IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/kondp2/348.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Efficiency wages, unemployment and welfare: A trade theorists' guide

Author

Listed:
  • Albert, Max
  • Meckl, Jürgen

Abstract

The paper incorporates the efficiency-wage theory into an otherwise standard trade model. The model accounts for sector-specific job rents and involuntary unemployment while preserving decisive properties of the competitive fullemployment approach. The key results from the literature can be derived from special cases; e.g., raising minimum wages can reduce unemployment. Additionally, we derive new, counterintuitive results: (a) Emigration can raise home employment, (b) Immigrants might not only find employment but also raise employment for non-immigrants, (c) Investment can reduce employment, (d) Raising unemployment benefits can reduce unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Albert, Max & Meckl, Jürgen, 1997. "Efficiency wages, unemployment and welfare: A trade theorists' guide," Discussion Papers, Series II 348, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:kondp2:348
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/101659/1/733234275.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Brecher, 1989. "An Efficiency-Wage Model of Unemployment in an Open Economy," Carleton Economic Papers 89-06, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised Feb 1992.
    2. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 255-283.
    3. Krugman, Paul R, 1993. "What Do Undergrads Need to Know about Trade?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 23-26, May.
    4. Salop, Steven C, 1979. "A Model of the Natural Rate of Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 117-125, March.
    5. Bulow, Jeremy I & Summers, Lawrence H, 1986. "A Theory of Dual Labor Markets with Application to Industrial Policy,Discrimination, and Keynesian Unemployment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 376-414, July.
    6. Albert, Max, 1995. "Kuhn-Tucker conditions and linear homogeneity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(3-4), pages 267-272, June.
    7. Solow, Robert M., 1979. "Another possible source of wage stickiness," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 79-82.
    8. Agell, Jonas & Lundborg, Per, 1995. "Fair Wages in the Open Economy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 62(247), pages 335-351, August.
    9. A. G. Schweinberger, 1995. "Factor Market Distortions, the Gains from Trade and Comparative Advantage," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 131(III), pages 361-376, September.
    10. Krueger, Alan B & Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Efficiency Wages and the Inter-industry Wage Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 259-293, March.
    11. Marjit, Sugata & Beladi, Hamid, 2003. "Possibility or impossibility of paradoxes in the small country Harris-Todaro framework: a unifying analysis," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 379-385, October.
    12. Matusz, Steven J, 1996. "International Trade, the Division of Labor, and Unemployment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(1), pages 71-84, February.
    13. Richard A. Brecher, 1974. "Minimum Wage Rates and the Pure Theory of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(1), pages 98-116.
    14. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    15. Lawrence F. Katz & Lawrence H. Summers, 1989. "Can Interindustry Wage Differentials Justify Strategic Trade Policy?," NBER Chapters, in: Trade Policies for International Competitiveness, pages 85-124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Summers, Lawrence H, 1988. "Relative Wages, Efficiency Wages, and Keynesian Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 383-388, May.
    17. George A. Akerlof, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 97(4), pages 543-569.
    18. Paul Krugman, 1995. "Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 327-377.
    19. Albert G. Schweinberger, 1978. "Employment Subsidies and the Theory of Minimum Wage Rates in General Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(3), pages 361-374.
    20. Mussa, Michael, 1993. "Making the Practical Case for Freer Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 372-376, May.
    21. Alan Manning, 1995. "How Do We Know That Real Wages Are Too High?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1111-1125.
    22. Steven J. Matusz, 1994. "International Trade Policy in a Model of Unemployment and Wage Differentials," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 27(4), pages 939-949, November.
    23. Feenstra, Robert C. (ed.), 1989. "Trade Policies for International Competitiveness," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226239491, December.
    24. J. Peter Neary, 1985. "International Factor Mobility, Minimum Wage Rates, and Factor-Price Equalization: A Synthesis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(3), pages 551-570.
    25. Marjit, Sugata, 1990. "A simple production model in trade and its applications," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 257-260, March.
    26. Robert C. Feenstra, 1989. "Trade Policies for International Competitiveness," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feen89-1, March.
    27. Brecher, Richard A., 1992. "An efficiency-wage model with explicit monitoring : Unemployment and welfare in an open economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 179-191, February.
    28. Hoon, Hian Teck, 1991. "Comparative advantage and the equilibrium rate of unemployment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 299-304, November.
    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. Albert Max & Meckl JuÈrgen, 2001. "Efficiency-Wage Unemployment and Intersectoral Wage Differentials in a Heckscher- Ohlin Model," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 287-301, August.
    2. Goerke, Laszlo, 2000. "On the structure of unemployment benefits in shirking models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 283-295, May.
    3. Max Albert & Jürgen Meckl, 2003. "Involuntary Unemployment and the Existence of GDP Functions," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 79-88, February.
    4. Max Albert & Jürgen Meckl, 2001. "Green Tax Reform and Two-Component Unemployment: Double Dividend or Double Loss?," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 157(2), pages 265-281, June.
    5. Goerke, Laszlo, 1998. "Bismarck versus Beveridge: Flat- and earnings-related unemployment insurance in an efficiency wage framework," Discussion Papers, Series I 291, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.

