Mounir Karadja and Erik Prawitz

Project summary

The Swedish model: new data and methods to understand the impact of collective bargaining on workers, firms, and innovation.

The research project examines how the evolution of the Swedish model – characterised by strong trade unions and collective bargaining agreements – during the twentieth century led to changes in wage-setting structures, firms and innovation. The researchers will compile and analyse microdata from digitised archives of collective bargaining agreements, statistics on wages and trade union membership, and information on patents filed by individuals and firms.

 

The first study will examine how the wage-setting process has evolved in terms of coordination across firms and sectors. In the second study, Karadja and Prawitz will investigate how workers respond to reduced wage dispersion. They will test the hypothesis that greater coordination shifts workers towards more productive firms, thereby increasing productivity and directing innovation towards more labour-saving and skills-based technologies. In the third study, the researchers will analyse labour supply and examine how coordinated wage bargaining at labour market entry relates to education and upward social mobility.

 

As part of the research project, an open-access database will be developed for the benefit of the wider research community.

 

Mounir Karadja is based at the Department of Economics at Uppsala University. Erik Prawitz is based at the Department of Economics and Statistics at Linnaeus University and is also affiliated with the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).