IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v82y2016i3p935-951.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unionization, market structure, and economic growth

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Ji
  • Juin‐Jen Chang
  • Chien‐Yu Huang

Abstract

This article investigates the macroeconomic effects of unionization in a Schumpeterian growth model with an endogenous product market structure and a unionized labor market. The endogeneity of the market structure and the trade unionism of the labor market interact and jointly determine the equilibrium unemployment, firm size, number of firms, economic growth, and distribution of income between workers and firms. We show that unionization governs the distribution of income between workers and firms and the unemployment rate, but it does not give rise to any growth effect on the economy. In addition, unionization discourages potential entrants and hence decreases the equilibrium number of firms. These results echo the empirical observation in the sense that unionization raises unemployment and alters the distribution of income between workers and firms, but it does not give rise to a significant, real impact on the firms’ investment and the economy‐wide growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Ji & Juin‐Jen Chang & Chien‐Yu Huang, 2016. "Unionization, market structure, and economic growth," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 935-951, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:82:y:2016:i:3:p:935-951
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12111
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/soej.12111?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. Richard B. Freeman, 2007. "Labor Market Institutions Around the World," NBER Working Papers 13242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. repec:bla:ausecp:v:37:y:1998:i:2:p:119-36 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    4. 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.
    5. Asteriou, Dimitrios & Monastiriotis, Vassilis, 2007. "What do unions do at the large scale? Macro-economic evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Noel Gaston, 1998. "The Impact of International Trade and Protection on Australian Manufacturing Employment," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 119-136, June.
    7. David Card & Thomas Lemieux & W. Craig Riddell, 2004. "Unions and Wage Inequality," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(4), pages 519-562, October.
    8. Ruback, Richard S & Zimmerman, Martin B, 1984. "Unionization and Profitability: Evidence from the Capital Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(6), pages 1134-1157, December.
    9. Peretto, Pietro F., 1999. "Firm size, rivalry and the extent of the market in endogenous technological change," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1747-1773, October.
    10. Clark, Andrew, 1990. "Efficient Bargains and the McDonald-Solow Conjecture," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 502-528, October.
    11. Peretto, Pietro F, 1998. "Technological Change and Population Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 283-311, December.
    12. Mezzetti, Claudio & Dinopoulos, Elias, 1991. "Domestic unionization and import competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-2), pages 79-100, August.
    13. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 1994. "Growth and Unemployment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(3), pages 477-494.
    14. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    15. Palokangas, Tapio, 1996. "Endogenous growth and collective bargaining," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 925-944, May.
    16. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz & Luis A. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "Economic Integration and Endogenous Growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz & Luis A Rivera-Batiz (ed.), International Trade, Capital Flows and Economic Development, chapter 1, pages 3-32, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    17. Bean, Charles & Pissarides, Christopher, 1993. "Unemployment, consumption and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 837-854, May.
    18. Peretto, Pietro F., 2007. "Corporate taxes, growth and welfare in a Schumpeterian economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 353-382, November.
    19. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Firm Size and the Nature of Innovation within Industries: The Case of Process and Product R&D," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 232-243, May.
    20. McDonald, Ian M & Solow, Robert M, 1981. "Wage Bargaining and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 896-908, December.
    21. Clark, Kim B, 1984. "Unionization and Firm Performance: The Impact on Profits, Growth, and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 893-919, December.
    22. Patrizio Pagano & Fabiano Schivardi, 2003. "Firm Size Distribution and Growth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(2), pages 255-274, June.
    23. James D. Adams & Adam B. Jaffe, 1996. "Bounding the Effects of R&D: An Investigation Using Matched Establishment-Firm Data," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(4), pages 700-721, Winter.
