Lohnstarrheit / Wage Rigidity
In Krisenzeiten greifen Arbeitgeberinnen und Arbeitgeber eher auf Entlassungen als auf das Mittel der Nominallohnsenkung zurück. Dies kann am Einfluss der Gewerkschaften, an unflexiblen Lohnsystemen der Firmen oder auch an Fairnessnormen liegen. Welche Auswirkungen haben nach unten starre Löhne auf dem Arbeitsmarkt? Führen sie in Verbindung mit einer niedrigen Inflationsrate zu höherer Arbeitslosigkeit? Diese IAB-Infoplattform präsentiert wissenschaftliche Literatur zum Thema Abwärtslohnrigidität.
In times of crisis, employers tend to resort to dismissals instead of the medium of reduction in nominal wages. This may be due to the influence of the trade unions, the inflexibility of company wage systems, or possibly also norms of fairness. What effect do downwardly rigid wages have on the labour market? Do they lead - in conjunction with a lower inflation rate - to higher unemployment? This IAB info platform presents scientific literature on the topic of downward wage rigidity.
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Literaturhinweis
Are wages rigid over the business cycle? (2010)
Zitatform
Kudlyak, Marianna (2010): Are wages rigid over the business cycle? In: Economic Quarterly, Jg. 96, H. 2, S. 179-199.
Abstract
"Search models of the labor market suggest that a significant determinant of job creation decisions by firms is the expected value of the initial and future real wages that firms have to pay to workers in newly formed employment relationships. Until recently, the focus of the empirical literature has been on the cyclical behavior of the current wage, but not on the cyclical behavior of the expected present discounted value of future wages within a match. This article reviews the empirical literature on the cyclicality of real wages of workers in continuing employment relationships, wages of newly hired workers, and a measure of wages that takes into account future wages within employment relationships. The existing evidence suggests that the real wage most relevant for job creation decisions appears to be quite flexible over the business cycle. Thus, the wage data do not support the rigidity necessary to generate the empirical volatility of unemployment in the standard search and matching model." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Real price and wage rigidities with matching frictions (2010)
Kuester, Keith;Zitatform
Kuester, Keith (2010): Real price and wage rigidities with matching frictions. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 57, H. 4, S. 466-477. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2010.04.001
Abstract
"Frictional unemployment means that workers, for some time, are a firm-specific factor of production. This paper models the resulting interaction of wage bargaining and price setting at the firm level in a New Keynesian model with labor market matching frictions. Real rigidities arise and the labor share ceases to be a good proxy for marginal costs. The model replicates the impulse responses of an SVAR for U.S. data better than alternatives in which the real rigidities arising at the firm level are absent. In addition, it implies reasonably low degrees of nominal rigidity whereas the alternatives do not. The interaction of wage and price setting at the firm level is important for the macroeconomic dynamics." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Reciprocity and downward wage rigidity (2010)
Lin, Chung-Cheng; Yang, C. C.;Zitatform
Lin, Chung-Cheng & C. C. Yang (2010): Reciprocity and downward wage rigidity. In: Journal of macroeconomics, Jg. 32, H. 4, S. 1155-1168. DOI:10.1016/j.jmacro.2010.07.002
Abstract
"The employment relationship is to a large extent characterized by incomplete contracts, in which workers have a considerable degree of discretion over the choice of their work effort. This discretion at work kicks in the potential importance of 'gift exchange' or reciprocity between workers and employers in their employment relationship. Built on the seminal work of Akerlof (1980), this paper adopts a social norm approach to model reciprocity in labor markets and theoretically derives two versions of downward wage rigidity. The first version explains why employers may adopt a high wage policy far above the competitive level. This version is not a novel finding in the existing literature and is mainly served as a benchmark for later comparison in the current paper. Our main contribution lies in the second version in which not only may employers adopt a high wage policy far above the competitive level, but one can also account for the asymmetric behavior of wages and explain why employers are hesitant about wage cuts in the presence of negative shocks. We argue that this second and stronger version of downward wage rigidity has moved the efficiency wage theory a step forward." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Downward wage rigidity and automatic wage indexation: evidence from monthly micro wage data (2010)
Zitatform
Lünnemann, Patrick & Ladislav Wintr (2010): Downward wage rigidity and automatic wage indexation. Evidence from monthly micro wage data. (European Central Bank. Working paper series 1269), Frankfurt am Main, 48 S.
