IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iwhdps/152019.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress

Author

Listed:
  • Setzer, Ralph
  • Stieglitz, Moritz

Abstract

We explore the interaction between labour market reforms and financial frictions. Our study combines a new cross-country reform database on labour market reforms with matched firm-bank data for nine euro area countries over the period 1999 to 2013. While we find that labour market reforms are overall effective in increasing employment, restricted access to bank credit can undo up to half of long-term employment gains at the firm-level. Entrepreneurs without sufficient access to credit cannot reap the full benefits of more flexible employment regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Setzer, Ralph & Stieglitz, Moritz, 2019. "Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress," IWH Discussion Papers 15/2019, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:152019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/200096/1/1668106418.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2017. "Firm Leverage, Consumer Demand, and Employment Losses during the Great Recession," Working Papers 17-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Romain Duval & Davide Furceri, 2018. "The Effects of Labor and Product Market Reforms: The Role of Macroeconomic Conditions and Policies," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(1), pages 31-69, March.
    3. Peter N. Gal & Alexander Hijzen, 2016. "The Short-Term Impact of Product Market Reforms: A cross-country firm-level analysis," IMF Working Papers 2016/116, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Dan Andrews & Filippos Petroulakis, 2017. "Breaking the Shackles: Zombie Firms, Weak Banks and Depressed Restructuring in Europe," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1433, OECD Publishing.
    5. Giannetti, Mariassunta & Ongena, Steven, 2012. "“Lending by example”: Direct and indirect effects of foreign banks in emerging markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 167-180.
    6. Juan C. Botero & Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "The Regulation of Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1339-1382.
    7. Matthew Serfling, 2016. "Firing Costs and Capital Structure Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(5), pages 2239-2286, October.
    8. Robert Z. Lawrence, 2015. "Recent Declines in Labor's Share in US Income: A Preliminary Neoclassical Account," NBER Working Papers 21296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Stephen Morris & Hyun Song Shin, 2016. "Illiquidity Component Of Credit Risk," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 1135-1148, November.
    10. Andrea Ajello, 2016. "Financial Intermediation, Investment Dynamics, and Business Cycle Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(8), pages 2256-2303, August.
    11. Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2004. "Profit Sharing, Credit Market Imperfections and Equilibrium Unemployment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(4), pages 677-701, December.
    12. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8622 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    14. Azizjon Alimov, 2015. "Labor Protection Laws and Bank Loan Contracting," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 37-74.
    15. Laeven, Luc & McAdam, Peter & Popov, Alexander, 2023. "Credit shocks, employment protection, and growth:firm-level evidence from spain," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    16. Edward P. Lazear, 1990. "Job Security Provisions and Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 699-726.
    17. Ezra Oberfield & Devesh Raval, 2021. "Micro Data and Macro Technology," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(2), pages 703-732, March.
    18. Gabriele Ciminelli & Romain Duval & Davide Furceri, 2022. "Employment Protection Deregulation and Labor Shares in Advanced Economies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(6), pages 1174-1190, November.
    19. Krause, Michael U. & Uhlig, Harald, 2012. "Transitions in the German labor market: Structure and crisis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 64-79.
    20. Masuch, Klaus & Anderton, Robert & Setzer, Ralph & Benalal, Nicholai, 2018. "Structural policies in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 210, European Central Bank.
    21. Etienne Wasmer & Philippe Weil, 2004. "The Macroeconomics of Labor and Credit Market Imperfections," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 944-963, September.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2a53rsm0o89kn9vjs4dhjqnvn5 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Luc Laeven & David Moreno, 2022. "Debt Overhang, Rollover Risk, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from the European Crisis," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2353-2395.
    24. Murphy, Kevin M & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1989. "Industrialization and the Big Push," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1003-1026, October.
