IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_5275.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Employment Protection and the Market for Innovations

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Bastgen
  • Christian Holzner

Abstract

We study the effects of employment protection taking into account that firms can invest in R&D or buy new technologies in order to restore their productivity. To do so we develop an equilibrium matching model with an imperfect labor and innovation market. If employment protection is introduced, firms’ willingness to pay for product or process innovations increases. This shifts economic activity towards firms specializing in process and product innovation and triggers entry of new start-ups. We calibrate our model to match aggregate US labor and product market statistics and show that our model generates the estimated negative impact of wrongful dismissal laws in the US on productivity and the positive effect on the number of innovations and firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Bastgen & Christian Holzner, 2015. "Employment Protection and the Market for Innovations," CESifo Working Paper Series 5275, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp5275.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcus Hagedorn & Iourii Manovskii, 2008. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1692-1706, September.
    2. Wasmer, Etienne, 2002. "Interpreting Europe and US labor markets differences: the specificity of human capital investments," Arbetsrapport 2003:9, Institute for Futures Studies.
    3. Cahuc, Pierre & Wasmer, Etienne, 2001. "Does Intrafirm Bargaining Matter In The Large Firm'S Matching Model?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(5), pages 742-747, November.
    4. Mortensen, Dale & Pissarides, Christopher, 2011. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 1, pages 1-19.
    5. Etienne Wasmer, 2006. "General versus Specific Skills in Labor Markets with Search Frictions and Firing Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 811-831, June.
    6. Leo Kaas & Philipp Kircher, 2015. "Efficient Firm Dynamics in a Frictional Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3030-3060, October.
    7. Viral V. Acharya & Ramin P. Baghai & Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, 2014. "Wrongful Discharge Laws and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 301-346, January.
    8. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1994. "Flexibility, investment, and growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 215-238, October.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8904 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Christian Bauer & Jörg Lingens, 2014. "Does Collective Wage Bargaining Restore Efficiency in a Search Model with Large Firms?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(579), pages 1066-1085, September.
    11. Richard Disney & Jonathan Haskel & Ylva Heden, 2003. "Restructuring and productivity growth in uk manufacturing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(489), pages 666-694, July.
    12. William Kerr & Adriana Kugler & David Autor, 2007. "Do Employment Protections Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States," Working Papers 07-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Sebastian G. Kessing, 2006. "Employment Protection and Product Market Competition," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(2), pages 339-352, July.
    14. Eric Smith, 1999. "Search, Concave Production, and Optimal Firm Size," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 2(2), pages 456-471, April.
    15. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8904 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment regulations through the eyes of employers - do they matter and how do firms respond to them?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3463, The World Bank.
    17. Pierre Cahuc & Francois Marque & Etienne Wasmer, 2008. "A Theory Of Wages And Labor Demand With Intra-Firm Bargaining And Matching Frictions," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(3), pages 943-972, August.
    18. Eric J. Bartelsman & Pieter A. Gautier & Joris De Wind, 2016. "Employment Protection, Technology Choice, And Worker Allocation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 787-826, August.
    19. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    20. David Soskice, 1997. "German technology policy, innovation, and national institutional frameworks," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 75-96.
    21. Eric Bartelsman & John Haltiwanger & Stefano Scarpetta, 2009. "Measuring and Analyzing Cross-country Differences in Firm Dynamics," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 15-76, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Magnier, Alexandre & Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G. & Miller, Douglas J., 2010. "Product Life Cycles and Innovation in the US Seed Corn Industry," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 61779, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    23. Magnier, Alexandre & Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G. & Miller, Douglas J., 2010. "Product Life Cycles and Innovation in the US Seed Corn Industry," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 13(3), pages 1-20, September.
    24. Hopenhayn, Hugo & Rogerson, Richard, 1993. "Job Turnover and Policy Evaluation: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(5), pages 915-938, October.
    25. Michèle Belot & Jan Boone & Jan Van Ours, 2007. "Welfare‐Improving Employment Protection," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 381-396, August.
    26. Robert Shimer, 2005. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 25-49, March.
    27. Lucia Foster & John C. Haltiwanger & C. J. Krizan, 2001. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: New Developments in Productivity Analysis, pages 303-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. John R. Baldwin & Wulong Gu, 2006. "Plant turnover and productivity growth in Canadian manufacturing," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 15(3), pages 417-465, June.
    29. Griliches, Zvi & Regev, Haim, 1995. "Firm productivity in Israeli industry 1979-1988," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 175-203, January.
    30. Booth, Alison L. & Zoega, Gylfi, 2003. "On the welfare implications of firing costs," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 759-775, November.
    31. David H. Autor & John J. Donohue & Stewart J. Schwab, 2006. "The Costs of Wrongful-Discharge Laws," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 211-231, May.
    32. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence From US States," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 189-217, June.
    33. Koeniger, Winfried, 2005. "Dismissal costs and innovation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 79-84, July.
    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. Edinson Tolentino Raymondi, 2021. "El papel de la formalidad en el acceso al crédito para las micro y pequeñas empresas," Revista de Análisis Económico y Financiero, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, vol. 4(02), pages 01-06.
    2. Sebastian Butschek & Jan Sauermann, 2024. "The Effect of Employment Protection on Firms’ Worker Selection," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(6), pages 1981-2020.
    3. Almeida, Carlo Alano Soares de & Fernandes, Kaio César & Oliveira, Denison Murilo de & Rocha, Leonardo Andrade & Silva, Napiê Galvê Araújo, 2020. "Growth and heterogeneity of human capital: effects of the expansion of higher education on the income increase in Brazilian municipalities," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    4. Grodzicki, Maciej J. & Możdżeń, Michał, 2021. "Central and Eastern European economies in a Goldilocks age: A model of labor market institutional choice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    5. Bratti, Massimiliano & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2018. "Employment Protection, Temporary Contracts and Firm-Provided Training: Evidence from Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 11339, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Qiao, Lu & Fei, Junjun, 2022. "Government subsidies, enterprise operating efficiency, and “stiff but deathless” zombie firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Braunerhjelm, Pontus & Ding, Ding & Thulin, Per, 2020. "Labour market mobility, knowledge diffusion and innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Makoto Masui, 2020. "The determinants of employers’ use of temporary contracts in the frictional labor market," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 803-834, November.
    9. Chengde You & Huishan Qiu & Zhuojie Pi & Mengyuan Yu, 2023. "Sustainable Enterprise Development in the Manufacturing Sector: Flexible Employment and Innovation in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-30, May.

