The Micro and Macro of Labor Market Policies

Authors

Pauline Carry, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics

Award Type

Co-winner

Dissertation Advisor

Franck Malherbet and Pierre Cahuc

Abstract

This dissertation documents new evidence on the effects of labor market institutions and provides new tools to assess the impact of labor policies. Many labor market regulations remain controversial, and we lack evidence connecting the impact of these regulations on firms and workers and their aggregate effects. The dissertation evaluates the effects of labor market reforms at the microeconomic level (on workers and firms) and at the aggregate level (on overall employment, welfare, and the unemployment rate). It also accounts for spillovers, general equilibrium effects and heterogeneity to connect the micro and macro impacts. Relying on administrative data on workers and firms and reduced-form evaluation methods, I provide evidence on the effects of labor market policies on targeted individuals and firms, but also on the indirect effects. Second, to quantify the aggregate impact accounting for both direct and indirect effects, I build and estimate structural models, allowing for general equilibrium effects on the labor market. Chapter 1 studies an increase in the level of employment protection in Portugal and Chapter 2 considers the introduction of a minimum working time in France.

Link to dissertation full text