IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v59y2005i1p51-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Did American Welfare Capitalists Breach Their Implicit Contracts during the Great Depression? Preliminary Findings from Company-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Chiaki Moriguchi

Abstract

It has been claimed that American employers' experiments in private welfare capitalism collapsed during the Great Depression, giving place to the welfare state and industrial unionism. Recent studies, however, reveal considerable differences in experience across firms. The author of this study, who characterizes private welfare capitalism as a set of human resource management practices constituting an implicit contract equilibrium, tests the implications of implicit contract theory using data from fourteen leading manufacturing firms. The repudiation of implicit contracts, she finds, was positively correlated with the severity of the depression's impact experienced by firms and negatively correlated with the effectiveness of “internal enforcement mechanisms†instituted by firms. Furthermore, she finds that greater breaches of implicit contracts were associated with greater employee support for industrial unions and more explicit employment contracts concluded under the New Deal. A comparative case study complements the quantitative analysis by exploring internal dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiaki Moriguchi, 2005. "Did American Welfare Capitalists Breach Their Implicit Contracts during the Great Depression? Preliminary Findings from Company-Level Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(1), pages 51-81, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:59:y:2005:i:1:p:51-81
    DOI: 10.1177/001979390505900104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979390505900104
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979390505900104?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. Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers, 1988. "Breach of Trust in Hostile Takeovers," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences, pages 33-68, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Moriguchi, Chiaki, 2003. "Implicit Contracts, the Great Depression, and Institutional Change: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Japanese Employment Relations, 1920–1940," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(3), pages 625-665, September.
    3. Jones, Derek C & Kato, Takao, 1995. "The Productivity Effects of Employee Stock-Ownership Plans and Bonuses: Evidence from Japanese Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 391-414, June.
    4. Alan J. Auerbach, 1988. "Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number auer88-1, February.
    5. Greif, Avner, 1993. "Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 525-548, June.
    6. Idson, Todd L & Valletta, Robert G, 1996. "Seniority, Sectoral Decline, and Employee Retention: An Analysis of Layoff Unemployment Spells," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(4), pages 654-676, October.
    7. Ichniowski, Casey & Shaw, Kathryn & Prennushi, Giovanna, 1997. "The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Productivity: A Study of Steel Finishing Lines," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 291-313, June.
    8. Michael D. Bordo & Claudia Goldin & Eugene N. White, 1998. "The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bord98-1, February.
    9. Roberts, John & Van den Steen, Eric, 2000. "Shareholder Interests, Human Capital Investment and Corporate Governance," Research Papers 1631, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    10. Owen, Laura J., 1995. "Worker Turnover in the 1920s: What Labor-Supply Arguments Don't Tell Us," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(4), pages 822-841, December.
    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. Victor Hiller, 2010. "Workers' Behavior And Labor Contract: An Evolutionary Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 152-179, February.
    2. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2014. "The origins, evolution, and current status of human resource management in the United States," Chapters, in: Bruce E. Kaufman (ed.), The Development of Human Resource Management Across Nations, chapter 18, pages 461-492, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Joshua L. Rosenbloom & William A. Sundstrom, 2009. "Labor-Market Regimes in U.S. Economic History," NBER Working Papers 15055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. A. Tarik Timur & Daphne Taras & Allen Ponak, 2012. "‘Shopping for Voice’: Do Pre-Existing Non-Union Representation Plans Matter When Employees Unionize?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 50(2), pages 214-238, June.
    5. Tom Nicholas, 2023. "Status and mortality: Is there a Whitehall effect in the United States?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1191-1230, November.
    6. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2012. "Wage Theory, New Deal Labor Policy, and the Great Depression: Were Government and Unions to Blame?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(3), pages 501-532, July.
    7. Bruce E. Kaufman (ed.), 2014. "The Development of Human Resource Management Across Nations," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14408, March.
    8. Shingo Ishiguro, 2016. "Macroeconomic Dynamics with Limited Commitment in Financial and Labor Contracts," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 16-25, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.

    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. Chiaki Moriguchi, 2003. "Did American Welfare Capitalists Breach their Implicit Contracts? Preliminary Findings from Company-level Data, 1920-1940," NBER Working Papers 9868, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. A.L. Bovenberg & Coen N. Teulings, 2001. "Insurance and Information: Firms as a Commitment Device," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 01-020/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Bovenberg, A.L. & Teulings, C.N., 2002. "Insurance and Information : Firms as a Commitment Device," Other publications TiSEM fb5c7b17-cf60-4bf5-b5ef-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Teulings, Coen & Bovenberg, Lans, 2002. "Insurance and Information: Firms as a Commitment Device," CEPR Discussion Papers 3441, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Haynes, Michelle & Thompson, Steve, 1999. "The productivity effects of bank mergers: Evidence from the UK building societies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 825-846, May.
    6. Molinder, Jakob & Karlsson, Tobias & Enflo, Kerstin, 2022. "Social democracy and the decline of strikes," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Heinrich, Ralph P., 1999. "Complementarities in Corporate Governance - A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan," Kiel Working Papers 947, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln, 2015. "Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of US Firms," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 147-186.
    9. Ansgar Richter & Susanne Schrader, 2017. "Levels of Employee Share Ownership and the Performance of Listed Companies in Europe," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(2), pages 396-420, June.
    10. Barberis, Nicholas & Maxim Boycko & Andrei Shleifer & Natalia Tsukanova, 1996. "How Does Privatization Work? Evidence from the Russian Shops," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 764-790, August.
    11. J. Adam Cobb, 2019. "Managing the Conflicting Interests of Workers and Shareholders: Evidence from Pension-Assumption Manipulations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(3), pages 523-551, May.
    12. Tim Baldenius & Xiaojing Meng & Lin Qiu, 2021. "The value of board commitment," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 1587-1622, December.
    13. Bohdan Kukharskyy & Michael Pflüger, 2011. "Relational Contracts and the Economic Well-Being of Nations," Working Papers 095, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    14. Teresa Chu & In-Mu Haw & Simon S. M. Ho & Xu Zhang, 2020. "Labor protection, ownership concentration, and cost of equity capital: international evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1351-1387, May.
    15. Marianna Belloc & Samuel Bowles, 2009. "International Trade, Factor Mobility and the Persistence of Cultural-Institutional Diversity," Working Papers in Public Economics 126, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    16. Derek C. Jones & Takao Kato, 2011. "The Impact of Teams on Output, Quality, and Downtime: An Empirical Analysis Using Individual Panel Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(2), pages 215-240, January.
    17. Audra J. Bowlus & Zvi Eckstein, 2002. "Discrimination and Skill Differences in an Equilibrium Search Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1309-1345, November.
    18. Kubo, Katsuyuki & Saito, Takuji, 2012. "The effect of mergers on employment and wages: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 263-284.
    19. Randall Morck & Masao Nakamura & Murray Frank, 2001. "Japanese Corporate Governance and Macroeconomic Problems," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Masao Nakamura (ed.), The Japanese Business and Economic System, chapter 12, pages 325-363, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. Arouri, Mohamed & Gomes, Mathieu & Pukthuanthong, Kuntara, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and M&A uncertainty," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 176-198.

    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:sae:ilrrev:v:59:y:2005:i:1:p:51-81. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    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.