Research

Abstract: This paper examines how legislative reductions in working hours impact firms' employment, output, and productivity. We exploit a Portuguese reform in 1996 that reduced standard hours from 44 to 40 per week for firms in sectors that had not yet adapted to the shorter working week. Our findings indicate that the reform had adverse effects on employment and output of affected firms. These effects can be attributed to an increase in hourly labor costs, as monthly salaries did not decrease alongside standard hours. In contrast, these firms experienced an increase in nominal labor productivity, as measured by sales per hour.

Abstract: Sometimes, war results in a large gender imbalance in certain cohorts and areas that changes the path of economic development. However, there is ambiguity around this notion because the market economy has a strong restoring force. This study contributes to the existing literature by presenting the Japanese experience during the Second World War. Japan lost approximately 2 million soldiers during 1938-1945. Furthermore, the loss of young males concentrated in certain cohorts of certain geographical areas owing to hometown regiment system. By exploiting the variation of changes in gender balance cohort-by-prefecture, we examined the effect of the loss of young males on the post-war industrial structure. We observed that the reduction in the gender ratio may have led to slower industrialization, although to a limited extent quantitatively.