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Determinants of labour’s income share in the era of financialisation

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  • Petra Dünhaupt

Abstract

Numerous studies have analysed the decline in the labour share of income, but only few have linked it to the increase in financialisation. The process of financialisation can roughly be described as an increasing importance of the financial sector that had an impact on the distribution between wages and profits, on the one hand, and retained earnings and financial income in the form of dividends and interests, on the other hand. This article seeks to explore the relationship between financialisation and labour’s share of income using a time-series cross-sectional dataset of 13 countries over the time period from 1986 until 2007. The results suggest that there is indeed a relationship between increasing dividend and interest payments of non-financial corporations and the decline of the share of wages in national income. Other factors that can account for the decline relate to globalisation and a decrease in the bargaining power of labour.

Suggested Citation

  • Petra Dünhaupt, 2017. "Determinants of labour’s income share in the era of financialisation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(1), pages 283-306.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:41:y:2017:i:1:p:283-306.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bew023
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dabrowski, Cara & Kuhls, Sonia, 2024. "A Kaleckian approach to financialization and functional income distribution: Austria and Finland in comparative perspective," IPE Working Papers 229/2024, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    2. Ibarra, Carlos A. & Ros, Jaime, 2019. "The decline of the labor income share in Mexico, 1990–2015," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 570-584.
    3. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández & Lionello F. Punzo, 2018. "Some New Insights on Financialisation and Income Inequality," Department of Economics University of Siena 792, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. Joel Rabinovich & Niall Reddy, 2024. "Corporate Financialization: A Conceptual Clarification and Critical Review of the Literature," Working Papers PKWP2402, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    5. Beqiraj, Elton & Fanti, Lucrezia & Zamparelli, Luca, 2018. "Structural Change and the Wage Share: a Two-Sector Kaleckian Model," MPRA Paper 89558, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Nolan, Brian & Richiardi, Matteo & Valenzuela, Luis, 2018. "The Drivers of Inequality in Rich Countries," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-15, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    7. Ivan Mendieta-Munoz & Codrina Rada & Marcio Santetti & Rudiger von Arnim, 2020. "The US labour share of income: What shocks matter?," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2020_02, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    8. Wang, Linhui & Cao, Zhanglu & Dong, Zhiqing, 2023. "Are artificial intelligence dividends evenly distributed between profits and wages? Evidence from the private enterprise survey data in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 342-356.
    9. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2023. "The decoupling between labour compensation and productivity in high‐income countries: Why is the nexus broken?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(2), pages 425-463, June.
    10. Kostarakos, Ilias, 2020. "Determinants of the (non-Housing) Labour Income Share in the EU," Papers WP693, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    11. Walter Paternesi Meloni & Antonella Stirati, 2021. "What has driven the delinking of wages from productivity? A political economy-based investigation for high-income economies," Working Papers PKWP2104, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    12. Giorgos Gouzoulis, 2021. "Finance, Discipline and the Labour Share in the Long‐Run: France (1911–2010) and Sweden (1891–2000)," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 568-594, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financialisation; Functional income distribution; Labour’s share;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • F4 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance

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