Recent research on the Great Depression has concluded that a worldwide decline in aggregate demand, emanating from the United States, was propagated into a fall in real activity through sticky nominal wages. The question remains: Why were nominal wages so sticky? I examine two hypotheses based on relative wage setting. Based on a wide range of evidence for Sweden, I argue that the 1920-22 depression is compatible with the staggered wage contract model and the 1930s depression with the co-ordination failure model.
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Paper provided by Lund University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number
1999:2.
Length: 43 pages Date of creation: 04 Mar 1999 Date of revision:
21 Apr 1999 Publication status: Published in Deflation. Current and historical perspectives., Burdekin, Richard, Siklos, Pierre (eds.), 2004, chapter 4, pages 91-130, Cambridge University Press. Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:1999_002
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Find related papers by JEL classification: E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
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