Can Insider Power Affect Employment?

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Can Insider Power Affect Employment?

Author Info

Díaz-Vázquez, Pilar (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela)
Snower, Dennis () (Department of Economics, Birkbeck College, CEPR and IZA Bonn)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Dennis Snower

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 firming in recessions, while leaving hiring in booms unchanged. Thereby insider power reduces average employment.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 506.

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Length: 15 pages
Date of creation: May 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp506

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Paper
- Diaz-Vazquez, Pilar & Snower, Dennis J., 2002. "Can Insider Power Affect Employment?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3472, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2002-07-04 (All new papers)
NEP-LAB-2002-07-04 (Labour Economics)
NEP-LTV-2002-07-04 (Unemployment, Inequality & Poverty)

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.:

Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Job security, employment and wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-879, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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)
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)
Manzini, Paola & Snower, Dennis J., 1996. "On the Foundations of Wage Bargaining," CEPR Discussion Papers 1514, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- Paola Manzini & Dennis Snower, 1996. "On the Foundations of Wage Bargaining," Archive Discussion Papers 9614, Birkbeck, Department of Economics.
- Manzini, P. & Snower, D.J., 1996. "On the Foundations of Wage Bargaining," Discussion Papers 96/16, University of Exeter, School of Business and Economics.
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)
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.
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)
Other versions:
- Ernst Fehr & Georg Kirchsteiger, 2003. "Insider Power, Wage Discrimination, and Fairness," Labor and Demography 0305003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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)
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)
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)
Other versions:
- Gottfries, N. & Sjostrom, Y., 1998. "Insider Bargaining Power, Starting Wages, and Involuntary Unemployment," Papers 1998-10, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
- Gottfries, Nils & Sjöström, Tomas, 1998. "Insider Bargaining Power, Starting Wages, and Involuntary Unemployment," Working Paper Series 1998:10, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]

Full references

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.)

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!]
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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