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Effective Labor Regulation and Microeconomic Flexibility

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Author Info
Ricardo J. Caballero
Kevin N. Cowan
Eduardo M.R.A. Engel
Alejandro Micco

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Abstract

Microeconomic flexibility, by facilitating the process of creative-destruction, is at the core of economic growth in modern market economies. The main reason for why this process is not infinitely fast, is the presence of adjustment costs, some of them technological, other institutional. Chief among the latter is labor market regulation. While few economists would object to such a view, its empirical support is rather weak. In this paper we revisit this hypothesis and find strong evidence for it. We use a new sectoral panel for 60 countries and a methodology suitable for such a panel. We find that job security regulation clearly hampers the creative-destruction process, especially in countries where regulations are likely to be enforced. Moving from the 20th to the 80th percentile in job security, in countries with strong rule of law, cuts the annual speed of adjustment to shocks by a third while shaving off about one percent from annual productivity growth. The same movement has negligible effects in countries with weak rule of law.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10744.

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Date of creation: Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10744

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer & Juan Botero, 2003. "The Regulation of Labor," NBER Working Papers 9756, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Tomi Kyyrä & Mika Maliranta, 2006. "The Micro-Level Dynamics of Declining Labour Share: Lessons from the Finnish Great Leap," VATT Discussion Papers 406, Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT). [Downloadable!]
  2. Rita Almeida & Pedro Carneiro, 2007. "Inequality and Employment in a Dual Economy: Enforcement of Labor Regulation in Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 3094, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Loayza, Norman V. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2006. "The structural determinants of external vulnerability," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4089, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Carmen Pagés-Serra & Alejandro Micco, 2007. "The Economic Effects of Employment Protection: Evidence from International Industry-Level Data," RES Working Papers 1077, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Amil Petrin & Jagadeesh Sivadasan, 2006. "Job Security Does Affect Economic Efficiency: Theory, A New Statistic, and Evidence from Chile," NBER Working Papers 12757, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Philippe Aghion & Robin Burgess & Stephen Redding & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2006. "The Unequal Effects of Liberalization: Evidence from Dismantling the License Raj in India," NBER Working Papers 12031, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Sadka, Joyce & Kaplan, David S., 2008. "Enforceability of labor law : evidence from a labor court in Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4483, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Philippe Aghion & Thibault Fally & Stefano Scarpetta, 2007. "Credit Constraints as a Barrier to the Entry and Post-Entry Growth of Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 3237, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Flaig, Gebhard / Rottmann, Horst, 2007. "Labour Market Institutions and the Employment Intensity of Output Growth. An International Comparison," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  10. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2007. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," NBER Working Papers 13608, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Jahn, Elke J., 2005. "Wie wirkt der Kündigungsschutz? (What are the effects of employment protection?)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 284-304. [Downloadable!]
  12. Tomi Kyyrä & mika Maliranta, 2006. "The Micro-level Dynamics of Declining Labour Share: Lessons from Finnish Great Leap," Discussion Papers 1049, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  13. Ricardo Caballero & Kevin N. Cowan & Eduardo M. R. A. Engel & Alejandro Micco, 2004. "Effective labor regulation and microeconomic flexibility," Working Papers 04-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Fabio Braggion & Lawrence J. Christiano & Jorge Roldos, 2007. "Optimal Monetary Policy in a 'Sudden Stop'," NBER Working Papers 13254, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Bruno Deffains & Yannick Gabuthy & Eve-Angéline Lambert, 2007. "Labor Conflicts and Inefficiency of Relationship-Specific Investments: What is the Judge's Role?," Working Papers of BETA 2007-04, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, ULP, Strasbourg. [Downloadable!]
  16. Tehmina S. Khan, 2006. "Productivity Growth, Technological Convergence, R&D, Trade, and Labor Markets: Evidence from the French Manufacturing Sector," IMF Working Papers 06/230, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  17. Yu-Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2005. "Product Market Competition, Investment and Employment-Abundant versus Job-Poor Growth: A Real Options Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Jaime Guajardo, 2008. "Financial Frictions and Business Cycles in Middle-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 08/20, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  19. Jaime Gatica & Pilar Romaguera, 2005. "El Mercado Laboral en Chile Nuevos Temas y Desafíos," Documentos de Trabajo 210, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile. [Downloadable!]
  20. Harold L. Cole & Lee E. Ohanian & Alvaro Riascos & James A. Schmitz, Jr., 2004. "Latin America in the rearview mirror," Staff Report 351, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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