TY - JOUR

T1 - German works councils and productivity

T2 - first evidence from a nonparametric test

AU - Wagner, Joachim

PY - 2008/7

Y1 - 2008/7

N2 - This article presents the first nonparametric test whether German works councils go hand-in-hand with higher labour productivity or not. It distinguishes between establishments that are covered by collective bargaining or not. Results from a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for first-order stochastic dominance tend to indicate that pro-productive effects are found in firms with collective bargaining only. However, the significance level of the test statistic is higher than a usually applied critical level. This somewhat weak evidence casts doubts on the validity of results from recent parametric approaches using a regression framework that point to high positive effects of works councils on productivity.

AB - This article presents the first nonparametric test whether German works councils go hand-in-hand with higher labour productivity or not. It distinguishes between establishments that are covered by collective bargaining or not. Results from a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for first-order stochastic dominance tend to indicate that pro-productive effects are found in firms with collective bargaining only. However, the significance level of the test statistic is higher than a usually applied critical level. This somewhat weak evidence casts doubts on the validity of results from recent parametric approaches using a regression framework that point to high positive effects of works councils on productivity.

KW - Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=47649096478&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/13504850600749024

DO - 10.1080/13504850600749024

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 15

SP - 727

EP - 730

JO - Applied Economics Letters

JF - Applied Economics Letters

SN - 1350-4851

IS - 9

ER -