Evaluating the economic significance of downward nominal wage rigidity

Elsby, Michael W. L. (2005) Evaluating the economic significance of downward nominal wage rigidity. CEPDP (704). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK. ISBN 00753019019

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Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the literature on downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) along two dimensions. First, we formulate and solve an explicit model of wage-setting in the presence of worker resistance to nominal wage cuts - something that has previously been considered intractable. In particular, we show that this resistance renders wage increases (partially) irreversible. Second, using this model, we can explain why previous estimates of the macroeconomic effects of DNWR have been so weak despite remarkably robust microeconomic evidence. In particular, we show that previous studies have neglected the possibility that DNWR can lead to a compression of wage increases as well as decreases. Thus, the literature may have been overstating the costs of DNWR to firms. Using micro-data for the US and Great Britain, we find robust evidence in support of the predictions of the model. In the light of this evidence, we conclude that increased wage pressure due to DNWR may not be as large as previously envisaged, but that the data is nevertheless consistent with a model in which workers resist nominal wage cuts.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 2005 Michael W. L. Elsby
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment > E24 - Macroeconomics: Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution (includes wage indexation) E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E31 - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J30 - General J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J41 - Contracts: Specific Human Capital, Matching Models, Efficiency Wage Models, and Internal Labor Markets
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2008 14:59
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/19882

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