In Germany, many labour laws and regulations apply only in establishments above a critical size, and usually these thresholds are defined by the number of employees. The existing 160 thresholds are complex and defined inconsistently, making it difficult for firms to obey the law. Moreover,...

German labour law contains a large number of thresholds. These indicate which number of employees in the establishment is needed so that the law or regulation comes into effect. The paper shows how different definitions of the term number of employeesʺ can make it difficult for enterprises to...

Are workers in modern economies working "too hard" - would they be better off if an equilibrium with fewer work hours were achieved? We examine changes in life satisfaction of Japanese and Koreans over a period when hours of work were cut exogenously because employers suddenly faced an overtime...

This paper exploits tenure-dependence in the design of employment protection legislation (EPL) to identify its equilibrium impacts. In our setting, Brazil, EPL applies after a three-month probationary period, incentivizing firms to terminate jobs at exactly 3 months. We develop a structural...

Do changes in the IPO regulatory environment affect private firms' exit choices, bargaining abilities, and valuations? Using the JOBS Act as an exogenous shock to the exit decisions among private firms, we observe that their valuations as M&A targets increase by 36% after the Act, negatively...

Over the last decade, 11 states have restricted employers' access to the credit reports of job applicants. We document a significant decline in county-level vacancies after these laws were enacted: Job postings fall by 5.5 percent in affected occupations relative to exempt occupations in the...

Mandatory restrictions in employment law, designed to promote the welfare of workers, are debated fiercely. Proponents argue that they protect workers. Opponents believe that they spawn inefficiency and harm workers. Yet all agree that their welfare implications depend on their degree of...