Capital openness, monetary integration, and wage-setting coordination in developed European countries

How capital openness influences the wage-setting process is a topic that has been discussed extensively in the literature on European industrial relations. One well-known hypothesis asserts that high capital openness induces employers to de-coordinate the wage-setting process, if wage costs have been under poor control. This article provides a critical review of the hypothesis, arguing that it holds only if governments can provide flexible accommodating policies for employers during the period of institutional transition. If such policy options are not available, which is true when governments are committed to European monetary integration, the hypothesis does not hold. This claim is tested with a Boolean qualitative analysis of 11 European countries, focusing on the periods from the 1970s to early 2000s.