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Capital Structure, Wage Bargaining and Employment

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  • Erkki Koskela
  • Rune Stenbacka

Abstract

We offer a unified framework to analyze the determination of employment, employee effort, wages, profit-sharing and capital structure when firms face stochastic revenue shocks. We apply a generalized Nash bargaining solution, which extends the wage bargaining literature by incorporating efficiency wage considerations, profit-sharing and capital structure. The profit-sharing instrument is demonstrated to have positive effort-augmenting and wage-moderating effects, which exactly offset the negative dilution effect in equilibrium. Leverage is shown to decrease employment and to have a strategic commitment value as a wage-moderating effect for firms facing unions in bilateral wage negotiations. Finally, some implications for equilibrium unemployment are characterized.

Suggested Citation

  • Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2000. "Capital Structure, Wage Bargaining and Employment," CESifo Working Paper Series 275, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_275
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2001. "Equilibrium Unemployment with Credit and Labour Market Imperfections," CESifo Working Paper Series 419, CESifo.
    2. Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2002. "Equilibrium Unemployment and Credit Market Imperfections: The Critical Role of Labour Mobility," CESifo Working Paper Series 654, CESifo.
    3. Koskela, E. & Stenbacka, R., 2000. "Compensation and Bargaining with Entrepreneurship as the Outside Option," University of Helsinki, Department of Economics 479, Department of Economics.
    4. Pi, Jiancai & Fan, Yanwei, 2021. "The impact of robots on equilibrium unemployment of unionized workers," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 663-675.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage bargaining; profit sharing; capital structure; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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