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Business regulation and labor market performance around the world

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Abstract

Using data from 74 industrial, developing and transition countries for the years 2000–2003, this paper analyzes empirically whether and to what extent anticompetitive business regulations affect the performance of the labor market. According to the regression results, they appear to increase unemployment rates and lower employment rates. It seems that they particularly worsen the employment situation of young people. Our results are robust to variations in specification.

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Correspondence to Horst Feldmann.

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Feldmann, H. Business regulation and labor market performance around the world. J Regul Econ 33, 201–235 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-007-9040-1

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