IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jpolmo/v35y2013i5p697-712.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are government wages interlinked with private sector wages?

Author

Listed:
  • Lamo, Ana
  • Pérez, Javier J.
  • Schuknecht, Ludger

Abstract

The ongoing fiscal and financial crisis with significant macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area raises the question in how far public–private wage interaction and even wage spirals contribute to fiscal and competitiveness problems. In this vain we analyse empirically whether the evolution of public sector wages is decoupled from that of the private sector. Using data for number of OECD countries, we find: (i) a strong and extremely robust positive annual contemporaneous correlation of public and private sector wages over the business cycle; (ii) evidence of co-movement of these variables over the medium and long run. From a policy perspective, the findings of this study suggest public wage restraint and private wage flexibility coupled—where needed—with institutional reform to prevent or break public–private wage spirals.

Suggested Citation

  • Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2013. "Are government wages interlinked with private sector wages?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 697-712.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:35:y:2013:i:5:p:697-712
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2012.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893813000100
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2012.12.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gonzalo Fernández-de-Córdoba & Javier Pérez & José Torres, 2012. "Public and private sector wages interactions in a general equilibrium model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 309-326, January.
    2. Roberto Perotti, 2008. "In Search of the Transmission Mechanism of Fiscal Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2007, Volume 22, pages 169-226, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Borjas, George J, 1984. "Electoral Cycles and the Earnings of Federal Bureaucrats," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(4), pages 447-459, October.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Roberto Perotti & Fabio Schiantarelli, 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Profits, and Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 571-589, June.
    5. Camacho, Maximo & Perez-Quiros, Gabriel & Saiz, Lorena, 2006. "Are European business cycles close enough to be just one?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(9-10), pages 1687-1706.
    6. Pierre-Richard Agénor, 1996. "The Labor Market and Economic Adjustment," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 43(2), pages 261-335, June.
    7. repec:bla:econom:v:53:y:1986:i:211:p:281-302 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Ana Lamo & Javier J. Pérez & Ludger Schuknecht, 2012. "Public or Private Sector Wage Leadership? An International Perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(1), pages 228-244, March.
    9. Granger, Clive W. J. & Jeon, Yongil, 2004. "Thick modeling," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 323-343, March.
    10. Holmlund, Bertil, 1993. "Wage setting in private and public sectors in a model with endogenous government behavior," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 149-162, May.
    11. Marattin, Luigi & Marzo, Massimiliano & Zagaglia, Paolo, 2011. "A welfare perspective on the fiscal–monetary policy mix: The role of alternative fiscal instruments," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 920-952.
    12. Dimitri G. Demekas & Zenon G. Kontolemis, 2000. "Government Employment and Wages and Labour Market Performance," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 62(3), pages 391-415, July.
    13. Lorenzo Forni & Raffaela Giordano, 2003. "Employment in the Public Sector," CESifo Working Paper Series 1085, CESifo.
    14. Katharine G. Abraham & John C. Haltiwanger, 1995. "Real Wages and the Business Cycle," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 1215-1264, September.
    15. Gonzalo F De córdoba & Javier J Pérez & José L Torres, 2012. "On the substitutability between public and private employment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 2700-2709.
    16. Billio, Monica & Caporin, Massimiliano, 2010. "Market linkages, variance spillovers, and correlation stability: Empirical evidence of financial contagion," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 2443-2458, November.
    17. Pappa, Evi, 2005. "New-keynesian or RBC transmission? The effects of fiscal shocks in labour markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 524, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Holm-Hadulla, Fédéric & Kamath, Kishore & Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2010. "Public wages in the euro area - towards securing stability and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    19. Holmlund, B. & Ohlsson, H., 1990. "Wage Linkages Between Private and Public Sectors," Papers 1990t, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
    20. Schuknecht, Ludger, 2000. "Fiscal Policy Cycles and Public Expenditure in Developing Countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 102(1-2), pages 115-130, January.
    21. Matschke, Xenia, 2003. "Are There Election Cycles in Wage Agreements? An Analysis of German Public Employees," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 114(1-2), pages 103-135, January.
    22. Ana Lamo & Javier J. P鲥z & Ludger Schuknecht, 2013. "The cyclicality of consumption, wages and employment of the public sector in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(12), pages 1551-1569, April.
