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.     

Testing a Model of Trade Union Behaviour: An Application of a Multivariate Cointegration Analysis to UK Aggregate Wage Data

ABSTRACT The first part of the paper considers a behavioural model of trade unionism. Wages and employment are characterized as the outcome of a process by which the union maximizes an objective function containing wages and employment as arguments, and is constrained by a trade-off between these two variables as represented by the firm's labour demand function. In the second part, the model's equilibrium predictions for wages are estimated in the framework of a multivariate error correction model and tested for cointegration with data from Britain's manufacturing sector from 1967 to 1986.     

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.     

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.     

Institutions,Incentives and Trade Union Membership

The study investigates the determinants of unionization in a country — Finland — where union density, defined as the number of unionized members divided by the labour force, has risen 60 percentage points in 32 years, from 22 percent in 1960 to 82 percent in 1992. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the background information obtained from surveys inquiring why individuals join a union. The empirical analysis for the period 1962–92 shows that the model is capable of explaining long-run trends in union density in a very satisfactory manner. The results imply that institutional features of the labour market, characterized by the benefit mark-up variable and a dummy variable capturing labour legislation and public policy toward unionization, play an important role in the development of union density. An interesting policy implication of the study is the prediction that union density would fall considerably if earnings-related unemployment allowances were to be cut to the level of the basic unemployment allowances.     

均值-方差模型具有一般不确定性下的最优资产组合选择

引入以记忆系数和无差异系数表征的随机变量测度均值-方差模型的一般不确定性特征,反映投资者的模型信任程度,研究均值-方差模型具有一般不确定性下的最优资产组合选择问题。基于资本市场线理论,构建最优资产组合选择是模型信任程度和基于均值-方差模型的传统资产组合选择的线性函数;基于记忆系数和无差异系数的不同组合,运用基于事例推理的方法求解二次效用投资者的最优模型信任程度,获得均值-方差模型具有一般不确定性下的最优资产组合,并以上证综指1997年1月-2014年8月的月度收益数据形成两个研究样本予以实证比较研究。结果表明,较大风险规避投资者,在较大记忆系数和较小无差异系数下,其模型信任程度调整较快、资产组合调整幅度大,表现出可获得性和代表性行为偏差,通常采取积极资产组合策略;反之,其模型信任程度调整渐进、资产组合调整幅度小,表现出锚定性和保守性行为偏差,通常采取消极资产组合策略;模型一般不确定性对最优资产组合选择的影响强于股票市场记忆性的影响。研究体现了投资者的有限理性,将传统的资产组合选择问题延伸至行为金融学领域。     

Trade Unions,Wage Bargaining Coordination,and Foreign Direct Investment

Conventional wisdom is that a high trade union bargaining strength and a system of coordinated wage bargaining reduce the attractiveness of an economy as a location for foreign direct investment, although there is limited evidence for this. The paper takes panel data for 19 OECD economies to examine the relationship between trade union bargaining strength, bargaining coordi nation, and a range of incentives for inward foreign direct investment. It finds a strong negative effect of trade union density on inward foreign direct investment, which is dependent on the degree of wage bargaining coordination. A high degree of coordination weakens the deterrent effect of high union density, which is consistent with the notion that under certain circumstances a coordinated increase in wages can increase profits of the multinationals by hurting domestic firms.     

需求不确定条件下的制造商订单分配模型

制造商的订单分配作为供应链模型微观层面的重要组成部分,对提升整个供应链效率有很大影响,但需求层面的不确定因素加大了订单分配的难度。以按比例分配为原则,讨论在需求不确定条件下完全信息与不完全信息两类多供应商-单制造商的订单分配模型。重点研究完全信息条件下各方的分散决策和集中决策,由于后者能避免各参与方对其他决策方的边际影响,所以能够实现供应链总利润的最大化;其次又将不完全信息引入模型,讨论制造商如何通过折算因子结合已有信息对供应商的私人信息进行估计,进而做出决策。最后以需求服从正态分布为例对两类模型进行验证。     

