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The Long-Run Determinants of UK Wages, 1860-2004

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  • Jennifer Castle
  • David Hendry

Abstract

As it is almost 50 years since Phillips (1958), we analyze an historical series on UK wages and their determinants. Huge changes have occurred over this long run, so congruence is hard to establish: real wages have risen more than 6 fold, and nominal 500 times; laws, technology, wealth distribution, and social structure are unrecognizably different from 1860. We investigate: wage rates and weekly earnings; real versus nominal wages; breaks over 1860-2004; non-linearities, including Phillips' non-linear response to unemployment; 'trade union power' and unemployment benefits; and measures of excess demand, where workers react more to inflation when it rises.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Castle & David Hendry, 2008. "The Long-Run Determinants of UK Wages, 1860-2004," Economics Series Working Papers 409, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:409
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    Cited by:

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    3. Calvert Jump, Robert & Kohler, Karsten, 2022. "A history of aggregate demand and supply shocks for the United Kingdom, 1900 to 2016," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Jennifer Castle & David Hendry, 2013. "Semi-automatic Non-linear Model selection," Economics Series Working Papers 654, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. Barr, Nicholas & Johnston, Alison, 2010. "Interest subsidies on student loans: a better class of drain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28287, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Durevall, Dick & Henrekson, Magnus, 2011. "The futile quest for a grand explanation of long-run government expenditure," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 708-722.
    7. Nasir, Muhammad Ali & Wu, Junjie & Howes, Cameron & Ripley, Helen, 2022. "Asymmetric nexus between wages and productivity in the context of the global financial crisis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 164-175.
    8. Josh R. Stillwagon, 2015. "TIPS and the VIX: Non-linear Spillovers from Financial Panic to Breakeven Inflation," Working Papers 1502, Trinity College, Department of Economics.
    9. Baffigi, Alberto & Bontempi, Maria Elena & Felice, Emanuele & Golinelli, Roberto, 2015. "The changing relationship between inflation and the economic cycle in Italy: 1861–2012," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 53-70.
    10. Loening, Josef L. & Durevall, Dick & Ayalew Birru, Yohannes, 2009. "Inflation Dynamics and Food Prices in an Agricultural Economy: The Case of Ethiopia," Working Papers in Economics 347, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    11. Sohrab Rafiq, 2014. "What Do Energy Prices Tell Us About UK Inflation?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(322), pages 293-310, April.
    12. Muellbauer, John, 2018. "The Future of Macroeconomics," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-10, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    13. Neil Shephard, 2010. "Deferred Fees For Universities," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 40-44, June.
    14. Jennifer L. Castle & David F. Hendry & Andrew B. Martinez, 2022. "The historical role of energy in UK inflation and productivity and implications for price inflation in 2022," Economics Series Working Papers 983, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    15. Durevall, Dick & Loening, Josef L. & Ayalew Birru, Yohannes, 2013. "Inflation dynamics and food prices in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 89-106.
    16. Ragnar Nymoen, 2017. "Between Institutions and Global Forces: Norwegian Wage Formation Since Industrialisation," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-54, January.
    17. David M. Williams, 2021. "Pay and Productivity in Canada: Growing Together, Only Slower than Ever," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 40, pages 3-26, Spring.
    18. Robert G. King, 2008. "The Phillips curve and U.S. macroeconomic policy : snapshots, 1958-1996," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 94(Fall), pages 311-359.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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