IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/poleco/v52y2018icp18-35.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Globalization and the decline in labor shares: Exploring the relationship beyond trade and financial flows

Author

Listed:
  • Young, Andrew T.
  • Tackett, Maria Y.

Abstract

We employ data from up to 125 countries during the 1970–2009 period to explore the relationship between globalization and labor share. Existing studies report a negative relationship between trade and investment flows and labor shares. While we also find that economic flows are often negatively related to labor shares, measures of social globalization tend to be positively related to labor shares. While greater mobility of goods and capital may be associated with increases in capital's bargaining power, all else equal, greater flows of information, ideas, and people may increase the bargaining power of workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Young, Andrew T. & Tackett, Maria Y., 2018. "Globalization and the decline in labor shares: Exploring the relationship beyond trade and financial flows," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 18-35.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:52:y:2018:i:c:p:18-35
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2017.04.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268017301374
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2017.04.003?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gupta, Sanjeev & Clements, Benedict & Bhattacharya, Rina & Chakravarti, Shamit, 2004. "Fiscal consequences of armed conflict and terrorism in low- and middle-income countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 403-421, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    4. Keefer,Philip & Loayza,Norman (ed.), 2008. "Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521887588, January.
    5. Bruno Decreuse & Paul Maarek, 2015. "FDI and the Labor Share in Developing Countries : A Theory and Some Evidence," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 119-120, pages 289-319.
    6. Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2012. "Globalization and gender equality in the course of development," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 399-413.
    7. Brent Neiman, 2014. "The Global Decline of the Labor Share," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 61-103.
    8. Macpherson, David A., 1990. "Trade unions and labor's share in U.S. manufacturing industries," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 143-151.
    9. Axel Dreher & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Heinrich Ursprung, 2008. "The impact of globalization on the composition of government expenditures: Evidence from panel data," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 263-292, March.
    10. Walter Enders & Todd Sandler, 1996. "Terrorism and Foreign Direct Investment in Spain and Greece," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 331-352, August.
    11. Daniele Checchi & Cecilia García‐Peñalosa, 2010. "Labour Market Institutions and the Personal Distribution of Income in the OECD," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(307), pages 413-450, July.
    12. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Good for Living? On the Relationship between Globalization and Life Expectancy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1191-1203, September.
    13. Henley, Andrew, 1987. "Trades unions, market concentration and income distribution in United States manufacturing industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 193-210.
    14. Rudy Fichtenbaum, 2011. "Do Unions Affect Labor's Share of Income: Evidence Using Panel Data," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 784-810, July.
    15. Dreher, Axel, 2006. "The influence of globalization on taxes and social policy: An empirical analysis for OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 179-201, March.
    16. Drakos, Konstantinos, 2004. "Terrorism-induced structural shifts in financial risk: airline stocks in the aftermath of the September 11th terror attacks," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 435-446, June.
    17. Hessami, Zohal, 2011. "Globalization's winners and losers--Evidence from life satisfaction data, 1975-2001," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(3), pages 250-253, September.
    18. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Do liberalization and globalization increase income inequality?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 488-505, December.
    19. Tavares, Jose, 2004. "The open society assesses its enemies: shocks, disasters and terrorist attacks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1039-1070, July.
    20. Rudy Fichtenbaum, 2009. "The Impact of Unions on Labor's Share of Income: A Time-Series Analysis," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 567-588.
    21. Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "The Evidence on Globalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 509-552, March.
    22. Bretschger, Lucas & Hettich, Frank, 2002. "Globalisation, capital mobility and tax competition: theory and evidence for OECD countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 695-716, November.
    23. Michael Elsby & Bart Hobijn & Ayseful Sahin, 2013. "The Decline of the U.S. Labor Share," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(2 (Fall)), pages 1-63.
    24. Ann Harrison, 2022. "Has Globalization Eroded Labor’s Share? Some Cross-Country Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 5, pages 89-135, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    25. Axel Dreher, 2006. "Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1091-1110.
