Abstract
This paper examines the implications of a rise in the bargaining power of workers on the real wage, income distribution, and the levels of employment and output using a macroeconomic model with monopolistic competition and worker-owner Nash bargaining at the firm level. It thereby provides optimizing microfoundations to Kalecki's macroeconomic analysis of the positive effect on output of a rise in trade-union power, and contrasts it with the neoclassical view based on the diminishing marginal productivity of labor.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aoki, M. (1986):The Cooperative Game Theory of the Firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bowles, S., and Boyer, R. (1992): “Wages, Aggregate Demand, and Employment in an Open Economy: a Theoretical and Empirical Investigation”. Working Paper, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Conyon, J. M. (1994): “Labour's Share, Market Structure and Trade Unionism”.International Journal of Industrial Organization 32: 117–131.
Dutt, A. K. (1984): “Stagnation, Income Distribution and Monopoly Power”.Cambridge Journal of Economics 8: 25–40.
Dutt, A. K., and Amadeo, E. J. (1990):Keynes's Third Alternative? The Neo-Ricardian Keynesians and the Post Keynesians. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Freeman, R. B., and Medoff, J. L. (1984):What Do Unions Do? New York: Basic Books.
Henley, A. (1987): “Trade Unions, Market Concentrations and Income Distribution in United States Manufacturing Industry”.International Journal of Industrial Organization 5: 193–210.
Henley, A. (1990):Wages and Profits in the Capitalist Economy: the Impact of Monopolistic Power on Macroeconomic Performance in the USA and UK. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Kalecki, M. (1971): “Class Struggle and the Distribution of Income”. InSelected Essays on the Dynamics of the Capitalist Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lavoie, M. (1992):Foundations of Post-Keynesian Economic Analysis. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Layard, R., and Nickell, S. (1990): “Is Unemployment Lower if Unions Bargain Over Employment?”Quarterly Journal of Economics 105: 773–787.
MacPherson, D. A. (1990): “Trade Unions and Labor's Share in U.S. Manufacturing Industries”.International Journal of Industrial Organization 8: 142–151.
Sen, A., and Dutt, A. K. (1995): “Bargaining Power, Imperfect Competition and the Markup: Optimizing Microfoundations”.Economics Letters 48: 15–20.
Svejnar, J. (1982): “On the Theory of a Participatory Firm”.Journal of Economic Theory 27: 313–330.
Ulph, A., and Ulph, D. (1989): “Union Bargaining: a Survey of Recent Work”. InCurrent Issues in Labour Economics, edited by D. Sapsford and Z. Tzannatos. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Weitzman, M. (1985): “The Simple Macroeconomics of Profit Sharing”.American Economic Review 75: 937–953.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dutt, A.K., Sen, A. Union bargaining power, employment, and output in a model of monopolistic competition with wage bargaining. Zeitschr. f. Nationalökonomie 65, 1–17 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239056
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01239056