This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Wage Policy and Endogenous Wage Rigidity: A Representative View from the Inside

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Agell, Jonas () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)
Bennmarker, Helge () (IFAU)
Abstract

We report the results from a representative survey of human resource managers in 885 Swedish firms. We estimate that during the severe recession of the 1990s, only 1.1 percent of workers took a cut in regular nominal pay. We trace the lack of wage moderation to a combination of exogenous (primarily labor law and collective bargaining contracts) and endogenous factors. Our analysis suggests that (i) endogenous wage rigidity plays an important role in most segments of the labor market, (ii) sources of endogenous wage rigidity differ significantly between the high- and low-end of the labor market, and between large and small firms, and (iii) mechanisms of wage rigidity tend to complement each other. Some of our questions deal with issues in the economics of personnel. We report evidence that job protection tends to reinforce the stigma from long-term unemployment, and that labor market training tends to reduce the same stigma. We show that managers in small organizations have a more negative attitude towards incentive schemes based on relative rewards, and we report evidence suggesting that gender have an impact on attitudes concerning effort and motivation.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.ne.su.se/paper/wp02_12.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Stockholm University, Department of Economics in its series Research Papers in Economics with number 2002:12.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 83 pages
Date of creation: 17 Jun 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2002_0012

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Department of Economics, Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 16 20 00
Fax: +46 8 16 14 25
Email:
Web page: http://www.ne.su.se/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Sten Nyberg).

