IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/crt/wpaper/0508.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Union structure and firms incentives for cooperative R&D investments

Author

Listed:
  • Constantine Manasakis

    (Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece)

  • Emmanuel Petrakis

    (Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece)

Abstract

We examine how different unionisation structures and the spillovers of R&D activities affect R&D investments and firms’ incentives to form a Research Joint Venture. We find that whenever firms invest non-cooperatively, an industry union increases R&D investments, if industry specific spillovers are low. In case of a Research Joint Venture, investments are always higher under firm-level unions. We also find that firms’ incentives to form a Research Joint Venture are stronger when they face an industry union, if spillovers are low. Rigidities in the labour market, such as high unemployment benefits or/and a central union, have negative effects on employment, output and profits and hinder the diffusion of the efficiency created by a RJV to consumers and employees. Integrated labour market and R&D policies are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Constantine Manasakis & Emmanuel Petrakis, 2004. "Union structure and firms incentives for cooperative R&D investments," Working Papers 0508, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:crt:wpaper:0508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://economics.soc.uoc.gr/wpa/docs/Manasakis_Petrakis.pdf
    File Function: First version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. d'Aspremont, Claude & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "Cooperative and Noncooperative R&D in Duopoly with Spillovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1133-1137, December.
    2. Justus Haucap & Christian Wey, 2004. "Unionisation structures and innovation incentives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 149-165, March.
    3. Bester, Helmut & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2003. "Wages and productivity growth in a competitive industry," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 52-69, March.
    4. Bester, Helmut & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2004. "Wages and productivity growth in a dynamic monopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 83-100, January.
    5. L. Wade, 1988. "Review," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 99-100, July.
    6. Grout, Paul A, 1984. "Investment and Wages in the Absence of Binding Contracts: A Nash Bargining Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 449-460, March.
    7. W. Salant, Stephen & Shaffer, Greg, 1998. "Optimal asymmetric strategies in research joint ventures," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 195-208, March.
    8. Piga, Claudio & Poyago-Theotoky, Joanna, 2005. "Endogenous R&D spillovers and locational choice," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 127-139, March.
    9. Tauman, Y & Weiss, Y, 1987. "Labor Unions and the Adoption of New Technology," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 477-501, October.
    10. Oswald, Andrew J, 1982. "The Microeconomic Theory of the Trade Union," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(367), pages 576-595, September.
    11. Frantzen, Dirk, 2000. "Innovation, International Technological Diffusion and the Changing Influence of R&D on Productivity," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 193-210, March.
    12. Hagedoorn, John & Link, Albert N. & Vonortas, Nicholas S., 2000. "Research partnerships1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4-5), pages 567-586, April.
    13. Booth,Alison L., 1994. "The Economics of the Trade Union," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521468398.
    14. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Straume, Odd Rune & Sorgard, Lars, 2005. "Downstream merger with upstream market power," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 717-743, April.
    15. Emmanuel Petrakis & Minas Vlassis, 2004. "Endogenous wage bargaining institutions in oligopolistic sectors," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 24(1), pages 55-73, July.
    16. Benfratello, Luigi & Sembenelli, Alessandro, 2002. "Research joint ventures and firm level performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 493-507, May.
    17. María José Gil Moltó & Nikolaos Georgantzís & Vicente Orts, 2005. "Cooperative R&D with Endogenous Technology Differentiation," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 461-476, June.
    18. Branstetter, Lee & Sakakibara, Mariko, 1998. "Japanese Research Consortia: A Microeconometric Analysis of Industrial Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 207-233, June.
    19. Spence, Michael, 1984. "Cost Reduction, Competition, and Industry Performance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 101-121, January.
    20. Ulph, A. M. & Ulph, D. T., 1994. "Labour markets and innovation: Ex-post bargaining," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 195-210, January.
    21. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2002. "R&D Cooperation and Spillovers: Some Empirical Evidence from Belgium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1169-1184, September.
    22. Robert J. Flanagan, 1999. "Macroeconomic Performance and Collective Bargaining: An International Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1150-1175, September.
    23. Hagedoorn, John & van Kranenburg, Hans, 2003. "Growth patterns in R&D partnerships: an exploratory statistical study," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 517-531, April.
    24. John T. Addison & Joachim Wagner, 1994. "UK Unionism and Innovative Activity: Some Cautionary Remarks on the Basis of a Simple Cross-country Test," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 85-98, March.
    25. Bronars, Stephen G & Deere, Donald R, 1993. "Unionization, Incomplete Contracting, and Capital Investment," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(1), pages 117-132, January.
