Preferences for Reforms: Endowments vs. Beliefs

By Romain A Duval, Yi Ji, Chris Papageorgiou, Ippei Shibata, Antonio Spilimbergo

February 18, 2022

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Format: Chicago

Romain A Duval, Yi Ji, Chris Papageorgiou, Ippei Shibata, and Antonio Spilimbergo. Preferences for Reforms: Endowments vs. Beliefs, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2022) accessed December 22, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

Are preferences for reforms driven by individuals’ own endowments or beliefs? To address this question, we conducted a cross-country survey on people’s opinions on employment protection legislation—an area where reform has proven to be difficult and personal interests are at stake. We find that individuals’ beliefs matter more than their own endowments and personal pay-offs. A randomized information treatment confirms that beliefs explain views about reform, but beliefs can change with new information. Our results are robust to several robustness tests, including to alternative estimation techniques and samples.

Subject: Employment protection, Labor, Labor force, Labor markets, Population and demographics

Keywords: Beliefs, Copyright page, Employment protection, Endowments, EPL deregulation, Ideology, IMF working paper research Department, Individuals' belief, Knowledge indicator, Labor force, Labor markets, Northern Europe, Political economy, Political opinions, Preferences, Reform, Regulation, Southern Europe, Surveys.

Publication Details

Pages:

49
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2022/033
Stock No:

WPIEA2022033
ISBN:

9798400201295
ISSN:

1018-5941

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