    25. Federico Cingano & Marco Leonardi & Julián Messina & Giovanni Pica, 2010. "The effects of employment protection legislation and financial market imperfections on investment: evidence from a firm-level panel of EU countries [Technology and labour regulations]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 25(61), pages 117-163.
    26. Philippe Weil & Etienne Wasmer, 2004. "The macroeconomics of credit and labor market imperfections," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/13436, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    27. Bibek Adhikari & Romain Duval & Bingjie Hu & Prakash Loungani, 2018. "Can Reform Waves Turn the Tide? Some Case Studies using the Synthetic Control Method," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 879-910, September.
    28. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Alexandre Janiak & Etienne Wasmer, 2014. "Employment protection and capital-labor ratios," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03460272, HAL.
    30. Duygan-Bump, Burcu & Levkov, Alexey & Montoriol-Garriga, Judit, 2015. "Financing constraints and unemployment: Evidence from the Great Recession," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 89-105.
    31. Tito Boeri & Pietro Garibaldi & Espen R Moen, 2013. "Financial Shocks and Labor: Facts and Theories," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 631-663, December.
    32. Marco Pagano & Paolo F. Volpin, 2005. "The Political Economy of Corporate Governance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1005-1030, September.
    33. Mr. Romain A Duval & Davide Furceri & Bingjie Hu & João Tovar Jalles & Huy Nguyen, 2018. "A Narrative Database of Major Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Economies," IMF Working Papers 2018/019, International Monetary Fund.
    34. Romain Duval & Davide Furceri & Joao Jalles, 2020. "Job protection deregulation in good and bad times," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 370-390.
    35. Angana Banerji & Valerio Crispolti & Era Dabla-Norris & Romain A Duval & Christian H Ebeke & Davide Furceri & Takuji Komatsuzaki & Tigran Poghosyan, 2017. "Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Economies; Fiscal Costs, Gains, and Support," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 17/03, International Monetary Fund.
    36. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Ferrando, Annalisa & Giombini, Germana, 2014. "Does employment protection legislation affect firm investment? The European case," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 658-665.
    37. Gilles Saint-Paul, 2002. "The Political Economy of Employment Protection," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 672-701, June.
    38. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow & Benjamin A. Malin, 2013. "Testing for Keynesian Labor Demand," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(1), pages 311-349.
    39. Federico Cingano & Marco Leonardi & Julián Messina & Giovanni Pica, 2016. "Employment Protection Legislation, Capital Investment and Access to Credit: Evidence from Italy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(595), pages 1798-1822, September.
    40. Romain Duval & Gee Hee Hong & Yannick Timmer & Philip Strahan, 2020. "Financial Frictions and the Great Productivity Slowdown," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 475-503.
    41. Joan Farre-Mensa & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2016. "Do Measures of Financial Constraints Measure Financial Constraints?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 271-308.
    42. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3aom2mve1k829p8sp4h3vrpgkg is not listed on IDEAS
    43. Romain Bouis & Mr. Romain A Duval & Johannes Eugster, 2016. "Product Market Deregulation and Growth: New Country-Industry-Level Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2016/114, International Monetary Fund.
    44. Andrea Bassanini & Federico Cingano, 2019. "Before It Gets Better: The Short-Term Employment Costs of Regulatory Reforms," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(1), pages 127-157, January.
    45. Şebnem Kalemli- Özcan & Bent E. Sørensen & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez & Vadym Volosovych & Sevcan Yeşiltaş, 2024. "How to Construct Nationally Representative Firm-Level Data from the Orbis Global Database: New Facts on SMEs and Aggregate Implications for Industry Concentration," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 353-374, April.
    46. Thomas Tørsløv & Ludvig Wier & Gabriel Zucman, 2023. "The Missing Profits of Nations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(3), pages 1499-1534.
    47. Mr. Tom Krebs & Mr. Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Working Papers 2013/042, International Monetary Fund.
    48. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Giombini, Germana & Saltari, Enrico, 2009. "Financial and labor market imperfections and investment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 22-26, January.
