This brief, written for the "Unrigging the Labor Market" convening on June 13, 2018 at Harvard Law School, summarizes the empirical research on the relationship between covenants not to compete, their enforceability, and wages

Labor market institutions that may weaken workers' bargaining leverage have received increased scrutiny in recent years. One example is noncompete agreements, which prevent workers from freely moving across employers, potentially weakening earnings growth. New data sources and empirical evidence...

We study the effects of noncompete contracts in an environment where firms invest in training junior workers. After obtaining employer-provided training, trained workers can choose whether to remain loyal to their initial employer or switch to the competing employer. We evaluate the effects of...