The economic analysis of individual labor disputes.

Summary Employment protection is defined as the regulations governing the rules for hiring and firing employees, and finds its sources in legislation, collective bargaining and court decisions. For the past fifteen years, a vast macroeconomic literature has examined the effects of employment protection on labor market performance, or more precisely the effects of dismissal procedures on the employment rate, duration and unemployment rate. More recent work is beginning to highlight other consequences of employment protection, namely its incentive effects on the behavior of individuals: faced with a certain employment regulation regarding layoffs, economic agents adapt, react and adopt strategic behaviors. This thesis is part of this work by exploring the individual incentives generated by labor legislation. Indeed, labor law relating to dismissal and its implementation by the courts have consequences on the behavior of the parties to the employment relationship at several levels. On the one hand, the terms and conditions of dismissal have an ex ante impact on the respective levels of investment of the employer and the employee within their relationship: indeed, the way in which the courts judge a dispute following a dismissal and in particular the elements taken into account in their decisions have an influence on the incentives of the parties to make specific investments. Thus, the analysis presented shows, in particular, which economic and social elements judges should take into account if the objective is to maximize the levels of investment chosen by the parties. On the other hand, the structure of court proceedings also has an impact on the behavior of individuals once the dispute between the two parties has started. By making comparisons between several dispute resolution systems using theoretical tools and experimental analysis, this thesis contributes to the current legal debates about the ability of procedures to generate the maximum number of agreements, allowing the reduction of legal expenses.