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Agglomeration and wage bargaining

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  • Kenmei Tsubota

    (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University)

Abstract

This paper examines the role of trade union and the type of wage bargainings in economic geography model. In our setting, wage bargaining is held between immobile workers and mobile entrepreneurs who decide the location of their firm. It is shown that stronger trade unions in both regions would put a stronger pressure toward agglomeration of firms. This is due to the fact that the stronger bargaining power of trade union makes home market effect larger. Under core-periphery distribution of firms, this effect can act the role as anchorage of firms. Stronger trade unions in home region can keep the firms remain in their region. Moreover, we extend to several employment environments, which are the outside option of workers. We show that differences in bargaining structures and employment environments could affect the stability of symmetrically distributed firms, namely symmetry break point. We show that while unemployment rate acts as a centripetal force, not only the degree of bargaining power of trade union but also unemployment benefit can play as a centrifugal force. A key message of the paper is that generous unemployment benefit and higher trade union make the distribution of firms more uneven and sustainable.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenmei Tsubota, 2009. "Agglomeration and wage bargaining," KIER Working Papers 675, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:kyo:wpaper:675
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    File URL: http://www.kier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/DP/DP675.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour market rigidity; Regional Unemployment; Location of firms; Anchorage effect of trade union;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy

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