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Assessing the Long-Run Economic Impact of Labour Law Systems: A Theoretical Reappraisal and Analysis of New Time Series Data

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Author Info
Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge)
Prabirjit Sarkar (Jadavpur University, Kolkata)

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Abstract

Standard economic theory sees labour law as an exogenous interference with market relations and predicts mostly negative impacts on employment and productivity. We argue for a more nuanced theoretical position: labour law is, at least in part, endogenous, with both the production and the application of labour law norms influenced by national and sectoral contexts, and by complementarities between the institutions of the labour market and those of corporate governance and financial markets. Legal origin may also operate as a force shaping the content of the law and its economic impact. Time-series analysis using a new dataset on legal change from the 1970s to the mid-2000s shows evidence of positive correlations between regulation and growth in employment and productivity, at least for France and Germany. No relationship, either positive or negative is found for the UK and although the US shows a weak negative relationship between regulation and employment growth, this is offset by productivity gains.vestigation but it is premature to use legal origin theory as a basis for policy initiatives.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London in its series WEF Working Papers with number 0043.

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Date of creation: Sep 2008
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Handle: RePEc:wef:wpaper:0043

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Related research
Keywords: labour law; employment; productivity; redistribution; complementarities; legal origins; varieties of capitalism;

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References listed on IDEAS
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. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Prabirjit Sarkar & Mathias Siems & Ajit Singh, 2007. "Shareholder Protection and Stock Market Development: An Empirical Test of the Legal Origins Hypothesis," ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers wp358, ESRC Centre for Business Research. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Andrea Bassanini & Danielle Venn, 2007. "Assessing the Impact of Labour Market Policies on Productivity: A Difference-in-Differences Approach," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 54, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
  3. Rajan, Raghuram G. & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "The great reversals: the politics of financial development in the twentieth century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 5-50, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mathias Siems & Priya Lele, 2006. "Shareholder Protection: A Leximetric Approach," ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers wp324, ESRC Centre for Business Research. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Boeri, Tito & Nicoletti, Giuseppe & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2000. "Regulation And Labour Market Performance," CEPR Discussion Papers 2420, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Bruno Amable & Lilas Demmou & Donatella Gatti, 2007. "Employment Performance and Institutions: New Answers to an Old Question," IZA Discussion Papers 2731, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 285-332, June.
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  8. Janine Berg & Sandrine Cazes, 2007. "The Doing Business Indicators: Measurement issues and political implications," Economic and Labour Market Papers 2007-06, International Labour Office. [Downloadable!]
  9. Donatella Gatti, 2008. "Macroeconomic effects of ownership structure in OECD countries," PSE Working Papers 2008-09, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
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  10. Richard B. Freeman, 2005. "Labour Market Institutions Without Blinders: The Debate over Flexibility and Labour Market Performance," NBER Working Papers 11286, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Marco Pagano & Paolo Volpin, 1999. "The Political Economy of Corporate Governance," CSEF Working Papers 29, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 01 Jul 2005. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 35, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
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  13. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Do Employment Protections Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States," Harvard Business School Working Papers 07-048, Harvard Business School. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Nicoletti, Giuseppe & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2003. "Regulation, productivity, and growth : OECD evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2944, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Simon Deakin & Priya Lele & Mathias Siems, 2007. "The Evolution of Labour Law: Calibrating and Comparing Regulatory Regimes," ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers wp352, ESRC Centre for Business Research. [Downloadable!]
  16. Andrew Glyn & Dean Baker & David Howell & John Schmitt, 2003. "Labor Market Institutions and Unemployment: A Critical Assessment of the Cross-Country Evidence," Economics Series Working Papers 168, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Koeniger, Winfried & Vindigni, Andrea, 2003. "Employment Protection and Product Market Regulation," IZA Discussion Papers 880, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  18. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 1997. "Is labour rigidity harming Europe's competitiveness? The effect of job protection on the pattern of trade and welfare," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 499-506, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2003. "Law and finance: why does legal origin matter?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 653-675, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Feldmann, Horst, 2008. "The quality of industrial relations and unemployment around the world," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 200-203, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Addison, John T & Blackburn, McKinley L, 1994. "The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 181-90, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Koeniger, Winfried, 2005. "Dismissal costs and innovation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 79-84, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Edward L. Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Legal Origins," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1193-1229, November. [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. Simon Deakin, 2008. "Legal Origin, Juridical Form and Industrialisation in Historical Perspective: The Case of the Employment Contract and the Joint-Stock Company," ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers wp369, ESRC Centre for Business Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Simon Deakin, 2008. "Legal Origin, Juridical Form and Industrialisation in Historical Perspective: The Case of the Employment Contract and the Joint-Stock Company," WEF Working Papers 0042, ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London. [Downloadable!]
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