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A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Efficiency Wages and Fiscal Policy: The Case of Bulgaria

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  • Aleksandar Vasilev

    (Department of Economics, American University in Bulgaria)

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the quantitative importance of efficiency wages in explaining uctuations in Bulgarian labor markets. This is done by augmenting an otherwise standard real business cycle model a la Long and Plosser (1983) with unobservable workers efort by employers and wage contracts as in Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984). This imperfection in labor markets introduces a strong propagation mechanism that allows the model to capture the business cycles in Bulgaria better than earlier models. The model performs well vis-a-vis data, especially along the labor market dimension, and in addition dominates the market-clearing labor market framework featured in the standard RBC model, e.g Vasilev (2009).

Suggested Citation

  • Aleksandar Vasilev, 2017. "A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Efficiency Wages and Fiscal Policy: The Case of Bulgaria," Bulgarian Economic Papers bep-2017-01, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski - Bulgaria // Center for Economic Theories and Policies at Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski, revised Jan 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:sko:wpaper:bep-2017-01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2015. "Welfare gains from the adoption of proportional taxation in a general-equilibrium model with a grey economy: the case of Bulgaria's 2008 flat tax reform," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 169-185.
    2. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2009. "Business cycles in Bulgaria and the Baltic countries: an RBC approach," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 148-170.
    3. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2020. "Search and matching frictions and business cycle fluctuations in Bulgaria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 19(3), pages 319-340.
    4. Burnside, Craig & Eichenbaum, Martin & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Labor Hoarding and the Business Cycle," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 245-273, April.
    5. Michelle Alexopoulos, 2003. "Growth and unemployment in a shirking efficiency wage model," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(3), pages 728-746, August.
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    8. Rotemberg, Julio J & Woodford, Michael, 1996. "Real-Business-Cycle Models and the Forecastable Movements in Output, Hours, and Consumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 71-89, March.
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    10. Craig Burnside & Martin S. Eichenbaum & Jonas D. M. Fisher, 1999. "Fiscal shocks in an efficiency wage model," Working Paper Series WP-99-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    11. Solow, Robert M., 1979. "Another possible source of wage stickiness," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 79-82.
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    16. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2016. "Search and matching frictions and business cycle fluctuations in Bulgaria: Technical Appendix," EconStor Research Reports 129795, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2022. "How Important Are Consumer Confidence Shocks for the Propagation of Business Cycles in Bulgaria?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(10-12), pages 589-603.
    2. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2022. "A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Endogenous Discounting and a Government Sector," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 54, pages 73-86, July.
    3. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2021. "A Real-Business-Cycle model with search-and-matching frictions and efficiency ("fair") wages," Journal of Economics and Econometrics, Economics and Econometrics Society, vol. 64(2), pages 1-23.
    4. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2020. "Are labor unions important for business cycle fluctuations? Lessons from Bulgaria," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(1), pages 143-161, March.
    5. Aleksandar VASILEV, 2019. "Insurance-Markets Equilibrium With A Non-Convex Labor Supply Decision, Unobservable Effort, And Efficiency Wages Of The “No-Shirking” Type," Theoretical and Practical Research in the Economic Fields, ASERS Publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 28-34.
    6. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2022. "Optimal fiscal policy in a model with efficiency wages: the case of Bulgaria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 0.
    7. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2022. "A Progressive Consumption Tax: An Important Instrument for Stabilizing Business Cycles, or Just an Exotic Idea?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(10-12), pages 576-588.
    8. Aleksandar Vasilev & Hristina Manolova, 2019. "Wage Dynamics and Bulgaria Co-Movement and Causality," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 17(1), pages 91-127.
    9. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2018. "A Real-Business-Cycle model with reciprocity in labor relations and a government sector," Journal of Economics and Econometrics, Economics and Econometrics Society, vol. 61(2), pages 47-76.
    10. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2022. "Optimal fiscal policy in a model with reciprocity in labor relations: the case of Bulgaria," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue EarlyCite, pages 1-24.
    11. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2018. "Aggregation with non-convex labor supply, unobservable effort, and efficiency wages of the no-shirking type," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 0(1(6)), pages 19-33.
    12. Vasilev Aleksandar, 2021. "A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Institutional Quality: The Case of Bulgaria (1999–2018)," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 72(1), pages 51-69, April.
    13. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2017. "A Real-Business-Cycle model with reciprocity in labor relations and fiscal policy: the case of Bulgaria," EconStor Preprints 156164, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    general equilibrium; shirking; eciency wages; unemployment; Bulgaria;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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