Openness to international competition can lead to enhanced resource allocation in the long-run. While factor reallocation is essential if net benefits are to be derived from trade liberalization, the process generates costs both for transitioning workers and for employers undergoing personnel...

We use a panel of manufacturing plants from Colombia to analyze how the rise in payroll tax rates over the 1980’s and 1990’s affected the labor market. Our estimates indicate that formal wages fall by between 1.4% and 2.3% as a result of a 10% rise in payroll taxes. This...

Labor market regulations have often been blamed for high and persistent unemployment in Europe, but evidence on their impact remains mixed. This paper analyzes how labor and product market regulations interact to affect turnover and unemployment. We present a matching model which illustrates how...

Estimates for the U.S. suggest that in some sectors productivity enhancing reallocation is the dominant factor in accounting for productivity growth. An open question is whether reallocation is always productivity enhancing. Specifically, in developing countries, market concentration, or...