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Enforcement of labor market regulations: heterogeneous compliance and adjustment across gender

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  • Mariana Viollaz

    (CEDLAS, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, UNLP)

Abstract

This paper explores microdata from Argentine household surveys to analyze how changes in the enforcement of labor regulations affect the compliance level and other labor outcomes among men and women. Using information of the highly decentralized labor inspection system in Argentina, I construct an enforcement measure with variation at the province, sector, and time level (share of inspected firms) which I instrument using a measure of the arrival cost of labor inspectors to the firms. The main findings reveal that when enforcement increases, the compliance with mandated benefits and formal wages increase among men, while informal wages decline. Among women, the compliance level declines jointly with informal wages. These heterogenous impacts are explained by labor regulations that make formal and informal men more substitutable in the production process than formal and informal women.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariana Viollaz, 2018. "Enforcement of labor market regulations: heterogeneous compliance and adjustment across gender," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izalpo:v:7:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1186_s40173-018-0095-7
    DOI: 10.1186/s40173-018-0095-7
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Mariana Viollaz, 2019. "Multiple Violations of Labor Market Regulations: Patterns in the Peruvian Labor Market and the Impact of Enforcement," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0244, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    2. Diaz, Juan Jose & Chacaltana, Juan & Rigolini, Jamele & Ruiz, Claudia, 2018. "Pathways to Formalization: Going beyond the Formality Dichotomy," IZA Discussion Papers 11750, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Mariana Viollaz, 2016. "Are Labor Inspections Protecting Workers’ Rights? Adding the Evidence from Size-based Labor Regulations and Fines in Peru," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0205, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    4. Mariana VIOLLAZ, 2018. "Are labour inspections effective when labour regulations vary according to the size of the firm? Evidence from Peru," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 157(2), pages 213-242, June.
    5. Mario Bossler & Ursula Jaenichen & Simeon Schächtele, 2022. "How effective are enforcement measures for compliance with the minimum wage? Evidence from Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 943-971, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Enforcement of labor regulations; Compliance with labor regulations; Gender; Argentina;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J88 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Public Policy
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

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