Union Membership and the Union Wage Gap in the UK

We consider the choice of union membership in the UK and its effect on the union/non‐union wage differential allowing for the endogeneity of the union choice. We include identifying variables not previously used and find that correcting for selectivity is important and has a large impact on the estimated differential. Moreover, union choice is itself affected by the wage gap.     

Trade Union Priorities and Wage Rigidity

ABSTRACT: The starting point of the paper is that trade unions engage in substitution once certain targets have been met. This implies that a priority-based or hierarchical model might be a better approximation to union behaviour. This model requires a two-part union utility function which changes when a satisfactory (or target) level of the priority variable (e.g. the wage rate) is met. After demonstrating the workings of such a model in a monopoly union framework, it is shown that there is real wage rigidity when the wage is below the target level. Employment increases only when the target wage has been achieved.     

Unemployment Insurance Policy and Union Wage Formation

Abstract. The paper considers the wage and employment effects of alternative social security policies. Such a policy can take the form of a fixed benefit level or linking the level of unemployment benefits to private sector wages. The latter is an important social security policy instrument to guarantee an equitable distribution of income. A fixed benefit level policy yields lower wages and larger employment than an automatic link between the level of benefits and the wage rate. Further, if the government decides to make the link conditional on the stabilization of the tax rate, wages are lower and employment is higher than in both former alternatives. By endogenizing its social security policy, the government is able to reduce the loss in employment that the link policy brings about.     

Union Bargaining,Wage Differentials and Employment

Abstract. Reviewing empirical studies concerning the corporatism-flexibility-performance nexus the paper discusses decentralized and centralized bargaining systems. Revenue pay systems, concession bargaining and two-tier wage systems as means to enhance wage flexibility at the firm level are also considered. Both theoretical and empirical evidence is presented, showing that unions are bargaining for greater employment security for the already employed (the insiders). In return, unions are ready to accept greater wage flexibility and even wage decreases. By contrast, the insider-outsider theory does suggest how unions may accentuate involuntary unemployment, because there may be ways in which a union can help to raise the wages of the insiders without reducing their chances of continued employment.     

Public-Private Wage Differentials in French-Speaking Africa: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract. In the framework of structural adjustment programs implemented in Africa, the idea that wages in the public sector are too high compared to those of the private sector is partly based on wage policies with regard to the public sector. But the existence of public-wage differentials, inducing a labour market segmentation within the modern sector, has rarely been the object of attentive examination. With the help of earnings functions, based on homogeneous cross-section and logitudinal data of seven capitals of French-speaking Africa, the author plans to verify this hypothesis. The main conclusion of this research is that distortions on the modern labour market of many African countries are less important than one may think. In most of the countries considered, public-private wage gaps are essentially attributable to characteristics of individuals. This suggests that policies aiming to reduce wages of the public sector are no longer justifiable, economically and socially.     

Wage Setting in Sweden: An Empirical Test of a Barebones Union Model

ABSTRACT In this paper a simple monopoly union model for the Swedish economy is presented and estimated. Interest is focused on the union's objectives. The results indicate that two popular representations of union objectives — wage bill and rent maximisation — are rejected by the data. Instead, preferences are highly concave in the wage rate, with an estimated degree of relative risk aversion well above unity evaluated at sample means.     

A Structural Model of Trade Union Behaviour under Uncertainty,with Sticky Wage

ABSTRACT: Trade union concern for job security is modelled under asymmetric information about labour demand, with rigid wage. Sequential decision processes are discussed, for the individual, on whether to join the union (utility defined over consumption and leisure); for the union, about the contribution to charge (utility defined over level of membership and level of contributions); for the employer, on level of labour to hire (profit maximizer). Equilibrium solutions, and ‘disequilibrium‘ solutions with shocked output price, are provided in a general and algebraic formulation; simulations with 1982 British data are shown, with shocks on probability of fall in output price, on technology, and on working time.     

