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Labor Market "Rigidity" and the Success of Economic Reforms Across more than One Hundred Countries

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Author Info
Alvaro Forteza () (Departmento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República)
Martín Rama () (Development Research Group, World Bank)

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Abstract

This paper shows that labor market policies and institutions have an impact on the effectiveness of economic reform programs. The analysis compares annual growth rates across 119 countries, using data from 449 adjustment credits and loans given by the World Bank between 1980 and 1996. The results indicate that countries with relatively “rigid” labor markets experienced deeper recessions before adjustment and slower recoveries afterwards. The paper also disentagles the mechanisms through which labor market “rigidity” operates. It finds that minimum wages and mandatory benefits have a marginal impact only. The size and strength of organized labor, on the other hand, appear to be crucial. Labor market rigidity thus seem to be relevant for political reasons, more than for economic reasons. The paper shows that these findings are robust to changes in the sample and specification. Overall, the results suggest that insufficient attention has been paid to the compensation of vocal groups who stand to lose from economic reforms.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics - dECON in its series Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) with number 0600.

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Length: 47 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2000
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Handle: RePEc:ude:wpaper:0600

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References listed on IDEAS
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.:
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  8. Easterly, William & Loayza, Norman & Montiel, Peter, 1997. "Has Latin America's post-reform growth been disappointing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 287-311, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Jeffrey Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Progress of Global Integration," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1733, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
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  25. Rama, Martin, 1997. " Labor Market Institutions and the Second-Best Tariff," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 99(2), pages 299-314, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
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  1. Stepan Jurajda & Janet Mitchell, 2001. "Markets and Growth," GE, Growth, Math methods 0111001, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Bussolo, Maurizio & Medvedev, Denis, 2007. "Do remittances have a flip side ? A general equilibrium analysis of remittances, labor supply responses, and policy options for Jamaica," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4143, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  3. Frank Stephen & David Urbano & Stefan Hemmen, 2009. "The responsiveness of entrepreneurs to working time regulations," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 259-276, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Víctor O. Lima & Ricardo D. Paredes, 2007. "The dynamics of the labor markets in Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 34(2 Year 20), pages 163-183, December. [Downloadable!]
  5. Loayza, Norman V. & Oviedo, Ana Maria & Serven, Luis, 2005. "Regulation and macroeconomic performance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3469, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. John W. Dawson & John J. Seater, 2005. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Federal Regulation," Working Papers 05-02, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University. [Downloadable!]
  7. Derk Bienen, 2002. "Mindestlohnreformen in Südamerika – ökonomische Rechtfertigung und praktische Umsetzung," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 090, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  8. Chong, Alberto & Gradstein, Mark, 2006. "Inequality and Informality," CEPR Discussion Papers 5545, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Guillermo Javier Vuletin, 2008. "Measuring the Informal Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean," IMF Working Papers 08/102, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  10. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Russell D. Murphy, 2006. "Labor market flexibility and investment in human capital," Working Papers e06-5, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Rama, Martin, 2003. "Globalization and workers in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2958, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Elías Albagli & Pablo García & Jorge Restrepo, 2004. "Labor Market Rigidity and Structural Shocks: An Open-Economy Approach for International Comparisons," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 263, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
  13. Alvaro Forteza & Daniel Buquet & Mario Ibarburu & Jorge Lanzaro & Andrés Pereyra & Eduardo Siandra & Marcel Vaillant, 2003. "Understanding reform. The Uruguayan case," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0603, Department of Economics - dECON. [Downloadable!]
  14. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer & Juan Botero, 2003. "The Regulation of Labor," NBER Working Papers 9756, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. César Calderón & Alberto Chong & Gianmarco León, 2006. "Institutional Enforcement, Labor-Market Rigidities, and Economic Performance," RES Working Papers 4492, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Rémi Bazillier & Nicolas Sirven, 2006. "Les normes fondamentales du travail contribuent-elles à réduire les inégalités ?," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques bla06016, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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