Unionized Wage Setting and the Location of Firms

We analyze how unionized wage setting a¤ects the location of firms. We find that the degree of centralization (at firm or sectoral level) and regionalization (at regional or supra-regional level) is crucial. We show that wage setting at the firm level is the best policy to attract firms when trade costs are low, while wage setting at a more centralized level is most effective to attract firms when trade costs are high. Moreover, wage setting at the supra-regional level is beneficial for the already more agglomerated region and hurts the peripheral region.