Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/usi/depfid/006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Technological choices under institutional constraints: measuring the impact on earnings dispersion

Author

Listed:
  • Elisabetta Croci Angelini
  • Francesco Farina
Abstract
Also due to the competitive pressure of imports from the developing countries, a switch to labour-saving techniques has happened in most sectors of OECD countries in the last decades. The distribution of earnings levels has been significantly affected. Wage dispersion is strictly interwoven with employment rates across skill levels, as they are jointly determined by the trajectories followed by firms in choosing their productive techniques, as well as by labour market institutions providing insurance to risk averse workers against unemployment and low wages. We conduct empirical estimates on the technological patterns determined by restrictions placed by labour market regulation on the employers’ production decisions, which narrow the capacity of the firm to decide on the employment level and on the productive techniques combining high-skill and low-skill workers. Our investigation relies on: (i) an index of earning dispersion (for each country under scrutiny and for each sector the skill premium and the high-skill ratio), to disentangle the combined effect of earnings and employment percentages of high, intermediate, and low skill workers; (ii) a Theil decomposition, to analyse the trends in earnings and wage dispersion between-sectors and within-sectors and account for the evolution of wages and employment at the sectoral level. We show that European firms, differently from the hypothesis put forward by Krugman (1994), do not stay passive in front of institutional constraints, but their technological choices are meant to combine productive strategies with labour market conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisabetta Croci Angelini & Francesco Farina, 2007. "Technological choices under institutional constraints: measuring the impact on earnings dispersion," Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID) University of Siena 006, Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID), University of Siena.
    • Handle: RePEc:usi:depfid:006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.deps.unisi.it/depfid/text6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    2. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Cross-Country Inequality Trends," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 121-149, February.
    3. Gilles Mourre, 2006. "Did the pattern of aggregate employment growth change in the euro area in the late 1990s?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(15), pages 1783-1807.
    4. Daron Acemoglu, 1999. "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1259-1278, December.
    5. Alfonso Arpaia & Gilles Mourre, 2005. "Labour market institutions and labour market performance: A survey of the literature," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 238, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. Giulio Piccirilli & Nicola ACOCELLA & Riccardo LEONI, 2008. "Social Pacts, Employment and Growth. A reappraisal of Ezio Tarantelli’s thought," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 116(3), pages 365-372.
    7. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2004. "Labor Market Institutions, Wages and Investment," CEP Discussion Papers dp0652, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Lane Kenworthy & Jonas Pontusson, 2005. "Rising Inequality and the Politics of Redistribution in Affluent Countries," LIS Working papers 400, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    9. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall.
    10. Nicola Acocella & Riccardo Leoni (ed.), 2007. "Social Pacts, Employment and Growth," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, Springer, number 978-3-7908-1923-6.
    11. Elisabetta Croci Angelini & Francesco Farina, 2007. "Wage Inequality in Europe: the Role of Labour Market and Redistributive Institutions," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Nicola Acocella & Riccardo Leoni (ed.), Social Pacts, Employment and Growth. A Reappraisal of Ezio Tarantelli’s Thought, edition 1, chapter 10, pages 195-217, AIEL - Associazione Italiana Economisti del Lavoro.
    12. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2005. "Labor Market Institutions, Wages, and Investment: Review and Implications," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 51(1), pages 47-75.
    13. Timothy Dunne & Lucia Foster & John Haltiwanger & Kenneth R. Troske, 2004. "Wage and Productivity Dispersion in United States Manufacturing: The Role of Computer Investment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 397-430, April.
    14. Jonas Agell, 2002. "On the Determinants of Labour Market Institutions: Rent Seeking vs. Social Insurance," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(2), pages 107-135, May.
    15. Andrea Bassanini & Stefano Scarpetta & Philip Hemmings, 2001. "Economic Growth: The Role of Policies and Institutions: Panel Data. Evidence from OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 283, OECD Publishing.
    16. Robert C. Feenstra, 2007. "Globalization and Its Impact on Labour," wiiw Working Papers 44, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    17. Corrado Gini, 2005. "On the measurement of concentration and variability of characters," Metron - International Journal of Statistics, Dipartimento di Statistica, Probabilità e Statistiche Applicate - University of Rome, vol. 0(1), pages 1-38.
    18. C. Denis & K. Mc Morrow & W. Röger & R. Veugelers, 2005. "The Lisbon Strategy and the EU's structural productivity problem," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 221, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elisabetta Croci Angelini & Francesco Farina & Enzo Valentini, 2020. "Wage and employment by skill levels in technological evolution of South and East Europe," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(5), pages 1497-1514, November.
    2. Croci Angelini, Elisabetta & Farina, Francesco & Valentini, Enzo, 2017. "Wages and employment by skill level in Southern and Eastern Europe during the crisis," GLO Discussion Paper Series 153, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Simone Bertoli & Francesco Farina, 2007. "The functional distribution of income: a review of the theoretical literature and of the empirical evidence around its recent pattern in European countries," Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID) University of Siena 005, Department of Economic Policy, Finance and Development (DEPFID), University of Siena.

