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We examine the impact of public sector salary disclosure laws on university faculty salaries in Canada. The laws, which enable public access to the salaries of individual faculty if they exceed specified thresholds, were introduced in different provinces at different times. Using detailed administrative data covering the majority of faculty in Canada, and an event-study research design that exploits within-province variation in exposure to the policy across institutions and academic departments, we find robust evidence that the laws reduced the gender pay gap between men and women by approximately 20–40 percent.

\"From 1973 to 2007, private sector union membership in the United States declined from 34 to 8 percent for men and from 16 to 6 percent for women. During this period, inequality in hourly wages increased by over 40 percent. We report a decomposition, relating rising inequality to the union wage distribution's shrinking weight. We argue that unions helped institutionalize norms of equity, reducing the dispersion of nonunion wages in highly unionized regions and industries. Accounting for unions' effect on union and nonunion wages suggests that the decline of organized labor explains a fifth to a third of the growth in inequality - an effect comparable to the growing stratification of wages by education.\" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch; Längsschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1970 bis 2010.

This paper investigates whether unions, through imposing wage floors that lead to wage compression, increase on-the-job training. Our analysis focuses on Germany. Based on a model of unions and firm-financed training, we derive empirical implications regarding apprenticeship training intensity, layoffs, wage cuts, and wage compression in unionized and nonunionized firms. We test these implications using firm panel data matched with administrative employee data. We find support for the hypothesis that union recognition, via imposing minimum wages and wage compression, increases training in apprenticeship programs.

Eine Bestandsaufnahme der aktuellen Tarifstruktur im deutschen Einzelhandel zeigt, dass die Bedeutung von Kollektivverträgen deutlich zurückgegangen ist: Während 2000 noch knapp drei Viertel aller Beschäftigten im Handelsgewerbe an einen Tarifvertrag gebunden waren, sind es im Jahr 2010 nur noch knapp die Hälfte. Aus betrieblicher Perspektive ist der Anteil tarifgebundener Betriebe über den entsprechenden Zeitraum von 56 auf 31% zurückgegangen. Betriebe mit Kollektivvertrag unterscheiden sich im Hinblick auf zahlreiche Charakteristika von Betrieben ohne Tarifbindung: Sie sind im Durchschnitt größer, älter und zahlen zwischen 25 und 32% höhere Entgelte.

\"The author uses a spatial econometric framework to examine the determinants of teacher salaries in the United States, including union activity in the teachers' own and in neighboring districts, teacher salaries in nearby districts, and other school district characteristics such as size and student-teacher ratios. Using the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey as well as the School District Demographic System and Bureau of Labor Statistics data sets, he finds that union activity (measured by the legal status of collective bargaining and teacher union membership density) increases salaries for experienced teachers by as much as 18 to 28%; it increases salaries for beginning teachers, however, by considerably less. Results also confirm that salaries for experienced and beginning teachers are positively affected by the salaries of teachers in nearby districts. A one-percent increase in the distance-weighted average of teacher salaries in nearby districts increases salaries in a given district by 0.52% for experienced teachers and 0.66% for beginning teachers. Studies that ignore such spatial dependence are likely to be mis-specified and may lead to misleading conclusions.\" (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: empirisch-quantitativ; empirisch. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1999 bis 2000.

This study analyzes representation in collective bargaining in professional sports leagues and shows that the labor market is not completely competitive off-the-field. Because collective bargaining impacts future compensation and player unions are always represented by current players and often represented by more experienced players, there is amuch higher incentive to advocate for policies that increase pay for more experienced players. Conversely, policies that maintain monopsony power for leagues with regards to inexperienced players, such as player drafts, have remained in sports leagues. However, these policies may also restrict the quantity demanded for more experienced players. This paper provides a theoretical model and examines empirical evidence regarding the differences between younger and older players.

This paper investigates the impact of ownership structure and contractual choices on technical efficiency in the French urban public transport sector. The central proposition, which relies on classical contract theory arguments, is that ownership regime and contractual practices are key determinants of performance. To test this proposition, the authors use an original panel data set covering 135 different French urban transport networks over the period 1995-2002 and apply a stochastic frontier methodology. The econometric results corroborate their proposition that the technical efficiency of urban public transport operators depends on the ownership regime and on the type of contract governing their transactions.

A buyer suggests prices to N sellers in a time period and buys from the seller who accepts the bid first. The number of bidding rounds is determined by how frequently the buyer can make an offer. We show that with no limit on the frequency and without discounting, the price path is either kept flat initially with large jumps at the end or increasing steadily over time. Which class of path occurs in equilibrium depends on the buyer's trade-off between committing to a price ceiling versus finely screening the sellers' costs. With discounting, limiting the number of rounds mitigates the delay caused by the reluctance to raise bids in the first class of equilibrium and therefore can benefit the buyer. This result suggests why, in reality, bargaining parties often take measures to make their offers rigid and consequently force themselves to make fewer offers.

Abstract Höchste Repräsentanten der Deutschen Bundesbank schlugen im Sommer 2014 vor, die Sozialpartner könnten den lohnpolitischen Verteilungsspielraum aufgrund des robusten Arbeitsmarktes und der geringen Teuerung stärker als in früheren Jahren ausschöpfen. Dabei sollen sie sich neben dem Produktivitätswachstum an der Zielinflationsrate der Europäischen Zentralbank orientieren. Die Berücksichtigung der Zielinflationsrate spielt in der keynesianischen Debatte über die optimale Ausgestaltung von Geld- und Lohnpolitik eine zentrale Rolle. Dabei soll die Zentralbank ihr Beschäftigungsziel stärker gewichten, um die Arbeitslosigkeit zu senken. Die Sozialpartner hätten dies mit einer stabilitätsgerechten Lohnpolitik zu flankieren. Dieses Policy-Assignment stellt einen Bruch mit dem neoklassisch geprägten Assignment dar, nach dem die Zentralbank für Preisstabilität und die Sozialpartner für einen hohen Beschäftigungsstand sorgen. Der Vorstoß der Bundesbank könnte daher Ausdruck eines Paradigmenwechsels sein. The Wage Debate of the German Central Bank: Paradigm Shift or a Storm in a Teacup? In summer 2014, leading representatives of the German Central Bank proposed that the social partners should exploit the wage policy distribution margin more effectively than in previous decades, due to the robust labour market and low inflation rates. In addition to productivity growth they should take the inflation target of the European Central Bank into account. In the Keynesian debate on the optimal design of monetary and wage policy, the consideration of the inflation target plays a central role. According to this economic model, the German Central Bank should put the emphasis on its employment goal in order to reduce unemployment. The social partners should support this by way of a stability-oriented wage policy. This policy assignment represents a break with the neoclassical assignment, according to which the Central Bank is responsible for price stability and the social partners for a high level of employment. The German Central Bank's move may therefore be interpreted as a paradigm shift.