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Arijit Mukherjee
 
''Irrelevance of productivity difference: A case with labor union''
( 2007, Vol. 10 No.17 )
 
 
Common wisdom suggests that firms with higher productivities earn higher profits and the higher productivities of the firms benefit consumers by increasing outputs. We show that productivity difference may not matter for outputs and profits in presence of wage bill maximizing labor unions. Our results hold under decentralized (i.e., firm specific) and centralized union-firm bargaining, for any degree of product differentiation and for any bargaining power of the firms. Hence, our results have important implications for firms' incentives for innovation.
 
 
Keywords: Labor union Productivity difference Wage rates
JEL: J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining: General
L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance: General
 
Manuscript Received : Nov 19 2007 Manuscript Accepted : Nov 30 2007

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