Wage rigidities and unemployment fluctuations in a small open economy

This study analyzes the implications of the monetary policy for the unemployment rate in a small open economy. We introduce nominal wage rigidities and unemployment into the small open economy version of the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. We derive three main findings. First, under nominal wage rigidities, the cyclical properties of the calibrated model, in response to a productivity shock, are consistent with the empirical evidence on a decrease in employment and an increase in real wages. Second, for all the variables considered, the Taylor rule tracks the optimal policy better than the simple rule with unemployment as an argument. Third, regardless of the output or unemployment gap being targeted, it is not optimal that central banks respond to nominal exchange rate variations.     

Fertility choice and economic growth: Empirical evidence from the U.S.

This paper provides empirical evidence to support the proposition of Barro and Becker [1989] that fertility depends positively on the world's long-term real interest rates and negatively on real wages in an economy linked to an international capital market. The empirical evidence suggests that there is no long-run relationship among fertility choice, real wages, long-term real interest rates, and output growth in the U.S. over the period 1960–95. However, when estimating a VAR model and employing the variance decomposition analysis and the impulse response functions, the empirical results support the endogeneity of fertility choice and the proposition that real wages, long-term real interest rates, and output growth is related to changes in fertility choice. The empirical results have important policy implications and provide an explanation for the decline of fertility in Western countries mainly in the last three decades.The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not those of the Bank of Greece.     

An aggregate model of the Canadian labor market

The paper develops and estimates a small equilibrium model of the Canadian postwar labor market. The framework is imperfect competition in product and labor markets which, we argue, is forced upon us by the empirical fact that real wages do not on their own explain the business cycle. The framework incorporates on the supply side the effects of both unemployment benefits and the terms of trade. These variables, together with demand side effects, are then used to account Canadian unemployment. A pleasing feature of the model is that it is quite econometrically stable over the turbulent '80s.     

Labour‐market institutions and their impact on trade partners: A quantitative analysis

Recent theoretical literature studies how labour market reforms in one country can affect labour market outcomes in other countries, thereby rationalizing widely held policy beliefs and empirical evidence. But what is the quantitative relevance of such spillover effects? This paper combines two recent workhorse models: the canonical search‐and‐matching framework and the heterogeneous firms international trade model. Qualitatively, the framework confirms that labour market reforms in one country benefit its trading partners, replicating the stylized facts. However, when wages are bargained flexibly, the model quantitatively underestimates the correlation of structural unemployment rates across countries. Introducing some degree of real wage rigidity remedies this problem.     

Price and quantity adjustments in the Austrian labour market

Austria is among the very few countries in the European Union which have managed to maintain comparatively low unemployment rates and high employment rates. This study looks at the price and quantity adjustment mechanisms in the Austrian labour market which may have contributed to this favourable outcome. After reviewing briefly the basic theoretical reasoning an empirical investigation is began into gross flow dynamics in the labour market and the cyclical volatility of employment and unemployment in Austria. In international comparison Austrian unemployment is very stable over the business cycle. This is due mainly to the high sensitivity of the labour force on cyclical conditions and, partly, also on the relatively weak responsiveness of employment to cyclical fluctuations in output, the latter being possibly attributable to the high degree of real wage flexibility in Austria. The study proceeds to show that the long-run elasticity of wages with respect to unemployment is indeed quite high in Austria. However, evidence was also found for outsider effects in the Austrian wage setting process. Relative wage structures, on the other hand, appear to be rather rigid.     

Disequilibrium dynamics in a simple macroeconomic model

The dynamic behavior of a simple macroeconomic disequilibrium model is analyzed in which consumers' changes in money holdings constitute the dynamic link between any two periods. It is shown that, under constant government consumption, a constant production function (no investment), and fixed prices and wages, stationary states of Keynesian unemployment are stable whereas those of repressed inflation are globally unstable. Possibilities of unemployment and output cycles are indicated for fixed wages as well as for some very simple class of wage and price adjustment mechanisms.     

