j51 ej . A variety of error of fit (EOF) functions have been proposed for use in the least-square fitting of ellipses. We describe four measures for assessing the suitability of such EOFs, quantifying Thus, many different ellipse estimation techniques detheir linearity, curvature bias, asymmetry, and overall goodpend on a suitable error term, although there has been ness. These measures enable ...

We estimate the relation between union presence and executive compensation using a unique panel of executives in publicly listed US firms during the period 1992-2001. We find evidence that union presence is associated with lower levels of total executive compensation. We find this union effect to be primarily the result of substantially lower stock option awards, and to a lesser extent due to l...

Reasons for Wage Rigidity in Germany This study investigates institutional and economic reasons for downward wage rigidity regarding three occupational skill groups. Based on a survey of 801 firms in Germany and an econometric analysis, we find strong support for explanations based on the effects of labour union contracts and efficiency wages that differ between skill groups. Survey respondents...

How Successful Have Trade Unions Been? A Utility-Based Indicator of Union Well-Being Can conventional economic analysis help in defining and measuring the success of labor unions? In this paper, a general indicator of union welfare is proposed and particular expressions for the wage and employment objectives of unions are rearranged to derive measures of union success or welfare. These indicato...

Equilibrium Unemployment and Investment Under Product and Labour Market Imperfections We study the implications of product market competition and investment for price setting, wage bargaining and thereby for equilibrium unemployment in an economy with product and labour market imperfections. We show that intensified product market competition will reduce equilibrium unemployment, whereas the ef...

The “conservative central banker” has come under attack recently. Explicitly modeling the interaction of a trade union with monetary policy, it has been argued that the standard solution to the inflationary bias in monetary policy might actually be welfare-reducing if the trade union has an exogenous preference against inflation. We reframe this discussion in a standard trade union model. We sh...

As a consequence of falling relative demand for low skilled labor in the OECD, people with no or minor qualification experience a deterioration of their economic situation. While flexible labor markets have led to higher wage differentials in the USA, the major problem of most European countries is the high rate of unemployment of the low skilled. To integrate currently discussed determinants o...

The main purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative way of explaining – within the bargaining theory framework – the stylised fact of flat wages and employment bearing all the adjustment to shocks. Standard models predict this behaviour under the assumptions of a constant elasticity production function and a reservation wage independent of shocks. Once the latter is removed, however, th...

We have conducted high-resolution laser spectroscopic studies of the ortho-H2 impurity-pair Q1(1) ~v51 ←0, J51←1! transitions in solid para-H2 with the ortho-H2 concentration of <0.2%. Several hundred lines were observed in the frequency region between 4142.9 and 4150.3 cm, with the linewidth of 7 to 200 MHz half width at half maximum. Except for the single-molecule Q1(1) transition located at ...

This paper presents evidence of both counter-cyclical and secular decline in the union membership wage premium in the US and the UK over the last couple of decades. The premium has fallen for most groups of workers, the main exception being public sector workers in the US. By the beginning of the 21 Century the premium remained substantial in the US but there was no premium for many workers in ...