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The Cost of Wage Rigidity

Author

Listed:
  • Ester Faia
  • Vincenzo Pezone

Abstract

Private efficiency of wage rigidity has taken centre stage in economics. Measuring its effects has proven elusive for lack of actual wage data. Using a unique confidential labour contract-level dataset matched with firm-level high-frequency asset prices, we find robust evidence that firms’ stock prices and employment fluctuate more in response to monetary policy announcements, the higher the degree of wage rigidity. Hand-collected information on the periods across renegotiations of collective bargaining agreements allow us to construct an accurate and predetermined measure of wage rigidity. We find that the amplification induced by wage rigidity is stronger for firms with high labour intensity, low profitability, and a large share of workers with more rigid contracts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ester Faia & Vincenzo Pezone, 2024. "The Cost of Wage Rigidity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(1), pages 301-339.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:91:y:2024:i:1:p:301-339.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdad020
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    Cited by:

    1. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Díez-Catalán, Luis & Villanueva, Ernesto, 2025. "Staggered contracts and unemployment during recessions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Moritz Pfeifer & Gunther Schnabl, 2024. "Monetary Policy, Divergence, and the Euro," CESifo Working Paper Series 11442, CESifo.
    3. Arespa, Marta, 2024. "The exchange rate regime, a determinant of the degree of risk sharing between profits and wages," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1910-1932.
    4. Susanto Basu & Giacomo Candian & Ryan Chahrour & Rosen Valchev, 2021. "Risky Business Cycles," NBER Working Papers 28693, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Francesco Devicienti & Bernardo Fanfani, 2025. "Firms' margins of adjustment to wage growth: the case of Italian collective bargaining," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(365), pages 107-149, January.
    6. Chung, Min-Su & Lim, Hyunjoon, 2024. "Transmission of external shocks and regional heterogeneity: Evidence from Korean province-level data," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Ho, Cheuk Yin, 2025. "Do sticky prices or sticky wages matter for monetary non-neutrality?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    8. Javier Bianchi & Jorge Mondragon, 2022. "Monetary Independence and Rollover Crises," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(1), pages 435-491.
    9. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Manaresi, Francesco & Rachedi, Omar & Yurdagul, Emircan, 2021. "Minimum Wages and Insurance within the Firm," IZA Discussion Papers 14943, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Anne Kathrin Funk & Daniel Kaufmann, 2022. "Do Sticky Wages Matter? New Evidence from Matched Firm Survey and Register Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(355), pages 689-712, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation

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