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Assessing the Political Viability of Labour Market Reform: The Case of Employment Protection

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Author Info
Saint-Paul, Gilles

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Abstract

This paper develops a model of job creation and job destruction in a growing economy with embodied technical progress, that we use to analyze the political support for employment protection legislations such as the ones that are observed in most European countries. We analyze the possibility of Condorcet cycles due to the fact that workers about to become unemployed prefer both an increase and a reduction in firing costs over the status quo. Despite this problem, we show the existence of local, and sometimes global majority winners. In voting in favour of employment protection, incumbent employees trade off lower living standards (because employment protection maintains workers in less productive activities) against longer job duration. We show that the gains from, and consequently the political support for employment protection (as defined by maximum job tenure) are larger, the lower the rate of creative destruction and the larger the worker's bargaining power. Numerical simulations suggest a hump-shaped response of firing costs to these variables, as well as a negative impact of exogenous turnover on employment protection.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 2136.

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Date of creation: Apr 1999
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2136

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Related research
Keywords: Creative Destruction; Firing Costs; Obsolescence; Political Economy; Vintage Capital;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Bentolila, Samuel & Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad Is Eurosclerosis?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(3), pages 381-402, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Mortensen, Dale T & Pissarides, Christopher A, 1994. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 397-415, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Daniel Cohen & Arnaud Lefranc & Gilles Saint-Paul, 1997. "French unemployment: a transatlantic perspective," Economic Policy, CEPR, CES, MSH, vol. 12(25), pages 265-292, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Olivier Blanchard & Pedro Portugal, 1998. "What Hides Behind an Umemployment Rate: Comparing Portuguese and U.S. Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 6636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Caballero, Ricardo J & Hammour, Mohamad L, 1994. "The Cleansing Effect of Recessions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1350-68, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Boeri, Tito & Conde-Ruiz, José Ignacio & Galasso, Vincenzo, 2003. "Protecting Against Labour Market Risk: Employment Protection or Unemployment Benefits?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3990, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Luca Nunziata & Stefano Staffolani, 2001. "On Short-Term Contracts Regulations," Economics Papers 2001-W7, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Tito Boeri & J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Vincenzo Galasso, 2006. "The Political Economy of Flexicurity," Working Papers 2006-15, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  4. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Vincenzo Galasso, 2008. "The Euro and Structural Reforms," NBER Working Papers 14479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Tito Boeri & J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Vincenzo Galasso, . "Cross-skill Redistribution and the Tradeoff between Unemployment Benefits and Employment Protection," Working Papers 2004-26, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Andrea Vindigni, 2002. "Uncertainty and the Politics of Employment Protection," Working Papers 844, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
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