    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. Albert Max & Meckl JuÈrgen, 2001. "Efficiency-Wage Unemployment and Intersectoral Wage Differentials in a Heckscher- Ohlin Model," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 287-301, August.
    2. Vesna Stavrevska, 2011. "The efficiency wages perspective to wage rigidity in the open economy: a survey," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 273-299, June.
    3. Max Albert & Jürgen Meckl, 2001. "Green Tax Reform and Two-Component Unemployment: Double Dividend or Double Loss?," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 157(2), pages 265-281, June.
    4. Eckel, Carsten, 2003. "Labor market adjustments to globalization: unemployment versus relative wages," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 173-188, August.
    5. Meckl, Jürgen, 1999. "Efficiency-wage unemployment and endogenous growth," Discussion Papers, Series I 295, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    6. Carl Davidson & Steven J. Matusz, 2010. "Our Motivation," Introductory Chapters, in: International Trade with Equilibrium Unemployment, Princeton University Press.
    7. Max Albert & Jürgen Meckl, 2003. "Involuntary Unemployment and the Existence of GDP Functions," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 79-88, February.
    8. Egger, Hartmut & Egger, Peter & Kreickemeier, Udo, 2013. "Trade, wages, and profits," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 332-350.
    9. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "International Fragmentation: Boon or Bane for Domestic Employment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 9, pages 237-263, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5173 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Riveros, Luis A. & Bouton, Lawrence, 1991. "Efficiency wage theory, labormarkets, and adjustment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 731, The World Bank.
    12. Meckl, Jurgen, 2004. "Accumulation of technological knowledge, wage differentials, and unemployment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 65-82, March.
    13. Jean‐Pierre Danthine & André Kurmann, 2007. "The Macroeconomic Consequences of Reciprocity in Labor Relations," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 109(4), pages 857-881, December.
    14. John G. Sessions & John D. Skåtun, 2017. "Performance-Related Pay, Efficiency Wages and the Shape of the Tenure-Earnings Profile," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(3), pages 295-319, June.
    15. Carter, Thomas J., 1999. "Illegal immigration in an efficiency wage model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 385-401, December.
    16. Thomas J. Carter, 2005. "Monetary Policy, Efficiency Wages, and Nominal Wage Rigidities," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 349-359, Summer.
    17. Yasuyuki Sugiyama & Muneyuki Saito, 2016. "Environmental Goods and Measures for Their Promotion: An Analysis Using a Fair Wage Model," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 581-602, December.
    18. Jinpeng Ma, 2004. "Jobless Recovering and Equilibrium Involuntary Unemployment with a Simple Efficiency Wage Model," Departmental Working Papers 200404, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    19. Hian Hoon, 1994. "The impact of intraindustry trade on the natural rate of unemployment in two simple models," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 29-46, March.
    20. Mondal, Debasis & Gupta, Manash Ranjan, 2008. "Intellectual property rights protection and unemployment in a North South model: A theoretical analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 463-484, May.
    21. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Santaella, Julio A., 1998. "Efficiency wages, disinflation and labor mobility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 267-291, February.

    More about this item

    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:zbw:kondp2:348. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwkonde.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.