IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp3786.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade as a Wage Disciplining Device

Author

Listed:
  • Persyn, Damiaan

    (KU Leuven)

Abstract

We estimate how trade openness affects the relationship between wages, labour productivity and foreign wages using sector-level time series for several EU member states. In some countries wages became less responsive to foreign wages as trade costs declined. We show this counter-intuitive result is as expected when wages are set by a monopoly union with a preference for wages relative to employment. Trade liberalisation then leads to more wage discipline by forcing unions to set wages more in line with labour productivity. Foreign wages simultaneously become less relevant. Our results call to rethink how trade liberalisation is affecting unionized labour markets, and offer a possible explanation for the mixed evidence found by some tests for international factor price convergence.

Suggested Citation

  • Persyn, Damiaan, 2008. "Trade as a Wage Disciplining Device," IZA Discussion Papers 3786, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3786
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp3786.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoekman & Bernard & Winters, L. Alan, 2005. "Trade and employment : stylized facts and research findings," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3676, The World Bank.
    2. Don Webber & Paul White, 2003. "Regional Factor Price Convergence Across Four Major European Countries," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(8), pages 773-782.
    3. Gaston, Noel, 2002. "The Effects of Globalisation on Unions and the Nature of Collective Bargaining," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 17, pages 377-396.
    4. Alfred Tovias, 1982. "Testing Factor Price Equalization in the EEC," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 375-388, June.
    5. Dennis Novy, 2013. "Gravity Redux: Measuring International Trade Costs With Panel Data," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 101-121, January.
    6. Hervé Boulhol & Sabien Dobbelaere & Sara Maioli, 2011. "Imports as Product and Labour Market Discipline," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 49(2), pages 331-361, June.
    7. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2004. "The empirics of agglomeration and trade," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 59, pages 2609-2669, Elsevier.
    8. Naylor, Robin, 1999. "Union Wage Strategies and International Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(452), pages 102-125, January.
    9. John M. Abowd & Thomas Lemieux, 1991. "The Effects of International Competition on Collective Bargaining Outcomes: A Comparison of the United States and Canada," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 343-367, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Marcel P. Timmer & Mary O’Mahony & Bart van Ark, 2007. "EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts: An Overview," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 14, pages 71-85, Spring.
    11. Damiaan Persyn, 2009. "Union wage demands with footloose firms," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 3, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    12. Damiaan Persyn & Joakim Westerlund, 2008. "Error-correction–based cointegration tests for panel data," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 232-241, June.
    13. Mezzetti, Claudio & Dinopoulos, Elias, 1991. "Domestic unionization and import competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 79-100, August.
    14. Bernard, Andrew B & Durlauf, Steven N, 1995. "Convergence in International Output," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(2), pages 97-108, April-Jun.
    15. Huizinga, Harry, 1993. " International Market Integration and Union Wage Bargaining," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 249-255.
    16. Naylor, Robin, 1998. "International trade and economic integration when labour markets are generally unionised," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(7), pages 1251-1267, July.
    17. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    18. Fontagne, Lionel & Mirza, Daniel, 2007. "International trade and rent sharing among developed and developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 523-558, May.
    19. Helge Berger & Frank Westermann, 2001. "Factor price equalization? The cointegration approach revisited," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 137(3), pages 525-536, September.
    20. Leamer, E.E., 1995. "The Heckscher-Ohlin Model in Theory and Practice," Princeton Studies in International Economics 77, International Economics Section, Departement of Economics Princeton University,.
    21. Banerjee, Anindya & Dolado, Juan J. & Galbraith, John W. & Hendry, David, 1993. "Co-integration, Error Correction, and the Econometric Analysis of Non-Stationary Data," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288107.
    22. Mayer, Thierry & Paillacar, Rodrigo & Zignago, Soledad, 2008. "TradeProd. The CEPII Trade, Production and Bilateral Protection Database: Explanatory Notes," MPRA Paper 26477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Todd Burgman & John Geppert, 1993. "Factor price equalization: a cointegration approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 129(3), pages 472-487, September.
    24. Michel Dumont & Glenn Rayp & Peter Willemé, 2006. "Does internationalization affect union bargaining power? An empirical study for five EU countries," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(1), pages 77-102, January.
    25. Nelson C. Mark & Donggyu Sul, 2003. "Cointegration Vector Estimation by Panel DOLS and Long‐run Money Demand," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(5), pages 655-680, December.
