IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/svk/wpaper/1019.html

Labor Cost Adjustment: Evidence From a Survey of Slovak Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Marianna Cervena

    (National Bank of Slovakia, Research Department)

Abstract

Building on a unique survey of how Slovak firms adjust wages and prices, this paper studies the reduction of labour costs in two forms: base wage cuts and alternative margins for labour cost reduction. Anecdotal evidence suggests that wage-cutting by firms occurs more frequently in Slovakia than in any other country and that the use of alternative margins for labour cost reduction is also quite prevalent in Slovakia. Regression results support the strong relationship between the use of alternative margins and wage rigidities. I find that the use of any alternative margin is on average 30% more likely in firms facing nominal wage rigidity that in firms with flexible wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianna Cervena, 2012. "Labor Cost Adjustment: Evidence From a Survey of Slovak Firms," Working and Discussion Papers WP 4/2012, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    • Handle: RePEc:svk:wpaper:1019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nbs.sk/_img/Documents/PUBLIK/WP_4-2012.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Filippo Altissimo & Michael Ehrmann & Frank Smets, 2006. "Inflation persistence and price-setting behaviour in the euro area – a summary of the IPN evidence," Occasional Paper Series 46, European Central Bank.
    2. Pavel Gertler, 2010. "The wage curve: A panel data view of labour market segments," Working and Discussion Papers WP 3/2010, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    3. Patrick Lünnemann & Ladislav Wintr, 2009. "Wages are flexible, aren?t they? evidence from monthly micro wage data," BCL working papers 39, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    4. Pavel Gertler & Matúš Senaj, 2010. "Downward Wage Rigidities in Slovakia," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 079-101, March.
    5. Keeney, Mary J. & Lawless, Martina, 2010. "Wage Setting and Wage Flexibility in Ireland:Results from a Firm-level Survey," Research Technical Papers 1/RT/10, Central Bank of Ireland.
    6. Huitfeldt, Henrik, 2001. "Unemployment, Labour Market Programmes and Wage Determination: Evidence from the Czech and Slovak Republics," Working Paper Series 2001:1, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    7. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    8. Filippo Altissimo & Michael Ehrmann & Frank Smets, 2006. "Inflation persistence and price-setting behaviour in the euro area : a summary of the Inflation Persistence Network evidence," Working Paper Research 95, National Bank of Belgium.
    9. Ian Babetskii, 2006. "Aggregate Wage Flexibility in Selected New EU Member States," Working Papers 2006/1, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department.
    10. Ehrmann, Michael & Smets, Frank & Altissimo, Filippo, 2006. "Inflation persistence and price-setting behaviour in the euro area: a summary of the IPN evidence," Occasional Paper Series 46, European Central Bank.
    11. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1995. "The Wage Curve," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, December.
    12. Robert Mundell, 1963. "Inflation and Real Interest," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(3), pages 280-280.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Toth & Katarina Valkova, 2015. "Wage Rigidities and Jobless Recovery in Slovakia: New Survey Evidence," Working and Discussion Papers OP 3/2015, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marianna Cervena, 2012. "Base Wage Rigidities: Evidence From a Survey of Slovak Firms," Working and Discussion Papers WP 3/2012, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    2. Romain Duval & Jørgen Elmeskov & Lukas Vogel, 2007. "Structural Policies and Economic Resilience to Shocks," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 567, OECD Publishing.
    3. Romain Duval & Lukas Vogel, 2008. "Economic resilience to shocks: The role of structural policies," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2008(1), pages 1-38.
    4. Musy, Olivier & Pereau, Jean-Christophe, 2010. "Disinflationary boom in a price-wage spiral model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 152-158, January.
    5. repec:ptu:bdpart:b200910 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Winkler, Adalbert & Geis, André & Böwer, Uwe, 2007. "Commodity price fluctuations and their impact on monetary and fiscal policies in Western and Central Africa," Occasional Paper Series 60, European Central Bank.
    7. Ian Babetskii & Ales Bulir & Fabrizio Coricelli & Jan Filacek & Michal Franta & Roman Horvath & Branislav Saxa & Katerina Smidkova, 2008. "CNB Economic Research Bulletin: Ten Years of Inflation Targeting," Occasional Publications - Edited Volumes, Czech National Bank, Research and Statistics Department, edition 1, volume 6, number rb06/1 edited by Ian Babetskii & Katerina Smidkova, March.
    8. Angelini, E. & Dieppe, A. & Pierluigi, B., 2015. "Modelling internal devaluation experiences in Europe: Rational or learning agents?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 81-92.
    9. Consolo, Agostino & Koester, Gerrit & Nickel, Christiane & Porqueddu, Mario & Smets, Frank, 2021. "The need for an inflation buffer in the ECB’s price stability objective – the role of nominal rigidities and inflation differentials," Occasional Paper Series 279, European Central Bank.
    10. Sin-Yu Ho & Bernard Njindan Iyke, 2019. "Unemployment And Inflation: Evidence Of A Nonlinear Phillips Curve In The Eurozone," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 53(4), pages 151-163, Fall.
    11. Jan Babecký & Fabrizio Coricelli & Roman Horváth, 2009. "Assessing Inflation Persistence: Micro Evidence on an Inflation Targeting Economy," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(2), pages 102-127, June.
    12. Bask, Mikael & Proaño, Christian R., 2016. "Optimal monetary policy under learning and structural uncertainty in a New Keynesian model with a cost channel and inflation inertia," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 112-126.
    13. Smets, Frank & Warne, Anders & Wouters, Raf, 2013. "Professional forecasters and the real-time forecasting performance of an estimated new keynesian model for the euro area," Working Paper Series 1571, European Central Bank.
    14. Adjemian, Stéphane & Darracq Pariès, Matthieu & Smets, Frank, 2008. "A quantitative perspective on optimal monetary policy cooperation between the US and the euro area," Working Paper Series 884, European Central Bank.
    15. Davide Delle Monache & Ivan Petrella & Fabrizio Venditti, 2016. "Common Faith or Parting Ways? A Time Varying Parameters Factor Analysis of Euro-Area Inflation," Advances in Econometrics, in: Dynamic Factor Models, volume 35, pages 539-565, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    16. Magnus Söderberg & Makoto Tanaka, 2012. "Spatial price homogeneity as a mechanism to reduce the threat of regulatory intervention in locally monopolistic sectors," Working Papers hal-00659458, HAL.
    17. Francis Leni Anguyo & Rangan Gupta & Kevin Kotzé, 2020. "Inflation dynamics in Uganda: a quantile regression approach," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 161-187, May.
    18. Buono, Ines & Formai, Sara, 2018. "New evidence on the evolution of the anchoring of inflation expectations," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 39-54.
    19. Bask, Mikael & Proaño, Christian R, 2012. "Optimal Monetary Policy under Learning in a New Keynesian Model with Cost Channel and Inflation Inertia," Working Paper Series 2012:7, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    20. Pontiggia, Dario, 2007. "Inflation persistence and optimal positive long-run inflation," MPRA Paper 3274, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Arratibel, Olga & Heinz, Frigyes Ferdinand & Martin, Reiner & Przybyla, Marcin & Rawdanowicz, Lukasz & Serafini, Roberta & Zumer, Tina, 2007. "Determinants of growth in the central and eastern European EU member states - a production function approach," Occasional Paper Series 61, European Central Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:svk:wpaper:1019. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nbsgvsk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.