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dc.titleLabor Market Regulations and Income Inequality: Evidence for a Panel of Countries
dc.contributor.authorCalderón, César
dc.contributor.authorValdés, Rodrigo
dc.contributor.authorChong, Alberto E.
dc.contributor.orgunitDepartment of Research and Chief Economist
dc.coverageThe Caribbean
dc.coverageCentral America
dc.coverageSouth America
dc.date.available2011-02-07T00:00:00
dc.date.issue2004-10-01T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractThis paper presents evidence on the impact of labor regulations on income inequality using two recently published databases on labor institutions and outcomes (Rama and Artecona, 2002; Botero, Djankov, La Porta, López-de-Silanes and Shleifer, 2003) and different cross-section and panel data analysis techniques for a sample of 121 countries over the 1970-2000 period. When we consider the techniques most likely to be robust, we find that: (i) de jure regulations do not improve income distribution; (ii) relative compliance with existing regulations improves income distribution; (iii) de facto regulations are weakly associated with improving income inequality. This result partly reflects the fact that regulations are endogenous and, more interestingly, different regulations have quite distinct effects. In particular, we find that any redistributive effect of labor regulations may come from trade union membership, public employment and mandated benefits (proxied by maternity leave).
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0010833
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Labor-Market-Regulations-and-Income-Inequality-Evidence-for-a-Panel-of-Countries.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.mediumAdobe PDF
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectPoverty
dc.subjectEconomy
dc.subject.jelcodeD30 - Distribution: General
dc.subject.jelcodeJ31 - Wage Level and Structure • Wage Differentials
dc.subject.jelcodeJ4 - Particular Labor Markets
dc.subject.jelcodeJ40 - Particular Labor Markets: General
dc.subject.jelcodeJ41 - Labor Contracts
dc.subject.jelcodeJ42 - Monopsony • Segmented Labor Markets
dc.subject.jelcodeJ43 - Agricultural Labor Markets
dc.subject.jelcodeJ44 - Professional Labor Markets • Occupational Licensing
dc.subject.jelcodeJ45 - Public Sector Labor Markets
dc.subject.jelcodeJ47 - Coercive Labor Markets
dc.subject.jelcodeJ48 - Public Policy
dc.subject.jelcodeJ49 - Particular Labor Markets: Other
dc.subject.jelcodeJ51 - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
dc.subject.keywordsWP-514
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberWorking Papers
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