IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/iab/iabmit/v36i4p634-648.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Koordination von Lohnverhandlungen (Coordination of wage bargaining)

Author

Listed:
  • Schettkat, Ronald

Abstract

"Collectively bargained wage contracts - in Germany discussed under the heading 'Flaechentarifvertraege' - are often asserted to compress the wage structure, to systematically bias wages and therefore to destroy employment opportunities. Accordingly they are accused of being inefficient compared to bilateral wage negotiations. Traditionally economists favored decentralized wage bargaining because it is closest to the idealized market model. More recent theoretical developments, however, take market imperfections (information asymmetries, market power etc.) as their starting point and show that market imperfections may be reduced by, for example, unions. Models of imperfect markets lead to different and more realistic evaluations of institutions than would be possible on the basis of the perfect market model. This article provides an overview of the theoretical and empirical discussion of the relations between wage bargaining systems, wage inequality, and employment. This contribution shows that more coordinated wage bargaining systems correlate with lower wage inequality but the often claimed correlation between low wage inequality and labor market mal performance cannot be found at the aggregated level. Countries with high wage inequality - like the US - but also countries with low wage inequality - like the Scandinavian countries - achieve high employment rates." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Schettkat, Ronald, 2003. "Koordination von Lohnverhandlungen (Coordination of wage bargaining)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 634-648.
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabmit:v:36:i:4:p:634-648
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doku.iab.de/mittab/2003/2003_4_MittAB_Schettkat.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Soskice, David, 1990. "Wage Determination: The Changing Role of Institutions in Advanced Industrialized Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 6(4), pages 36-61, Winter.
    2. Ronald Schettkat, 2004. "US-sclerosis?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 39(1), pages 46-50, January.
    3. Danthine, Jean-Pierre & Hunt, Jennifer, 1994. "Wage Bargaining Structure, Employment and Economic Integration," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 528-541, May.
    4. Agell, Jonas, 1999. "On the Benefits from Rigid Labour Markets: Norms, Market Failures, and Social Insurance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(453), pages 143-164, February.
    5. Martin Beck & Bernd Fitzenberger, 2004. "Changes in Union Membership Over Time: A Panel Analysis for West Germany," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 18(3), pages 329-362, September.
    6. Carlin, Wendy & Soskice, David, 1990. "Macroeconomics and the Wage Bargain: A Modern Approach to Employment, Inflation, and the Exchange Rate," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198772446, Decembrie.
    7. Freeman, Richard & Schettkat, Ronald, 2001. "Skill Compression, Wage Differentials, and Employment: Germany vs the US," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 582-603, July.
    8. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Franz, Wolfgang, 1993. "Dezentrale versus zentrale Lohnbildung in Europa: Theoretische Aspekte und empirische Evidenz," Discussion Papers 9, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    9. Teulings,Coen & Hartog,Joop, 2008. "Corporatism or Competition?," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521049399.
    10. Nickell, Stephen & Bell, Brian, 1996. "Changes in the Distribution of Wages and Unemployment in OECD Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 302-308, May.
    11. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 843-877, August.
    12. Glyn, Andrew, 1995. "Unemployment and inequality," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economic Change and Employment FS I 95-303, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    13. David Card, 1989. "Deregulation and Labor Earnings in the Airline Industry," Working Papers 627, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    14. Rowthorn, R E, 1992. "Centralisation, Employment and Wage Dispersion," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(412), pages 506-523, May.
    15. Richard B. Freeman, 2000. "Single Peaked Vs. Diversified Capitalism: The Relation Between Economic Institutions and Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 7556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Bewley, Truman F, 1995. "A Depressed Labor Market as Explained by Participants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 250-254, May.
    17. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1996. "International Differences in Male Wage Inequality: Institutions versus Market Forces," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 791-836, August.
    18. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1995. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," Working Papers 734, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    19. Franz, Wolfgang, 1995. "Die Lohnfindung in Deutschland in einer internationalen Perspektive: Ist das deutsche System ein Auslaufmodell?," Discussion Papers 24, University of Konstanz, Center for International Labor Economics (CILE).
    20. Peter Gottschalk & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1997. "Cross-National Comparisons of Earnings and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 633-687, June.
    21. Hall, Peter A. & Franzese, Robert J., 1998. "Mixed Signals: Central Bank Independence, Coordinated Wage Bargaining, and European Monetary Union," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 505-535, July.
