Download or read book Wage Rigidity and Unemployment written by Wilfred Beckerman and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wage Rigidity and Social Norms in Experimental Labour Markets written by Anne-Kathrin Wippermann and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2006-07-02 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bachelor Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Economics - Job market economics, grade: 1,0, University of Göttingen, language: English, abstract: Are wages rigid, and if so, why? The question raised has attracted economists’ attention ever since Keynes (1936, p. 289) suggested that wages were rigid and could lead to involuntary unemployment (Gächter, 2001, p. 478). This wage rigidity can be defined as the tendency of wages to react slowly, if at all, to excess labour supply and/or demand (Wachtel, 1994, p. 482). Keynes’ theory is at odds with the neoclassical model of the labour market, in which wages are flexible and therefore full employment at a market-clearing wage will ultimately be reached (Fischer and Heier, 1983, p. 56). Due to the clash between Keynes’ theory and the neoclassical model, a lively discussion among economists arose as to whether wage rigidity existed or not. Some economists, such as Lucas and Rapping (1969, p. 748), claimed that wage rigidity was an illusion and that existing unemployment was voluntary, i.e. real wages were below workers’ reservation wages. Others claimed that wages were rigid and started to implant sociological findings into economic models, which gave further explanations as to why wage rigidity existed. As a consequence of this debate it became clear that evidence was needed as to which of the models and theories actually applied to real world labour markets. Some economists went about this by conducting surveys in the labour market (see, e.g., Bewley, 1999, and Campbell III. and Kamlani, 1997). Others used experimental methods to simulate labour markets and test theories of wage rigidity for their robustness. Their findings, which generally confirm the sociological approaches to wage rigidity, will be the basis of this paper.
Download or read book Why Wages Don t Fall during a Recession written by Truman F. BEWLEY and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deep question in economics is why wages and salaries don't fall during recessions. This is not true of other prices, which adjust relatively quickly to reflect changes in demand and supply. Although economists have posited many theories to account for wage rigidity, none is satisfactory. Eschewing "top-down" theorizing, Truman Bewley explored the puzzle by interviewing--during the recession of the early 1990s--over three hundred business executives and labor leaders as well as professional recruiters and advisors to the unemployed. By taking this approach, gaining the confidence of his interlocutors and asking them detailed questions in a nonstructured way, he was able to uncover empirically the circumstances that give rise to wage rigidity. He found that the executives were averse to cutting wages of either current employees or new hires, even during the economic downturn when demand for their products fell sharply. They believed that cutting wages would hurt morale, which they felt was critical in gaining the cooperation of their employees and in convincing them to internalize the managers' objectives for the company. Bewley's findings contradict most theories of wage rigidity and provide fascinating insights into the problems businesses face that prevent labor markets from clearing. Table of Contents: Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Methods 3. Time and Location 4. Morale 5. Company Risk Aversion 6. Internal Pay Structure 7. External Pay Structure 8. The Shirking Theory 9. The Pay of New Hires in the Primary Sector 10. Raises 11. Resistance to Pay Reduction 12. Experiences with Pay Reduction 13. Layoffs 14. Severance Benefits 15. Hiring 16. Voluntary Turnover 17. The Secondary Sector 18. The Unemployed 19. Information, Wage Rigidity, and Labor Negotiations 20. Existing Theories 21. Remarks on Theory 22. Whereto from Here? Notes References Index Reviews of this book: In Why Wages Don't Fall During A Recession, [Truman Bewley] tackles one of the oldest, and most controversial, puzzles in economics: why nominal wages rarely fall (and real wages do not fall enough) when unemployment is high. But he does so in a novel way, through interviews with over 300 businessmen, union leaders, job recruiters and unemployment counsellors in the north-eastern United States during the early 1990s recession...Mr. Bewley concludes that employers resist pay cuts largely because the savings from lower wages are usually outweighed by the cost of denting workers' morale: pay cuts hit workers' standard of living and lower their self-esteem. Falling morale raises staff turnover and reduces productivity...Mr. Bewley's theory has some interesting implications...[and] has a ring of truth to it. --The Economist Reviews of this book: This contribution to the growing literature on behavioral macroeconomics threatens to disturb the tranquil state of macroeconomic theory that has prevailed in recent years...Bewley's argument will be hard for conventional macroeconomists to ignore, partly because of the extraordinary thoroughness and honesty with which he evidently conducted his investigation, and the sheer volume of evidence he provides...Although Bewley's work will not settle the substantive debates related to wage rigidity, it is likely to have a profound influence on the way macroeconomists construct models. In particular, the concepts of morale, fairness, and money illusion are almost certain to play a big role in macroeconomic theory. His demonstration that there exist in reality simple, robust behavioral patters that cannot plausibly be founded on traditional maximizing behabior also raises the prospect of a more empirically oriented, more behavioral macroeconomics in the future. --Peter Howitt, journal of Economic Literature Reviews of this book: I think any scholar interested in labour markets and wage determination should read this well-written, lively, and highly stimulating book...[It] provides a fresh view and a lot of complementary background knowledge about how experienced people in the field see the employment relationship and what is actually crucial. Knowledge of this sort is all too rare in economics, and Truman Bewley's truly impressive study can serve as a role model for future investigations. --Simon G'chter, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics To call this book a breath of fresh air is an understatement. The direct insights are fascinating, and Truman Bewley's use of them is sharp and insightful. Labor economists and macroeconomists have a lot to think about. --Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate, Institute Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Truman Bewley set out to conduct a handful of interviews with business executives to gain some theoretical inspiration, and his project blossomed into over 300 interviews with business people, labor leaders and consultants. He is truly the accidental interviewer of economics. Time and again, he found that workers behave like people, not atomistic, selfish economic agents. His insights will engage and enrage economic theorists and empiricists for years to come. --Alan Krueger, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Download or read book Wage Rigidity Institutions and Inflation written by Steinar Holden and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Costs of Price Stability Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe written by Steinar Holden and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In most European countries, the prevailing terms of employment, including the nominal wage, can only be changed by mutual consent. I show that this feature implies that workers have a strategic advantage in the wage negotiations when they try to prevent a cut in nominal wages. If inflation is so low that some nominal wages have to be cut, the strategic advantage of the workers' induces higher unemployment in equilibrium. The upshot is a long run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment for low levels of inflation. The prediction that low inflation involves higher unemployment in Europe but not in the US, is consistent with previous empirical findings.
