Financing structural change, venture capital, and unemployment : what is the role of investor protection?

This paper analyzes the real effects of differences in structures on financial markets, especially concerning quasi-equilibrium unemployment. It argues that a vibrant venture capital market is an important prerequisite for financing structural change and thus for keeping unemployment low in the ongoing transition to the new economy . It furthermore points out the crucial importance of extensive investor protection in this respect. A thriving venture capital market is therefore at odds with the corporatist politicoeconomic equilibrium in continental European countries involving extensive protection of insiders on labor as well as on financial markets.