IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/labour/v11y1997i2p373-390.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wage Inflation and Unemployment in Britain and America 1892–1991

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Hyclak
  • Geraint Johnes

Abstract

This paper examines the stability of the wage inflation process in Britain and America from 1892 to 1991. Utilizing a simple model of the aggregate labor market that treats wage inflation and the annual change in the unemployment rate as jointly endogenous variables, we find no evidence of substantial parameter shifts. In particular, there is no evidence of a secular increase in wage rigidity in either country nor is there support for the notion that periods of persistently high unemployment, such as the 1930s or the 1980s, are characterized by significant increases in wage rigidity. Our results are consistent with the findings of several other studies and indicate that wage rigidity has been a stable characteristic of labor markets since the end of the 19th century. Our results also suggest that the unemployment performance of these two countries over time can be explained by the interaction of demand shocks and wage rigidity.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Hyclak & Geraint Johnes, 1997. "Wage Inflation and Unemployment in Britain and America 1892–1991," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 11(2), pages 373-390, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:11:y:1997:i:2:p:373-390
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-9914.00041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9914.00041
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-9914.00041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:11:y:1997:i:2:p:373-390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csrotit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.