Law and Employment

Analyzing the effects of regulation and deregulation on Latin American labor markets, Law and Employment joins the ongoing debate about the virtues and costs of legislating mandatory benefits for workers. Of the numerous labor regulations that were altered or created in Latin America during the last thirty years, many have had unintended and far-reaching results. Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman, and Carmen Pages document 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. This volume shows that mandated benefits reduce employment, have a disruptive impact on turnover rates and labor market flexibility, promote inequality, and discriminate against marginal workers. Along with in-depth studies of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, Law and Employment provides comparative analysis from a range of European countries and the United States, while also covering important changes in reg