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Bargaining power, structural change, and the falling U.S. labor share

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  • Cauvel, Michael
  • Pacitti, Aaron

Abstract

Most explanations for the declining labor share focus on structural changes such as deindustrialization, globalization, financialization, market concentration, and technological change. We argue that these forces operate through a bargaining power channel and that the reduction in the labor share has been driven by lower bargaining power for workers. We first estimate the relationship between bargaining power and labors share of income using a bounds-testing approach and find a significant negative relationship. We then create novel indices of structural change and estimate regressions of the cost of job loss, generally finding that increases in structural change have both increased the cost of job loss and amplified its volatility over the business cycle. Our analysis therefore supports the hypothesis that the decline in the labor share is driven by decreased labor bargaining power and suggests that structural economic changes and weak economic performance in the U.S. have increased inequality.

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  • Cauvel, Michael & Pacitti, Aaron, 2022. "Bargaining power, structural change, and the falling U.S. labor share," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 512-530.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:60:y:2022:i:c:p:512-530
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2022.01.007
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    1. Michael Cauvel & Miguel Alejandro Sanchez, 2023. "Life Expectancy and the Labor Share in the U.S," Working Papers PKWP2308, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    2. Swayamsiddha Sarangi, 2023. "Labor share decline across US manufacturing sub-sectors: 1979-2019," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2023_07, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    3. Aaron Pacitti & Michael Cauvel, 2023. "Rent-Seeking Behavior and Economic Justice: A Classroom Exercise," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 88-103, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor share; Bargaining power; Cost of job loss; Structural change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory

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