The effect of globalization on union bargaining and price-cost margins of firms

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dc.contributor.authorAbraham, Filip
dc.contributor.authorKonings, Jozef
dc.contributor.authorVanormelingen, Stijn
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-18T11:30:26Z
dc.date.available2016-11-18T11:30:26Z
dc.date.issued2007-01
dc.description.abstractIn recent years, Europe has witnessed an accelerated process of economic integration. Trade barriers were removed, the euro was introduced and ten new member states have joined the European Union. This paper analyzes how this process of increased economic integration has affected labor and product markets. To this end, we use a panel of Belgian manufacturing firms to estimate price-cost margins and union bargaining power and show how various measures of globalization affect them. Our findings can be summarized as follows: On average, firms set prices about 30% above marginal costs, but there is substantial variation across sectors, with the lowest mark-up around 19% and the highest around 52%. In addition, we find evidence that unions bargain over both wages and employment. We estimate an index of bargaining power, which reflects the fraction of profits that is passed on to workers into higher wages. Depending on the sector, this fraction varies between 6% and 18% and it increases with the markups of firms. Finally, we find that globalization puts pressure on both markups and union bargaining power, especially when there is increased competition from the low wage countries. This suggests that increased globalization is associated with a moderation of wage claims in unionized countries, which should be associated with positive effects on employment.ru_RU
dc.identifier.citationAbraham Filip, Konings Jozef, Vanormelingen Stijn, 2007, LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance; The effect of globalization on union bargaining and price-cost margins of firms. http://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/1895ru_RU
dc.identifier.urihttp://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/1895
dc.language.isoenru_RU
dc.publisherLICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performanceru_RU
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectmark-upsru_RU
dc.subjecttrade unionsru_RU
dc.subjectinternational traderu_RU
dc.subjectResearch Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Business and economicsru_RU
dc.titleThe effect of globalization on union bargaining and price-cost margins of firmsru_RU
dc.typeWorking Paperru_RU

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