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Labor Shares in Some Advanced Economies

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  • Gilbert Cette
  • Lorraine Koehl
  • Thomas Philippon

Abstract

We study the joint impact of three measurement issues in the empirical literature on the labor share: (i) start and end periods for the empirical analysis; (ii) accounting for self-employment; and (iii) accounting for residential real estate income. When we correct for these three potential biases, we do not find a general decline in the labor share in our sample of advanced economies. In that respect the behavior of the US labor share after 2000 presents a puzzle.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilbert Cette & Lorraine Koehl & Thomas Philippon, 2019. "Labor Shares in Some Advanced Economies," NBER Working Papers 26136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26136
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment

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