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Striking a Bargain: Narrative Identification of Wage Bargaining Shocks

Author

Listed:
  • Žymantas Budrys

    (Bank of Lithuania and Vilnius University)

  • Mario Porqueddu

    (European Central Bank)

  • Andrej Sokol

    (Bloomberg LP)

Abstract

We quantify wage bargaining shocks’ effects on macroeconomic aggregates in Germany using a structural vector auto-regression model. We identify exogenous variation in bargaining power from episodes of minimum wage introduction and industrial disputes. This disciplines the impulse responses of unemployment and output, and sharpens inference on the behaviour of other variables, which is consistent with theoretical predictions from search and matching models. We find that wage bargaining shocks are an important contributor to agregate fluctuations in unemployment and inflation, exhibit close to full passthrough to consumer prices, and imply plausible dynamics for the vacancy rate, firms’ profits, and the labor share.

Suggested Citation

  • Žymantas Budrys & Mario Porqueddu & Andrej Sokol, 2024. "Striking a Bargain: Narrative Identification of Wage Bargaining Shocks," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 121, Bank of Lithuania.
    • Handle: RePEc:lie:wpaper:121
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage bargaining; minimum wage; industrial action; narrative restrictions; structural vector autoregression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models

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