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Efficient Contracts with Costly Adjustment: Short-RUn Employment Determination for Airline Mechanics

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  • David Card

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical analysis of firm-specific employment and wage outcomes for mechanics in the domestic airline industry. A dynamic contracting model is presented that incorporates both costly employment adjustment and potential gaps between contract wage rates and the opportunity value of workers' time. The model gives a useful description of the employment-output linkage in the data, but is less successful in capturing the dynamic relation between employment, contract wage rates, and wage rates outside the airline industry.

Suggested Citation

  • David Card, 1986. "Efficient Contracts with Costly Adjustment: Short-RUn Employment Determination for Airline Mechanics," NBER Working Papers 1931, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1931
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    Cited by:

    1. Krusell, Per & Rudanko, Leena, 2016. "Unions in a frictional labor market," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 35-50.
    2. Andrews, Martyn & Harrison, Alan, 1998. "Testing for Efficient Contracts in Unionized Labour Markets," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 171-200, July.
    3. Nicholas Lawson, 2011. "Is Collective Bargaining Pareto Efficient? A Survey of the Literature," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 282-304, September.
    4. de la Croix, David & Palm, Franz C. & Pfann, Gerard A., 1996. "A dynamic contracting model for wages and employment in three European economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 429-448, February.
    5. William T. Dickens, 1990. "Does It Matter What We Trade? Trade and Industrial Policies When Labor Markets Don't Clear," NBER Working Papers 3285, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Manfred Königstein & Marie Claire Villeval, 2005. "The Choice of the Agenda in Labor Negotiations: Efficiency and Behavioral Considerations," Post-Print halshs-00175021, HAL.
    7. Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1992. "A General Model of Dynamic Labor Demand," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(4), pages 733-737, November.
    8. Hildreth, Andrew K G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1997. "Rent-Sharing and Wages: Evidence from Company and Establishment Panels," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 318-337, April.
    9. Bargain, O. & Herwig Immervoll & Andreas Peichl & Siegloch, S., 2010. "GINI DP 1: Distributional Consequences of Labor-Demand Adjustments to a Downturn. A Model-Based Approach with Application to Germany 2008-09," GINI Discussion Papers 1, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    10. Svejnar, Jan & Terrell, Katherine, 1991. "Reducing labor redundancy in state owned enterprises," Policy Research Working Paper Series 792, The World Bank.
    11. Fagnart, Jean-François & De La Croix, David, 1993. "Underemployment of labour and equipment in a bargaining model with forward-looking behavior," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9315, CEPREMAP.
    12. John DiNardo & David S. Lee, 2002. "The Impact of Unionization on Establishment Closure: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Representation Elections," NBER Working Papers 8993, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Kölling, Arnd, 1998. "Dynamische Arbeitsnachfrage und asymmetrisches Anpassungsverhalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland : eine Untersuchung mit Daten aus dem IAB-Betriebspanel (Dynamic labour demand and asymmetrical adj," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 31(4), pages 637-647.
    14. Dong, Xiao-yuan, 1998. "Employment and Wage Determination in China's Rural Industry: Investigation Using 1984-1990 Panel Data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 485-501, September.
    15. Steven G Allen & Adriana Cassoni & Gastón J Labadie, 1996. "Wages and Employment After Reunionization in Uruguay," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 33(99), pages 277-294.
    16. Olivier Bargain & Herwig Immervoll & Andreas Peichl & Sebastian Siegloch, 2012. "Distributional consequences of labor-demand shocks: the 2008–2009 recession in Germany," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(1), pages 118-138, February.
    17. William T. Dickens, 1995. "Do Labor Rents Justify Strategic Trade and Industrial Policy?," NBER Working Papers 5137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Janet Currie Neelin, 1989. "What Do (Public Sector) Unions Do? Wage and Employment Determination Among Ontario Public School Teachers," UCLA Economics Working Papers 542, UCLA Department of Economics.
    19. Adriana Cassoni, 1997. "A brief survey on the role of trade unions in labour market," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0697, Department of Economics - dECON.
    20. H. Osano & T. Inoue, 1988. "Testing Between Competing Models of Business Cycles: The Efficient Long-Term Contract Hypothesis Versus the Intertemporal Substitution Hypothesis," Discussion Papers 768, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    21. de la Croix, David & Fagnart, Jean-Francois, 1995. "Underemployment of production factors in a forward-looking model," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 131-159, June.

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