Abstract
"This paper assesses the degree of downward wage rigidity in Luxembourg using an administrative monthly data set on individual wages covering the entire economy over the period from January 2001 to January 2007. After limiting for measurement error, which would otherwise bias downwards the estimates of wage rigidity, we conclude that nearly all workers in Luxembourg are potentially subject to downward real wage rigidity. Our results are robust to different procedures to adjust for measurement error and methods for estimation of downward wage rigidity. We report relatively small differences in the frequency of nominal wage cuts across occupational groups and sectors. In addition, the observed rigidity does not seem to be driven predominantly by the absence of negative shocks. We show that the real wage rigidity is related to the automatic wage indexation, while additional factors might be necessary to explain the high degree of downward wage rigidity." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Downward wage rigidity in a model of equal treatment contracting (2010)
Zitatform
Martins, Pedro, Andy Snell & Jonathan P. Thomas (2010): Downward wage rigidity in a model of equal treatment contracting. In: The Scandinavian journal of economics, Jg. 112, H. 4, S. 841-863. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9442.2010.01628.x
Abstract
"Following insights by Bewley (1999a), this paper analyses a model with downward rigidities in which firms cannot pay discriminately based on year of entry to the firm, and develops an equilibrium model of wages and unemployment. We solve for the dynamics of wages and unemployment under conditions of downward wage rigidity, where forward-looking firms take into account these constraints. We show that there is a frontloading incentive that leads to a simple solution in the case of certainty. Using productivity data from the postwar US economy, we analyse the ability of the model to match certain stylised labour market facts." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The incidence of nominal and real wage rigidity: an individual-based sectoral approach (2010)
Messina, Julian; Hansen, Niels Lynggard; Duarte, Claudia Filipa; Du Caju, Philip; Izquierdo, Mario;Zitatform
Messina, Julian, Claudia Filipa Duarte, Mario Izquierdo, Philip Du Caju & Niels Lynggard Hansen (2010): The incidence of nominal and real wage rigidity. An individual-based sectoral approach. In: Journal of the European Economic Association, Jg. 8, H. 2/3, S. 487-496. DOI:10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00519.x
Abstract
"This paper presents estimates based on individual data of downward nominal and real wage rigidities for 13 sectors in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal. Our methodology follows the approach recently developed for the International Wage Flexibility Project, whereby resistance to nominal and real wage cuts is measured through departures of observed individual wage change histograms from an estimated counterfactual wage change distribution that would have prevailed in the absence of rigidity. Our estimates of wage rigidities are set against structural features of the labour markets studied, including the wage bargaining level and the degree of product market competition." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Downward nominal wage rigidity in services: direct evidence from a firm survey (2010)
Zitatform
Radowski, Daniel & Holger Bonin (2010): Downward nominal wage rigidity in services. Direct evidence from a firm survey. In: Economics Letters, Jg. 106, H. 3, S. 227-229. DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2009.12.006
Abstract
"The paper uses a new German employer survey on wage setting to analyze incidence and sources of nominal wage rigidity in services vs. manufacturing. Mainly for fear of excess worker turnover, wage cuts are significantly less frequent in services." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Nominal and real wage rigidities in new Keynesian models: a critical survey (2010)
Riggi, Marianna;Zitatform
Riggi, Marianna (2010): Nominal and real wage rigidities in new Keynesian models. A critical survey. In: Journal of Economic Surveys, Jg. 24, H. 3, S. 539-572. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6419.2009.00599.x
Abstract
"The labour market is receiving increasing attention in the New Keynesian literature. In this paper, I critically survey this literature in order to highlight the role played by wage rigidities in the explanation of fluctuations caused by technology shocks. To this aim, I present a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with sticky prices, nominal wage rigidities and hiring costs. The comparison between this model and that of Blanchard and Gali highlights the non-trivial differences which exist in the way nominal wage and real wage rigidities drive the economy's dynamics. My conclusion is that models incorporating nominal wage rigidities and some degree of price stickiness provide a better account of macroeconomic dynamics than models with real wage rigidities." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Nominal vs real wage rigidities in new Keynesian models with hiring costs: a Bayesian evaluation (2010)
Zitatform
Riggi, Marianna & Massimiliano Tancioni (2010): Nominal vs real wage rigidities in new Keynesian models with hiring costs. A Bayesian evaluation. In: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Jg. 34, H. 7, S. 1305-1324. DOI:10.1016/j.jedc.2010.03.001
