Peter N. Gal

The Short-Term Impact of Product Market Reforms; A cross-country firm-level analysis

This paper analyzes the effects of product market reforms in the short and medium term across 10 regulated industries and 18 advanced economies for the period 1998-2013 using internationally comparable firm-level data based on Orbis. It provides four key insights. First, product market reforms have positive effects on capital, output and employment and their effects increase over time. After two years, they raise capital by 4%, output by 3% and employment by 1.5%. Second, differences in production technology and the nature of product market regulations across sectors generate important differences in the mechanisms through which reforms operate. In network industries, reforms tend to benefit small firms, while the opposite is observed in retail trade. Product market reforms also promote firm entry, particularly those that reduce entry barriers. Third, credit constraints can play an important role in weakening the positive impact of product market reform on investment. Fourth, product market reforms also tend to have positive effects on firms in downstream sectors-both at home and abroad-that make intensive use of intermediate inputs from deregulated sectors.

Capital Over the Business Cycle: Renting Versus Ownership

We find that capital renting makes up one fifth of US capital expenditures, and it increases during downturns. Further, we present cross-country evidence that output losses after financial crises are smaller where renting is more prevalent. To understand these findings, we build a general equilibrium model with borrowing constraints and with the option to rent or buy capital. The countercyclicality of rentals occurs because their supply increases, as renting serves as an additional means of savings when credit markets malfunction. Moreover, demand also shifts towards rentals as they become relatively cheaper. By absorbing excess savings, renting mitigates financial crises.

The Quantification of the Effects of Structural Reforms in OECD Countries

This chapter presents a new supply side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries. It presents the overall macroeconomic impacts of reforms by aggregating over the effects on physical capital, employment and productivity through a production function. It is found that product market regulation has the largest overall single policy impact 5 years after the reforms. But the combined impact of all labour market policies is considerably larger than that of product market regulation. It is also shown that policy impacts can differ at different horizons.