IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v256y2025ics0165176525004343.html

Sectoral heterogeneity in wage stickiness and monetary policy transmission

Author

Listed:
  • Aktuğ, Emrehan

Abstract

It is well known that introducing sectoral heterogeneity in price stickiness amplifies monetary non-neutrality in standard New Keynesian models (Carvalho, 2006). Yet, less attention has been paid to the role of heterogeneity in wage stickiness. Using industry-level data, I document a statistically significant negative correlation of –0.27 between wage and price rigidity at the 3-digit NAICS level. I then develop a multi-sector New Keynesian model that incorporates heterogeneity in both wage and price rigidities. The model shows that, depending on the correlation between sectoral wage and price rigidities, the cumulative real response to a monetary shock can either be amplified or dampened relative to a benchmark economy with only heterogeneous price rigidity. Specifically, a perfectly positive correlation between sectoral wage and price rigidities amplifies the cumulative real response by up to 14 percent, whereas a perfect negative correlation reduces it by approximately 9 percent. However, in the model empirically calibrated to the 53-sector U.S. economy, the aggregate impact of wage rigidity heterogeneity is limited, as the weak observed correlation and the influence of large, moderately rigid sectors mute the underlying transmission channel.

Suggested Citation

  • Aktuğ, Emrehan, 2025. "Sectoral heterogeneity in wage stickiness and monetary policy transmission," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:256:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004343
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112597
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525004343
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112597?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2010. "Monetary Non-neutrality in a Multisector Menu Cost Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 961-1013.
    2. Stephan Fahr & Frank Smets, 2010. "Downward Wage Rigidities and Optimal Monetary Policy in a Monetary Union," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(4), pages 812-840, December.
    3. de Ridder, M. & Pfajfar, D., 2017. "Policy Shocks and Wage Rigidities: Empirical Evidence from Regional Effects of National Shocks," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1717, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Frank Smets & Rafael Wouters, 2007. "Shocks and Frictions in US Business Cycles: A Bayesian DSGE Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 586-606, June.
    5. Pasten, Ernesto & Schoenle, Raphael & Weber, Michael, 2020. "The propagation of monetary policy shocks in a heterogeneous production economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-22.
    6. Mark Bils & Yongsung Chang & Sun-Bin Kim, 2022. "How Sticky Wages in Existing Jobs Can Affect Hiring," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 1-37, January.
    7. Lawrence J. Christiano & Martin Eichenbaum & Charles L. Evans, 2005. "Nominal Rigidities and the Dynamic Effects of a Shock to Monetary Policy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 1-45, February.
    8. Boehm, Christoph E., 2020. "Government consumption and investment: Does the composition of purchases affect the multiplier?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 80-93.
    9. Carlos Carvalho & Fernanda Nechio, 2016. "Factor Specificity and Real Rigidities," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 22, pages 208-222, October.
    10. Elisa Rubbo, 2023. "Networks, Phillips Curves, and Monetary Policy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(4), pages 1417-1455, July.
    11. Benigno, Pierpaolo, 2004. "Optimal monetary policy in a currency area," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 293-320, July.
    12. Aoki, Kosuke, 2001. "Optimal monetary policy responses to relative-price changes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 55-80, August.
    13. Carvalho Carlos, 2006. "Heterogeneity in Price Stickiness and the Real Effects of Monetary Shocks," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-58, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jae Won Lee & Seunghyeon Lee, 2025. "Monetary Non-Neutrality in a Multisector Economy: The Role of Risk-Sharing," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 55, January.
    2. Matthias Meier & Timo Reinelt, 2024. "Monetary Policy, Markup Dispersion, and Aggregate TFP," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(4), pages 1012-1027, July.
    3. Jae Won Lee, 2010. "Heterogeneous Households in a Sticky Price Model," Departmental Working Papers 201001, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    4. Cantelmo, Alessandro & Melina, Giovanni, 2023. "Sectoral labor mobility and optimal monetary policy," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    5. Julian di Giovanni & Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Alvaro Silva & Muhammed A Yildirim, "undated". "Pandemic-era Inflation Drivers and Global Spillovers," RBA Annual Conference Papers acp2023-01, Reserve Bank of Australia, revised Nov 2023.
    6. Eijffinger, Sylvester C. W. & Grajales-Olarte, Anderson & Uras, Burak R., 2020. "Heterogeneity In Wage Setting Behavior In A New-Keynesian Model," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(6), pages 1512-1546, September.
    7. Jae Won Lee, 2010. "Monetary Policy with Heterogeneous Households and Financial Frictions," 2010 Meeting Papers 1021, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Bouakez, Hafedh & Cardia, Emanuela & Ruge-Murcia, Francisco, 2014. "Sectoral price rigidity and aggregate dynamics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-22.
    9. Hassan Afrouzi & Saroj Bhattarai, 2023. "Inflation and GDP Dynamics in Production Networks: A Sufficient Statistics Approach," NBER Working Papers 31218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Dixon, Huw & Kara, Engin, 2011. "Contract length heterogeneity and the persistence of monetary shocks in a dynamic generalized Taylor economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 280-292, February.
    11. Frank Smets & Joris Tielens & Jan Van Hove, 2018. "Pipeline Pressures and Sectoral Inflation Dynamics," Working Paper Research 351, National Bank of Belgium.
    12. Lee Seungyoon, 2025. "Price Stickiness, Input–Output Linkages, and Monetary Policy Transmission in Korea," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 25(2), pages 885-915.
    13. Woodford, Michael, 2010. "Optimal Monetary Stabilization Policy," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 14, pages 723-828, Elsevier.
    14. Berriel, Tiago & Sinigaglia, Daniel, 2008. "Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy under Sectorial Heterogeneity," MPRA Paper 10233, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Jun 2008.
    15. Susanto Basu & Pierre De Leo, 2016. "Should Central Banks Target Investment Prices?," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 910, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 04 May 2017.
    16. Choi, Chi-Young & O'Sullivan, Róisín, 2013. "Heterogeneous response of disaggregate inflation to monetary policy regime change: The role of price stickiness," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1814-1832.
    17. Ohad Raveh, 2020. "Monetary Policy, Natural Resources, and Federal Redistribution," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(3), pages 585-613, March.
    18. Sevim Kosem Alp, 2010. "Optimal Monetary Policy under Sectoral Heterogeneity in Inflation Persistence (Sektorel Enflasyon Ataleti Farkliligi Altinda Optimal Para Politikasi)," Working Papers 1004, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    19. Cantelmo, Alessandro & Melina, Giovanni, 2018. "Monetary policy and the relative price of durable goods," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-48.
    20. Carlos Carvalho & Niels Arne Dam, 2009. "Estimating the cross-sectional distribution of price stickiness from aggregate data," Staff Reports 419, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity

    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:eee:ecolet:v:256:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004343. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    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.