Labor Market Regulation and MNE’s Production: Evidence from OECD Countries

Purpose - This paper examines the impact of labor market regulations on FDI and the production of foreign firms. Design/methodology - We use an index of employment protection along with data on the FDI and production of foreign affiliates that are provided by the OECD. Findings - The empirical results show that strict employment protection discourages both the production and initial entry of foreign firms, with its impact on production being larger than that on the initial entry decision. The result is robust to various specifications in which instrumental variable estimations are used by applying a unionization rate and a severance pay for redundancy dismissal as instruments, respectively. Therefore, policymakers should not limit their focus to tax incentives, cash grants, and relaxation of market regulations, but they should also extend their attention to labor market deregulation and decreasing non-wage cost to attract more foreign firms into their countries. Originality/value - This paper attempts to answer the question on the impact of employment protection rules on the foreign firm’s decisions regarding production as well as initial entry.