Monopoly Union Wage Setting and Evaluation of Public Projects: An Intertemporal General Equilibrium Approach

ABSTRACT This paper contains cost-benefit rules for public projects in a small open economy with a tradeable and non-tradeable sector, where wage setting is done by a representative household. The interpretation, with regard to traditional trade union theory, is in terms of a general equilibrium version of a monopoly union model. The intertemporal character of the model makes it possible to consider public projects which involve the creation of infrastructure that improves the future productivity of both labour and capital. A special feature of the model is the introduction of endogenous investment behaviour. However, since private investment is optimally adjusted in the initial equilibrium, envelope properties guarantee that first-order projects will only have second-order repercussions through changed investment behaviour, which means that indirect changes in private investment do not enter the project evaluation rules for small projects.     

Union Wage Setting,Employment and Investment: a Survey of Theory and Empirical Evidence

Abstract. This paper provides a survey of recent theoretical and empirical research on union wage setting, employment and investment. The basic models of union wage setting and employment are presented in a unified framework. The distinction between insiders and outsiders is introduced as an extension of the basic models. Empirical evidence on union preferences and on the performance of the various models is accessibly ordered. Finally, attention is paid to the effects of strategic behaviour between union and firm on wages, employment and investment.     

Risk Management and the Business Environment in South Africa

Risk management involves tracking market and non-market long-range risks, understanding their adverse impact on the business environment, and managerial responses to reduce risk exposure. As an emerging market, South Africa poses a challenging array of long-term political, economic, financial and operational risks to investors. Risks such as concerns about increased costs, lack of transparency, limited capacity to enforce the rule of law, government intervention, a volatile currency, regional contagion and the HIV/Aids pandemic heighten uncertainty about the business environment. Managerial responses to anticipate and mitigate risks include matching mode of entry with risk tolerance, superior intelligence and lobbying, maintaining low tolerance for corruption, selecting appropriate financial instruments and balancing shareholder and stakeholder interests.The risk management framework presented, consisting of three elements: type of risk, impact of risks and managerial response to counter adverse risk impacts, may be refined and expanded for potential application to other emerging markets.     

Wage Cuts as Investment in Future Wage Growth

Abstract. Wage cuts are often presumed to reflect an adverse change in economic constraints. However, several theoretical models have shown they can be a form of investment in future wage growth. This paper provides empirical evidence of the latter by explicitly modeling the worker's job choice when the job offer consists of both a starting wage and expected future wage growth. We use our analytical model to estimate the distribution of job offers faced by workers who are searching across jobs differing in both initial wage and expected wage growth. For females, roughly one‐third of job changes that result in immediate wage cuts are transitions to jobs that have a higher value function than the existing job. For males, the corresponding value is one‐fifth.     

Transformation Charters in Contemporary South Africa: The Case of the ABSA Group Limited

Over the past decade, strategy and international business scholars have increasingly turned their attention to assessing how alterations in institutional arrangements in former centrally planned economies influence enterprise‐level strategies. Little is known about the strategic responses of organizations operating in countries going through institutional transformation related to social issues. Since the first democratic elections in 1994, the South African government has focused on addressing the inequalities of the past through what is known as Black Economic Empowerment (empowerment of historically disadvantaged black people). In this paper, we investigate the approach used by the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) Group Limited, one of the top four banks and an important player in the South African financial services sector, in formulating and implementing strategy to ensure successful and sustainable organizational transformation. A key component of ABSA's Black Economic Empowerment strategy is incorporation of transformation as a business imperative and not merely as a compliance requirement.     

在线健康咨询市场中的价格溢价研究

 在线健康咨询服务是电子健康领域一个新兴的应用,对于减少医疗成本、提高医疗服务质量和公平性具有重要的意义。平台的繁荣离不开医生的持续参与,而获得满意的金钱回报是医生持续参与的一个重要原因。因此,研究在线健康咨询市场中的价格溢价对医生、平台和病人都具有重要意义。        从信息不对称的视角考察在线健康咨询市场中的价格溢价问题,根据在线健康咨询市场的特点提出地位和声誉两种重要的信号机制;从不确定性角度出发,识别出在线服务年限、疾病隐私程度和疾病严重程度3个对信号机制产生调节作用的重要变量;针对糖尿病、胰腺癌、小儿肺炎和不孕不育4种疾病,从好大夫网上连续收集5个月所有医生的相关信息,验证研究模型和假设。        研究结果表明,地位和声誉对价格溢价均有显著的正向影响。随着医生在线服务年限的增加,地位对获取价格溢价的作用逐渐下降;当用户咨询隐私类疾病时会更加关注医生的声誉,因而愿意向高声誉的医生支付更高的服务费用;当疾病严重程度较高时,用户面临巨大风险,更愿意去线下的大医院当面就诊。由于对平台的不信任导致需求萎缩,因而即使是有非常高声誉的医生,也难以在线上获得更高的价格溢价。        研究结果为在线健康咨询平台上的医生、用户和平台运营商提供若干指导,有助于提供健康咨询服务的医生理解如何获得更高的价格溢价,有助于用户用合理的价格选择合适的医生,有助于平台服务商留住医生(尤其是好医生),促进平台的繁荣。     