Abstract
"The inclusion of labor market frictions in the new Keynesian DSGE model overcomes the main drawbacks of the baseline framework. In this paper we show that this extended model, by assuming real wage rigidities, does not replicate the correct wage dynamics and the negative conditional correlation between technology shocks and employment observed in the data, known as the 'productivity-employment puzzle'. We show also that these empirical limitations can be overcome by replacing real wage rigidities with nominal wage rigidities, without sacrificing other appealing features of the model. We adopt a Bayesian perspective to estimate the dynamic properties of the model with real wage rigidities and compare them with those of the model with nominal wage rigidities. We show that the evidence favors this latter construction." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Hoover's truce: Wage rigidity in the onset of the Great Depression (2010)
Rose, Jonathan D.;Zitatform
Rose, Jonathan D. (2010): Hoover's truce: Wage rigidity in the onset of the Great Depression. In: The Journal of Economic History, Jg. 70, H. 4, S. 843-870. DOI:10.1017/S0022050710000744
Abstract
"This article analyzes President Herbert Hoover's role in causing wage rigidity during the onset of the Great Depression, through two conferences in which he encouraged business leaders to maintain high wages. New data on the set of firms and trade associations attending these conferences provides evidence that Hoover's conferences delayed the cuts in hourly wages at a small number of large firms, although this result may have been due to characteristics of the particular industries the firms represented. In a cross-section of industries, there is no evidence that industry representation at the December conference affected the timing of wage cuts." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Does wage persistence matter for employment fluctuations?: evidence from displaced workers (2010)
Zitatform
Schmieder, Johannes F. & Till von Wachter (2010): Does wage persistence matter for employment fluctuations? Evidence from displaced workers. In: American Economic Journal. Applied Economics, Jg. 2, H. 3, S. 1-21. DOI:10.1257/app.2.3.1
Abstract
"Previous literature has found that tight labor market conditions during a job raise wages. Using the Displaced Worker Survey from 1984 to 2006, we show that wage gains associated with good labor market conditions disappear at job loss. We also find that workers with higher wages due to tight past labor market conditions face higher risk of layoff. These findings suggest an important role of persistent rigidities in the wage setting process that are related to layoff decisions. This supports the notion that downward rigid employment contracts help explain the Shimer (2005) 'puzzle' of low wage relative to employment fluctuations." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Does downward nominal wage rigidity dampen wage increases? (2010)
Zitatform
Stüber, Heiko & Thomas Beissinger (2010): Does downward nominal wage rigidity dampen wage increases? (IAB-Discussion Paper 16/2010), Nürnberg, 32 S.
Abstract
"Viele empirische Studien, die die Komprimierung von Lohnkürzungen betrachteten, finden einen hohen Grad an Abwärtsnominallohnstarrheit (ANLS). Die resultierenden makroökonomischen Effekte scheinen jedoch überraschend gering zu sein. Dieser Widerspruch kann in einem intertemporalen Rahmen erklärt werden, in dem ANLS nicht nur Nominallohnkürzungen verhindert, sondern auch dazu führt, dass Firmen Lohnerhöhungen komprimieren. Wir analysieren mit Hilfe von Unconditional Quantile Regression und Seemingly Unrelated Regression, ob eine Komprimierung von Lohnerhöhungen stattfindet wenn ANLS vorliegt. Der hierfür genutzt Datensatz umfasst mehr als 169 Millionen Lohnänderungen. Wir finden Evidenz für eine Komprimierung von Lohnerhöhungen und nur sehr geringe Effekte von ALNS auf das durchschnittliche Reallohnwachstum. Die Ergebnisse deuten daraufhin, dass ANLS kein starkes Argument gegen die Zielsetzung niedriger Inflationsraten liefert." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Some macroeconomic and monetary policy implications of new micro evidence on wage dynamics (2010)
Walque, Gregory De; Krause, Michael ; Millard, Stephen; Jimeno, Juan; Smets, Frank ; Bihan, Herve Le;Zitatform
Walque, Gregory De, Michael Krause, Stephen Millard, Juan Jimeno, Herve Le Bihan & Frank Smets (2010): Some macroeconomic and monetary policy implications of new micro evidence on wage dynamics. In: Journal of the European Economic Association, Jg. 8, H. 2-3, S. 506-513. DOI:10.1162/jeea.2010.8.2-3.506
Abstract
"This paper investigates the macroeconomic relevance of new findings regarding nominal wage stickiness, wage indexation, wage staggering and synchronisation, and downward nominal and real wage rigidity in the euro area. Quantifying the relevance of this evidence for monetary policy remains to be fully resolved, but our results suggest that countries with lower indexation and higher wage stickiness for newly hired workers experience higher employment volatility and lower inflation volatility, and that wage staggering and synchronisation of wage changes in particular months result in less persistence in real wages and inflation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Real wage rigidities and the cost of disinflations (2009)
Zitatform