    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. Koeniger, Winfried & Leonardi, Marco, 2006. "Capital Deepening and Wage Differentials: Germany vs. US," IZA Discussion Papers 2065, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Alfonso Arpaia & Gilles Mourre, 2012. "Institutions And Performance In European Labour Markets: Taking A Fresh Look At Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 1-41, February.
    3. Croci Angelini, Elisabetta & Sorana, Silvia, 2011. "Income distribution, standard of living and capabilities: a cross-sectoral analysis," 122nd Seminar, February 17-18, 2011, Ancona, Italy 99587, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Salverda, Wiemer & Checchi, Daniele, 2014. "Labour-Market Institutions and the Dispersion of Wage Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 8220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    6. Alberto BUCCI, 2004. "Economic growth in an enlarged Europe: the human capital and R&D dimensions," Departmental Working Papers 2004-22, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    7. Daron Acemoglu, 2003. "Cross-Country Inequality Trends," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 121-149, February.
    8. David Card & Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida, 2014. "Rent-sharing, Holdup, and Wages: Evidence from Matched Panel Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(1), pages 84-111.
    9. H Buscher & C Dreger & R Ramos & J Surinach, 2009. "The Impact of Institutions on the Employment Performance in European Labour Markets," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 14(1), pages 17-34, March.
    10. Bertola, Giuseppe, 2008. "Labour Markets in EMU - What has Changed and What Needs to Change," CEPR Discussion Papers 7049, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Alfred Stiglbauer, 2006. "The (New) OECD Jobs Study: Introduction and Assessment," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 3, pages 58-74.
    12. Susana Iranzo & Fabiano Schivardi & Elisa Tosetti, 2008. "Skill Dispersion and Firm Productivity: An Analysis with Employer-Employee Matched Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 247-285, April.
    13. Gaëtan Nicodème & Jacques-Bernard Sauner-Leroy, 2007. "Product Market Reforms and Productivity: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature on the Transmission Channels," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 53-72, March.
    14. Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida & Paolo Sestito, 2007. "Downward Wage Rigidity in Italy: Micro-Based Measures and Implications," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 530-552, November.
    15. Nicola Acocella, "undated". "A tale of two cities: exit policies in Washington and Frankfurt," Working Papers 117/13, Sapienza University of Rome, Metodi e Modelli per l'Economia, il Territorio e la Finanza MEMOTEF.
    16. Christina Håkanson & Erik Lindqvist & Jonas Vlachos, 2021. "Firms and Skills: The Evolution of Worker Sorting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(2), pages 512-538.
    17. Ugur, Mehmet, 2024. "Innovation, market power and the labour share: Evidence from OECD industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    18. Wolfgang Pointner, 2006. "Employment Protection Regulations and Their Impact on Employment," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 3, pages 44-57.
    19. Cervellati, Matteo & Esteban, Joan & Kranich, Laurence, 2010. "Work values, endogenous sentiments redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 612-627, October.
    20. Francesco Pastore, 2010. "Assessing the impact of incomes policy: the Italian experience," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(7), pages 793-817, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    technology; institutions; earnings dispersion.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:usi:depfid:006. 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: Carlo Zappia (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dpsieit.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.