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Institutional enforcement, labor-market rigidities, and economic performance

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  • Calderon, Cesar
  • Chong, Alberto
  • Leon, Gianmarco

Abstract

This paper study the issue of institutional enforcement of regulations by focusing on labor-market policies and their potential link to economic performance. It test the different impacts of enforceable and non-enforceable labor regulations by proxying non-enforceable labor rigidity measures using data on conventions from the International Labor Organization (ILO). It has been argued that non-enforceable conventions -that is, those that exist on paper and are simply de jure regulations -appear to be more distortionary and tend to be the least enforced in practice (Squire and Suthiwart-Narueput, 1997). According to Freeman (1993), these conventions reflect the ideal regulatory framework from an institutionalist perspective and cover a variety of labor market issues, from child labor to placement agencies. Whereas in theory, a country's ratification of ILO conventions gives the country legal status and thus supersedes domestic regulations relating to those issues, in practice the degree of labor-market rigidity depends on how the conventions are enforced. It is the outcome of the regulations that matters, rather than their number.
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  • Calderon, Cesar & Chong, Alberto & Leon, Gianmarco, 2007. "Institutional enforcement, labor-market rigidities, and economic performance," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 38-49, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:8:y:2007:i:1:p:38-49
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    3. Chen, Shiyi & Jefferson, Gary H. & Zhang, Jun, 2011. "Structural change, productivity growth and industrial transformation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 133-150, March.
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    5. Ksenia V. Rozhkova & Sergey Yu. Roshchin & Sergey A. Solntsev, 2018. "Wage Adjustment Policies In Russian Firms," HSE Working papers WP BRP 205/EC/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    6. Kang Zhao & Rui Zhang & Hong Liu & Geyi Wang & Xialing Sun, 2021. "Resource Endowment, Industrial Structure, and Green Development of the Yellow River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.

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