Related research
Keywords: wage rigidity; survey evidence; effort models; motivation; labor law; long-term unemployment; gender and pay;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Microeconomic Data
E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution
J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gaechter, . "Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocitys," IEW - Working Papers iewwp040, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. David E. Lebow & Raven E. Saks & Beth Anne Wilson, 1999. "Downward nominal wage rigidity: evidence from the employment cost index," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-31, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  3. Shafir, Eldar & Diamond, Peter & Tversky, Amos, 1997. "Money Illusion," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(2), pages 341-74, May.
  4. Baker, George & Gibbs, Michael & Holmstrom, Bengt, 1994. "The Wage Policy of a Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(4), pages 921-55, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Holden, S., 1998. "Wage Drift and the Relevance of Centralised Wage Setting," Memorandum 04/1998, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  6. Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Job security, employment and wages," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-879, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-64, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Akerlof, George A, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 543-69, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Ernst Fehr & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2001. "Does Money Illusion Matter?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1239-1262, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Eckel, Catherine C & Grossman, Philip J, 1998. "Are Women Less Selfish Than Men? Evidence from Dictator Experiments," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(448), pages 726-35, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 2001. "Insiders versus Outsiders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Fehr, Ernst, 2000. "The Robustness and Real Consequences of Nominal Wage Rigidity," CEPR Discussion Papers 2516, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. James B. Rebitzer & Michael D. Robinson, 1991. "Employer Size and Dual Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 3587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Agell, Jonas & Lundborg, Per, 1995. " Theories of Pay and Unemployment: Survey Evidence from Swedish Manufacturing Firms," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 97(2), pages 295-307, June.
  16. Ernst Fehr & Lorenz Goette, 2000. "Robustness and Real Consequences of Nominal Wage Rigidity," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Agell, Susanne Ackum, 1994. "Swedish evidence on the efficiency wage hypothesis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 129-150, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Steinar Holden, 2001. "Does Price Stability Exacerbate Labour Market Rigidities in the EMU?," Empirica, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 403-418, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. 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!]
  20. Albaek, Karsten & Arai, Mahmood & Asplund, Rita & Barth, Erling & Strojer Madsen, Erik, 1998. "Measuring wage effects of plant size," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 425-448, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Dufwenberg, Martin & Kirchsteiger, Georg, 2000. "Reciprocity and wage undercutting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 1069-1078, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Eriksson, S. & Gottfries, N., 2000. "Ranking of Job Applicants, On-the-Job Search and Persistent Unemployment," Papers 2000:3, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
    Other versions:
  23. Acemoglu, Daron & Pischke, Jorn-Steffen, 1999. "Beyond Becker: Training in Imperfect Labour Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(453), pages F112-42, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Bentolila, Samuel & Bertola, Giuseppe, 1990. "Firing Costs and Labour Demand: How Bad Is Eurosclerosis?," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(3), pages 381-402, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Relative Wages, Efficiency Wages, and Keynesian Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 383-88, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Diamond, Peter A, 1994. "Ranking, Unemployment Duration, and Wages," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 417-34, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  27. Steinar Holden, 2002. "The Costs of Price Stability - Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe," NBER Working Papers 8865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  28. Bewley, Truman F., 1998. "Why not cut pay?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 459-490, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Dufwenberg, Martin & Muren, Astri, 2002. "Discrimination by Gender and Social Distance," Research Papers in Economics 2002:2, Stockholm University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  30. Blinder, Alan S & Choi, Don H, 1990. "A Shred of Evidence on Theories of Wage Stickiness," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(4), pages 1003-15, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  31. Kugler, Adriana D. & Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2000. "Hiring and Firing Costs, Adverse Selection and Long-term Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 134, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  32. Assar Lindbeck, 1997. "The Swedish Experiment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1273-1319, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Ernst Fehr & Armin Falk, 1999. "Wage Rigidity in a Competitive Incomplete Contract Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(1), pages 106-134, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  34. Christofides, Louis N. & Stengos, Thanasis, 2001. "Nominal Wage Rigidity: Non-Parametric Tests Based on Union Data for Canada," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  35. Pierre Fortin, 1996. "The Great Canadian Slump," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(4), pages 761-87, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  36. Smith, Jennifer C, 2000. "Nominal Wage Rigidity in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages C176-95, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  37. Ball, Laurence & Romer, David, 1990. "Real Rigidities and the Non-neutrality of Money," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(2), pages 183-203, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  38. Olivier Blanchard & Justin Wolfers, 1999. "The Role of Shocks and Institutions in the Rise of European Unemployment: The Aggregate Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  39. Mahmood Arai, 2003. "Wages, Profits, and Capital Intensity: Evidence from Matched Worker-Firm Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(3), pages 593-618, July. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  40. McLaughlin, Kenneth J., 1994. "Rigid wages?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 383-414, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  41. Oi, Walter Y. & Idson, Todd L., 1999. "Firm size and wages," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 2165-2214 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  42. Peter Howitt, 2002. "Looking Inside the Labor Market: A Review Article," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 125-138, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  43. Nilsson, C., 1992. "The Swedish Model: Labour Market Institutions and Contracts," Papers 1992-4, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
  44. Holden, Steinar, 1994. "Wage bargaining and nominal rigidities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 1021-1039, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  45. Lazear, Edward P, 1989. "Pay Equality and Industrial Politics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 561-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  46. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard, 1986. "Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 728-41, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  47. Levine, David I, 1993. "Fairness, Markets, and Ability to Pay: Evidence from Compensation Executives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1241-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  48. Drago, Robert & Heywood, John S, 1992. "Is Worker Behaviour Consistent with Efficiency Wages?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 39(2), pages 141-53, May.
  49. Holmlund, B. & Zetterberg, J., 1989. "Insider Effects In Wage Determination: Evidence From Five Countries," Papers 1989a, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
    Other versions:
  50. Rabin, Matthew, 1993. "Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1281-1302, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  51. Simon Gächter & Ernst Fehr, . "Fairness in the Labour Market – A Survey of Experimental Results," IEW - Working Papers iewwp114, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  52. Campbell, Carl M, III & Kamlani, Kunal S, 1997. "The Reasons for Wage Rigidity: Evidence from a Survey of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(3), pages 759-89, August.
  53. Forslund, Anders & Kolm, Ann-Sofie, 2000. "Active labour market policies and real-wage determination - Swedish evidence," Working Paper Series 2000:7, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Edin, Per-Anders & Gustavsson, Magnus, 2004. "Time Out of Work and Skill Depreciation," Working Paper Series 2004:14, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher & Elena Tougareva, . "Do High Stakes and Competition Undermine Fairness? Evidence from Russia," IEW - Working Papers iewwp120, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  3. Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2004. "Scarring effects of the first labour market experience: A sibling based analysis," Working Paper Series 2004:14, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  4. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2004. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Böckerman, Petri & Laaksonen, Seppo & Vainiomäki, Jari, 2006. "Micro-level evidence on wage rigidities in Finland," MPRA Paper 1811, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. Wolfgang Franz & Friedhelm Pfeiffer, 2006. "Reasons for Wage Rigidity in Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2017, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Jonas Agell & Helge Bennmarker, 2003. "Endogenous Wage Rigidity," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  8. Erol Taymaz & Sule Ozler, 2004. "Labor Market Policies and EU Accession: Problems and Prospects for Turkey," ERC Working Papers 0405, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Mar 2004. [Downloadable!]
  9. Steinar Holden, 2004. "Wage Formation under Low Inflation," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Agell, Jonas & Bennmarker, Helge, 2003. "Endogenous Wage Rigidity," Research Papers in Economics 2003:10, Stockholm University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Jonas Agell, 2003. "Why are Small Firms Different? Managers' Views," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  12. Agell, Jonas, 2003. "Why are Small Firms Different? Managers' Views," Research Papers in Economics 2003:9, Stockholm University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. Eriksson, Stefan & Lagerström, Jonas, 2004. "Competition between employed and unemployed job applicants: Swedish evidence," Working Paper Series 2004:2, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? IDEAS also indexes books.

This page was last updated on 2009-12-16.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.