The Gender Wage Gap and Poverty in Colombia

Abstract. Using 19 years of cross‐section wage data, we look at the trend of the ratio of male to female wages in Colombia. First, we observe a long‐term trend towards an increase in the gender wage gap that may be related to new labor regulations giving more protection to women and thereby raising the cost of female employment for firms. Second, we measure the impact on poverty of the increasing gap by producing estimates of the income distribution for the subsequent years had the wage gap remained at the low level it used to be in the early 1990s. As mainly low‐skilled women suffered from the increase in the wage gap, we find that the phenomenon contributed to an overall increase in poverty during the decade.     

南非运输业巨头Transnet的变革

Transnet是南非的国有运输企业，主要负责经营铁路、公路、港口、管道四大领域，是非洲最大的物流运输集团。对于“能量”二字，Transnet的理解自然是相当深刻的。     

影响我国财产保险保费收入因素的实证研究

理论上影响我国财产保险保费收入的相关因素,主要有人均国内生产总值、固定资产投资、市场结构、保险补偿功能的实现等因素。本文采用1997-2006年相关数据进行实证分析,结果表明,人均GDP是影响财产保险保费收入的重要因素;固定资产投资对财产保险保费收入的增加所起的作用不明显;财产保险保费收入与市场结构关系不显著与保险补偿功能的实现正相关。因此,政府必须千方百计增加居民收入,增强居民的保险意识。     

The Cohort Size‐Wage Relationship in Europe

This paper estimates the impact of cohort size on wages using data on young males in European regions covering 2004–10. The effect of cohort size on wages is identified through an instrumental variables strategy which, in contrast to previous analyses of European data, addresses self‐selection into geographical areas as well as into educational groups. The results suggest that cohort size has a significant negative effect on male wages for individuals with secondary education — the largest group — but not for individuals with less than secondary education or tertiary education. This effect is underestimated if self‐selection into geographical areas is not addressed.     

The Gender Wage Gap in the Turkish Labor Market

Abstract. This paper examines the sources of the gender wage gap in the Turkish labor market by using matched employer–employee data and the standard wage regression estimations as well as the Oaxaca decomposition method. The extensive number of variables in the data set enables a thorough quantitative analysis of the role of various individual‐ as well as firm‐related factors leading to wage differentials between men and women, namely human capital endowments including job tenure, occupational and industrial segregation, private/public sector location, coverage of the workplace under collective labor bargaining, and firm size. It also examines the extent of gender‐based industry and occupational segregation within the confines of data set and computes the Duncan & Duncan segregation index. We find that a large portion of the gender wage gap is attributable to women's considerably lower levels of work experience and job tenure. Other important variables that lead to pay differentials are women's lower concentration in jobs covered by collective labor bargaining and a substantial degree of occupational and industrial segregation. The differential rates of return to many of the wage determinant variables are also found to be significant in the formation of the gender wage gap.     

The Wage Gap in Manufacturing in Germany: Size and Determinants

Wages in Germany are usually fixed in a two-step process. Firstly, unions and employers' associations negotiate wage agreements at industry level. Secondly, the sectoral wage is modified at establishment level according to the demands of management, works councils and individual employees. Since contract wages are minimum standards, the modifications may only favour the employees. A positive wage gap appears. The paper aims to analyse this second step of wage fixing. Data on the size of the wage gap are presented, determinants of the gap are discussed theoretically and, finally, the hypotheses are tested by regression analysis.