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The Impact of Labour Regulations: Measuring the Effectiveness of Legal Norms in a Developing Country

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Regulating for Decent Work

Part of the book series: Advances in Labour Studies ((AILS))

Abstract

It is paradoxical that the recent flourishing of research on the economic impact of labour regulations has exposed the simplistic understandings that pervade this literature and that underpin deregulatory policy agendas. The debate among economists is conducted between two competing schools, which might be characterized as ‘distortionists’ and ‘institutionalists’. These accord different weights to the economic costs and benefits of labour regulation and have embarked upon divergent quests for optimal institutions (for a review, see Bertola 2009 and Freeman 2009). Both strands of this research are problematic, however, especially in their relevance to developing countries, in that most of the studies assume the de jure and de facto reach of labour laws to be coterminous. In consequence, they neglect to consider the effectiveness of legal regulations (Aherling and Deakin 2007; Lee and McCann 2008).

The authors have benefited from excellent research assistance by Ana Choi and insightful comments from Carola Nolte.

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Authors
  1. Sangheon Lee
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  2. Deirdre McCann
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Manchester, UK

    Deirdre McCann (Senior Lecturer in the School of Law) (Senior Lecturer in the School of Law)

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© 2011 International Labour Organization

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Lee, S., McCann, D. (2011). The Impact of Labour Regulations: Measuring the Effectiveness of Legal Norms in a Developing Country. In: Lee, S., McCann, D. (eds) Regulating for Decent Work. Advances in Labour Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230307834_11

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