Estimating the Elasticity of Labour Supply to an Enterprise Utilizing a Quasi-Natural Experiment

Abstract

This paper utilizes institutional features to identify the supply of labour directed towards individual enterprises. The labour market for Norwegian teachers is characterized by a high degree of central regulations. In the empirical period, the only variation in the wage level was determined centrally, and together with information on whether there is excess demand, this identifies the elasticity of labour supply. Using a sample selection model with fixed school effects, the estimated supply elasticity faced by the individual schools is close to unity and seems to be robust with respect to the model specification.