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Flexibility in wage setting under the threat of relocation

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  • Goeddeke, Anna
  • Haucap, Justus
  • Herr, Annika
  • Wey, Christian

Abstract

Relocation of production to countries with low labour cost have induced increased labour market flexibility, which has been praised as a silver bullet for economic growth and low unemployment. Within a unionised oligopoly framework, in which a multi-national firm has the option to relocate its production to a foreign country, we analyse the welfare implications of both centralised and flexible wage setting regimes. For very low foreign wages, wage flexibility leads to higher welfare than a rigid centralised regime. In contrast, for 'intermediate' wage levels in the foreign country, an industry-wide uniform wage leads to higher social welfare than flexible wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Goeddeke, Anna & Haucap, Justus & Herr, Annika & Wey, Christian, 2017. "Flexibility in wage setting under the threat of relocation," DICE Discussion Papers 269, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:dicedp:269
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Union; Centralised Wage; Wage Flexibility; Relocation; Labour Market Flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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