This paper investigates the role that idiosyncratic uncertainty plays in shaping social preferences over the degree of labor market flexibility, in a general equilibrium model of dynamic labor demand where the productivity of firms evolves over time as a Geometric Brownian motion...

This paper analyzes the effect of firing costs on aggregate productivity growth. For thispurpose, a model of endogenous growth through selection and imitation is developed. It isconsistent with recent evidence on firm dynamics and on the importance of reallocation forproductivity growth...

In a perfect labor market severance payments can have no real effects as they can beundone by a properly designed labor contract (Lazear 1990). We give empirical content tothis proposition by estimating the effects of EPL on entry wages and on the tenure-wageprofile in a quasi-experimental...

Firms select not only how many, but also which workers to hire. Yet, in standard searchmodels of the labor market, all workers have the same probability of being hired. We arguethat selective hiring crucially affects welfare analysis. Our model is isomorphic to a searchmodel under random hiring...

This paper provides evidence about the effects of dismissals-for-cause requirements, aspecific component of employment protection legislation that has received little attentiondespite its potential relevance. We study a quasi-natural experiment generated by a lawintroduced in Portugal in 1989:...

This paper analyzes the effect of Product Market Regulation (PMR) on unemployment in asearch model with heterogeneous multiple-worker firms. In our setup, PMR modifies thedistribution of firm productivities, thereby affecting the equilibrium rate of unemployment...

Recent empirical evidence has found that employment services and small-businessassistance programmes are often successful at getting the unemployed back to work. Oneimportant concern of policy makers is to decide which of these two programmes is moreeffective and for whom...

How much do developing countries benefit from foreign investment? We contribute to this question by comparing the employment and wage practices of foreign and domestic firms in Brazil, using detailed matched firm-worker panel data...

This paper empirically establishes the effect of the employer's term of notice on the wage level of employees. The term of notice is defined as the period an employer has to notify workers in advance of their up-coming dismissal. The wages paid during this period are an important element of...

This paper assesses labor market segmentation across formal and informal salaried jobs andself-employment in three Latin American and three transition countries. It looks separately atthe markets for skilled and unskilled labor, inquiring if segmentation is an exclusive feature ofthe latter....