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Regional Wage Differentiation and Wage Bargaining Systems in the European Union

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  • Athanasios Vamvakidis

    (International Monetary Fund, Washington, USA)

Abstract

The theoretical literature has argued that a centralized wage bargaining system may result in low regional wage differentiation and high regional unemployment differentials. The empirical literature has found that centralized wage bargaining leads to lower wage inequality for different skills, industries and population groups, but the evidence on its impact on regional wage differentiation is scant. Empirical evidence in this paper for European Union regions for the period 1980-2000 suggests that countries with more coordinated wage bargaining systems have lower regional wage differentials, after controlling for regional productivity and unemployment differentials. Estimates from wage curves for Germany and Italy based on panels of regions also suggest some links between the estimated elasticities and the level of coordination in wage bargaining.

Suggested Citation

  • Athanasios Vamvakidis, 2009. "Regional Wage Differentiation and Wage Bargaining Systems in the European Union," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 33(1), pages 73-87.
    • Handle: RePEc:ipf:finteo:v:33:y:2009:i:1:p:73-87
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    2. Enrico Marelli & Roberto Patuelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Regional unemployment in the EU before and after the global crisis," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 155-175, January.
    3. Walid Jebili & Lotfi Belkacem, 2015. "Sectoral Shifts, Diversification, Regional Unemployment on the Eve of Revolution in Tunisia: a Sequential Spatial Panel Approach," Working Papers 952, Economic Research Forum, revised Oct 2015.
    4. Inés P. Murillo Huertas & Raúl Ramos & Hipólito Simón, 2020. "Revisiting interregional wage differentials: New evidence from Spain with matched employer‐employee data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 296-347, March.

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