Mitra, DevashishHollweg, Claire H.Lederman, Daniel2014-12-032014-12-032014-11https://hdl.handle.net/10986/20642This paper explores the impact of structural reforms on a comprehensive set of macro-level labor-market outcomes, including the unemployment rate, the average wage index, and overall and female employment levels and labor force participation rates. Together these outcome variables capture the overall health of the labor market and the aggregate welfare of workers. Yet, there seems to be no other comprehensive empirical investigation in the existing literature of the impact of structural reforms at the cross-country macro level on labor-market outcomes other than the unemployment rate. Data were collected from a variety of sources, including the World Bank World Development Indicators, the International Monetary Fund International Financial Statistics, and the International Labor Organization Key Indicators of the Labor Market. The resulting dataset covers up to 88 countries, the majority being developing, for 10 years on either side of structural reforms that took place between 1960 and 2001. After documenting the average trends across countries in the labor-market outcomes up to 10 years on either side of each country s structural reform year, the authors run fixed-effects ordinary least squares as well as instrumental variables regressions to account for the likely endogeneity of structural reforms to labor-market outcomes. Overall the results suggest that structural reforms lead to positive outcomes for labor. Unlike related literature, the paper does not find conclusive evidence on unemployment. Redistributive effects in favor of workers, along the lines of the Stolper-Samuelson effect, may be at work.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOADJUSTMENT COSTSADVERSE CONSEQUENCESAGGREGATE DEMANDASSETSATTRITIONAVERAGE UNEMPLOYMENTAVERAGE WAGEBASE YEARBLACK MARKETBLACK MARKET EXCHANGE RATEBUDGET DEFICITBUDGET DEFICITSCAPITAL MARKETSCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPETITIVE MARKETCOMPETITIVENESSCONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALECONSUMER PRICE INDEXCONTROL VARIABLESCOUNTRY FIXED EFFECTCOUNTRY FIXED EFFECTSCROSS-COUNTRY STUDIESCROSS-COUNTRY STUDYDEBTDEBT CRISESDEBT CRISISDEMOCRACYDEPENDENT VARIABLEDEPENDENT VARIABLESDEREGULATIONDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISCOURAGED WORKERSDUMMY VARIABLEDUMMY VARIABLESECONOMETRIC EVIDENCEECONOMETRIC MODELSECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC REFORMECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC THEORYEMPLOYMENT INCREASEEMPLOYMENT LEVELEMPLOYMENT LEVELSEMPLOYMENT PATTERNSENDOGENOUS VARIABLEEQUILIBRIUM UNEMPLOYMENTERROR TERMEXOGENOUS VARIABLESEXPLANATORY VARIABLEEXPORT GOODEXPORTSEXTERNAL DEBTEXTERNAL TERMS OF TRADEFEDERAL RESERVEFEMALE EMPLOYMENTFEMALE LABORFEMALE LABOR FORCEFINANCIAL CRISISFIRM PRODUCTIVITYFIRM SURVIVALFISCAL DEFICITFISCAL REFORMFOREIGN CURRENCYFREE TRADEFREE TRADE AGREEMENTFREER TRADEFULL EMPLOYMENTGENERAL EQUILIBRIUMGLOBAL INTEGRATIONGLOBALIZATIONHIGH INFLATIONHIGH UNEMPLOYMENTHIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATESIMPORTIMPORTSINCOMEINCREASING RETURNSINCREASING RETURNS TO SCALEINDUSTRY WAGEINDUSTRY WAGESINFLATION RATESINFORMAL SECTORINSTRUMENTAL VARIABLESINTEREST RATEINTEREST RATESINTERNATIONAL ECONOMICSINTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL STATISTICSINTERNATIONAL TRADEJOB CREATIONJOB DESTRUCTIONJOB DESTRUCTION RATEJOB SEARCHJOBSLABOR DEMANDLABOR ECONOMICSLABOR FORCELABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKET OUTCOMESLABOR MARKET RIGIDITIESLABOR MARKETSLABOR ORGANIZATIONLABOR REALLOCATIONLABOR RELATIONSLABOURLABOUR MARKETLABOUR MARKET INSTITUTIONSLABOUR MARKET POLICIESLOCAL LABOR MARKETLOCAL LABOR MARKETSLOW UNEMPLOYMENTLOW UNEMPLOYMENT RATELOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMACROECONOMIC CONDITIONSMACROECONOMIC PERFORMANCEMACROECONOMIC POLICIESMACROECONOMIC SHOCKSMACROECONOMIC STABILIZATIONMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIESMARGINAL PRODUCTMOBILITY OF LABORMONOPOLISTIC COMPETITIONMONOPOLYNATURAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENTNET JOB CREATIONOPEN ECONOMIESPERFECT COMPETITIONPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL PARTICIPATIONPOLITICAL PROCESSPOSITIVE EFFECTSPREVIOUS STUDIESPRICE INCREASESPRIVATIZATIONPRODUCT MARKETPRODUCT MARKET COMPETITIONPRODUCTIVE FIRMSPRODUCTIVITY LEVELPUBLIC DEBTPUBLIC GOODREAL GDPREAL WAGEREAL WAGESREALLOCATION EFFECTREDISTRIBUTIVE EFFECTSREJECTIONRELATIVE PRICESHORT-TERM DEBTSPEED OF ADJUSTMENTSTEADY STATESTOCK MARKETSTOCK MARKET CRASHSTRUCTURAL REFORMSTRUCTURAL REFORMSSTRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENTTAX REFORMSTECHNICAL ASSISTANCETOTAL EMPLOYMENTTOTAL EXTERNAL DEBTTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYTOTAL LABOR FORCETRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE OPENNESSTRADE POLICIESTRADE POLICYTRADE PROTECTIONTRADE REFORMSTRADING PARTNERSTRANSPORTTREASURY BILLUNCERTAINTYUNEMPLOYEDUNEMPLOYMENTUNEMPLOYMENT LEVELSUNEMPLOYMENT RATEUNEMPLOYMENT RATESUNSKILLED LABORUNSKILLED WORKERSVALUE INDEXESVOTERSWAGE BARGAININGWAGE DATAWAGE INEQUALITYWAGE PREMIUMSWAGE RATEWAGE STRUCTUREWORKERWORKERSWORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORSWORLD ECONOMYWORLD INTEREST RATEWORLD INTEREST RATESWORLD PRICE10.1596/1813-9450-7122