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The labour share of income: heterogeneous causes for parallel movements?

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  • Jan Hogrefe
  • Marcus Kappler

Abstract

The distribution of factor incomes from a macroeconomic perspective is an increasingly popular research topic—be it for its implications for the personal income distribution or the apparent mistake in previous research declaring it to be constant over time. The labour share has been decreasing across OECD countries since the 1980s, sparking a renewed interest in what is behind this trend. The aim of this paper is to take a systematic approach to estimating the coefficients of factors explaining these movements across countries. In particular, we focus on proper dynamic model specification and test the validity of the homogeneity assumption of slope coefficients frequently implied in previous studies. We employ fixed effect estimators as well as pooled mean group and mean group estimators, the latter in a dynamic heterogeneous panel framework. We find support for a dynamic estimation setup and derive statements regarding the homogeneity assumption with respect to the three most prominent explanatory variables in the literature: the capital-output ratio, total factor productivity and trade openness. We find the first two variables to decrease the labour share, to be better captured by dynamic estimators and to be better identified in more recent time periods. With regard to trade, we see it depressing the labour share since 1980 only. We furthermore provide evidence on increased cross-country homogeneity over time for all of the analysed driving forces of the labour share. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Hogrefe & Marcus Kappler, 2013. "The labour share of income: heterogeneous causes for parallel movements?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 303-319, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:11:y:2013:i:3:p:303-319
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-012-9221-8
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    2. Busl, Claudia & Seymen, Atılım, 2013. "The German labour market reforms in a European context: A DSGE analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-097, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Kyoji Fukao & Cristiano Perugini, 2021. "The Long‐Run Dynamics of the Labor Share in Japan," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 445-480, June.
    4. Francesco Bloise & Irene Brunetti & Valeria Cirillo, 2022. "Firm strategies and distributional dynamics: labour share in Italian medium-large firms," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 623-655, July.
    5. Bárbara Cardoso Dias & Ana Urraca Ruiz, 2016. "A Mudança Estrutural Como Indutora Da Distribuição Funcional Da Renda No Brasil," Anais do XLIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 43rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 021, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    6. Batóg Jacek, 2017. "Labour Contribution and Productivity in the European Union: A Cluster Analysis," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 7-18, December.
    7. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Development Aid, Remittances Inflows and Wages in the Manufacturing Sector of Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 213439, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Stirati, Antonella & Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2021. "Unemployment and the wage share: a long-run exploration for major mature economies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 330-352.
    9. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2023. "The decoupling between labour compensation and productivity in high‐income countries: Why is the nexus broken?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 425-463, June.
    10. Erik Steven Katovich & Alexandre Gori Maia, 2018. "The relation between labor productivity and wages in Brazil: a sectoral analysis [A relaçãoo entre produtividade de trabalho e salário no Brasil: uma análise setorial]," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 28(1), pages 7-38, January-A.
    11. Ivan Mendieta‐Muñoz & Codrina Rada & Rudi von Arnim, 2021. "The Decline of the US Labor Share Across Sectors," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(3), pages 732-758, September.
    12. Claudia Busl & Atilim Seymen, 2013. "(Spillover) Effects of Labour Market Reforms in Germany and France. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 8," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46855, April.
    13. Naude, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2015. "Industrialisation, Innovation, Inclusion," MERIT Working Papers 2015-043, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
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    15. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2021. "What has driven the delinking of wages from productivity? A political economy-based investigation for high-income economies," Working Papers PKWP2104, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Factor income; Labour share; Dynamic heterogeneous panel models; C23; E23; E25; F16;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

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