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Efficiency Wages Revisited: The Internal Reference Perspective (new version)

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  • Jean-Pierre DANTHINE
  • André KURMANN

Abstract

The missing wage rigidity in general equilibrium models of effciency wages is an artifact of the external wage reference perspective conventionally adopted by the literature. Effciency wage models based on an internal perspective, in which the wage reference is made dependent on the firm's ability to pay, are capable of generating strong wage rigidity. This paper makes the point in the context of the gift-exchange framework originally proposed by Akerlof [1982].

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Pierre DANTHINE & André KURMANN, 2004. "Efficiency Wages Revisited: The Internal Reference Perspective (new version)," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 04.09, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie, revised Jun 2005.
    • Handle: RePEc:lau:crdeep:04.09
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    efficiency wages; wage rigidity; rent-sharing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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