    49. Storz, Manuela & Koetter, Michael & Setzer, Ralph & Westphal, Andreas, 2017. "Do we want these two to tango? On zombie firms and stressed banks in Europe," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    50. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8622 is not listed on IDEAS
    51. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Bent Sorensen & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez & Vadym Volosovych & Sevcan Yesiltas, 2015. "How to Construct Nationally Representative Firm Level Data from the Orbis Global Database: New Facts and Aggregate Implications," NBER Working Papers 21558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    52. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    53. Angana Banerji & Mr. Valerio Crispolti & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Mr. Romain A Duval & Mr. Christian H Ebeke & Davide Furceri & Mr. Takuji Komatsuzaki & Mr. Tigran Poghosyan, 2017. "Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Economies: Fiscal Costs, Gains, and Support," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2017/003, International Monetary Fund.
    54. Francisco Buera & Roberto Fattal-Jaef & Yongseok Shin, 2015. "Anatomy of a Credit Crunch: From Capital to Labor Markets," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(1), pages 101-117, January.
    55. Sílvio Rendon, 2004. "Job Creation and Investment in Imperfect Capital and Labor Markets," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/35, Centro de Estudios Andaluces.
    56. Luiza Antoun de Almeida & Vybhavi Balasundharam, 2018. "On the Impact of Structural Reforms on Output and Employment: Evidence from a Cross-country Firm-level Analysis," IMF Working Papers 2018/073, International Monetary Fund.
    57. Antràs Pol, 2004. "Is the U.S. Aggregate Production Function Cobb-Douglas? New Estimates of the Elasticity of Substitution," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, April.
    58. Da Silva, António Dias & Givone, Audrey & Sondermann, David, 2017. "When do countries implement structural reforms?," Working Paper Series 2078, European Central Bank.
    59. Giorgio Calcagnini & Annalisa Ferrando & Germana Giombini, 2015. "Multiple market imperfections, firm profitability and investment," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 95-120, August.
    60. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2017. "Firm Leverage, Consumer Demand, and Employment Losses During the Great Recession," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(1), pages 271-316.
    61. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ennjqtovk8lvprrqlro5ni69v is not listed on IDEAS
    62. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Bank governance, regulation and risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 259-275, August.
    63. John (Jianqiu) Bai & Douglas Fairhurst & Matthew Serfling & David Denis, 2020. "Employment Protection, Investment, and Firm Growth," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 644-688.
    64. Stephen Morris & Hyun Song Shin, 2016. "Illiquidity Component Of Credit Risk – The 2015 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1135-1148, November.
    65. Moro, Andrea & Maresch, Daniela & Ferrando, Annalisa & Udell, Gregory F., 2017. "Does employment protection legislation affect credit access? Evidence from Europe," Working Paper Series 2063, European Central Bank.
    66. Michael Schwert, 2018. "Bank Capital and Lending Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(2), pages 787-830, April.
    67. Johannes F. Schmieder & Till von Wachter & Stefan Bender, 2016. "The Effect of Unemployment Benefits and Nonemployment Durations on Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 739-777, March.
    68. Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, 2014. "The Employment Effects of Credit Market Disruptions: Firm-level Evidence from the 2008-9 Financial Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 1-59.
    69. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
    70. Elena Simintzi & Vikrant Vig & Paolo Volpin, 2015. "Labor Protection and Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 561-591.
    71. Sørensen, Bent E & Kalemli-Özcan, Sebnem & Volosovych, Vadym & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina & Yesiltas, Sevcan, 2015. "How to construct nationally representative firm level data from the ORBIS global database," CEPR Discussion Papers 10829, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    72. Andrea Caggese & Vicente Cuñat, 2008. "Financing Constraints and Fixed‐term Employment Contracts," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(533), pages 2013-2046, November.