Involuntary unemployment,macroeconomic policy,and a behavioral model of the firm: Why high real wages need not cause high unemployment

The perspective of modern macroeconomic theory, be it new classical or old and new Keynesian, is that unemployment can be reduced only if real wages are cut. The modern Keynesians, basing themselves upon the microfoundations of efficiency wage theory, argue that real wages cannot and will not be cut by firms for efficiency wage reasons. This generates involuntary unemployment based on a market coordination problem. A behavioral model that contrasts with efficiency wage theory is presented here which suggests that reducing real wages need not affect the marginal cost of labor and, therefore, the number of individuals employed. In the behavioral model, wherein there exists some linearity in the relationship between real wages and working conditions and labor productivity, a lower real wage rate is not a necessary condition for reducing the unemployment rate nor is a higher real wage an obstacle to reducing it. In this scenario, unemployment, to the extent that it is demand-side induced, is not related to movements in real wages. Therefore, restoring full employment after a negative demand shock becomes a matter for demand management, not demand management that must be coordinated with measures designed to reduce real wages.     

Conflict, Effort and Capital Stock in UK Wage Determination

The paper is concerned with the determination of wages, unemployment and labour productivity in the UK. The theoretical model suggests that in addition to economic factors, historical and ideological elements play an important role in the determination of wages, unemployment and productivity. Particular emphasis is put on the capital shortage hypothesis. It is argued that capital scrapping in response to the two oil price shocks, combined with subsequent sluggish growth in capital, may be responsible for the rise of the NAIRU and the persistence of unemployment. The empirical analysis is concerned with testing the theoretical model, using quarterly data for the UK from 1966 until 1994. We use cointegration analysis for the determination of wages, unemployment and labour productivity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Benefits and unemployment in an open economy: an equilibrium analysis

This paper examines the relation between uemployment compensation and unemployment in The Netherlands. This relation is studied by menas of a small macroeconomic model for an open economy that assumes equilibrium in the labour market and on the current account. The model yields an elasticity of unemployment to benefits of 1.0, which is high compared to microeconomic research and the outcomes of disequilibrium models for The Netherlands. According to the model, a rise in the ‘wedge’ (i.e. the difference betweenn real labour cost and real net wages) leads to an increase in unemployment, whilst shifting this wedge from the employers to the employees induces a fall in unemployment.     

Embodied Technical Change and the Fluctuations of Unemployment and Wages

A matching model where technological change is partially embodied in the job match is shown to be successful in explaining the variability of unemployment and vacancies. If we incorporate long‐term wage contracts into the model, it also explains a number of stylized facts on the dynamics of real wages, which have been found in the empirical labor literature.     

货币化、货币流通速度与产出——扩展的CIA约束与中国经验

本文从两个方面扩展了传统CIA约束:(1)消费品和资本品受货币约束的比例取决于货币化和信用化的发达程度;(2)货币交易频率受通胀率影响。这样能够在贴近中国现实的动态一般均衡框架下分析实际冲击与名义冲击对货币流通速度和产出的影响。理论模型中,综合考虑到投资和产出的变化时,货币化和信用化对货币需求和流通速度的影响并不确定,通胀率的上升也不必然导致投资减少或者货币需求下降。这有别于局部均衡分析以及传统CIA模型的结论。改革以来中国的经验数据也表明,尽管通胀率下降会降低流通速度,然而货币化进程并未导致流通速度的显著下降。货币化以及相关的金融制度变化假说不应成为流通速度下降的有力解释。     

Relative Price Changes, Wages and Unemployment in a Specific Factors Model with Search Frictions

This paper analyzes the effects of changes in the relative product price on wages and unemployment of a small open economy in a specific factors model characterized by search frictions. It shows that unemployment and wages move in opposite directions, i.e., high unemployment is associated with low wages and low unemployment with high wages. The reason for the employment effect is found to be individual wage bargaining.     

Cyclical wage movements in emerging markets compared to developed economies: The role of interest rates

This paper documents that, at the aggregate level, (i) real wages are positively correlated with output and, on average, lag output by about one quarter in emerging markets, while there are no systematic patterns in developed economies, and (ii) real wage volatility (relative to output volatility) is about twice as high in emerging markets compared with developed economies. We then present a small open economy model with productivity shocks and countercyclical interest rates. The model incorporates a working capital requirement and the Jaimovich and Rebelo (2009) preference that allows for flexible parameterization of the strength of income effects on labor supply. The model can account for the high volatility of wage and consumption relative to output and countercyclical trade balances that characterize emerging-market economies. During economic downturns, rising interest rates in emerging markets induce relatively large income effects on labor supply, so households would not reduce their labor input as much even though wages drop significantly.     

The cause of Danish unemployment: Demand or supply shocks?

