We critically consider the conventional belief that the attractiveness of international outsourcing lies in cheaper labour costs overseas and that it offers a means to ‘escape’ the power of unions. We develop an oligopoly model in which firms facing unionised domestic labour market choose...

We study how unionisation affects competitive selection between heterogeneous firms when wage negotiations can occur at the firm or at the profit-centre level. With productivity specific wages, an increase in union power has: (i) a selection-softening; (ii) a counter-competitive; (iii) a...

Within a two-country model of international trade in which heterogeneous firms face firm-specific unions, we study the effects of different forms of trade liberalisation on market structure and competitive selection in the presence of inter-country asymmetries in size and labour market...

We study how unionisation affects competitive selection between heterogeneous firms when wage negotiations can occur at the rm or at the pro t-centre level. With productivity specifi c wages, an increase in union power has: (i) a selection-softening; (ii) a counter-competitive; (iii) a...

The empirical literature on FDI suggests that investment in training is the major source of human resource development activities undertaken by MNEs, particularly those with sophisticated technologies, and host countries' absorptive capacity plays an important role in attracting FDI. We develop...

This paper examines Foreign Direct Investment in the presence of labour unions. An oligopoly model is developed in which identical firms locate in a host country in order to export to a foreign country. These firms are unionised and compete with foreign firms on the foreign market. We consider...

This paper extends a Dixit-Stiglitz model of monopolistic competition to allow for technical heterogeneity amongst firms. The dispersion of firms' technical efficiency within the industry is generated by a random process and is shown to lead to a steady-state spectrum of profits and market...