IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nsr/niesrd/556.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On Measuring the Labour Income Share

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Caswell

Abstract

The labour income share plays a key role as a parameter in macroeconomic models and has motivated a body of literature with regards to its apparent decline. Despite its crucial importance, there exists no robust consensus on how to quantify the labour income share in practice. This paper explores some of the conceptual issues surrounding measurement and provides a novel empirical application utilising UK sector level national accounts data. Specifically, this involves imputing proprietor labour income at the sector level and then aggregating up to the whole economy. This paper demonstrates that the disaggregated approach amplifies measurement errors under certain imputation assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Caswell, 2024. "On Measuring the Labour Income Share," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 556, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:nsr:niesrd:556
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DP556-On-Measuring-the-Labour-Force-Income-Share.pdf?ver=5NY3wiXXCYORVvFdIWud
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Z. Lawrence, 2015. "Recent Declines in Labor's Share in US Income: A Preliminary Neoclassical Account," NBER Working Papers 21296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ann E. Harrison & Margaret S. McMillan, 2006. "Outsourcing Jobs? Multinationals and US Employment," NBER Working Papers 12372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Nicholas Kaldor, 1961. "Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth," International Economic Association Series, in: D. C. Hague (ed.), The Theory of Capital, chapter 0, pages 177-222, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Willford Isbell King, 1930. "The National Income and Its Purchasing Power," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number king30-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Matthias Kehrig & Nicolas Vincent, 2017. "Growing Productivity without Growing Wages: The Micro-Level Anatomy of the Aggregate Labor Share Decline," CESifo Working Paper Series 6454, CESifo.
    2. Bom, Pedro R.D. & Erauskin, Iñaki, 2022. "Productive government investment and the labor share," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 347-363.
    3. Trofimov, Ivan D., 2017. "Capital productivity in industrialized economies: evidence from error-correction model and Lagrange Multiplier tests," MPRA Paper 81655, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. David Autor & David Dorn & Lawrence F Katz & Christina Patterson & John Van Reenen, 2020. "The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms [“Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 645-709.
    5. Takahashi, Harutaka & Le Riche, Antoine, 2021. "A dynamic theory of the declining aggregated labor income share: Intangible capital vs. tangible capital," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 104-118.
    6. Ivan D. TROFIMOV & Nazaria Md. ARIS & Muhammad Khairil Firdaus Bin ROSLI, 2018. "Macroeconomic determinants of the labour share of income: Evidence from OECD economies," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(616), A), pages 25-48, Autumn.
    7. Ivan D. Trofimov, 2017. "Capital Productivity In Industrialised Economies: Evidence From Error-Correction Model And Lagrange Multiplier Tests," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 62(215), pages 53-80, October –.
    8. Trofimov, Ivan D. & Md. Aris, Nazaria & Bin Rosli, Muhammad K. F., 2018. "Macroeconomic Determinants of the Labour Share of Income: Evidence from OECD Economies," MPRA Paper 85597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Gries, Thomas, 2018. "A New Theory of Demand-Restricted Growth," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181515, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Li, Defu & Benjamin, Bental, 2021. "Factor Supply Elasticities, Returns to Scale, and the Direction of Technological Progress," MPRA Paper 109920, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Alessandro Bellocchi & Giovanni Marin & Giuseppe Travaglini, 2021. "The Great Fall of Labor Share:Micro Determinants for EU Countries Over 2011-2019," Working Papers 2102, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2021.
    12. Thomas Gries, 2020. "A New Theory of Demand-Restricted Growth: The Basic Idea," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 65(1), pages 11-27, March.
    13. Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Peri, Giovanni, 2008. "Immigration and National Wages: Clarifying the Theory and the Empirics," CEPR Discussion Papers 6916, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2000. "Market concentration and technological innovation in a dynamic model of growth and distribution," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 53(215), pages 447-475.
    15. Stieglitz, Moritz & Setzer, Ralph, 2022. "Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Herrendorf, Berthold & Rogerson, Richard & Valentinyi, Ákos, 2014. "Growth and Structural Transformation," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 855-941, Elsevier.
    17. Diane Coyle & Jen‐Chung Mei, 2023. "Diagnosing the UK productivity slowdown: which sectors matter and why?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(359), pages 813-850, July.
    18. Ufuk Akcigit & Sina T. Ates, 2023. "What Happened to US Business Dynamism?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(8), pages 2059-2124.
    19. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Rethinking The Effect Of Immigration On Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 9, pages 245-290, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Kevin S. Nell & A.P. Thirlwall, 2017. "Why does the productivity of investment vary across countries?," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 70(282), pages 213-245.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    aggregate income; labour income share; national accounts; measurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • P2 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies

    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:nsr:niesrd:556. 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: Library & Information Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/niesruk.html .

    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.