Implementing endogenous inside options in Nash wage bargaining models

Abstract

The Rubinstein alternating-offers game shows that the threat point in Nash wage bargaining models should be the inside, instead of the outside, option. We provide a new way to implement inside options by explicitly modeling a utilitarian union’s strike payoff. The solution to the dynamic bargaining system resulting from the endogeneity of the inside option can serve as a basis for richer, though still easily applicable, models of wage bargaining that are more in accordance with their game-theoretical underpinnings. The dynamics of the model also provide a theoretical justification for temporarily delayed labor market responses to policy changes.