    23. Pérez, Javier J. & Giordano, Raffaela & Depalo, Domenico & Coutinho Pereira, Manuel & Eugène, Bruno & Papapetrou, Evangelia & Reiss, Lukas & Roter, Mojca, 2011. "The public sector pay gap in a selection of Euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1406, European Central Bank.
    24. Lawrence J. Christiano & Terry J. Fitzgerald, 2003. "The Band Pass Filter," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(2), pages 435-465, May.
    25. Vincenzo Quadrini & Antonella Trigari, 2007. "Public Employment and the Business Cycle," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 109(4), pages 723-742, December.
    26. Lane, Philip R., 2003. "The cyclical behaviour of fiscal policy: evidence from the OECD," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(12), pages 2661-2675, December.
    27. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal Policy in Unionized Labor Markets," Scholarly Articles 2580048, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    28. Mueller,Dennis C., 2003. "Public Choice III," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521894753.
    29. Feldstein, Martin, 2008. "Did wages reflect growth in productivity?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 591-594.
    30. repec:hrv:faseco:3353756 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal policy in unionized labor markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1498-1534, May.
    32. Harding, Don & Pagan, Adrian, 2002. "Dissecting the cycle: a methodological investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 365-381, March.
    33. den Haan, Wouter J., 2000. "The comovement between output and prices," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 3-30, August.
    34. Hauptmeier, Sebastian & Sanchez-Fuentes, A. Jesus & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2011. "Towards expenditure rules and fiscal sanity in the euro area," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 597-617, July.
    35. Gelb, A & Knight, John B & Sabot, R H, 1991. "Public Sector Employment, Rent Seeking and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1186-1199, September.
    36. Holm-Hadulla, Fédéric & Kamath, Kishore & Lamo, Ana & Pérez, Javier J. & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2010. "Public wages in the euro area - towards securing stability and competitiveness," Occasional Paper Series 112, European Central Bank.
    37. Linnemann, Ludger, 2009. "Macroeconomic effects of shocks to public employment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 252-267, June.
    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. Fontaine, Idriss & Gálvez-Iniesta, Ismael & Gomes, Pedro & Vila-Martin, Diego, 2020. "Labour market flows: Accounting for the public sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Camarero, Mariam & D'Adamo, Gaetano & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2014. "Wage leadership models: A country-by-country analysis of the EMU," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(S1), pages 2-11.
    3. Oliver Falck & Siegfried Schönherr, 2016. "An Economic Reform Agenda for Croatia: a comprehensive economic reform package prepared for the Croatian Statehood Foundation," ifo Forschungsberichte, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 70.
    4. Doménech, Rafael & García, Juan Ramón & Ulloa, Camilo, 2018. "The effects of wage flexibility on activity and employment in Spain," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1200-1220.
    5. Puškárová Paula & Zajac Štefan, 2014. "Innovation and Competitiveness of the Slovak Economy: New Evidence of International Impacts in the Knowledge Accumulation Process," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 42(1), pages 81-97, June.
    6. Jelena Nikolic & Ivica Rubil & Iva Tomic, 2014. "Changes in Public and Private Sector Pay Structures in Two Emerging Market Economies during the Crisis," Working Papers 1403, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb.
    7. Jelena Lausev, 2014. "WHAT HAS 20 YEARS OF PUBLIC–PRIVATE PAY GAP LITERATURE TOLD US? EASTERN EUROPEAN TRANSITIONING vs. DEVELOPED ECONOMIES," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 516-550, July.
    8. Gaetano D’Adamo, 2014. "Wage spillovers across sectors in Eastern Europe," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 523-552, September.
    9. Annette Zeilstra & Adam Elbourne, 2014. "Follow the leader? Public and private wages in the Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 274, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Marzinotto, Benedicta & Turrini, Alessandro, 2016. "Co-movements between Public and Private Wages in the EU: Which Factors Play a Role?," IZA Discussion Papers 9964, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Adam, Antonis, 2020. "Under economic adjustment programs, do private sector wages respond to changes in public wages and employment?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1334-1351.
    12. M. Ivanova., 2015. "The Interaction between Public and Private Sector Wages," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 7.
    13. Paula Puškárová & Miriama Vašková, 2022. "Dynamics of inequality and growth in Europe: may spatial models solve the puzzle?," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 33-48, January.
    14. Kamila Sławińska, 2021. "Public–private sector wage gap in a group of European countries: an empirical perspective," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1747-1775, April.
    15. Annette Zeilstra & Adam Elbourne, 2014. "Follow the leader? Public and private wages in the Netherlands," CPB Discussion Paper 274.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    16. Benedicta Marzinotto & Alessandro Turrini, 2017. "Co-movements between public and private wages in the EU: what factors and with what policy implications?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.

