Employment Protection Legislation in Europe: Employment and Well-Being

Abstract

This cumulative thesis is on the effect of institutionally induced adjustment costs in labor markets. I study the effect of employment protection legislation for permanent workers on employment and well-being. In the first chapter, I review identification strategies for the effect of employment protection legislation, give an overview of my findings and discuss their external validity. In the preceding empirical chapters, I employ quasi-experimental approaches in order to identify the (causal) effect of employment protection at the individual- and at the establishment-level on temporary employment and on well-being proxied by life satisfaction.