IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jeczfn/v114y2015i3p239-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralized union-oligopoly bargaining when wages signal strength

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Ding

Abstract

This paper analyzes decentralized wage bargaining in a unionized oligopoly industry. The novel features of the proposed model are that firms are subject to incomplete information concerning their cost and that wages may signal firms’ private information. The potential for signaling exerts an upward shift on the equilibrium wage profile which mitigates the externality that has been shown to weaken unions’ bargaining power in decentralized wage bargaining. Copyright Springer-Verlag Wien 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Ding, 2015. "Decentralized union-oligopoly bargaining when wages signal strength," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 239-254, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jeczfn:v:114:y:2015:i:3:p:239-254
    DOI: 10.1007/s00712-014-0401-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00712-014-0401-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00712-014-0401-9?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1982. "Limit Pricing and Entry under Incomplete Information: An Equilibrium Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 443-459, March.
    2. Rupayan Pal & Bibhas Saha, 2008. "Union-oligopoly bargaining and entry deterrence: a reassessment of limit pricing," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 121-147, November.
    3. Ding, Wei & Fan, Cuihong & Wolfstetter, Elmar G., 2013. "Horizontal mergers with synergies: Cash vs. profit-share auctions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 382-391.
    4. Davidson, Carl, 1988. "Multiunit Bargaining in Oligopolistic Industries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 397-422, July.
    5. Myerson, Roger B, 1979. "Incentive Compatibility and the Bargaining Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 61-73, January.
    6. In-Koo Cho & David M. Kreps, 1987. "Signaling Games and Stable Equilibria," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 102(2), pages 179-221.
    7. Hall, Robert E & Lilien, David M, 1979. "Efficient Wage Bargains under Uncertain Supply and Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(5), pages 868-879, December.
    8. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December.
    9. Vannetelbosch, Vincent J., 1997. "Wage bargaining with incomplete information in an unionized Cournot oligopoly," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 353-374, May.
    10. Justus Haucap & Uwe Pauly & Christian Wey, 2007. "A Cartel Analysis of the German Labor Institutions and its Implications for Labor Market Reforms," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 163(3), pages 503-516, September.
    11. Philippe Jehiel & Benny Moldovanu, 2000. "Auctions with Downstream Interaction Among Buyers," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(4), pages 768-791, Winter.
    12. Oswald, Andrew J, 1982. "The Microeconomic Theory of the Trade Union," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(367), pages 576-595, September.
    13. Goeree, Jacob K., 2003. "Bidding for the future: signaling in auctions with an aftermarket," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 345-364, February.
    14. Das Varma, Gopal, 2003. "Bidding for a process innovation under alternative modes of competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 15-37, January.
    15. Nash, John, 1950. "The Bargaining Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 18(2), pages 155-162, April.
    16. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    17. Corneo, Giacomo, 1995. "National wage bargaining in an internationally integrated product market," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 503-520, September.
    18. Dowrick, Steve, 1989. "Union-Oligopoly Bargaining," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(398), pages 1123-1142, December.
    19. David M. Kreps & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1983. "Quantity Precommitment and Bertrand Competition Yield Cournot Outcomes," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 326-337, Autumn.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Göddeke, Anna & Haucap, Justus & Herr, Annika & Wey, Christian, 2011. "Stabilität und Wandel von Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen aus wettbewerbsökonomischer Sicht," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 10, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    2. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1039-1089 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Henry S. Farber, 1984. "The Analysis of Union Behavior," NBER Working Papers 1502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Pierre Cahuc, 1988. "Équilibres non walrasiens et négociations salariales," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 39(4), pages 705-724.
    5. Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca, 2011. "Efficient bargaining versus right to manage: a stability analysis with heterogeneous players in a duopoly with quantity competition and trade unions," MPRA Paper 34434, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Nicole Gürtzgen, 2002. "Trade Liberalization and Union Wages in a Differentiated Bertrand Duopoly," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 133-151, April.
    7. Rupayan Pal & Bibhas Saha, 2008. "Union-oligopoly bargaining and entry deterrence: a reassessment of limit pricing," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 121-147, November.
    8. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    9. António Brandão & Joana Pinho, 2018. "Productivity Shocks in a Union‐Duopoly Model," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 86(6), pages 722-756, December.
    10. Thomas Grandner, 2000. "Optimal Contracts for Vertically Connected, Unionized Duopolies," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp071, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    11. Julia Müller & Thorsten Upmann, 2013. "Centralised Labour Market Negotiations," CESifo Working Paper Series 4470, CESifo.
    12. Bill Yang, 1995. "Unionized oligopoly, labor-management cooperation, and international competitiveness," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 33-53, February.
    13. Paul Heidhues, 2000. "Employers’ Associations, Industry-wide Unions, and Competition," CIG Working Papers FS IV 00-11, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    14. Thomas Grandner, 1998. "Market Shares of Price Setting Firms and Trade Unions," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp061, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    15. Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca, 2013. "Efficient bargaining versus right to manage: A stability analysis in a Cournot duopoly with trade unions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 205-211.
    16. Bagwell, Kyle & Wolinsky, Asher, 2002. "Game theory and industrial organization," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, in: R.J. Aumann & S. Hart (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 49, pages 1851-1895, Elsevier.
    17. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2017. "Unionization Regimes, Capacity Choice by Firms and Welfare Outcomes," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(6), pages 661-681, December.
    18. Barcena-Ruiz, Juan Carlos, 2003. "Politically preferred wage bargaining structures," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 341-353, June.
    19. Emmanuel Petrakis & Minas Vlassis, 1999. "The strategic role of minimum sectorial wages in oligopoly: a case for the Spanish labour market," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 23(3), pages 331-350, September.
    20. Jeffrey S. Zax, 1985. "Municipal Employment, Municipal Unions, and Demand for Municipal Services," NBER Working Papers 1728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Cuihong Fan & Byoung Jun & Elmar Wolfstetter, 2014. "Licensing a common value innovation when signaling strength may backfire," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 43(1), pages 215-244, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage-bargaining; Labor unions; Incomplete information; Signaling; C78; J50; D43;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

    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:kap:jeczfn:v:114:y:2015:i:3:p:239-254. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.