IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/germec/v3y2002i4p431-459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Falling Labor Share and Rising Unemployment: Long–Run Consequences of Institutional Shocks?

Author

Listed:
  • Norbert Berthold
  • Rainer Fehn
  • Eric Thode

Abstract

The literature on unemployment has mostly focused on labor market issues while the impact of capital formation is largely neglected. Job creation is often thought to be a matter of encouraging more employment on a given capital stock. In contrast, this paper explicitly deals with the long–run consequences of institutional shocks on capital formation and employment. It is shown that the usual tradeoff between employment and wages disappears in the long run. In line with an appropriation model, the estimated values for the long–run elasticities of substitution between capital and labor for Germany and France are substantially greater than one.

Suggested Citation

  • Norbert Berthold & Rainer Fehn & Eric Thode, 2002. "Falling Labor Share and Rising Unemployment: Long–Run Consequences of Institutional Shocks?," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(4), pages 431-459, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:3:y:2002:i:4:p:431-459
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0475.00067
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0475.00067
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1468-0475.00067?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ricardo J. Caballero & Mohamad L. Hammour, 1998. "The Macroeconomics of Specificity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 724-767, August.
    2. Per Krusell & Lee E. Ohanian & JosÈ-Victor RÌos-Rull & Giovanni L. Violante, 2000. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality: A Macroeconomic Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1029-1054, September.
    3. Sims, Christopher A, 1980. "Macroeconomics and Reality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-48, January.
    4. Richard Jackman, 1995. "Unemployment and Wage Inequality in OECD Countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp0235, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Caballero, Ricardo J. & Hammour, Mohamad L., 1998. "Jobless growth: appropriability, factor substitution, and unemployment," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 51-94, June.
    6. Paul R. Krugman, 1994. "Past and prospective causes of high unemployment," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, vol. 79(Q IV), pages 23-43.
    7. Lehment, Harmen, 1999. "Zur Bestimmung des beschäftigungsneutralen Lohnerhöhungsspielraums," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 2262, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Siebert, Horst, 1997. "Labor market rigidities and unemployment in Europe," Kiel Working Papers 787, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Kremers, Jeroen J M & Ericsson, Neil R & Dolado, Juan J, 1992. "The Power of Cointegration Tests," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(3), pages 325-348, August.
    10. Oliver J. Blanchard, 1997. "The Medium Run," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(2), pages 89-158.
    11. Bewley, R. A., 1979. "The direct estimation of the equilibrium response in a linear dynamic model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 357-361.
    12. Blanchard, Olivier & Wolfers, Justin, 2000. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 1-33, March.
    13. Horst Siebert, 1997. "Labor Market Rigidities: At the Root of Unemployment in Europe," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 37-54, Summer.
    14. Breusch, Trevor S & Wickens, Michael R., 1987. "Dynamic Specification, the Long Run and the Estimation of Transformed Regression Models," CEPR Discussion Papers 154, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Blanchard, Olivier, 1998. "Revisiting European Unemployment : Unemployment, Capital Accumulation and Factor Prices," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GLS28.
    16. Mr. Bob Rowthorn, 1999. "Unemployment, Capital-Labor Substitution, and Economic Growth," IMF Working Papers 1999/043, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Pesaran, H. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 1998. "Generalized impulse response analysis in linear multivariate models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 17-29, January.
    18. Berthold, Norbert & Fehn, Rainer & Thode, Eric, 1998. "Fallende Lohnquote und steigende Arbeitslosigkeit: Ist das 'Ende der Bescheidenheit' die Lösung?," Wirtschaftsdienst – Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik (1949 - 2007), ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 78(12), pages 736-742.
    19. Nickell, Stephen & Bell, Brian, 1995. "The Collapse in Demand for the Unskilled and Unemployment across the OECD," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 40-62, Spring.
