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Does Employment Protection Inhibit Technical Diffusion?

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  • Roberto M Samaniego

Abstract

I ask whether differences in labor market performance between the US and Europe can be attributed to an interaction between employment protection legislation (EPL) and an acceleration in the rate of capital-embodied technical change associated with the advent of information technologies. I find that EPL is associated with a slowing in the diffusion of new technologies. I also find that an acceleration in the rate of embodied technical change has a negligible effect on employment in an undistorted economy. In addition, in the presence of EPL, employment decreases in the long run after such a shock

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  • Roberto M Samaniego, 2004. "Does Employment Protection Inhibit Technical Diffusion?," Computing in Economics and Finance 2004 51, Society for Computational Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:sce:scecf4:51
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    Cited by:

    1. Parente, Stephen L. & Prescott, Edward C., 2005. "A Unified Theory of the Evolution of International Income Levels," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1371-1416, Elsevier.
    2. Takashi Kamihigashi & John Stachurski, 2011. "Existence, Stability and Computation of Stationary Distributions: An Extension of the Hopenhayn-Prescott Theorem," Discussion Paper Series DP2011-32, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    3. Roberto M. Samaniego, 2008. "Entry, Exit and Investment-Specific Technical Change, Second Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 09-020, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 08 Dec 2008.
    4. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-086 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Takashi Kamihigashi & John Stachurski, 2011. "Stability of Stationary Distributions in Monotone Economies," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2011-561, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    6. Roberto M. Samaniego, 2008. "Entry, Exit and Business Cycles in a General Equilibrium Model," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(3), pages 529-541, July.
    7. Kamihigashi, Takashi & Stachurski, John, 2016. "Seeking ergodicity in dynamic economies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 900-924.
    8. Barbosa, Natália & Faria, Ana Paula, 2011. "Innovation across Europe: How important are institutional differences?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1157-1169.
    9. Cook, David & Xu, Juanyi, 2015. "Eurosclerosis and international business cycles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 54-67.
    10. Takashi Kamihigashi & John Stachurski, 2014. "Interlinkage between Real Exchange rate and Current Account Behaviors: Evidence from India," Working Papers 2014-86, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    11. Roberto M. Samaniego, 2010. "Entry, Exit, and Investment-Specific Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 164-192, March.
    12. Samaniego, Roberto M. & Sun, Juliana Y., 2019. "Uncertainty, depreciation and industry growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Roberto M. Samaniego, 2006. "Employment Protection and High-Tech Aversion," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(2), pages 224-241, April.
    14. , & ,, 2014. "Stochastic stability in monotone economies," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(2), May.
    15. Takashi Kamihigashi & John Stachurski, 2012. "Existence, Uniqueness and Stability of Stationary Distributions: An Extension of the Hopenhayn-Prescott Theorem," Discussion Paper Series DP2012-27, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    16. Alireza Javanmardi Kashan & Kavoos Mohannak, 2017. "The Role of Knowledge Integration in Capability Development and Emergence of Innovation Ecosystem," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(05), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Kerstin Hotte & Melline Somers & Angelos Theodorakopoulos, 2022. "Technology and jobs: A systematic literature review," Papers 2204.01296, arXiv.org.
    18. James J. Heckman, 2002. "Flexibility and Job Creation: Lessons for Germany," NBER Working Papers 9194, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Hansen, G.D. & Ohanian, L.E., 2016. "Neoclassical Models in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2043-2130, Elsevier.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    embodiment; vintage capital; dismissal costs; employment protection; information technology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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