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Product Market Regulation, Firm Size, Unemployment and Informality in Developing Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Charlot
  • Franck Malherbet
  • Cristina Terra

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of product and labor market regulations on the number and size of firms in the formal and informal sectors, as well as on relative wages, relative size of the two sectors and overall unemployment. We show that entry costs in the formal sector tend to make informal firms smaller and more numerous than informal firms, i.e., such costs render the informal sector relatively more competitive. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce informality without increasing unemployment or reducing workers’ wage by reducing entry costs in the formal sector rather than reducing labor market regulations. We also highlight a number of externalities stemming from labor and product market imperfections, allowing the size of those distortions to differ across sectors. We show that, while the so-called overhiring externality takes place in both sectors, this translates into a smaller relative size of the informal sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet & Cristina Terra, 2010. "Product Market Regulation, Firm Size, Unemployment and Informality in Developing Economies," Cahiers de recherche 1043, CIRPEE.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1043
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    File URL: http://www.cirpee.org/fileadmin/documents/Cahiers_2010/CIRPEE10-43.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bosch, Mariano & Goni, Edwin & Maloney, William, 2007. "The determinants of rising informality in Brazil : Evidence from gross worker flows," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4375, The World Bank.
    2. 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.
    3. Gustavo Gonzaga, 2003. "Labor Turnover and Labor Legislation in Brazil," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2003), pages 165-222, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Baksa & Zsuzsa Munkacsi, 2016. "Aging, (Pension) Reforms and the Shadow Economy in Southern Europe," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 32, Bank of Lithuania.
    2. Adams, Abass & Cantah, William Godfred & Wiafe, Emmanuel Agyapong, 2014. "Income Insecurity, Job Insecurity and the Drift towards Self-employment in SSA," MPRA Paper 59615, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet & Mustafa Ulus, 2016. "Unemployment Compensation and the Allocation of Labor in Developing Countries," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(3), pages 385-416, June.
    4. Therese REBIERE, 2011. "Informal labor market and access to education in developing economies," EcoMod2011 2861, EcoMod.
    5. Azunre, Gideon Abagna & Amponsah, Owusu & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Urban informalities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A solution for or barrier against sustainable city development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Arnab K. Basu & Nancy H. Chau & Ravi Kanbur, 2015. "Contractual Dualism, Market Power and Informality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(589), pages 1534-1573, December.
    7. Gabriel Ulyssea, 2018. "Firms, Informality, and Development: Theory and Evidence from Brazil," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(8), pages 2015-2047, August.
    8. Paul Maarek & Elsa Orgiazzi, 2014. "Labor Share and development," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes 1 & University of Caen) 201410, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes 1, University of Caen and CNRS.
    9. Rahul Anand & Purva Khera, 2016. "Macroeconomic Impact of Product and Labor Market Reforms on Informality and Unemployment in India," IMF Working Papers 2016/047, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Kameliia Petrova, 2016. "Entrepreneurship And The Informal Economy: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(02), pages 1-21, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informality; product and labor; market imperfections; firm size;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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