The responsiveness of entrepreneurs to working time regulations
Frank H Stephen (Universitat de Manchester)
Urbano, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Empresa)
Van Hemmen, Stefan Félix (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Empresa)

Data:	2009
Resum:	In this article, we analyse the impact of enforcement practices (proxied by judicial formalism) and the regulation of working time on entrepreneurial activity by opportunity. We find that higher enforcement formalism mitigates the negative impact exerted by rigid working time regulations on the number of entrepreneurs. While it is agreed that regulatory rigidities may increase labour transaction costs, we show that entrepreneurs are less sensitive to labour regulations the higher the level of enforcement formalism in which they operate. Higher formalism is associated with lower enforcing efficiency and lower probability of being punished for transgressing laws. A policy implication is that encouraging labour flexibility might not improve conditions for entrepreneurial activity in procedurally formalist countries. This is due to the fact that, in those countries, flexibility de facto characterises employment relations, no matter what the law says.
Ajuts:	Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia SEJ2007-60995 Generalitat de Catalunya 2005 / SGR-00858 Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia SEJ2004-07530-C04-02 Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia SEJ2007-67895-C04-02 Generalitat de Catalunya 2005 / SGR-00813
Drets:	Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Matèria:	Judicial formalism ; Observance ; Compliance ; Entrepreneur ; Labour contracts ; Rigidity of hours ; Working time ; Opportunity entrepreneurship ; GEM
Publicat a:	Small business economics, Vol. 32, Num. 3 (March 2009) , p. 259-276, ISSN 1573-0913

DOI: 10.1007/s11187-007-9096-4

Postprint 19 p, 465.3 KB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Articles > Articles de recerca
Articles > Articles publicats