Abstract:
This paper provides evidence based on U.K. firm-level data that: (1) the authors cannot reject the view that profit-sharing firms view the total level of remuneration as the marginal cost of labor, which is contrary to much of Weitzman's analysis; (2) there is some support for the popular view that profit sharing raises total remuneration and can, therefore, be inflationary; and (3) the introduction of profit sharing does lead to higher productivity, but, this combined with the employment-reducing consequences of (2) leads the authors to conclude that the net employment effect is small and uncertain. Copyright 1990 by Royal Economic Society.