IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/moneco/v145y2024ics0304393224000059.html

How do people view wage and price inflation?

Author

Listed:
  • Jain, Monica
  • Kostyshyna, Olena
  • Zhang, Xu

Abstract

Using household-level data from the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations over 2014Q4–2023Q2, we study wage growth expectations and their link with inflation expectations. We document novel facts about wage growth expectations and the uncertainty around them. Households associate higher wage growth with a stronger economy. The link between wage and inflation expectations is weak, but stronger during the high-inflation period, in tighter labour markets, among new hires, for workers with above-inflation wage gains or higher levels of education or income. Uncertainty about wage gains is strongly positively linked to uncertainty about expected inflation, particularly during the high-inflation period.

Suggested Citation

  • Jain, Monica & Kostyshyna, Olena & Zhang, Xu, 2024. "How do people view wage and price inflation?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:145:y:2024:i:c:s0304393224000059
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.01.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304393224000059
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.01.005?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. Giovanni Olivei & Silvana Tenreyro, 2007. "The Timing of Monetary Policy Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 636-663, June.
    2. Michael F. Bryan & Guhan Venkatu, 2001. "The demographics of inflation opinion surveys," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Oct.
    3. Carlos Madeira & Basit Zafar, 2015. "Heterogeneous Inflation Expectations and Learning," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(5), pages 867-896, August.
    4. Kimball, Miles S, 1990. "Precautionary Saving in the Small and in the Large," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 53-73, January.
    5. Kyle Jurado & Sydney C. Ludvigson & Serena Ng, 2015. "Measuring Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1177-1216, March.
    6. Marc-André Gosselin & Mikael Khan, 2015. "A Survey of Consumer Expectations for Canada," Bank of Canada Review, Bank of Canada, vol. 2015(Autumn), pages 14-23.
    7. Bils, Mark J, 1985. "Real Wages over the Business Cycle: Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 666-689, August.
    8. Wändi Bruine De Bruin & Charles F. Manski & Giorgio Topa & Wilbert van der Klaauw, 2011. "Measuring consumer uncertainty about future inflation," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 454-478, April.
    9. Mark Gertler & Christopher Huckfeldt & Antonella Trigari, 2020. "Unemployment Fluctuations, Match Quality, and the Wage Cyclicality of New Hires," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(4), pages 1876-1914.
    10. Binder, Carola C., 2017. "Measuring uncertainty based on rounding: New method and application to inflation expectations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Olivier Coibion & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Michael Weber, 2022. "Monetary Policy Communications and Their Effects on Household Inflation Expectations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(6), pages 1537-1584.
    12. Candia, Bernardo & Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy, 2024. "The inflation expectations of U.S. firms: Evidence from a new survey," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(S).
    13. David Amirault & Paul Fenton & Thérèse Laflèche, 2013. "Asking About Wages: Results from the Bank of Canada’s Wage Setting Survey of Canadian Companies," Discussion Papers 13-1, Bank of Canada.
    14. Gwangmin Kim & Carola Binder, 2023. "Learning-through-Survey in Inflation Expectations," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 254-278, April.
    15. Jonung, Lars, 1981. "Perceived and Expected Rates of Inflation in Sweden," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 961-968, December.
    16. Engelberg, Joseph & Manski, Charles F. & Williams, Jared, 2009. "Comparing the Point Predictions and Subjective Probability Distributions of Professional Forecasters," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27, pages 30-41.
    17. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Kumar, Saten & Pedemonte, Mathieu, 2020. "Inflation expectations as a policy tool?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    18. Olivier Coibion & Dimitris Georgarakos & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Geoff Kenny & Michael Weber, 2024. "The Effect of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Household Spending," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(3), pages 645-677, March.
