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Bargaining Structure and Nominal Wage Flexibility

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  • Groth, Charlotta

    () (Bank of England)

  • Johansson, Åsa

    () (OECD)

Abstract

In a model with heterogenous agents, wage setting by monopoly unions and monetary policy conducted by a central bank, we show that the duration of nominal wage contracts is u-shaped in the degree of centralization, with intermediate bargaining systems yielding contracts of shorter duration and thus more flexible nominal wages than both decentralized and centralized systems. We also find the optimal level of centralization of wage bargaining to be negatively related to the degree of heterogeneity in the economy. The theoretical predictions of the model are tested on OECD data. There is empirical support for the main results regarding contract length, while there is less support for the predictions regarding the level of centralization.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies in its series Seminar Papers with number 709.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: 16 May 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:iiessp:0709

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Postal: Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46-8-162000
Fax: +46-8-161443
Web page: http://www.iies.su.se/
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Keywords: nominal wage flexibility; contract length; bargaining structure; monetary policy;

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Holden, Steinar, 2005. "Monetary regimes and the co-ordination of wage setting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 833-843, May.
  2. Graham, Liam & Snower, Dennis J., 2011. "Hyperbolic Discounting and Positive Optimal Inflation," IZA Discussion Papers 5694, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Liam Graham & Dennis J. Snower, 2007. "Hyperbolic Discounting and the Phillips Curve," Kiel Working Papers 1346, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
  4. Fregert, Klas & Jonung, Lars, 2008. "Inflation Targeting Is a Success, So Far: 100 Years of Evidence from Swedish Wage Contracts," Economics Discussion Papers 2008-24, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
  5. Groth, Charlotta & Johansson, Asa, 2004. "Bargaining structure and nominal wage flexibility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1349-1365, December.
  6. Lombardo, Giovanni, 2004. "Inflation targeting rules and welfare in an asymmetric currency area," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2004,04, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre.
  7. Arpaia, Alfonso & Pichelmann, Karl, 2007. "Nominal and real wage flexibility in EMU," MPRA Paper 4364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  8. Klas Fregert & Lars Jonung, 2007. "Policy rule evaluation by contract-makers: 100 years of wage contract length in Sweden," European Economy - Economic Papers 270, Directorate General Economic and Monetary Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  9. Orietta DESSY, 2004. "Nominal wage flexibility and institutions: preliminary micro-evidence from the Europanel," Departmental Working Papers 2004-17, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
  10. Orietta DESSY, 2005. "Nominal wage rigidity in Europe: estimates and institutional causes," Departmental Working Papers 2005-09, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.

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