    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. Gonzalo Fernández-de-Córdoba & Javier Pérez & José Torres, 2012. "Public and private sector wages interactions in a general equilibrium model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 309-326, January.
    2. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 130522, January.
    3. Benedicta Marzinotto & Alessandro Turrini, 2017. "Co-movements between public and private wages in the EU: what factors and with what policy implications?," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Lamo, Ana & Schuknecht, Ludger & Pérez, Javier J., 2008. "Public and private sector wages: co-movement and causality," Working Paper Series 963, European Central Bank.
    5. Marzinotto, Benedicta & Turrini, Alessandro, 2016. "Co-movements between Public and Private Wages in the EU: Which Factors Play a Role?," IZA Discussion Papers 9964, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Afonso, António & Gomes, Pedro, 2014. "Interactions between private and public sector wages," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 97-112.
    7. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Fiscal policy in a Real-Business-Cycle model with labor-intensive government services and endogenous public sector wages and hours," EconStor Preprints 142338, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Javier J. Perez & Ana Lamo & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2015. "Does Slack Influence Public and Private Labor Market," EcoMod2015 8792, EcoMod.
    9. George Economides & Dimitris Papageorgiou & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Vanghelis Vassilatos, 2013. "Smaller Public Sectors in the Euro Area: Aggregate and Distributional Implications," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(3), pages 536-558, September.
    10. Fontaine, Idriss & Gálvez-Iniesta, Ismael & Gomes, Pedro & Vila-Martin, Diego, 2020. "Labour market flows: Accounting for the public sector," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. M. Ivanova., 2015. "The Interaction between Public and Private Sector Wages," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 7.
    12. Guilherme Bandeira & Evi Pappa & Rana Sajedi & Eugenia Vella, 2018. "Fiscal Consolidation in a Low-Inflation Environment: Pay Cuts versus Lost Jobs," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 14(3), pages 7-52, June.
    13. Maria M. Campos & Domenico Depalo & Evangelia Papapetrou & Javier J. Pérez & Roberto Ramos, 2017. "Understanding the public sector pay gap," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-29, December.
    14. Matteo Salto, 2016. "Fiscal Policy after the Crisis – Workshop Proceedings," European Economy - Discussion Papers 035, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    15. Ana Lamo & Javier J. P鲥z & Ludger Schuknecht, 2013. "The cyclicality of consumption, wages and employment of the public sector in the euro area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(12), pages 1551-1569, April.
    16. Pedro Gomes, 2018. "Heterogeneity And The Public Sector Wage Policy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1469-1489, August.
    17. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2015. "Macroeconomic Effects of Public-Sector Unions," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(2), pages 101-126, June.
    18. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Cyclical and Welfare Effects of Public Sector Unions in a Real-Business-Cycle Model," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-83, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    19. Javier Pérez & A. Sánchez, 2011. "Is there a signalling role for public wages? Evidence for the euro area based on macro data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 421-445, October.
    20. Pedro Gomes, 2009. "Labour market effects of public sector employment and wages," 2009 Meeting Papers 313, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government wages; Private sector wages; Co-movement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

    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:eee:jpolmo:v:35:y:2013:i:5:p:697-712. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505735 .

    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.