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Law and Employment

Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean

Edited by Carmen Pagés
Law and Employment analyzes the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets and presents empirically grounded studies of the costs of regulation.

Numerous labor regulations that were introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman and Carmen Pagés document the behavior of firms attempting to stay in business and be competitive while facing the high costs of complying with these labor laws. They challenge the prevailing view that labor market regulations affect only the distribution of labor incomes and have little or no impact on efficiency or the performance of labor markets. Using new micro-evidence, this volume shows that labor regulations reduce labor market turnover rates and flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers.

Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Jamaica, and Trinidad, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States. The book breaks new ground by quantifying not only the cost of regulation in Latin America, the Caribbean, and in the OECD, but also the broader impact of this regulation.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Measuring the Impact of Minimun Wages: Evidence from Latin America
2. Labor Market Reforms and Their Impact over Formal Labor Demand and Job Market
Turnover: The Case of Peru
3. The Effect of Job Security Regulations on Labor Market Flexibility: Evidence from the Colombian Labor Market Reform
4. Determinants of Labor Demand in Columbia: 1976-1996
5. The Impact of Regulations on Brazilain Labor Market Performance
6. The Effects of Labor Market Regulations on Employment Decisions by Firms: Empirical Evidence for Argentina
7. Who Benefits form Labor Market Regulations?
Chile, 1960-1998
8. Unions and Employment in Uruguay
9. Labor Market Policies and Employment Duration: The Effect of Labor Market Reform in Argentina
10. Labor Market Regulation and Employment in the Caribbean
11. Labor Demand in Latin America and the Caribbean: What Does It Tell Us?
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index

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