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The Effect of Globalization on Union Bargaining and Price-Cost Margins of Firms

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Author Info
Filip Abraham
Jozef Konings
Stijn Vanormelingen

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Abstract

In recent years, Europe has witnessed an accelerated process of economic integration. Trade barriers were removed, the euro was introduced and ten new member states have joined the European Union. This paper analyzes how this process of increased economic integration has affected labor and product markets. To this end, we use a panel of Belgian manufacturing firms to estimate price-cost margins and union bargaining power and show how various measures of globalization affect them. Our findings can be summarized as follows: On average, firms set prices about 30% above marginal costs, but there is substantial variation across sectors, with the lowest mark-up around 19% and the highest around 52%. In addition, we find evidence that unions bargain over both wages and employment. We estimate an index of bargaining power, which reflects the fraction of profits that is passed on to workers into higher wages. Depending on the sector, this fraction varies between 6% and 18% and it increases with the markups of firms. Finally, we find that globalization puts pressure on both markups and union bargaining power, especially when there is increased competition from the low wage countries. This suggests that increased globalization is associated with a moderation of wage claims in unionized countries, which should be associated with positive effects on employment.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven in its series LICOS Discussion Papers with number 18107.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:lic:licosd:18107

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Related research
Keywords: Mark-ups; Trade Unions; International Trade;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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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. Konings, Jozef & Van Cayseele, Patrick & Warzynski, Frederic, 2001. "The dynamics of industrial mark-ups in two small open economies: does national competition policy matter?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 841-859, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Jozef Konings & Patrick Van Cayseele & Frederic Warzynski, 2005. "The Effects of Privatization and Competitive Pressure on Firms' Price-Cost Margins: Micro Evidence from Emerging Economies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 124-134, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Chen, Natalie & Imbs, Jean & Scott, Andrew, 2009. "The dynamics of trade and competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 50-62, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Levinsohn, James, 1993. "Testing the imports-as-market-discipline hypothesis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1-2), pages 1-22, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2003. "Macroeconomic Effects Of Regulation And Deregulation In Goods And Labor Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 118(3), pages 879-907, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. De Locker, Jan & Warzynski, Frederic, 2009. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," Working Papers 09-4, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Ilke Van Beveren, 2007. "Footloose Multinationals in Belgium?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 483-507, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. De Loecker, Jan & Warzynski, Frederic, 2009. "Markups and Firm-level Export Status," CEPR Discussion Papers 7450, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Dobbelaere, Sabien, 2004. "Estimation of price-cost margins and union bargaining power for Belgian manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 1381-1398, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-97, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Francis Kramarz, 2003. "Wages and International Trade," Working Papers 2003-27, Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2008. "Panel Data Estimates Of The Production Function And Product And Labor Market Imperfections," NBER Working Papers 13975, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Michel Dumont & Glenn Rayp & Peter Willemé, 2006. "Does internationalization affect union bargaining power? An empirical study for five EU countries," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(1), pages 77-102, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. H. Boulhol & S. Dobbelaere & S. Maioli, 2007. "Imports as product and labour market discipline," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 07/479, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. [Downloadable!]
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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. Jozef Konings & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2009. "The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Firm Level Evidence," LICOS Discussion Papers 24409, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
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