[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2018-061.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Competitiveness and Wage Bargaining Reform in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Alvar Kangur
Abstract
The growth of Italian exports has lagged that of euro area peers. Against the backdrop of unit labor costs that have risen faster than those in euro area peers, this paper examines whether there is a competitiveness challenge in Italy and evaluates the framework of wage bargaining. Wages are set at the sectoral level and extended nationally. However, they do not respond well to firm-specific productivity, regional disparities, or skill mismatches. Nominally rigid wages have also implied adjustment through lower profits and employment. Wage developments explain about 45 percent of the manufacturing unit labor cost gap with Germany. In a search-and-match DSGE model of the Italian labor market, this paper finds substantial gains from moving from sectoral- to firm-level wage setting of at least 3.5 percentage points lower unemployment (or higher employment) rate and a notable improvement in Italy’s competitiveness over the medium term.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Alvar Kangur, 2018. "Competitiveness and Wage Bargaining Reform in Italy," IMF Working Papers 2018/061, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=45739
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ms. Lusine Lusinyan & Mr. Dirk V Muir, 2013. "Assessing the Macroeconomic Impact of Structural Reforms The Case of Italy," IMF Working Papers 2013/022, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Olivier Blanchard & Jordi Galí, 2010. "Labor Markets and Monetary Policy: A New Keynesian Model with Unemployment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-30, April.
    3. Edward N. Wolff, 1999. "Specialization and Productivity Performance in Low-, Medium-, and High-Tech Manufacturing Industries," NBER Chapters, in: International and Interarea Comparisons of Income, Output, and Prices, pages 419-452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Fabiano Schivardi & Enrico Sette & Guido Tabellini, 2022. "Credit Misallocation During the European Financial Crisis," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(641), pages 391-423.
    5. repec:wop:calsdi:97-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Christopher A. Pissarides & Barbara Petrongolo, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June.
    7. Mr. Derek Anderson & Mr. Benjamin L Hunt & Mika Kortelainen & Mr. Michael Kumhof & Mr. Douglas Laxton & Mr. Dirk V Muir & Susanna Mursula & Stephen Snudden, 2013. "Getting to Know GIMF: The Simulation Properties of the Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal Model," IMF Working Papers 2013/055, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Roberto Torrini, 2015. "Labour, Profit and Housing Rent Shares in Italian GDP: Long-Run Trends and Recent Patterns," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 275-314.
    9. Yosuke Jin & Patrick Lenain, 2015. "Labour market reform for more and better quality jobs in Italy," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1266, OECD Publishing.
    10. Jesus Felipe & Utsav Kumar, 2014. "Unit labor costs in the eurozone: the competitiveness debate again," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 2(4), pages 490-507, October.
    11. Pellegrino, Bruno & Zingales, Luigi, 2017. "Diagnosing the Italian Disease," Working Papers 269, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    12. Mr. Sergi Lanau & Petia Topalova, 2016. "The Impact of Product Market Reforms on Firm Productivity in Italy," IMF Working Papers 2016/119, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Chen, Yi Vivian & Heston, Alan & Lipsey, Robert, 2000. "International and interarea comparisons of income, output and prices," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 363-364, December.
    14. Garey Ramey & Wouter J. den Haan & Joel Watson, 2000. "Job Destruction and Propagation of Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 482-498, June.
    15. Raffaela Giordano & Sergi Lanau & Pietro Tommasino & Petia Topalova, 2020. "Does public sector inefficiency constrain firm productivity? Evidence from Italian provinces," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(4), pages 1019-1049, August.
    16. Claire Giordano & Francesco Zollino, 2016. "Shedding Light on Price- and Non-price-competitiveness Determinants of Foreign Trade in the Four Largest Euro-area Countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 604-634, August.
    17. Jörg Decressin & Raphael A Espinoza & Ioannis Halikias & Michael Kumhof & Daniel Leigh & Prakash Loungani & Paulo A Medas & Susanna Mursula & Antonio Spilimbergo & TengTeng Xu, 2015. "Wage Moderation in Crises; Policy Considerations and Applications to the Euro Area," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 15/22, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Matthieu Bussière & Simona Delle Chiaie & Tuomas A Peltonen, 2014. "Exchange Rate Pass-Through in the Global Economy: The Role of Emerging Market Economies," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 62(1), pages 146-178, April.
