This paper investigates the effect of the Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) on the hiring behaviour of the firms when the level of EPL is differentiated by firms size. In this respect, Italy represents an interesting case because workers hired by bigger firms enjoy a stronger protection than workers hired by small firms; the threshold size is fixed by law at 15 employees. A model derives the conditions under which firms decide whether to upsize or not and, in case of upsizing, whether to hire temporary (i.e. workers who are not counted in the threshold, as apprentices in Italy) or permanent workers. The model has been tested using data drawn from the VWH (Veneto Workers History) registered data for firms and workers, from 1982 to 1997, for a large Italian region (i.e. Veneto). Firms close to the threshold are not scared to growth but they are more likely to hire apprentices than permanent workers.
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Paper provided by University of Venice "Ca' Foscari", Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number
2008_25.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
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Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1999.
"What Determines Firm Size?,"
NBER Working Papers
7208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, .
"What Determines Firm Size?,"
CRSP working papers
496, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
[Downloadable!]