Using a country-industry panel dataset (EUKLEMS) we uncover a robust empirical regularity, namely that high-risk innovative sectors are relatively smaller in countries with strict employment protection legislation (EPL). To understand the mechanism, we develop a two-sector matching model where …rms endogenously choose between a safe technology with known productivity and a risky technology with productivity subject to sizeable shocks. Strict EPL makes the risky technology relatively less attractive because it is more costly to shed workers upon receiving a low productivity draw. We calibrate the model using a variety of aggregate, industry and micro-level data sources.We then simulate the model to re ‡ect both the observed di¤erences across countries in EPL and the observed increase since the mid-1990s in the variance of …rm performance associated with the adoption of information and communication technology. The simulations produce a di¤erential response to the Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Wouter den Haan, Egbert Jongen, Roland Luttens, Marcel Jansen, participants of CAED, Tokyo and ECB/CEPR Labour Market Workshop, Frankfurt as well as seminar participants at the University of Copenhagen, CPB, the Tinbergen Institute, VU Universiy, University of Maastricht and Nederlandsche Bank for useful comments and suggestions. 1 arrival of risky technology between low-and high-EPL countries that coincides with the …ndings in the data. The described mechanism can explain a considerable portion of the slowdown in productivity in the EU relative to the US since 1995.