Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean
James J. Heckman and Carmen Pages
Abstract
This book 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 have been introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. The book documents 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 ... More
This book 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 have been introduced or reformed in Latin America in the past thirty years have had important economic consequences. The book documents 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 book 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, this book provides comparative analysis of Latin American economies against a range of European countries and the United States.
Keywords:
Latin America,
labor markets,
labor regulation,
labor incomes,
turnover rates,
inequality,
marginal workers,
deregulation,
Europe,
United States
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2004 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226322827 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: March 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226322858.001.0001 |
