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The Choice of the Agenda in Labor Negotiations: Efficiency and Behavioral Considerations

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  • Königstein, Manfred

    (University of Erfurt)

  • Villeval, Marie Claire

    (CNRS, GATE)

Abstract

The labor economics literature has shown that the "efficient bargaining" model, in which wage and employment are negotiated simultaneously, is less frequently used on unionized markets than the less efficient "right-to-manage" model, in which wage is determined via bargaining and employment determined subsequently and unilaterally by the firm. This paper reports an experiment in which the choice of the bargaining agenda is endogenous within a noncooperative game. We find that participants show a preference for decision authority and choose single-issue bargaining in most cases even though efficiency is lower than in multiissue bargaining. Furthermore, multi-issue bargaining induces unions to offer smaller payoff shares and leads to a higher conflict rate than in a single-issue bargaining.

Suggested Citation

  • Königstein, Manfred & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2005. "The Choice of the Agenda in Labor Negotiations: Efficiency and Behavioral Considerations," IZA Discussion Papers 1762, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1762
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    Cited by:

    1. Appelbaum, Elie, 2011. "Union-firm bargaining: Order of play and efficiency," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 235-245, March.
    2. Elie Appelbaum, 2009. "Alternating Offers Union-Firm Bargaining: Order of Play and Efficiency," Working Papers 2009_02, York University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    bargaining agenda; efficient contracts; right-to-manage; decision authority; experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence

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