Download or read book Evidence on Nominal Wage Rigidity from a Panel of U S Manufacturing Industries written by Vivek Ghosal and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Political Economy of Wages and Unemployment written by William Oliver Coleman and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this tightly argued work William Coleman explores the macroeconomic implications of politically based restraints on competition in labour markets. Through a suite of compact models the author investigates the consequences of the labour force securing the best terms of sale for its labour by means of the electoral mechanism. He concludes that such ?electorally optimal' labour regulation can explain not only wage rigidity and unemployment, but also wage volatility; episodes of excess demand for labour; the co-existence of an inefficient state sector with an efficient private sector; and the preference for a minimum wage over a universal wage regulation. Finally, the approach can rationalise nominal wage rigidity, and not solely real wage rigidity. In sum, the analysis promises to both complete the Classical explanation of unemployment by predicting when, why and how real wages will be rigid, and at the same time to better secure Keynesian insights by suggesting how money rigidity may be characteristic of electorally optimal labour regulation.
Download or read book The Employment Costs of Downward Nominal wage Rigidity written by Jean Farès and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uses firm-level wage and employment data to address whether there is evidence of downward nominal-wage rigidity, and whether that rigidity is associated with a reduction in employment.
Download or read book The Role of Real Wage Rigidity and Labor Market Frictions for Unemployment and Inflation Dynamics written by Kai Christoffel and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wage Rigidity in Germany written by Heiko Stüber and published by wbv Media GmbH & Company KG. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Die Interaktion zwischen Inflation und Arbeitslosigkeit beschäftigt Forscher und Politiker bereits eine längere Zeit. Doch existiert tatsächlich ein Zielkonflikt zwischen Inflation und Arbeitslosigkeit? Heiko Stüber geht dieser und anderen Fragen, die sich mit Lohnstarreit beschäftigen, nach. Der erste und gewichtigste Teil des Buches beschäftigt sich mit Abwärtsnominallohnstarrheit. Er bietet einen Überblick über Ursachen, Ausmaß und Implikationen dieser Starrheit, betrachtet ihre makroökonomischen Konsequenzen und untersucht inwiefern die Starrheit Arbeitnehmer unterschiedlich betrifft. Der zweite Teil des Buches beschäftigt sich mit der Reallohnrigidität neu eingestellter Arbeitnehmer über den Konjunkturzyklus. Der Buchteil bietet einen kurzen Überblick bisheriger empirischer Untersuchungen und neuester Entwicklungen und stellt empirische Evidenz zur Zyklizität von Einstiegslöhnen in Deutschland bereit.
Download or read book Wage Rigidity written by Beth Anne Wilson and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wage Rigidity and the Firm Alternative Approaches written by Nisso Bucay and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book What Does Downward Nominal wage Rigidity Imply for Monetary Policy written by Bank of Canada and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Study of the Wage Rigidity written by Songmei Zhu and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity written by David E. Lebow and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Role of Real Wage Rigidity and Labor Market Frictions for Unemployment and Inflation Dynamics written by Kai Philipp Christoffel and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this paper we incorporate a labor market with matching frictions and wage.
Download or read book Theories of Wage Rigidity written by Joseph E. Stiglitz and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper considers two sets of theories attempting to explain wage rigidities and unemployment: implicit contract theory and the efficiency wage theory. The basic thesis of the paper is that the former set of theories do not provide a convincing explanation of the kind of wage rigidity which is associated with cyclical unemployment, while the latter theories do. Several of the more recent versions of implicit contract theory are considered: implicit contracts with asymmetric information may give rise to over employment rather than underemployment, and the forms of contracts to be expected, were asymmetric information considerations paramount, are not observed. Other versions of the asymmetric information implicit contract model, explicitly long term in nature, may give rise to full employment. One version of implicit contract theory which does give rise to lay-offs arises when search is costly and cannot be monitored. But even this extension does not explain certain important features of observed patterns of unemployment. In contrast, the efficiency wage models not only provide an explanation of the existence of unemployment equilibrium in competitive economies, but they also provide part of the explanation of the observed patterns of unemployment. They also explain why different firms may pay similar workers different wages, why wages may be sticky, why firms maynot loose much if they fail to adjust their wages, and why, when they adjust their wages optimally, they adjust them slowly. The policy implications of the efficiency wage model are markedly different from those of models in which wages are absolutely rigid aswell as from those in which unemployment arises from asymmetric information.
