Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Do institutional firing costs slow the diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT)? The paper develops a model in which, as the technology at a given plant drops behind the best practice, it optimally reduces its workforce. As a result, firing costs are particularly detrimental to profits in industries in which the rate of technical change is rapid - such as ICT - and countries with high firing costs specialize in industries in which technical change is sluggish. The paper suggests that industry composition is a new channel through which labor market regulation might impact macroeconomic aggregates. (Copyright: Elsevier)