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Is Equilibrium Indexation Efficient?

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  • Laurence Ball

Abstract

This paper investigates the welfare properties of equilibrium indexation in a decentralized economy. If indexation is costless, so all firms index, then the equilibrium degree of indexation is efficient. But if indexation is costly and this leads some firms not to index, equilibrium indexation is inefficient because indexation has externalities for nonindexed firms. Firms choose too little indexation if labor demand is more responsive to movements in real money than to movements in real wages. The results do not depend on the relative importance of real and nominal shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurence Ball, 1988. "Is Equilibrium Indexation Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 103(2), pages 299-311.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:103:y:1988:i:2:p:299-311.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2307/1885114
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lars Calmfors & Asa Johansson, 2006. "Nominal Wage Flexibility, Wage Indexation and Monetary Union," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(508), pages 283-308, January.
    2. Qin, Li & Sidiropoulos, Moïse & Spyromitros, Eleftherios, 2013. "Robust monetary policy under model uncertainty and inflation persistence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 721-728.
    3. Daniels, Joseph P. & VanHoose, David D., 2013. "Exchange-rate pass through, openness, and the sacrifice ratio," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 131-150.
    4. James, Jonathan G. & Lawler, Phillip, 2008. "Aggregate demand shocks, private signals and employment variability: Can better information be harmful?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 101-104, July.
    5. Liam Graham & Dennis J. Snower, 2008. "Hyperbolic Discounting and the Phillips Curve," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(2-3), pages 427-448, March.
    6. Laurence Ball & David Romer, 1989. "The Equilibrium and Optimal Timing of Price Changes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(2), pages 179-198.
    7. James, Jonathan G. & Lawler, Phillip, 2010. "Union objectives and indexation externalities in a monopolistically competitive economy," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 28-35, March.
    8. Duca, John V. & Vanhoose, David D., 1998. "The Rise of Goods-Market Competition and the Decline in Wage Indexation: A Macroeconomic Approach," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 579-598, July.
    9. Duca, John V. & VanHoose, David D., 1998. "Goods-market competition and profit sharing: a multisector macro approach," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 525-534, November.
    10. Liam Graham & Dennis J. Snower, 2008. "Hyperbolic Discounting and the Phillips Curve," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(2‐3), pages 427-448, March.
    11. Daniels, Joseph P. & Nourzad, Farrokh & VanHoose, David D., 2006. "Openness, centralized wage bargaining, and inflation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 969-988, December.
    12. Steven F. Sullivan, 1997. "A New Keynesian Model of Policy Irrelevance," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(1), pages 19-33, July.
    13. James, Jonathan G. & Lawler, Phillip, 2006. "Productivity, indexation and macroeconomic outcomes: The implications of goods market competition and wage bargaining structure," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(5-6), pages 465-479.
    14. Frank Heinemann, 2006. "Wage Indexation and Monetary Policy," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 162(3), pages 486-504, September.
    15. David D. VanHoose, 2004. "The New Open Economy Macroeconomics: A Critical Appraisal," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 193-215, April.
    16. James M. Holmes & Patricia A. Hutton, 2005. "A Stochastic Monopsony Theory of the Business Cycle," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(1), pages 206-219, January.
    17. Daniels, Joseph P. & VanHoose, David D., 2006. "Openness, the sacrifice ratio, and inflation: Is there a puzzle?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1336-1347, December.
    18. James Cover & David Hoose, 2002. "Asymmetric wage indexation," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 30(1), pages 34-47, March.
    19. Nir Klein, 2003. "Reputation and Indexation in an Inflation Targeting Framework," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2003.13, Bank of Israel.
    20. Duca, John V. & Van Hoose, David D., 2001. "The Rise of Goods-Market Competition and the Fall of Nominal Wage Contracting: Endogenous Wage Contracting in a Multisector Economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 1-29, January.
    21. Shik Heo, 2003. "The Relationship Between Efficiency Wages And Price Indexation In A Nominal Wage Contracting Model," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 117-128, December.
    22. Frank Heinemann, 2003. "The Inflationary Impact of Wage Indexation," CESifo Working Paper Series 867, CESifo.
    23. John V. Duca & David D. VanHoose, 2000. "Has Greater Competition Restrained U.S. Inflation?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(3), pages 729-741, January.
    24. Lawler, Phillip, 1998. "Wage Indexation and Government Intervention under Perfect Information," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 189-197, January.

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