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Featherbedding and labour market reforms

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  • Dennery, Charles

Abstract

When labour unions are able to use first-best price discrimination, they can extract a wage above the marginal product of labour. In other words,employment is above the firm's own optimum -- this is featherbedding or overmanning. This effect can capture the importance that unions put on maximizing employment. While labour market reforms are usually beneficial in the long run, they can be detrimental in the short run if investment does not pick up quickly enough.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennery, Charles, 2019. "Featherbedding and labour market reforms," MPRA Paper 98190, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:98190
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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