IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejmac/v13y2013i1p21n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The macroeconomic effects of the 35-h workweek regulation in France

Author

Listed:
  • Du Zaichao

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China)

  • Yin Hua

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China)

  • Zhang Lin

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China)

Abstract

The 35-h workweek regulation, fully adopted in France in 2000, has been one of the most significant regulatory shocks imposed on any large economy. Yet the effects of the regulation remain controversial. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of the 35-h workweek regulation on unemployment and real GDP in France using a counterfactual analysis. We exploit the dependence of unemployment and GDP growth among different economic entities and construct the counterfactuals using data from countries other than France. We find that the 35-h workweek regulation reduced France’s annual unemployment rate by 1.58% and raised the real GDP by 1.36% from 2000 to 2007.

Suggested Citation

  • Du Zaichao & Yin Hua & Zhang Lin, 2013. "The macroeconomic effects of the 35-h workweek regulation in France," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 881-901, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejmac:v:13:y:2013:i:1:p:21:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/bejm-2012-0073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejm-2012-0073
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejm-2012-0073?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laurence Ball & Daniel Leigh & Prakash Loungani, 2017. "Okun's Law: Fit at 50?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(7), pages 1413-1441, October.
    2. Bai, ChongEn & Li, Qi & Ouyang, Min, 2014. "Property taxes and home prices: A tale of two cities," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 180(1), pages 1-15.
    3. Cazes, Sandrine. & Verick, Sher. & Al Hussami, Fares., 2011. "Diverging trends in unemployment in the United States and Europe : evidence from Okun's law and the global financial crisis," ILO Working Papers 994676293402676, International Labour Organization.
    4. Matthieu Bunel, 2004. "Aides incitatives et déterminants des embauches des établissements passés aux 35 heures," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 376(1), pages 91-115.
    5. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/10198 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Matthieu Chemin & Etienne Wasmer, 2009. "Using Alsace-Moselle Local Laws to Build a Difference-in-Differences Estimation Strategy of the Employment Effects of the 35-Hour Workweek Regulation in France," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(4), pages 487-524, October.
    7. Bruno Crépon & Marie Leclair & Sébastien Roux, 2004. "RTT, productivité et emploi : nouvelles estimations sur données d'entreprises," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 376(1), pages 55-89.
    8. Cheng Hsiao & H. Steve Ching & Shui Ki Wan, 2012. "A Panel Data Approach For Program Evaluation: Measuring The Benefits Of Political And Economic Integration Of Hong Kong With Mainland China," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 705-740, August.
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/10198 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Prachowny, Martin F J, 1993. "Okun's Law: Theoretical Foundations and Revised Estimates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(2), pages 331-336, May.
    11. Gregory, Allan W. & Head, Allen C., 1999. "Common and country-specific fluctuations in productivity, investment, and the current account," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 423-451, December.
    12. Alain Gubian & Stéphane Jugnot & Frédéric Lerais & Vladimir Passeron, 2004. "Les effets de la RTT sur l'emploi : des estimations ex ante aux évaluations ex post," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 376(1), pages 25-54.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Strunz, Sebastian & Schindler, Harry, 2018. "Identifying Barriers Toward a Post-growth Economy – A Political Economy View," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 68-77.
    2. Carvalho, Carlos & Masini, Ricardo & Medeiros, Marcelo C., 2018. "ArCo: An artificial counterfactual approach for high-dimensional panel time-series data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 352-380.
    3. John Komlos, 2015. "How Natural Is the Natural Rate of Unemployment?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(2), pages 160-167, March.
    4. Simone d’alessandro & Tiziano Distefano & Guilherme Spinato Morlin & Davide Villani, 2023. "Policy Responses to Labour-Saving Technologies: Basic Income, Job Guarantee, and Working Time Reduction," JRC Working Papers on Social Classes in the Digital Age 2023-09, Joint Research Centre.
    5. John Komlos, 2016. "Unemployment in a Just Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 5974, CESifo.
    6. Du, Zaichao & Yin, Hua & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Foreign buyer taxes and house prices in Canada: A tale of two cities," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    7. Strunz, Sebastian & Schindler, Harry, 2017. "Identifying barriers towards a post-growth economy: A political economy view," UFZ Discussion Papers 6/2017, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).

