Economic theory and econometric dynamics in modelling wages and prices in the United Kingdom

We show that a “competing claims” model of imperfect competition can explain the movements of wages and prices in the United Kingdom, using quarterly data covering 1976–93. We argue that careful attention both to economic theory and to the interaction between dynamics and identification is crucial in the building of the model and to dynamic econometric models in general. We use a small numerical example with simulated cointegrated data to illustrate the potential pitfalls. First version received: January 1998/final version received: November 1998     

Schooling, Training, Growth and Minimum Wages

We examine how the long-run growth performance of an economy is affected by a labor market distortion. In our model, growth occurs through skill formation, and skills are generated through schooling and training of unskilled workers. We analyze how a minimum wage legislation affects long-run growth. In general, the effects are ambiguous. The reason is that while a minimum wage discourages training, it also encourages schooling. The net effect then depends on whether training or schooling dominates the long-run increases in labor productivity.
JEL classification : I 20, J 31, O 40     

The Part-Time Wage Gap: a Career Perspective

Summary  Because promotions are an important source of wage growth, we argue that the low incidence of promotions among part-time workers will contribute to the emergence of the part-time wage gap. We test this claim using Dutch employer–employee matched data. We find that the part-time wage gap is absent among young school leavers, but that it is well established among more mature workers. Moreover, we find that promotions account for a wage growth of about eight log points. Finally, workers in part-time jobs experience a lower rate of promotion relative to workers in full-time jobs. We are grateful to the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment for granting access to the data. The paper greatly benefited from comments by Daniel Hamermesh, Jonathan Wadsworth, and seminar participants at ZEW in Mannheim, at WPEG conference at York University and Tilburg University. We are also indebted to two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions that substantially improved the quality of the paper. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Multiple Wage Bargaining Systems in the Single European Currency Area

Little attention in the EMU literature has been paid to the interaction between centralbank monetary rules and systems of collective wage bargaining. Analytically andempirically, coordinated wage bargaining systems respond with real wage restraintto non-accommodating monetary policy. Since wage determination is dominated bycollective bargaining in all the EMU member states and wage coordination within themember states has grown since 1980, this is a topic of potential importance. In particular, the replacement of the Bundesbank, directly targeting German inflation, by an ECB targeting European inflation has removed a major institutional support of wage restraint in Germany. The consequences of this for EMU are worked out under two scenarios, that inflation expectations will be generated by ECB monetary policy and that they will reflect German inflation outcomes. Possible institutional developments are discussed including government-union bargains. The Bundesbank has also played a major role in maintaining fiscal rectitude by targeting excess fiscal deficits in Germany: again its replacement by the ECB – targeting (if at all) European rather than German fiscal policy – loosens fiscal constraints. For underlying structural reasons therefore, it is possible that Germany and other EMU countries will move to a period of fiscal activism with wage restraint and low inflation purchased through social contract negotiations.     

The impact of health on wages: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

While income is generally considered an important determinant of health, little evidence has been offered on the reverse relationship, particularly for developed economies. This paper considers the effect of self-assessed general and psychological health on hourly wages using longitudinal data from six waves of the British Household Panel Survey. We employ single equation fixed effects and random effects instrumental variable estimators suggested by Hausman and Taylor (1981), Amemiya and MaCurdy (1986), and Breusch, Mizon and Schmidt (1989). Our results show that reduced psychological health reduces the hourly wage for males, while excellent self-assessed health increases the hourly wage for females. We also find the health variables to be positively correlated with the time-invariant individual effect. Further, we confirm the findings of previous work which suggested that the majority of the efficiency gains from the use of the instrumental variables estimators fall on the time-invariant endogenous variables, in our case academic attainment, and add further support to the hypothesis of a negative correlation between educational attainment and individual characteristics which affect wages. First version received: January 2000/Final version received: October 2000     

新古典工资决定理论的缺陷与马克思工资决定理论的替代性解决

解释工资差异的理论同时就是解释工资决定的理论。在新古典工资决定理论中,边际生产力工资理论只能解释劳动力质量不同造成的工资差异,不能解释劳动力质量相同时的工资差异现象。新古典经济学新发展的工资理论中,只有补偿工资理论专门针对同质劳动力工资差异进行了解释,而效率工资、竞赛工资、资历工资等理论并没有明确区分两种不同类型的工资差异。各种新古典工资理论由于都建立在不符合现实的假定基础上,不能很好地解释现实中的工资决定和工资差异。马克思的工资理论对劳动力价值和劳动力价格进行了区分,能对两种不同类型的工资差异做出更符合实际的解释。     

新古典工资决定理论的缺陷与马克思工资决定理论的替代性解决

解释工资差异的理论同时就是解释工资决定的理论。在新古典工资决定理论中,边际生产力工资理论只能解释劳动力质量不同造成的工资差异,不能解释劳动力质量相同时的工资差异现象。新古典经济学新发展的工资理论中,只有补偿工资理论专门针对同质劳动力工资差异进行了解释,而效率工资、竞赛工资、资历工资等理论并没有明确区分两种不同类型的工资差异。各种新古典工资理论由于都建立在不符合现实的假定基础上,不能很好地解释现实中的工资决定和工资差异。马克思的工资理论对劳动力价值和劳动力价格进行了区分,能对两种不同类型的工资差异做出更符合实际的解释。     

Does the Gap in Family‐friendly Policies Drive the Family Gap?*

Segregation of the labour market into a family‐friendly and a non‐family‐friendly sector implies that women self‐select into sectors depending on institutional constraints, preferences for family‐friendly working conditions and expected wage differences. We take this sector dimension into account and find a severe penalty after birth‐related leave in the non‐family‐friendly sector, so that women who would be affected by this penalty self‐select into the family‐friendly sector. The penalty is a combination of a large human‐capital depreciation effect, a child penalty and no recovery.     

FDI and wage spillovers in Indonesian manufacturing

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment in Indonesian manufacturing on wages in locally owned Indonesian manufacturing plants. The issue is examined in a cross section of Indonesian manufacturing industries and provinces in one of the few years for which data on worker characteristics were available. Wages in locally owned plants were high in industries and industries within provinces with large foreign presence. Since the foreign plants also pay higher wages than locally owned ones, the two factors together imply that higher foreign presence raises the general wage level in a province and industry. JEL no. F2, J3 This paper was prepared as part of an ICSEAD project on “Foreign Multinational Corporations and Host-Country Labor Markets in Asia”. Earlier versions appeared as ICSEAD Working Paper 2001–02 and NBER Working Paper No. 8299.     

IN SEARCH OF A STYLISED FACT: DO REAL WAGES EXHIBIT A CONSISTENT PATTERN OF CYCLICAL VARIABILITY?

Abstract. The paper surveys the studies on the cyclical behaviour of real wages published from the twenties onwards. Both traditional simple neoclassical and keynesian models of the labour market suggest that real wages tend to move countercyclically. However, from a theoretical viewpoint, there are few reasons to expect this behaviour, once the simple model is extended to account for imperfect competition, uncertainty, lagged responses, or contracting between firms and workers. Empirical studies give different answers to the problem. The contributions reviewed in the paper are arranged roughly in chronological order: the interwar period, the postwar pre-econometric studies, the econometric work using aggregate data, the evidence produced on the basis of longitudinal data, the analyses of the shock-responsiveness of real wages, and, finally, the most recent papers attempting a reconciliation of the somewhat conflicting evidence derived from aggregate and panel data.