IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bde/wpaper/2312.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sector-level economic effects of regulatory complexity: evidence from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti

    (Banco de España)

  • Javier Quintana

    (Banco de España)

  • Isabel Soler

    (EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE (EUI))

  • Rok Spruk

    (UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA)

Abstract

This paper studies for the first time the impact on various measures of economic efficiency of regulatory complexity by sector in Spain. We base our analysis on an innovative database that classifies 206,777 regulations by economic sector and region, which highlights the growing volume of regulation, as well as its diversity by sector, region and business cycle stage. This analysis first looks at the aggregate impacts of sectoral regulatory complexity on the employment-to-population ratio, total working hours, sectoral GDP shares, labour intensity and capital intensity. Secondly it delves into the heterogeneous impacts observed across firms of different sizes and ages, drawing on the MCVL (Continuous Work History Sample), a rich database at the enterprise level. On the first front, we estimate a set of multiple fixed-effects model specifications across 13 economic sectors, 23 regulatory sectors and 17 Spanish regions over the period 1995-2020. Our results suggest that greater regulatory complexity has a negative impact on the employment rate and on value added. The effect on employment is consistent with previous findings for the United States. In particular, ceteris paribus, each additional increase in the regulatory complexity index is associated with a 0.7 percent drop in the sector-level employment share. Furthermore, our findings suggest that several distortionary sector-level effects of increasing regulatory complexity are taking place. For instance, markedly lower labour intensity and decreased sector-level investment rates, which confirm that greater regulatory complexity entails non-trivial sector-level costs. Distortionary effects of regulatory complexity materialise through compositional differences, mainly in the form of reduced wages and a lower investment rate. On the second front, using data on employment by firms’ characteristics, we show that the negative impact of regulatory complexity is concentrated on smaller and younger firms. This finding supports the hypothesis that greater regulatory complexity imposes a burden that small and less experienced firms are less able to handle. At the sector level, the manufacturing sectors are the most negatively affected. This may be related to the higher investment required by these sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Javier Quintana & Isabel Soler & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Sector-level economic effects of regulatory complexity: evidence from Spain," Working Papers 2312, Banco de España.
    • Handle: RePEc:bde:wpaper:2312
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.53479/29854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/PublicacionesSeriadas/DocumentosTrabajo/23/Files/dt2312e.pdf
    File Function: First version, April 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.53479/29854?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bentley Coffey & Patrick McLaughlin & Pietro Peretto, 2020. "The Cumulative Cost of Regulations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 38, pages 1-21, October.
    2. Paulo Guimarães & Pedro Portugal, 2010. "A simple feasible procedure to fit models with high-dimensional fixed effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 10(4), pages 628-649, December.
    3. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "Institutions for High-Quality Growth: What They Are and How to Acquire Them," Chapters, in: Kartik Roy & Jörn Sideras (ed.), Institutions, Globalisation and Empowerment, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Gabriele Gratton & Luigi Guiso & Claudio Michelacci & Massimo Morelli, 2021. "From Weber to Kafka: Political Instability and the Overproduction of Laws," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(9), pages 2964-3003, September.
    5. Antonio Fatás & Ilian Mihov, 2013. "Policy Volatility, Institutions, and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 362-376, May.
    6. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    7. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    8. John Dawson & John Seater, 2013. "Federal regulation and aggregate economic growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 137-177, June.
    9. Cameron, A. Colin & Gelbach, Jonah B. & Miller, Douglas L., 2011. "Robust Inference With Multiway Clustering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 29(2), pages 238-249.
    10. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Rok Spruk, 2018. "Industry vs services: do enforcement institutions matter for specialization patterns? disaggregated evidence from Spain," Working Papers 1812, Banco de España.
    11. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Ricardo Pérez-Valls, 2021. "How does regulatory complexity affect business demography? Evidence from Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 203-242, April.
    12. Jalilian, Hossein & Kirkpatrick, Colin & Parker, David, 2007. "The Impact of Regulation on Economic Growth in Developing Countries: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 87-103, January.
    13. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    14. Pranab Bardhan, 2002. "Decentralization of Governance and Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 185-205, Fall.
    15. Ellingsen, Tore, 1998. "Externalities vs internalities: a model of political integration," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 251-268, May.
    16. James B. Bailey & Diana W. Thomas, 2017. "Regulating away competition: the effect of regulation on entrepreneurship and employment," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 237-254, December.
    17. Xiaokai Yang & Jeff Borland, 2005. "A Microeconomic Mechanism For Economic Growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 18, pages 409-436, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Kovaäœ, Mitja & Spruk, Rok, 2016. "Institutional development, transaction costs and economic growth: evidence from a cross-country investigation," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 129-159, March.
