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Trade union density and inflation performance: evidence from OECD panel data

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  • Christopher Bowdler

    () (Nuffield college)

  • Luca Nunziata

    () (University of Padua)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of union membership rates on inflation in OECD countries. A positive effect of union density is estimated, even after controlling for fixed effects and time dummies. Additional institutional characteristics, for example union coordination, employment protection laws and central bank independence, do not affect inflation directly in a panel setting, but do influence the size of the unionisation coefficient via interaction terms. The results are robust to controlling for potential common causes such as oil price shocks and the political stance of the government, and to using GMM/IV techniques to handle possible endogeneity biases.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno" in its series "Marco Fanno" Working Papers with number 0009.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pad:wpaper:0009

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Cited by:
  1. John Pencavel, 2008. "How Successful Have Trade Unions Been?: A Utility-Based Indicator of Union Well-Being," Discussion Papers 08-002, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
  2. Magali Jaoul-Grammare & Isabelle Terraz, 2010. "Syndicalisation et croissance économique : y a-t-il une exception française ?," Working Papers of BETA 2010-25, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
  3. Tahir Mukhtar, 2010. "Does Trade Openness Reduce Inflation? Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 15(2), pages 35-50, Jul-Dec.
  4. Charles S. Bos & Siem Jan Koopman & Marius Ooms, 2007. "Long memory modelling of inflation with stochastic variance and structural breaks," CREATES Research Papers 2007-44, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus.
  5. Ciżkowicz, Piotr & Rzońca, Andrzej, 2010. "Inflation and corporate investment in selected OECD countries in the years 1960-2005 – an empirical analysis," MPRA Paper 29846, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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