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Aggregation and Labor Supply Elasticities
[Do Reservation Wages Really Decline? Some International Evidence on the Determinants of Reservation Wages]

Author

Listed:
  • Alois Kneip
  • Monika Merz
  • Lidia Storjohann

Abstract

We outline a formal procedure for deriving the aggregate wage-elasticity of labor supply for a large group of heterogeneous workers who operate under uncertainty. Heterogeneity relates to preferences, income, wealth, and the labor market status. If each worker faces a small, possibly nonuniform wage change, the implied aggregate wage-elasticity can be represented by a closed-form expression. This expression captures an extensive and an intensive margin. We empirically implement the procedure for a dynamic model of individual labor supply and a micro panel of men in Germany from 2000 to 2013. We find that the extensive margin is less time-varying than the intensive margin, and that its size varies with the measure of reservation wages. Self-reported reservation wages render a larger extensive margin than other proxies. The estimated aggregate Frisch wage-elasticity varies between 0.85 and 1.06, and the two margins matter equally strongly for the unbalanced sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Alois Kneip & Monika Merz & Lidia Storjohann, 2020. "Aggregation and Labor Supply Elasticities [Do Reservation Wages Really Decline? Some International Evidence on the Determinants of Reservation Wages]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(5), pages 2315-2358.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:18:y:2020:i:5:p:2315-2358.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvz039
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    Cited by:

    1. Dennis C. Hutschenreiter & Tommaso Santini & Eugenia Vella, 2022. "Automation and sectoral reallocation," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 335-362, May.
    2. Bejarano, Jesús & Rodríguez, Daniela, 2025. "The effects of climate change on a small and open economy: Economic and monetary perspectives," Latin American Journal of Central Banking (previously Monetaria), Elsevier, vol. 6(3).
    3. Choonsung Park, 2020. "Consumption, Reservation Wages, and Aggregate Labor Supply," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 37, pages 54-80, July.
    4. David Staines, 2023. "Stochastic Equilibrium the Lucas Critique and Keynesian Economics," Papers 2312.16214, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    5. Lansing, Kevin J., 2024. "Replicating business cycles and asset returns with sentiment and low risk aversion," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Jung Benjamin & Walter Timo, 2024. "Progressive Taxation and Social Welfare: Quantifying the Effects of the “German Tax-Reform 2000”," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 25(3), pages 209-239.
    7. Ali Elminejad & Tomas Havranek & Roman Horvath & Zuzana Irsova, 2023. "Intertemporal Substitution in Labor Supply: A Meta-Analysis," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 1095-1113, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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