1.Introduction 1
Employment protection in the public discourse 3
The state of research 5
The organization of the book 9
2.The design and evolution of employment protection legislation 19
What is employment protection legislation? 20
Evolution over time 25
Are all equal before the law? 38
Implementation and enforcement 45
3.What are the conceivable effects of employment protection legislation? 57
4.Why legislation? 67
5.Empirical studies on the effects of employment protection legislation 75
Cross-country studies: aggregate data 79
Cross-country studies: disaggregate data 91
Within-country studies 99
Studies of perceived job security and psychological well-being 113
6.Conclusions and discussion 123
Theoretical findings 124
Empirical findings 126
Policy implications and future research 130
Appendix 137
Bibliography 153
Index 173