| 摘要: | 二十世紀後期許多國家採取降低關稅、解除管制、加強反托拉斯機構執法等措施，目的都是為了促進市場競爭。各國反托拉斯法主要關切的是賣方市場，即商品價格缺乏競爭下對消費者福利的不利影響；但對於企業在買方市場，尤其是勞動市場的買方壟斷則甚少關注。此外，近二十年來許多先進國家勞工所得份額佔整體GDP的比例明顯下滑，可能的影響因素包括：資本設備取代勞工、通訊科技、進口衝擊及全球化等。文獻上多係採用國家總體資料或產業層級資料進行分析，無論及廠商的異質性。新近Autor et al. (2017)推論勞動份額的下降與superstar firms的崛起有關，理由是這類公司生產效率高，能攫取大的市佔率，但雇用的勞工份額相對較低。本計畫第一年擬探討勞動市場集中度愈高的地區，廠商是否會擁有某種程度的買方壟斷力量，使得受僱員工的平均薪資較低？其中介機制及此力量的延伸將予以細究。第二年的議題則是探討影響產業及廠商勞動份額的決定因素。除了分解產業勞動份額變化中，來自廠商間重配置和廠商內部變動之比重之外；並將檢測這些變動成分和產品市場集中度的關聯性。包括技術進步、全球化、無形資產等影響勞動份額的相關因素亦將一併討論。 ;The notion that competition promotes efficient allocation of resources is fundamental in economic theories. In the late 20th century, this concept has motivated governments around the world to implement a series of policy reforms, including tariff reductions, deregulations, and aggressive antitrust enforcement (Grullon et al., 2018). All these measures contributed to the increased competition. The potential effects of employer concentration may exist not only in the product market but also in the labor market. Antitrust regulators are concerned about the lack of competition on product prices and the consequences of adverse effect on consumer welfare, but pay little attention to firms’ buyer-side power in the labor market (Azar et al., 2017). Since empirical evidence on this subject is quite scant, this project is interested in understanding the role of local-level monopsony power in influencing firm wage-setting decision (Benmelech et al., 2018). In the past two decades, the fall of labor shares of GDP in Taiwan and many other developed countries has well documented but the causes remain uncertain. Potential explanations include the substitution between capital and labor, information technology, import exposure and globalization. As the focus of studies is different, mixed results are obtained. Most of existing empirical literature use the macro or industry data for analysis, obscuring heterogeneity among firms. A recent study by Autor et al. (2017) proposes that the superstar firms model describes the link between the rise of superstar firms and the fall in labor share. As superstar firms tend to be more efficient and large corporations, they capture a higher share of industry output and are also more likely to have lower labor shares. Based on the micro panel data from U.S. Census, the authors provide suggestive support for the model’s predictions: industries with concentration rises most have the largest declines in the labor share; and the fall in the labor share is mainly driven by between-firm reallocation component rather than a fall in the mean labor share within firms. The purposes of this study are twofold. First, by constructing the HHI of firm employment at the county-industry-year level, we investigate whether wages are significantly lower in local labor markets in which employers are more concentrated. Underlying mechanisms and the influence of labor market power on firm financial flexibility and profitability would also be explored. Second, we examine the determinants of industry and firm labor shares. The relative importance of between-firm and within-firm components will be evaluated based on the decomposition analysis. To test the prediction of superstar firms model, the between-firm component of the fall in the labor share is expected to associate with rising concentration. Factors which may affect the labor shares, such as technological progress, globalization and intangible asset, will also be investigated. |
