IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lic/licosd/11101.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Insider Power and Wage Determination in Bulgaria An Econometric Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Sabien Dobbelaere

Abstract

Using a unique 3-digit firm level data set of all medium and large sized manufacturing enterprises in Bulgaria covering the years 1997/1998, we investigate how wage determination is related to ownership status. Building on a slightly modified version of the Right-To-Manage Model, our pooled OLS, panel and first-differences TSLS estimates show statistically significant differences in the share of rents taken by workers employed in state, private domestic and foreign firms. Taking account of firm heterogeneity, we find that rent sharing is nearly non-existent in foreign-owned firms while the level of pay is higher compared to state-owned companies. Further, rent sharing seems to be highly pronounced in state-owned enterprises while on average domestically private-owned companies are characterised by less rent sharing. Overall, our robustness checks confirm these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabien Dobbelaere, 2001. "Insider Power and Wage Determination in Bulgaria An Econometric Investigation," LICOS Discussion Papers 11101, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
  • Handle: RePEc:lic:licosd:11101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.kuleuven.be/licos/publications/dp/dp111.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grosfeld, Irena & Nivet, Jean-François, 1997. "Wage and Investment Behaviour in Transition: Evidence from a Polish Panel Data Set," CEPR Discussion Papers 1726, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Nickell, Stephen J & Wadhwani, Sushil, 1990. "Insider Forces and Wage Determination," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 496-509, June.
    3. John Van Reenen, 1996. "The Creation and Capture of Rents: Wages and Innovation in a Panel of U. K. Companies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(1), pages 195-226.
    4. Richard Layard & Stephen Nickell, 1990. "Is Unemployment Lower if Unions Bargain over Employment?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 773-787.
    5. Booth,Alison L., 1994. "The Economics of the Trade Union," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521468398, January.
    6. Grosfeld, Irena & Nivet, Jean-Francois, 1999. "Insider power and wage setting in transition: Evidence from a panel of large Polish firms, 1988-1994," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 1137-1147, April.
    7. John A. Abowd & Thomas Lemieux, 1993. "The Effects of Product Market Competition on Collective Bargaining Agreements: The Case of Foreign Competition in Canada," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(4), pages 983-1014.
    8. Saul Estrin & Jozef Konings & Zbigniew Zolkiewski & Manuela Angelucci, 2001. "The Effect of Ownership and Competitive Pressure on Firm Performance in Transition Countries. Micro Evidence from Bulgaria, Romania and Poland," LICOS Discussion Papers 10401, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    9. Estrin, Saul & Konings, Jozef & Angelucci, Manuela & Zólkiewski, Zbigniew, 2001. "The Effect of Ownership and Competitive Pressure on Firm Performance in Transition Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 2985, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Teal, Francis, 1996. "The Size and sources of economic rents in a developing country manufacturing labour market," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 963-976, July.
    11. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December.
    12. Nickell, Stephen & Kong, Paul, 1992. "An investigation into the power of insiders in wage determination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1573-1599, December.
    13. Louis N. Christofides & Andrew J. Oswald, 1992. "Real Wage Determination and Rent-Sharing in Collective Bargaining Agreements," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 985-1002.
    14. Maarten Goos & Jozef Konings, 2001. "Does Rent-Sharing Exist in Belgium ?. An Empirical Analysis Using Firm Level Data," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 65-79.
    15. Teulings,Coen & Hartog,Joop, 2008. "Corporatism or Competition?," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521049399.
    16. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J & Garrett, Mario D, 1990. "Insider Power in Wage Determination," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 57(226), pages 143-170, May.
    17. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald & Peter Sanfey, 1996. "Wages, Profits, and Rent-Sharing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(1), pages 227-251.
    18. Martin Neil Baily, 1974. "Wages and Employment under Uncertain Demand," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(1), pages 37-50.
    19. Lever, Marcel H C & Marquering, Wessel A, 1996. "Union Coverage and Sectoral Wages: Evidence from the Netherlands," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 483-499.
    20. Azariadis, Costas, 1975. "Implicit Contracts and Underemployment Equilibria," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(6), pages 1183-1202, December.
    21. John W. Budd & Matthew J.Slaughter, 2000. "Are Profits Shared Across Borders? Evidence on International Rent Sharing," NBER Working Papers 8014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Lindbeck, Assar & Snower, Dennis J., 1987. "Union activity, unemployment persistence and wage-employment ratchets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 157-167.
    23. Anderson, T. W. & Hsiao, Cheng, 1982. "Formulation and estimation of dynamic models using panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 47-82, January.
    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. D. Van den Poel, 2003. "Predicting Mail-Order Repeat Buying. Which Variables Matter?," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(3), pages 371-404.
    2. Monica Andersson & Christer Thörnqvist, 2007. "Determining wages in Europe's SMEs: how relevant are the trade unions?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 13(1), pages 55-73, February.
    3. Sabien Dobbelaere, 2002. "Joint Estimation of Mark-up and Bargaining Power Parameters for Belgian Manufacturing," LICOS Discussion Papers 12102, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    4. Karoly Fazekas & Gabor Kezdi (ed.), 2007. "The Hungarian Labour Market 2007," The Hungarian Labour Market Yearbooks, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, number 2007, December.

