Labor unions and productivity: An empirical analysis using Japanese firm-level data

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1030-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Morikawa
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (05) ◽  
pp. 1293-1321
Author(s):  
KAORU HOSONO ◽  
DAISUKE MIYAKAWA ◽  
MIHO TAKIZAWA ◽  
KENTA YAMANOUCHI

Using Japanese firm-level panel data spanning from 2000 to 2013, we estimate industry-level production functions that explicitly take into account the complementarity and substitutability between tangible and intangible capital. The estimation results show that tangible and intangible capitals are complementary in most industries although the degree of complementarity substantially varies across industries. We further find that the relation between tangible and intangible capital in the production function accounts for the relation between firm-level tangible capital and intangible capital investments. Namely, firms’ tangible investments are more strongly positively associated with intangible investments as the degree of the complementarity between the tangible and intangible assets becomes larger. These findings show the necessity to take into account the relation between the dynamics of tangible and intangible capital in terms of their complementarity for precisely understanding the mechanisms governing a firm’s growth.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyungjin Cho ◽  
Bryan Byung-Hee Lee ◽  
Woo-Jong Lee ◽  
Byungcherl Charlie Sohn

ABSTRACT We examine the relation between labor union strength and investment efficiency using the comprehensive firm-level data of Korean-listed companies. We find that the perceived underinvestment related to unionization documented in previous studies is attributable to a negative relation between union strength and investment in overinvesting firms. In fact, union strength is positively related to the level of investment in underinvesting firms. We further find that the relation between union strength and investment efficiency is more pronounced for chaebol firms where inefficient investments are more likely due to greater agency problems between the controlling and minority shareholders. Finally, we document that the investment has more positive value implications in firms with a stronger union. Our results suggest that unions play an important role as a nonfinancial stakeholder in curbing inefficient investments. JEL Classifications: G30; G31; J53; J54; M41; M54.


Author(s):  
Van Pham ◽  
Alan Woodland ◽  
Mauro Caselli

AbstractThis paper focuses on an unexamined area of trade—the behaviour of heterogeneous intermediate suppliers facing final producers of different ability and pursuing different strategies. To inform our empirical analysis, we develop a theoretical model to analyse the choice of an intermediate supplier between selling to domestic producers, selling to multinational producers and/or exporting to foreign producers. The model’s predictions are: (i) sufficiently productive firms self-select into supplying to multinationals or exporting, while the most productive firms pursue both strategies, and (ii) the order of preferred strategies between supplying to multinationals and exporting depends on foreign direct investment inflows and export set-up costs. The paper uses firm-level data with rare information about multinational suppliers from 29 countries in Europe and Central Asia in 2002 and 2005 to test these theoretical predictions. The empirical analysis confirms both of our model’s predictions. Moreover, it suggests that multinational suppliers are more likely to have higher required levels of ex-ante labour productivity than exporters, implying that exporting is easier and a more popular choice for firms.


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