The Emergence of Wage Coordination in the Central Western European Metal Sector and its Relationship to European Economic Policy
Vera Glassner, Toralf Pusch
Abstract
In the European Monetary Union the transnational coordination of collective wage bargaining has acquired increased importance on the trade union agenda. The metal sector has been at the forefront of these developments. This paper addresses the issue of crossborder coordination of wage setting in the metal sector in the central western European region, that is, in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, where coordination practices have become firmly established in comparison to other sectors. When testing the interaction of wage developments in the metal sector of these three countries, relevant macroeconomic (inflation and labour productivity) and sector-related variables (employment, export-dependence) are considered with reference to the wage policy guidelines of the European Commission and the European Metalworkers’ Federation. Empirical evidence can be found for a wage coordination effect in the form of increasing compliance with the wage policy guidelines of the European Metalworkers’ Federation. The evidence for compliance with the stability-oriented wage guideline of the European Commission is weaker.
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Is the European Monetary Union an Endogenous Currency Area? The Example of the Labor Markets
Herbert S. Buscher, Hubert Gabrisch
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 7,
2009
Abstract
Our study tries to find out whether wage dynamics between Euro member countries became more synchronized through the adoption of the common currency. We calculate bivarate correlation coefficients of wage and wage cost dynamics and run a model of endogenously induced changes of coefficients, which are explained by other variables being also endogenous: trade intensity, sectoral specialization, financial integration. We used a panel data structure to allow for cross-section weights for country-pair observations. We use instrumental variable regressions in order to disentangle exogenous from endogenous influences. We applied these techniques to real and nominal wage dynamics and to dynamics of unit labor costs. We found evidence for persistent asymmetries in nominal wage formation despite a single currency and monetary policy, responsible for diverging unit labor costs and for emerging trade imbalances among the EMU member countries.
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The Great Risk Shift? Income Volatility in an International Perspective
Claudia M. Buch
CESifo Working Paper No. 2465,
2008
Abstract
Weakening bargaining power of unions and the increasing integration of the world economy may affect the volatility of capital and labor incomes. This paper documents and explains changes in income volatility. Using a theoretical framework which builds distribution risk into a real business cycle model, hypotheses on the determinants of the relative volatility of capital and labor are derived. The model is tested using industry-level data. The data cover 11 industrialized countries, 22 manufacturing and services industries, and a maximum of 35 years. The paper has four main findings. First, the unconditional volatility of labor and capital incomes has declined, reflecting the decline in macroeconomic volatility. Second, the idiosyncratic component of income volatility has hardly changed over time. Third, crosssectional heterogeneity in the evolution of relative income volatilities is substantial. If anything, the labor incomes of high- and low-skilled workers have become more volatile in relative terms. Fourth, income volatility is related to variables measuring the bargaining power of workers. Trade openness has no significant impact.
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The European Emissions Trading System: What Have We Learned so Far?
Wilfried Ehrenfeld
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2008
Abstract
Das IWH beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen des CO2-Handels auf die betroffenen Unternehmen. Die erste Periode des europäischen Emissionshandelssystems war als Lernphase konzipiert. In dieser wurden zwei Probleme deutlich: Das erste und offensichtlichste war die Überausstattung mit Zertifikaten. Die Anreize, in die Vermeidung von CO2 zu investieren, können somit eher als gering betrachtet werden. Das zweite ergab sich aus der vollständig kostenfreien Zuteilung. Während Stromkunden die finanzielle Hauptlast zu tragen hatten, profitierten die Stromerzeuger, da offensichtlich die Zertifikatepreise als Opportunitätskosten in den Strompreis einkalkuliert wurden.
Die Analyse führt zu der Erkenntnis, daß es richtig war, auf Ebene der Europäischen Union die Zertifikatemenge für die zweite Handelsperiode zu kürzen und in der deutschen Gesetzgebung den Verkauf bzw. die Versteigerung eines Teils der Zertifikate zu verankern. Weiter kann die Vereinfachung des Zuteilungsverfahrens in Deutschland als Fortschritt betrachtet werden.