    19. Jordà, Òscar & Nechio, Fernanda, 2023. "Inflation and wage growth since the pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    20. Peter Andrebriq & Carlo Pizzinelli & Christopher Roth & Johannes Wohlfart, 2022. "Subjective Models of the Macroeconomy: Evidence From Experts and Representative Samples," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(6), pages 2958-2991.
    21. Frédérique Savignac & Erwan Gautier & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Olivier Coibion, 2024. "Firms’ Inflation Expectations: New Evidence from France," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(6), pages 2748-2781.
    22. Francesco D’Acunto & Ulrike Malmendier & Juan Ospina & Michael Weber, 2021. "Exposure to Grocery Prices and Inflation Expectations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(5), pages 1615-1639.
    23. Bernardo Candia & Olivier Coibion & Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2020. "Communication and the Beliefs of Economic Agents," NBER Working Papers 27800, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ina Hajdini & Edward S. Knotek & John Leer & Mathieu Pedemonte & Robert W. Rich & Raphael Schoenle, 2022. "Low Passthrough from Inflation Expectations to Income Growth Expectations: Why People Dislike Inflation," Working Papers 22-21R, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, revised 27 Mar 2023.
    2. Buchheim, Lukas & Link, Sebastian & Möhrle, Sascha, 2024. "Inflation and Wage Expectations of Firms and Employees," IZA Discussion Papers 17269, IZA Network @ LISER.
    3. Olena Kostyshyna & Maude Ouellet, 2024. "Household Food Inflation in Canada," Staff Working Papers 24-33, Bank of Canada.
    4. Philip Schnattinger & Prachi Srivastava, 2025. "Household Inflation Uncertainty and Wage Growth Expectations," CESifo Working Paper Series 12216, CESifo.
    5. Adewale Rafiu Aregbeshola & Ibrahim Ayoade Adekunle, 2025. "Episode of Foreign Direct Investment Reversal—The Role of Macroeconomic Fundamentals in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-25, December.
    6. Olivier Coibion & Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2025. "Inflation, Expectations and Monetary Policy: What Have We Learned and to What End?," NBER Working Papers 33858, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Olena Kostyshyna & Tolga Özden & Yang Zhang, 2024. "Endogenous Credibility and Wage-Price Spirals," Staff Working Papers 24-14, Bank of Canada.
    8. Olena Kostyshyna & Isabelle Salle & Hung Truong, 2025. "Anchored Inflation Expectations: What Recent Data Reveal," Staff Working Papers 25-5, Bank of Canada.
    9. Erwan Gautier & Frédérique Savignac & Olivier Coibion, 2025. "Firms’ Inflation and Wage Expectations During the Inflation Surge," NBER Working Papers 33799, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Janet Hua Jiang & Rupal Kamdar & Kelin Lu & Daniela Puzzello, 2024. "How Do Households Respond to Expected Inflation? An Investigation of Transmission Mechanisms," CAEPR Working Papers 2024-004 Classification-D, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    11. Di Nino, Virginia & Aprigliano, Valentina, 2024. "How income expectations adjust to inflation – a consumers’ expectations-revealed pass-through," Working Paper Series 2986, European Central Bank.
    12. Damjan Pfajfar & Fabian Winkler, 2024. "Households' Preferences Over Inflation and Monetary Policy Tradeoffs," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2024-036, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Afrouzi, Hassan & Dietrich, Alexander & Myrseth, Kristian & Priftis, Romanos & Schoenle, Raphael, 2024. "Inflation Preferences," CEPR Discussion Papers 19006, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    14. Nickel, Christiane & Kilponen, Juha & Moral-Benito, Enrique & Koester, Gerrit & Ciccarelli, Matteo & Enders, Almira & Holton, Sarah & Landau, Bettina & Venditti, Fabrizio & Bobeica, Elena & Brand, Cla, 2025. "A strategic view on the economic and inflation environment in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 371, European Central Bank.
    15. Jain, Monica & Kostyshyna, Olena & Zhang, Xu, 2025. "Expectations of inflation, wages and spending: Evidence from a consumer survey," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    16. Martin T. Bohl & Niklas Humann & Pierre L. Siklos, 2026. "The Monetary Policy–Commodities Nexus: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 1050-1082, April.

