This paper aims at identifying the labour share (wage-productivity gap) as a major factor in the evolution of inequality and employment. To this end, we use annual data for the US, UK and Sweden over the past forty years and estimate country-specific systems of labour demand and Gini coefficient...

[Synopsis and motivation] In recent decades, most OECD countries have seen a significant decline in the labour share, as well as an increase in inequality. The decline in the labour share and the rise in inequality poses several problems for such countries, whether related to distributive...

The recent shift to remote work raised the amenity value of employment. As compensation adjusts to share the amenity-value gains with employers, wage-growth pressures moderate. We find empirical support for this mechanism in the wage-setting behavior of US employers, and we develop novel survey...

How does growing international financial diversification affect firm-level and aggregate labor shares? We study this question using a novel framework of firm labor choice in the face of aggregate risk. The theory implies a cross-section of labor risk premia and labor shares that appear as...

Over the last two decades the share of national income which accrues to labour has followed a marked downward trend across a host of industrialised countries. This paper attempts to assess the importance of several potential causes of this phenomenon. We investigate compositional effects, the...

Die Lohnlücke - die Abweichung des tatsächlichen vom vollbeschäftigungsgerechten Reallohn - wird auf der Grundlage der neoklassischen Produktionstheorie abgeleitet. Anschließend wird ein Konzept entwickelt, mit dem die Verknüpfung der Lohnlücke mit der Beschäftigungsentwicklung empirisch...

Lockdowns zum Schutz gegen die Corona-Pandemie, Lieferkettenprobleme und massive Preiserhöhungen besonders von Energie haben zu multiplen Belastungen geführt. Dies ist verbunden mit einem zunehmenden Fachkräfteengpass, hohen Lohnforderungen und ebensolchen Lohnabschlüssen. Damit gibt es...

We examine what determines differences across countries and over time in the distribution of personal incomes in the OECD. We first model the wage determination process and show that unemployment, the labour share, and the wage differential are all functions of labour market institutions. Next...

Despite similar levels of per capita income, education, and technology the development of labour shares in OECD countries has displayed different patterns since 1960. The paper examines the role of demography in this regard. Employing an overlapping generations model we first examine the...

Has the labor share declined? And what is the impact of international trade? These questions are not only relevant in an international context they also matter for understanding the regional distribution of incomes in a given country. In this paper, we study two regions with trade exposures that...