    22. Lijphart, Arend & Crepaz, Markus M. L., 1991. "Corporatism and Consensus Democracy in Eighteen Countries: Conceptual and Empirical Linkages," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 235-246, April.
    23. Michael Bruno & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1985. "Economics of Worldwide Stagflation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number brun85-1, March.
    24. Glyn, Andrew, 1995. "The Assessment: Unemployment and Inequality," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, Spring.
    25. Thomas Beissinger & Chritoph Knoppik, 2005. "Sind Nominallöhne starr? Neuere Evidenz und wirtschaftspolitische Implikationen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 6(2), pages 171-188, May.
    26. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Kohn, Karsten, 2005. "Gleicher Lohn für gleiche Arbeit? : zum Zusammenhang zwischen Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft und Lohnstruktur in Westdeutschland 1985-1997 (Equal pay for equal work? * on the relationship between union m," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 125-146.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schettkat, Ronald, 2003. "Koordination von Lohnverhandlungen (Coordination of wage bargaining)," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 36(4), pages 634-648.
    2. Schettkat, Ronald, 2002. "Institutions in the economic fitness landscape: What impact do welfare state institutions have on economic performance?," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment FS I 02-210, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Aidt, T.S. & Tzannatos, Z., 2005. "The Cost and Benefits of Collective Bargaining," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0541, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Puhani, Patrick A., 2001. "Wage rigidities in Western Germany? Microeconometric evidence from the 1990s," ZEW Discussion Papers 01-36, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Ronald Schettkat, 2002. "Regulation in the Dutch and German Economies at the Root of Unemployment?," SCEPA working paper series. 2002-05, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    6. Kenworthy, Lane, 2000. "Quantitative indicators of corporatism: A survey and assessment," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Richard B. Freeman, 2007. "Labor Market Institutions Around the World," NBER Working Papers 13242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Patrick A. Puhani, 2008. "Transatlantic Differences in Labour Markets: Changes in Wage and Non‐Employment Structures in the 1980s and the 1990s," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(3), pages 312-338, August.
    9. Puhani, Patrick A., 2003. "A Test of the 'Krugman Hypothesis' for the United States, Britain, and Western Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-18, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Frank Scharr, 2005. "Tarifbindung, Rententeilung und Konzessionsverträge als Einflussgrößen der Lohnhöhe in Unternehmen : eine Untersuchung mit Mikrodaten für thüringische Firmen," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39, July.
    11. David R. Howell & Margaret Duncan & Bennett Harrison, 1998. "Low Wages in the US and High Unemployment in Europe: A Critical Assessment of the Conventional Wisdom," SCEPA working paper series. 1998-01, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School, revised Aug 1998.
    12. Erik Leertouwer & Jakob de Haan & Jakob de Haan, 2002. "How to Use Indicators for 'Corporatism' in Empirical Applications," CESifo Working Paper Series 728, CESifo.
    13. François Rycx & Robert Plasman, 2001. "Collective bargaining and poverty: a cross-national perspective," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/795, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    14. David Kucera, 1998. "Unemployment and External and Internal Labor Market Flexibility: A Comparative View of Europe, Japan, and the United States," SCEPA working paper series. 1998-21, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    15. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Kohn, Karsten, 2005. "Gleicher Lohn für gleiche Arbeit? : zum Zusammenhang zwischen Gewerkschaftsmitgliedschaft und Lohnstruktur in Westdeutschland 1985-1997 (Equal pay for equal work? * on the relationship between union m," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 125-146.
    16. Sonja Jovicic, 2015. "Wage Inequality, Skill Inequality, and Employment: Evidence from PIAAC," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15007, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    17. Justus Haucap & Christian Wey, 2004. "Unionisation structures and innovation incentives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 149-165, March.
    18. Patrick A. Puhani, 2002. "The Rise and Fall of Swiss Unemployment - Relative Demand Shocks, Wage Rigidities, and Temporary Immigrants," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2002 2002-29, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    19. Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2001. "Décentraliser ou coordonner les négociations salariales pour réduire le chômage," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 81-91.
    20. Ronald Schettkat, 2003. "Institutions in the Economic Fitness Landscape: What Impact Do Welfare State Institutions Have on Economic Performance?," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 1(2), pages 27-33, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iab:iabmit:v:36:i:4:p:634-648. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IAB, Geschäftsbereich Wissenschaftliche Fachinformation und Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iabbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.