Antoine Germain

(CORE)

will give a presentation on

Working time regulations and redistribution

Abstract: All countries except the US are mandating paid time off. Why? In standard labor supply models, working time regulations are inefficient as they clash with individuals' own choices. In this paper, I provide a novel welfare analysis of any working time regulations. Labor is unbundled into jobs and hours worked while firms are controlling schedules. I find that careful combinations of minimum wages and working time reductions erode monopsony power and may redistribute efficiently from firms' positive profits to workers' welfare. I disaggregate these welfare gains and losses in a model with directed search and matching frictions. I show that the elasticity of profits and employment to the reform are sufficient statistics for policy evaluation.