Democracy and Trade Union Action: A Comparative Overview

ABSTRACT: In this paper the author covers the current Italian debate on union representativeness and democracy, i.e. relations between union leadership and the rank-and-file, focusing on democratic procedures adopted (or not) in the internal decision-making process of the labour organisations. Experiments in the area of union self-regulation (autoregolamentazione) are discussed in connection with the collective bargaining process and strike action, mainly in public and private essential services. The author critically compares these experiments with more innovative solutions adopted in Spain, France, U.K., U.S.A. and Japan. Special attention is given to the role played by secret ballots in increasing union responsiveness.     

不确定环境下再装股票期权的稳健定价模型

研究具有Knight不确定性的金融市场,假定标的资产(股票)价格过程服从几何布朗运动,建立了再装股票期权在一个概率测度集合上的最大、最小定价模型。并借助于倒向随机微分方程(BSDE)以及偏微分方程(PDE)的重要理论完成了对模型的转化。最后利用随机过程的有关知识求出了该模型的显示表达式,并通过具体的数值分析揭示了Knight不确定性对再装股票期权定价的重要影响。     

The Inadequacy of Mainstream Theories ofTrade Union Behaviour

This paper identifies four criteria used by mainstream economists of trade unions to judge the adequacy of their various theories. Three of them, however, are hardly ever satisfied. The root cause of this failure is the method adopted by mainstream economic theory, namely deductivism. The perspective of critical realism is used to identify and explain the cause of this failure and to point towards an alternative method.     

A Model for Partial Product Complementarity and Strategic Production Decisions under Demand Uncertainty

This paper considers a general industrial setting where multiple manufacturers each produce a different product and sell it to the markets. These products are partially complementary in the sense that there is a common demand stream that requests all these products as complementary sets and there are streams of individual demands each requesting only one of the products. All demands are uncertain and may follow any general, joint distributions. Facing demand uncertainties, the manufacturers each choose a production quantity for its product with an objective to maximize its own expected profit. We formulate the problem as a non‐cooperative game to study the strategic interactions of such firms and their implications to supply chain performance. We show that such a game may have numerous equilibria. Among all the possible equilibria, however, we prove that there always exists a unique one that maximizes each and every manufacturer's profit, and we derive an explicit solution for this Pareto‐optimal equilibrium point. We further study the optimal solution for a centralized system and compare it with the decentralized solution. Managerial insights are drawn as to how system parameters and control mechanisms affect firms' decisions and performance.     

Knight不确定条件下的模糊二叉树期权定价模型

在市场含有Knight不确定因素的环境下,影响期权价格的因素不仅仅具有随机性的特点,而且还存在着模糊的性质.因而我们假设股票价格服从模糊随机过程,使用基于抛物型模糊数的二叉树模型对欧式期权进行定价,得到的风险中性概率及期权价格为一个赋权区间.在使用中国权证数据进行的实证中,采用二次规划方法确定模型参数,并对模糊期权价格进行去模糊化,与传统的二叉树模型进行实证比较后发现,应用模糊二叉树模型能得出更准确的市场价格预测.投资者可以选择自己可接受的置信度,得到一个模糊价格区间,以此指导投资策略.此外,应用此模型能够得到期权价格的模糊程度的度量-模糊度,从而获知Knight不确定性的大小.     

不确定环境下研发投资决策的期权博弈模型

假定产出价格(随机需求)服从带跳的几何布朗运动来模拟研发项目中突发事件和市场的不确定性特点,拓展了用几何布朗运动模拟市场不确定性的双寡头期权博弈模型,同时也是在带跳的几何布朗运动的实物期权方法中融入了竞争策略互动的影响.敏感性分析结果表明随着这两类不确定性的增大,参与双方进入门槛值都变大.突发事件带来的不确定提高会使得参与双方的期权价值降低,但是市场的不确定性变大对于追随者来说等待是有价值的,对领先者的期权价值的影响却是不定的.     

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.     

