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Policy rule evaluation by contract-makers: 100 years of wage contract length in Sweden

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  • Klas Fregert
  • Lars Jonung

Abstract

The length of collective wage agreements in Sweden between 1908 and 2005 is explored to evaluate a variety of policy regimes from the wage contract-makers' perspective. Adopting a new long-run test, it is found that wage contract length decreases in response to an increase in †macroeconomic uncertainty†across policy regimes. There is also substantial short-run variation in contract length, which cautions against regime divisions based solely on the policy rule. The inflation targeting regime 1995-2005 stands out as an exceptionally stable policy regime as judged by the willingness of contract-makers to repeatedly commit to three-year non-indexed wage agreements. The results are based on a data base on collective wage agreements unique in international comparisons in terms of length and coverage.

Suggested Citation

  • Klas Fregert & Lars Jonung, 2007. "Policy rule evaluation by contract-makers: 100 years of wage contract length in Sweden," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 270, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    • Handle: RePEc:euf:ecopap:0270
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Den Haan, Wouter J. & Kobielarz, Michal L. & Rendahl, Pontus, 2015. "Exact present solution with consistent future approximation: a gridless algorithm to solve stochastic dynamic models," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Robert Amano & Tom Carter & Kevin Moran, 2012. "Inflation and Growth: A New Keynesian Perspective," CIRANO Working Papers 2012s-20, CIRANO.
    4. Amano, Robert & Moran, Kevin & Murchison, Stephen & Rennison, Andrew, 2009. "Trend inflation, wage and price rigidities, and productivity growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 353-364, April.

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