IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v80y2026icp258-266.html

Struggles pay off. The effect of strikes on workers’ income in Western Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Angelone, Paolo
  • Brancaccio, Emiliano
  • Canale, Rosaria Rita
  • De Cristofaro, Fabiana

Abstract

Strikes have received decreasing attention in both academic and public debate, in line with the neoliberal transformation of industrial relations and increasing competition in the globalised economy. This paper investigates whether strikes can play a role in determining workers’ incomes. To this end, we conduct a dynamic panel data analysis based on an error-correction model and covering 14 Western European countries over the period 1971–2019. The analysis examines the relationship between strikes and both the wage share and real wage growth. Despite the institutional differences among the countries included in the sample, the results reveal a positive long-run relationship between the variables. This relationship remains robust after controlling for inflation, real GDP, unemployment, trade union density, and other variables capturing broader changes in the structure of production and in workers’ bargaining power. These findings support the conclusion that channelling the social conflict toward strikes can produce positive outcomes for workers, therefore contrasting the prevailing view that wage claims produce an increase in inflation or unemployment and detrimental effects on workers’ income.

Suggested Citation

  • Angelone, Paolo & Brancaccio, Emiliano & Canale, Rosaria Rita & De Cristofaro, Fabiana, 2026. "Struggles pay off. The effect of strikes on workers’ income in Western Europe," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 258-266.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:80:y:2026:i:c:p:258-266
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2026.07.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X26001384
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2026.07.017?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:streco:v:80:y:2026:i:c:p:258-266. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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/inca/525148 .

    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.