Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Umeå Economic Studies,
Umeå University, Department of Economics

No 638: Foreign ownership and effects on employment and wages: The case of Sweden

Runar Brännlund (), Jonas Nordström () and Dick Svedin ()
Additional contact information
Runar Brännlund: Department of Economics, Umeå University, Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Jonas Nordström: Department of Economics, Umeå University, Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Dick Svedin: Department of Social Science, Mid Sweden University, Postal: Department of Social Science, Mid Sweden University, S 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden

Abstract: In this paper we study how foreign ownership of Swedish companies affect employment and wage setting. To study the effects we specify a model that is essentially based on the assumption that the Swedish labour market can be described as a market where trade unions and employers bargain over both wage and employment. Our hypothesis is that the bargaining power is affected by institutional settings and the ownership of the firm. The data we used to test our hypothesis is a panel data set including nearly 200 firms, spanning over the period 1980-1994. The results indicate that foreign ownership has no significant effect on employment, whereas the effect on wages is significantly positive.

Keywords: Bargaining power; foreign direct investment; employment; trade union; wages.

JEL-codes: C33; D21; J30; J50

22 pages, First version: June 30, 2004. Revised: November 1, 2004.

Full text files 

DownloadAsset.action...Id=3&assetKey=ues638 PDF-file

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to David Skog ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:hhs:umnees:0638This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:17:25.