The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession

Matthew J. Bloomfield, Ulf Brüggemann, Hans B. Christensen and Christian Leuz

No 5661, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: The paper examines whether international regulatory harmonization increases cross-border labor migration. To study this question, we analyze European Union (EU) initiatives that harmonized accounting and auditing standards. Regulatory harmonization should reduce economic mobility barriers, essentially making it easier for accounting professionals to move across countries. Our research design compares the cross-border migration of accounting professionals relative to tightly-matched other professionals before and after regulatory harmonization. We find that international labor migration in the accounting profession increases significantly relative to other professions. We provide evidence that this effect is due to harmonization, rather than increases in the demand for accounting services during the implementation of the rule changes. The findings illustrate that diversity in rules constitutes an economic barrier to cross-border labor mobility and, more specifically, that accounting harmonization can have a meaningful effect on cross-border migration.

Keywords: accounting harmonization; regulation; IFRS; European Union; labor migration and mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 E24 F22 F55 F66 J44 J61 J62 K22 L51 L84 M41 M42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross‐Border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2017)
Working Paper: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2015)
Working Paper: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_5661

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