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Working Paper No. 675

Acquisitions, Multinationals and Wage Dispersion

Working Paper
Reference
Heyman, Fredrik, Fredrik Sjöholm and Patrik Gustavsson Tingvall (2006). “Acquisitions, Multinationals and Wage Dispersion”. IFN Working Paper No. 675. Stockholm: Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).

Authors
Fredrik Heyman, Fredrik Sjöholm, Patrik Gustavsson Tingvall

Multinational firms pay relatively high wages. Less is known about the wage structure within multinational and non-multinational firms. We examine the impact of acquisitions on wage dispersion in Sweden using a large matched employer-employee data set. Foreign acquisitions of Swedish firms increase wage dispersion by increasing wages for high-skilled workers. The positive impact is concentrated to CEOs and managers, whereas other groups are either negatively affected or not affected at all. The impact on high-skilled workers’ wages seems to be caused by the acquisition rather than the ownership itself, since ownership changes from foreign to Swedish result in similar increases.