Trade unions and the economic performance of brazilian establishments

Filho, Naércio Aquino Menezes; Chahad, José Paulo Zeetano; Zylberstajn, Hélio; Pazello, Elaine Toldo

doi:10.1590/s0101-41612008000100003

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In what seems to be the first study in Latin America, Menezes-Filho et al (2002) find that there is a negative but insignificant correlation between unionism and productivity growth in Brazil in the 1990s. However, when the authors allow for a non-linear relationship they find that at low union density levels, an increase in union density tends to increase the rate of productivity growth, but at a decreasing rate, just as Menezes-Filho et al (1998b) found with UK R&D intensity.…”

Section: Productivity Growthmentioning

confidence: 93%

Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence

Filho

2003

International Handbook of Trade Unions

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Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence* This Paper surveys the economic literature on the impact of trade unions on innovation. There are many theoretical routes through which unions may have an effect on innovation, for example through their effects on relative factor prices, profitability and their attitudes towards the introduction of new technology. Recent theoretical work has focused on the possibility that trade unions will 'hold up' firms by expropriating sunk R&D (research and development) investments through demanding higher rewards. The hold up problem may be mitigated (or exacerbated) by strategic incentives to compete in R&D races. In an attempt to resolve the theoretical ambiguity we focus on surveying recent micro-econometric results in the areas of R&D, innovation, technological diffusion and productivity growth. North American results find consistently strong and negative impacts of unions on R&D. By contrast, European studies (mainly in the UK) generally do not uncover negative effects of unions on R&D. There is no consensus of the effects of unions on our other main measures: technological diffusion, innovation or productivity growth even in the North American studies. These cross-country differences in the R&D impact of unions could represent either unsolved econometric problems or genuine institutional differences between nations in union attitudes and ability to bargain. We suspect the latter is the main reason.JEL Classification: J51, O31 and O32

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Section: Productivity Growthmentioning

confidence: 93%

Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence

Filho

2003

International Handbook of Trade Unions

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“…We think that, in a sense, we could interpret our evidence by noting that Figure 5 seems to back up a pattern where Recife and Salvador (both in the Northeastern region), specially between a productivity range of 1,000-3,000, present higher monopsony power due to either existing higher labor market frictions (see Table 7 on page 91) or ceteris paribus the role of unions on these regions, the latter point having some support on papers by Amadeo (1994), Carneiro (1998), andMenezes-Filho, Chahad, Zylberstajn, &Pazello (2008). Although we offer new initial hints, we think we still lack a complete structural explanation on the regional productivity inequality in Brazil.…”

Section: Productivities Distributionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Regional Labor Market Differences in Brazil and Search Frictions: Some Structural Estimates

Oliveira

Carvalho

2016

Revista Brasileira De Economia

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We estimate an equilibrium job search model for six metropolitan areas located in different regions of Brazil. Two mechanisms of wage determination are considered: wage posting by monopsony firms and Nash bilateral bargaining. In order to estimate the model, we use the non-parametric method developed by Bontemps, Robin, & van den Berg [2000. Equilibrium search with continuous productivity dispersion: Theory and nonparametric estimation. International Economic Review, 41(2), . There is significant heterogeneity among the estimated structural parameters for these regions. We succeed in rationalizing some well-known regional differences in wages, unemployment rates and productivity prevalent in Brazilian labor markets, thus offering new interpretations. Metropolitan regions in the Northeast have much lower λ 0 (arrival rate of wage offers for unemployed workers) and λ 1 (arrival rate of wage offers for employed workers) vis a vis areas in the South or Southeast regions. This is a new, and much more precise, result worth considering on the regional inequality debate in Brazil. Regional inequality in wages, besides being an outcome of its regional human capital distribution, can be rationalized as inequality of search frictions brought by differences in λ 1 . We found a key (indirect) role for search frictions when analysing productivity differences as well. Since search frictions impact simultaneously on monopsony power as well as on productivity, in order to understand better regional productivity differences we must deepen our analysis on how these structural parameters are differentiated by regions. Labor market frictions add important insights into the regional debate, something not captured by more traditional econometric reduced form approaches. *

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“…4 Fairris (2006) finds, for Mexico, that unions have a possitive effect on productivity, but not profitability, which is possibly attributed to higher training rates. Menezes-Filho, et al (2005) finds that unions in the manufacturing sector in Brazil are correlated with lower levels of profitability and investment, but that some level of unionization could have a positive impact on productivity, particularly in larger in firms with profit sharing. Saavedra and Toledo (2005) finds evidence for Peru that union firms earn lower profits and have lower productivity, but that such effects are strongly related to the firm characteristics.…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 96%

Unions and Economic Performance in developing countries: case studies from latin america

Rios‐Avila

2017

ecos.econ.

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This paper analyzes the economic impact of unions on productivity in the manufacturing sector across six Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, and Panama. Using an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function, the paper finds that unions have positive, but mostly small, effects on productivity, with the exception of Argentina, with a large negative effect, and Bolivia, with no effect. An analysis on profitability shows that, in most cases, the positive productivity effects barely offset higher union compensation, and that unions are negatively related to investment in capital and R & D. Different explanations for these effects are discussed. ResumenEste artículo analiza el impacto económico de los sindicatos sobre la productividad en el sector manufacturero en seis países de América Latina: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, México, Uruguay y Panamá. Utilizando una función de producción aumentada de Cobb-Douglas, el documento encuentra que los sindicatos tienen efectos positivos, pero sobre todo pequeños, sobre la productividad, con la excepción de Argentina, con un gran efecto negativo, y Bolivia, sin efecto. Un análisis de la rentabilidad muestra que, en la mayoría de los casos, los efectos positivos de la productividad apenas compensan una indemnización sindical más alta, y que los sindicatos están relacionados negativamente con la inversión en capital y en I + D. En el artículo se discuten diferentes explicaciones de estos efectos.

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Trade unions and the economic performance of brazilian establishments

Cited by 23 publications

References 11 publications

Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence

Unions and Innovation: A Survey of the Theory and Empirical Evidence

Regional Labor Market Differences in Brazil and Search Frictions: Some Structural Estimates

Unions and Economic Performance in developing countries: case studies from latin america

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