Do Foreign Investors Care About Labor Market Regulations?

The authors take a new look at the regulatory determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) by asking whether labor market flexibility affects FDI flows across 25 Western and Eastern European countries. Their analysis is based on firm level data on new investments during the 1999-2001 period. The authors employ a variety of labor market flexibility measures that capture different aspects of labor laws along with a comprehensive set of controls for business climate characteristics. Indices of labor market regulations reflect the flexibility of individual and collective dismissals, the length of the notice period, and the required severance payment. The results suggest that greater flexibility in the host country's labor market relative to that in the investor's home country is associated with larger FDI inflows, and this effect is found to be stronger in the case of transition economies. The findings indicate that as the labor market flexibility in the host country increases from inflexible (for example, Slovakia) to flexible (for example, Hungary), the volume of investment increases by between 14 and 18 percent. FDI in service sectors appears to be more affected than investments in manufacturing.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Spartareanu, Mariana, Smarzynska Javorcik, Beata
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2004-04
Subjects:ABATEMENT COSTS, ACCOUNTING, CAPITAL FLOWS, CORRUPTION, DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES, ECONOMIC REVIEW, EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, EMPLOYMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS, EXCHANGE RATE, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTROLS, FOREIGN FIRMS, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, FOREIGN INVESTORS, FOREIGN OWNERSHIP, FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES, FOREIGN SUBSIDIARY, GOVERNANCE INDICATORS, GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, INTERMEDIATE INPUTS, INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS, INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INVESTMENT CLIMATE, INVESTMENT FLOWS, INVESTMENT INCENTIVES, INVESTMENT INFLOWS, INVESTMENT LOCATION, LABOR COSTS, LABOR MARKET, LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY, LABOR MARKET REGULATIONS, LABOR MARKET RIGIDITIES, LABOR MARKETS, LAWS, LEGISLATION, MARKET SIZE, MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES, POLICY RESEARCH, POLLUTION, POLLUTION ABATEMENT, PROPERTY RIGHTS, SUBSIDIARIES, SUBSIDIARY, TAX RATE, TAX RATES, TAXATION, TRANSITION COUNTRIES, TRANSITION ECONOMIES, TRANSPARENCY FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, INVESTORS, LABOR LAWS, LABOR REGULATIONS, BUSINESS FINANCING, LABOR INFORMATION, COLLECTIVE ACTIONS, SEVERANCE PAYMENTS, SERVICES,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/04/3565779/foreign-investors-care-labor-market-regulations
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/14298
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