The Rise and Fall of Centralized Wage Bargaining PDF Download

Author: Salvador Ortigueira
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Richard Barry Freeman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Collective bargaining
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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This paper studies the stability of centralized wage-setting systems in light of the on-going decentralization of labor relations in much of the Western world. It takes the decline of peak level bargaining in Sweden, the traditional archetype of centralized collective bargaining, as its key case for study, but is intended to speak to other cases as well. Like many earlier analysts, we argue that centralization offers potential economic gains by internalizing the costs of inefficient wage inflation. With this potential benefit, however, comes a cost: centralized decisions are not sufficiently responsive to local conditions. To avoid excessive inflexibility, the center can allow for "wage drift" at the local level (i.e., local wage settlements above the central agreement), but once the center allows wage drift, it becomes difficult to distinguish between justifiable drift due to local economic conditions and unjustifiable drift in the self-interest of local bargaining pairs. Thus, centralized wage-setting systems face a tradeoff: allowing less drift makes it easier to monitor local bargaining pairs but harder to achieve the appropriate responsiveness to local conditions. We develop a game-theoretic model of this tradeoff, and consider how the center's optimal policy moves towards decentralization (i.e., towards allowing more drift) as the cost of inflexibility rises. We then interpret the evolution of centralized bargaining in Sweden in light of the model. We argue that centralized bargaining flourished when the private-sector blue-collar workers (represented by LO) dominated the workforce, but began to wane as public-sector and white-collar unions grew in strength, as skill differentials in decentralized labor markets grew in size, and as product-market competition intensified (especially through the shortening of product lifecycles).

Author: Michael Wallerstein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Collective bargaining
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Author: Richard B. Freeman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226261840
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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During the past two decades, wages of skilled workers in the United States rose while those of unskilled workers fell; less-educated young men in particular have suffered unprecedented losses in real earnings. These twelve original essays explore whether this trend is unique to the United States or is part of a general growth in inequality in advanced countries. Focusing on labor market institutions and the supply and demand forces that affect wages, the papers compare patterns of earnings inequality and pay differentials in the United States, Australia, Korea, Japan, Western Europe, and the changing economies of Eastern Europe. Cross-country studies examine issues such as managerial compensation, gender differences in earnings, and the relationship of pay to regional unemployment. From this rich store of data, the contributors attribute changes in relative wages and unemployment among countries both to differences in labor market institutions and training and education systems, and to long-term shifts in supply and demand for skilled workers. These shifts are driven in part by skill-biased technological change and the growing internationalization of advanced industrial economies.

Author: Assar Lindbeck
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Author:
Publisher: M.E. Sharpe
ISBN: 9780765619709
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Author: Lucio Baccaro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Drawing on a variety of sources and research methods, this article argues that centralized wage bargaining contributed to the Celtic Tiger phenomenon by linking wage increases in the dynamic multinational companies sector to wage and productivity increases in the much more sluggish domestic sector of the economy and, in so doing, considerably increased the competitiveness of foreign multinational companiesa key driver of Irish growth. The article also argues that much-received wisdom about the institutional and organizational preconditions for centralized wage regulation needs to be reconsidered in light of the Irish case. Public sector unions played a pivotal role in initiating and sustaining wage centralization, yet their leadership role did not undermine its effectiveness. Likewise, internal democratic procedures and the absence of wage compression policies, rather than centralized organizational structures, facilitated compliance with centralized wage policies.

Author: John Driffill
Publisher:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The original article with Lars Calmfors predicted that highly coordinated or centralized bargaining would lead to wage restraint and low unemployment. Despite shortcomings, this prediction has survived scrutiny. Recent work suggests that collective bargaining should be seen as part of broader research on institutions and macroeconomic performance in growth.

Author: Stephen Patrick Jackson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 726

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Author: G. William Domhoff
Publisher: Touchstone
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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The author is convinced that there is a ruling class in America today. He examines the American power structure as it has developed in the 1980s. He presents systematic, empirical evidence that a fixed group of privileged people dominates the American economy and government. The book demonstrates that an upper class comprising only one-half of one percent of the population occupies key positions within the corporate community. It shows how leaders within this "power elite" reach government and dominate it through processes of special-interest lobbying, policy planning and candidate selection. It is written not to promote any political ideology, but to analyze our society with accuracy.