Kollektive Lohnverhandlungen und Auslandsdirektinvestitionen: Eine empirische Studie mit Firmendaten

This paper analyzes the influence of the structure of collective bargaining on direct investment abroad. A wage negotiation model shows that high productive firms benefit from centralized bargaining and invest therefore less abroad than under decentralized bargaining. An empirical study uses firm level data from the "Hannoveraner Firmenpanel" in 1995 and '97. Firms with firm specific wage contracts are more often direct investors abroad than firms with centrally negotiated agreements. The result does therefore not confirm the often heard hypotheses that centrally negotiated agreements are not flexible enough to take firm specific aspects into account and therefore cause relocations.

Peters, Ralf-Henning (2000), Kollektive Lohnverhandlungen und Auslandsdirektinvestitionen: Eine empirische Studie mit Firmendaten, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 00-13, Mannheim.