    19. Dejuan-Bitria, Daniel & Mora-Sanguinetti, Juan S., 2021. "Which legal procedure affects business investment most, and which companies are most sensitive? Evidence from microdata," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 201-220.
    20. Di Vita, Giuseppe, 2010. "Production of laws and delays in court decisions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 276-281, September.
    21. W. J. Henisz, 2000. "The Institutional Environment for Economic Growth," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, March.
    22. Sam Peltzman, 1989. "The Economic Theory of Regulation after a Decade of Deregulation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1989 Micr), pages 1-59.
    23. Giuseppe Di Vita, 2018. "Institutional quality and the growth rates of the Italian regions: The costs of regulatory complexity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 1057-1081, November.
    24. Stephen Kirchner, 2012. "Federal legislative activism in Australia: a new approach to testing Wagner’s law," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 375-392, December.
    25. Dustin Chambers & Patrick A. McLaughlin & Laura Stanley, 2019. "Regulation and poverty: an empirical examination of the relationship between the incidence of federal regulation and the occurrence of poverty across the US states," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 131-144, July.
    26. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Andrés Atienza-Maeso, 2023. ""Green regulation": a quantification of regulations related to renewable energies and climate change in Spain and France," Working papers 937, Banque de France.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. de Lucio, Juan & Mora-Sanguinetti, Juan S., 2022. "Drafting “better regulation”: The economic cost of regulatory complexity," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 163-183.
    2. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Andrés Atienza-Maeso, 2023. ""Green regulation": a quantification of regulations related to renewable energies and climate change in Spain and France," Working papers 937, Banque de France.
    3. Juan de Lucio & Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti, 2021. "New dimensions of regulatory complexity and their economic cost. An analysis using text mining," Working Papers 2107, Banco de España.
    4. Giuseppe Di Vita, 2023. "The economic impact of legislative complexity and corruption: A cross‐country analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 1801-1825, April.
    5. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Ricardo Pérez-Valls, 2020. "¿Cómo afecta la complejidad de la regulación a la demografía empresarial? Evidencia para España," Working Papers 2002, Banco de España.
    6. Giuseppe Vita & Livio Ferrante, 2021. "Is legislation grease or sand to economic growth? An econometric analysis using data from Italian regions before and after the 2008 crisis," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 541-561, June.
    7. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Ricardo Pérez-Valls, 2021. "How does regulatory complexity affect business demography? Evidence from Spain," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 203-242, April.
    8. Giuseppe Di Vita, 2018. "Institutional quality and the growth rates of the Italian regions: The costs of regulatory complexity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 1057-1081, November.
    9. Rok Spruk & Mitja Kovac, 2018. "Inefficient Growth," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 9(2).
    10. Dustin Chambers & Patrick A. McLaughlin & Oliver Sherouse, 2023. "Regulation, entrepreneurship, and dynamism," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(5), pages 2449-2466, May.
    11. Rafiou Raphaël Bétila, 2021. "The impact of Ease of Doing Business on economic growth: a dynamic panel analysis for African countries," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(10), pages 1-34, October.
    12. Elliott Ash & Massimo Morelli & Matia Vannoni, 2022. "More Laws, More Growth? Evidence from U.S. States," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 22178, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    13. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," EconStor Preprints 269878, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    14. Juan S. Mora‐Sanguinetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Economic effects of recent experiences of federalism: Analysis of the regionalization process in Spain," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 30-63, January.
    15. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 115610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Kezia De Lucas Bondezan & Joilson Dias, 2014. "Crescimento Econômico De Longo Prazo No Brasil: Uma Abordagem Sobre O Da Acumulação De Capital E Das Instituições," Anais do XLI Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 41st Brazilian Economics Meeting] 096, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    17. Davis, Lewis S., 2010. "Institutional flexibility and economic growth," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 306-320, September.
    18. Siddiqui, Danish Ahmed & Ahmed, Qazi Masood, 2013. "The effect of institutions on economic growth: A global analysis based on GMM dynamic panel estimation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 18-33.
    19. Emery, Thomas & Mélon, Lela & Spruk, Rok, 2023. "Does e-procurement matter for economic growth? Subnational evidence from Australia," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 318-334.
    20. Dustin Chambers & Colin O’Reilly, 2022. "The economic theory of regulation and inequality," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(1), pages 63-78, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sectoral regulation; regulatory complexity; economic sectors; structural policies; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bde:wpaper:2312. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ángel Rodríguez. Electronic Dissemination of Information Unit. Research Department. Banco de España (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdegves.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.