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Do unions redistribute income from capital to labour? Union density and wage shares since 1960

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  • Erik Bengtsson

Abstract

The income distribution between capital and labour is understudied within industrial relations. This article investigates the relationship between union density, taken as an indicator of the bargaining power of unions, and the wage share of national income in 16 advanced capitalist economies since 1960. It is shown that overall there is a positive relationship between union density and the wage share, as one would expect. But the relationship is weak or non-existent in the Nordic countries, and in some specifications in Germany and Anglo-Saxon countries, and overall it is weak in the 1980s and early 1990s. The article discusses the differences between countries in relationship to the literature on corporatism and wage moderation, and the decreasing effect over time with reference to increased global competition and conservatism of monetary policy from about 1980 on, increasing unions' incentives for wage moderation policies.

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  • Erik Bengtsson, 2014. "Do unions redistribute income from capital to labour? Union density and wage shares since 1960," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 389-408, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:indrel:v:45:y:2014:i:5:p:389-408
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/irj.12065
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    2. Andrea Coveri & Mario Pianta, 2019. "The Structural Dynamics of Income Distribution:Technology, Wages and Profits," Working Papers 1901, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2019.
    3. Hanna Karolina Szymborska, 2022. "Rethinking inequality in the 21st century – inequality and household balance sheet composition in financialized economies," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 24-72, January.
    4. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2017. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes," FMM Working Paper 09-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    5. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2023. "The decoupling between labour compensation and productivity in high‐income countries: Why is the nexus broken?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 425-463, June.
    6. Giorgos Gouzoulis, 2023. "What do indebted employees do? Financialisation and the decline of industrial action," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 71-94, January.
    7. Erik Bengtsson & Enrico Rubolino & Daniel Waldenström, 2020. "What Determines the Capital Share over the Long Run of History?," World Inequality Lab Working Papers hal-02876964, HAL.
    8. Giorgos Gouzoulis & Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos & Giorgos Galanis, 2023. "Financialisation, Underemployment, & the Disconnected Greek Capitalism," Working Papers 112, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    9. Giorgos Gouzoulis & Panagiotis (Takis) Iliopoulos & Giorgos Galanis, 2023. "Financialization and the rise of atypical work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 24-45, March.
    10. Onaran, Özlem & Stockhammer, Engelbert, 2016. "Progressive policies for wage-led growth in Europe," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 15527, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    11. Lisa Dorigatti & Roberto Pedersini, 2021. "Industrial relations and inequality: the many conditions of a crucial relationship," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 11-27, February.
    12. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2021. "What has driven the delinking of wages from productivity? A political economy-based investigation for high-income economies," Working Papers PKWP2104, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    13. Giorgos Gouzoulis, 2021. "Finance, Discipline and the Labour Share in the Long‐Run: France (1911–2010) and Sweden (1891–2000)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 568-594, June.
    14. Gouzoulis, Giorgos & Constantine, Collin, 2020. "The Political Economy of Inequality in Chile and Mexico: Two Tales of Neoliberalism," SocArXiv gruzp, Center for Open Science.
    15. Federico Riccio & Giovanni Dosi & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2023. "Smile without a reason why: functional specialisation and income distribution along global value chains," LEM Papers Series 2023/31, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    16. Javier López-Bernardo & Félix López-Martínez & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2016. "A Post-Keynesian Response to Piketty's ‘Fundamental Contradiction of Capitalism’," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 190-204, April.
    17. Öllinger, Michael & Ostermair, Christoph & Sell, Friedrich L., 2019. "Distributional effects of minimum wages: Can unions expect a double dividend? A theoretical exercise from a supply-side view," Working Papers in Economics 2019,2, Bundeswehr University Munich, Economic Research Group.
    18. Gouzoulis, Giorgos & Iliopoulos, Panagiotis & Galanis, Giorgos, 2022. "EU-induced Financialisation and Its Impact on the Greek Wage Share, 1999-2021," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1209, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Nicola Pensiero, 2022. "The effect of computerisation on the wage share in United Kingdom workplaces," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 158-177, March.
    20. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes: the role of income distribution," IMK Working Paper 194-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    21. Therborn, Göran, 2020. "Sweden's turn to economic inequality, 1982–2019," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 159-166.
    22. Stirati, Antonella & Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2021. "Unemployment and the wage share: a long-run exploration for major mature economies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 330-352.
    23. Josef Ringqvist, 2021. "How do union membership, union density and institutionalization affect perceptions of conflict between management and workers?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(2), pages 131-148, June.
    24. Coveri, Andrea & Pianta, Mario, 2022. "Drivers of inequality: wages vs. profits in European industries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 230-242.

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