Germany’s political economy has undergone a substantial transformation. After having been held up as the “sick man of Europe” at the turn of the century, it is now considered, depending on the point of view, either an “economic superstar” or a bulky elephant in the European Economic...

This paper investigates the impact of a collective agreement stipulating a one shot increase in establishment-specific wage levels in a public-sector setting where wages otherwise are set according to individualized wage bargaining. The agreement stipulated that wages should increase in...

How do firm-level collective agreements affect firm performance in a multi-level bargaining system? Using detailed Belgian linked employer-employee panel data, our findings show that firm agreements increase both wage costs and productivity (with respect to sector-level agreements). Relying on a...