    26. Robert Feenstra & Gordon Hanson, 2001. "Global Production Sharing and Rising Inequality: A Survey of Trade and Wages," NBER Working Papers 8372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Hans J. Gremmen, 1985. "Testing The Factor Price Equalization Theorem in the EC: An Alternative Approach," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 277-286, March.
    28. Pehkonen, Jaakko, 1990. " Trade Union Objectives and the Cyclical Variability of Wages and Employment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(4), pages 573-586.
    29. Martin, Philippe & Rogers, Carol Ann, 1995. "Industrial location and public infrastructure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 335-351, November.
    30. Dan Ben-David, 1993. "Equalizing Exchange: Trade Liberalization and Income Convergence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 653-679.
    31. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    32. Ana L. Revenga, 1992. "Exporting Jobs?The Impact of Import Competition on Employment and Wages in U. S. Manufacturing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 107(1), pages 255-284.
    33. Driffill, John & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 1995. " Trade Liberalization with Imperfect Competition in Goods and Labour Markets," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(2), pages 223-243, June.
    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. Martin Bijsterbosch & Marcin Kolasa, 2010. "FDI and productivity convergence in Central and Eastern Europe: an industry-level investigation," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(4), pages 689-712, January.
    2. Éva Polgár & Julia Wörz, 2010. "No risk and some fun? Trade and wages in the enlarged European Union," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 37(2), pages 127-163, May.
    3. Eva Katalin Polgar & Julia Woerz, 2011. "Trade With Central and Eastern Europe: Is It Really a Threat to Wages in the West?," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 1-31, March.
    4. repec:onb:oenbwp:y:2009:i:1:b:1 is not listed 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. Palokangas, Tapio K., 2015. "The Welfare Effects of Globalization with Labor Market Regulation," IZA Discussion Papers 9412, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Wolf-Heimo Grieben & Fuat Sener, 2009. "Labor Unions, Globalization, and Mercantilism," CESifo Working Paper Series 2889, CESifo.
    3. Persyn, Damiaan, 2013. "Union wage demands with footloose firms and agglomeration forces," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 142-150.
    4. Jakob Munch & Jan Sørensen, 2000. "Competitiveness and Integration of Product Markets," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 359-381, October.
    5. Straume, Odd Rune, 2002. "Union collusion and intra-industry trade," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 631-652, May.
    6. Kjell Erik Lommerud & Frode Meland & Lars S¯rgard, 2003. "Unionised Oligopoly, Trade Liberalisation and Location Choice," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(490), pages 782-800, October.
    7. Carsten Eckel & Hartmut Egger, 2017. "The Dilemma of Labor Unions: Local Objectives vs Global Bargaining," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 534-566, August.
    8. Rudy Colacicco, 2015. "Ten Years Of General Oligopolistic Equilibrium: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 965-992, December.
    9. Andreas Haufler & Ferdinand Mittermaier, 2011. "Unionisation Triggers Tax Incentives to Attract Foreign Direct Investment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(553), pages 793-818, June.
    10. Udo Kreickemeier & Frode Meland, 2011. "International Trade, Union Wage Premia, and Welfare in General Equilibrium," CESifo Working Paper Series 3407, CESifo.
    11. Egger, Hartmut & Etzel, Daniel, 2012. "The impact of trade on employment, welfare, and income distribution in unionized general oligopolistic equilibrium," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1119-1135.
    12. Grieben, Wolf-Heimo & Şener, Fuat, 2017. "Wage bargaining, trade and growth," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 564-587.
    13. Udo Kreickemeier & Frode Meland, 2017. "Non-Traded Goods, Globalization, and Union Influence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 7, pages 173-201, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Bastos, Paulo & Kreickemeier, Udo & Wright, Peter, 2009. "Oligopoly, open shop unions and trade liberalisation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 679-686, November.
    15. Aretz, Bodo & Busl, Claudia & Gürtzgen, Nicole & Hogrefe, Jan & Kappler, Marcus & Steffes, Susanne & Westerheide, Peter, 2009. "Endbericht zum Forschungsauftrag fe 13/08: "Ursachenanalyse der Verschiebung in der funktionalen Einkommensverteilung in Deutschland" (Aktenzeichen I A 3 - Vw 3170/08/10035)," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 110510.
    16. Juan Carluccio & Denis Fougère & Erwan Gautier, 2015. "Trade, Wages and Collective Bargaining: Evidence from France," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 803-837, May.
    17. Paulo Bastos & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Unions, Competition, and International Trade in General Equilibrium," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 6, pages 143-172, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Torben Andersen & Jan Skaksen, 2007. "Labour Demand, Wage Mark-ups and Product Market Integration," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 103-135, October.
    19. Egger, Hartmut & Etzel, Daniel, 2014. "Union wage-setting and international trade with footloose capital," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 56-67.
    20. Worku Gebeyehu, 2017. "Trade Reforms, Mark-Ups and Bargaining Power of Workers: the Case of Ethiopian Manufacturing Firms," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 25(1), March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unions; globalisation; economic geography; factor price equalisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions

    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:iza:izadps:dp3786. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.