Explaining Movements in the Labor Share

Samuel Bentolila () and Gilles Saint-Paul ()

The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, 2003, vol. contributions.3, issue 1, pages 9

Abstract:

In this paper we study the evolution of the labor share in the OECD. We show it is essentially related to the capital-output ratio; that this relationship is shifted by factors like the price of imported materials or capital-augmenting technological progress; and that discrepancies between the marginal product of labor and the real wage ---due to, e.g., labor adjustment costs or union wage bargaining--- cause departures from it. We also provide empirical evidence on the determinants of the labor share with panel data on 13 industries and 12 countries for 1972-93.

Keywords: Labor share; capital-output ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E25 J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Related works:
Working Paper: Explaining Movements in the Labor Share (1999)
Working Paper: Explaining movements in the labor share (1999)
Working Paper: Explaining Movements in the Labour Share (1998)
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