Essays on wage formation and globalization
Abstract
"Wage formation processes form an important element in many economic and social discussions, especially in the context of increasing globalization during the past decades. Against this background, this dissertation addresses different aspects of wage formation in modern economies. It consists of four independent essays. Chapter 2 investigates why some firms pay collectively agreed wages rather than to negotiate wages individually. The analysis is carried out in a theoretical general equilibrium framework with endogenous self-selection of firms into two different wage regimes. The results show that different cost structures are sufficient to explain incomplete collective agreement coverage rates as an equilibrium outcome. Furthermore, the results show that the decrease in collective bargaining coverage rates can be attributed to technological progress and product market deregulations. Chapter 3 studies wage formation in international firms. Based on recent theoretical considerations, the chapter investigates empirically whether international trade exposure reduces the so called exporter wage premium in firms subject to collective agreements. The results show that rent-sharing is less pronounced in more export-intensive firms or in more open industries. Chapter 4 provides new empirical evidence on the fair-wage hypothesis in exporting firms. Among other things, fair-wage considerations depend also on whether the firm is able to pay certain wage rates. In the German system of industrial relations, the collectively agreed wage constitutes a binding wage floor, but employers are allowed to pay higher wage rates. We employ this setting to investigate the implications of the fair-wage-hypothesis. In contrast to previous literature, identification does not rely on the within variation of the data. The results show that payments above the collectively agreed wage floor are systematically related to the firm's export intensity. Chapter 5 studies also empirically the determinants of a firm's export participation. The findings indicate that higher plant-level competitiveness, measured by lower unit labor costs, is positively associated with the firm's export participation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
Cite article
Hauptmann, A. (2015): Essays on wage formation and globalization. (IAB-Bibliothek 356), Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 147 p. DOI:10.3278/300891w