Maria Garcia-Vega

Labour market reform and innovation: Evidence from Spain (with Richard Kneller and Joel Stiebale)

Abstract:  This paper uses data from Spanish manufacturing firms to analyze the effect of a labour market reform on firms' innovation, growth and exporting. The reform provided additional flexibility to firms with less than 50 employees by enabling them to hire workers on a permanent basis with an extended trial period. Exploiting this natural experiment in a difference-in-differences framework, we found that the reform increased the product innovations of the affected firms. We also provide evidence that the reform induced upgrading of product quality and enabled firms to grow faster and to enter new markets. The effects are concentrated among young firms as well as in industries with high R&D intensity and high levels of volatility where flexible adjustment to unexpected shocks are particularly important. Our results suggest that a reduction of employment protection legislation (EPL) increases innovation in firms operating in environments that require high flexibility to produce because the reduction of EPL decreases adjustment costs.

Lunch from 12.30pm