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Wages and Employment under Trade Unionism: Microeconomic Models and Macroeconomic Applications

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Trade Unions, Wage Formation and Macroeconomic Stability

Abstract

The first part of this paper is a critical survey of microeconomic research into behavioural models of trade unionism. Although certain formulations of union objectives and models of wage and employment determination in unionized markets have found favor with economists, unfortunately only a little is known about their empirical relevance. The second part of this paper deals with the daunting problems of applying these models at the macroeconomic level. One such model is estimated with data from Sweden’s mining and manufacturing sector from 1968 to 1982.

In writing this paper, comments on a previous draft from Lars Calmfors, Bertil Holmlund, and George Johnson were particularly useful. The research assistance of Sarah Lane is gratefully acknowledged.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    John Pencavel

Authors
  1. John Pencavel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for International Economic Studies, University of Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Calmfors (Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow) & Henrik Horn (Research Fellow) (Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow) &  (Research Fellow)

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© 1986 The Scandinavian Journal of Economics

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Pencavel, J. (1986). Wages and Employment under Trade Unionism: Microeconomic Models and Macroeconomic Applications. In: Calmfors, L., Horn, H. (eds) Trade Unions, Wage Formation and Macroeconomic Stability. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08596-5_4

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