IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/iecrev/v53y2012i2p569-592.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reference Norms, Staggered Wages, And Wage Leadership: Theoretical Implications And Empirical Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Knell
  • Alfred Stiglbauer

Abstract

This article presents an extension of the Taylor model with staggered wages in which wage setting is also influenced by reference norms. We show that reference norms can considerably increase the persistence of inflation but that the size of this effect depends on the exact definition (e.g., external vs. internal, symmetric vs. asymmetric norms). Using data on collectively bargained wages in Austria from 1980 to 2006 we show that wage setting is strongly influenced by reference norms, that external norms seem to matter more than internal norms, and that there is a clear indication for the existence of wage leadership (asymmetric norms).

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Knell & Alfred Stiglbauer, 2012. "Reference Norms, Staggered Wages, And Wage Leadership: Theoretical Implications And Empirical Evidence," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(2), pages 569-592, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:569-592
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2012.00692.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2354.2012.00692.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-2354.2012.00692.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hsiao, C. & Pesaran, M.H., 2004. "‘Random Coefficient Panel Data Models’," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0434, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Jeremy Rudd & Karl Whelan, 2006. "Can Rational Expectations Sticky-Price Models Explain Inflation Dynamics?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 303-320, March.
    3. V. V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2000. "Sticky Price Models of the Business Cycle: Can the Contract Multiplier Solve the Persistence Problem?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1151-1180, September.
    4. Jonas Agell & Per Lundborg, 2003. "Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(1), pages 15-30, March.
    5. Gali, Jordi & Gertler, Mark, 1999. "Inflation dynamics: A structural econometric analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 195-222, October.
    6. Jean-Pierre Danthine & Andre Kurmann, 2004. "Fair Wages in a New Keynesian Model of the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(1), pages 107-142, January.
    7. William T. Dickens & Lorenz Goette & Erica L. Groshen & Steinar Holden & Julian Messina & Mark E. Schweitzer & Jarkko Turunen & Melanie E. Ward, 2007. "How Wages Change: Micro Evidence from the International Wage Flexibility Project," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 195-214, Spring.
    8. Taylor, John B, 1980. "Aggregate Dynamics and Staggered Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(1), pages 1-23, February.
    9. N. Gregory Mankiw & Ricardo Reis, 2002. "Sticky Information versus Sticky Prices: A Proposal to Replace the New Keynesian Phillips Curve," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1295-1328.
    10. Frank Smets & Rafael Wouters, 2007. "Shocks and Frictions in US Business Cycles: A Bayesian DSGE Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 586-606, June.
    11. Knell, Markus, 2013. "Nominal and real wage rigidities. In theory and in Europe," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 89-105.
    12. J. Lindquist & Roger Vilhelmsson, 2006. "Is the Swedish central government a wage leader?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(14), pages 1617-1625.
    13. Lawrence J. Christiano & Martin Eichenbaum & Charles L. Evans, 2005. "Nominal Rigidities and the Dynamic Effects of a Shock to Monetary Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 1-45, February.
    14. Huang, Kevin X. D. & Liu, Zheng, 2002. "Staggered price-setting, staggered wage-setting, and business cycle persistence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 405-433, March.
    15. Swamy, P A V B, 1970. "Efficient Inference in a Random Coefficient Regression Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(2), pages 311-323, March.
    16. Danthine, Jean-Pierre & Kurmann, Andre, 2006. "Efficiency wages revisited: The internal reference perspective," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 278-284, February.
    17. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Smith, Ron, 1995. "Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 79-113, July.
    18. Jean Imbs & Eric Jondeau & Florian Pelgrin, 2006. "Aggregating Phillips curves," 2006 Meeting Papers 640, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Buiter, Willem H & Jewitt, Ian, 1981. "Staggered Wage Setting with Real Wage Relativities: Variations on a Theme of Taylor," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 49(3), pages 211-228, September.
    20. Roberts, John M, 1995. "New Keynesian Economics and the Phillips Curve," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 975-984, November.
    21. Knell, Markus, 2013. "Nominal and real wage rigidities. In theory and in Europe," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 89-105.
