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Pattern Bargaining as a Means to Coordinate Wages in the Nordic Countries

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Abstract

he various form of pattern bargaining with manufacturing, as representative of the tradables sector, deciding the norm for wage increases in the Nordic countries are reviewed. This form of bargaining has been consistent with strong international competitiveness and has widespread support among practitioners based on informal analysis. It is, however, hard to build a convincing case in more formal modelling for the idea that wage leadership for the tradables sector is particularly conducive to wage restraint. The conclusion is rather that it is norm setting in itself, irrespective of by whom it is done, that promotes wage moderation. In the future, when changing demograhics may motivate a reallocation of labour to welfare services, a rigid application of international competitiveness norms may imply an undesirable status-quo bias. More weight should probably be given to overall labour market conditions and more relative-wage flexibility allowed.

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  • Calmfors, Lars, 2025. "Pattern Bargaining as a Means to Coordinate Wages in the Nordic Countries," Working Paper Series 1517, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1517
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pattern bargaining; Coordination of wage setting; the Scandinavian model; Stackelberg leadership; Social norms; Labour reallocation;
    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
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects

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