Ascari, Guido & Christian Merkl (2009): Real wage rigidities and the cost of disinflations. In: Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Jg. 41, H. 2/3, S. 417-435. DOI:10.1111/j.1538-4616.2009.00211.x
Abstract
"This paper analyzes the cost of disinflations under real wage rigidities in a micro-founded New Keynesian model. The conventional view is that real wage rigidities can be a useful mechanism to generate a slump in output after a credible disinflationary policy because they prevent the immediate adjustment of inflation. This view is flawed, since it depends on analyzing the model in a linearized framework. Once nonlinearities are taken into account, the results change both qualitatively and quantitatively. Disinflations actually lead to a permanently higher level of output, and real wage rigidities increase the output during the adjustment to the new steady state." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Employment fluctuations with downward wage rigidity: the role of moral hazard (2009)
Zitatform
Costain, James & Marcel Jansen (2009): Employment fluctuations with downward wage rigidity. The role of moral hazard. (IZA discussion paper 4344), Bonn, 45 S.
Abstract
"This paper studies the cyclical dynamics of Mortensen and Pissarides' (1994) model of job creation and destruction when workers' effort is not perfectly observable, as in Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984). An occasionally-binding no-shirking constraint truncates the real wage distribution from below, making firms' share of surplus weakly procyclical, and may thus amplify fluctuations in hiring. It may also cause a burst of inefficient firing at the onset of a recession, separating matches that no longer have sufficient surplus for incentive compatibility. On the other hand, since marginal workers in booms know firms cannot commit to keep them in recessions, they place little value on their jobs and are expensive to motivate. For a realistic calibration, this last effect is by far the strongest; even a moderate degree of moral hazard can eliminate all fluctuation in the separation rate. This casts doubt on Ramey and Watson's (1997) 'contractual fragility' mechanism, and means worker moral hazard only makes the 'unemployment volatility puzzle' worse. However, moral hazard has potential to explain other labor market facts, because it is consistent with small but clearly countercyclical fluctuations in separation rates, and a robust Beveridge curve." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Unemployment and wage rigidity in the European Monetary Union: an empirical investigation (2009)
Dev Roy, Sutanuka;Zitatform
Dev Roy, Sutanuka (2009): Unemployment and wage rigidity in the European Monetary Union. An empirical investigation. Worcester, MA: Clark University, 182 S.
Abstract
"Over the last three decades, unemployment in Europe has been a major problem. It has increased steadily over time, although its pattern of movement has not been homogeneous across the different countries. Moreover, European unemployment is structural in nature. Decline in economic growth, increase in interest rates and technological progress has led to incomplete sectoral shifts or job relocation, resulting in a change in the underlying unemployment rate. With the introduction of a single currency and a common monetary policy in 1999 (formation of the European Monetary Union), the member countries were faced with a new challenge. Without being able to follow an independent monetary policy, and having restricted use of fiscal policy, the European economies were required to look for alternate measures to deal with adverse shocks, and to also reduce unemployment. Using data collected from various sources, and parametric and semi-parametric estimation techniques, the current research attempts to analyze the impact of the European Monetary Union (EMU) on European unemployment, wage rigidity and labor market institutions. Results of individual country analysis indicate that EMU has had mixed impact on the wage rigidities of the member countries which may be attributed to the heterogeneity in the institutional characteristics and tax structures of these countries. However, both real and nominal wage rigidities decreased for the entire group of EMU member countries. Moreover, unemployment and labor costs decreased for most of the member countries post 1999. EMU has also been found to affect real wage pressure factors in such a way as to reduce real wage resistance, improve job search effectiveness, and hence, lower unemployment. This implies that participating countries must have followed labor market reform policies, and made adjustments in the absence of monetary and fiscal policies. This is a positive signal to the would-be members of the EMU. Thus, the findings of this research strongly support our claim that with the formation of the EMU, member countries will have to follow labor market reform policies to deal with external shocks and unemployment issues in the absence of independent monetary policy and restricted use of fiscal policy.." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Understanding sectoral differences in downward real wage rigidity: workforce composition, institutions, technology and competition (2009)
Zitatform
Du Caju, Philip, Catherine Fuss & Ladislav Wintr (2009): Understanding sectoral differences in downward real wage rigidity. Workforce composition, institutions, technology and competition. (European Central Bank. Working paper series 1006), Frankfurt am Main, 44 S.
