"This paper investigates how enforcement of labor regulation affects the firm's use of informal employment and its impact on firm performance. Using firm level data on informal employment and firm performance, and administrative data on enforcement of regulation at the city level, the authors...

"Pierre and Scarpetta present evidence on how employers perceive labor regulations and react when these are perceived to constrain the operation of their firm. They draw from harmonized surveys of (up to) 17,000 firms around the world and compare employers' responses with actual labor...

In response to prolonged recession, in April 2010 the Croatian Government adopted an Economic Recovery Program to safeguard macroeconomic stability and support faster recovery of the private sector. A central element of the program is revision of labor regulations to create a more dynamic labor...

This paper analyzes the potential economic impact of changes to the labor laws proposed in 2006. The economic logic behind these reforms is reviewed, and the conditions under which the reforms could be expected to have the maximum impact on employment are isolated. Next, the experiences of...

Smoking harms the health of smokers and those around them. Smokers are at far higher risks of strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases; cancers of the lungs, mouth, larynx, bladder, pancreas, kidneys and stomach; emphysema, bronchitis, and tuberculosis. These diseases cause...

This report describes labor practices in the Lao garments export sector as seen by both management and labor. The main objective of this report is to present the differing perspectives on working conditions between managers and workers, and to explore ways in which the Lao garment sector could...

By 2025, six major emerging economies--Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia--will account for more than half of all global growth, and the international monetary system will no longer be dominated by a single currency. As economic power shifts, these successful economies will...