Working Paper: NBER ID: w8757
Authors: Daniel S. Hamermesh
Abstract: I argue for increased reliance on non-U.S. data and policy evaluations to understand basic labor- market parameters and to predict the effects of changes in U.S. labor-market policies. Foreign experiences generate exogenous shocks to labor costs that create unusual opportunities to measure impacts on labor demand. Foreign policies often provide more variation in the underlying parameters in systems that are often structured like their American counterparts. Foreign data sets are often larger and better suited to inferring behavior. An examination of empirical studies in labor economics shows the effect of the location of the author, data set and journal on the subsequent impact of the research on other scholars.
Keywords: Labor Economics; International Evidence; Labor Demand; Labor Costs
JEL Codes: J0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Israeli curfew (H12) | decline in wage rates of low-skilled workers in Israel (F66) |
| reduction in severance pay in Colombia (J65) | increased employment (J68) |
| changes in severance pay in Peru (J65) | employment elasticity of about 0.25 (J69) |
| changes in standard working hours in Germany and France (J89) | declines in total employment (J63) |