Abstract
"This paper examines whether differences in wage rigidity across sectors can be explained by differences in workforce composition, competition, technology and wage-bargaining institutions. We adopt the measure of downward real wage rigidity (DRWR) developed by Dickens and Goette (2006) and rely on a large administrative matched employer-employee dataset for Belgium over the period 1990-2002. Firstly, our results indicate that DRWR is significantly higher for white-collar workers and lower for older workers and for workers with higher earnings and bonuses. Secondly, beyond labour force composition effects, sectoral differences in DRWR are related to competition, firm size, technology and wage bargaining institutions. We find that wages are more rigid in more competitive sectors, in labour-intensive sectors, and in sectors with predominant centralised wage setting at the sector level as opposed to firm-level wage agreements." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Evaluating the economic significance of downward nominal wage rigidity (2009)
Zitatform
Elsby, Michael W. L. (2009): Evaluating the economic significance of downward nominal wage rigidity. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 56, H. 2, S. 154-169. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2008.12.003
Abstract
"The existence of downward nominal wage rigidity has been abundantly documented, but what are its economic implications? This paper demonstrates that, even when wages are allocative, downward wage rigidity can be consistent with weak macroeconomic effects. Firms have an incentive to compress wage increases as well as wage cuts when downward wage rigidity binds. By neglecting compression of wage increases, previous literature may have overstated the costs of downward wage rigidity to firms. Using micro-data from the US and Great Britain, I find that the evidence for the compression of wage increases when downward wage rigidity binds. Accounting for this reduces the estimated increase in aggregate wage growth due to wage rigidity to be much closer to zero. These results suggest that downward wage rigidity may not provide a strong argument against the targeting of low inflation rates." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Downward wage rigidity and optimal steady-state inflation (2009)
Zitatform
Fagan, Gabriel & Julián Messina (2009): Downward wage rigidity and optimal steady-state inflation. (European Central Bank. Working paper series 1048), Frankfurt am Main, 60 S.
Abstract
"This paper examines the impact of downward wage rigidity (nominal and real) on optimal steady-state inflation. For this purpose, we extend the workhorse model of Erceg, Henderson and Levin (2000) by introducing asymmetric menu costs for wage setting. We estimate the key parameters by simulated method of moments, matching key features of the cross-sectional distribution of individual wage changes observed in the data. We look at five countries (the US, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Finland). The calibrated heterogeneous agent models are then solved for different steady state rates of inflation to derive welfare implications. We find that, across the European countries considered, the optimal steady-state rate of inflation varies between zero and 2%. For the US, the results depend on the dataset used, with estimates of optimal inflation varying between 2% and 5%." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Wage rigidity and job creation (2009)
Zitatform
Haefke, Christian, Marcus Sonntag & Thijs van Rens (2009): Wage rigidity and job creation. (Kieler Arbeitspapier 1504), Kiel, 44 S.
Abstract
"Standard macroeconomic models underpredict the volatility of unemployment fluctuations. A common solution is to assume wages are rigid. We explore whether this explanation is consistent with the data. We show that the wage of newly hired workers, unlike the aggregate wage, is volatile and responds one-to-one to changes in labor productivity. In order to replicate these findings in a search model, it must be that wages are rigid in ongoing jobs but flexible at the start of new jobs. This form of wage rigidity does not affect job creation and thus cannot explain the unemployment volatility puzzle." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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