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Labor Unions and Asset Prices

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Busato
  • William Addessi

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark)

Abstract

The paper investigates the nexus between labor and financial markets, focusing on the interaction between labor union behavior in setting wages, firms' investment strategy and asset prices. The way unions set wage claims after observing firm's financial performance increases the volatility of firms' returns and the riskiness of corporate ownership. To remunerate this higher volatility and stronger risk, firms' equities have to grant high return. This mechanism is able to offer an explanation of for the "equity puzzle", that is it can explain the difference between equity returns and the risk free rate. It is a welcome result that the simulated excess return is about the empirical estimate and this result is obtained with a logarithmic specification of the shareholders preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Busato & William Addessi, 2007. "Labor Unions and Asset Prices," Economics Working Papers 2007-05, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2007-05
    as

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    File URL: https://repec.econ.au.dk/repec/afn/wp/07/wp07_05.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Pierre Danthine & John B. Donaldson, 2002. "Labour Relations and Asset Returns," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 41-64.
    2. Chiarini, Bruno & Piselli, Paolo, 2005. "Business cycle, unemployment benefits and productivity shocks," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 670-690, December.
    3. Jean‐Pierre Danthine & André Kurmann, 2007. "The Macroeconomic Consequences of Reciprocity in Labor Relations," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 109(4), pages 857-881, December.
    4. Jean-Pierre DANTHINE & John B. DONALDSON, 2002. "Decentralizing the Stochastic Growth Model," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 02.05, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Equity Premium; General Equilibrium; Union Models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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