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The Inflation-Output Trade-off with Downward Wage Rigidities

Author

Listed:
  • Pierpaolo Benigno

    (LUISS Guido Carli and EIEF)

  • Luca Antonio Ricci

    (IMF Research Department)

Abstract

In the presence of downward nominal wage rigidities, wage setters take into account the future consequences of their current wage choices, when facing both idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks. We derive a closed-form solution for a longrun Phillips curve which relates average output gap to average wage inflation: it is virtually vertical at high inflation and flattens at low inflation. Macroeconomic volatility shifts the curve outwards and reduces output. The results imply that stabilization policies play an important role, and that optimal inflation may be positive and differ across countries with different macroeconomic volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierpaolo Benigno & Luca Antonio Ricci, 2010. "The Inflation-Output Trade-off with Downward Wage Rigidities," EIEF Working Papers Series 1020, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Apr 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:eie:wpaper:1020
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    More about this item

    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
    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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