Labor market rigidities and misallocation: Evidence from a natural experiment

B-Tier
Journal: Labour Economics
Year: 2022
Volume: 78
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of labor market rigidities on labor misallocation. To this end, we use a recent policy change in Belgium, leading to an increase in employment protection for blue-collar workers and a decrease in employment protection for white-collar workers. The wedge between marginal product and marginal cost - the gap - is used as a measure for misallocation. Using a rich data set of the universe of Belgian firms, evidence shows that a firm with 90% blue-collar workers experienced after the policy change an increase in the gap of 3300 euro relative to a firm with 10% of blue-collar workers.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:labeco:v:78:y:2022:i:c:s0927537122001191
Journal Field
Labor
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24