    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. S. Dobbelaere, 2003. "Ownership, Firm Size and Rent Sharing in a Transition Country," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 03/170, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. Dobbelaere, Sabien, 2004. "Ownership, firm size and rent sharing in Bulgaria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 165-189, April.
    3. Robert Plasman & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2006. "Industry wage differentials, unobserved ability, and rent-sharing: evidence from matched employer-employee, 1992-2005," DULBEA Working Papers 06-14.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Nickell, Stephen, 1999. "Product markets and labour markets1," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Manning, Alan, 2011. "Imperfect Competition in the Labor Market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 11, pages 973-1041, Elsevier.
    6. Frank Scharr, 2005. "Tarifbindung, Rententeilung und Konzessionsverträge als Einflussgrößen der Lohnhöhe in Unternehmen : eine Untersuchung mit Mikrodaten für thüringische Firmen," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39.
    7. Ellen Brock & Sabien Dobbelaere, 2006. "Has International Trade Affected Workers’ Bargaining Power?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(2), pages 233-266, July.
    8. Robert Plasman & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2006. "Industry wage differentials, unobserved ability, and rent-sharing : Evidence from matched worker-firm data, 1995-2002," Working Paper Research 90, National Bank of Belgium.
    9. Philip Du Caju & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2011. "Inter‐Industry Wage Differentials: How Much Does Rent Sharing Matter?," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(4), pages 691-717, July.
    10. François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2004. "Rent sharing and the gender wage gap in Belgium," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(3/4), pages 279-299, April.
    11. Maarten Goos & Jozef Konings, 2001. "Does Rent-Sharing Exist in Belgium ?. An Empirical Analysis Using Firm Level Data," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 65-79.
    12. Sabien Dobbelaere & Jacques Mairesse, 2010. "Comparing Micro-evidence on Rent Sharing from Three Different Approaches," NBER Working Papers 16220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Du Caju, Philip & Rycx, François & Tojerow, Ilan, 2008. "Rent-Sharing and the Cyclicality of Wage Differentials," IZA Discussion Papers 3844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Philip Du Caju & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2011. "Wage Structure Effects of International Trade: Evidence from a Small Open Economy," Working Papers CEB 11-011, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. Dobbelaere, Sabien & Mairesse, Jacques, 2018. "Comparing micro-evidence on rent sharing from two different econometric models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 18-26.
    16. Guy Navon & Ilan Tojerow, 2013. "Does Rent-sharing Profit Female and Male Workers? Evidence from Israeli Matched Employer–Employee Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(3), pages 331-349, September.
    17. Anabela Carneiro & Pedro Portugal, 2004. "Market Power, Dismissal Threat, and Rent Sharing: the Role of Insider and Outsider Forces in Wage Bargaining," CEF.UP Working Papers 0403, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    18. H. Naci Mocan & Deborah Viola, 1997. "The Determinants of Child Care Workers' Wages and Compensation: Sectoral Differences, Human Capital, Race, Insiders and Outsiders," NBER Working Papers 6328, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Machin, Stephen & Bell, Brian & Bukowski, Pawel, 2018. "Rent Sharing and Inclusive Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 13408, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. John W. Budd & Jozef Konings & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2005. "Wages and International Rent Sharing in Multinational Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 73-84, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bulgarian Labour Market; Enterprise Behaviour; Insider Effects; Panel Data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • P31 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions

    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:lic:licosd:11101. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/licosbe.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.