The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession

Working Paper No. 20888 The paper examines the effect of international regulatory harmonization on cross-border labor migration. We analyze directives in the European Union (EU) that harmonized accounting and auditing standards. This regulatory harmonization should make it less costly for those who...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NBER Working Paper Series 2015-01, p.20888
Main Authors: Bloomfield, Matthew J, Brüggemann, Ulf, Christensen, Hans B, Leuz, Christian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accounting
Accounting procedures
Analysis
Auditing standards
Boundaries
Consolidated financial statements
Datasets
Demographics
Economic theory
Labor force
Migration
Occupational mobility
Professions
Regulation
Research design
Studies
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Summary:Working Paper No. 20888 The paper examines the effect of international regulatory harmonization on cross-border labor migration. We analyze directives in the European Union (EU) that harmonized accounting and auditing standards. This regulatory harmonization should make it less costly for those who work in the accounting profession to move across countries. Our research design compares the cross-border migration of accounting professionals relative to tightly-matched other professionals before and after regulatory harmonization. We find that, on average, labor migration in the accounting profession increases relative to comparable professions by roughly 15% after harmonization. The findings illustrate that diversity in rules constitutes an important economic barrier to cross-border labor mobility and, more specifically, that accounting harmonization can have meaningful effect on cross-border migration.
ISSN:0898-2937
DOI:10.3386/w20888