The Incomplete Noncompete Picture

From AcaWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Citation: Norman Bishara, Evan P Starr (2016/06/29) The Incomplete Noncompete Picture. Lewis & Clark Law Review (RSS)
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): The Incomplete Noncompete Picture
Download: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2782137
Tagged: noncompete (RSS), literature review (RSS)

Summary

Covenants not to compete date to the 1400s in England and have been recognized as anticompetitive since that time, though they have attracted wide scholarly interest since 1999 and from policymakers more recently.

Authors "evaluate 24 empirical studies focusing on noncompetes (6 utilizing evidence of workers who signed a noncompete, 3 with data on the intra-firm use of noncompetes, 2 experimentally allocating noncompetes, and 14 focused on ad hoc measures of noncompete enforceability [...] focused on various outcomes, including:

  • innovation
  • employee mobility
  • human capital investment and training
  • new venture creation such as entrepreneurship or spinoffs
  • fostering (or harming) agglomeration economies
  • wages
  • firm value

Evaluation finds gaps in the literature concerning lack of data about employee and firm behavior (eg who signs, which firms, what terms) that make inferences about the impact of noncompete enforceability fraught.

Suggest gathering more data eg via surveys and more research to "support reasoned and appropriate policymaking."

Theoretical and Practical Relevance

Authors follow up with analysis of a survey in Noncompetes in the U.S. Labor Force.