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Deeper, Wider and More Competitive? Monetary Integration, Eastern Enlargement and Competitiveness in the European Union
Gianmarco Ottaviano, Daria Taglioni, Filippo di Mauro
ECB Working Paper,
No. 847,
2008
Abstract
What determines a country’s ability to compete in international markets? What fosters the global competitiveness of its firms? And in the European context, have key elements of the EU strategy such as EMU and enlargement helped or hindered domestic firms’ competitiveness in local and global markets? We address these questions by calibrating and simulating a conceptual framework that, based on Melitz and Ottaviano (2005), predicts that tougher and more transparent international competition forces less productive firms out the market, thereby increasing average productivity as well as reducing average prices and mark-ups. The model also predicts a parallel reduction of price dispersion within sectors. Our conceptual framework allows us to disentangle the effects of technology and freeness of entry from those of accessibility. On the one hand, by controlling for the impact of trade frictions, we are able to construct an index of ‘revealed competitiveness’, which would drive the relative performance of countries in an ideal world in which all faced the same barriers to international transactions. On the other hand, by focusing on the role of accessibility while keeping ‘revealed competitiveness’ as given, we are able to evaluate the impacts of EMU and enlargement on the competitiveness of European firms. We find that EMU positively affects the competitiveness of firms located in participating economies. Enlargement has, instead, two contrasting effects. It improves the accessibility of EU members but it also increases substantially the relative importance of unproductive competitors from Eastern Europe. JEL Classification: F12, R13.
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Determinants of International Fragmentation of Production in the European Union
Götz Zeddies
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 15,
2007
Abstract
The last decades were characterized by large increases in world trade, not only in absolute terms, but also in relation to world GDP. This was in large parts caused by increasing exchanges of parts and components between countries as a consequence of international fragmentation of production. Apparently, greater competition especially from the Newly Industrializing and Post-Communist Economies prompted firms in ‘high-wage’ countries to exploit international factor price differences in order to increase their international competitiveness. However, theory predicts that, beside factor price differences, vertical disintegration of production should be driven by a multitude of additional factors. Against this background, the present paper reveals empirical evidence on parts and components trade as an indicator for international fragmentation of production in the European Union. On the basis of a panel data approach, the main explanatory factors for international fragmentation of production are determined. The results show that, although their influence can not be neglected, factor price differences are only one out of many causes for shifting production to or sourcing components from foreign countries.
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Vertical Intra-industry Trade between EU and Accession Countries
Hubert Gabrisch
IWH Discussion Papers,
No. 12,
2006
Abstract
The paper analyses vertical intra-industry trade between EU and Accession countries, and concentrates on two country-specific determinants: Differences in personal income distribution and in technology. Both determinants have a strong link to national policies and to cross-border investment flows. In contrast to most other studies, income distribution is not seen as time-invariant variable, but as changing over time. What is new is also that differences in technology are tested in comparison with cost advantages from capital/labour ratios. The study applies panel estimation techniques with GLS. Results show country-pair fixed effects to be of high relevance for explaining vertical intraindustry trade. In addition, bilateral differences in personal income distribution and their changes are positive related to vertical intra-industry trade in this special regional integration framework; hence, distributional effects of policies matter. Also, technology differences turn out to be positively correlated with vertical intra-industry trade. However, the cost variable (here: relative GDP per capita) shows no clear picture, particularly not in combination with the technology variable.
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Are Botswana and Mozambique ready for CMA enlargement?
Tobias Knedlik
Botswana Journal of Economics,
No. 3,
2006
Abstract
The paper elaborates on the appropriateness of a potentially enlarged Common Monetary Area in Southern Africa including Botswana and Mozambique. The theory of optimum currency areas including some extensions by accounting for costs of non-integration and considering the external relations of currency areas are presented. Various indicators such as the structure of the economies, interest rates, inflation rates, exchange rates, factor mobility and trading partners are observed empirically. The paper concludes that current changes in the exchange rate policy of Botswana are expected to lead to increasing, though already high, convergence with CMA countries. Botswana is therefore an appropriate candidate for CMA enlargement. Mozambique is converging towards South Africa but still remains on a lower level. Taking into account the costs of non-integration, however, the target of integration should be formulated for the medium term.