    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. Zhang, Linling & Long, Ruyin & Chen, Hong, 2019. "Do car restriction policies effectively promote the development of public transport?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 100-110.
    2. Antal, Miklós, 2014. "Green goals and full employment: Are they compatible?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 276-286.
    3. Philippe Askenazy, 2013. "Working time regulation in France from 1996 to 2012," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(2), pages 323-347.
    4. Li, Hongjun & Li, Qi & Shi, Yutang, 2017. "Determining the number of factors when the number of factors can increase with sample size," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 197(1), pages 76-86.
    5. Askenazy, Philippe, 2008. "A Primer on the 35-Hour in France, 1997–2007," IZA Discussion Papers 3402, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Costas KARFAKIS & Constantinos KATRAKILIDIS & Eftychia TSANANA, 2014. "Does output predict unemployment? A look at Okun's law in Greece," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(3), pages 421-433, September.
    7. Christian Gianella, 2006. "Les trente-cinq heures : un réexamen des effets sur l'emploi," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 175(4), pages 163-178.
    8. Shabir Mohsin Hashmi & Ali Gul Khushik & Muhammad Akram Gilal & Zhao Yongliang, 2021. "The Impact of GDP and Its Expenditure Components on Unemployment Within BRICS Countries: Evidence of Okun’s Law From Aggregate and Disaggregated Approaches," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    9. Du, Zaichao & Yin, Hua & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Foreign buyer taxes and house prices in Canada: A tale of two cities," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    10. Thomas Obst, 2022. "Dynamic version of Okun’s law in the EU15 countries—The role of delays in the unemployment‐output nexus," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 69(2), pages 225-241, May.
    11. Luya Wang & Zheng Li & Qi Li, 2023. "A Tale of Two Policies: Examining Treatment Effects on Housing Prices in Shenzhen, China," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 24(2), pages 277-288, November.
    12. Marion Cochard & Bérengère Junod-Mesqui & Franck Arnaud & Sébastien Vermare, 2008. "Les effets incitatifs de la prime pour l'emploi : une évaluation difficile," Post-Print hal-03602908, HAL.
    13. Carvalho, Carlos & Masini, Ricardo & Medeiros, Marcelo C., 2018. "ArCo: An artificial counterfactual approach for high-dimensional panel time-series data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 352-380.
    14. Du, Zaichao & Pei, Pei, 2021. "A simple and robust counterfactual impact evaluation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    15. Fujiki, Hiroshi & Hsiao, Cheng, 2015. "Disentangling the effects of multiple treatments—Measuring the net economic impact of the 1995 great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 186(1), pages 66-73.
    16. Durech, Richard & Minea, Alexandru & Mustea, Lavinia & Slusna, Lubica, 2014. "Regional evidence on Okun's Law in Czech Republic and Slovakia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 57-65.
    17. Elhorst, J. Paul & Emili, Silvia, 2022. "A spatial econometric multivariate model of Okun's law," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    18. Yin, Hua & Du, Zaichao & Zhang, Lin, 2018. "Assessing the gains and vulnerability of free trade: A counterfactual analysis of Macau," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 147-158.
    19. Grant, Angelia L., 2018. "The Great Recession and Okun's law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 291-300.
    20. Luya Wang & Jeffrey S. Racine & Qiaoyu Wang, 2024. "Bootstrap Inference on a Factor Model Based Average Treatment Effects Estimator," Department of Economics Working Papers 2024-03, McMaster University.

    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:bpj:bejmac:v:13:y:2013:i:1:p:21:n:2. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.