EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Civil society and the state: the interplay between cooperation and minimum wage regulation

Philippe Aghion (), Pierre Cahuc and Yann Algan
Additional contact information
Philippe Aghion: Harvard University

SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL

Abstract: In a cross-section of countries, state regulation of labor markets is negatively correlated with the quality of labor relations. In this paper, we argue that these facts reflect different ways of regulating labor markets, either through the state or through the civil society, depending on the degree of cooperation in the economy. We rationalize these facts with a model of learning of the quality of labor relations. Distrustful labor relations lead to low unionization and high demand for direct state regulation of wages. In turn, state regulation crowds out the possibility for workers to experiment negotiation and learn about the potential cooperative nature of labor relations. This crowding out effect can give rise to multiple equilibria: a "good" equilibrium characterized by cooperative labor relations and high union density, leading to low state regulation; and a "bad" equilibrium, characterized by distrustful labor relations, low union density, and strong state regulation of the minimum wage

Keywords: State regulation; Labor markets; Civil society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in Journal of the European Economic Association, 2011, 9 (1), pp.3 - 42. ⟨10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.01004.x⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE STATE: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN COOPERATION AND MINIMUM WAGE REGULATION (2011) Downloads
Working Paper: Civil society and the state: the interplay between cooperation and minimum wage regulation (2011)
Working Paper: Civil Society and the State: The Interplay between Cooperation and Minimum Wage Regulation (2009) Downloads
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03384669

DOI: 10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.01004.x

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-22
Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03384669