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Can Insider Power Affect Employment?

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Author Info
Diaz-Vazquez, Pilar
Snower, Dennis J.

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Abstract

Do firms reduce employment when their insiders (established, incumbent employees) claim higher wages? The conventional answer in the theoretical literature is that insider power has no influence on employment, provided that the newly hired employees (entrants) receive their reservation wages. The reason given is that an increase in insider wages gives rise to a counterveiling fall in reservation wages, leaving the present value of wage costs unchanged. Our analysis contradicts this conventional answer. We show that, in the context of a stochastic model of the labor market, an increase in insider wages promotes firing in recessions, while leaving hiring in booms unchanged. Thereby insider power reduces average employment.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3472.

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Date of creation: Jul 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3472

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Related research
Keywords: business cycles; employment; hiring and firing costs; insiders; wages;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Private Pensions
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Job security, employment and wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-879, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 2001. "Insiders versus Outsiders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Burda, Michael C, 1992. " A Note on Firing Costs and Severance Benefits in Equilibrium Unemployment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 94(3), pages 479-89.
  4. Fehr, Ernst & Kirchsteiger, Georg, 1994. "Insider Power, Wage Discrimination and Fairness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 571-83, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Frank, Jeff, 1985. "Trade Union Efficiency and Overemployment with Seniority Wage Scales," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380), pages 1021-34, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Gottfries, Nils & Sjostrom, Tomas, 2000. " Insider Bargaining Power, Starting Wages and Involuntary Unemployment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 102(4), pages 669-88, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Paola Manzini & Dennis Snower, 1996. "On the Foundations of Wage Bargaining," Archive Discussion Papers 9614, Birkbeck, Department of Economics, Mathematics & Statistics.
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  8. Lazear, Edward P, 1990. "Job Security Provisions and Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(3), pages 699-726, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Frank, Jeff & Malcomson, James M., 1994. "Trade unions and seniority employment rules," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1595-1611, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Vetter, Henrik & Andersen, Torben M, 1994. "Do Turnover Costs Protect Insiders?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(422), pages 124-30, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Yu-Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2007. "Threshold Effects of Dismissal Protection Regulation and the Emergence of Temporary Work Agencies," Discussion Papers 207, University of Dundee, Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Yu-Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2008. "Product Market Competition, Investment and Employment-Abundant versus Job-Poor Growth: A Real Options Perspective," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 20802, Hamburg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Díaz-Vázquez, Pilar & Snower, Dennis, 2003. "On-the-Job Training, Firing Costs and Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 910, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Yu-Fu Chen & Michael Funke, 2006. "Threshold Effects of Dismissal Protection Regulations and Employment Dynamics," Discussion Papers 195, University of Dundee, Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
  5. Díaz-Vázquez, Pilar & Snower, Dennis, 2002. "On-the Job Training and the Effects of Insider Power," IZA Discussion Papers 586, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Brown, Alessio J G & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2009. "An Incentive Theory of Matching," CEPR Discussion Papers 7283, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Jo Seldeslachts, 2002. "Interactions Between Product and Labour Market Reforms," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 519.02, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC). [Downloadable!]
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