Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information Leadership, Fifth Edition

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Work and Occupations
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (6)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ebbinghaus, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kittel, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

European Rigidity Versus American Flexibility? The Institutional Adaptability of Collective Bargaining

Bernhard Ebbinghaus

University of Mannheim

Bernhard Kittel

University of Amsterdam

According to the unified theory, higher unemployment in Europe as compared to the United States is caused by higher wage rigidity, which, in turn, results from more "inflexible" labor market institutions. Focusing on wage coordination, the empirical analysis shows that the variety of bargaining patterns across European countries and during the period1971to 1998contradicts a simple U.S.-Europe juxtaposition. Although some countries have to cope with excessive wage growth, many others do not trigger higher average wage growth and some coordination forms even show better performance than the United States. Secondly, contrary to the contention of rigidity, the labor market actors in most European countries are responsive to the performance of their bargaining system; they tend to adapt their system if wages seem to overshoot. Hence, the rigidity of Europe thesis does not hold in a more detailed cross-national and long-term analysis of institutional changes in wage bargaining.

Key Words: bargaining system • labor market institutions • wage rigidity • institutional change • Europe • United States of America

Work and Occupations, Vol. 32, No. 2, 163-195 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0730888405274537
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Work and OccupationsHome page
M. Yaish and H. Stier
Gender Inequality in Job Authority: A Cross-National Comparison of 26 Countries
Work and Occupations, November 1, 2009; 36(4): 343 - 366.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Comparative Political StudiesHome page
L. Baccaro and M. Simoni
Policy Concertation in Europe: Understanding Government Choice
Comparative Political Studies, October 1, 2008; 41(10): 1323 - 1348.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 European Journal of Industrial RelationsHome page
M. Michelotti and C. Nyland
Varieties of Capitalism and Diversity in Labour Standards Regulation: The Case of Italy
European Journal of Industrial Relations, June 1, 2008; 14(2): 177 - 195.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 American Behavioral ScientistHome page
T. A. DiPrete
What Has Sociology to Contribute to the Study of Inequality Trends? A Historical and Comparative Perspective
American Behavioral Scientist, January 1, 2007; 50(5): 603 - 618.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Work and OccupationsHome page
T. A. DiPrete
Labor Markets, Inequality, and Change: A European Perspective
Work and Occupations, May 1, 2005; 32(2): 119 - 139.
[Abstract] [PDF]