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The Decline of the Labor Share is not Explained by the Capitalization of Intellectual Property Products

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  • Barkai, Simcha

Abstract

The U.S. labor share has clearly been declining since the early 1980s. This does not depend on whether or not we capitalise intellectual property products. Koh, Santaeulàlia-Llopis and Zheng (2020) approximate the labor share by a single linear time trend over the entire period of 1929{2019. This period includes a long period of time over which the labor share is known to be mostly stable and a shorter period of time over which the labor share is known to decline. Once we separate out the period starting in the 1980s we recover the decline in the labor share.

Suggested Citation

  • Barkai, Simcha, 2021. "The Decline of the Labor Share is not Explained by the Capitalization of Intellectual Property Products," Working Papers 310, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cbscwp:310
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Dongya Koh & Raül Santaeulàlia‐Llopis & Yu Zheng, 2020. "Labor Share Decline and Intellectual Property Products Capital," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2609-2628, November.
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    10. Matthias Kehrig & Nicolas Vincent, 2021. "The Micro-Level Anatomy of the Labor Share Decline," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 1031-1087.
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    Cited by:

    1. De Loecker, Jan & Obermeier, Tim & Van Reenen, John, 2022. "Firms and inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117827, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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