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How Important Are Labor Market Institutions for Labor Market Performance in Transition Countries?

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  • Lehmann, Hartmut

    (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS))

  • Muravyev, Alexander

    (Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg Branch)

Abstract

This paper offers a first comprehensive study of the relationship between labor market institutions and policies and labor market performance in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which in the last two decades experienced radical economic and institutional transformations. Based on a new and unique hand-collected dataset, the paper first documents the evolution of labor market institutions and policies in the transition region. The data show a clear trend towards liberalization of labor markets, especially in the countries of the former Soviet Union, but also substantial differences across the countries studied. Second, the paper takes advantage of the large variation in the key economic and institutional variables to test several predictions concerning the role of institutions and polices in explaining labor market outcomes. The results of our econometric analysis are generally consistent with the view that institutions matter for labor market outcomes, and that deregulation of the labor markets improves their performance. The analysis also suggests several significant interactions between different institutions, which are in line with the idea of reform complementarity and broad reform packages. We also show that there are important advantages of focusing on a broader set of labor market outcomes, and not only on the unemployment rate, which until now has been the main approach in the empirical literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Lehmann, Hartmut & Muravyev, Alexander, 2009. "How Important Are Labor Market Institutions for Labor Market Performance in Transition Countries?," IZA Discussion Papers 4673, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4673
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Guzi, 2014. "An Empirical Analysis of Welfare Dependence in the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 64(5), pages 407-431, November.
    2. Kamila Fialová, 2010. "Labor Institutions and their Impact on Shadow Economies in Europe," Working Papers IES 2010/29, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Dec 2010.
    3. Zimmermann, Klaus F. & Biavaschi, Costanza & Eichhorst, Werner & Giulietti, Corrado & Kendzia, Michael J. & Muravyev, Alexander & Pieters, Janneke & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria & Schmidl, Ricarda, 2013. "Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 9(1–2), pages 1-157, December.
    4. Anna Lukiyanova & Nina Vishnevskaya, 2016. "Decentralisation of the minimum wage setting in Russia: Causes and consequences," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 27(1), pages 98-117, March.
    5. H. Lehmann & A. Muravyev, 2010. "Labor market institutions and labor market performance: what can we learn from transition countries?," Working Papers 714, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    6. Popescu, Madalina Ecaterina & Roman, Monica, 2018. "Vocational training and employability: Evaluation evidence from Romania," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 38-46.
    7. Anna Lukiyanova & Nina Vishnevskaya, 2015. "The Decentralization of Minimum Wage Setting in Russia Economies," HSE Working papers WP BRP 90/EC/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. Louis Jaeck & Sehjeong Kim, 2014. "The Impact of EMU Enlargement on Structural Reforms: A Political Economy Approach," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 20(1), pages 73-86, February.
    9. Anna Lukiyanova, 2011. "Effects of Minimum Wages on the Russian Wage Distribution," HSE Working papers WP BRP 09/EC/2011, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    10. Jens Holscher & Cristiano Perugini & Fabrizio Pompei, 2011. "Wage inequality, labour market flexibility and duality in Eastern and Western Europe," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 271-310.
    11. World Bank, 2011. "Challenges to Enterprise Performance in the Face of the Financial Crisis : Eastern Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2316, December.
    12. Hazans, Mihails, 2011. "What Explains Prevalence of Informal Employment in European Countries: The Role of Labor Institutions, Governance, Immigrants, and Growth," IZA Discussion Papers 5872, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Luis A. Gil-Alana & Karl Taylor, 2012. "Inflation convergence in Central and Eastern Europe with a view to adopting the euro," Working Papers 12-01, Asociación Española de Economía y Finanzas Internacionales.
    14. Kamila Fialová & Ondrej Schneider, 2014. "Labor Market Institutions and Their Impact on Shadow Economies in Europe," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 5(1).
    15. Azer Allahveranov & Emin Huseynov, 2013. "Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Azerbaijan," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0460, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    16. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Luis A. Gil-Alana & Karl Taylor, 2016. "Inflation convergence in Central and Eastern Europe vs. the Eurozone: Non-linearities and long memory," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 63(5), pages 519-538, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unemployment; labor market institutions; transition economies;
    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
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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