Allocating labor across small firms: Experimental evidence on information constraints

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hardy, Morgan; Kim, Seongyoon; Mccasland, Jamie; Menzel, Andreas; Witte, Marc
• 署名单位: New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of British Columbia; Czech Academy of Sciences; Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences; Charles University Prague; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; IZA Institute Labor Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103345
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: Small Firms; Labor reallocation; experiment; Information constraints

摘要

We document interest in labor reallocation among small firm owners in Ghana; 60% and 41%, respectively, self-report willingness to hire or work for the average local firm owner. Firm owners also exhibit high willingness-to-pay for information on a random subset of hiring firms and jobseeking firm owners during a Becker-Degroot-Marschak exercise. Conditionally random variation in access to this information generates immediate labor adjustments within and between firms, though rarely of firm owners themselves, and impacts firm closure 5-months post-intervention. Our findings suggest that labor market information of this kind is both valuable and actionable in our context.