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The Fixed Wage Puzzle: Why Profit Sharing Is So Hard to Implement

Author

Listed:
  • Jerger, Jürgen
  • Michaelis, Jochen

Abstract

It is well known that profit sharing arrangements Pareto-dominate fixed wage contracts. Share agreements are (far) less than ubiquitous, however. This paper offers a solution of this ”fixed wage puzzle“ by adopting a perspective of bounded rationality. We show that share arrangements that fulfill ”plausible“ constraints are not generally acceptable to both firms and unions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerger, Jürgen & Michaelis, Jochen, 2010. "The Fixed Wage Puzzle: Why Profit Sharing Is So Hard to Implement," University of Regensburg Working Papers in Business, Economics and Management Information Systems 441, University of Regensburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bay:rdwiwi:14395
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    File URL: https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/14395/1/FixedWagePuzzle_DiskBeitr_441.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jurgen Jerger & Jochen Michaelis, 1999. "Profit Sharing, Capital Formation and the NAIRU," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 257-275, June.
    2. Michaelis, Jochen, 1997. "On the equivalence of profit and revenue sharing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 113-118, November.
    3. Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2006. "Flexible and Committed Profit Sharing with Wage Bargaining: Implications for Equilibrium Unemployment," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 159-180, March.
    4. Farber, Henry S, 1978. "Individual Preferences and Union Wage Determination: The Case of the United Mine Workers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 923-942, October.
    5. Benjamin Bental & Dominique Demougin, 2006. "Incentive Contracts And Total Factor Productivity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(3), pages 1033-1055, August.
    6. Weitzman, Martin L, 1985. "The Simple Macroeconomics of Profit Sharing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 937-953, December.
    7. Holmlund, Bertil, 1990. "Profit Sharing, Wage Bargaining, and Unemployment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(2), pages 257-268, April.
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    9. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2005. "Individual Risk Attitudes: New Evidence from a Large, Representative, Experimentally-Validated Survey," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 511, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
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    11. Kirstein, Roland & Kirstein, Annette, 2004. "Inefficient Intra-Firm Incentives Can Stabilize Cartels in Cournot Oligopolies," CSLE Discussion Paper Series 2004-09, Saarland University, CSLE - Center for the Study of Law and Economics.
    12. Carruth, Alan A & Oswald, Andrew J, 1985. "Miners' Wages in Post-war Britain: An Application of a Model of Trade Union Behaviour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380), pages 1003-1020, December.
    13. Richard Watt, 2002. "Defending Expected Utility Theory: Comment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 227-229, Spring.
    14. Maria Brouwer, 2005. "Managing Uncertainty through Profit Sharing Contracts from Medieval Italy to Silicon Valley," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 9(3), pages 237-255, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Jaylson Jair Silveira, 2021. "Evolutionary microdynamics of employee profit sharing as productivity-enhancing device," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 417-449, April.
    2. Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Jaylson Jair da Silveira, 2018. "Macrodynamic Implications of Employee Profit Sharing as Effort Elicitation Device," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2018_02, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Profit Sharing; Share Economy; Remuneration Systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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