Bargaining solutions at work: Qualitative differences in policy implications

Abstract

Traditional bargaining theory characterizes solutions to bargaining problems by their properties in the utility space. In applications, however, one is usually interested in the implications of the conflict resolution within the economic environment, where the properties of axiomatic bargaining solutions are less well understood. By means of a standard bargaining model for the labor market we demonstrate that economic policy implications may be very sensitive to the choice of the bargaining solution. More specifically, the induced employment effects of a change in the reservation wage under the Nash-solution may differ substantially from those under the Kalai–Smorodinsky, the egalitarian, or the equal-loss solution. Hence, the choice of the bargaining solution is not innocuous, even if one is only interested in qualitative policy conclusions.