    26. Ms. Anastasia Guscina, 2006. "Effects of Globalization on Labor’s Share in National Income," IMF Working Papers 2006/294, International Monetary Fund.
    27. Ito, Harumi & Lee, Darin, 2005. "Assessing the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on U.S. airline demand," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 75-95.
    28. repec:bla:kyklos:v:49:y:1996:i:3:p:331-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Arjun Jayadev, 2007. "Capital account openness and the labour share of income," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(3), pages 423-443, May.
    30. Blomberg, S. Brock & Hess, Gregory D. & Orphanides, Athanasios, 2004. "The macroeconomic consequences of terrorism," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1007-1032, July.
    31. Young, Andrew T., 2013. "U.S. Elasticities Of Substitution And Factor Augmentation At The Industry Level," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 861-897, June.
    32. Ms. Florence Jaumotte & Ms. Irina Tytell, 2007. "How Has The Globalization of Labor Affected the Labor Income Share in Advanced Countries?," IMF Working Papers 2007/298, International Monetary Fund.
    33. Young, Andrew T. & Lawson, Robert A., 2014. "Capitalism and labor shares: A cross-country panel study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 20-36.
    34. Jafari Samimi, Ahmad & Ghaderi, Saman & Hosseinzadeh, Ramezan & Nademi, Younes, 2012. "Openness and inflation: New empirical panel data evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 573-577.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roya Taherifar & Mark J. Holmes & Gazi M. Hassan, 2023. "The drivers of labour share and impact on pay inequality: A firm-level investigation," Working Papers in Economics 23/03, University of Waikato.
    2. Arif, Imran, 2021. "Productive knowledge, economic sophistication, and labor share," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Francesco Bloise & Irene Brunetti & Valeria Cirillo, 2022. "Firm strategies and distributional dynamics: labour share in Italian medium-large firms," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 623-655, July.
    4. González-Rozada, Martín & Ruffo, Hernán, 2024. "Do trade agreements contribute to the decline in labor share? Evidence from Latin American countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    5. Bruno Bises & Francesco Bloise & Antonio Scialà, 2024. "Labor share as an "automatic stabilizer" of income inequality," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(2), pages 511-532, April.
    6. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    7. Dreger, Christian & Fourné, Marius & Holtemöller, Oliver, 2023. "Globalization, productivity growth, and labor compensation," IWH Discussion Papers 7/2022, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2023.
    8. Taras Vasyltsiv & Ruslan Lupak & Marta Kunytska-Iliash, 2019. "Social Security Of Ukraine And The Eu: Aspects Of Convergence And Improvement Of Migration Policy," Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, Publishing house "Baltija Publishing", vol. 5(4).
    9. Quang Hoan Truong & Van Chung Dong, 2023. "Impacts of FDI Presence and Product Sophistication on the Demand for Skilled and Unskilled Labour: Evidence from SMEs in Viet Nam," Working Papers DP-2022-40, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    10. Onur Özdemir, 2020. "The handicap for enhanced solidarity across advanced economies: The greater the economic openness higher the unequal distribution of income," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 585-632, December.
    11. Mary O’Mahony & Michela Vecchi & Francesco Venturini, 2021. "Capital Heterogeneity and the Decline of the Labour Share," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(350), pages 271-296, April.
    12. Chih‐Hai Yang & Meng‐Wen Tsou, 2021. "Globalization and the labor share in China: Firm‐level evidence," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 89(1), pages 1-23, January.
    13. Taining Wang & Jinjing Tian, 2020. "Recasting the trade impact on labor share: a fixed-effect semiparametric estimation study," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 2465-2511, May.
    14. Ha, Le Thanh & Dung, Hoang Phuong & Thanh, To Trung, 2021. "Economic complexity and shadow economy: A multi-dimensional analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 408-422.
    15. Arif, Imran & Hall, Joshua C., 2019. "International flows of people and institutional change," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 276-288.
    16. Amendola, Marco & Ciampa, Valerio & Germani, Lorenzo, 2024. "The distributional effects of labour market deregulation: Wage share and fixed-term contracts," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 328-338.
    17. Michael MITSOPOULOS & Theodore PELAGIDIS, 2021. "Labor Taxation And Investment In Developed Countries. The Impact On Employment," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(2), pages 13-31, June.
    18. Zuazu, Izaskun, 2019. "The growth effect of democracy and technology: An industry disaggregated approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 115-131.
    19. Tushar Bharati & Mohammad Farhad & Michael Jetter, 2023. "On the relationship between trade openness and government size," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 2102-2133, July.
    20. Mary O'Mahony & Michela Vecchi & Francesco Venturini, 2019. "Technology, Intangible Assets and the Decline of the Labor Share," Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Discussion Papers ESCoE DP-2019-17, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
    21. Isaac Ketu & Arsene Mouongue Kelly & Jules-Eric Tchapchet Tchouto, 2024. "Does economic complexity reduce the size of the shadow economy in African countries?," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, January.