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EU Eastern Enlargement and Structural Change: Specialization Patterns in Accession Countries and Economic Dynamics in the Single Market
Albrecht Kauffmann, P. J. J. Welfens, A. Jungmittag, C. Schumann
Diskussionsbeiträge des Europäischen Instituts für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW), Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Nr. 106,
No. 106,
2003
Abstract
Der Beitrag untersucht Kernfragen des Strukturwandels und der Spezialisierungsmuster in den Volkswirtschaften der erweiterten Europäischen Union. In allen Transformationsländern wurden, gemessen an Beschäftigung und Produktivität, Verschiebungen von landwirtschaftlichen und industriellen Sektor hin zum Dienstleistungssektor beobachtet – z.T. mit späteren Reindustrialisierungsphasen. Während einige Ländern, insbesondere Tschechien, Ungarn, die Slowakei, Polen, Estland und Slowenien ihre Produktivität in mittleren technologieintensiven Bereichen verbessert haben und die Technologieleiter aufwärts steigen können, bleiben andere bei einer Struktur mit vielen arbeitsintensiven Zweigen. Im Kontext der EU-Erweiterung sind handelsschaffende Effekte – insbesondere in Verbindung mit einem Anstieg des intra-industriellen Handels – und verstärkte Direktinvestitionen zu erwarten. Alle beteiligten Länder müssen sich gemäß ihren komparativen Vorteilen spezialisieren, allerdings können staatliche F&E-Ausgaben sowie Bildungsanstrengungen auf die Entwicklung solcher Vorteile Einfluss nehmen. Die Gerschenkron-Hypothese postuliert für die Beitrittsländer einen „Vorteil der Rückständigkeit“. Da diese Länder in der ersten Transformationsphase niedrige F&E-Intensitäten in der ersten Transformationsphase aufweisen, ist die Modernisierung des Bildungs- und Forschungssektors wesentlich. Für die EU-15 als Ganzes wird ein Erweiterungsgewinn erwartet, aber die Vorteile werden sich über die Länder hinweg unterschiedlich darstellen, da die ökonomische Geografie eine Rolle spielt. Österreich, Deutschland, die skandinavischen Länder, die Niederlande, Italien und Frankreich werden voraussichtlich stärker von der Erweiterung profitieren als die anderen Mitglieder der EU-15. Deutschland und Österreich spielen zusätzlich eine wichtige Rolle als Ursprungsländer für Direktinvestitionen. Es gibt noch einen erheblichen Forschungsbedarf bezüglich Ausmaß und Richtung des Strukturwandels.
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Vertical and horizontal patterns of intra-industry trade between EU and candidate countries
Hubert Gabrisch
IWH-Sonderhefte,
No. 2,
2003
Abstract
Trade between the European Union (EU) and the Transition Economies (TE) is increasingly characterised by intra-industry trade. The decomposition of intra-industry trade into horizontal and vertical shares reveals predominantly vertical structures with decisively more quality advantages for the EU and less quality advantages for TE countries whenever trade has been liberalised. Empirical research on factors determining this structure in a EU-TE framework lags behind theoretical and empirical research on horizontal and vertical trade in other regions of the world. The main objective of this paper is therefore to contribute to the ongoing debate on EU-TE trade structures by offering an explanation of vertical trade. We utilise a cross-country approach in which relative wage differences, country size and income distribution play a leading role. We find first that relative differences in wages (per capita income) and country size explain intraindustry trade when trade is vertical and completely liberalised, and second that crosscountry differences in income distribution play no explanatory role. We conclude that EU firms have been able to increase their product quality and to shift low-quality segments to TE countries. This may suggest a product-quality cycle prevalent in EU-TE trade.
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