    73. repec:hal:journl:hal-01061024 is not listed on IDEAS
    74. Fernandez, Raquel & Rodrik, Dani, 1991. "Resistance to Reform: Status Quo Bias in the Presence of Individual-Specific Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1146-1155, December.
    75. ., 2019. "The wider context: employment and social protection," Chapters, in: Dependent Self-Employment, chapter 8, pages 161-180, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    76. Tom Krebs & Martin Scheffel, 2013. "Macroeconomic Evaluation of Labor Market Reform in Germany," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 61(4), pages 664-701, December.
    77. Romain A Duval & Davide Furceri & Jakob Miethe, 2018. "The Needle in the Haystack: What Drives Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Countries?," IMF Working Papers 2018/101, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ozan Güler & Mike Mariathasan & Klaas Mulier & Nejat G. Okatan, 2021. "The real effects of banks' corporate credit supply: A literature review," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1252-1285, July.
    2. Andrea Caggese & Ozan Guler & Mike Mariathasan & Klaas Mulier, 2022. "Firing Costs and Productivity: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Working Papers 1376, Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Karpuz, Ahmet & Kim, Kirak & Ozkan, Neslihan, 2020. "Employment protection laws and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    4. Vincenzo Pezone, 2023. "The Real Effects of Judicial Enforcement," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 889-933.
    5. Mr. JaeBin Ahn & Mr. Romain A Duval & Can Sever, 2020. "Macroeconomic Policy, Product Market Competition, and Growth: The Intangible Investment Channel," IMF Working Papers 2020/025, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Pezone, Vincenzo, 2023. "The real effects of judicial enforcement," Other publications TiSEM 08176032-a171-4f23-8dac-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Giombini, Germana & Travaglini, Giuseppe, 2019. "A theoretical model of imperfect markets and investment," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 237-244.
    8. Elena Crivellaro & Aikaterini Karadimitropoulou, 2019. "The role of financial constraints on labour share developments: macro- and micro-level evidence," Working Papers 257, Bank of Greece.
    9. Bailey, Warren & Muradoglu, Gulnur & Onay, Ceylan & Phylaktis, Kate, 2024. "Foreign investors, firm level productivity, and European economic integration," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Li, Tongxia & Ang, Tze Chuan ‘Chewie’ & Lu, Chun, 2023. "Employment protection and the provision of trade credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    11. Peia, Oana & Romelli, Davide, 2022. "Did financial frictions stifle R&D investment in Europe during the great recession?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    12. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews & Valentine Millot, 2017. "Insolvency Regimes, Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth: Evidence from Firms in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1425, OECD Publishing.
    13. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews & Valentine Millot, 2017. "Insolvency regimes, zombie firms and capital reallocation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1399, OECD Publishing.
    14. Laeven, Luc & McAdam, Peter & Popov, Alexander, 2023. "Credit shocks, employment protection, and growth:firm-level evidence from spain," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    15. Jeon, Haejun & Cui, Xue & Zhang, Chuanqian, 2023. "The effects of labor choice on investment and output dynamics," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    16. Isa Camyar & Bahar Ulupinar, 2019. "Electoral systems and the economy: a firm-level analysis," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-30, March.
    17. Masuch, Klaus & Anderton, Robert & Setzer, Ralph & Benalal, Nicholai, 2018. "Structural policies in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 210, European Central Bank.
    18. Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Luc Laeven & David Moreno, 2022. "Debt Overhang, Rollover Risk, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from the European Crisis," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2353-2395.
    19. Fangfang Hou & Elisabetta Magnani & Xinpeng Xu, 2022. "International capital markets and domestic employment: Evidence from worldwide publicly listed large firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 220-250, January.
    20. Francis, Bill B. & Kim, Incheol & Wang, Bin & Zhang, Zhengyi, 2018. "Labor law and innovation revisited," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1-15.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    labour market reforms; bank stress; employment protection; unemployment insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J80 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - General
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

    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:zbw:iwhdps:152019. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwhhhde.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.