    22. Ascari, Guido, 2000. "Optimising Agents, Staggered Wages and Persistence in the Real Effects of Money Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(465), pages 664-686, July.
    23. Galí, Jordi & Gertler, Mark, 1999. "Inflation Dynamics: A Structural Economic Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 2246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    24. de la Croix, David & de Walque, Gregory & Wouters, Rafael, 2009. "A Note On Inflation Persistence In A Fair Wage Model Of The Business Cycle," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(5), pages 673-684, November.
    25. Knell, Markus & Stiglbauer, Alfred, 2009. "The impact of reference norms on inflation persistence when wages are staggered," Working Paper Series 1047, European Central Bank.
    26. Stephen G. Cecchetti & Guy Debelle, 2006. "Has the inflation process changed? [‘Did the underlying behaviour of inflation change in the 1980s? A study of 22 countries,’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 21(46), pages 312-352.
    27. Jeanne, Olivier, 1998. "Generating real persistent effects of monetary shocks: How much nominal rigidity do we really need?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1009-1032, June.
    28. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2007. "Are Real Wages Rigid Downwards?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1983, CESifo.
    29. Franz Traxler & Bernd Brandl & Vera Glassner, 2008. "Pattern Bargaining: An Investigation into its Agency, Context and Evidence," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(1), pages 33-58, March.
    30. Mark Gertler & Antonella Trigari, 2009. "Unemployment Fluctuations with Staggered Nash Wage Bargaining," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(1), pages 38-86, February.
    31. Ascari, Guido & Garcia, Juan A., 2004. "Relative wage concern: the missing piece in the contract multiplier?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 343-369, December.
    32. Guido Ascari, 2003. "Price/Wage Staggering and Persistence: A Unifying Framework," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(4), pages 511-540, September.
    33. Mirko Abbritti; Sebastian Weber, 2008. "Labor Market Rigidities and the Business Cycle: Price vs. Quantity Restricting Institutions," IHEID Working Papers 01-2008, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies, revised Jan 2008.
    34. Carl M. Campbell III & Kunal S. Kamlani, 1997. "The Reasons for Wage Rigidity: Evidence from a Survey of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 759-789.
    35. Robert E. Hall, 2005. "Employment Fluctuations with Equilibrium Wage Stickiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 50-65, March.
    36. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1983. "Staggered prices in a utility-maximizing framework," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 383-398, September.
    37. Agell, Jonas & Bennmarker, Helge, 2007. "Wage incentives and wage rigidity: A representative view from within," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 347-369, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gerhard Fenz & Christian Ragacs & Alfred Stiglbauer, 2019. "Aggregate wage developments in Austria since the introduction of the euro," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 19/Q1-Q2, pages 41-56.
    2. Camarero, Mariam & D'Adamo, Gaetano & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2014. "Wage leadership models: A country-by-country analysis of the EMU," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(S1), pages 2-11.
    3. Rainer Eppel & Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger & Julia Bock-Schappelwein, 2014. "Kennzeichen des österreichischen Arbeitsmarktes im EU-Vergleich," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 87(11), pages 755-766, November.
    4. Benjamin Bittschi, 2023. "Lohnführerschaft in Österreich: Relikt der Vergangenheit oder sozialpartnerschaftlicher Dauerbrenner?," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 49(2), pages 79-101.
    5. Gerhard Fenz & Christian Ragacs & Alfred Stiglbauer, 2019. "Aggregate wage developments in Austria since the introduction of the euro," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q-1-Q2/19, pages 41-56.
    6. Andreas Wörgötter & Sihle Nomdebevana, 2020. "Aggregate Public-Private Remuneration Patterns in South Africa," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 48(4), pages 461-474, December.
    7. Rauf Gönenç & Oliver Röhn & Christian Beer & Andreas Wörgötter, 2013. "Responding to Key Well-being Challenges in Austria," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1080, OECD Publishing.
    8. Simon Jäger & Benjamin Schoefer & Samuel Young & Josef Zweimüller, 2020. "Wages and the Value of Nonemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1905-1963.
    9. Knell, Markus, 2013. "Nominal and real wage rigidities. In theory and in Europe," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 89-105.
