IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/gmf/wpaper/2009-04.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rent Seeking at Plant Level: An Application of the Card-de la Rica Tenure Model to Workers in German Works Councils

Author

Listed:
  • John T. Addison

    (Department of Economics, University of South Carolina, Queen’s University Belfast, and GEMF, University of Coimbra)

  • Paulino Teixeira

    (Faculty of Economics/GEMF, University of Coimbra)

  • Thomas Zwick

    (Munich School of Management, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, and Centre for European Economic Research/ZEW, Mannheim)

Abstract

Low-skilled workers enjoy a large wage advantage in German works council establishments. Since job tenure is also longer for these workers, one explanation might be rent-seeking. If the premium is a compensating wage differential (or a return to unmeasured ability), it should not lead to higher tenure; whereas if it is (partly) rent, lower quits should lead to longer tenure at plants with works councils. Our analysis uses the Card and de la Rica (2006) tenure model, and although the association between skill level and the works council tenure gap is positive it fails to achieve statistical significance in a single equation framework. However, running the tenure equation for separate skill quintiles, we find that those with the highest wage premium have the greatest tenure. As a result, although we cannot be certain that the works council wage mark-up of low-skilled workers is necessarily a non-competitive rent, the observed pattern of job tenure across different skill subsamples is not after all inconsistent with rent-seeking behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Thomas Zwick, 2009. "Rent Seeking at Plant Level: An Application of the Card-de la Rica Tenure Model to Workers in German Works Councils," GEMF Working Papers 2009-04, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    • Handle: RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2009-04
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://estudogeral.uc.pt/bitstream/10316/11729/1/Rent%20Seeking%20at%20Plant%20Level.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Zwick, Thomas, 2006. "Works Councils and the Anatomy of Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 2474, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Thomas Zwick, 2010. "German Works Councils and the Anatomy of Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 247-270, January.
    3. David Card & Sara De La Rica, 2006. "Firm-Level Contracting and the Structure of Wages in Spain," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(4), pages 573-592, July.
    4. repec:rim:rimwps:13-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Card, David, 1996. "The Effect of Unions on the Structure of Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(4), pages 957-979, July.
    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. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2013. "Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(1), pages 169-197, January.
    2. Brändle, Tobias, 2024. "Unions and Collective Bargaining: The Influence on Wages, Employment and Firm Survival," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1457, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Tobias Brändle & Laszlo Goerke, 2018. "The one constant: a causal effect of collective bargaining on employment growth? Evidence from German linked‐employer‐employee data," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(5), pages 445-478, November.
    4. Christian Göbel & Thomas Zwick, 2012. "Age and Productivity: Sector Differences," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 35-57, March.
    5. Kohn, Karsten & Lembcke, Alexander C., 2007. "Wage Distributions by Bargaining Regime: Linked Employer-Employee Data Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2849, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Thomas Zwick, 2009. "Rent Seeking at Plant Level: An Application of the Card and de la Rica Tenure Test to German Works Councils," Economics Working Papers 09-04, Queen's Management School, Queen's University Belfast.
    7. Nicole Gürtzgen, 2016. "Estimating the Wage Premium of Collective Wage Contracts: Evidence from Longitudinal Linked Employer–Employee Data," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 294-322, April.
    8. Boris Hirsch & Thorsten Schank & Claus Schnabel, 2009. "Works Councils and Separations: Voice, Monopoly, and Insurance Effects," Working Papers 075, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    9. Tobias Brändle, 2017. "Flexible collective bargaining agreements: Still a moderating effect on works council behaviour?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(8), pages 1137-1153, December.
    10. Kerndler, Martin, 2017. "Wage flexibility of older workers and the role of institutions - evidence from the German LIAB data set," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168160, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Ramos, Raul & Sanromá, Esteban & Simón, Hipólito, 2018. "Wage Differentials by Bargaining Regime in Spain (2002-2014): An Analysis Using Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 12013, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Florian Baumann & Tobias Brändle, 2017. "We Want Them All Covered! Collective Bargaining and Firm Heterogeneity: Theory and Evidence from Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(3), pages 463-499, September.
    13. Kathrin Göggel & Thomas Zwick, 2012. "Heterogeneous Wage Effects of Apprenticeship Training," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(3), pages 756-779, September.
    14. Nicole Gürtzgen, 2006. "The Effect of Firm- ans Industry-Level Contracts on Wages: Evidence from Longitudinal Linked Employer-Employee Data," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-082, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Uwe Jirjahn, 2011. "Gender, Worker Representation and the Profitability of Firms in Germany," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 8(2), pages 281-298, December.
    16. Dur, Robert & Non, Arjan & Roelfsema, Hein, 2010. "Reciprocity and incentive pay in the workplace," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 676-686, August.
    17. Uwe Jirjahn, 2013. "Der Beitrag der Arbeitsmarktökonomik zur Erforschung von Gewerkschaften und Tarifvertragsbeziehungen in Deutschland," Research Papers in Economics 2013-03, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    18. Grund, Christian & Schmitt, Andreas, 2013. "Works Councils, Quits and Dismissals in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 7361, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Boris Hirsch & Thomas Zwick, 2015. "How Selective Are Real Wage Cuts? A Micro-analysis Using Linked Employer–Employee Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(4), pages 327-347, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    works councils; rent seeking; matched employer-employee data; wages; job tenure.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:gmf:wpaper:2009-04. 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: Sofia Antunes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebucpt.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.