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Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Canada: Evidence Against a “Greasing Effect”

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  • Joel Wagner

Abstract

The existence of downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) has often been used to justify a positive inflation target. It is traditionally assumed that positive inflation could “grease the wheels” of the labour market by putting downward pressure on real wages, easing labour market adjustments during a recession. A rise in the inflation target would attenuate the long-run level of unemployment and hasten economic recovery after an adverse shock. Following Daly and Hobijn (2014), we re-examine these issues in a model that accounts for precautionary motives in wage-setting behaviour. We confirm that DNWR generates a long-run negative relation between inflation and unemployment, in line with previous contributions to the literature. However, we also find that the increase in the number of people bound by DNWR following a negative demand shock rises with inflation, offsetting the beneficial effects of a higher inflation target. As an implication, contrary to previous contributions that neglected precautionary behaviour, the speed at which unemployment returns to pre-crisis levels during recessions is relatively unaffected by variations in the inflation target.

Suggested Citation

  • Joel Wagner, 2017. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Canada: Evidence Against a “Greasing Effect”," Staff Working Papers 17-31, Bank of Canada.
  • Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:17-31
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Dany Brouillette & Olena Kostyshyna & Natalia Kyui, 2018. "Downward nominal wage rigidity in Canada: Evidence from micro‐level data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(3), pages 968-1002, August.
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    5. 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.
    6. Kim, Jinill & Ruge-Murcia, Francisco J., 2009. "How much inflation is necessary to grease the wheels?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 365-377, April.
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    11. Fagan, Gabriel & Messina, Julián, 2009. "Downward wage rigidity and optimal steady-state inflation," Working Paper Series 1048, European Central Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mineyama, Tomohide, 2022. "Revisiting the optimal inflation rate with downward nominal wage rigidity: The role of heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation targets; Labour markets;

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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