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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
Forteza, Alvaro
Rama, Martin

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Abstract

The authors show that labor market policies and institutions affect the effectiveness of economic reform programs. They compare annual growth rates across 119 countries, using data from 449 World Bank adjustment credits and loans between 1980 and 1996. The results indicate that countries with relatively rigid labor markets experienced deeper recessions before adjustment and slower recoveries afterward. The results also disentangle the mechanisms through which labor market rigidity operates. They find that minimum wages and mandatory benefits do not hurt growth. But the relative size of organized labor (in government and elsewhere) appears to matter. Labor market rigidity seems to be relevant more for political reasons than for economic reasons. The authors'findings suggest that not enough attention has been paid to vocal groups (urban, middle-class groups) that stand to lose from economic reform. The implications of the findings for policymakers: There should be less focus on deregulating the labor market and more on defusing the opposition of (vocal) losers. The results are robust to changes in measurement, controls, and sample, and do not suffer from self-selection bias.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 2521.

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Date of creation: 31 Jan 2001
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:2521

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Related research
Keywords: Achieving Shared Growth; Inequality; Health Economics&Finance; Labor Standards; Environmental Economics&Policies;

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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.:
  1. Squire, Lyn & Suthiwart-Narueput, Sethaput, 1997. "The Impact of Labor Market Regulations," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 119-43, January.
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  2. Guillermo A. Calvo & Carlos A. Vegh, 1999. "Inflation Stabilization and BOP Crises in Developing Countries," NBER Working Papers 6925, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Arellano, Manuel & Bond, Stephen, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 58(2), pages 277-97, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  5. Francisco Rodriguez & Dani Rodrik, 1999. "Trade Policy and Economic Growth: A Skeptic's Guide to the Cross-national Evidence," Electronic Working Papers 99-003, University of Maryland, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. 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 1146-55, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Federico Echenique & Alvaro Forteza, 2000. "Are stabilization programs expansionary?," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 15(1), pages 65-89. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-63, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Islam, Nazrul, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-70, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. James J. Heckman & Carmen Pages, 2000. "The Cost of Job Security Regulation: Evidence from Latin American Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 7773, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. 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)
  13. Edwards, Sebastian, 1988. "Terms of Trade, Tariffs, and Labor Market Adjustment in Developing Countries," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 165-85, May.
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  15. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995-1), pages 1-118. [Downloadable!]
  16. 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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  17. Francisco Rodriguez & Dani Rodrik, 1999. "Trade Policy and Economic Growth: A Skeptic's Guide to Cross-National Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7081, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Rama, Martin, 1999. "Public Sector Downsizing: An Introduction," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, January.
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  20. Haltiwanger, John & Singh, Manisha, 1999. "Cross-Country Evidence on Public Sector Retrenchment," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 23-66, January.
  21. Karras, Georgios, 1999. "Openness and the effects of monetary policy," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 13-26, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Alesina, A. & Drazen, A., 1991. "Why Are Stabilizations Delayed?," Papers 6-91, Tel Aviv - the Sackler Institute of Economic Studies.
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  23. Fallon, Peter R & Lucas, Robert E B, 1991. "The Impact of Changes in Job Security Regulations in India and Zimbabwe," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 395-413, September.
  24. Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "I Just Ran Two Million Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 178-83, May. [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. 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. Chong, Alberto & Gradstein, Mark, 2006. "Inequality and Informality," CEPR Discussion Papers 5545, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Guillermo Javier Vuletin, 2008. "Measuring the Informal Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean," IMF Working Papers 08/102, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  9. Rama, Martin, 2003. "Globalization and workers in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2958, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. 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!]
  11. 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:
  12. 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!]
  13. 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!]
  14. 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!]
  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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