IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v255y2025ics0165176525003106.html

Brand capital and rent sharing: Evidence from firm-level data

Author

Listed:
  • Hua, Sudong

Abstract

Brand capital is widely recognized for its role in enhancing firm value and profitability, but its impact on firms’ incentives to improve workers’ welfare remains unclear. We observe considerable variation in advertising intensity within and across sectors, highlighting its influence on firm-labor dynamics. This study investigates how the accumulation of brand capital affects a firm’s willingness to share rents with workers. Our findings suggest that, on average, higher brand capital enhances this willingness, particularly among service-oriented firms, older firms, firms based in large cities, and during economic downturns. However, workers benefit from more aggressive advertising investment only when a firm’s distributional policy generates a positive elasticity of willingness to share. Irrespective of distributional policy, brand capital amplifies between-firm wage inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Hua, Sudong, 2025. "Brand capital and rent sharing: Evidence from firm-level data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003106
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112473
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525003106
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112473?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hildreth, Andrew K G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1997. "Rent-Sharing and Wages: Evidence from Company and Establishment Panels," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 318-337, April.
    2. David Card & Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida, 2014. "Rent-sharing, Holdup, and Wages: Evidence from Matched Panel Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(1), pages 84-111.
    3. Brigham R. Frandsen, 2021. "The Surprising Impacts of Unionization: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 861-894.
    4. Rasmus Lentz & Suphanit Piyapromdee & Jean-Marc Robin, 2022. "The Anatomy of Sorting - Evidence from Danish Data," Working Papers hal-03869383, HAL.
    5. Nathaniel Baum-Snow & Ronni Pavan, 2012. "Understanding the City Size Wage Gap," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 88-127.
    6. Shubhdeep Deb & Jan Eeckhout & Aseem Patel & Lawrence Warren, 2024. "Reply to: Comments on “Walras–Bowley Lecture: Market Power and Wage Inequality”," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(3), pages 647-650, May.
    7. Guido Matias Cortes & Jeanne Tschopp, 2024. "Rising concentration and wage inequality," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 126(2), pages 320-354, April.
    8. Maria Ana Vitorino, 2014. "Understanding the Effect of Advertising on Stock Returns and Firm Value: Theory and Evidence from a Structural Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(1), pages 227-245, January.
    9. Rasmus Lentz & Suphanit Piyapromdee & Jean‐Marc Robin, 2023. "The Anatomy of Sorting—Evidence From Danish Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(6), pages 2409-2455, November.
    10. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Panel data estimates of the production function and product and labor market imperfections," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1-46, January.
    11. Shubhdeep Deb & Jan Eeckhout & Aseem Patel & Lawrence Warren, 2024. "Walras–Bowley Lecture: Market Power and Wage Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(3), pages 603-636, May.
    12. Jose Ignacio Lopez & Virginia Olivella, 2018. "The importance of intangible capital for the transmission of financial shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 30, pages 223-238, October.
    13. John A. Abowd & Thomas Lemieux, 1993. "The Effects of Product Market Competition on Collective Bargaining Agreements: The Case of Foreign Competition in Canada," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(4), pages 983-1014.
    14. Keqiang Hou & Alok Johri, 2018. "Intangible Capital, the Labor Wedge and the Volatility of Corporate Profits," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 29, pages 216-234, July.
    15. Winston Wei Dou & Yan Ji & David Reibstein & Wei Wu, 2021. "Inalienable Customer Capital, Corporate Liquidity, and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(1), pages 211-265, February.
    16. Belo, Frederico & Gala, Vito D. & Salomao, Juliana & Vitorino, Maria Ana, 2022. "Decomposing firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 619-639.
    17. Mario Bossler & Thorsten Schank, 2023. "Wage Inequality in Germany after the Minimum Wage Introduction," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(3), pages 813-857.
    18. Thibaut Lamadon & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2022. "Imperfect Competition, Compensating Differentials, and Rent Sharing in the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 169-212, January.
    19. Katti, Supriya & Lawrence, Edward R. & Raithatha, Mehul, 2023. "Risk disclosure in IPO advertisement and the quality of the firm," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    20. Bradley T. Shapiro & Günter J. Hitsch & Anna E. Tuchman, 2021. "TV Advertising Effectiveness and Profitability: Generalizable Results From 288 Brands," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(4), pages 1855-1879, July.
    21. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2014. "A Reassessment of Real Business Cycle Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 177-182, May.