    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. Andrew T. Young & Hernando Zuleta, 2018. "Do Unions Increase Labor Shares? Evidence from US Industry-Level Data," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 558-575, September.
    2. Dawson, John W. & Sturgill, Brad, 2022. "Market Institutions and Factor Shares Across Countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 266-289.
    3. Parisi, Maria Laura, 2017. "Labor market rigidity, social policies and the labor share: Empirical evidence before and after the big crisis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 492-512.
    4. Arif, Imran, 2021. "Productive knowledge, economic sophistication, and labor share," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Friedrich Schneider & Tilman Brück & Daniel Meierrieks, 2010. "The Economics of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: A Survey (Part II)," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1050, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Heckelman, Jac C. & Young, Andrew, 2018. "How Global is Globalization?," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 48(3), August.
    7. Andrés O. Dávila & Manuel Fernández & Hernando Zuleta, 2021. "The Natural Resource Boom and The Uneven Fall of The Labor Share," Documentos CEDE 19427, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2015. "Globalization and the transmission of social values: The case of tolerance," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 371-389.
    9. Andrew T. Young & Hernando Zuleta, 2016. "Golden Rules of Wages," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 253-270, July.
    10. Guerriero, Marta & Sen, Kunal, 2012. "What Determines the Share of Labour in National Income? A Cross-Country Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 6643, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Corbellini, Aldo & Magnani, Marco & Morelli, Gianluca, 2021. "Labor market analysis through transformations and robust multivariate models," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Kyoji Fukao & Cristiano Perugini, 2021. "The Long‐Run Dynamics of the Labor Share in Japan," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 445-480, June.
    13. Reshef, Ariell & Santoni, Gianluca, 2023. "Are your labor shares set in Beijing? The view through the lens of global value chains," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    14. Roya Taherifar & Mark J. Holmes & Gazi M. Hassan, 2023. "The drivers of labour share and impact on pay inequality: A firm-level investigation," Working Papers in Economics 23/03, University of Waikato.
    15. Alessandro Bellocchi & Giovanni Marin & Giuseppe Travaglini, 2021. "The Great Fall of Labor Share:Micro Determinants for EU Countries Over 2011-2019," Working Papers 2102, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2021.
    16. Si, Xu & Liu, Yulin & Wang, Jun, 2023. "Dialect diversity and labor income share in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(4).
    17. Elsa Orgiazzi & Paul Maarek, 2010. "Which factor bears the cost of currency crises?," 2010 Meeting Papers 810, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Igor Fedotenkov, 2016. "Labour Shares, Fertility and Longevity in an OLG model," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 28, Bank of Lithuania.
    19. Giray Gozgor & Priya Ranjan, 2017. "Globalisation, inequality and redistribution: Theory and evidence," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2704-2751, December.
    20. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "Globalization and social justice in OECD countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(2), pages 353-376, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    O50; O15; J61; labor share; capital share; globalization; functional distribution of income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    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:eee:poleco:v:52:y:2018:i:c:p:18-35. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505544 .

    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.