IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v27y2021i1p47-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Internal devaluation and economic inequality in Portugal: challenges to industrial relations in times of crisis and recovery

Author

Listed:
  • Maria da Paz Campos Lima

    (234176Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território, Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Diogo Martins

    (CES – 37829University of Coimbra, Portugal, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA)

  • Ana Cristina Costa

    (234176Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território, Lisbon, Portugal)

  • António Velez

    (234176Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território, Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract

Internal devaluation policies imposed in southern European countries since 2010 have weakened labour market institutions and intensified wage inequality and the falling wage share. The debate in the wake of the financial and economic crisis raised concerns about slow wage growth and persistent economic inequality. This article attempts to shed light on this debate, scrutinising the case of Portugal in the period 2010–2017. Mapping the broad developments at the national level, the article examines four sectors, looking in particular at the impact of minimum wages and collective bargaining on wage trends vis-à -vis wage inequality and wage share trajectories. We conclude that both minimum wage increases and the slight recovery of collective bargaining had a positive effect on wage outcomes and were important in reducing wage inequality. The extent of this reduction was limited, however, by uneven sectoral recovery dynamics and the persistent effects of precarious work, combined with critical liberalisation reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria da Paz Campos Lima & Diogo Martins & Ana Cristina Costa & António Velez, 2021. "Internal devaluation and economic inequality in Portugal: challenges to industrial relations in times of crisis and recovery," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 47-73, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:27:y:2021:i:1:p:47-73
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258921995006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1024258921995006
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1024258921995006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olivier J. Blanchard & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "Hysteresis and the European Unemployment Problem," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 15-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    3. Hugo Vilares & Pedro Portugal, 2013. "Labor unions, union density and the union wage premium," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    4. Raford Boddy & James Crotty, 1975. "Class Conflict and Macro-Policy: The Political Business Cycle," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Blanchard, Olivier J. & Summers, Lawrence H., 1987. "Hysteresis in unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 288-295.
    6. Olivier Blanchard, 2007. "Adjustment within the euro. The difficult case of Portugal," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 6(1), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Damian Grimshaw & Gerhard Bosch & Jill Rubery, 2014. "Minimum Wages and Collective Bargaining: What Types of Pay Bargaining Can Foster Positive Pay Equity Outcomes?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 470-498, September.
    8. Nelson H. Barbosa‐Filho & Lance Taylor, 2006. "Distributive And Demand Cycles In The Us Economy—A Structuralist Goodwin Model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 389-411, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Irena Raguž Krištić & Lucija Rogić Dumančić & Vladimir Arčabić, 2017. "Persistence and stochastic convergence of euro area unemployment rates: evidence from LM and RALS-LM unit root tests with breaks," EFZG Working Papers Series 1707, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    2. Pierluigi, Beatrice & Sondermann, David, 2018. "Macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area: where do we stand?," Occasional Paper Series 211, European Central Bank.
    3. Emiliano Brancaccio & Francesco Saraceno, 2017. "Evolutions and Contradictions in Mainstream Macroeconomics: The Case of Olivier Blanchard," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 345-359, July.
    4. Carneiro, Anabela & Portugal, Pedro & Varejão, José, 2014. "Catastrophic job Destruction during the Portuguese Economic Crisis," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PB), pages 444-457.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1hlgq13piu8cirvmd44v0hs2v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Emiliano Brancaccio & Francesco Saraceno, 2017. "Evolutions and Contradictions in Mainstream Macroeconomics," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03458622, HAL.
    7. Marina Capparucci & Emanuela Ghignoni & Alina Verashchagina & Natalia Vorozhbit, 2015. "The Drivers of Innovation in the Italian Manufacturing Sector," Economia & lavoro, Carocci editore, issue 3, pages 111-128.
    8. Engelbert Stockhammer & Simon Sturn, 2012. "The impact of monetary policy on unemployment hysteresis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(21), pages 2743-2756, July.
    9. Jan Gottschalk & Ulrich Fritsche, 2005. "The New Keynesian Model and the Long-Run Vertical Phillips Curve: Does It Hold for Germany?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 521, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2003. "Unemployment in Britain: A European Success Story," CESifo Working Paper Series 981, CESifo.
    11. Eric Heyer, 2011. "The effectiveness of economic policy and position in the cycle: the case of tax reductions on overtime in France," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 27(2), pages 364-379.
    12. Apergis, Nicholas, 2005. "An estimation of the natural rate of unemployment in Greece," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 91-99, February.
    13. Abdoulaye Millogo, 2020. "Hysteresis Effects and Macroeconomics Gains from Unconventional Monetary Policies Stabilization," Cahiers de recherche 20-12, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    14. Liotti, Giorgio, 2020. "Labour market flexibility, economic crisis and youth unemployment in Italy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 150-162.
    15. Boyer, Robert, 1992. "La crise de la macroéconomie, une conséquence de la méconnaissance des institutions?," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 68(1), pages 43-68, mars et j.
    16. Adsera, Alicia & Boix, Carles, 2000. "Must we choose? European unemployment, American inequality, and the impact of education and labor market institutions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 611-638, November.
    17. Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2014. "Bowling Alone or Bowling at All? The Effect of Unemployment on Social Participation," Ruhr Economic Papers 0510, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    18. John C. Soper, 2004. "European Labor Markets and Structural Reform : Does the Euro Have a Future?," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 20(Fall 2004), pages 112-124.
    19. Jordi Galí, 2015. "Insider-outsider labor markets, hysteresis and monetary policy," Economics Working Papers 1506, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jun 2020.
    20. repec:zbw:ifwkwp:1309 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Marjan Petreski & Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski, 2013. "Real Wages in the Manufacturing Industry in Macedonia: The Role of Macroeconomic Factors, with Reference to Recession Times," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 113-126, January.
    22. Zwick, Thomas, 1999. "Innovations induce asymmetric employment movements," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-24, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    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:sae:treure:v:27:y:2021:i:1:p:47-73. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.