    22. Frederico Belo & Xiaoji Lin & Maria Ana Vitorino, 2014. "Brand Capital and Firm Value," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 17(1), pages 150-169, January.
    23. Alessandra Casarico & Salvatore Lattanzio, 2024. "What Firms Do: Gender Inequality in Linked Employer-Employee Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 325-355.
    24. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2010. "Comparing Micro-evidence on Rent Sharing from Three Different Approaches," NBER Working Papers 16220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2022. "Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7221-7247, October.
    26. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2013. "Organization Capital and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1365-1406, August.
    27. Berthold Herrendorf & Todd Schoellman, 2018. "Wages, Human Capital, and Barriers to Structural Transformation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, April.
    28. John Van Reenen, 1996. "The Creation and Capture of Rents: Wages and Innovation in a Panel of U. K. Companies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(1), pages 195-226.
    29. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    30. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Yang, Baozhong, 2013. "The mystery of zero-leverage firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 1-23.
    31. Joao F. Gomes, 2001. "Financing Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1263-1285, December.
    32. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    33. Mitra, Shalini, 2019. "Intangible capital and the rise in wage and hours volatility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 70-85.
    34. Bagwell, Kyle, 2007. "The Economic Analysis of Advertising," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 28, pages 1701-1844, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Akindayomi, Akinloye & Amin, Md Ruhul, 2025. "Brand capital and trade credit policy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mertens, Matthias & Müller, Steffen & Neuschäffer, Georg, 2025. "Identifying Rent-sharing Using Firmsʼ Energy Input Mix," IWH Discussion Papers 19/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2025.
    2. Brian Bell & Paweł Bukowski & Stephen Machin, 2024. "The Decline in Rent Sharing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(3), pages 683-716.
    3. Kenta IKEUCHI & Kyoji FUKAO & Cristiano PERUGINI & Fabrizio POMPEI, 2023. "Which Employers Share Rents? A firm-level analysis for Japan," Discussion papers 23048, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Li, Tongxia & Lu, Chun & Routledge, James, 2023. "Brand capital on debt maturity structure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    5. Dobbelaere, Sabien & Mairesse, Jacques, 2018. "Comparing micro-evidence on rent sharing from two different econometric models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 18-26.
    6. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    7. Simon Jäger & Benjamin Schoefer & Samuel Young & Josef Zweimüller, 2020. "Wages and the Value of Nonemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1905-1963.
    8. Machin, Stephen & Bell, Brian & Bukowski, Pawel, 2018. "Rent Sharing and Inclusive Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 13408, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Lachowska, Marta & Mas, Alexandre & Saggio, Raffaele & Woodbury, Stephen A., 2023. "Do firm effects drift? Evidence from Washington administrative data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 375-395.
    10. Alam, Nurul & Boubaker, Sabri & Chen, Xiaomeng Charlene & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2024. "Brand capital and debt choice," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Wenjing Duan & Pedro S. Martins, 2022. "Rent sharing in China: Magnitude, heterogeneity and drivers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 176-219, March.
    12. Bonhomme, Stéphane & Denis, Angela, 2024. "Estimating heterogeneous effects: Applications to labor economics," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Jose Garcia-Louzao & Alessandro Ruggieri, 2023. "Labor Market Competition and Inequality," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 117, Bank of Lithuania.
    14. Thibaut Lamadon & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2022. "Imperfect Competition, Compensating Differentials, and Rent Sharing in the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(1), pages 169-212, January.
    15. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2010. "Comparing Micro-evidence on Rent Sharing from Three Different Approaches," NBER Working Papers 16220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2017. "The Extent of Rent Sharing along the Wage Distribution," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 751-777, December.
    17. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2022. "Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7221-7247, October.
    18. Pedro S. Martins & Yong Yang, 2015. "Globalized Labour Markets? International Rent Sharing Across 47 Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 664-691, December.
    19. Ling, Aifan & Guan, Huihua & Zhang, Nannan, 2026. "Brand capital and corporate stock risk: A theoretical and empirical analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2011. "Is There Rent Sharing in Italy? Evidence from Employer-Employee Data," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 8(2), pages 265-279, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525003106. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.