    26. Yannis Caloghirou & Stavros Ioannides & Nicholas S. Vonortas, 2003. "Research Joint Ventures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(4), pages 541-570, September.
    27. Andrea Bassanini & Ekkehard Ernst, 2002. "Labour Market Institutions, Product Market Regulation, and Innovation: Cross-Country Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 316, OECD Publishing.
    28. Lee Branstetter & Mariko Sakakibara, 1998. "Japanese Research Consortia: A Microeconometric Analysis of Industrial Policy," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 207-233, June.
    29. Calabuig, Vicente & Gonzalez-Maestre, Miguel, 2002. "Union structure and incentives for innovation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 177-192, March.
    30. MAULEON, Ana & SEMPERE-MONERRIS, José & VANNETELBOSCH, Vincent J., 2004. "R&D networks among unionized firms," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2004071, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    31. Van Reenen, John & Menezes-Filho, Naercio, 2003. "Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 3792, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    32. Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 1989. "Labor markets and innovation," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 403-423, December.
    33. Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 1998. "Labour markets, bargaining and innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 931-939, May.
    34. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 415-456, July.
    35. Luukkonen, Terttu, 2002. "Technology and market orientation in company participation in the EU framework programme," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 437-455, March.
    36. Kaiser, Ulrich, 2002. "An empirical test of models explaining research expenditures and research cooperation: evidence for the German service sector," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 747-774, June.
    37. Joanna Poyago-Theotoky, 1999. "A Note on Endogenous Spillovers in a Non-Tournament R & D Duopoly," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 15(3), pages 253-262, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Takauchi, Kazuhiro, 2015. "Endogenous transport price and international R&D rivalry," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 36-43.
    2. Minas Vlassis & Maria Varvataki, 2014. "Union-Oligopoly Bargaining and Vertical Differentiation: Do Unions Affect Quality?," Working Papers 1409, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    3. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2014. "Capacity choice and welfare under alternative unionisation structures," Discussion Papers 2014/176, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Luis M. Granero, 2006. "Codetermination, R&D, and Employment," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 162(2), pages 309-328, June.
    5. Basak, Debasmita & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2018. "Labour unionisation structure and product innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 98-110.
    6. Cao, Jiyun & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2018. "Foreign direct investment, unionised labour markets and welfare," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 330-339.
    7. 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.
    8. Takauchi, Kazuhiro, 2012. "International R&D Rivalry with a Shipping Firm," MPRA Paper 36843, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. 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.
    10. Debasmita Basak & Andreas Hoefele & Arijit Mukherjee, 2022. "Wage bargaining and product innovation: The role of market expansion effect," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(3), pages 319-340, June.
    11. Emmanuel Petrakis & Panagiotis Skartados, 2018. "Strategic Profit–Sharing in a Unionized Differentiated Goods Duopoly," Working Papers 1801, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    12. Elias Asproudis & Maria Gil-Moltó, 2015. "Green Trade Unions: Structure, Wages and Environmental Technology," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(2), pages 165-189, February.
    13. Mukherjee, Arijit, 2013. "Endogenous domestic market structure and the effects of a trade cost reduction in a unionised industry," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 30-33.
    14. Minas Vlassis & Maria Varvataki, 2014. "Union-Oligopoly Bargaining and Vertical Differentiation: Do Unions Affect Quality? Dynamic Analysis," Working Papers 1410, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    15. Ben Ferrett & Vasileios Zikos, 2013. "Wage-Setting Institutions and R&D Collaboration Networks," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 61-78, June.
    16. Emmanuel Petrakis & Panagiotis Skartados, 2021. "Strategic profit‐sharing in a unionized differentiated goods oligopoly," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(2), pages 582-622, May.
    17. Neil Rickman & Vasileios Zikos, 2016. "Endogenous R&D networks when labour unions have preferences over wages and employment," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 1-13, January.
    18. Luca Sandrini, 2019. "Incentives for labor-augmenting innovation: The role of wage rate," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0232, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    19. Asproudis, Elias, 2011. "Trade union structure with environmental concern and firms' technological choice," MPRA Paper 28767, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Asproudis, Elias & Filippiadis, Eleftherios, 2021. "Bargaining for Community Fishing Quotas," MPRA Paper 107409, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Sandrini, Luca, 2021. "Incentives for labour-augmenting innovations in vertical markets: The role of wage rate," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    22. Falvey, Rod & Poyago-Theotoky, Joanna & Teerasuwannajak, Khemarat Talerngsri, 2013. "Coordination costs and research joint ventures," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 965-976.

