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Sticky wages. Evidence from quarterly microeconomic data

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Author Info
Thomas Heckel () (BNP Paribas Asset Management, 5 avenue Kleber, 75016 Paris, France.)
Hervé Le Bihan () (Banque de France, Direction de la Recherche, DGEI-DIR-Rec.n 41-1391, 31 rue Croix-des-petits-champs, 75049 Paris Cedex 01, France.)
Jérémi Montornès () (Banque de France, Direction de la Recherche, 31 rue Croix-des-petits-champs, 75049 Paris Cedex 01, France.)

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Abstract

This paper documents nominal wage stickiness using an original quarterly firm-level dataset. We use the ACEMO survey, which reports the base wage for up to 12 employee categories in French .rms over the period 1998 to 2005, and obtain the following main results. First, the quarterly frequency of wage change is around 35 percent. Second, there is some downward rigidity in the base wage. Third, wage changes are mainly synchronized within firms but to a large extent staggered across firms. Fourth, standard Calvo or Taylor schemes fail to match micro wage adjustment patterns, but fixed duration 'Taylor-like'wage contracts are observed for a minority of firms. Based on a two-thresholds sample selection model, we perform an econometric analysis of wage changes. Our results suggest that the timing of wage adjustments is not state-dependent, and are consistent with existence of predetermined of wage changes. They also suggest that both backward- and forward-looking behavior is relevant in wage setting. JEL Classification: E24, J3.

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Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number 893.

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Length: 56 pages
Date of creation: May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080893

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Keywords: Wage stickiness; wage predetermination.;

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  6. Taylor, John B., 1999. "Staggered price and wage setting in macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 1009-1050 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Fougère, Denis & Le Bihan, Hervé & Sevestre, Patrick, 2005. "Heterogeneity in Consumer Price Stickiness: A Microeconometric Investigation," CEPR Discussion Papers 5300, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. George A. Akerlof & William R. Dickens & George L. Perry, 1996. "The Macroeconomics of Low Inflation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1996-1), pages 1-76. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Carlos Carvalho, 2005. "Heterogeneity in Price Setting and the Real Effects of Monetary Shocks," Macroeconomics 0509017, EconWPA, revised 12 Sep 2005. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Fehr, Ernst & Goette, Lorenz, 2005. "Robustness and real consequences of nominal wage rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 779-804, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. 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," Staff Reports 275, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
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  24. Fischer, Stanley, 1977. "Long-Term Contracts, Rational Expectations, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 191-205, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Peter Gottschalk, 2005. "Downward Nominal-Wage Flexibility: Real or Measurement Error?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(3), pages 556-568, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. 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.
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  28. Laurent Baudry & Hervé Le Bihan & Patrick Sevestre & Sylvie Tarrieu, 2007. "What do Thirteen Million Price Records have to Say about Consumer Price Rigidity?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(2), pages 139-183, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Erwan Gautier, 2006. "The behaviour of producer prices - some evidence from the French PPI micro data," Working Paper Series 699, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
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  1. Alvarez González, Luis Julián, 2008. "What Do Micro Price Data Tell Us on the Validity of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 2(19), pages 1-36. [Downloadable!]
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