    10. Fernando Martins, 2013. "Survey evidence on price and wage rigidities in Portugal," Working Papers w201312, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    11. Gautier, Erwan & Roux, Sébastien & Suarez Castillo, Milena, 2022. "How do wage setting institutions affect wage rigidity? Evidence from French micro data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Philipp Gerhartinger & Philipp Haunschmid & Dennis Tamesberger, 2017. "How to explain Wage Growth Slowdown in Austria? A sectoral-panel analysis of collectively bargained minimum wages," ICAE Working Papers 58, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Markus Knell & Alfred Stiglbauer, 2009. "The Impact of Reference Norms on Inflation Persistence When Wages are Staggered," Working Papers 153, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    2. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:153:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Karanassou, Marika & Sala, Hector & Snower, Dennis J., 2005. "A reappraisal of the inflation-unemployment tradeoff," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-32, March.
    4. Taylor, J.B., 2016. "The Staying Power of Staggered Wage and Price Setting Models in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2009-2042, Elsevier.
    5. Marianna Riggi, 2007. "New Keynesian models with labor market rigidities: a critical survey," Working Papers in Public Economics 102, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    6. Knell, Markus, 2013. "Nominal and real wage rigidities. In theory and in Europe," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 89-105.
    7. Mirko Abbritti & Andrea Boitani & Mirella Damiani, 2012. "Labour Market Imperfections, "Divine Coincidence" and Volatility of Employment and Inflation," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 3(1).
    8. Marika Karanassou & Hector Sala & Dennis J. Snower, 2010. "Phillips Curves And Unemployment Dynamics: A Critique And A Holistic Perspective," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 1-51, February.
    9. Mohamed Safouane Ben Aïssa & Olivier Musy, 2011. "The Dynamic Properties Of Alternative Assumptions On Price Adjustment In New Keynesian Models," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 353-384, October.
    10. Jean Imbs & Eric Jondeau & Florian Pelgrin, 2006. "Aggregating Phillips curves," 2006 Meeting Papers 640, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Marianna Riggi, 2010. "Nominal And Real Wage Rigidities In New Keynesian Models: A Critical Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 539-572, July.
    12. Thorvardur Tjörvi Ólafsson, 2006. "The New Keynesian Phillips Curve: In Search of Improvements and Adaptation to the Open Economy," Economics wp31_tjorvi, Department of Economics, Central bank of Iceland.
    13. Christopher Tsoukis & George Kapetanios & Joseph Pearlman, 2011. "Elusive Persistence: Wage And Price Rigidities, The New Keynesian Phillips Curve And Inflation Dynamics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 737-768, September.
    14. Marika Karanassou & Hector Sala, 2012. "Productivity Growth And The Phillips Curve: A Reassessment Of The Us Experience," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 344-366, July.
    15. Mash, Richard, 2002. "New Keynesian Microfoundations Revisited: A Generalised Calvo-Taylor Model and the Desirability of Inflation vs. Price Level Targeting," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 138, Royal Economic Society.
    16. Cassou, Steven P. & Vázquez Pérez, Jesús, 2010. "New Keynesian Model Features that Can Reproduce Lead, Lag and Persistence Patterns," DFAEII Working Papers 1988-088X, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II.
    17. Chris Tsoukis & George Kapetanios & Joseph Pearlman, 2007. "The Elusive Persistence: Wage and Price Rigidities, the Phillips Curve, and Inflation Dynamics," Working Papers 619, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    18. Driscoll, John C. & Holden, Steinar, 2014. "Behavioral economics and macroeconomic models," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 133-147.
    19. Danthine, Jean-Pierre & Kurmann, André, 2010. "The business cycle implications of reciprocity in labor relations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 837-850, October.
    20. Marika Karanassou & Dennis J. Snower, 2007. "Inflation Persistence and the Phillips Curve Revisited," Working Papers 586, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    21. Karanassou, Marika & Snower, Dennis J., 2007. "Inflation persistence and the Philips curve revisited," Kiel Working Papers 1349, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:53:y:2012:i:2:p:569-592. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deupaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.