    19. repec:zbw:bofitp:2008_025 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Dan Andrews & Federico Cingano, 2014. "Public policy and resource allocation: evidence from firms in Oecd countries [‘Joseph Schumpeter Lecture. Appropriate growth policy: a unifying framework]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 29(78), pages 253-296.
    21. Roberto Cellini & Sergio De Nardis & Giovanna Labartino & Francesca Mazzolari & Roberto Monducci & Paolo Onofri & Luca Paolazzi & Roberto Torrini, 2016. "Labour, Profit and Housing Rent Shares in Italian GDP: Long-Run Trends and Recent Patterns: Comments and Reply," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 127-162.
    22. Jimeno, Juan F. & Thomas, Carlos, 2013. "Collective bargaining, firm heterogeneity and unemployment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 63-79.
    23. Galí, Jordi, 2010. "Monetary Policy and Unemployment," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 10, pages 487-546, Elsevier.
    24. Jaebin Ahn & Rui C. Mano & Jing Zhou, 2020. "Real Exchange Rate and External Balance: How Important Are Price Deflators?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(8), pages 2111-2130, December.
    25. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews & Valentine Millot & Thorsten BeckManaging Editor, 2018. "The walking dead? Zombie firms and productivity performance in OECD countries," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 33(96), pages 685-736.
    26. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:p:101 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Franco Peracchi & Eliana Viviano, 2004. "An Empirical Micro Matching Model with an Application to Italy and Spain," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 538, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    28. International Monetary Fund, 2016. "Italy: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2016/223, International Monetary Fund.
    29. Alessio Terzi, 2016. "An Italian job- the need for collective wage bargaining reform," Policy Contributions 15612, Bruegel.
    30. Mr. Jarkko Turunen & Mr. Richard T. Harmsen & Mr. Tamim Bayoumi, 2011. "Euro Area Export Performance and Competitiveness," IMF Working Papers 2011/140, International Monetary Fund.
    31. Christian Henn & Mr. Chris Papageorgiou & Mr. Nikola Spatafora, 2013. "Export Quality in Developing Countries," IMF Working Papers 2013/108, International Monetary Fund.
    32. Monica Amici & Emmanuele Bobbio & Roberto Torrini, 2018. "Patterns of Convergence (Divergence) in the Euro Area: Profitability Versus Cost and Price Indicators," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 367-384, November.
    33. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2009. "Unemployment, institutions, and reform complementarities: re-assessing the aggregate evidence for OECD countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 40-59, Spring.
    34. Lars Calmfors, 1993. "Centralisation of Wage Bargaining and Macroeconomic Performance: A Survey," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 131, OECD Publishing.
    35. Gareth Anderson & Mr. Mehdi Raissi, 2018. "Corporate Indebtedness and Low Productivity Growth of Italian Firms," IMF Working Papers 2018/033, International Monetary Fund.
    36. Tkačevs, Olegs & Christodoulopoulou, Styliani, 2014. "Measuring the effectiveness of cost and price competitiveness in external rebalancing of euro area countries: What do alternative HCIs tell us?," Working Paper Series 1736, European Central Bank.
    37. Tkačevs, Olegs & Christodoulopoulou, Styliani & Bobeica, Elena, 2016. "The role of price and cost competitiveness for intra- and extra-euro area trade of euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1941, European Central Bank.
    38. Tito Boeri, 2015. "Perverse effects of two-tier wage bargaining structures," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 101-101, January.
    39. Raissi, Mehdi, 2015. "Flexible inflation targeting and labor market inefficiencies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 283-300.
    40. Mr. Martin Schindler, 2009. "The Italian Labor Market: Recent Trends, Institutions, and Reform Options," IMF Working Papers 2009/047, International Monetary Fund.
    41. Boeri, Tito, 2014. "Two-Tier Bargaining," IZA Discussion Papers 8358, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    42. David Haugh & Alexandre Kopoin & Elena Rusticelli & David Turner & Richard Dutu, 2016. "Cardiac Arrest or Dizzy Spell: Why is World Trade So Weak and What can Policy Do About It?," OECD Economic Policy Papers 18, OECD Publishing.
    43. Mr. Jörg Decressin & Mr. Raphael A Espinoza & Mr. Ioannis Halikias & Mr. Michael Kumhof & Mr. Daniel Leigh & Mr. Prakash Loungani & Mr. Paulo A Medas & Susanna Mursula & Mr. Antonio Spilimbergo & Ms. , 2015. "Wage Moderation in Crises: Policy Considerations and Applications to the Euro Area," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2015/022, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michal Andrle & Mr. Alvar Kangur & Mr. Mehdi Raissi, 2018. "Italy: Quantifying the Benefits of a Comprehensive Reform Package," IMF Working Papers 2018/060, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Michal Andrle & Shafik Hebous & Alvar Kangur & Mehdi Raissi, 2021. "Italy: toward a growth-friendly fiscal reform," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 385-420, April.