We study the Danish unemployment experience 1905–92 using a common trends model with cointegration constraints. To justify the identifying assumptions about the cointegration vectors and the common trends we present a simple macroeconomic model of the labor market. The model determines the long run behavior of labor productivity, employment, unemployment, real product and real consumer wages. The empirical results give support for three cointegration relations and two common trends. Based on the economic model the trends are interpreted as representing labor productivity (technology) and labor supply. With unemployment being nonstationary, the common trends analysis indicates that labor supply shocks is the primary source for explaining the behavior of unemployment. First Version Received: August 1999/Final Version Received: June 2000     

Trend inflation as a workers’ discipline device

The paper shows that a monetary policy regime that allows for a positive inflation rate disciplines monopolistic wages setters if these, when setting contracts, internalize the consequences of their choices for economic outcomes over the life of the contract. We also show that discretionary monetary policy has real effects when wage setters are non atomistic, whereas commitment to a positive inflation rate is effective irrespective of the degree of labor market centralization. Finally, the model may explain the different unemployment dynamics in Europe and in the United States, following the 1980 disinflationary episode. Our approach suggests that disinflation induced an adverse effect on the labor market wedge and that such effect was stronger in Europe, due to the particular importance of large wage setters.     

Dynamic factor models of consumption,hours and income

This paper addresses two questions in the economics of intertemporal choice. First, what are the key factors that drive fluctuations in income and what are the time paths of their effects? Second, how do consumers respond to these factors? We answer these questions by estimating dynamic factor models of consumption, hours, wages, unemployment, and income that account for measurement error and the fact that variables used in the study are measured at different time intervals and/or are aggregates for the calendar year. We pay special attention to a dynamic factor representation of a joint life cycle model of consumption and labour supply, which permits us to quantify the effect of wages, unemployment, and other factors on the marginal utility of income as well as to estimate the substitution effects of wage changes on labour supply and consumption.     

A general equilibrium analysis of production subsidy in a Harris-Todaro developing economy: an application to India

Since 1950s India has advocated import substituting industrialization policies to promote its manufacturing sector. The end result was creation of a dual economy: highly favored manufacturing sector with high and rigid wages and neglected agricultural sector with low wages and poverty. Because of the higher wages in the manufacturing sector, the rural laborers migrate to the urban sector, a typical characteristic of the Harris-Todaro developing economy. Realizing this crisis, the Indian government recently initiated policies to boost agricultural production to curb the labor migration and improve the welfare of the rural population. In this study, we develop a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for India by incorporating Harris-Todaro economic characteristics of unemployment, labor migration, farm dependant population, and labor-intensive agriculture. We use the model to analyze the effects of agricultural production subsidy policies on employment, factor price, output price, output levels, and welfare in agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Our findings show that agricultural production subsidy increases agricultural production, reduces unemployment, raises the wage rate in the agriculture sector, augments the consumption among the rural and urban households, and increases the rental rate for capital in agricultural sector.     

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,AWARENESS OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM EFFECTS,AND UNEMPLOYMENT*

We explore the significance of general equilibrium feedback effects for wage‐bargaining. We examine a two‐sector economy and show that if agents only consider labor demand effects low real wages and low unemployment are the consequences. With an intermediate view, i.e., when partial equilibrium effects within a sector are taken into account, high real wages and unemployment result. If all general equilibrium effects are perceived simultaneously, we once again obtain a situation with low wages and unemployment. The results may explain why unemployment is high in some European countries.     

Non-Keynesian Effects of Government Expenditure on Output in Bulgaria: An HP Filter Approach

A large body of recent studies has explored the presence of non-Keynesian fiscal policy effects in advanced European economies, while relevant empirical sources on post-communist economies are scarce. In the context of the constraints imposed by the SGP, it is crucial for EU New Member States and acceding countries to estimate the macroeconomic impact of discretionary fiscal intervention. This article focuses on the effects of government expenditure on short-term output in the Bulgarian economy a few years prior to EU accession. It finds that government investment affects real growth in a Keynesian fashion while transfers and public consumption exhibit non-Keynesian behaviour. The cyclically adjusted components of the general government budget, computed by HP filter, form the basis of the analysis. The results support the conclusions of relevant studies about advanced European economies.     

Union growth in The Netherlands 1961–1989

An empirical analysis is presented of union growth in The Netherlands over the past decades. The analysis shows that the effect of changes in the industrial structure is very small. It appears that union growth is influenced by wage growth and by unemployment. If real wages increase more than labour productivity or if unemployment declines union membership increases.