[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejapp/v13y2021i4p125-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Teaching Labor Laws: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Marianne Bertrand
  • Bruno Crépon
Abstract
We assess whether imperfect knowledge of labor regulation hinders job creation at small and medium-sized firms. We partner with a labor law expert organization that provides information about labor regulation via newsletters and access to a specialized website. We randomly assign 1,800 firms to get access to this service for a 21-week period. Six months later, the average employment level at treatment firms was 12 percent higher than at control firms. The intervention decreased the perception that labor regulation is a constraint to hiring and increased optimal employment level.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianne Bertrand & Bruno Crépon, 2021. "Teaching Labor Laws: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in South Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 125-149, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:125-49
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20190497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20190497
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E120311V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20190497.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/app.20190497.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/app.20190497?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Juan C. Botero & Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "The Regulation of Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1339-1382.
    2. André van Niekerk, 2007. "Regulating Flexibility and Small Business: Revisiting the LRA and BCEA. A Response to Halton Cheadle’s Concept Paper," Working Papers 07119, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    3. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    4. Caballero, Ricardo J. & Cowan, Kevin N. & Engel, Eduardo M.R.A. & Micco, Alejandro, 2013. "Effective labor regulation and microeconomic flexibility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 92-104.
    5. Bentolila, S. & Saint-Paul, G., 1995. "A model of labour demand with linear adjustment costs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 105-105, March.
    6. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "The Impact of Employment Protection Mandates on Demographic Temporary Employment Patterns: International Microeconomic Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 333-356, June.
    7. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1992. "Labor Turnover Costs and Average Labor Demand," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(4), pages 389-411, October.
    8. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    9. Alexandre Belloni & Victor Chernozhukov & Christian Hansen, 2014. "Inference on Treatment Effects after Selection among High-Dimensional Controlsâ€," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 608-650.
    10. Haroon Bhorat & Halton Cheadle, 2009. "Labour Reform in South Africa: Measuring Regulation and a Synthesis of Policy Suggestions," Working Papers 09139, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    11. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2004. "Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 91-134.
    12. Daron Acemoglu & Joshua D. Angrist, 2001. "Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 915-957, October.
    13. Miriam Bruhn & Dean Karlan & Antoinette Schoar, 2018. "The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(2), pages 635-687.
    14. Achim Ahrens & Christian B. Hansen & Mark E Schaffer, 2018. "LASSOPACK: Stata module for lasso, square-root lasso, elastic net, ridge, adaptive lasso estimation and cross-validation," Statistical Software Components S458458, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 18 Sep 2024.
    15. Pierre Cahuc & Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet, 2016. "Explaining The Spread Of Temporary Jobs And Its Impact On Labor Turnover," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(2), pages 533-572, May.
    16. Neil Rankin, 2006. "The Regulatory Environment and SMMEs. Evidence from South African Firm Level Data," Working Papers 06113, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    17. David H. Autor & John J. Donohue & Stewart J. Schwab, 2004. "The Employment Consequences of Wrongful-Discharge Laws: Large, Small, or None at All?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 440-446, May.
    18. O Blanchard & A Landier, 2002. "The Perverse Effects of Partial Labour Market Reform: fixed--Term Contracts in France," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(480), pages 214-244, June.
    19. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Gerard A. Pfann, 1996. "Adjustment Costs in Factor Demand," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1264-1292, September.
    20. Pierre Cahuc & Olivier Charlot & Franck Malherbet, 2016. "Explaining The Spread Of Temporary Jobs And Its Impact On Labor Turnover," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57, pages 533-572, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eliana Carranza & David McKenzie, 2024. "Job Training and Job Search Assistance Policies in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 221-244, Winter.
    2. Laura Boudreau, 2024. "Multinational Enforcement of Labor Law: Experimental Evidence on Strengthening Occupational Safety and Health Committees," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(4), pages 1269-1308, July.
    3. Beber, Bernd & Lakemann, Tabea & Schnars, Regina & Lay, Jann, 2024. "Employment effects of skills trainings in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of recent randomized controlled trials," Ruhr Economic Papers 1080, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Che, Yi & Li, Xuchao & Zhang, Yan & Zhao, Lin, 2024. "Labor protection and firms’ risk-taking behavior: evidence from China’s New Labor Contract Law," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Parsons, Donald O., 2011. "Mandated Severance Pay and Firing Cost Distortions: A Critical Review of the Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 5776, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Micco, Alejandro & Pagés, Carmen, 2006. "The Economic Effects of Employment Protection: Evidence from International Industry-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2433, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Carmen Pagés-Serra & Alejandro Micco, 2008. "Efectos económicos de la protección del empleo: Elementos de juicio a partir de datos internacionales a nivel de actividad económica," Research Department Publications 4497, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    5. Benoît Pierre FREYENS, 2010. "Measuring firing costs: The case for direct methods," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 149(3), pages 287-313, September.
    6. Matsue, Toyoki, 2019. "Employment fluctuations in a dynamic model with long-term and short-term contracts," MPRA Paper 97545, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Chaurey, Ritam, 2015. "Labor regulations and contract labor use: Evidence from Indian firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 224-232.
    8. Antoine Bonleu & Bruno Decreuse & Tanguy van Ypersele, 2019. "Job protection, housing market regulation, and the youth," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(6), pages 1017-1036, December.
    9. Nadav Ben Zeev & Tomer Ifergane, 2022. "Firing Restrictions and Economic Resilience: Protect and Survive?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 43, pages 93-124, January.
    10. Djankov, Simeon & Ramalho, Rita, 2009. "Employment laws in developing countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 3-13, March.
    11. Jiménez, Bruno & Rendon, Silvio, 2023. "Does employment protection unprotect workers? The labor market effects of job reinstatements in Peru," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Nadav Ben Zeev & Tomer Ifergane, 2019. "Employment Protection Legislation and Economic Resilience: Protect and Survive?," Working Papers 1910, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    13. MacLeod, W. Bentley, 2011. "Great Expectations: Law, Employment Contracts, and Labor Market Performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 18, pages 1591-1696, Elsevier.
    14. Simontini Das, 2018. "Does Casualization Increase the Job Opportunity to the Workers or Impoverish Them? An Evidence from Indian-Organized Manufacturing Sector," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 19(1), pages 86-107, March.
    15. Romain Duval & Prakash Loungani, 2021. "Designing Labor Market Institutions in Emerging Market and Developing Economies: A Review of Evidence and IMF Policy Advice," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(1), pages 31-83, March.
    16. Normann Rion, 2021. "Job creation in a dual labor market: a constructivist approach," Working Papers hal-03125344, HAL.
    17. Giuseppina Gianfreda & Giovanna Vallanti, 2020. "Labor Courts and Firing Costs: The Labor‐Market Effects of Trial Delays," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 40-84, January.
    18. Pubali Chakraborty & Kanika Mahajan, 2023. "Firm Size and Female Employment," Working Papers 103, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    19. Antonio Ciccone & Elias Papaioannou, 2008. "Entry regulation and intersectoral reallocation," Economics Working Papers 1353, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    20. Iva Tomic, 2020. "Employment protection reforms and labour market outcomes in the aftermath of the recession: Evidence from Croatia," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 44(1), pages 3-39.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:125-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.