How Does Shared Capitalism Affect Economic Performance in the UK?

Alex Bryson () and Richard B. Freeman ()

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: This paper uses nationally representative linked workplace-employee data from the British2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey to examine the operation of shared capitalistforms of pay - profit-sharing and group pay for performance, employee share ownership, andstock options—and their link to productivity. It shows that shared capitalism has grown inthe UK, as it has in the US; that different forms of shared capitalist pay complement eachother and other labour practices in the sense that firms use them together more than theywould if they chose modes of pay and work practices independently; and that workplacesswitch among schemes frequently, which suggests that they have trouble optimizing and thetransactions cost of switching are relatively low. Among the single schemes, shareownership has the clearest positive association with productivity, but its impact is largestwhen firms combine it with other forms of shared capitalist pay and modes of organization.

Keywords: share ownership; payment systems; labour productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J33 L23 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-eec, nep-eff and nep-lab
Date: 2008-08
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Related works:
Working Paper: How Does Shared Capitalism Affect Economic Performance in the UK? (2008)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0885

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