    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. Okan Akarsu & Emrehan Aktuğ & Huzeyfe Torun, 2025. "Inflation Expectations and Firms' Decisions in High Inflation: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial," CESifo Working Paper Series 12210, CESifo.
    2. ETHAN M.L. McCLURE & VITALIIA YAREMKO & OLIVIER COIBION & YURIY GORODNICHENKO, 2025. "The Macroeconomic Expectations of U.S. Managers," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(4), pages 683-716, June.
    3. Sarantis Tsiaplias, 2024. "Inflation as a 'bad', heuristics and aggregate shocks: New evidence on expectation formation," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2024n03, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. Bańkowska, Katarzyna & Borlescu, Ana Maria & Charalambakis, Evangelos & Dias Da Silva, António & Di Laurea, Davide & Dossche, Maarten & Georgarakos, Dimitris & Honkkila, Juha & Kennedy, Neale & Kenny,, 2021. "ECB Consumer Expectations Survey: an overview and first evaluation," Occasional Paper Series 287, European Central Bank.
    5. Becker, Christoph & Dürsch, Peter & Eife, Thomas A. & Glas, Alexander, 2023. "Households' probabilistic inflation expectations in high-inflation regimes," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 01/2023, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    6. Pavlova, Lora, 2025. "Framing effects in consumer expectations surveys," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    7. Michael Weber & Francesco D'Acunto & Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Olivier Coibion, 2022. "The Subjective Inflation Expectations of Households and Firms: Measurement, Determinants, and Implications," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 157-184, Summer.
    8. Olivier Coibion & Yuriy Gorodnichenko, 2025. "Inflation, Expectations and Monetary Policy: What Have We Learned and to What End?," NBER Working Papers 33858, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jain, Monica & Kostyshyna, Olena & Zhang, Xu, 2025. "Expectations of inflation, wages and spending: Evidence from a consumer survey," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    10. Natalie Burr, 2025. "Do inflation expectations respond to monetary policy? An empirical analysis for the United Kingdom," Bank of England working papers 1109, Bank of England.
    11. Abildgren, Kim & Kuchler, Andreas, 2021. "Revisiting the inflation perception conundrum," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    12. Georgarakos, Dimitris & Kim, Kwang Hwan & Coibion, Olivier & Shim, Myungkyu & Lee, Myunghwan Andrew & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Kenny, Geoff & Han, Seowoo & Weber, Michael, 2025. "How costly are business cycle volatility and inflation? A Vox Populi approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 20088, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    13. Goldfayn-Frank, Olga & Kieren, Pascal & Trautmann, Stefan, 2026. "A choice-based approach to the measurement of inflation expectations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    14. Ewa Stanisławska & Maritta Paloviita, 2021. "Medium- vs. short-term consumer inflation expectations: evidence from a new euro area survey," NBP Working Papers 338, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    15. Becker, Christoph Karl & Duersch, Peter & Eife, Thomas & Glas, Alexander, 2025. "Personalizing probabilistic survey scales," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    16. Ángelo Gutiérrez-Daza, 2024. "Business Cycles when Consumers Learn by Shopping," Working Papers 2024-12, Banco de México.
    17. Stanisławska, Ewa & Paloviita, Maritta, 2021. "Responsiveness of consumers' medium-term inflation expectations : evidence from a new euro area survey," Research Discussion Papers 10/2021, Bank of Finland.
    18. Jonathan Adams & Philip Barrett, 2024. "Shocks to Inflation Expectations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 54, October.
    19. Hoffmann, Mathias & Mönch, Emanuel & Pavlova, Lora & Schultefrankenfeld, Guido, 2025. "A KISS for central bank communication in times of high inflation," Discussion Papers 12/2025, Deutsche Bundesbank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations

    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:moneco:v:145:y:2024:i:c:s0304393224000059. 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/inca/505566 .

    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.