A CONTOUR THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE DETERMINATION OF NEGOTIATED WAGE CHANGE IN THE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

One of the most observable features of union wage bargaining is the tendency of a wage settlement in a key wage determining unit to be copied in other wage determining units. This manuscript tests whether shared microeconomic forces or wage leadership leads to this observed similarity among wage settlements. The results suggest that wage leadership, contour theory, accounts for much of the similarity of wage settlements in the construction industry.