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Trade and the (Dis) Incentive to Reform Labor Markets: The Case of Reform in the European Union

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  • George Alessandria
  • Alain Delacroix

Abstract

In a closed economy general equilibrium model, Hopenhayn and Rogerson (1993) find large welfare gains to removing firing restrictions. We explore the extent to which international trade alters this result. When economies trade, labor market policies in one country spill over to other countries through a change in the terms of trade. This reduces the incentive to reform labor markets. In a policy game over firing taxes between countries, we find that countries optimally choose positive levels of firing taxes. A coordinated elimination of firing taxes yields considerable benefits. This insight provides some explanation for recent efforts toward labor market reform in the European Union

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Society for Economic Dynamics in its series 2004 Meeting Papers with number 460.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:red:sed004:460

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Keywords: Labor Market Reform; Trade;

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Cited by:
  1. Wolf-Heimo Grieben & Fuat Sener, 2009. "Labor Unions, Globalization, and Mercantilism," CESifo Working Paper Series 2889, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Alessandria, George & Delacroix, Alain, 2008. "Trade and the (dis)incentive to reform labor markets: The case of reform in the European Union," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 151-166, May.
  3. Delacroix, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2007. "Job and Workers Flows in Europe and the US: Specific Skills or Employment Protection?. Midwest Macroeconomics Meetings 2007, April 27-29, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio," Open Access publications from Sciences Po info:hdl:2441/9938, Sciences Po.
  4. Oleg Itskhoki & Elhanan Helpman, 2008. "Labor Market Rigidities, Trade and Unemployment," 2008 Meeting Papers 690, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  5. Delacroix, Alain & Wasmer, Etienne, 2009. "Layoff Costs and Efficiency with Asymmetric Information," IZA Discussion Papers 4524, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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