive industries, such as textiles, are the hardest hit by amendments that increase employment protection while capital-intensive industries are the most affected by laws that increase the cost of labor dispute resolution. These adverse effects are not alleviated by the widespread and increasing use of contract labor, particularly in regards to employment. Results are robust to an alternative codification of legal amendments suggested by Bhattacharjea (2006).

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3394.

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Length: 54 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3394

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Keywords: employment protection; labor dispute resolution; contract labor; employment; India;

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References

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  1. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Job security, employment and wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-879, June.
  2. Rana Hasan & Devashish Mitra & K.V. Ramaswamy, 2007. "Trade Reforms, Labor Regulations, and Labor-Demand Elasticities: Empirical Evidence from India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 466-481, August.
  3. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "The Impact of Employment Protection Mandates on Demographic Temporary Employment Patterns: International Microeconomic Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 333-356, 06.
  4. Almeida, R. & Carneiro, P., 2009. "Enforcement of labor regulation and firm size," Open Access publications from University College London http://discovery.ucl.ac.u, University College London.
  5. James Heckman & Carmen Pages, 2003. "Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean," NBER Working Papers 10129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Cahuc, Pierre & Postel-Vinay, Fabien, 2001. "Temporary Jobs, Employment Protection and Labor Market Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 260, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  7. 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.
  8. Amin, Mohammad, 2009. "Labor regulation and employment in India's retail stores," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 47-61, March.
  9. Fallon, Peter R. & Lucas, Robert E. B., 1993. "Job security regulations and the dynamic demand for industrial labor in India and Zimbabwe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 241-275, April.
  10. 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).
  11. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
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  13. Lall, Somik V. & Mengistae, Taye, 2005. "The impact of business environment and economic geography on plant-level productivity : an analysis of Indian industry," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3664, The World Bank.
  14. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275, February.
  15. Dutta Roy, Sudipta, 2004. "Employment dynamics in Indian industry: adjustment lags and the impact of job security regulations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 233-256, February.
  16. James J. Heckman & Carmen Pagés, 2004. "Introduction to "Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin American and the Caribbean"," NBER Chapters, in: Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, pages 1-108 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Fallon, Peter R & Lucas, Robert E B, 1991. "The Impact of Changes in Job Security Regulations in India and Zimbabwe," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 5(3), pages 395-413, September.
  18. 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, 06.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou & Khandelwal, Amit & Pavcnik, Nina & Topalova, Petia, 2008. "Multi-product Firms and Product Turnover in the Developing World: Evidence from India," CEPR Discussion Papers 6881, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  2. Kaplan, David S., 2008. "Job creation and labor reform in Latin America," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4708, The World Bank.
  3. Reyes Aterido & Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Carmen Pag�s, 2011. "Big Constraints to Small Firms’ Growth? Business Environment and Employment Growth across Firms," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 609 - 647.
  4. Bishwanath Goldar, 2010. "Informalization of Industrial Labour in India: Are labour market rigidities and growing import competition to blame?," Working Papers id:3125, eSocialSciences.
  5. Djankov, Simeon & Ramalho, Rita, 2009. "Employment laws in developing countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-13, March.
  6. Holzmann, Robert & Pouget, Yann & Vodopivec, Milan & Weber, Michael, 2011. "Severance Pay Programs around the World: History, Rationale, Status, and Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 5731, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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  1. Labour in India in Wikipedia (English)

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