IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/canjec/v51y2018i3p946-967.html

Downward nominal wage rigidity: Evidence from Canada 1901–1950

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick J. Coe

Abstract

This paper tests for the presence of downward nominal wage rigidity in Canadian wage data for 26 occupations in 38 cities from the first half of the 20th century. The sample is of particular interest as it contains periods with average inflation rates that are close to zero as well as two sharp deflations. Results from a variety of different tests indicate that wage change distributions are consistent with the presence of downward nominal wage rigidity. However, for two subsamples containing sharp declines in output and prices, estimates of the extent of downward nominal wage rigidity are much lower. This suggests that downwards adjustments did occur during times of severe depression and deflation. Rigidité des salaires nominaux à la baisse : résultats pour le Canada 1901–1950. Ce mémoire teste la présence de la rigidité des salaires nominaux à la baisse à l’aide de données canadiennes pour 26 occupations dans 38 villes dans la première moitié du 20e siècle. L’échantillon est d’un intérêt particulier parce qu’il contient des périodes où les taux moyens d’inflation sont près de zéro mais aussi deux périodes de déflation abruptes. Les résultats d’une variété de tests indiquent que les distributions de changements de salaires sont compatibles avec la présence de rigidité des salaires nominaux à la baisse. Cependant, pour deux sous‐échantillons contenant des déclins abrupts dans le niveau de production et des prix, les estimations de l’importance de la rigidité des salaires nominaux à la baisse sont beaucoup plus faible. Cela suggère que les ajustements à la baisse se sont produits durant des moments de dépression sévère et de déflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick J. Coe, 2018. "Downward nominal wage rigidity: Evidence from Canada 1901–1950," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(3), pages 946-967, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:canjec:v:51:y:2018:i:3:p:946-967
    DOI: 10.1111/caje.12341
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12341
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/caje.12341?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew Seltzer & André Sammartino, 2011. "Nominal wage rigidity prior to compulsory arbitration: evidence from the Victorian Railways, 1902–1921," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 5(1), pages 53-78, January.
    2. Holden Steinar & Wulfsberg Fredrik, 2008. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the OECD," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-50, April.
    3. J. C. Herbert Emery & Clint Levitt, 2002. "Cost of living, real wages and real incomes in thirteen Canadian cities, 1900–1950," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(1), pages 115-137, February.
    4. Morris Altman, 1999. "NEW ESTIMATES OF HOURS OF WORK AND REAL INCOME IN CANADA FROM THE 1880s TO 1930: LONG‐RUN TRENDS AND WORKERS' PREFERENCES," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 45(3), pages 353-372, September.
    5. Hanes, Christopher, 1993. "The Development of Nominal Wage Rigidity in the Late 19th Century," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 732-756, September.
    6. Lebow David E & Saks Raven E & Wilson Beth Anne, 2003. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity: Evidence from the Employment Cost Index," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, October.
    7. Kahn, Shulamit, 1997. "Evidence of Nominal Wage Stickiness from Microdata," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 993-1008, December.
    8. Seltzer, Andrew, 2010. "Did firms cut nominal wages in a deflationary environment?: Micro-level evidence from the late 19th and early 20th century banking industry," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 112-125, January.
    9. George A. Akerlof & William R. Dickens & George L. Perry, 1996. "The Macroeconomics of Low Inflation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 1-76.
    10. Mary MacKinnon, 1996. "New Evidence on Canadian Wage Rates, 1900-1930," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 114-131, February.
    11. Jonung, Lars & Fregert, Klas, 2008. "Inflation Targeting Is a Success, So Far: 100 Years of Evidence from Swedish Wage Contracts," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-25.
    12. Fehr, Ernst & Goette, Lorenz, 2005. "Robustness and real consequences of nominal wage rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 779-804, May.
    13. Gordon W. Bertram & Michael B. Percy, 1979. "Real Wage Trends in Canada, 1900-26: Some Provisional Estimates," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 12(2), pages 299-312, May.
    14. Louis N. Christofides & Thanasis Stengos, 2003. "Wage Rigidity in Canadian Collective Bargaining Agreements," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(3), pages 429-448, April.
    15. Patrick Coe & J.C. Herbert Emery, 2004. "The disintegrating Canadian labour market? The extent of the market then and now," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(4), pages 879-897, November.
    16. Thomas Bauer & Holger Bonin & Lorenz Goette & Uwe Sunde, 2007. "Real and Nominal Wage Rigidities and the Rate of Inflation: Evidence from West German Micro Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 508-529, November.
    17. Abildgren, Kim, 2009. "Monetary regimes and the endogeneity of labour market structures: empirical evidence from Denmark, 1875–2007," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 199-218, August.
