We develop a model of wage determination with private information, in which te union has the option to delegate the wage bargaining to either surplus-maximizing delegates or to wage-maximizing delegates (such as senior union members). We show that the strike activity is greater whenever the...

This article investigates the transformations of the French unionism and of the French system of industrial relations over the last years and their probable future. It shows: an evolution from a militant unionism to a professionalized trade unionist system; the decline of collective actions; the...

Eine Auswertung von Tarifkonflikten in Deutschland zeigt, dass Spartengewerkschaften eine hohe Konfliktbereitschaft aufweisen. Treten mehrere konfliktfreudige Gewerkschaften bei einem Arbeitgeber in Konkurrenz, kumulieren sich die Konflikthandlungen. Im Extremfall gerät ein Arbeitgeber von...

This paper addresses the design of the machinery of collective bargaining from the perspective of the needs of microeconomic and macroeconomic flexibility. In the former context, greater attention is given over to enterprise flexibility than external adjustment. In the latter context, close...

Die Inflationsdynamik hat sich bislang noch nicht auf die gesamtwirtschaftliche Tariflohndynamik übertragen. Es gab zwar einzelne Abschlüsse, die überdurchschnittlich hoch ausfielen - etwa der Abschluss in der Eisenund Stahlindustrie, der neben einem einmaligen "Energiebonus" von 500 Euro...

Während die Tarifverhandlungen im Jahr 2020 unter dem Einfluss der Corona-Pandemie überaus harmonisch geführt wurden, zeichnet sich im laufenden Jahr eine Trendwende ab. Die Konfliktbereitschaft hat im ersten Halbjahr 2021 spürbar zugenommen. Dies zeigt eine Analyse von 14 zentralen...

In this chapter, we present an outline of the economic analysis of the regulation of unions and collective bargaining. We begin with the simple model of the market for union services and analyze regulations that may increase or decrease either the demand or supply for union representation. In...

The centralised wage agreements have helped to contain inflation. There is evidence that wage increases were more moderate when a central agreement was concluded than in periods when no central agreement was reached. Nevertheless, there is also evidence that centralised wage setting has had some...

Using data from the representative IAB Establishment Panel, this paper charts changes in the two main pillars of the German IR model over the last 20 years. It shows that collective bargaining coverage and worker representation via works councils have substantially fallen outside the public...