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The main focus of the “wage bargaining” literature has been on the factors promoting real wage flexibility at the macro level. This paper, in contrast, examines the microeconomic issues of wage bargaining. More specifically, this paper appraises the following questions: (a) what are the conditions under which a firm prefers decentralized to centralized bargaining?, (b) what are the characteristic features of firms which prefer decentralized to centralized bargaining?, and (c) has the proportion of firms which prefer decentralized bargaining increased over time? These questions are examined in an efficiency wage model with insider-outsider features. This paper provides useful theoretical insights for understanding the issues involved in shifting from centralized to decentralized wage bargaining.

Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy --- Labor Economics: General --- Labour --- income economics --- Wages --- Wage bargaining --- Real wages --- Wage adjustments --- Labor economics --- Sweden --- Income economics

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Traditionally, the impacts of the rights of financial institutions and workers on corporate performance have been analyzed independently. Yet, theory clearly indicates that the combination of relative powers of different stakeholders affects a firm overall performance. Using U.S. state level and state-industry level data, we investigate how output growth is affected by bank branch deregulation and employment protection occurring over 1972-1993. We find that financial liberalization positively impact overall state growth but greater workers' rights affects it ambiguously. At the industry level, however, employment protection promotes those industries that are more knowledge intensive, while the effect of financial liberalization does not differ across industries that vary in external financing dependency. The results hold controlling for changes in shareholders' rights, which itself is not significant. The findings suggest that financial liberalization operates mostly through an efficiency channel, better reallocating resources across sectors, while employment protection creates higher incentives and encourages more sector-specific, human capital investments. Overall, the results show that the strength of stakeholders' protection affects performance through efficiency channels and provide support for a stakeholders' view of corporate governance.

Banks and banking --- Working class --- Corporate governance --- Industrial productivity --- State supervision --- Banks and Banking --- Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Labor Contracts --- Banks --- Depository Institutions --- Micro Finance Institutions --- Mortgages --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy --- Labor Economics: General --- Macroeconomics: Production --- Labour --- income economics --- Banking --- Employment protection --- Minimum wages --- Production growth --- Manpower policy --- Minimum wage --- Labor economics --- Production --- Economic theory --- United States --- Income economics

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This paper reviews controversies regarding linkage of international trade and labor standards. Pressures for international harmonization of labor standards arise in the context of increased trade between countries with large disparities in wages, and also reflect the history of labor standards. A critical distinction is made between standards related to fundamental human rights and those related to employment conditions. The main conclusion is that trade sanctions to enforce labor standards should not be an option, but that international agreements on core labor standards, with voluntary compliance, may, apart from being worthwhile on ethical grounds, defuse calls for protection.

Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Trade Policy --- International Trade Organizations --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Labor Economics: General --- Demand and Supply of Labor: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy --- Labour --- income economics --- Wages --- Labor costs --- Labor markets --- Minimum wages --- Labor economics --- Labor market --- Minimum wage --- United States --- Income economics

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This paper investigates the causes of the recent disinflation in Spain. A standard Phillips curve model is used to disentangle the contributions of three possible shocks: an adverse demand shock that raises unemployment, a positive supply shock resulting from relative price adjustments or structural improvements in the labor market, and a credibility shock that lowers inflationary expectations. The main element underlying Spain’s recent disinflation appears to be a fall in inflation expectations, thanks to the country’s commitment to participate in Economic and Monetary Union from the start, and policy actions geared to that end.

Inflation --- Labor --- Production and Operations Management --- Price Level --- Deflation --- Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles: Forecasting and Simulation --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy --- Macroeconomics: Production --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Macroeconomics --- Labour --- income economics --- Disinflation --- Wage bargaining --- Output gap --- Real wages --- Prices --- Production --- Wages --- Economic theory --- Spain --- Income economics

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While a standard academic presumption has been that wage indexation reduces the cost of disinflation, policymakers generally contend that wage indexing makes disinflation more difficult. To shed light on these views, this paper reexamines the effects of wage indexing on the output loss caused by money-based stabilization. It finds that the cost of disinflation with indexed wage contracts tends to be smaller than that with contracts that specify preset time-varying wages, but larger than that with contracts that specify fixed wages. Thus the academic and policymakers views can be both appropriate depending on the standard of reference.

Inflation --- Labor --- Employment --- Unemployment --- Wages --- Intergenerational Income Distribution --- Aggregate Human Capital --- Aggregate Labor Productivity --- Price Level --- Deflation --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General --- Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy --- Labour --- income economics --- Macroeconomics --- Disinflation --- Wage indexation --- Wage adjustments --- Prices --- United States --- Income economics