模型不确定性条件下的Robust投资组合有效前沿与CAPM

本文提出了Robust投资组合有效前沿的概念,并研究了模型不确定性条件下的资本资产定价模型(CAPM)。研究发现,当市场上不存在无风险资产时,模型不确定性对风险资产投资比例的影响是非平等的,因此会导致投资组合的非分散化;而且此时的两基金分离定理以及零-βCAPM也不成立。但是当市场上存在无风险资产时,模型不确定性对风险资产投资比例的影响则是平等的,并且两基金分离定理仍然成立,因为任何Robust有效前沿组合都可以表示为市场组合与无风险资产的线性组合。而此时的CPAM仍然能够成立,只是在表达形式上增添了一个因子--不确定性因子;并且所有资产或资产组合的超额收益都可以分解为风险溢价与不确定性溢价两部分。     

A Robust Model of Bubbles With Multidimensional Uncertainty

Observers often interpret boom–bust episodes in asset markets as speculative frenzies where asymmetrically informed investors buy overvalued assets hoping to sell to a greater fool before the crash. Despite its intuitive appeal, however, this notion of speculative bubbles has proven difficult to reconcile with economic theory. Existing models have been criticized on the basis that they assume irrationality, that prices are somewhat unresponsive to sales, or that they depend on fragile, knife‐edge restrictions. To address these issues, I construct a rational version of Abreu and Brunnermeier (2003), where agents invest growing endowments into an asset, fueling appreciation and eventual overvaluation. Riding bubbles is optimal as long as the growth rate of the bubble and the probability of selling before the crash are high enough. This probability increases with the amount of noise in the economy, as random short‐term fluctuations make it difficult for agents to infer information from prices.     

A Structural Model of Government Formation

In this paper we estimate a bargaining model of government formation in parliamentary democracies. We use the estimated structural model to conduct constitutional experiments aimed at evaluating the impact of institutional features of the political environment on the duration of the government formation process, the type of coalitions that form, and their relative stability.     

不确定环境下考虑风险厌恶的生产-分销网络优化模型及试验设计

考虑上游生产和下游需求不确定性，研究了由工厂、分销中心及终端市场构成的生产-分销网络优化设计问题。针对上游生产不确定性，考虑产生故障和无故障两种状态；针对下游市场需求不确定性，考虑其具有低、中和高三种状态。由于生产发生故障可能导致不合格品的产生，进一步考虑了在上游生产环节是否实施产品监测问题。综合网络运作成本和由不确定性导致的绩效风险，建立了由风险厌恶水平和悲观系数刻画的基于均值-条件风险值（CVaR）准则的生产-分销网络两阶段随机规划模型。特别地，针对由网络潜在节点数众多所导致的不确定情景规模过大的问题，采用情景缩减技术进行了情景筛选，降低了所建模型的求解难度。最后，进行了数值计算，分析了相关参数对网络运作绩效的影响，并给出了期望成本和条件风险值两个目标权衡的帕累托有效前沿。进一步，通过回归试验设计检验了决策者风险厌恶水平和悲观系数对所设计的生产-分销网络绩效的影响程度。结果表明，相对于决策者的风险厌恶程度，悲观系数对网络运作绩效的影响更大。     

A Structural Model of Dense Network Formation

This paper proposes an empirical model of network formation, combining strategic and random networks features. Payoffs depend on direct links, but also link externalities. Players meet sequentially at random, myopically updating their links. Under mild assumptions, the network formation process is a potential game and converges to an exponential random graph model (ERGM), generating directed dense networks. I provide new identification results for ERGMs in large networks: if link externalities are nonnegative, the ERGM is asymptotically indistinguishable from an Erdős–Rényi model with independent links. We can identify the parameters only when at least one of the externalities is negative and sufficiently large. However, the standard estimation methods for ERGMs can have exponentially slow convergence, even when the model has asymptotically independent links. I thus estimate parameters using a Bayesian MCMC method. When the parameters are identifiable, I show evidence that the estimation algorithm converges in almost quadratic time.