    18. Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida & Paolo Sestito, 2007. "Downward Wage Rigidity in Italy: Micro-Based Measures and Implications," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(524), pages 530-552, November.
    19. Christina D. Romer & David H. Romer, 1997. "Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number rome97-1, September.
    20. Green, Alan G. & Green, David A., 2016. "Immigration and the Canadian Earnings Distribution in the First Half of the Twentieth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 387-426, June.
    21. Christopher Hanes & John A. James, 2003. "Wage Adjustment Under Low Inflation: Evidence from U.S. History," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1414-1424, September.
    22. Joseph G. Altonji & Paul J. Devereux, 1999. "The Extent and Consequences of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity," NBER Working Papers 7236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. David Card & Dean Hyslop, 1997. "Does Inflation "Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market"?," NBER Chapters, in: Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy, pages 71-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2014. "Wage Rigidity, Inflation, and Institutions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(2), pages 539-569, April.
    25. Elsby, Michael W.L., 2009. "Evaluating the economic significance of downward nominal wage rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 154-169, March.
    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. Anja Deelen & Wouter Verbeek, 2015. "Measuring Downward Nominal and Real Wage Rigidity - Why Methods Matter," CPB Discussion Paper 315, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    2. Dany Brouillette & Olena Kostyshyna & Natalia Kyui, 2018. "Downward nominal wage rigidity in Canada: Evidence from micro-level data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 51(3), pages 968-1002, August.
    3. Anja Deelen & Wouter Verbeek, 2015. "Measuring Downward Nominal and Real Wage Rigidity - Why Methods Matter," CPB Discussion Paper 315.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Barno Blaes, 2008. "Ausmaß und reale Konsequenzen nach unten starrer Nominallöhne," Working Papers 048, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    5. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2004. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe," Working Paper 2004/5, Norges Bank.
    6. Juli?n Messina & Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano, 2014. "Wage Rigidity and Disinflation in Emerging Countries," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 102-133, January.
    7. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2014. "Wage Rigidity, Inflation, and Institutions," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(2), pages 539-569, April.
    8. Aedín Doris & Donal O’Neill & Olive Sweetman, 2015. "Wage flexibility and the great recession: the response of the Irish labour market," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Bruce Fallick & Daniel Villar Vallenas & William L. Wascher, 2016. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the United States During and After the Great Recession," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-001r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 15 May 2020.
    10. Daniel Schäfer & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Nominal Wage Adjustments and the Composition of Pay: New Evidence from Payroll Data," Economics working papers 2020-11, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    11. Holden Steinar & Wulfsberg Fredrik, 2008. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the OECD," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-50, April.
    12. Fallick, Bruce & Villar, Daniel & Wascher, William, 2022. "Downward nominal wage rigidity in the United States in times of economic distress and low inflation," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Holden , Steinar & Wulfsberg, Fredrik, 2009. "Wage Rigidity, Institutions, and Inflation," Memorandum 03/2009, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    14. Cornelissen, Thomas & Hübler, Olaf, 2005. "Downward Wage Rigidity and Labour Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 1523, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Gross, Marco, 2022. "Beautiful cycles: A theory and a model implying a curious role for interest," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    16. Ana María Iregui B. & Ligia Alba Melo B. & María Teresa Ramírez G., 2009. "Are wages rigid in Colombia?: Empirical evidence based on a sample of wages at the firm level," Borradores de Economia 571i, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    17. Götte, Lorenz & Huffman, David B., 2005. "Do Emotions Improve Labor Market Outcomes?," IZA Discussion Papers 1895, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Pierre Fortin, 2013. "The Macroeconomics of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity : a Review of the Issues and New Evidence for Canada," Cahiers de recherche 1309, CIRPEE.
    19. Daniel Schaefer & Carl Singleton, 2023. "The Extent of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity: New Evidence from Payroll Data," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 60-76, December.
    20. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2004. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe (new title: The costs of price stability - downward nominal wage rigidity in Europe)," CESifo Working Paper Series 1177, CESifo.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

    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:wly:canjec:v:51:y:2018:i:3:p:946-967. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1540-5982 .

    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.