    20. Samuel Bentolila & Giuseppe Bertola, 1990. "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad is Eurosclerosis?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(3), pages 381-402.
    21. Olivier Jean Blanchard, 1995. "Macroeconomic implications of shifts in the relative demand for skills," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jan, pages 48-53.
    22. Rainer Fehn, "undated". "Der strukturell bedingte Anstieg der Arbeitslosigkeit in Europa - Ursachen und Lösungsansätze," List Monographien 019, List Gesellschaft e.V..
    23. Koop, Gary & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Potter, Simon M., 1996. "Impulse response analysis in nonlinear multivariate models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 119-147, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berthold, Norbert & Fehn, Rainer, 1999. "Aggressive Lohnpolitik, überschießende Kapitalintensität und steigende Arbeitslosigkeit: können Investivlöhne für Abhilfe sorgen?," Discussion Paper Series 28, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    2. Berthold, Norbert & Fehn, Rainer & Thode, Eric, 1999. "Rigide Arbeitsmärkte und ungleiche Einkommensverteilung: Ein unlösbares Dilemma?," Discussion Paper Series 31, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    3. Norbert Berthold & Rainer Fehn, 2003. "Unemployment in Germany: Reasons and Remedies," CESifo Working Paper Series 871, CESifo.
    4. Ansgar Belke & Rainer Fehn, "undated". "Institutions and Structural Unemployment: Do Capital-Market Imperfections Matter?," German Working Papers in Law and Economics 2001-default/2001/1-1008, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    5. Bentolila Samuel & Saint-Paul Gilles, 2003. "Explaining Movements in the Labor Share," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-33, October.
    6. Sener, Fuat, 2006. "Labor market rigidities and R&D-based growth in the global economy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 769-805, May.
    7. Ansgar Belke & Rainer Fehn, "undated". "Institutions and Structural Unemployment: Do Capital-Market Imperfections Matter?," German Working Papers in Law and Economics 2001-default/2001/1-1008, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    8. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and macroeconomics," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 373-383.
    9. Norbert Berthold & Rainer Fehn, 2002. "Arbeitsmarktpolitik in der Europäischen Währungsunion," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(3), pages 317-345, August.
    10. RUSSO, Giuseppe & VEREDAS, David, 2000. "Institutional rigidities and employment rigidity in the Italian large industrial firms," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2000048, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Berthold, Norbert & Fehn, Rainer, 2000. "Arbeitsmarktpolitik in der Europäischen Währungsunion," Discussion Paper Series 38, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    12. Ansgar Belke & Rainer Fehn & Neil Foster, 2001. "Venture Capital Investment and Labor Market Performance: A Panel Data Analysis," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 197/2001, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
    13. Puhani, Patrick A., 2001. "Wage rigidities in Western Germany? Microeconometric evidence from the 1990s," ZEW Discussion Papers 01-36, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Calcagnini, Giorgio & Ferrando, Annalisa & Giombini, Germana, 2014. "Does employment protection legislation affect firm investment? The European case," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 658-665.
    15. Fehn, Rainer, 2002. "Arbeitsmarktflexibilisierung und Arbeitslosigkeit," Discussion Paper Series 54, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    16. Rainer Fehn & Carsten-Patrick Meier, 2001. "The Positive Economics of Labor Market Rigidities and Investor Protection," CESifo Working Paper Series 456, CESifo.
    17. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.
    18. Schettkat, Ronald, 2002. "Institutions in the economic fitness landscape: What impact do welfare state institutions have on economic performance?," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment FS I 02-210, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    19. Linzert, Tobias, 2005. "The Unemployment Inflation Trade-Off in the Euro Area," IZA Discussion Papers 1699, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Roeger, Werner & Wijkander, Hans, 2000. "Unemployment in Europe: Swimming against the Tide of Skill-Biased Technical Progress without Relative Wage Adjustment," Research Papers in Economics 2000:9, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:3:y:2002:i:4:p:431-459. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.