Publication: Computer Usage and Labour Regulation in India's Retail Sector
Abstract
A recent survey of 1,948 retail stores in India conducted by the World Bank's Enterprise surveys shows that 19 per cent of all stores use computers. In the state of Kerala, the figure is as high as 40 per cent. Using this survey, we estimate the effect of computer usage on labour employment. Our findings show that this effect depends on the stringency of the underlying labour laws. Stricter labour laws magnify the labour displacing effect of computers significantly.
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Publication Are Labor Regulations Driving Computer Usage in India's Retail Stores?(2009)A commonly held but untested view is that the use of modern technology such as computers could be endogenous to labor regulations. This paper confirms this view using the Enterprise survey's data on 1948 retail stores in India.Publication Labor Regulation and Employment in India's Retail Stores(2009)A new dataset of 1,948 retail stores in India shows that 27% of the stores find labor regulations as a problem for their business. Using these data, we analyze the effect of labor regulations on employment at the store level. We find that flexible labor regulations have a strong positive effect on job creation. Our estimates show that labor reforms are likely to increase employment by 22% of the current level for an average store. We also address the issue of informality in India's retail sector. Our findings suggest that more flexible labor laws can encourage firms to operate in the more efficient formal retail sector. According to our estimates, labor reforms could reduce the level of informality by as much as 33%.Publication Are Labor Regulations Driving Computer Usage in India's Retail Stores?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-07)A recent survey of 1,948 retail stores in India conducted by the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys shows that 19 percent of the stores use computers for their business. In some states like Kerala, computer use is as high as 40 percent. Using this data the author finds labor regulation as an important determinant of computer use. His estimates suggest that when faced with burdensome labor regulations, the probability of using a computer rises by over 36 percentage points for an average store. These findings formally confirm a commonly held but untested view that labor regulation may be responsible for the spread of labor saving modern technology.Publication Informality and Productivity in the Labor Market in Peru(2008)This article analyzes the evolution of informal employment in Peru from 1986 to 2001. Contrary to what one would expect, the informality rates increased steadily during the 1990s despite the introduction of flexible contracting mechanisms, a healthy macroeconomic recovery, and tighter tax codes and regulation. We explore different factors that may explain this upward trend including the role of labor legislation and labor allocation between/within sectors of economic activity. Finally, we illustrate the negative correlation between productivity and informality by evaluating the impacts of the Youth Training PROJOVEN Program that offers vocational training to disadvantaged young individuals. We find significant training impacts on the probability of formal employment for both males and females.Publication Labor Regulation and Employment in India's Retail Stores(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08)A new dataset of 1,948 retail stores in India compiled by the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys shows that 27 percent of the stores report labor regulations as a problem for their business. Using these data we analyze the effect of labor regulation on employment at the store level. We find that stricter labor regulation has a strong negative effect on employment. Our estimates show that labor reforms are likely to increase employment by 22 percent of the current level for an average store.
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