IMF Working Papers

A Narrative Database of Major Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Economies

By Romain A Duval, Davide Furceri, Bingjie Hu, João Tovar Jalles, Huy Nguyen

January 24, 2018

Download PDF

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Romain A Duval, Davide Furceri, Bingjie Hu, João Tovar Jalles, and Huy Nguyen. A Narrative Database of Major Labor and Product Market Reforms in Advanced Economies, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2018) accessed December 9, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

This paper describes a new database of major labor and product market reforms covering 26 advanced economies over the period 1970-2013. The focus is on large changes in product market regulation in seven individual network industries, employment protection legislation for regular and temporary workers, and the replacement rate and duration of unemployment benefits. The main advantage of this dataset is the precise identification of the nature and date of major reforms, which is valuable in many empirical applications. By contrast, the dataset does not attempt to measure and compare policy settings across countries, and as such is no substitute for other publicly available indicators produced, for example, by the ILO, the OECD or the World Bank. It should also be seen as work in progress, for researchers to build on and improve upon. Based on the dataset, major reforms appear to have been more frequent in product markets than in labor markets in the last decades, and were predominantly implemented during the 1990s and 2000s.

Subject: Commodity markets, Employment protection, Expenditure, Financial markets, Labor, Labor market reforms, Labor markets, Unemployment benefits

Keywords: Commodity markets, Employment Protection, Labor market, Labor market reforms, Labor markets, Legislation, Major reform, Network Industries, OECD indicator, Product market, Product market reform, Product market regulation, Reform, Reform database, Regulation, Regulation area, Southern Europe, Unemployment benefits, Unemployment insurance, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    90

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2018/019

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2018019

  • ISBN:

    9781484338698

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941

Supplemental Resources