Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labour Markets

Olivier Blanchard () and Francesco Giavazzi ()

No 2713, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Product and labour market deregulation are fundamentally about reducing and redistributing rents, leading economic players to adjust in turn to this new distribution. Thus, even if deregulation eventually proves beneficial, it comes with strong distribution and dynamic effects. The transition may imply the decline of incumbent firms. Unemployment may increase for a while. Real wages may decrease before recovering, and so on. To study these issues, we build a model based on two central assumptions: Monopolistic competition in the goods market, which determines the size of rents, and bargaining in the labour market, which determines the distribution of rents between workers and firms. We then think of product market regulation as determining both the entry costs faced by firms, and the degree of competition between firms. We think of labour market regulation as determining the bargaining power of workers. Having characterized the effects of labour and product market deregulation, we then use our results to study two specific issues. First, to shed light on macroeconomic evolutions in Europe over the last twenty years, in particular on the behaviour of the labour share. Second, to look at political economy interactions between product and labour market deregulation.

Keywords: Deregulation; Imperfect Competition; Rents; Unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J38 K20 L50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-02
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP2713.asp (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets (2001)
Working Paper: Macroeconomic effects of regulation and deregulation in goods and labor markets
Journal Article: Macroeconomic Effects Of Regulation And Deregulation In Goods And Labor Markets (2003)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2713

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP2713.asp

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
Address: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG
Series data maintained by ().