Sharing Wealth: Evidence from Financial Ratios in Spain

Firms are managed on the basis of relationships between mutually involved groups, not only because of market forces, but also due to the influence that each group can exert over distribution decisions at a given moment in time. On the basis of a value added statement, it is possible to analyse the ability a firm has to reward all agents and to consider how the residual income is to be distributed. In this paper we set out to establish the tensions that arise between productive agents in the distribution of generated wealth. We carry out a time analysis of the movements between relationships that provide information on the distribution of that wealth, using data drawn from the Spanish Transport Equipment Manufacturing Industry. We propose a new multivariate dynamic linear model that is capable of analysing the joint evolution of the value added distribution ratios, with our particular objective being to throw light on the factors underlying this evolution. This analysis results in one single factor that explains 92.88 per cent of the total variation present in the residuals of the model.