    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. Debasmita Basak & Andreas Hoefele & Arijit Mukherjee, 2014. "Union Bargaining Power and Product Innovation: Relevance of the Preference Function," CESifo Working Paper Series 5007, CESifo.
    2. Basak, Debasmita & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2018. "Labour unionisation structure and product innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 98-110.
    3. Justus Haucap & Christian Wey, 2004. "Unionisation structures and innovation incentives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(494), pages 149-165, March.
    4. Mukherjee, Arijit & Pennings, Enrico, 2011. "Unionization structure, licensing and innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 232-241, March.
    5. Asproudis, Elias, 2011. "Trade union structure with environmental concern and firms' technological choice," MPRA Paper 28767, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Constantine Manasakis & Emmanuel Petrakis & Vasileios Zikos‡, 2014. "Downstream Research Joint Venture with Upstream Market Power," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(3), pages 782-802, January.
    7. Elias Asproudis & Maria Gil-Moltó, 2015. "Green Trade Unions: Structure, Wages and Environmental Technology," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 60(2), pages 165-189, February.
    8. Dusanee Kesavayuth & Constantine Manasakis & Vasileios Zikos, 2012. "Upstream R&D Networks," Working Papers 1201, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    9. Bester, Helmut & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2004. "Wages and productivity growth in a dynamic monopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 83-100, January.
    10. Hristos Doucouliagos & Patrice Laroche, 2013. "Unions and Innovation: New Insights From the Cross-Country Evidence," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 467-491, April.
    11. Bester, Helmut & Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2009. "Wages and productivity growth in a dynamic oligopoly," Discussion Papers 2009/18, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    12. Justus Haucap & Christian Wey, 2002. "Unionization Structures and Firms' Incentives for Productivity Enhancing Investments," CIG Working Papers FS IV 02-10, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    13. S. Dobbelaere, 2003. "Joint Estimation of Price-Cost Margins and Union Bargaining Power for Belgian Manufacturing," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 03/171, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    14. Hamid Beladi & Hamid Arijit Mukherjee, 2015. "Union bargaining power and innovation in the presence of subcontracting," Working Papers 0195eco, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    15. Beladi, Hamid & Mukherjee, Arijit, 2017. "Union bargaining power, subcontracting and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 90-104.
    16. Vasileios Zikos, 2007. "The Temporal Dimension of Wage Contracts in Oligopoly with Spillovers," Discussion Paper Series 2007_04, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Feb 2007.
    17. Bester, Helmut & Milliou, Chrysovalantou & Petrakis, Emmanuel, 2012. "Wage bargaining, productivity growth and long-run industry structure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 923-930.
    18. Debasmita Basak & Andreas Hoefele & Arijit Mukherjee, 2022. "Wage bargaining and product innovation: The role of market expansion effect," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(3), pages 319-340, June.
    19. Kjell Erik Lommerud & Odd Rune Straume, 2012. "Employment Protection Versus Flexicurity: On Technology Adoption in Unionised Firms," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(1), pages 177-199, March.
    20. Bárcena Ruiz, Juan Carlos & Campo Corredera, María Luz, 2003. "Timing of Wage Setting when Firms Invest in R&D," IKERLANAK 1134-8984, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade Unions; Oligopoly; Process Innovations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    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:crt:wpaper:0508. 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: Kostis Pigounakis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuchgr.html .

    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.