    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. Kozlovskaya, A. N. & Rukhman, E. E., 2017. "Identification of regional labor factors of influence on costs for innovation of enterprises in the region," R-Economy, Ural Federal University, Graduate School of Economics and Management, vol. 3(4), pages 243-250.
    2. John Martin & Stefano Scarpetta, 2012. "Setting It Right: Employment Protection, Labour Reallocation and Productivity," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 89-116, June.
    3. Alexandre Janiak & Etienne Wasmer, 2014. "Employment protection and capital-labor ratios," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03460272, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:journl:hal-01061024 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2017. "Firm dynamics and employment protection: Evidence from sectoral data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 35-53.
    6. Li, Guangzhong & Fujiyama, Keishi & Wu, Cen & Zheng, Ying, 2024. "Employment protection, corporate governance, and labor productivity around the World," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Bjuggren, Carl Magnus, 2013. "The Effect of Employment Protection Rules on Firm Productivity - A Natural Experiment," HUI Working Papers 82, HUI Research, revised 30 Oct 2013.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2a53rsm0o89kn9vjs4dhjqnvn5 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Andreas Bastgen, 2024. "Does the effect of employment protection depend on the composition of unemployment?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 58(1), pages 1-28, December.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    11. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bratti, Massimiliano & Conti, Maurizio & Sulis, Giovanni, 2019. "Employment Protection and Firm-Provided Training: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Labour Market Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 12773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Aradhna Aggarwal & Takahiro Sato, 2011. "Firm Dynamics and Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing: Evidence from Plant Level Panel Dataset," Discussion Paper Series DP2011-07, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    14. Alexandre Janiak & Etienne Wasmer, 2012. "EPL and capital-labor ratios," Documentos de Trabajo 288, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    15. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/3aom2mve1k829p8sp4h3vrpgkg is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3aom2mve1k829p8sp4h3vrpgkg is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Alexandre Janiak & Etienne Wasmer, 2014. "Employment protection and capital-labor ratios," SciencePo Working papers hal-03460272, HAL.
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Alexandre Janiak & Etienne Wasmer, 2014. "Employment protection and capital-labor ratios," SciencePo Working papers hal-01061024, HAL.
    20. Andrea Bassanini & Luca Nunziata & Danielle Venn, 2009. "Job protection legislation and productivity growth in OECD countries [Appropriate growth policy: a unifying framework]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 24(58), pages 349-402.
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Etienne Wasmer & Alexandre Janiak, 2014. "Employment protection and capital-labor ratios," Sciences Po Economics Discussion Papers 2014-11, Sciences Po Departement of Economics.
    23. Mirella Damiani & Fabrizio Pompei & Andrea Ricci, 2011. "Temporary job protection and productivity growth in EU economies," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 87/2011, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    24. Bassanini, Andrea & Garnero, Andrea, 2013. "Dismissal protection and worker flows in OECD countries: Evidence from cross-country/cross-industry data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 25-41.
    25. Dossche, Maarten & Lewis, Vivien & Poilly, Céline, 2019. "Employment, hours and the welfare effects of intra-firm bargaining," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 67-84.
    26. Nico Dewaelheyns & Cynthia Van Hulle & Yannick Van Landuyt & Mathias Verreydt, 2021. "Labor Contracts, Wages and SME Failure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-15, July.
    27. Haltiwanger, John & Scarpetta, Stefano & Schweiger, Helena, 2014. "Cross country differences in job reallocation: The role of industry, firm size and regulations," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 11-25.
    28. Leo Kaas & Philipp Kircher, 2015. "Efficient Firm Dynamics in a Frictional Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3030-3060, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    employment protection; firing costs; innovations; patents; productivity; market imperfections;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

    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:ces:ceswps:_5275. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.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.