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Labour Demand Adjustment: Does Foreign Ownership Matter?

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  • Emmanuel Dhyne
  • Catherine Fuss
  • Claude Mathieu

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="obes12097-abs-0001"> This paper examines whether multinationals differ in their employment adjustment from domestic companies, using a panel of 5,544 Belgian firms observed between 1998 and 2005. More precisely, we estimate labour adjustment costs by worker and firm types. We propose a new flexible specification that takes into account the role of firm size in adjustment costs. Our results indicate that adjusting white-collar employment is around half as costly for multinational firms (MNFs) as for domestic firms of the same size. The remaining differential in adjustment costs between MNFs and domestic firms might result, among other things, from multinationals' stronger bargaining power.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel Dhyne & Catherine Fuss & Claude Mathieu, 2015. "Labour Demand Adjustment: Does Foreign Ownership Matter?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(6), pages 854-871, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:obuest:v:77:y:2015:i:6:p:854-871
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    Cited by:

    1. Athanasios Lapatinas, 2015. "Multinational versus National Firms on Labour Adjustment Costs: A Structural Approach," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 427-441, December.
    2. Emmanuel Dhyne & Selen Sarisoy Guerin, 2014. "Outward foreign direct investment and domestic performance : In search of a causal link," Working Paper Research 272, National Bank of Belgium.
    3. E. Dhyne & C. Duprez, 2013. "Structural dynamics of Belgium’s foreign trade," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 27-38, June.
    4. Haithem Ben Hassine, 2019. "Productivity Growth and Resource Reallocation in France: The Process of Creative Destruction," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 507-508, pages 115-133.
    5. Kölling, Arnd, 2018. "It's not about adjustment costs: Estimating asymmetries in long-run labor demand using a fractional panel probit model," Working Papers 95, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    6. E. Dhyne & L. Dresse & C. Fuss & Ch. Piette, 2011. "Behaviour of Belgian firms in the context of globalisation : lessons from the conference on “International Trade : Threats and Opportunities in a Globalised World”," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 73-88, June.
    7. Pierre Blanchard & Emmanuel Dhyne & Catherine Fuss & Claude Mathieu, 2016. "(Not So) Easy Come, (Still) Easy Go? Footloose Multinationals Revisited," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 679-707, May.

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