Rent-sharing under different bargaining regimes : Evidence from linked employer-employee data

In many European countries, the majority of workers have their wage rates determined directly by industry-level agreements. For some workers, industry agreements are supplemented by firm-specific agreements. Yet, the relative importance of individual company and industry agreements (in other words, the degree of centralisation) differs drastically across industries. The authors of this paper use unique linked employer-employee data from a 2003 survey in Belgium to examine how these bargaining features affect the extent of rent-sharing. Their results show that there is substantially more rent-sharing in decentralised than in centralised industries, even when controlling for the endogeneity of profits, for heterogeneity among workers and firms and for differences in characteristics between bargaining regimes. Moreover, in centralised industries, rent-sharing is found only for workers that are covered by a company agreement. The findings of this paper finally suggest that, within decentralised industries, both firm-specific and industry-wide bargaining generate rent-sharing to the same extent.Rent-sharing, collective bargaining, propensity score matching.

Rent-Sharing under Different Bargaining Regimes: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data

In many European countries, the majority of workers have their wages directly defined by industry-level agreements. In addition, for some workers, industry agreements are complemented by firm-specific agreements. Yet, the relative importance of firm and industry agreements (in other words, the degree of centralization) differs drastically across industries. The authors of this paper use unique linked employer-employee data from a 2003 survey in Belgium to examine how these bargaining features affect the extent of rent-sharing. Their results show that there is substantially more rent-sharing in decentralized than in centralized industries, even when controlling for the endogeneity of profits, for heterogeneity among workers and firms and for differences in characteristics between bargaining regimes. Moreover, in centralized industries, rent-sharing is found only for workers that are covered by a firm agreement. Finally, results indicate that within decentralized industries, both firm and industry bargaining generate rent-sharing to the same extent.rent-sharing, collective bargaining, propensity score matching

The Regional Dimension of Collective Wage Bargaining: The Case of Belgium

The potential failure of national industry agreements to take into account productivity levels of least productive regions has been considered as one of the causes of regional unemployment in European countries. Two solutions are generally proposed: the first, encouraged by the European commission and the OECD, consists in decentralising wage bargaining to the firm. The second solution, the regionalisation of wage bargaining, is frequently mentioned in Belgium or in Italy where regional unemployment differentials are high. The objective of this paper is to verify if the Belgian wage setting system, where industry bargaining has a national scope, indeed prevents regional productivity levels to be taken into account in wage formation. Using a very rich linked employer-employee dataset which provides detailed information on wages, productivity, and worker's and firm's characteristics, we find that regional wage differentials and regional productivity differentials within joint committees are positively correlated. Moreover, this relation is stronger (i) for joint committees where firm-level bargaining is relatively frequent and (ii) for joint committees already sub-divided along a local line. We conclude that the current Belgian wage setting system (which combines interprofessional, industry and firm level bargaining) already includes mechanisms that allow regional productivity to be taken into account.wages, collective bargaining, federalism, regions, Belgium

Wages and the Bargaining Regime under Multi-level Bargaining: Belgium, Denmark and Spain

We use a harmonized matched employer—employee dataset to study the impact of the collective bargaining regime on wages in the manufacturing sector in three countries with a multi-level system of bargaining: Belgium, Denmark and Spain. Single-employer bargaining has a positive effect both on wage levels and on wage dispersion in Belgium and in Denmark. In Spain, it also increases wage levels but reduces wage dispersion. Our interpretation is that in Belgium and Denmark, single-employer bargaining is used to adapt pay to the specific needs of the firm while, in Spain it is mainly used by trade unions in order to compress the wage distribution

Using time delay in the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation for simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration suppression

In this paper, the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation in the presence of a time delay is investigated, with the purpose of simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration suppression. To harvest energy, a coil with seven layers of 36 gauge wire wound around the outer casing is utilized. Although the proposed control feedback consumes some power, the results show the harvestable power can be much larger than the consumed power, which makes the proposed concept feasible. The first-order perturbation method is utilized to examine the possibility of energy harvesting and vibration suppression for different selections of the delay parameters, the distances between the magnets and the external load resistances. In addition, the stability map of the time-delayed control is analytically determined. The influence of the time delay parameters chosen from Single Periodic Solutions (SPS) and Multiple Periodic Solutions (MPS) on the vibration and power amplitudes is studied. It is shown that a point chosen from the MPS region enables the system to harvest power over a broad range of excitation frequencies. Also, the effect of the distance between the magnets on the frequency response of the system is examined. In addition, to select the optimum value for the distance between the magnets for different values of the time delay parameters, a parameter called the Perfection Rate (PR), which reflects both the electrical and mechanical behavior of the system, is used. Finally, it is shown that the presence of the time delay and a point chosen from the MPS region enables the system to harvest more power over a broad range of excitation frequency and to suppress higher levels of vibration, than for a point chosen from the SPS region and without time delay

Next-Generation Diamond Electrodes for Neurochemical Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Carbon-based electrodes combined with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) enable neurochemical sensing with high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity. While their attractive electrochemical and conductive properties have established a long history of use in the detection of neurotransmitters both in vitro and in vivo, carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) also have limitations in their fabrication, flexibility, and chronic stability. Diamond is a form of carbon with a more rigid bonding structure (sp3-hybridized) which can become conductive when boron-doped. Boron-doped diamond (BDD) is characterized by an extremely wide potential window, low background current, and good biocompatibility. Additionally, methods for processing and patterning diamond allow for high-throughput batch fabrication and customization of electrode arrays with unique architectures. While tradeoffs in sensitivity can undermine the advantages of BDD as a neurochemical sensor, there are numerous untapped opportunities to further improve performance, including anodic pretreatment, or optimization of the FSCV waveform, instrumentation, sp2 /sp3 character, doping, surface characteristics, and signal processing. Here, we review the state-of-the-art in diamond electrodes for neurochemical sensing and discuss potential opportunities for future advancements of the technology. We highlight our team’s progress with the development of an all-diamond fiber ultramicroelectrode as a novel approach to advance the performance and applications of diamond-based neurochemical sensors