    24. Christopher Laincz & Pietro Peretto, 2006. "Scale effects in endogenous growth theory: an error of aggregation not specification," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 263-288, September.
    25. Maarek, Paul, 2012. "Labor share, informal sector and development," MPRA Paper 38756, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    26. 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.
    27. Peretto, Pietro F, 1996. "Sunk Costs, Market Structure, and Growth," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(4), pages 895-923, November.
    28. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 415-456, July.
    29. Christopher A. Pissarides & Giovanna Vallanti, 2007. "The Impact Of Tfp Growth On Steady-State Unemployment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(2), pages 607-640, May.
    30. Peter Howitt, 1999. "Steady Endogenous Growth with Population and R & D Inputs Growing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 715-730, August.
    31. Clark, A. & Oswald, A., 1989. "An Empirical Study Of Union Preferences," Papers 352, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.
    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. Tabata, Ken, 2024. "Redistributive policy and R&D-based growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    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. Huang, Chien-Yu & Ji, Lei, 2013. "Knowledge-intensive business services and economic growth with endogenous market structure," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 95-106.
    2. Lei JI, 2012. "Rethinking Directed Technical Change with Endogenous Market Structure," DEGIT Conference Papers c017_037, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    3. Chang, Juin-jen & Shaw, Ming-fu & Lai, Ching-chong, 2007. "A "Managerial" trade union and economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 365-384, February.
    4. Lei Ji, 2013. "Cross-industry tfp growth differences with asymmetric industries and the endogenous market structure," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2013-17, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    5. Lei Ji, 2013. "Rethinking directed technical change with endogenous market structure," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2013-18, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    6. Luca Gori & Luciano Fanti, 2009. "Right-to-manage unions endogenous growth and welfare," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(2), pages 903-917.
    7. Kizuku Takao, 2014. "Dynamic effects of anticipated and temporary tax changes in a R&D-based growth model," ISER Discussion Paper 0913, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    8. Chang, Juin-jen & Liu, Chia-ying & Wang, Wei-neng, 2018. "Conspicuous consumption and trade unionism," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 350-366.
    9. Chu, Angus C. & Ji, Lei, 2016. "Monetary Policy And Endogenous Market Structure In A Schumpeterian Economy," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(5), pages 1127-1145, July.
    10. Ken‐ichi Hashimoto & Ryonghun Im, 2019. "Asset bubbles, labour market frictions and R&D‐based growth," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 822-846, May.
    11. Tabata, Ken, 2024. "Redistributive policy and R&D-based growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Angus C. Chu & Yuichi Furukawa & Sushanta Mallick & Pietro Peretto & Xilin Wang, 2021. "Dynamic effects of patent policy on innovation and inequality in a Schumpeterian economy," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(4), pages 1429-1465, June.
    13. Christopher Laincz & Pietro Peretto, 2006. "Scale effects in endogenous growth theory: an error of aggregation not specification," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 263-288, September.
    14. Afonso, Óscar, 2016. "Effects of labour-market institutions on employment, wages, R&D intensity and growth in 27 OECD countries: From theory to practice," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 48-62.
    15. Pedro Rui Mazeda Gil & Paulo Brito & Óscar Afonso, 2008. "A Model of Quality Ladders with Horizontal Entry," FEP Working Papers 296, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    16. Chu, Angus C. & Furukawa, Yuichi, 2012. "Patents versus R&D subsidies in a Schumpeterian growth model with endogenous market structure," MPRA Paper 41083, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2012.
    17. Zheng, Zhijie & Huang, Chien-Yu & Yang, Yibai, 2021. "Inflation And Growth: A Non-Monotonic Relationship In An Innovation-Driven Economy," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(5), pages 1199-1226, July.
    18. Peretto, Pietro F., 2018. "Robust endogenous growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 49-77.
    19. Angus C. Chu & Yuichi Furukawa & Lei Ji, 2016. "Patents, R&D subsidies, and endogenous market structure in a schumpeterian economy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 809-825, January.
    20. Huang Chien-Yu & Ji Lei, 2019. "Cross-industry growth differences with asymmetric industries and endogenous market structure," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 1-18, June.

    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:wly:soecon:v:82:y:2016:i:3:p:935-951. 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://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.