    3. Mirella Damiani & Fabrizio Pompei & Andrea Ricci, 2019. "The role of employee incentive pay in the competitiveness of family and non-family firms," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 805-839, October.
    4. Alberto Felettigh & Claire Giordano, 2018. "Rethinking prices and markets underlying price-competitiveness indicators," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 447, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Krahé, Max, 2023. "Understanding Italy's stagnation," Papers 277913, Dezernat Zukunft - Institute for Macrofinance, Berlin.
    6. Giampaolo Arachi & Debora Assisi, 2021. "Fiscal devaluation and relative prices: evidence from the Euro area," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(3), pages 685-716, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matteo Bugamelli & Francesca Lotti & Monica Amici & Emanuela Ciapanna & Fabrizio Colonna & Francesco D�Amuri & Silvia Giacomelli & Andrea Linarello & Francesco Manaresi & Giuliana Palumbo & Filippo , 2018. "Productivity growth in Italy: a tale of a slow-motion change," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 422, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Michal Andrle & Mr. Alvar Kangur & Mr. Mehdi Raissi, 2018. "Italy: Quantifying the Benefits of a Comprehensive Reform Package," IMF Working Papers 2018/060, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Federico Di Pace & Matthias Hertweck, 2019. "Labor Market Frictions, Monetary Policy, and Durable Goods," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 32, pages 274-304, April.
    4. Silvia Fabiani & Alberto Felettigh & Claire Giordano & Roberto Torrini, 2019. "Making room for new competitors. A comparative perspective on Italy’s exports in the euro-area market," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 530, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    5. Gábor Pintér, 2019. "House Prices and Job Losses," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(618), pages 991-1013.
    6. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2018. "Italy’s Price Competitiveness: An Empirical Assessment Through Export Elasticities," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 421-462, November.
    7. Markus Brückner & Evi Pappa, 2012. "Fiscal Expansions, Unemployment, And Labor Force Participation: Theory And Evidence," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1205-1228, November.
    8. Albertini, Julien & Fairise, Xavier, 2013. "Search frictions, real wage rigidities and the optimal design of unemployment insurance," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1796-1813.
    9. Josué Diwambuena & Raquel Fonseca & Stefan Schubert, 2021. "Italian Labour Frictions and Wage Rigidities in an Estimated DSGE," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS88, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    10. Mr. Daniel Garcia-Macia, 2020. "Labor Costs and Corporate Investment in Italy," IMF Working Papers 2020/038, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Mirdala, Rajmund & Semančíková, Jozefína & Ruščáková, Anna, 2019. "Determinants of Export and Import Functions in the EU Member Countries," MPRA Paper 99535, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Haroon Mumtaz & Francesco Zanetti, 2015. "Labor Market Dynamics: A Time-Varying Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(3), pages 319-338, June.
    13. Lechthaler, Wolfgang & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2010. "Monetary persistence and the labor market: A new perspective," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 968-983, May.
    14. Matthias S. Hertweck & Vivien Lewis & Stefania Villa, 2021. "Going the Extra Mile: Effort by Workers and Job‐Seekers," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(8), pages 2099-2127, December.
    15. Matteo Bugamelli & Silvia Fabiani & Stefano Federico & Alberto Felettigh & Claire Giordano & Andrea Linarello, 2018. "Back on Track? A Macro–Micro Narrative of Italian Exports," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 1-31, March.
    16. Rendahl, Pontus, 2014. "Fiscal Policy in an Unemployment Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 9992, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Stéphane Dupraz & Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2019. "A Plucking Model of Business Cycles," NBER Working Papers 26351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Michal Andrle & Shafik Hebous & Alvar Kangur & Mehdi Raissi, 2021. "Italy: toward a growth-friendly fiscal reform," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 385-420, April.
    19. Lawrence Christiano & Mathias Trabandt & Karl Walentin, 2021. "Involuntary Unemployment and the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 39, pages 26-54, January.
    20. Krause, Michael U. & Lopez-Salido, David J. & Lubik, Thomas A., 2008. "Do search frictions matter for inflation dynamics?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1464-1479, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2018/061. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.